Elon
Musk’s Eschatology and Biblical Eschatology by J. Parnell McCarter
Date 06/01/2020
Elon
Musk is successfully proceeding with his long term goal of Mars colonization,
this past week successfully launching US astronauts into space and docking them
at the international space station: https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/in-historic-first-spacex-successfully-launches-nasa-astronauts-into-space
. Musk’s driving eschatology should not
be missed in all of this, nor its correspondence to Biblical eschatology,
albeit from a very different perspective.
His eschatology is described in the article at https://www.verdict.co.uk/elon-musk-sxsw/ : “Elon Musk:
“Another dark age is
coming and colonising Mars is
vital to
humanity’s survival”…The
Tesla founder fears that the world is heading for a third World War… The Dark Ages that Musk referred to a period of European
history between 500 and 800 AD following the fall of the Roman Empire. The
period was fraught with warfare and quality of life and intellect declined.”
The article at https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/11/17106910/elon-musk-ai-threat-mars-moon-colonization-nukes-sxsw-2018
echoes the first: “There’s likely to be another dark ages... particularly if
there’s a third world war,” Musk stressed, arguing that a Mars colony would
stay away from the battle on Earth and carry the torch of human culture
forward. He believes that the best way to ensure these dark ages are
“shortened” is by having humans on other planets come back and rebuild…”
It is little wonder that
Musk has the wind at his back in his mission, because his goal and view of the
future is in line with divine scriptural revelation on the topic, even if not
in a way that Musk would like. As noted
at http://www.puritans.net/articles/prism.htm
, there is good reason to believe based upon scriptural testimony that in the
coming years the world will be convulsed, including by a third World War (aka
Armageddon), the downfall of the current ‘Babylonian’
order, and the beginning of millennial reformation
of Biblical Christianity (likely around 2034 AD). What of those who like
Musk are wedded to the current ‘Babylonian’ order and would hate a millennial reformation
of Biblical Christianity? We read this
in Revelation 20:
“20 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of
the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is
the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and
set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the
thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little
season.
…
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be
loosed out of his prison,
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the
four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle:
the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed
the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God
out of heaven, and devoured them…”
This temporary
“bottomless pit…prison” of Satan and his followers is a foreshadow of that
eternal abode in “outer darkness” described in Matthew 25:
“30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness:
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth
his sheep from the goats.”
So just as the earth during the “millennium”
will foreshadow the eternal “new earth” following Christ’s Second Coming as
described in Revelation 21, so the temporary “bottomless pit…prison” of Satan and
his followers will foreshadow that eternal abode in “outer darkness” of Satan
and the non-elect.
Could it be that Musk’s mission towards
Mars colonization is indeed the road towards the temporary “bottomless pit…prison”
described in Revelation 20? Will they remain
and reside there during what they regard as “Dark Ages” here on earth during
the “millennium”?
Time will tell if this is the
case, but this is certain: “evildoers shall be
cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord,
they shall inherit the earth” (Psalm 37:9).
There is indeed great incentive to “wait upon the Lord” by God’s grace. God has gifted Musk with many things (intelligence,
drive, daring, etc.), but at least to this point not with a new heart and mind
to “wait upon the Lord”. His current path, if not altered by divine grace, is
indeed towards “outer darkness” from earth.