A Better Life Is Promised
WOULD you like to be free from the problems that make life difficult? Do you want to live in a world where life is as delightful as it is in the scene depicted on the front and back covers of this magazine? Take a good look at that picture. People have plenty to eat. They will really enjoy that delicious food. Everyone is happy. People of different races are at peace with one another. Even the animals are at peace! No one is fighting. No one is poor. No one is sick. There are lovely surroundings, beautiful trees, and pure, clean water. What a splendid setting!
Will this earth ever be like that? Yes, it will be a paradise. (Luke 23:43) God, who created the earth, has purposed that humans will enjoy a better life on a paradise earth. And you can be there!
Which Life Would You Prefer?
How will the future earthly Paradise be different from the world in which we now live? Presently, over one billion people go hungry every day. But in the Paradise that God has purposed for the earth, everyone will have plenty to eat. The Bible promises: “Jehovah of armies will certainly make for all the peoples . . . a banquet of well-oiled dishes, a banquet of wine kept on the dregs.” (Isaiah 25:6) There will be no shortage of food, for the Bible says: “There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow.”—Psalm 72:16.
Today, many live in shacks and shantytowns, or they struggle to pay their rent. Others have no home and sleep on the street. According to the World Health Organization, as many as 100 million of the world’s children are homeless. But in the Paradise to come, everyone will have a home to call his own. God’s Word says: “They will certainly build houses and have occupancy; and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage.”—Isaiah 65:21.
Many labor at jobs they do not like. Often they work long and hard but receive little in return. About 1 out of every 5 people in the world lives on an income of less than $500 per year. In the coming Paradise, however, people will enjoy their work and will see good results from it. God promises: “The work of their own hands my chosen ones will use to the full. They will not toil for nothing.”—Isaiah 65:22, 23.
Now sickness and disease are everywhere. Many are blind. Some are deaf. Others cannot walk. But in Paradise, people will be free from sickness and disease. Jehovah says: “No resident will say: ‘I am sick.’” (Isaiah 33:24) As for those already disabled, the heartwarming promise is: “At that time the eyes of the blind ones will be opened, and the very ears of the deaf ones will be unstopped. At that time the lame one will climb up just as a stag [a male deer] does, and the tongue of the speechless one will cry out in gladness.”—Isaiah 35:5, 6.
At the present time, there is suffering and pain, sorrow and death. But in the Paradise on earth, all these things will not exist. Yes, even death will be gone! The Bible says: “God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”—Revelation 21:3, 4.
Clearly, then, Jehovah’s promised earthly Paradise will mean a better life for mankind. But how can we be sure that it will come? When will it come, and how? What must you do to be there?