This post is part of a series of posts summarising chapters of the Jehovah Witnesses' booklet, "What does the Bible really Teach?", and seeking to evaluate those chapters against Scripture somewhat briefly. Those posts were introduced at the Introduction, and a contents page will be added to that entry once this run of posts has finished.
Chapter 3: What is God’s purpose for the earth?
God’s purpose is for “the earth to be filled with happy, healthy people.” (27) God will achieve this, but it is more precisely for the righteous to live on this earth for ever. This has not been achieved yet – people still fight each other.
The origin of an enemy: God has an enemy, the Devil or Satan, who spoke through a serpent to Eve, much as a ventriloquist can do today. “That spirit person had no doubt been present when God prepared the earth for humans. – Job 38:4,7” (28) Everything God made was good, so Satan was made good but “turned himself into the Devil” (28), much as an honest person might turn into a thief. The desire for Adam and Eve to worship him rather than God built up to the point where he acted on it. Adam and Eve died, as God had said, and all his offspring are born imperfect, just as every loaf of bread from a dented tin bears the dent. What Satan did was to challenge God’s way of ruling – he accused him of being a bad ruler, who is unloving. God could have killed all rebels, but Satan’s accusation would not be answered. Instead, God allowed humans to live under Satan’s influence for a while. But they were wrong to believe Satan rather than God, and we have the chance today to believe God rather than Satan.
Who rules this world?: Answer – Satan does. He offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world, which implied they were his. God rules the heavens, but Satan rules the world.
How Satan’s world will be removed: The present world is corrupt beyond reform. But God chose Jesus to rule his heavenly kingdom, and in time to come “God’s kingdom will soon remove all the governments of this world, and it itself will replace all of them (Daniel 2:44).” (33)
A new world is at hand: “New heavens and new earth” – that is, a new society of those who have God’s approval. Then , they receive “everlasting life” (see John 3:16 and Mark 10:30 for how we receive it). “Wickedness, warfare, crime and violence will be gone… Jehovah’s worshippers will live in security… Food shortages will not exist… The whole earth will become a paradise…. There will be peace between humans and animals… Sickness will vanish… Dead loved ones will be restored to life with the prospect of never dying.” (33-36). This future “awaits those who choose to learn about our Grant Creator, Jehovah God, and to serve him.” (36)
Evaluation
It is unclear as to whether Satan merely existed before creation of the world, or existed as evil before the creation. Job 38 only talks of God making the world, and doesn’t mention Satan’s status at all.
Satan’s rule of the world is overstated. First, in days gone by he only ruled by divine permission. God had ultimate control. Second, what has changed is that Jesus Christ rules the world and has done since his ascension; this is totally missed. Chapter 8 will make clear why this gets missed out here.
The future prospect for those who love God is the biblical one, although it is described as belonging to those who serve and learn about God, not to those who put their faith in Christ, which would be a more biblical way to put it.
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