"The poster children that tug at our heartstrings are all there, wide-eyed and ribbed with pain, their skulls grotesquely out of proportion to their withered bodies," wrote World Food Program executive director James Morris about a drought- and locust-caused famine in Niger in 2005.

"Their skin hangs loose on feeble bones and many feed through tubes taped to their faces. They are gathered to play out their final days on a well-worn set that many may never leave."

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more than 840 million people go hungry every day. As a result, 25,000 people die every day from malnutrition and hunger-related disease—three quarters of them children under five (www.just1world.org/food-and-hunger.htm).

Children make up about half of the approximately 50 million refugees in the world. More than 2 million children were killed in conflicts in the 1990s. Another 6 million were wounded and 1 million orphaned.

Millions more children (and adults) are stricken with disease, maimed or disabled each year.

"Your kingdom come"!

Such heartrending stories and statistics make us cry out to God for His promised Kingdom to come—even while we do what we can to help today.

The prophet Ezekiel records some of God's fantastic promises for a world beyond today:

"I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger" (Ezekiel 34:29; see also 36:29-30).

Famine has afflicted mankind throughout history. Every effort to end hunger by greater agricultural production and massive relief programs has failed. Wars, droughts, disease and government inefficiency and corruption have combined to thwart even the great gains of the green and biotech revolutions.

But God promises agricultural abundance that will bring an end to hunger and starvation.

"'Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it...They shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them" (Amos 9:13-14).

The NKJV Study Bible explains the significance of Amos' statement: "For the plowman to overtake the reaper would mean such an abundant harvest that it would last all summer and would not be gathered until the plowing started again."

With the fear of war and hunger removed, all will feel secure and content: "Everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken" (Micah 4:4).

Isaiah painted word pictures of the barren land being transformed into productive and beautiful fields "like Eden … the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody" (Isaiah 51:3).

For thousands of years man's activities have reduced the amount of productive farmland in the world and increased the size of the deserts. But all that will change in the world beyond today. Isaiah envisioned it this way:

"The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing...For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water" (Isaiah 35:1-2, 6-7).

Disease and disability to disappear!

This beautiful chapter also describes the healing of the disabilities that have plagued mankind:

"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing" (Isaiah 35:5-6).

God's healing power will do what medical science has only dreamed of doing—repairing the intricate systems that allow us to see and hear, run and speak.

After describing the sin and the incurable sickness so prevalent in today's world, Jeremiah records God's promise: "'For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,' says the LORD" (Jeremiah 30:17).

God, as our Creator, knows exactly how our bodies should work and has the power to repair the cumulative effects of mankind's abuse of the human body over thousands of years. Peter reminds us of this focus of the incredible love of Jesus Christ, "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24). Matthew tells us, "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses" (Matthew 8:17). Disease, sickness and all the sorrow that accompanies them will finally be conquered. People will be taught the causes of diseases and how to prevent them. The huge drain on individuals, families and society caused by the suffering, medical expenses and lost productivity will be a thing of the past.

Where it all leads

The bountiful harvests, the beautifully restored environment, the vibrant health of the people—all these are wonderful in themselves. But human beings have enjoyed some of these things before and eventually ruined them. What is to prevent that from happening again?

God shows that He intends these physical blessings to lead to something even more incredible.

"Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good [the causes of the suffering of this present age]; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations" (Ezekiel 36:31).

God intends these blessings to lead to repentance—the vehement desire to change from within. God wants to win and change hearts and minds so that we will not repeat the tragedies of this age. Identifying the problems in our hearts and coming to deeply desire to change ourselves are the first steps to becoming citizens who will not befoul or destroy the beautiful world God is bringing.

For more about the process of repentance and change that can begin now, download or request a free copy of Transforming Your Life: The Process of Conversion. Allowing God to transform you won't change the whole world now, but it will dramatically change your corner of it. And it will prepare you to serve God in helping others and bringing His utopian Kingdom soon to this earth. VT