Commentaries:
Since the foundation of the world, God's purpose has been to bring all things into harmony with Him, giving mankind an exhilarating and refreshing respite from the fearful and depressing heaviness of living in a sin—laden world.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Separation and At-One-Ment
Consider the result of Satan's removal. Once the Deceiver is neutralized, refreshing and restitution can begin! Christ and the saints will immediately work to restore the earth to its beauty and productivity (Isaiah 35). God's perfect government and laws will be reinstituted, bringing peace and prosperity to all who submit to them (Isaiah 2:1-4). In a spirit of harmony, everyone will pitch in to rebuild the waste places and ruins caused by man's and Satan's sins (Isaiah 58:12; 61:4; Amos 9:14). This is the wonderful World Tomorrow that all of God's people have looked toward since the Garden of Eden! All that is good—very good (Genesis 1:31)—will be restored!
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Holy Days: Atonement
Acts 3:19-21 never mentions the environment directly, but the implication of the earth being in need of repair, rest, and rehabilitation is definitely present. The time is coming when God will restore to the earth its beauty and productivity that man has selfishly stripped from it. Water will be purified, soil will get its rest and be revitalized, animal and plant populations will return to their natural rates and rhythms, and blighted and desert areas will be healed. Only when God's government rules and administers God's law will this restoration occur.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Bible and the Environment
These verses tie several things together. II Timothy 1:9 says that God's purpose began before time. Could God plan His awesome purpose without an end result in view? Would He name His message of salvation after something that was going to happen in the middle, or would He name it after the goal toward which He was working?
Peter calls God's purpose "the restoration of all things," another descriptive phrase for the good news of the Kingdom of God. God will put the Kingdom of God on earth, governing through His law. These verses explain not only the end toward which God is moving, but also that God has been prophesying of this since the world began. God too is looking toward the goal.
God's purpose began before time, but He has revealed this purpose to mankind since at least the days of Enoch, who lived long before Noah. In Jude, Enoch is quoted as saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints" (Jude 14). We must take God's word at face value: From the beginning He has prophesied of the culmination of His purpose.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Guard the Truth!
Peter called the time when God's government will be restored—the time when Satan's part in sins will be put on his own head—the "times of restitution." What needs to be restored to earth? God's government and His way of life. It was once offered to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but they rejected it, deceived by the serpent.
The world needs obedience to God—faith instead of skepticism—reliance on the superior wisdom and experience of the Creator instead of human wisdom. We must do away with reasonings, feelings, desires, and emotions based on the pulls of the flesh when it comes to obeying God (Romans 8:7).
The first step for the establishment of a utopia on earth is the reinstitution of God's authority, with enforcement of God's law through a worldwide system of perfectly righteous kings, mayors, judges, etc. (Luke 19:17, 19; Revelation 5:10).
At-one-ment will not be complete with merely putting Satan away. The greatest task will be yet remaining. People will still be hating one another. Man's mind, man's nature, must be refashioned—his character reshaped and remolded until it becomes "at one" with God.
The Day of Atonement: The World at One with God
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Mark 1:14
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