This passage, and especially the phrase ‘remain forever,’ has puzzled many a person over the years. If we are to understand this expression, it’s important that we read the entire verse. I think that most people will be aware of the fact that this is a verse to which such people as the so-called and self-named ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ turn when they look to support their theory concerning the future of the present earth.
In the first volume of his six-volume series which he entitled ‘studies in the Scriptures’, and first published in 1886, Charles T. Russell, the father of what has become the present day ‘Watchtower’ organisation, sowed the seed of the erroneous doctrine which declares that this present earth will not be destroyed, but will ‘remain forever’ because it will be renovated and prepared for use as the paradise home of those who accept their ‘Kingdom’ message.
It matters not to the disciples of the ‘Watchtower’ organisation that Peter states plainly, ‘By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly,’ 2 Peter 3:7. See also 2 Peter 3:10 / 2 Peter 3:13.
John writes, ‘Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea,’ Revelation 21:1. Bear in mind that the expression ‘the first heaven’ does not relate to the dwelling place of God. It is the description, well understood in those days, of the sky which we see above us.
The dwelling place of God was described as ‘the third heaven’, as in 2 Corinthians 12:2, or ‘the heaven of heavens’ in 2 Chronicles 6:18. Modern versions render this, ‘the highest heaven’.
The followers of the Russell doctrine refuse to take these verses literally because Russell taught them that here the word ‘earth’, ‘symbolises human government and social arrangements’. (Studies in the Scriptures, vol.1, p.69).
Now, not only is this in direct conflict with what Peter tells us earlier, in 2 Peter 3, it is a quite deliberate falsification of what the Scriptures teach, perpetrated in order to establish a false doctrine. Please look at 2 Peter 3:6 in that chapter.
Notice the different Greek words which are used. We are told that in the days of Noah, the ‘world’, i.e., the kosmos, the world system and its life, perished. But, states Peter, the ‘earth’, i.e. the ‘ge’, the physical planet itself, and everything on it will be burned up, with the very elements dissolving with fire.
When Ecclesiastes 1:4 is dragged in to support the present-day ‘watchtower’ error, the clear and simple significance of the verse is missed. In it, the Biblical writer declares that life on the earth is transient and full of change. Even in the world of nature, there is constant movement and constant change, but there is no lasting progress.
As for Man, although he labours constantly, neither he nor his works endure. But whilst one human generation follows another, such as the brevity of Man’s existence, the earth itself remains. And it remains, ‘forever’! But the word ‘olam’ does not mean eternally. It means ‘age-lasting’. The earth will continue until the role designed for it in the plan of God has been fulfilled.
To understand the meaning of the phrase ‘forever’, turn to Exodus 21:6, where the same Hebrew word ‘olam’ is used.
This verse gives us the illustration of the treatment of a slave who, having served his master for six years, had the right to claim his freedom when the seventh year, the Year of Jubilee, came around. According to the Law, no slave could be held for more than six years, except by his own agreement.
Hence, if the slave chose, for whatever reason, not to claim the freedom to which the Law gave him a right, but expressed his wish to remain with his master, a ceremony described as ‘the opening of the ear’ must take place. This is the custom described in Exodus 21:6. After his ear had been bored with an awl, the slave must serve his master forever.
It goes without saying that this does not mean forever and ever, or eternally, as that expression is used in Exodus 15:18 in relation to God’s reign. It means that the slave must serve his master for the rest of his natural life, in other words, as long as he lives.
In Ecclesiastes 1:4 the phrase ‘forever’ is used in a similar way. The existence of the present earth, also, will continue for just as long as the will and purpose of God decrees, and the scriptures make it abundantly plain that this means it will continue until Christ returns.
Compare 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 with 2 Peter 3:10 and 2 Peter 3:13.
These verses describe the end of this present age and this present earth.
‘Pastor’ Russell died on a train, in 1916 and was succeeded to the leadership of the movement by J.J. Rutherford, a man who was capable of making statements as outrageous as those of Russell himself and whose flight of fantasy reached the heights of absurd when, on February 24th, 1918, at Los Angeles, California, he preached a sermon which declared that, ‘The world Has End’. ‘Millions now living will never die.’
This was to become the subtitle of a book which set out the same notion, and the central theme of a Campaign, which ran from 1918 to 1923. According to this theory, the earth would never pass away, in the sense of being destroyed, but would be ‘renovated’ and ‘cleansed’, and this ‘new’ earth would become a paradise. This was the view of the ‘new’ earth, held by both Russell and Rutherford.
What is more, Rutherford claimed that those who had suffered most in the recent (1914-1918) war would be ‘the first to enjoy the blessings of the new age’. Those who had lost their sight would see again, and those who had lost limbs would grow new ones! And, of course! Millions alive at that time would never die!
I wonder how many of those who were alive when this ludicrous doctrine was claimed are still walking around today?
Incidentally, if you wonder why I have used such expressions as ‘the followers of Russell’ and ‘Russellites’, instead of calling them ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’, the reason is that when this theory was first propagated, those who accepted it were Russell’s disciples.
The name ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ is the latest of a variety of names by which they became known. It was adopted at a Convention, held in Columbus, Ohio, August 24-30, 1931, at the instigation of J. J. Rutherford, in an endeavour to eliminate the class system which Russell had developed among his followers.
Those present at that Convention were informed that ‘new light’ had been received on the parable of Jesus in Matthew 20:1-16. The new interpretation said that eleven hours of the day during which the labourers were sent out to work in the vineyard were the eleven years from 1920 to 1931, and the one penny or denarius is the reward they all received, was the new name ‘Jehovah’s Witness’.