“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (I Peter 1:23).

Everything in this present world is under the “bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21)—God’s great curse because of human sin. Peter stresses that the inorganic world is composed of “corruptible things, as silver and gold” (I Peter 1:18), and so is the organic world, which is based altogether on “corruptible seed.” The term “corruptible” simply means “decaying,” and this ever-present corruptibility is essentially what scientists have called the law of increasing entropy.

In the new Earth, on the other hand, there will be “no more curse” (Revelation 22:3), and “this corruptible must put on incorruption” (I Corinthians 15:53). Those who will inhabit the new Earth will have been “begotten again . . . to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away” (I Peter 1:3,4).

Everything in the new Earth will be incorruptible. Everything in the present Earth is corruptible, with one exception! It is by that thing that those who are now under the bondage of corruption, are translated into the incorruptible world of everlasting righteousness. Through the incorruptible word, the holy Scriptures, which reveal the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ, a believer is born again. “The holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (II Timothy 3:15).

How indescribably precious is our Bible! “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. . . . Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever. . . . Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever” (Psalm 119:89,111,152). “Heaven and earth shall pass away,” said the Lord Jesus, “but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). HMM