| News and Views | February 1940 |
The Great Earthquake
REVELATION 16:12-21 depicts some of the closing scenes of this age. Here we are told of the nations being gathered for the battle of Armageddon; also, that there would be a great earthquake, “such as was not since men were upon the earth.” Evidently this earthquake—symbol of revolution—constitutes at least a part of the “great time of trouble” mentioned by Daniel and Jesus. They too, foretold it to be greater than any previous trouble, and Jesus added, “No, nor ever shall be again.” In Joel 2:2 we likewise find similar statements, both as to the severity of the trouble, and the fact that it would be the last of its kind the earth would ever witness.
It seems evident that the world is already in the throes of this symbolic earthquake, or revolution, and that the wars being waged in Finland, the “Western Front,” in China, and on the high seas, are but incidental to the bigger thing which is taking place behind the scenes, namely, the complete overthrow of what is left of that world order that existed prior to the end of the Gentile Times in 1914.
And when we say this it is not with the thought of being advocates of revolution, but merely as reporters of what is actually taking place, and what a great many recognize as taking place. Already the belligerent nations themselves realize that a “new world” must take the place of the present one, if lasting peace is to be attained and maintained. Prime Minister Chamberlain, of Great Britain, and others, are already hinting that plans are being made for that new world. Regardless of what the rest of the nations may think of a new world that Great Britain may plan, or what Great Britain might think of a world order devised by one or more of the other nations, the fact remains that they all recognize the almost certain collapse of the present order, and that a new one of some sort will be needed to take its place.
However, what but few in any nation are aware of as yet, is, that this great world revolution is more than the overthrow of one man-made world order to be supplanted by another man-made world order; that is, they do not yet see that it involves the transfer of governmental sovereignty from the hands of imperfect men altogether, and the placing of it in the hands of Christ, earth’s new King. This is one of the factors of this revolution that makes it different from all revolutions that have preceded it. There have been revolutions, many of them, large and small; but the “overturnings” have been merely from one earthly government, or form of government, to another. But now He has come “whose right it is,” and the right to rule has already been given to Him, and His divine power is back of the forces now precipitating the ultimately certain collapse of Satan’s empire.—Ezek. 21:27
We said that as yet few among the nations seem to recognize the prophetic significance of what is now taking place in the world; yet some apparently do sense that something more than mere human influence is at work to bring about world change. The noted English historian, H.G. Wells, in his “Outline of History,” attempts to describe the new world and to identify the forces that are making for it. Mr. Wells recognizes that pure religious influence will be needed as a foundation for a new order, but predicts the overthrow of present ecclesiastical priest-craft of all sorts, to be supplanted by a simple and pure worship of God that will be universal. Describing this change, the historian says:
“Out of the trouble and tragedy of this present time may emerge a moral and intellectual revival, a religious revival, of a simplicity and scope to draw together men of alien races and now discrete traditions into one common and sustained way of living for the world’s service. We cannot foretell the scope and power of such a revival; we cannot even produce evidence of its onset. The beginnings of such things are never conspicuous. Great movements of the racial soul come at first ‘like a thief in the night,’ and then suddenly are discovered to be powerful and world-wide. Religious emotion—stripped of corruptions and freed from the last priestly entanglements—may presently blow through life again like a great wind, bursting the doors and flinging open the shutters of the individual life, and making many things possible and easy that in these present days of exhaustion seem almost too difficult to desire.”—“Outline of History,” p. 1089.
While in this statement Mr. Wells is vague, yet his use of the expression, “a thief in the night,” indicates that at least he is familiar with some of the prophecies of the Bible relative to the changes now taking place. It is significant also, that in Revelation 16 where we are told of the great revolution, we find the promise made by Jesus, “Behold I come as a thief.” It is interesting to note Mr. Wells’ association of this expression with what he calls an imperceptible growth of a pure religious influence in the world which will “make things possible that in the present days of exhaustion seem almost to difficult to desire.” When God “turns to the people a pure language,” and they “all call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent,” this prediction will be fulfilled.
Yes, truly, the secret back of what is taking place in the world today, is the influence of the thief-like presence of Christ. At first “all the kindreds of the earth” are wailing because of His presence, but this is only because they are having their vested rights and superstitious traditions wrested from them, and as yet have not caught the vision of what is to take their place. Ultimately all will rejoice, for the “desire of all nations shall come.”
Another who recognizes the revolutionary character of present world events is Dr. Frank Kingdom, President of Newark University. Speaking at a conference held in Williamstown, Mass., by the “Institute of Human Relations,” Dr. Kingdom said:
“Tonight the air is tremulous with the hum of machines flying over cities with a dreadful freightage of sudden death. The ears of the world are tuned to the guns. What can it mean?
“It means that it is given to us for weal or woe to live at the end of an epoch in the world’s life. An old era began to die in 1914. For twenty-five years the repercussions of that first World War have shaken the continents with wars and revolutions. Few are the lands where the guns have not sounded and the blood run in the streets.
“… Make no mistake, this is the deeper meaning of our generation’s pain. It is not war but a world-wide upheaval of our institutions that we are seeing. It is not the will of one man, but an inevitable growth of events that has brought us the harvest of war. Our society has not brought us peace because it did not first bring us justice. Our old institutions are no longer adequate to justify our security. Therefore they must be changed. Because we would not change them intelligently they have brought us catastrophe. Our Thirty Years’ War is marking, as its predecessor of centuries ago did, the end of one epoch and the beginning of another.”
Twenty years have passed since Mr. Wells published his “Outline of History” from which we quoted his statement concerning the thief-like changes he saw taking place in the world; yet today he still sees revolution as the meaning of these conditions. He identifies education and invention as potent influences bringing about world change. One of the consequences of these influences, Mr. Wells asserts, is the “release of a great flood of human energy in the form of unemployed young people. This is a primary factor of general political instability.” In an article published in the Magazine Digest, Toronto, Canada, condensed from the Fornightly, London, the historian further explains:
“And this modernized excess population has no longer any social humility. It has not belief in the infallibility of its rulers. It sees them too clearly; it knows about them, their waste, vices and weaknesses, with even an exaggerated vividness. It sees no reason for its exclusion from the good things of life by such people. It has lost enough of its inferiority to realize that most of its inferiority is artificial and arbitrary.”
And here’s another paragraph from the same article, very much to the point:
“A revolution, that is to say, a more or less convulsive effort at social and political readjustment, is bound to come in all these overstrained countries, in Germany, in Britain, universally. It is more likely than not to rise directly out of the exasperating diminuendos and crescendos of the present war, as a culminating phase of it. It may end in utter disaster or it may release a new world, far better than the old.”
Mr. Wells, of course, is arguing on behalf of a new man-made world state of collectivization, and is impatient with those who seem to be standing in the way of progress to this end. He mentions particularly the retarding influence of the Catholic and other churches. We quote:
“One of the most entangling of these disconcerting secondary issues is that created by the stupid and persistent intrigues of the Roman Catholic Church. Let me be clear. I am talking of the Vatican and of its sustained attempts to exercise a directive role in secular life.”
After explaining that there are “saints of all creeds and of none,” he continues:
“Such ‘good Christians’ can be almost as critical as I am about the continual pressure upon the faithful by that inner group of Italians in Rome, subsidized by the Fascist government, who pull strings of Church policy throughout the world, so as to do this or that tortuous or uncivilized thing, to cripple education, to persecute unorthodox ways of living.
“It is to the influence of the Church that we must ascribe the foolish support of the British Foreign Office of Franco, that murderous little ‘Christian Gentleman,’ in his overthrow of the staggering liberal renascence of Spain. It is the Roman Catholic influence the British and French have to thank for the fantastic blundering that involved them in the defense of the impossible Polish state and its unrighteous acquisitions; it affected British policy in respect to Austria, profoundly.
“The Vatican strives perpetually to develop the present war into a religious war. It is trying to steal the war. By all the circumstances of its training it is unteachable. It will go on until some economic revolution robs it of its funds. Then, as a political influence, it may evaporate very quickly. The Anglican Church and many other Protestant sects, the wealthy Baptists, for example, follow suit.
“Such cross activities as these complicate, delay and may even sabotage effectively every effort to solve the problem of a lucid collectivization of the world’s affairs; but they do not alter the essential fact that it is only through rationalization and coalescence of constructive revolutionary movements everywhere, and a liberal triumph over the dogmatism of the class war, that we can hope to emerge from the present wreckage of the world.”
But, Mr. Wells, your “only” solution by which the world is to be saved will prove futile. However, the power of Him who has come as a “thief in the night” will carry the revolution forward to real and lasting victory, in that He, as the King of kings and Lord of lords will, upon the complete ruin of the present order, establish His long-promised Kingdom of righteousness.
Not even the counter influences of the Catholic and Protestant Churches will be able to prevent the victory of earth’s new King. These influences are symbolized in the prophecies as the “heavens” of the present world order, and Jesus foretold that even when He comes in like a “thief in the night,” the “powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (Matt. 24:29,30. It is apparent that the powers of the symbolic heavens are already being shaken. Even those incidents cited by Mr. Wells, and lamented by him, are cases in point. If, as he states, the Catholic Church was responsible for Britain’s and France’s pledge to support Poland, certainly nothing was accomplished by it except to further complicate European affairs and to speed up the destructive forces operating among those nations.
In Spain, Franco, while temporarily victorious, is not turning out to be too good a friend of the Vatican. Already he has placed many objectionable priests in prison, and has withdrawn from the Pope many former rights of making clerical appointments in Spain. In fact, the Franco government has plainly told the Vatican that certain representatives of the Church are not wanted in Spain at all.
Perhaps the Pope will be able to “steal the war” and turn it into a conquest of “Christians” against non-christians, but if so, it will but accelerate the general change from the old order to Christ’s Kingdom. When Jesus was here the first time He explained that His soldiers did not fight; also that he who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword. Jesus didn’t explain in detail how long it would be before the war-making “Christians” would perish, but certainly, now, that we have reached the end of the age, we should expect that any effort to defend nominal Christianity by force of arms will speedily result in its destruction altogether.
So the great revolution goes on. In 1914 the war was started by powerful rulers who were the last legitimate titled royalty in a succession of dynasties that dated back to Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon. Those rulers have already lost their thrones. Today the struggle is being carried on mostly by governments which have sprung up from the people, as it were; and even the few powerless kings left in Europe are now in grave danger losing everything in the swift moving events of this present “strange war.” This point is vividly portrayed in an article by Ronald Matthews, published in the London Daily Herald, of January 12, entitled, “Uneasy Heads.” The title of the article applies to the ten kings of Europe’s small, neutral nations. In the opening paragraph of his article Mr. Matthews says:
“Millions of pairs of eyes in Europe’s neutral states are looking with anguished gaze today on the progress of the great war drama that may at any moment summon them on the stage. But I can think of ten which are looking down the aisles of the future with a quite particular anxiety.
“They belong to the ten uneasiest heads on the Continent. The ten neutral monarchs, who cannot but be thinking how the last war ended with crowns fluttering down two for a penny, like leaves before an autumn blast. They must be asking themselves uncertainly how it will fare with them and their lands when today’s tremendous storm has blown by.”
The future? Of the ultimate outcome of events there can be no doubt, for the Lord has set His King on His Holy Hill Zion, and He will continue to dash the nations to pieces like a potter’s vessel. (Psa. 2:6-9) For the details that intervene we must needs wait, endeavoring to understand them in the light of the prophecies as events transpire. In the “great earthquake”—revolution—of Revelation 16 the “city” is divided into three parts, as it falls. These three parts will doubtless become clearly discernible as time marches on, as will all the details of this and other prophecies. Meanwhile, let us be faithful watchers, not only in seeking to understand the prophecies, but also in reporting the truth of the incoming new day to as many as will hear, and also bring our own lives into harmony therewith, thus proving worthy to be of the feet class of the Christ who proclaims “good tidings of good,” and says unto Zion, “Thy God reigneth.” (Isa. 52:7) And what a glorious privilege it is to “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not; behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; He will come and save you. … And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”—Isa. 35:4,10
| The Everlasting Gospel |
Good News
THE most outstanding single item of good news that has ever been reported in this troubled world is that which was heralded by the angels or the night Jesus was born. To the surprised shepherds who were tending their flocks that memorable night there came the happy proclamation “Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”—Luke 2:10
This message of the angel has been heralded far and wide throughout the earth, and while, doubtless many have been comforted by it, yet from the standpoint of practical reality there are millions in the work today who are ready to’ say that ii was a false report. Now, nearly two thousand years after the release of the heavenly news of such far-reaching and happifying consequences, there apparently, seems less likelihood than ever before of its being a true report.
However, that angelic message is still recalled, and once each year, al Christmas, Christendom commemorates the entrance into the world of Him whose birth was announced as the basis of the good news of salvation that was to be unto all people, Christmas, 1939, was no exception, Once more the birth of the Prince of Peace was celebrated.
Herr Hitler celebrated it by visiting his troops on the Western Front. The brave Finnish people had their celebrations marred by the dropping of bombs by their atheistic neighbors; the crew of the scuttled battleship Graf Spee celebrated in an internment camp in South America, millions of soldiers celebrated while, figuratively speaking, they leaned on their guns ready to repel the attacks of their enemies who, also, were celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace. Millions of children throughout the Christian(?) nations celebrated Christmas by playing with tin soldiers and toy bombing planes that they but lately found beneath the Christmas tree; and the whole world wondered and trembled as they tried to find out whether the so-called “phony war” in which the nations were engaged would develop into a “total war.”
This paradoxical condition has largely robbed the angel-declared good news of its real significance; and the world has reached a condition in which the very term, good news is often used in a cynical, ironical manner. For example, Samuel Grafton, writing in the New York Post, says:
“Good news has forced the price of wheat above $1 the bushel. The good news came in three separate items. First was the glad announcement that four British freighters had been sunk in the South Atlantic. This cheered the wheat pit considerably. The freighters had been heavily loaded with food stuffs, and the removal, via torpedo, of all that nasty food from the world markets had an exhilarating effect.
“The second rainbow was in the shape of an official Government report that the worst drought on record seems to be in progress in many wheat-producing states. The wheat traders’ hearts were warmed by the disclosure that in Kansas, for example, only 1.75 inches of rain has fallen in three months, against a normal 6.09 inches. This news restored the speculators’ confidence in a world which had been depressingly fertile too long. The lack of rain revived their faith. If Santa Claus will give them a dust storm they will be set.
“The third cheering item was title sudden recall of Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Gorelchin, stationed at Rome. His hurried return to the Soviet Union, before he had had an opportunity to present his credentials, seemed to hint delicately at an Italian-Soviet break, and, perhaps, war in the Balkans. This was almost too good to be true. Cotton joined wheat in the rise and climbed to new high levels.”
As already noted, the foregoing was written in a spirit of irony, but nevertheless, an irony that is provoked by the almost utter lack of genuine good news in a world that has gone mad. However, the stark reality of the conditions that call forth such comments from a thoughtful writer should cause us to realize how utterly unable is selfish man to solve his own problems, and then to reexamine that wondrous news release of the angel to determine whether, after all, it may contain implications and possibilities as beneficent and far-reaching as the claims that were made for it when first given by the angels more than nineteen centuries ago.
God’s Ways Higher Than Our Ways
The good news reported by the angel to the shepherds was given out by the authority of God, the Creator, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Its fulfillment, therefore, should not be looked for within the prescribed limitations of imperfect human beings, either from the standpoint of time, or scope. Through the prophet, God declares: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”—Isa. 55:8,9
One respect in which God’s ways are higher than man’s is in the fact that He is always able to carry out His purposes, whereas man’s purposes usually either wholly or partially fail. God determined what He would do on behalf of humanity, and has announced His purpose, and upon this announcement we can depend. On this point an official communiqué from heaven states:
“For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”—Isa. 55:10,11
From Eden to the first advent of Jesus, God’s Word was going forth in the form of the many promises that were reconciled by His holy prophets. These promises had as their central theme the idea that God would one day raise up a great king to rule the world in righteousness and establish peace and happiness everywhere. The Israelites were promised that this divinely appointed personage would be raised up from their nation; in fact, so specific were the promises that they narrowed down the progenitors of the Messiah to the one small tribe of Judah. Note the 72nd Psalm as a sample of the divine promises relative to this great King.
The birth of this wondrous Emancipator of the people did not take place until four thousand years after the first promises concerning Him were made. Two thousand years have passed since His birth with little apparent changes, causing many to question whether the divine purpose centered in Him was not a failure. When a mere man makes a plan it is quite important that it be carried out within his own lifetime, else he cannot be sure that it will be carried out at all; and too often, perhaps, we are inclined to estimate the success of the divine purpose upon the basis of this, our own limited viewpoint and experience. But God is eternal, and in the study of His: revealed plan it is important to realize that its scope comprehends many ages, and that it is not to be completed until the “dispensation of the fullness of times,” when, “He will gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth.”—Eph. 1:10
The good news of the birth of Jesus states that He was to be a Savior, who would save the people from their sins and the result of their sins. The Scriptural testimony relative to the result of sin is clear-cut and emphatic, declaring that “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23) The Scriptures also explain that sin entered the world through the one man. Adam, and that death for Adam, as well as for his children, followed in its wake. (Rom. 5:12) When we are told, therefore, that the object of Jesus’ coming was to save the people from their sins, we must understand the matter in harmony with the divine record of the origin of sin and the havoc of suffering and death it has wrought in the earth all down through the ages.
Furthermore, to get a clear picture of what salvation from sin and death implies, we must accept the fact of death; and that the term death used in the Scriptures describes what we see taking place all around us day by day; that is, the breaking down of health and final collapse of the human organism to the point where life no longer exists in it. Accompanying this experience of death there is mental and physical suffering, the disruption of families and al the other distressing circumstances that have plagued the human family throughout the ages.
To save the people from this would mean the destruction of all disease and the restoration of the human family to perfect health. It would also mean perpetual youth for those who accepted the terms of salvation Death, actual, literal death, would be destroyed. With disease and death removed from the earth, no longer would there be need for doctors, nurses, dentists, druggists, opticians and undertakers. Hospitals and drug stores would no longer be needed; in fact, everything that is associated directly or remotely with sickness and death could be discarded.
That the destruction of sickness and death is the divine intent on behalf of mankind, and referred to in God’s promises as the salvation which He has provided through Jesus, the Savior, is clearly shown by many passages of Scripture. For example, the Prophet Isaiah states,
“For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us. … And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.”—Isaiah 33:22-24
In verse 20 of this chapter the divine Kingdom through which the blessings of health and life will be made available to the people is symbolized variously as “Zion,” “Jerusalem,” and God’s “Tabernacle.” A similar illustration of Christ’s Kingdom is given us in Revelation 21:1-4. Here, the “New Jerusalem,” is depicted as coming down from God out of heaven—showing that the provisions of the Kingdom are not of human origin—and, as in Isaiah 33:20, the Tabernacle symbolism is also employed to picture the fact of God’s favor being with the people. And then, in describing the results of this return of divine favor to the children of men, the Revelator states:
“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall he no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things [of sin and death] are passed away.”—Rev. 21:3,4
Paradise Lost
The historical records of the Bible lay a foundation for a proper understanding of what is implied in salvation for the human race. These records tell us of the preparation of the Garden of Eden, and of the perfect pair, Adam and Eve, being put in that Garden with the understanding that it was to be their home, to enjoy as long as they continued to obey their Creator’s law. Not only so, but they were commanded to multiply until the earth was filled, and “subdued.” In other words, as their family increased, and their needs required it, they were to extend the borders of the garden until it embraced the entire earth. What a loving and glorious provision was thus made for these human creatures!
But they were expected to obey the Creator’s law! They chose to disobey; and, as had been clearly stated to them in advance, they came under condemnation to death and were divine out of the garden into the unfinished earth to die. Thus they lost their home, and being deprived of the “trees of life” provided in Eden, the seeds of death began to work; and, in due course; they went down into the tomb. Their children, born of imperfect parents, also shared the condemnation; so the whole world has been a dying world. Thus, paradise was truly lost, but not forever.
Paradise to be Restored
The term salvation becomes a very simple one to understand when we keep in mind that it is descriptive of the restoration of the human family to that which was lost through the disobedience of our first parents back in Eden. They did not lose a home in heaven, because they had never had a home in heaven, and were not promised one. They were created human beings, adapted to live on the earth. They were provided with a beautiful home on the earth—“eastward in Eden.”
In this garden home there was provided everything that “was pleasant to the sight, and good for food.” (Gen. 2:9) Here they were to live and bring forth their children. Here their children were to live, increasing the size of their home as needs required. It was only when sin entered that sickness and death became a part of human experience; and it has become such a deep-rooted, and long-lasting part that we now accept it as a necessary and inescapable part.
But here is where the Scriptures bid us pause to seek guidance and comfort from its pages; for in those pages we learn that in sending Jesus into the world to save the people from their sins it was for the very purpose of undoing the results of that tragedy in Eden, and to restore humanity to the status they would have enjoyed as ever-living, perfect human beings, had sin not temporarily interfered.
If, therefore, we can visualize the earth filled with restored humanity worshiping God in the beauty of holiness, enjoying vibrant, youthful health, with not an ache nor a pain not even the fear of such things; and assured that this condition of earth’s society and people will continue forever, then we are beginning to grass the significance of the “good news” contained in that angel-conveyed communiqué from the throne of the Creator, when, to the shepherds, they announced:
“Fear not: for, behold, I bring yet good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”—Luke 2:10
Jesus, a Corresponding Price
Jesus saves the people from their sins by redeeming them; and the Heavenly Father sent Him into the world for this purpose. Long before God had promised He would do this saying, “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: repentance shall be hid from Mine eyes.”—Hosea 13:14
The word “ransom” in the New Testament Greek means corresponding price. When Jesus was “made flesh” He was the exact counterpart of Adam, and could give Himself in death as a corresponding price. Thus Jesus paid the penalty for sin, which was death, by pouring out His own soul unto death. (Isa. 53:12) In Romans 5:12 the apostle explains that as sin and death entered into the world through one man, Adam, so justification, freedom from sin, and life come also through one man. Jesus. In I Corinthians 15:22 he further states that “As all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive.”
In Revelation 1:18, Jesus refers to His death, and explains what resulted therefrom, saying, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” To have the keys of death and of hell (hades, the tomb) is to have the authority and the power to deal with them; and His manner of dealing will be to destroy both. It is through Jesus, therefore, that the Heavenly Father will fulfill His promise to ransom the people from death and the grave.
Heavenly Promises
Jesus died as man’s Redeemer more than nineteen centuries ago, and still the people are dying—even those who accept Christ, and endeavor to please Him, likewise die. Because believers in Christ become sick and die, even as the rest of mankind, to most folks it seems reasonable to believe that it was not the divine purpose to destroy what we call death, but merely to provide a state of happiness for believers after death. This alleged state of happiness is called heaven, and the general idea is that those who accept Jesus in this life go to heaven when they die—death being merely a change from one form of life to another.
It is true that the Scriptures do speak of a heavenly reward for those who accept Christ during this age, and who faithfully walk in His footsteps of self-sacrifice; but the promises of this special reward apply only to the limited few who are willing to give up all in the divine service. This “little flock” class is promised joint-heirship with Jesus in the future Kingdom which is to bless all the families of the earth upon the earth.—Luke 12:32
Jesus said to His disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go … I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2,3) This place, however, is not being prepared for the whole world of mankind, nor is such a high reward offered to the people in general. It is only for those who are willing to suffer and die with Jesus—their death being a sacrificial one.
It is this class that is referred to in the Scriptures as the church of Christ. Those who constitute the church class are, in the resurrection, to be made like Christ, that is, divine beings, the “express image of His [the Father’s] person.” (Heb. 1:3) He returns to receive them unto Himself; and their union with the Master is likened in Revelation 19:7 to a marriage, Jesus being referred to as the slain “Lamb.” When the marriage of the Lamb takes place, then will go forth the message of glad tidings, or good news prophesied in Revelation 22:17, where we read,
“And the spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. … And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
Life on The Earth
When the proclamation goes out for “whosoever will” to come and “take of the water of life,” it will not he an invitation to join the heavenly hosts, but rather a call to life upon the earth. In Revelation 22 the symbolism is that of a garden through which there flows a mighty river, and we are told that on either side of this river there are the trees of life, etc. It is a reminder of the Garden of Eden and its blessings—blessings that were forfeited because of sin.
When our first parents were driven out from Eden, angels were stationed, with a flaming sword, to prevent them from returning and partaking of the trees of life and living forever. However, the scene depicted in Revelation 22 is intended to show that now, since the Redeemer has paid the original penalty of death by dying on behalf of the people, the flaming sword may be taken down, and all who will may return to those conditions represented by Eden and partake of the water of life, and be healed and restored by the life-giving powers of the trees of life.
The church of Christ, then united with Him as His bride, will share in the dispensing of these blessings of life. Although Jesus went away to prepare a place for the church, humanity in general had a place prepared for them from the foundation of the world. This home was lost, but it is to be restored during the Kingdom period of a thousand years, during which Christ and the church will reign upon the earth.—Revelation 5:10
In the parable of the sheep and the goats, the sheep class—those who receive the blessings of life during the thousand-year judgment or Kingdom period,—are told to “inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt. 25:34) Thus we see that two places are “prepared”—one, an earthly home, a sample of which was displayed in Eden; and the other a heavenly home, prepared by Jesus between His first and second advents.
Restitution of All Things
What the parable of the sheep and goats refers to as the restoration of the “kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world,” the Apostle Peter describes as the “times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:19-21) The fulfillment of God’s promises given through His holy prophets of the Old Testament is what will also make good the announcement of the angels on the night Jesus was born.
And now we can see why these blessings of life did not become immediately available when Jesus died as man’s Redeemer. It was because of the time set aside in the divine plan for the selection and development of those who were to be joint-heirs with Jesus in the work of restoring the world. Meanwhile the world has had to wait, but the waiting has not been to the detriment of any, for, as the angels said that the “good news” was to be unto “all people,” so all are yet to have the blessings of salvation and life made available for them.
Even those who have died are to be awakened from the sleep of death to receive the promised blessings. This is clearly indicated in the account of Peter’s sermon on “restitution” recorded in the third chapter of the book of Acts. There we are told that after delivering this message to the people the “priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”—Acts 4:1,2
This means that the good news of the birth of Jesus implies a resurrection from the dead, and that this is why it really IS good news to “all people.” And, after all, how utterly futile would be any plan for the blessing of the world of mankind that did not provide for an awakening from the sleep of death! Sin, sickness and death have been the agencies that have marred the happiness of mankind; and those who have lost loved ones could never be perfectly happy unless they were restored to life.
Peter, in assuring us that all God’s holy prophets had announced the good news of a resurrection, or restitution, for all who will obey “that prophet” when given the opportunity, mentions specially the testimony recorded by Moses concerning the promise God made to Abraham that through his seed “all the families of the earth” were to be blessed. The fulfillment of this promise depends upon the purpose and ability of God to raise the dead.
Blessings Assured by God’s Oath
God considered the promise He made to Abraham, that all the families of the earth were to be blessed, so important that He confirmed, or bound it with His oath. Through Isaiah, another of the holy prophets, God refers to His oath-bound promise, saying, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”—Isa. 45:22,23
Jesus, the Savior
Yes, “All the ends of the earth are to be saved” by looking unto God, and He has sworn that every knee shall bow to Him and every tongue shall swear. In the New Testament we are shown that all such promises are to be fulfilled through Jesus, whom the angels announced as the Savior. Paul declares that when Jesus was raised from the dead He was highly exalted and given a name which is above every name, that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … and every tongue should confess.”—Phil. 2:9-11
Evidently this is a quotation of Isaiah’s prophecy, noted above, and for the purpose of identifying Jesus as the instrumentality through which it was to become effective. Galatians 3:16 also connects God’s oath bound promise to bless all nations with the coming and work of Jesus as the Christ and Saviour. Galatians 3:27-29 reveals that the church of Christ will share with Him in the work of dispensing the blessings How wonderfully all the promises o both the Old and New Testament; thus complement each other and combine in their testimony to assure us of the verity of the good news heralded by the angel!
Earth Formed to be Inhabited
In Isaiah 45—the chapter note foregoing where we read of God’s oath to save the people—the Lord assures us that His purpose in creating the earth was that it might be inhabited. We quote: “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord and there is none else.”—Isaiah 45:18
God revealed His purpose to have the earth inhabited by man when He commanded our first parents to “multiply and replenish [Hebrew, fill] the earth.” (Gen. 1:28) The fact that death temporarily blighted the human family does not mean that it will be permitted to permanently interfere with the divine purpose Through the divine program of redemption centered in Christ, “all the ends of the earth” are to look unto Him and be saved; that is, have the opportunity to be restored to that which was lost.
But this does not imply universal salvation apart from the individual’s cooperation in the divine plan. In telling us of the “times of restitution of all things” the apostle explains: that “it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:23) Yes belief in Jesus as the Savior, and co-operation in the laws of His Kingdom, will be necessary in order to obtain life.
The apostle explains that this condition will obtain beyond the second coming of Christ. We know, as s matter of fact, that it has not beer so during the Gospel age, for all have died—the good and the bad, the believer and the unbeliever. Believers in this age have died, because they are laying down their lives with Christ, but believers in the next age will not have the privilege of thus sacrificing themselves in the divine service, but will, upon accepting Christ, be restored to perfection of health and life.
Considering the Poor
In a prophecy concerning the future “times of restitution,” David says, “Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth.” (Psa. 41:1,2) In Psalms 72:2,4,12, and 13, Christ, the new King of earth, is declared to be one who will consider the poor, and who will then bless the needy and the helpless ones of earth. As true belief in Jesus even now implies the acceptance of His standard and practice, even so will it be in the next age when His Kingdom is in operation.
Thus we can see why it is said by the prophet that those who consider the poor are the ones who will then be kept alive upon the earth. It means that such have really accepted Jesus, and are endeavoring to conform their lives to His righteous laws. As His Kingdom will establish laws which will benefit the poor, bringing blessings to all, so those who truly come into line with the laws of that Kingdom, will, from the heart, find themselves delighting in the spirit of love, sympathy and helpfulness which will then be prevailing; and all such will be kept alive, not by taking them to heaven, but by giving them health and eternal youth here upon the earth.
Delivered in the Time of Trouble
It is noteworthy that the promise of Psalms 41:1,2, associates the restitution blessings of life—of being kept alive upon the earth—with the “time of trouble.” This time of trouble may be the same as mentioned by Daniel [12:1], and quoted by Jesus; that great time of trouble with which this age is now ending. There is a similar promise to this which reads, “Seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.”—Zeph. 2:3
We are surely now living in a great time of trouble, “such as never was since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1) It is the time described in many of the prophecies as the day of God’s vengeance upon the unrighteous governments and institutions of earth. Its purpose is the overthrow of Satan’s empire of selfishness, sin and death, in order that, in its place, there may be established the Messianic Kingdom of righteousness. It is a time of distress now, but the future will be glorious; for it means that the time of salvation and blessing for the world is near. The Prophet Isaiah refers to this day of God’s vengeance, and its outcome saying,
“Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; He will come and save you.”—Isa. 35:3,4
From this we see that God’s salvation for the people must wait until after the day of vengeance with which this age comes to an end, Hence, when God caused the angel to announce the birth of Jesus with the proclamation that He was to be a Savior, it was with the knowledge that the salvation thus provided would not be available for the world in general until after the overthrow of Satan’s empire at this end of the, age. Thus seen, God’s plan has not been a failure, but, is working out exactly as He designed that it should.
And it is truly “good news” to realize that God is in His heaven, and has full control of the situation, and is soon to display His mighty power, through the returned Christ, to bring in a joyous tomorrow, when gladness will come to stay, because the causes of sadness will be destroyed. To this the prophet agrees, saying:
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”—Isa. 35:5,6,10