From the beginning it was God’s purpose for a perfect human family to dwell on earth forever in a paradise. And it is still his purpose! Without fail, that purpose will be fulfilled.
The Bible shows that God prepared the earth especially with humans in mind. Isaiah 45:18 says regarding the earth that God “did not create it simply for nothing [but] formed it even to be inhabited.” And he provided the earth with everything that people would need, not just to exist, but to enjoy life to the full.—Genesis, chapters 1 and 2. (Genesis 1:26) Humans were to have oversight of “all the earth” and its animal creation.
Moreover, God gave a wonderful mandate to the first pair while they were in Eden: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)
It is evident that humans were to use the subdued earth for their benefit. But this was to be done in a responsible way. Humans were to be respectful stewards of the earth, not the despoilers of it. The destruction of the earth that we witness today is against God’s will, and those who share in it are going contrary to the purpose of life on earth. They will have to pay the penalty for that, for the Bible says that God will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”—Revelation 11:18.
From the early Bible record, we learn that it was not God’s purpose for people to suffer or to die. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, died only because they disobeyed God. (Genesis, chapters 2 & 3) When they disobeyed, they were no longer doing God’s will. They pulled out from under God’s care. In effect, they disconnected themselves from God, “the source of life.”—Psalm 36:9.
God’s Purpose Soon to Be Realized:
Although God has permitted imperfection and suffering for a long time from the human viewpoint, he will not allow bad conditions to go on indefinitely. The Bible tells us that God has a specific time period for allowing these things to happen.
God’s Judgments:
Note a few of the many Bible prophecies that state what God’s intervention, that is, the results of his judgments, will soon mean for the human family:
“The upright are the ones that will reside in the earth, and the blameless are the ones that will be left over in it. As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth; and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it.”—Proverbs 2:21, 22. See Also: Psalm 37:9-11;
Psalm 37:34, 37, 38. & Proverbs 3:1, 2, 5, 6.
God’s Rule From Heaven:
God will accomplish this cleansing of the earth by means of the best government that mankind could ever have. It is a government that reflects heavenly wisdom because it rules from heaven under God’s direction. And that heavenly Kingdom will remove all forms of human rule from earth. Humans will never again have the option of trying to rule independent of God.
In this regard the prophecy at Daniel 2:44 states: “In the days of those kings [present-day governments] the God of heaven will set up a kingdom [in heaven] that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people [humans will never again be permitted to rule independent of God]. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms [now existing], and it itself will stand to times indefinite.”- See also Revelation 19:11-21; 20:4-6.
Thus, mankind will never again have corrupt forms of rule, for after God brings this system to its end, human rule independent of him will never exist again. That is why Jesus could teach his disciples to pray to God: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”—Matthew 6:10.
What will life be like when God removes wickedness and suffering from the earth and ushers in his new world under the loving control of his heavenly Kingdom? God promises to ‘open his hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.’—Psalm 145:16.