The incredible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to draw attention, as people struggle to find fixes . Warnings of a massive hurricane season, even if they prove to be wrong, make it seem even worse. Pollution now is bad enough that some fear that the whole planet – the oceans, air, land, and everything – is in dire trouble.

There is incredible anger over what this is doing to the environment. While the Earth has the capacity to bounce back in time – sometimes faster than we realize – things may well get worse; and one day will get much worse before they get better.

Thankfully, there is hope. Everyone can rest assured that one day, the world will be new. Here’s why.

The world was once perfect

Yes, this terrible world of man-made and natural disasters once was Paradise. Though mankind has done many horrible things, we see in places like Chernobyl that things are slowly rebounding – even if the rosiest outlooks are untrue.

The world, then, has the ability to recover – but short term results are catastrophic. This is analogous to the problem that changed this world from its perfect paradise into the sin-laden world we have today. As the beautiful Gulf of Mexico is, in many parts, a toxic mess exists – though for now, the Tampa/St. Pete area and some other parts of Florida are still unaffected and can hopefully help take some sting out of the economic calamity), In the same way, mankind’s sin brought all sorts of problems to the world – and brought with it consequences that went far beyond spiritual and eventual physical death that God warned about. All Creation groans because of sin.

Things will get worse before they get better

Sadly, not only the Gulf, but the whole world, will get worse before it gets better. The Bible warns us of that, and promises a way to escape.

That way is by putting your faith in the One who wrote it.

We all live by faith, every day. You live by faith sitting in a chair. You don’t hold tight to the arms, preparing to leap up quickly because you fear that chair will collapse. You rest in it, put your whole weight in it. Fiath is the same, whether we’re talking about chairs or God. And, we have a very sure word of faith – his Bible.

The Bible has over 2500 prophecies in it. All have either come true or will come true – 2000 have already come true. I’ve mentioned a few in other blogs – television and webcams (the world looking on something in Revelation), for instance, or the nations lining up now in the Middle East (Ez. 38), or how Jerusalem shall be a cup of trembling, and a burdensome stone, to all who touch it. (Zech. 12:2-3)

There’s a big one about the oceans, too – a full third of them will become as blood, totally unlivable, toxic, etc.. A third of all marine life will die.

Think what that will do to the rest of the environment. Think of the horrible stench. Think of the damage of a huge sheet of oil is underwater, and a hurricane comes, or…a “star” (meteor) comes crashing into it, a ball of fire. God says such an event will happen in Revelation 8:8-11. With all that oil, it’s eventually possible. Or, it could be something supernatural, too.

The horrible end this present world will come to is spoken of in toher places, too. Isaiah 24 gives a number of illustrations, such as the earth going “to and fro as a drunkard” – much like the many recent big earthquakes.

Thankfully, the worst of the calamity will come after an event known as the Rapture. The Church is never shown on Earth in Revelation 4-18, when all the destructiveness happens, and the world criesout so that a world ruler known as AntiChrist comes on the scene. Instead, the Church is in Heaven, protected, celebrating its redemption. Faith in Israel are brought through the judgments as God’s chosen people, despite the war the AntiChrist tries to wage against them.

You can be one of those who escapes the worst of the problems, by simply accepting that Jesus Christ – God in flesh – died for your sins and rose from the dead, and receiving Him into your hart and life as Savior, turning from your sin and letting Him make you new on the inside. It’s not about what you do for Him. It’s all by simple faith.

Thankfully, one day, all that will be over, and a new Heaven and Earth will appear.

Eventually, God will remake the world

An earthquake of about 11 on the Richter scale willl come at the end of what’s known as the Great Tribulation, and the whole world will miraculously be made new. The lion will lay down with the lamb, and all God’s creatures – including people who receive Christ during the Tribulation – will live together in peace. There will still be sin, because of people’s choices, but the devil and his demonds will not be allowed to tempt people for a thousand years. That Millennium is mentioned numerous times in Revelation 20; it’s a literal thousand years. And, Christ will rule and reign over the whole world.

Then, the devil will be let out a “little season,” and the final battle will end. After that, the whole Heavens will be made new again. (Revelation 21) Everything will be perfect once more.

The first world was destroyed by flood, and next time – the one we are on, that is – it will be by fire. (2 Peter 3:7) But, thankfully, you don’t’ have to be part of that destruction. Things are bad now, but you can be redeemed from that.

Two verses later is one of the many verses that show God’s love toward us – He is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) See, it’s never God’s will that people spend eternity separated from him. He is constantly calling on people to trust in Him. It is they who choose not to, when they reject His free gift.

That free gift is eternal life forever, in God’s perfect heaven, where nobody can imagine the awesome wonders that await us. If you’ve never received it, you can do so right now, just as I said above. If you have, tell everyone, through your words and actions, about Him. Because, He gave us the duty to tell others, as part of His longsuffering ways, about His great love and grace and mercy toward sinners such as ourselves. We’re not perfect – we can’t be, because of that human nature that started when man brought sin into the world. But, we can be forgiven, and made new creatures, with Christ living inside us, working in us till the day when we join Him.