Fresh Water and Verdant Deserts
"Despised though you are, fear not, O Israel, for I will help you. I am the Lord, your Redeemer, I am the Holy One of Israel.
"You shall be a new and sharp-toothed threshing instrument to tear all enemies apart, making chaff of mountains.
"You shall toss them in the air; the wind shall blow them all away, whirlwinds shall scatter them. . . .I will open up rivers for them on high plateaus! I will give them fountains of water in the valleys! In the deserts will be pools of water, and rivers fed by springs shall flow across the dry, parched ground.
"I will plant trees — cedars, myrtle, olive trees, the cypress, fir and pine — on barren land.
"Everyone will see this miracle and understand that it is God who did it, Israel's Holy One" (Isa. 41:14-20, all quotes from Living Psalms and Proverbs With The Major Prophets Paraphrased translation until stated otherwise).
Can you imagine such a fabulous scene? Deserts becoming green, fertile garden lands of trees, shrubs, bubbling springs and brooks; mountains brought low and made inhabitable.
Deserts often begin and grow because man destroys woodlands, grasslands and meadows. God is going to rehabilitate the desert wastelands by planting trees, thus correcting the cause of so many deserts on earth today.
Other passages in Isaiah describe this same miracle:
"You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills, the trees of the field — all the world around you — will rejoice.
"Where once were thorns, fir trees will grow; where briers grew, the myrtle trees will sprout up. This miracle will make the Lord's Name very great and be an everlasting sign (of God's power and love)" (Isa. 55:12-13).
"And the Lord shall bless Israel again, and make her deserts blossom; her barren wilderness shall become as beautiful as the Garden of Eden" (Isa. 51:3).
The entire 35th chapter of Isaiah is devoted to this same theme:
"Even the wilderness and desert will rejoice in those days, the desert will blossom with flowers.
"Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the Lebanon mountains, as lovely as Mount Carmel's pastures, and Sharon's meadows, for the Lord will display His glory there, the excellency of our God. . . .
"Springs will burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
"The parched ground will become a pool, with springs of water in the thirsty land. Where desert jackals lived, there will be reeds and rushes!" (Isa. 35:1-2, 6-7)
Some years ago, in a dry, parched canyon deep in the profusion of hills between Bakersfield and Los Angeles, California, a minor earthquake rippled through the arid hills. Not long after the earth rocked and groaned beneath their feet, the proprietors of a nearby small resort heard a faint gurgling sound. They ran to the dry, dusty creek bed that coursed through their property and were utterly amazed to see water flowing swiftly along. As the creek gradually cleared up, they found the water to be crystal-clear and pure — sweet and refreshing to drink. Somehow, the earthquake had broken open an underground water source, sending it cascading through their property.
It is known that large underground reservoirs of water exist under many desert areas — just waiting to be released. In Tomorrow's World, God will open up these water sources and make them available to man.
Perfect Weather
Nothing affects agriculture more than the weather. But today the weather is often the farmer's greatest worry — his enemy instead of his ally. Rain too often comes at the wrong time — too early, too late or during harvest. Or it comes in the wrong manner — accompanied by violent, destructive winds. And sometimes it doesn't come at all.
In Tomorrow's World, this will all be different for everyone living in accord with the established government.
God promises: "I will make My people and their homes around My hill a blessing. And there shall be showers, showers of blessing, for I will not shut off the rains but send them in their seasons. Their fruit trees and fields will yield bumper crops, and everyone will live in safety" (Ezek. 34:26-27).
The only way the weather will be against man in Tomorrow's World will be when individuals or nations refuse to obey God and His laws. You can read what will happen to those who refuse to worship God properly in Zechariah 14:9-17.
Human Nature Changed
Throughout history, man has cut down the forests, overgrazed the grasslands and mined the earth's croplands — with hardly a thought given to replacing, rebuilding and restoring. With very few exceptions, land use has been synonymous with land abuse.
And what has been at the root of this abuse? Human nature! An attitude of getting! Man's nature of vanity, jealousy, lust and greed manifests itself in every one of his activities — and agriculture is no exception.
The obvious problems of agriculture today cannot be solved unless and until man's nature of getting can be replaced by a nature of giving. As long as human nature with its tendencies to tear down, exploit and destroy is allowed to dominate, there is no hope for agriculture.
But God has the answer to human nature. That answer is His Holy Spirit. When added to the human mind, this Spirit imparts God's outgoing, loving, giving nature to man.
In Tomorrow's World the Holy Spirit will be available to all mankind!
"And I will give you a new heart — I will give you new and right desires — and put a new spirit within you. I will take out your stony hearts of sin and give you new hearts of love.
"And I will put My Spirit within you so that you will obey My laws and do whatever I command. . . .
"I will cleanse away your sins. I will abolish crop failures and famine.
"I will give you huge harvests from your fruit trees and fields. . . .
"Then you will remember your past sins and loathe yourselves for all the evils you did" (Ezek. 36:26-31).
When people turn to God and receive His Spirit, agriculture will be blessed!
God will even cause a change in the nature of animals!
"In that day the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, and the leopard and goats will be at peace. Calves and fat cattle will be safe among lions, and a little child shall lead them all.
"The cows will graze among bears; cubs and calves will lie down together, and lions will eat grass like the cows.
"Babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes, and a little child who puts his hand in a nest of deadly adders will pull it out unharmed.
"Nothing will hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain; for as the waters fill the sea, so shall the earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord" (Isa. 11:6-9; see also chapter 65:25).
Pollution Eliminated
Today man is polluting the earth terribly through wrong agricultural and industrial practices. By the time the World Tomorrow begins, the land and water will have been so badly polluted by man that it will take a great miracle from God to rectify the damage.
God declares in Ezekiel 47:8-12 that there will be a river that flows out from Jerusalem. It will have miraculous purifying and healing powers. As its waters flow to all parts of the earth, they will clean up the filth and pollution caused by man. They will cause fruit trees to produce wholesome, nutritious food that will give health and strength to those who eat it.
Not only will the earth be restored by this healing water flowing out from Jerusalem, but men will follow laws of farming which eliminate pollution.
No longer will cattle and other livestock be confined to crowded feedlots where they are fed an unbalanced diet of highly concentrated feeds that, chances are, may even include mixtures containing their own dung.
Instead, "In that day shall thy cattle feed in large [ample and lush) pastures. The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan" (Isa. 30:23-24, this and remaining quotes from King James Version).
Poison sprays and artificial fertilizers — and anything else that pollutes — will not be tolerated in Tomorrow's World. God says: "I will also save you from all your uncleannesses [physical as well as spiritual]: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it and lay no famine upon you" (Ezek. 36:29).
Entire Society Agriculturally Oriented
In Tomorrow's World the nations "shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Micah 4:3).
Instead of making instruments of destruction and being a war-oriented society, men will make instruments of peace and society will become agriculturally oriented. Agriculture will be a respected profession, and many, many people will be engaged in it.
"But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it" (Micah 4:4).
This verse emphatically states that there will be private ownership of property. So does Jeremiah 32:43-44, which tells of buying and selling land.
God believes in private ownership. He also expects man to maintain and improve what he owns — especially in regards to property (Gen. 2:15).
Because proper care of the land involves work which can often be done only with human hands, the farms in Tomorrow's World will probably be relatively small. Each farm will need to provide for only 1-3 families as opposed to about 20 families today in the U.S. Also, the earth will yield so abundantly that it will not be necessary to own large tracts of land in order for the farmer to be prosperous.
Can you imagine what it will be like when man wholeheartedly works in harmony with all of God's physical and spiritual laws? The results will be breathtaking. The Bible describes it like this:
"Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all" (Jer. 31:12).
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt . . . and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them" (Amos 9:13-14).
Agriculture in Tomorrow's World — this is a glimpse of what it will be like!