Lesson 12 - Resting the Land

Our world was first created with a perfect balance in nature. Man, animals, and plants lived in total harmony. But with the entrance of sin, everything changed. Man started eating animals, and animals began eating each other. Thorns and thistles sprouted everywhere. The scourge of sin depleted even the soil. God told Cain, "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength." Genesis 4:12.

This is one reason the Lord commanded the children of Israel to rest the farmlands every seventh year (Exodus 23:10, 11). It would give the ground a chance to recover its vitality and provide a volunteer crop for the poor to eat. But most of God's people ignored this law or simply refused to obey it. Then came a day of awful judgment. Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, came to Judah and executed those who had rebelled against him. Others were carried off to the golden city of Babylon. Meanwhile, the land of Israel lay quietly in ruins, "until it had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath." 2 Chronicles 36:21. At the end of 70 years, the survivors returned to Canaan to replant the promised land and to rebuild Jerusalem.

For 6,000 years now, Jesus has been sowing the seed of the gospel. The Bible tells us that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years." 2 Peter 3:8. Soon King Jesus will come to harvest the world. Some will be slain by the brightness of His coming, and the rest will be carried off to His golden kingdom. Then this tired old planet will keep a 1,000-year Sabbath!

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