"Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished." (Isaiah 51:6)

This verse is typical of many Scriptures which contrast this present decaying, dying order of things (characterizing a world under God's curse) with the things which are not dying and which will survive into the new order when the curse is removed (Revelation 22:3). Even the present "heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away," Jesus said (Matthew 24:35). God, the Creator, who imposed the curse because of man's sin, is not Himself subject to it. "They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: . . . as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end" (Psalm 102:26-27).

As the text for the day assures us, God's salvation and righteousness shall never be changed, even when earth and heaven flee away. The same contrasts exist in the biological realm. "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever" (Isaiah 40:8).

Human nature exhibits a similar phenomenon. "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; . . . they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:30-31).

This principle, in fact, applies to the entire creation. "Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption |literally 'decay'| into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Romans 8:21). HMM