What He Will Do with Heaven and Earth, Part 3

The point: Be armed with biblical knowledge to refute man's nonsense regarding the future of the universe.

Martin recounts reading a newspaper headline about galaxies colliding, using it to introduce the sermon's theme and contrast man's pessimistic view of the universe's future with the biblical hope.

with the outside world for five days i thought it would do me no harm to have a look at the headlines and see what's been going on in the world beyond that methodist campgrounds that the presbyterians were using for the conference at which i ministered and one of the leading articles immediately grabbed my attention you the caption in large letters in that article is as follows galaxies on course for collision and now i read the text no comments a tom spears of whom i know nothing writes

4:51 - 5:34 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin reiterates that at Christ's return, the physical creation will undergo a radical reformation, making it a fit dwelling for glorified saints. He grounds this in the biblical…

He uses the analogy of a grapevine with clusters of events around the main stem of Christ's coming, and then a pie sliced into four major segments, to organize the manifold events occurring at Christ's return.

Lord, what have you clearly revealed as to the events that will occur at the coming of the Lord Jesus, we must not expect to find in any one passage or any combination of passages a neatly packaged checklist laid out in strict sequential order this will happen, then this, then this, then that, then the other, but rather think of all that scripture says as occurring at the return of Christ as a cluster of events. Think of the main stem of the grapevine and the lesser stems on which hang clusters. Christ's coming is the main stem

11:30 - 12:14 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin reiterates that at Christ's return, the physical creation will undergo a radical reformation, making it a fit dwelling for glorified saints. He grounds this in the biblical…

Martin compares 2 Peter 3 and Romans 8 to the World Trade Center's twin towers, emphasizing their prominence and foundational importance for understanding the future of the physical universe.

There are many passages in the Old and the New Testament where this renovative, restorative work of God in a sin-cursed physical order is taught, but that there are two passages when we survey the landscape of Scripture that stand out like the World Trade Center's two towers stand out, the twin towers on the southern tip of the island of Manhattan. And if we master those two passages, we will have a grasp upon the fundamental teaching of the Word of God in answer to the question, what will happen to this physical universe?

17:10 - 17:51 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin reiterates that at Christ's return, the physical creation will undergo a radical reformation, making it a fit dwelling for glorified saints. He grounds this in the biblical…

He uses the flood as a paradigm for God's judgment and mercy, illustrating how a cataclysmic disruption can lead to salvation and a renewed world, foreshadowing Christ's return.

four references to the earth and five references to the heavens, so that the focus of that passage, as he says, the day of the Lord will come. The focus of that passage in connection with the second coming is what Jesus is going to do to the existing heavens and earth. And the paradigm is what God did when he came in judgment and mercy at the time of the flood. There was an overflowing of the entire world in that act of God by which Noah and his family float to safety,

18:31 - 19:14 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin poses four questions to the text, beginning with what creation does now. He explains that creation has an 'earnest expectation,' illustrated by neck-stretching…

To illustrate 'earnest expectation,' Martin describes people at an International Arrivals Building, stretching their necks and making gyrations to spot loved ones, conveying the eager anticipation of creation.

Something described as an earnest expectation. And this compound word, I think, can best be illustrated. It means to the stretching out of the neck. You're so eager to see something you long to see and expect, your neck is stretched out.

35:59 - 36:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Understand God's world by taking into account the biblical definition of its present order, acknowledging the disruption of the Fall.

He describes a majestic palace built by a king, later gutted and marred by an invading army. A traveler then analyzes the wreck, but cannot understand its true nature without knowing its original condition and devastation, illustrating how scientists cannot understand the present world without acknowledging creation and the Fall.

Imagine a king who's built a majestic palace, a king with tremendous resources at his disposal, physical, artistic, construction, and he wants to build a palace that wherever you look at it, it will reflect upon some aspect of the wealth, the wisdom, the power of that king. After some years in existence, an invading army comes to this man's, the citadel of his kingdom, and they lob large stones into the palace. And when they conquer the guard and enter the palace, they gut and burn and slash and mar. Much of that beauty

45:20 - 46:04 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The creator of order is not groaning in death throes but in birth pangs.

Martin quotes Calvin, who observed that creation is not groaning in death throes but in birth pangs, emphasizing that the present suffering anticipates a glorious future.

Groaning is the inarticulate language of pain, of excessive labor, of frustration, of disappointed longing and Paul says the whole creation is groaning together. And then he says the whole creation is travailing together literally in birth pangs, delivery pangs. As Calvin observed in almost every commentary of the Old Testament he says, the whole creation is travailing together literally in birth pangs. The commentator I've consulted quotes this from Calvin, the creator of order is not groaning in death throes but in birth pangs.

61:24 - 62:03 Read in full sermon