Here are 5 biblical promises that one day all the earth will be filled with the glory of God:
“All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” (Numbers 14:21) “The whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isaiah 6:3) “The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”(Isaiah 11:9) “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.” (Hab. 2:14) “Let the whole earth be filled with His Glory.” (Psalm 72:19)
Recently I had a dream in which I saw the beginning of planet earth being filled with the presence of God. The elements of nature – trees and rivers and mountains – all came to life. Biblical Paradise is a restored Garden of Eden.
“The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Psalm 72:19)
The spirit of a human is connected to his soul, and his soul is connected to his body. The body of man was originally taken from the earth; so there is a connection between the physical body of man and the land of planet earth. After a person dies, his spirit and soul leave his body, and his body returns to the earth to decay.
Therefore the resurrection of the human race is also connected to the restoration of the earth. The dead bodies of all humans are in the earth. At the resurrection, the power of God will fill those bodies and they will come back to life in a new and glorious form (or unto eternal punishment). The same glory power that fills the earth to resurrect the dead, will at the same time fill the earth to transform nature back to its original form.
The earth and the bodies of men are linked in covenant and in material. When man sinned, his body lost its glory, and planet earth fell into corruption. When the children of God are given their new glorified bodies (Philippians 3:21; I Corinthians 15:35-49), so will nature be restored to its glory. The coming kingdom of God includes a “regeneration” of the earth (Matthew 19:28; Revelation 21-22). Both the resurrection and the regeneration are part of the “new creation” (II Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:5).
This promise of the glory of God filling the earth is connected to the current conflict over who owns the land of Israel. The enormous international attention to this tiny bit of land is obsessive and makes no sense for strictly political reasons. There are spiritual roots to the conflict. Muslims claim that the Holy Land belongs to Islam. The Bible contains clear and irrevocable covenants that this land was given by God to the Jewish people (See, Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 15:18; 17:8; 26:3; 28:13; 35:12).
Yet most Jews and Christians alike miss the importance of these covenants. The promises were not given primarily for the Jewish people to have a place to live (although that certainly is included). The purpose of the covenants concerning the land of Israel is to start the process of reclaiming planet earth for the children of God. Abraham and his family were the first true believers. God cut covenants with Abraham and his family to give him the land of Israel. This established the legal claim of ownership of the whole planet for the rest of the community of faith as well. When the planet comes back under full ownership of the children of God, then the earth will be restored to glory.
Both Islamic Jihad and Secular Humanism are opposed to God’s claim of possession of this planet, and therefore are opposed to any consideration of the biblical covenants concerning the land of Israel. We believe in the biblical covenants concerning the land of Israel, and in the promise of ownership of planet earth by the children of God, and in the prophecies of the whole earth being filled with the glory of God.
