What Trees Can Teach Us About God and His Kingdom — Part TwoSample

The stars will fall like leaves from a tree

God has created this earth, but it won’t last forever. At the end of time, God will judge the earth and destroy all evil.  

Reading the prophecy in Isaiah 34 and the vision in Revelation 6 makes clear that this day of final judgment will be horrible for the people who don’t fear God. They will face eternal destruction. But not only people will fall, even ‘the host of heaven’ will be destroyed. The stars will fall like leaves from a tree—imagery we can all see around us, especially in autumn (fall). Leaves falling down are a picture of death and decay and leave the tree bare, seemingly lifeless. Imagining the stars falling down like that is really frightening!

However, believers need not be afraid of the end of the earth as we know it. Even when everything is destroyed, God Himself won’t change. As Jesus promised: “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35, ESV). He will create new heavens and a new earth. Psalm 102 compares this to a change of clothes. Heaven and earth “will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe” (Psalm 102:26, ESV).

The destruction of the earth and the stars will also mean the final destruction of sin and evil. When God has dealt with evil once and for all, His glorious future will come. Death and decay won’t have the final word. “‘Death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (Revelation 21:4-5, ESV).

Are you longing for this future? Or are you afraid of God’s judgment and all that is going to happen?