Q:
I'm 10 years old and I'd like to know how the world is going to end, according to the Bible. Will it be sudden, through atom bombs and things like that? Or will it happen slowly, through something like pollution?
A:
Thank you for your letter. I hope you’ll always be interested in what the Bible says, and look to it for guidance. May the Psalmist’s prayer become yours: “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth” (Psalm 25:4-5).
The dangers you list are very real, and we all have a responsibility to do what we can to understand and help overcome them. From the very beginning of the human race, God commanded us to take care of the earth (see Genesis 2:15). When we fail to do this, we are sinning against God, and also endangering our lives and the lives of others.
But the world as we know it will not end because of anything we do, serious as that may be. It will only end when God intervenes and brings it to an end, and that will only happen when Christ comes to establish His eternal rule. In that day, the Bible says, “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:10).
But that isn’t the end, because God then will remake the entire universe. Everything will be new and perfect, and sin and death will never again appear. Don’t live in fear of that day, but put your life into Christ’s hands. Then you’ll know that no matter what happens in the future, you are His child, and you belong to Him forever.