Everlasting Life on Earth​—A God-Given Hope

“The creation was subjected to futility . . . on the basis of hope.”​—ROM. 8:20.

1, 2. (a) Why is the hope of everlasting life on earth important to us? (b) Why are many people skeptical about everlasting life on earth?

PERHAPS you recall the joy you felt when you first learned that in the near future, people will no longer grow old and die but will live forever on earth. (John 17:3; Rev. 21:3, 4) You have probably enjoyed sharing that Scriptural hope with others. After all, the hope of everlasting life is an essential aspect of the good news that we preach. It molds our very outlook on life.

² For the most part, the religions of Christendom have ignored the hope of everlasting life on earth. Whereas the Bible teaches that the soul dies, the majority of churches teach the unscriptural doctrine that man has an immortal soul that survives death and lives on in the spirit realm. (Ezek. 18:20) Hence, many people are skeptical about everlasting life on earth. We might therefore ask: Does the Bible really support that hope? If so, when did God first reveal it to humans?

“Subjected to Futility . . . on the Basis of Hope”

3. How was God’s purpose for man evident from the start of human history?

³ Jehovah’s purpose for mankind was made evident at the very beginning of human history. God clearly indicated that Adam would live forever if he was obedient. (Gen. 2:9, 17; 3:22) Adam’s early descendants no doubt learned about man’s fall from perfection, which was confirmed by visible evidence. The entrance to the garden of Eden was blocked, and people grew old and died. (Gen. 3:23, 24) With the passing of time, the human life span declined. Adam lived for 930 years. The Flood survivor Shem lived for only 600 years, and his son Arpachshad for 438 years. Abraham’s father, Terah, lived for 205 years. The life span of Abraham was 175 years, that of his son Isaac was 180 years, and that of Jacob was 147 years. (Gen. 5:5; 11:10-13, 32; 25:7; 35:28; 47:28) Many people must have realized what this decline meant​—the prospect of everlasting life had been lost! Did they have reason for hope in its restoration?

4. What basis did faithful men of old have for believing that God would restore the blessings that Adam had lost?

⁴ God’s Word says: “The [human] creation was subjected to futility . . . on the basis of hope.” (Rom. 8:20) What hope? The very first prophecy of the Bible pointed to a “seed” that would ‘bruise the serpent in the head.’ (Read Genesis 3:1-5, 15.) To faithful humans, the promise of that Seed provided a basis for hope that God would not abandon his purpose for mankind. It gave men like Abel and Noah a reason to believe that God would restore the blessings that Adam had lost. These men may have realized that the ‘bruising in the heel of the seed’ would involve the shedding of blood.​—Gen. 4:4; 8:20; Heb. 11:4.

5. What shows that Abraham had faith in the resurrection?

⁵ Consider Abraham. When being tested, Abraham “as good as offered up Isaac, . . . his only-begotten son.” (Heb. 11:17) Why was he willing to do this? (Read Hebrews 11:19.) He believed in the resurrection! Abraham had a basis for his belief in the resurrection. After all, Jehovah had brought back to life Abraham’s reproductive powers and had made it possible for him and his wife, Sarah, to produce a son in their old age. (Gen. 18:10-14; 21:1-3; Rom. 4:19-21) Abraham also had Jehovah’s word. God had said to him: “It is by means of Isaac that what will be called your seed will be.” (Gen. 21:12) Therefore, Abraham had sound reasons for expecting that God would resurrect Isaac.

6, 7. (a) What covenant did Jehovah make with Abraham? (b) How did Jehovah’s promise to Abraham provide hope for mankind?

⁶ Because of Abraham’s outstanding faith, Jehovah made a covenant with him regarding his offspring, or “seed.” (Read Genesis 22:18.) The primary part of the “seed” proved to be Jesus Christ. (Gal. 3:16) Jehovah had told Abraham that his “seed” would be multiplied “like the stars of the heavens and like the grains of sand that are on the seashore”​—a number unknown to Abraham. (Gen. 22:17) However, later that number was revealed. Jesus Christ and the 144,000, who will rule with him in his Kingdom, constitute the “seed.” (Gal. 3:29; Rev. 7:4; 14:1) The Messianic Kingdom is the means by which “all nations of the earth will . . . bless themselves.”

⁷ Abraham could not possibly have understood the full significance of the covenant Jehovah made with him. Nevertheless, “he was awaiting the city having real foundations,” states the Bible. (Heb. 11:10) That city is God’s Kingdom. To receive blessings under that Kingdom, Abraham will have to live again. Everlasting life on earth will be possible for him through the resurrection. And life eternal will be possible for those who survive Armageddon or those who will be raised from the dead.​—Rev. 7:9, 14; 20:12-14.

“Spirit Has Brought Pressure Upon Me”

8, 9. Why is the book of Job not merely an account of one man’s trials?

⁸ During the time period between the lives of Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph and the prophet Moses, there lived a man named Job. The Bible book of Job, likely composed by Moses, explains why Jehovah allowed Job to suffer and how the matter turned out for him. However, the book of Job is not merely an account about one man’s trials; it centers on issues of universal importance. The book provides insight into Jehovah’s righteousness in exercising his sovereignty, and it reveals that the integrity and life prospects of all of God’s earthly servants are involved in the issue raised in Eden. Although Job did not understand this issue, he did not allow his three companions to make him think that he had failed as an integrity keeper. (Job 27:5) This should strengthen our faith and help us to realize that we can maintain our integrity and uphold Jehovah’s sovereignty.

⁹ After Job’s three so-called comforters had finished speaking, “Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite proceeded to answer.” What moved him to speak? “I have become full of words,” he said. “Spirit has brought pressure upon me in my belly.” (Job 32:5, 6, 18) Although what Elihu spoke under inspiration was fulfilled in Job’s restoration, his words are also meaningful to others. They hold out hope for all integrity keepers.

10. What shows that Jehovah’s message to an individual sometimes has a broader application to mankind in general?

¹⁰ Jehovah sometimes gives a message to an individual that also has a broader application for mankind in general. This can be seen from Daniel’s prophecy involving Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about the chopping down of an immense tree. (Dan. 4:10-27) While that dream had a fulfillment in connection with Nebuchadnezzar, it pointed to something far greater. It indicated that divine sovereignty toward the earth expressed by a kingdom in the line of King David would be manifested again after a period of 2,520 years, beginning in 607 B.C.E.a God’s sovereignty toward our globe began to be asserted anew with the installation of Jesus Christ as heavenly King in the year 1914. Just think of how Kingdom rule will soon fulfill the hopes of obedient mankind!

“Let Him Off From Going Down Into the Pit!”

11. Elihu’s words indicated what about God?

¹¹ In making a reply to Job, Elihu speaks of “a messenger, a spokesman, one out of a thousand, to tell to man his uprightness.” What if this messenger makes “entreaty to God that he may take pleasure in him”? Elihu says: “Then he [God] favors him and says, ‘Let him off from going down into the pit! I have found a ransom! Let his flesh become fresher than in youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor.’” (Job 33:23-26) Those words indicated God’s willingness to accept “a ransom,” or “covering,” in behalf of repentant humans.​—Job 33:24, ftn.

12. The words of Elihu provide what hope for mankind in general?

¹² Elihu probably did not understand the full significance of the ransom, even as prophets did not completely comprehend everything they wrote. (Dan. 12:8; 1 Pet. 1:10-12) Still, Elihu’s words reflect the hope that God would one day accept a ransom and set man free from the process of aging and from death. Elihu’s words presented the wonderful prospect of everlasting life. The book of Job also shows that there will be a resurrection.​—Job 14:14, 15.

13. Christians find what meaning in Elihu’s words?

¹³ Today, Elihu’s words continue to have meaning for millions of Christians who hope to survive the destruction of the present system of things. Elderly ones among the survivors will return to the days of their youthful vigor. (Rev. 7:9, 10, 14-17) Moreover, the prospect of seeing resurrected ones restored to the days of their youth continues to delight faithful people. Of course, both immortality in heaven for anointed Christians and everlasting life on earth for Jesus’ “other sheep” depend on the exercising of faith in Christ’s ransom sacrifice.​—John 10:16; Rom. 6:23.

Death Swallowed Up From the Earth

14. What shows that something more than the Mosaic Law was needed in order for the Israelites to entertain the hope of everlasting life?

¹⁴ The offspring of Abraham became an independent nation when they entered into a covenant relationship with God. When giving them the Law, Jehovah stated: “You must keep my statutes and my judicial decisions, which if a man will do, he must also live by means of them.” (Lev. 18:5) Since they could not live up to the Law’s perfect standards, however, the Israelites were condemned by the Law and needed a release from that condemnation.​—Gal. 3:13.

15. About what future blessing was David inspired to write?

¹⁵ After Moses, Jehovah inspired other Bible writers to mention the hope of everlasting life. (Ps. 21:4; 37:29) For example, the psalmist David concluded a psalm about the unity of true worshippers at Zion with the words: “There Jehovah commanded the blessing to be, even life to time indefinite.”​—Ps. 133:3.

16. Through Isaiah, what did Jehovah promise about the future of “all the earth”?

¹⁶ Jehovah inspired Isaiah to prophesy about everlasting life on earth. (Read Isaiah 25:7, 8.) Like a suffocating “envelopment”​—a blanket—​sin and death have weighed heavily on mankind. Jehovah assures his people that sin and death will be swallowed up, or removed, “from all the earth.”

17. What prophetic role of the Messiah opens the way to everlasting life?

¹⁷ Consider also the procedure stipulated in the Mosaic Law concerning the goat for Azazel. Once a year, on Atonement Day, the high priest ‘laid both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confessed over it all the errors of the sons of Israel, and he put them upon the head of the goat and the goat carried upon itself all their errors into a desert land.’ (Lev. 16:7-10, 21, 22) Isaiah foretold the coming of the Messiah, who would play a similar role and carry away “sicknesses,” “pains,” and “the very sin of many people,” thus opening the way to everlasting life.​—Read Isaiah 53:4-6, 12.

18, 19. What hope is highlighted at Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:13?

¹⁸ Through Isaiah, Jehovah told his people Israel: “Your dead ones will live. A corpse of mine [“my killed ones,” ftn.]​—they will rise up. Awake and cry out joyfully, you residents in the dust! For your dew is as the dew of mallows, and the earth itself will let even those impotent in death drop in birth.” (Isa. 26:19) The Hebrew Scriptures clearly set forth the hope of a resurrection and life on earth. When Daniel was almost 100 years old, for example, Jehovah assured him: “You will rest, but you will stand up for your lot at the end of the days.”​—Dan. 12:13.

¹⁹ Because of the resurrection hope, Martha could say to Jesus concerning her dead brother: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” (John 11:24) Did the teachings of Jesus and the inspired writings of his disciples change this hope? Is everlasting life on earth still the hope that Jehovah offers to mankind? We will consider the answers to these questions in the next article.

[Footnote]

Everlasting Life on Earth​—A Christian Hope?

“[God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more.”​—REV. 21:4.

1, 2. How do we know that many first-century Jews had the hope of everlasting life on earth?

A RICH and prominent young man ran up to Jesus, fell upon his knees before him, and asked: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit everlasting life?” (Mark 10:17) The young man was asking about inheriting everlasting life​—but where? As we discussed in the preceding article, centuries earlier God had given the Jews the hope of a resurrection and everlasting life on earth. That hope prevailed among many first-century Jews.

² Jesus’ friend Martha apparently had in mind restoration to life on earth when she said of her deceased brother: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” (John 11:24) True, the Sadducees of the time denied the resurrection. (Mark 12:18) However, in his book Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era, George Foot Moore says: “Writings . . . of the second or first centuries before our era attest the belief that at the expected turning-point in the history of the world the dead of former generations would be brought to life again on earth.” The rich man who approached Jesus wanted to gain eternal life on earth.

3. What questions will be considered in this article?

³ Today, many religions and Bible scholars deny that the hope of living forever on earth is a Christian teaching. Most people hope for an afterlife in the spirit realm. So when readers of the Christian Greek Scriptures come across the expression “everlasting life,” many think that it always refers to life in heaven. Is that true? What did Jesus mean when he spoke of everlasting life? What did his disciples believe? Do the Christian Greek Scriptures hold out the hope of everlasting life on earth?

Everlasting Life “in the Re-Creation”

4. What is to take place “in the re-creation”?

⁴ The Bible teaches that anointed Christians will be resurrected to rule over the earth from heaven. (Luke 12:32; Rev. 5:9, 10; 14:1-3) When Jesus spoke about everlasting life, however, he did not always have only that group in mind. Consider what he said to his disciples after the rich young man turned away grieved at the invitation to leave all his belongings behind and become a follower of Christ. (Read Matthew 19:28, 29.) Jesus told his apostles that they would be among those who would rule as kings and judge “the twelve tribes of Israel,” that is, the world of mankind outside that heavenly ruling class. (1 Cor. 6:2) He also spoke of a reward for “everyone” who follows him. Such individuals too “will inherit everlasting life.” All of this is to take place “in the re-creation.”

5. How would you define “the re-creation”?

⁵ What did Jesus mean by “the re-creation”? The term is translated “the new world” in The Bible​—An American Translation. It is rendered “when all is made new” in The Jerusalem Bible and “the renewal of all things” in The Holy Bible​—New International Version. Since Jesus used the term without explanation, he evidently referred to what had been the Jewish hope for centuries. There was to be a re-creation of conditions on earth, so that things would be as they were in the garden of Eden before Adam and Eve sinned. The re-creation will fulfill God’s promise of “creating new heavens and a new earth.”​—Isa. 65:17.

6. The illustration of the sheep and the goats teaches us what about the hope of everlasting life?

⁶ Jesus again spoke of everlasting life in his discourse about the conclusion of the system of things. (Matt. 24:1-3) “When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him,” he said, “then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Those receiving an adverse judgment “will depart into everlasting cutting-off, but the righteous ones into everlasting life.” “The righteous ones” who receive everlasting life are those who loyally support Christ’s spirit-anointed “brothers.” (Matt. 25:31-34, 40, 41, 45, 46) Since the anointed are chosen to be rulers in the heavenly Kingdom, “the righteous ones” must be the earthly subjects of that Kingdom. The Bible foretold: “[Jehovah’s King] will have subjects from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.” (Ps. 72:8) These subjects will enjoy everlasting life on earth.

What Does the Gospel of John Show?

7, 8. Concerning what two different hopes did Jesus speak to Nicodemus?

⁷ As recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus uses the term “everlasting life” on the aforementioned occasions. The Gospel according to John quotes Jesus’ words about living forever some 17 times. Let us examine some of those occurrences to see what Jesus said about the hope of everlasting life on earth.

⁸ According to John, Jesus first spoke about everlasting life to a Pharisee named Nicodemus. He told Nicodemus: “Unless anyone is born from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Those entering the Kingdom of the heavens must be “born again.” (John 3:3-5) Jesus did not stop with that. He then spoke of the hope that is open to the whole world. (Read John 3:16.) Jesus was referring to the hope of everlasting life for his anointed followers in heaven and for others on earth.

9. About what hope did Jesus speak to a Samaritan woman?

⁹ After speaking to Nicodemus in Jerusalem, Jesus traveled north toward Galilee. On the way, he met a woman at Jacob’s fountain near the city of Sychar in Samaria. He told her: “Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty at all, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water bubbling up to impart everlasting life.” (John 4:5, 6, 14) This water represents God’s provisions for the restoration of all mankind to everlasting life, including those who will live on earth. In the book of Revelation, God himself is portrayed as saying: “To anyone thirsting I will give from the fountain of the water of life free.” (Rev. 21:5, 6; 22:17) Thus, Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman about everlasting life not only for the anointed Kingdom heirs but also for believing mankind having an earthly hope.

10. After curing a man at the pool of Bethzatha, what did Jesus tell religious opposers about everlasting life?

¹⁰ The following year, Jesus was again in Jerusalem. There he restored a sick man to health at the pool of Bethzatha. To the Jews who criticized what he did, Jesus explained that “the Son cannot do a single thing of his own initiative, but only what he beholds the Father doing.” After telling them that the Father “has committed all the judging to the Son,” Jesus said: “He that hears my word and believes him that sent me has everlasting life.” Jesus also said: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear [the Son of man’s] voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:1-9, 19, 22, 24-29) Jesus was telling the persecuting Jews that he was the one appointed by God to fulfill the Jewish hope of everlasting life on earth and that he would do so by raising the dead.

11. How do we know that the hope of everlasting life on earth is included in what Jesus said as recorded at John 6:48-51?

¹¹ In Galilee, thousands of people who wanted bread miraculously provided by Jesus began following him. Jesus spoke to them about another type of bread​—“the bread of life.” (Read John 6:40, 48-51.) “The bread that I shall give is my flesh,” he said. Jesus gave his life not only for those who would rule with him in his heavenly Kingdom but also “in behalf of the life of the world” of redeemable mankind. “If anyone eats of this bread,” that is, exercises faith in the redeeming power of Jesus’ sacrifice, he will be in line for everlasting life. Indeed, the reference to ‘living forever’ included the long-held Jewish hope of everlasting life on earth during the Messiah’s reign.

12. Jesus was referring to what hope when he told opposers that ‘he will give everlasting life to his sheep’?

¹² Later, at the Festival of Dedication in Jerusalem, Jesus told his opposers: “You do not believe, because you are none of my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them everlasting life.” (John 10:26-28) Was Jesus speaking only of life in heaven, or did he also have in mind eternal life in an earthly paradise? Jesus had recently comforted his followers with the words: “Have no fear, little flock, because your Father has approved of giving you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) At the time of this same Festival of Dedication, however, Jesus said: “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring.” (John 10:16) Hence, when Jesus spoke to those opposers, his words included both the hope of heavenly life for the “little flock” and the hope of everlasting life on earth for millions of “other sheep.”

A Hope That Required No Explanation

13. What did Jesus mean when he said: “You will be with me in Paradise”?

¹³ During his agony on the torture stake, Jesus provided irrefutable confirmation of mankind’s hope. An evildoer impaled alongside him said: “Jesus, remember me when you get into your kingdom.” Jesus promised him: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:42, 43) Since this man evidently was a Jew, he needed no explanation about Paradise. He knew about the hope of everlasting life on earth in a world to come.

14. (a) What shows that the reference to a heavenly hope was difficult for the apostles to understand? (b) When did Jesus’ followers gain a clear understanding of the heavenly hope?

¹⁴ What did require an explanation, however, was Jesus’ reference to the heavenly hope. When he spoke to his disciples about his going to heaven to prepare a place for them, they did not understand what he meant. (Read John 14:2-5.) “I have many things yet to say to you,” he later told them, “but you are not able to bear them at present. However, when that one arrives, the spirit of the truth, he will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:12, 13) Only after Pentecost of 33 C.E. when they were anointed by God’s spirit to be future kings did Jesus’ followers discern that their thrones would be in heaven. (1 Cor. 15:49; Col. 1:5; 1 Pet. 1:3, 4) The hope of a heavenly inheritance was a revelation, and it became the focus of the inspired letters in the Christian Greek Scriptures. But do these letters reaffirm mankind’s hope of everlasting life on earth?

What Do the Inspired Letters Say?

15, 16. How do the inspired letter to the Hebrews and the words of Peter point to the hope of everlasting life on earth?

¹⁵ In his letter to the Hebrews, the apostle Paul addressed his fellow believers as “holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling.” However, he also stated that God has subjected to Jesus “the inhabited earth to come.” (Heb. 2:3, 5; 3:1) In the Christian Greek Scriptures, the original word for “inhabited earth” always refers to earth populated by humans. Hence, “the inhabited earth to come” is the future system of things on earth under the rulership of Jesus Christ. Jesus will then fulfill God’s promise: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”​—Ps. 37:29.

¹⁶ The apostle Peter was also inspired to write about the future of mankind. He wrote: “The heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.” (2 Pet. 3:7) What will replace the governmental heavens and the wicked human society that are present now? (Read 2 Peter 3:13.) They will be replaced by “new heavens”​—God’s Messianic Kingdom—​and “a new earth”​—a righteous human society of true worshippers.

17. How is mankind’s hope described at Revelation 21:1-4?

¹⁷ The last book of the Bible stirs our hearts with its vision of mankind lifted to perfection. (Read Revelation 21:1-4.) This has been the hope of believing mankind ever since human perfection was lost in the garden of Eden. Upright people will live in Paradise on earth endlessly without aging. This hope is solidly based on both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Greek Scriptures, and it continues to strengthen faithful servants of Jehovah to this day.​—Rev. 22:1, 2.

Everlasting Life on Earth​—A Hope Rediscovered

“O Daniel, make secret the words . . . until the time of the end. Many will rove about, and the true knowledge will become abundant.”​—DAN. 12:4.

1, 2. What questions will be considered in this article?

MILLIONS of people today clearly understand the Scriptural basis for the hope of living forever in an earthly paradise. (Rev. 7:9, 17) At the beginning of human history, God revealed that man was made, not to live a few years and then die, but to live forever.​—Gen. 1:26-28.

² The lifting of mankind to the perfection that Adam lost was part of the hope of Israel. The Christian Greek Scriptures explain by what means God will make possible everlasting life for mankind in Paradise on earth. So why did man’s hope have to be rediscovered? How was it brought to light and made known to millions?

A Hope Obscured

3. Why is it not surprising that mankind’s hope of everlasting life on earth was obscured?

³ Jesus foretold that false prophets would corrupt his teachings and that most people would be misled. (Matt. 24:11) The apostle Peter warned Christians: “There will also be false teachers among you.” (2 Pet. 2:1) The apostle Paul spoke of “a period of time when [people would] not put up with the healthful teaching, but, in accord with their own desires, they [would] accumulate teachers for themselves to have their ears tickled.” (2 Tim. 4:3, 4) Satan is involved in misleading people and has used apostate Christianity to obscure the heartwarming truth about God’s purpose for man and the earth.​—Read 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4.

4. What hope for mankind have apostate religious leaders rejected?

⁴ The Scriptures explain that the Kingdom of God is a government in heaven that will crush and put an end to all man-made rulerships. (Dan. 2:44) During Christ’s rule of a thousand years, Satan will be confined to an abyss, the dead will be resurrected, and mankind will be elevated to perfection on earth. (Rev. 20:1-3, 6, 12; 21:1-4) However, apostate religious leaders of Christendom have embraced other ideas. For example, third-century Church Father Origen of Alexandria condemned believers in the earthly blessings of the Millennium. Catholic theologian Augustine of Hippo (354-430 C.E.) “held to the conviction that there will be no millennium,” says The Catholic Encyclopedia.a

5, 6. Why did Origen and Augustine oppose millennialism?

⁵ Why did Origen and Augustine oppose millennialism? Origen was a pupil of Clement of Alexandria, who borrowed the idea of an immortal soul from Greek tradition. Being strongly influenced by Plato’s ideas about the soul, Origen “built into Christian doctrine the whole cosmic drama of the soul, which he took from Plato,” observes theologian Werner Jaeger. Consequently, Origen shifted the earthly blessings of the Millennium to the spiritual realm.

⁶ Before converting to “Christianity” at the age of 33, Augustine had become a Neoplatonist​—an adherent of a version of Plato’s philosophy developed by Plotinus in the third century. After Augustine’s conversion, his thinking remained Neoplatonic. “His mind was the crucible in which the religion of the New Testament was most completely fused with the Platonic tradition of Greek philosophy,” states The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Augustine explained the Thousand Year Reign depicted in Revelation chapter 20 by giving “an allegorical explanation of [it],” states The Catholic Encyclopedia. It adds: “This explanation . . . was adopted by succeeding Western theologians, and millenarianism in its earlier shape no longer received support.”

7. What false belief has undermined man’s hope of everlasting life on earth, and how?

⁷ Mankind’s hope of everlasting life on earth was undermined by an idea that prevailed in ancient Babylon and spread worldwide​—the idea that man has an immortal soul or spirit that merely inhabits a physical body. When Christendom adopted that idea, theologians twisted the Scriptures to make texts that describe the heavenly hope appear to teach that all good people go to heaven. According to this view, a person’s life on earth is intended to be transitory​—a test to determine if he is worthy of life in heaven. Something similar happened to the early Jewish hope of everlasting life on earth. As the Jews gradually adopted the Greek idea of inherent immortality, their original hope of life on earth faded. How different this is from the way man is presented in the Bible! Man is a physical creature, not a spirit. Jehovah said to the first man: “Dust you are.” (Gen. 3:19) The earth, not heaven, is man’s everlasting home.​—Read Psalm 104:5; 115:16.

Truth Flashes Up in the Darkness

8. What did some scholars of the 1600’s say about man’s hope?

⁸ Although most religions that claim to be Christian deny the hope of everlasting life on earth, Satan did not always succeed in obscuring the truth. Down through the ages, a few careful Bible readers saw flashes of truth as they understood some aspects of how God will restore mankind to perfection. (Ps. 97:11; Matt. 7:13, 14; 13:37-39) By the 1600’s, Bible translation and printing had made the Holy Scriptures more widely available. In 1651, one scholar wrote that since through Adam men “have forfeited Paradise, and Eternall Life on Earth,” so in the Christ “all men shall be made to live on Earth; for else the comparison were not proper.” (Read 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22.) One of the English-speaking world’s famous poets, John Milton (1608-1674), wrote Paradise Lost and its sequel Paradise Regained. In his works, Milton referred to the reward that the faithful will receive in an earthly paradise. Although Milton dedicated much of his life to Bible study, he recognized that Scriptural truth would not be pieced together until Christ’s presence.

9, 10. (a) What did Isaac Newton write about mankind’s hope? (b) Why did the time for Christ’s presence seem distant to Newton?

⁹ The famous mathematician Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) also had a keen interest in the Bible. He understood that the holy ones will be raised to heavenly life and will rule invisibly with Christ. (Rev. 5:9, 10) As for the subjects of the Kingdom, he wrote: “The earth shall continue to be inhabited by mortals after the day of judgment and that not only for a 1000 years but even for ever.”

¹⁰ Newton considered Christ’s presence to be centuries away. “One reason why Newton saw the Kingdom of God so far in the future was because he was profoundly pessimistic about the deep Trinitarian apostasy he saw around him,” said historian Stephen Snobelen. The good news was still veiled. And Newton saw no Christian movement that could preach it. He wrote: “These prophecies of Daniel and John [the latter recorded in the book of Revelation] should not be understood till the time of the end.” Newton explained: “‘Then,’ saith Daniel, ‘many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.’ For the Gospel must be preached in all nations before the great tribulation, and end of the world. The palm-bearing multitude, which come out of this great tribulation, cannot be innumerable out of all nations, unless they be made so by the preaching of the Gospel before it comes.”​—Dan. 12:4; Matt. 24:14; Rev. 7:9, 10.

11. Why did mankind’s hope remain obscure for most people in the days of Milton and Newton?

¹¹ In the days of Milton and Newton, to express ideas contrary to official doctrine of the church was dangerous. Therefore, much of their Bible scholarship remained unpublished until after their deaths. The Reformation of the 16th century failed to reform the teaching about inherent immortality, and mainstream Protestant churches continued to teach Augustine’s idea that the Millennium was past, not future. Has knowledge increased in the time of the end?

“The True Knowledge Will Become Abundant”

12. When was the true knowledge to become abundant?

¹² As regards “the time of the end,” Daniel foretold a very positive development. (Read Daniel 12:3, 4, 9, 10.) “At that time the righteous ones will shine as brightly as the sun,” said Jesus. (Matt. 13:43) How did the true knowledge become abundant in the time of the end? Consider some historical developments in the decades prior to 1914, the year when the time of the end began.

13. What did Charles Taze Russell write after examining the subject of restitution?

¹³ In the late 1800’s, a number of sincere individuals were searching for an understanding of “the pattern of healthful words.” (2 Tim. 1:13) One such person was Charles Taze Russell. In 1870 he and a few other truth-seekers formed a class for Bible study. In 1872 they examined the subject of restitution. Later, Russell wrote: “Up to that time we had failed to see clearly the great distinction between the reward of the church now on trial and the reward of the faithful of the world.” The reward of the latter will be “restoration to the perfection of human nature once enjoyed in Eden by their progenitor and head, Adam.” Russell acknowledged that he had been helped in his study of the Bible by others. Who were these?

14. (a) How did Henry Dunn understand Acts 3:21? (b) Who did Dunn say will live forever on earth?

¹⁴ Henry Dunn was one of them. He had written about the “restoration of all things of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old time.” (Acts 3:21) Dunn knew that this restoration included the elevation of mankind to perfection on earth during the Thousand Year Reign of Christ. Dunn also examined a question that had puzzled many, Who will live forever on earth? He explained that millions will be resurrected, taught the truth, and have the opportunity to exercise faith in Christ.

15. What did George Storrs discern about the resurrection?

¹⁵ In 1870, George Storrs also came to the conclusion that the unrighteous will be resurrected to an opportunity of everlasting life. He also discerned from the Scriptures that a resurrected one who fails to respond to this opportunity “will end in death, even if the ‘sinner be a hundred years old.’” (Isa. 65:20) Storrs lived in Brooklyn, New York, and edited a magazine called the Bible Examiner.

16. What set the Bible Students apart from Christendom?

¹⁶ Russell discerned from the Bible that the time had come to make the good news widely known. So in 1879, he started publishing Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, now called The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. Previously, the truth about mankind’s hope was understood by very few people, but now groups of Bible Students in many countries were receiving and studying The Watchtower. The belief that only a few will go to heaven, whereas millions will be given perfect human life on earth, set the Bible Students apart from most of Christendom.

17. How did true knowledge become plentiful?

¹⁷ The foretold “time of the end” began in 1914. Did true knowledge about the hope of mankind become plentiful? (Dan. 12:4) By 1913, Russell’s sermons were printed in 2,000 newspapers with a combined readership of 15,000,000. By the end of 1914, over 9,000,000 people on three continents had seen the “Photo-Drama of Creation”​—a program including motion pictures and slides that explained Christ’s Millennial Reign. From 1918 until 1925, the talk “Millions Now Living Will Never Die,” which explained the hope of everlasting life on earth, was presented by Jehovah’s servants in over 30 languages worldwide. By 1934, Jehovah’s Witnesses realized that those hoping to live forever on earth should be baptized. This understanding filled them with renewed zeal for preaching the good news of the Kingdom. Today, the prospect of living forever on earth fills the hearts of millions with gratitude toward Jehovah.

“Glorious Freedom” Ahead!

18, 19. What quality of life is foretold at Isaiah 65:21-25?

¹⁸ The prophet Isaiah was inspired to write about the kind of life that God’s people will enjoy on earth. (Read Isaiah 65:21-25.) Certain trees that were alive some 2,700 years ago when Isaiah wrote those words are evidently still alive today. Can you imagine yourself living that long with strength and good health?

¹⁹ Instead of being a short walk from the cradle to the grave, life will present endless opportunities to build, plant, and learn. Think of the friendships you will be able to cultivate. Those loving relationships will continue to grow indefinitely. What “glorious freedom” will then be enjoyed on earth by “the children of God”!​—Rom. 8:21.

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