The World that Then Was, the Heavens and the Earth that are Now, and the New Heaven and New Earth to Come

The heaven and the earth. Not heavens. If your Bible says “heavens,” congratulations. You have a defective book and can use it to ignite fires in your fireplace this winter. Now fork out a few silver coins and invest in a leather bound, trustworthy King James Bible, with ample spacing around the text for marking your study notes and personal comments. You’ll want to read, study and search its pages daily, lest you live and die a fool.

The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, references five worlds that were and are upheld by the word of God: the world that then was, the old world, this present evil world, the world to come and the world without end. If you hold a view outside of God’s word concerning the only world you can prove exists because you’re in it, and trust what man has programmed you to believe about it, you could be walking in the vanity of your mind, having your understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in you, because of the blindness of your heart (Eph 4:17-18).

This diatribe describes the vast majority of people walking the face of the earth. And though God creates and makes all things good, for his pleasure and purpose they are created, He is at the top. There is none above Him. It stands to reason then, that everything below Him is subject to His will. Whether you choose to love and obey, and fear Him as one would fear the King who has power over you, or alienate yourself from his presence because of your selfish and proud heart… know that He sits on a throne above you. And that throne was made to judge the heaven and earth that He made.

But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment. -- Psa 9:7

The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. -- Psa 11:4

Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. -- Psa 45:6

The King James Bible is perfect, and preserved in the order that God ordained. There are no mistakes in it. You can safely ignore the critics who claim otherwise, because once you open it and study it for yourself, with the help of the Spirit in you who inspired it, it will become patently clear.

I chose this topic of the five worlds because I was fascinated by what Peter wrote in his second book, third chapter:

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God (1) the heavens were of old, and (2) the earth standing out of the water and in the water (Gen 1:9 - day 3): Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. -- 2 Peter 3:3-7

Ok, bear with me now as I move around Scripture to build on the evidence that there was a first world created in the beginning before the world you and I live in was formed.

I believe Paul would have penned the Book of Hebrews. Having perfect knowledge of the law, as well as being given the full revelation of the mystery, it is written:

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; -- Heb 1:1-2

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. -- Heb 11:3

In writing to Titus, Paul speaks about the hope of eternal life: “which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior.”

Mind you, every jot and tittle, including a word used in singular and plural form, are written correctly, and should be noticed in light of the context, as well as comparing Scripture with Scripture.

Paul said, “God hath determined the times before appointed.” All time has been set in motion, for God to fulfil and work all things after the counsel of his own will.

These scoffers are saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

Is there any dispute that the beginning of the creation is Genesis 1:1?

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

In all of the following six days of creation there is no mention of where God created the earth. It was already there, in verses 1 and 2. In verse 3 until the end of chapter one, He begins to form it to be inhabited, or reinhabited, if you will: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Notice again the words of Peter highlighted here and two separate states of creation:

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God (1) the heavens were of old, and (2) the earth standing out of the water and in the water (Gen 1:9 - day 3): Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

Psalms 104 is one of the few references that I have found to that first world created:

Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.

Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.

At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.

They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys into the place which thou hast founded for them.

Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth. -- vs. 5-9

You may believe this references Noah’s flood. But it begins with the foundations of the earth being laid.

The endtime scoffers are ignorant of the fact that the heavens were of old and the earth was standing (spinning and rotating? LOL!) in and out of water. Peter tells us that world, being overflowed with water, perished.

But the heavens and the earth, which are now… are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. That’s this world we live in right now, begun in the six weeks God reformed the earth for habitation. It includes the old world from Adam to Noah, and our world, from Noah to today.

The waters God called Seas in Gen 1:10 are the same oceans that exist today, even the same waters that the world that then was, was submerged in. That world created in the beginning, that perished being overflowed with water, is still under water, held there by God’s word, being reserved for judgment at the end, before the new world which is to come: the Millenium, the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. God promised never to flood the earth again. But he does intend to burn this one up with a fervent heat:

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. -- 2 Peter 3:10

Thus, Peter adds to those believers in those last days of Daniel’s 70th week, which, by the way, cannot begin until… he that letteth is taken out of the way:

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness… And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved bother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. -- 2 Pet 3:11-16

This last statement — a perfect description of the religious churches and denominations of Christianity today. Funny how people go to church, thinking they are pleasing to God, but never open their Bibles to search whether the things they hear are accurately taught. This is to their shame.

Ever wondered why the beast in the Book of Revelation comes out of the Sea during Daniel’s 70th week, during that great tribulation period? Could the anti-christ have inhabited the world that then was?

Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil (the dragon) is come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. -- Rev 12:12

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast (the false christ) rise up out of the sea… Rev 13:1

Willful ignorance is to refuse to acknowledge what is written. The Bible speaks clearly of things that scoffers and unbelievers will outright reject because of their vain minds, darkened understanding, alienation from God, ignorance and blindness of heart.

God’s word says, But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. -- 1 Cor 14:38

Only someone who loves you, not controls you, can give you the freedom to choose your own way. Yet only God, who is righteous, can judge whether that choice honors Him, while bringing life or death to your soul.

So we see that the earth has been here at least six days longer than man, and conceivably a long time before. Satanic cults have spoken about this era being as long as seven thousand years. According to occult doctrine (Annie Besant, Alice Baily, Albert Pike), the earth has existed close to 13,000 years. In the mystery schools of esoteric knowledge, it’s well known that evolution is taught to the uninitiated world to steer man away from the Bible.

Scientism is the new religion for modern man. And for the last five hundred years, Satan’s legion of servants have introduced theory after theory of scientific lies to this evil, present world. A world that has forgotten God and changed His word into a lie.

The word WAS is a word of existence: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. -- John 1:1 (notice both Gen 1:1 and John 1:1 agree)

To recap, the word of God was in existence at the beginning. The earth was created in Genesis 1:1 by the eternal Word, but it was made void and without form, submerged in water in 1:2, coveredst as with a garment. There is no mention of rain as it occurred in Noah’s day. As Genesis 2:5 says that the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth.

I’ll continue to dig into the Book, with the hopes of discovering further evidence on this mysterious first world.

So Peter is refuting that all things have continued since the beginning of creation. Heavens and earth WERE of old, but destroyed by water. Then, God reforms the heaven and earth which WERE void and without form, adds a firmament to divide waters above from waters below and calls it Heaven, capital “H.” So things have not continued as from the beginning, and God gives Peter revelation to let us know this.

Since Genesis 2:1 tells us the heavens and the earth, in the six days of creation, were finished, it’s fair to say, there has not been another heaven or earth since that time. We are still living on an earth which has foundations laid, which should not be removed for ever.

You might ask, why does God write the Bible this way, in cryptic form? To hide it. It’s His glory to conceal something. It’s your honor to dig it out by searching. People I know are emotionally caught up in walking by sight, than through faith, by studying the Book that God gave us to prove all things, which our Apostle Paul instructs of us. They choose rather to join up with whatever church appeals to their notion of Christianity, falling prey to the antics of charismatic revivalism and works based religion.

It’s another spirit, another Jesus, and another gospel.

Everything in this world is designed to take us away from the truth that is the word of God. And that word is being hid or ignored by leaders at the pulpit today who refuse to study Paul’s mystery, which would clear up 99% of Christian denominations. Not just saving souls from hell, but instructing from the whole counsel of God, rightly divided, and working to expose the deception that this world holds over the minds of men.

It’s 2024 and we’re facing an economic meltdown, a third world war, more planned epidemics to cull more of the world’s population, child rape is just another sexual preference, divorce rates and family cohesion a train wreck, and widespread hopelessness, in spite of the JOY pronounced by the advancing commie regime.

No, this world cannot be saved regardless of your sincere optimism and good will. It is heading for judgment, as the old world at Noah’s time received, and as the world that existed at the beginning received for its rejection of its Creator.

God has provided salvation in each world by different means. Today it is by the cross of Christ, not the law which merely showed man his sin. We are forgiven of all things past, present and future by believing the gospel of Christ. That he died for us, was buried and rose again the third day, to impart his righteousness for our trust in him:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Take this free gift and run with it! You will be eternally rewarded, living in the world that no eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man which things God hath prepared for us that love Him.

Hope to know you there!