When man sinned, this earth was cursed for his sake. The Lord said to him, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” Gen. 3:17-19. Such was the curse to which the whole creation was subjected because man sinned. “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,” Rom. 8:20. And this hope is for a removal of the curse thus inflicted, and a restoration of all things to their original condition. As the earth was subjected to the curse at the time when man was made subject to death, the removal of the former would naturally be expected at the epoch of the fulfillment of the promise to the just: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death I will be thy plagues; O grave I will be thy destruction,” Hos. 13:14. And thus Paul testifies: “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God, ... Because the creature itself, also, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body,” Rom. 8:19, 21-23. The removal of the curse removes also its consequences. Thus it is promised: “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree,” Isa. 55:13. “The inhabitant shall not say I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity,” Isa. 33:24. “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people will he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it,” Isa. 25:8. “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth,” Isa. 65:17. “And there shall be no more curse,” Rev. 22:3. “For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody,” Isa. 51:3.