Earth Shall Wear Out Like a Garment

Well I "lied" again. (All the best laid plans of mice and men you know.) I'd intended to start with Ezekiel 38 & 39 but I got a few other pieces of Scripture puzzle to add here. Bit of fair warning here. This chapter… gets a little dark.

Earth wears out like a garment:

I concluded the last chapter with this statement about how the earth will wear out like a garment. When I went and looked up this phrase; I originally thought it was only in one verse; but actually it's in four verses.

Psalm 102:

25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.

26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:

27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.

I've included Isaiah 50 in here because though it's a Messianic passage and the "waxing old like a garment" isn't directly speaking of planet earth; it contains some really interesting information. (The interactions of the Persons of the Trinity as related to creating the cosmos is expressed in this passage. Kind of like God taking to Him-"selfs". Obviously the Son communicates these thoughts to the Father and Spirit in earthy time.)

Isaiah 50:

Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.

I think verse two is a reference to the incarnation; for at the creation of Adam, material death had not become part of the equation yet and at the point of the second coming, redemption is already established.

3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

Here's an interesting verse. What we see of "outer space" being black, is a result of the corruption brought upon the creation from the presence of evil. Another example of how the "creature groans and travails awaiting the revelation of the sons of God". Revelation 21:23 states that the New Jerusalem has no need of sun or moon because God is the light of the city. This gives an interesting insight as to the renewed structure of the incorruptible recreated cosmos.

4 The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens mine ear to hear as the learned.

This verse is Jesus's understanding of the reason for the way he presented himself as the Redeemer.

5 The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.

6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

7 For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

He understands that he will complete the atonement and will not lose what he came to accomplish.

8 He is near that justifies me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.

He can only make this statement because he has no sin of his own.

9 Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.

This is an interesting verse because in the context of the atonement, the One who "condemned" Christ for the point of atoning for sin, was the justice demanded of the character of God that evil can not stand in His presence. Thus sin had to be atoned for because those who were bought had been subject to the consequences of evil's presence; (we are all children of the fall) and had personally committed sin.

And because all of humanity has committed sin; we are those who in turn have condemned Christ. Believers condemn him with our sin, because he chose to atone for it. Also in relation to atoning for sin; Christ's death will remove the consequence of the fall upon the cosmos when the new heavens and new earth are recreated. Yet entities in the cosmos who are accountable to God for their choices to sin and are not redeemed; will be cast into the Lake of Fire when the cosmos is recreated.

This includes unregenerate humanity and what we know of fallen angels. I.E. - Are there other entities in the cosmos who've sinned and are not part of the redemption plan? We aren't given that information.

"They" (all who are under the domain of the fall) shall "wax old like a garment".

Here is the effect of evil as the fall was made manifest on the material cosmos. The state of being fallen is different than the act of committing personal sin. Sin comes about as a result of the fallen nature; but since carbon based life remains as independent actors in relation to the individual choice of what extent they will commit sin; thus humans are morally accountable for those choices and those who will be left to atone for their own sin, will earn their "wages" dependent on the choices of how much sin they do commit.

Fallen angels are a different story though. They are not part of the redemption plan. When they chose to sin; their fall was absolute and total, and they lost the ability to make morally right choices. This is why Scripture says (particularly of Satan) "there's no good thing in him".

The consequence of the presence of evil was the fall of Adam; which was initiated by his own choice to sin. The consequence to all material life was death. Thus all material life "waxes old like a garment". This happens because of the choice Adam made.

10 Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.

Now this is an interesting verse related contextually to Revelation 17:18:

And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

Now I'll get to the explanation of the last part of this verse "destroy them which destroy the earth" as it relates to "the earth waxes old like a garment" later on in this chapter.

For now though; note who gets a reward: "the prophets", "the saints" and "them who fear Your name both small and great". Which of course brings up an interesting caveat to the context of who Christ has atoned for. We know no one "gets into" the new heavens and new earth that Christ has not atoned for. Which brings up an interesting angle to the question of "the wicked" as opposed to the "run of the mill fallen sinner" who fears God and demonstrates that fear by maintaining some form of adherence to concepts of moral right.

They obey their conscience as to what they know of right and wrong regardless of whether or not they've ever been exposed to the declared proclamation of God's redemption plan by human agents. I.E. "the prophets" and "the saints". Note too that all three of these groups are relayed in this passage as "God's servants".

11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

This verse is interesting too. Those who "kindle a fire" by paying attention to their conscience and (if they have it) the Word of God. They are told to walk in the light of that fire; because it was given to them by the hand of God. The consequence of "walking in that light" is that they will "lay down in sorrow".

I haven't looked up what that means; whether or not "lay down in sorrow" it's a reference to the consequence of physical death that befalls all of us because we "wax old like a garment", or if it's the emotional toll of living in a corrupted cosmos; (or both). But it's an interesting conveyance that to obey God "walking in the light of your fire" also brings sorrow.

Now the next passage I will talk about is Isaiah 51:6. This passage is referenced in Hebrews 1:11, which is also reflected in Psalm 102:26

Condition of the earth as a "marker" for the end:

Isaiah 51:6:

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

For now, I'm only going to address this one verse because the rest of Isaiah 51 is so full that it deserves it's own chapter in this study. It's another "puzzle piece" that gives information (and encouragement) to those who face the unfolding of the bitter end of time. At the point where the "tipping of the scale" has become obvious that the "earth has worn out like a garment".

The "point of no return", when we know the planet is sick and everything is dying has indeed come upon us. And after we take a look at this, we'll better understand how we know where we are in history!

Now for the phrases in the verse:

"The heavens shall vanish away like smoke".

"The earth shall wax old like a garment".

"They that dwell therein shall die in like manner".

Heavens vanish away like smoke:

In the Hebrew, this phrase literally means "to rub with salt until it disintegrates like smoke". This is compared to the earth waxing old like a garment.

Now a reasonable question is: Does this have application to "the heavens" as we understand "outer space"? This doesn't appear to be the case on account of the context of one "standing on earth" looking into the heavens, in connection to the "earth waxing old" and "them that dwell within dying in like manner".

Scripture conveys the idea of "three heavens".

The "first heaven" is what we'd call the upper atmosphere of the planet.

The "second heaven" is what we'd call outer space; even if we take that to mean what's outside of our solar system.

The "third heaven" is described in Scripture as being the domaine of God's dwelling presence. In 2 Corinthians 12:2 Paul describes being taken to the third heaven. He calls this "paradise" (12:4). The New Jerusalem is in the "third heaven". (Revelation 3:12) The "tree of life" is "paradise". (Revelation 2:7) Revelation 21 and 22 describe the New Jerusalem and what is contained in the city. The "tree of life" is in the city and so is the throne of God. All of this is in the "third heaven".

So obviously the "third heaven" is not going to "vanish away like smoke".

The "second heaven" (or actually heavens = plural - Isaiah 34:4) shall be "rolled together as a scroll". The "host of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll".

Note: Isaiah 34:4 is not the same context as Isaiah 51:6

We know the New Jerusalem "comes down from heaven". And we assume the "heavens rolled together as a scroll" is talking about the created cosmos "heavens". But…. is it really that, or are the "heavens" that are "rolled together as a scroll" actually the second and third heavens? Meaning in the destruction of the current cosmos comes the "merging" of an incorruptible "singular" heaven? That does appear to be the final outcome.

The "host of heaven shall be dissolved" (Isaiah 34:4) could be planetary bodies, dominions of entities that are not "carbon based" or; (most likely) both. Also context of what's in "the heaven" as related to the "first heaven" being "dissolved" would also include satellites and "space junk", as well as the Van Allen Belts, the ozone, the upper atmosphere etc. This also would include our planetary sun because we know it's "put out"; goes black as sackcloth of hair. (Revelation 6:12)

All of this in Isaiah 34:4 though, is related to the end of time; not "earth wearing out like a garment".

Earth wears out like a garment:

Thus the context of "heavens vanishing away like smoke" (Isaiah 51:6) is connected to "earth wearing out like a garment". This isn't talking about the arrival of Judgement Day. This is talking about the state of the earth just prior to the arrival of Judgement Day.

The "heavens vanish away like smoke". They are "rubbed with salt" that they "disintegrate".

"Ironically", the material world present day manifestation of this, is the depletion of the ozone. Ozone depletion in our day is mostly caused by what's called "fluorocarbons". "Fluorocarbons" are made up of carbon and fluorine molecules. How fluorocarbons deplete the ozone, is the collection of water high up into the atmosphere has a negative interaction with the O2 chains of molecules that make up the ozone layer. I don't know what the mechanism is; but the O2 ozone molecules break apart and eventually come back to earth in / as rain.

Volcanic activity also depletes the ozone. But the difference between pre-industrial volcanic activity and the state of things today, is a mass loss of balance between the trees, plankton / algae etc. that takes the CO2 out of the atmosphere and converts it to O2, to be used by the animals that give the plants CO2 to covert.

Modern industrialization has caused a greater concentration of CO2 trapped in the bi-products of the burning of fossil fuels. Combine that with massive deforestation used to support the expansion of industrialization; driven by the explosion in human population over the past 150 years and the "earth waxes old like a garment".

The word "waxes old" actually means "to be consumed". To "use up". To "expend the resource" as "wearing" wears out a garment. Thus "they that dwell therein shall die in like manner".

They that dwell therein shall die in like manner:

Note what's happening on the planet around us. We're loosing the bees, the frogs, insects, species are going extinct, the oceans are almost empty. There's massive amounts of all manner of pollution and a lot of trash on this planet.

That is a direct result of the vast number of us who are now alive, using the natural resources. We don't live in an endless energy sourced cosmos. The gas / oil / energy resources that were in the earth; we can't "put back". We can do certain things to make more quickly renewable resources; but the amount of energy that has already been expended, has "tipped the scales" against the planet being able to repair itself, as it had in centuries past.

For example post flood. There was nothing to prevent the balance of ecosystems from resetting themselves. There were only 8 humans and the "presence of evil" that (for example) had manifest itself (likely) in what dinosaurs had turned into between the fall and the flood. (They probably weren't the "terrible lizards" they are believed to come to "evolve" into by the time we get to the flood.) Also obviously the flood had a profound impact on the environment of earth. Which the dinosaurs having been taken out of the way; gave rise to the dominance of mammals.

There were no "national economies" to support, no industrial farming, no manufacturing, no fossil fuel mining, fuel burning, nuclear testing, atomic weapons, nuclear power plants, industrial pollution of water, air and land. All these things came about as advancements in medicine, hygiene and industrial convenience created an explosion in the human population.

Two hundred years ago 75% of this planet's land mass was covered in wild forest and only 25% was used for farming. Today that statistic is reversed. 75% of earth's land mass is used for farming and only 25% is covered in wild forest. All that has come about due to the massive task of feeding the nearly 8 billion human population. We are currently the largest "large mammal" population on the planet and much of the mass numbers of smaller mammals (like chickens) are bread by humans as food for humans.

Thus we've "passed the point of no return" on account of the size of the current human population.

In turn it seems obvious to me, that what is "stated" to be driving the global elites "Great Reset", "green" / "save the earth" agenda, is an impending knowledge that this planet is F**** and there's no place else to go. We do not posses the technology to colonize the moon, Mars, or any such thing. (We can't actually even get to the moon!)

On the flip side of all that though; the "green new deal" is actually just a money laundering scheme, because the elites know that there is no "out". What it would take to convert to a different resource expenditure (like solar power); we don't even have the resources currently to expend to get there. We'd be out of coal, oil, gas etc. before we'd ever be able to totally convert over to more "environmentally friendly" methods of energy consumption.

The earth is "waxing old like a garment". The atmosphere is "vanishing away like smoke" and we are all dying just like the rest of the planet. The human attempt to avoid that truth, has created the social "mass formation psychosis" Professor Mattis Desmet spoke of. It's created bio engineered pandemics, deadly gene editing "vaccines" and totalitarian measures, in an attempt to control the sense of impending doom that (particularly those engaged in these myriad of wicked actions) know is coming.

The "plan" for a "mass extinction event" in hopes of "saving the planet" isn't working for the elites, because they know the massive numbers of "plebs" with their pitchforks will take them out before that ever happens. Being created in the image of God prevents the average human from justifying genocide as morally right for the "good of the environment".

So even if it is true, that all the Covid vaxxed die in the next 3 to 5 years specifically from the shots; we're still left with 4 billion people. At the state current trends are moving though; it looks more like people are going to die of starvation and civil unrest more than the Covid shots. How ever they try to slice the cake though; there's too many people, not enough resources and not enough time. We had 4.5 billion people in 1984. It only took 40 years to double the planet's population. (And personally, I'd really be surprised if we got 40 years left!)

So looking at all of this, and yes I know there are lots of "Christians" who don't want to believe "the narrative" that we are soon running short on energy resources; (but we are). If you look at the statistics of the amount of natural resources that are harvested every year; we are on a downward trend despite the fact that in general the size of the human population hasn't decreased significantly. Oil production (as it stands right now with what we know is "where" and accessible in the ground) we are past peak oil. In places were there probably are more resources; (like Siberia, Alaska and Canada) will require concerted effort (as well as the expenditure of energy on the front end) to access it.

The next question becomes; how many of us are going to survive the "down trend"? (I don't know the answer to that?) If it were solely left to "Mad Max" type "apocalypse survival skills"; it's not likely that my son or myself will be two that do.

Where's our Hope?

Other than: "Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus".

Ultimately that is the only hope we do have; despite the possibility that this may only be about a decade; the interim process between "now" and "then" may get quite difficult. Thus the question Jesus poses: "Will I find faith on the earth when I do return?"

So, what will be the content of the next chapter? I have a couple of other ideas kicking around in my head; but I think they will go in different studies.

1. The phrase "publicans and sinners" as related to Jesus fulfilling the law before beginning to preach. He was accused of many transgressions of the law, thus if he fulfilled the law prior to preaching, did he continue to consistently observe things such as dietary regulations during his preaching? There appears to be certain circumstances where that wasn't the case. Although I've decided that I'll deal with those passages in the "law keeping" study.

2. I dove a little more deeply into the phrase "unless those days be shortened; no flesh should be saved". I'll cover that in another study too. I think it may be a good idea to post a study which specifically deals with the subject of the sequence of the atonement. Despite the fact that I've covered a lot of that information at various points in these End Times studies.