| News and Views | March 1944 |
The Earth Trembled—And Fell
“His lightnings enlightened the world; the earth saw, and trembled.”—Psalm 97:4
BEAUTIFUL and meaningful is the descriptive language of the Bible. Both the Old and New Testaments give us numerous pictures of events now taking place in the world. The prophecies identify the present period of human experience as the “day of the Lord,” “the day of Jehovah.” It is a transition period in which man-made rulership, based upon selfishness, and guided largely by misleading human philosophy, is crumbling to its fall.
Not knowing that the time has come for divine intervention in the affairs of men, human wisdom still hopes to erect a new and better world upon the ruins of the old one. Temporarily, and to a limited degree, this may be accomplished. But, the prophecies of the Bible show clearly that ere the events of this “day of the Lord” are completed, the long-promised Kingdom of the Lord will have taken the place formerly occupied by the changing institutions of men. This is why it is called the “day of the Lord.”
It is also called the “day of vengeance of our God,” and the “day of wrath.” (Isa. 61:2; 63:1-4; Psalms 110:5) Yet we are not to get the idea of divine malice. God has established certain laws in harmony with which He operates, and those who come into conflict with these reap the penalty of their course. Thus, today, humankind is reaping the result of unrepented selfishness and sin.
What the Prophet Isaiah describes as a “day of vengeance,” the Prophet Daniel speaks of as “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” The Prophet Malachi says concerning the same period, “Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble.” (Mal. 4:1) The Prophet Joel, foretelling the same time of distress upon the. world, speaks of it as a “day of clouds and of thick darkness.” (Joel 2:2) Jesus refers to this time as one of “great tribulation,” so ruinous in its character that if it were not cut short, no flesh would survive its ravages.—Matt. 24:21,22
The prophetic “lightnings” of our text is a symbolism illustrating, what the Prophet Daniel describes as an “increase of knowledge.” (Dan. 12:3) Many of our great statesmen and writers now recognize the relationship between education and present world chaos. While the worldly-wise recognize that it is the enlightening influences of our day that have, as Vice President Wallace is reported as stating, “started the common people on the march for freedom,” yet they do not see that this has come in fulfillment of Biblical prophecies, and because God’s time has come to establish His Kingdom.
For centuries the theory was held that knowledge in the hands of the common people was a dangerous thing, and it was indeed dangerous to the hereditary ruling classes. Every possible effort was made to keep the people in ignorance. That was during the period styled the Dark Ages. But the time came when God wanted the people to obtain knowledge. His symbolic lightnings began to enlighten the world, and the first effect of this is what we see happening all over the earth today.
The lightning symbolism is especially meaningful in connection with the prophecy of Joel, which describes this same period as one of “clouds and thick darkness.” How apt indeed is the figure. Truly, like lightning flashes in the midst of the gloom and perplexity of this cloudy day are the great principles of truth and justice in contrast with which the world’s present disorder is so manifest. A flash of lightning from the obscured throne discloses here one error, and there another, concerning the social, political and governmental views and practices of the past, and incites the masses to press for better things to which they feel they are justly entitled.
Never before have such conditions prevailed. Even among the United Nations there are ominous mutterings of dissatisfaction and unrest. The whole current of popular thought throughout the earth is set in a revolutionary direction. The rulers as well as the ruled have long since given up hope that a pre-1914 order of things can be re-established. The trend of thought is how we can prevent being completely engulfed in revolution. To what extent will Communist Russia control the policies of the world after the war, is a question that many capitalists today would like to have answered.
It was not without significance that on February 1, the Supreme Soviet Parliament adopted unanimously a plan giving each of Russia’s sixteen republics a sufficient measure of independence in government to afford them a vote in any coming world conference. This means, it is feared, that Russia will be in a position to outvote both the British Empire and the United States in any important decision that may be made.
On the same day that this history-making news came out of Moscow, Izvestia, the Soviet government newspaper, published an attack on the Vatican. It indorsed a report issued on January 15 by the Foreign Policy Association, New York, which revealed that a rising tide of anticlericalism might be expected in Italy. Izvestia said:
“The, Vatican is now suffering the consequences of its endorsement of the Italian conquest of Ethiopia and is now reaping the fruits of the debacle of the Italian African empire. … The disgraceful role the Vatican played in Hitler’s and Mussolini’s Spanish adventure is widely known. The Vatican emerged in the role of a supporter of armed intervention”
Commenting on this statement from Moscow, Archbishop Michael J. Curley, of the Baltimore-Washington Archdiocese, said, “It is just what I expected of Russia.” Probably there are millions, both Catholics and non-Catholics, that expected this of Russia, but there seems to be nothing that anybody can do about it.
How clearly the prophetic lightning flashes from God’s throne are helping to reveal corruption in the world, dishonesty in high places, hence emphasizing more and more the need for radical changes to be made in the world economy and setup. But how to right these wrongs the world is not able to see, with the result that we hear conflicting ideas, voices, theories threats, all of which add to the confusion and increase the trembling of the social earth, and weaken the powers of the symbolic heavens. Today, indeed, the earth is trembling as much from the din of wordy conflict as from the hammer blows of a global war.
“Zion Heard and Was Glad”
In the midst of all this trouble and tumult, what is the attitude of the Lord’s truly consecrated and faithful people? Are they, too, in fear, and doubt, and confusion? Not if they are living up to their privileges as watchmen in Zion. (Isa. 52:8; Micah 7:4) True, the Lord’s people suffer from the distresses of the world, but knowing the outcome, they lift up their heads in confidence, knowing that not only their deliverance in the first resurrection is near, but that the deliverance of the earth from the thraldom of sin and death also hastens on.
Through the Scriptures, the Lord’s people are given a clear knowledge of the divine plan with its times and seasons, which enables them to see both the necessity for the present method of divine discipline upon the world, and also the peaceable fruits of righteousness which shall result therefrom. In the midst of the storm and babble of this great day of the Lord they hear the commanding voice of the Lord of armies, and their hearts rejoice. They have full confidence in His ability to bring order out of confusion. They realize that in the judgments of this day it is the Lord who speaks from heaven—from the high place of authority and control, and they give thanks that at long last He is calling a halt on unrestrained human selfishness by gradually setting aside the order of things which it produced, that His own long-promised Kingdom may be established in its place.
The lightning flashes portrayed in the prophecies are symbolic of knowledge along all lines as it affects the course of human behavior. Spiritual truth as it applies to God’s will for His own people is revealed through the Scriptures, and disseminated by the consecrated followers of the Master. To understand the prophetic meaning of the times in which we are living is, therefore, to be regarded as a special favor from the Lord. Hence; our attitude should be one of great gratitude toward God for the beautiful truth He has granted us the privilege of seeing, and with which we have the blessed privilege of being identified. Our gratitude should be manifested by an increasing zeal in helping to bring that truth to the knowledge of others.
“In the meantime,” to quote from September 1, 1916 Reprint article, page 5951, “our eyes of understanding should discern clearly the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty now in progress; and our faith, guiding our eyes of understanding through the Word, should enable us to see the glorious outcome—Messiah’s Kingdom.”
While the above words were penned in 1916, the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty is still in progress. It is a battle that has its stages of gradual development. Its general character is that of a struggle of light against darkness, of liberty against oppression, of truth against error. It is so widespread in its application, and so universal in all its ramifications that no one symbolism could fully describe it.
In addition to the prophetic pictures already mentioned, the Scriptures describe it as the “fire of God’s jealousy.” (Zeph. 3:8) Nahum 1:3,6,7 informs us that “His way is in the whirlwind and in the storm.” It is also prophetically described as a “flood of mighty waters,” and “a great earthquake.”—Isa. 28:2; Rev. 16:18
Through the Prophet Jeremiah, the Lord indicates that to a greater or lesser extent militarism forms a prominent part of this great day of trouble, saying, “I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth.” (Jer. 25:29) A similar thought is suggested in Isaiah 34:3, where the kingdoms of the earth, symbolized as mountains, are said to be melted with the blood of armies.
Still another symbolism of the prophecies, is that of treading the winepress. Prophesying of Christ during the early part of His second presence, the prophet says, “I have trodden the winepress alone; … and their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments.” (Isa. 63:1-6) Pastor Russell, commenting on this prophecy in June 1915 Reprints 5698, said, “We believe that this work has already begun in the present European war, which is growing in severity and awfulness day by day.” As with the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty, the symbolic treading of the winepress likewise still continues.
Another symbolism depicting the overthrow of constituted authority, particularly that of rulers who governed Continental Europe prior to the first World War, is that contained in Daniel’s prophecy, which illustrates the accomplishment of the divine purpose as the smiting of the human-like image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in His dream. This image, according to the prophecy, was to be smitten by a stone cut out of the mountain without hands. This stone, according to Daniel 2:44,45 represents the Kingdom of God. In July, 1916, Reprints, page 5916, Pastor Russell said:
“Though men know it not, it is the smiting of the Kingdom of God that is even now preparing for the wreck of all the kingdoms of the earth, … that men’s hearts may be humbled and prepared for the righteous government which is to take control of earth. … In spite of the awful war now raging, growing fiercer and more deadly every day, these continue to hope for peace, trying to convince themselves and others that the trouble must soon be brought to an end, and that matters will then go on as formerly. They blind themselves to the true conditions and refuse to believe that God has determined to permit this trouble to spread and involve the entire world and to bring about the utter overthrow of the present order of things.”
In a February 15 Reprint article of the same year (page 5854) appears the following enlightening statement concerning the prophecy of Daniel illustrated by the smiting of Nebuchadnezzar’s image:
“Daniel’s image of Gentile governments (Daniel 2:31) pictures Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Grecia, Rome—the ten toes being represented in the present divisions of the Roman Empire in Europe. It is upon the feet of this image that the Armageddon crash of God’s Kingdom is pictured as falling—grinding the entire image to powder. America is apparently not included in this picture directly, but of course is represented indirectly, because our population is from all the countries represented in the image. The winds of strife are not needed here to weaken the kingdoms, preparatory to their fall, for we have no kingdoms.”
How very true this 1916 interpretation of Daniel’s prophecy is already proving to be. The former church-state rulership in Europe has already been virtually destroyed during the intervening years, while the remaining fragments thereof are even now being ground to powder preparatory to being blown away as the chaff from a summer threshing floor. (Dan. 2:32-35,44) Europe is no longer ruled by the Gentile Times royalty, but by dictators who have risen from the masses of the people.
Still another symbolism picturing the present transition from Satan’s empire to God’s Kingdom is that given us by the Apostle Paul, in which he likens the trouble to birth pangs which come upon a woman in travail. (I Thess. 5:1-3) There are suggestions in the prophecies that there were to be three of these major spasms of trouble. They were depicted to the Prophet Elijah as being likened to wind, an earthquake, and then fire. In Daniel’s prophecy they are shown as, first, the smiting of the image, then its being ground to powder, and finally, the wind blowing away the dust.
We are not to understand that the symbolism of “wind” applies exclusively to the first phase of the trouble, and that the symbolic “fire” of the prophecies refers only to the last phase. True, the sequence of “wind,” “earthquake” and “fire” was used by God in revealing three stages of the trouble to Elijah, and yet in some respects all of these various prophetic symbols apply to every stage of the trouble. To an extent, every phase of the great time of trouble is a shaking of the nations, the fire of God’s jealousy, a smiting by the Kingdom of God, a storm, a flood, etc. Note, for example, Joel’s prophecy, “Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness. … A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth. … The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.”—Joel 2:1-3,10
The prophecy of Isaiah 24 is also to the point in this connection. Here the great time of trouble is said to “empty” the symbolic earth, to make it “waste,” and to turn it “upside down.” The earth is also said to “fade away.” The inhabitants of the earth are said to be “burned.” The foundations of the earth are said to “shake.” The earth is also described as “utterly broken down,” “dissolved,” and “moved exceedingly.” Again the earth is said to “reel to and fro like a drunkard,” and to be “removed like a cottage.”
But whatever symbolism is used to describe one or more of the events transpiring in this momentous “day of the Lord,” back of them is the fact that God takes the responsibility for the overthrow of this present evil world, and explains to us that He accomplishes this end through the prophetic increase of knowledge—the flashing of His lightnings.
The trembling of the earth as a result of Jehovah’s lightnings is a very comprehensive symbolism. It may tremble as in a storm, or in the wind, or from fire, or earthquake, or floods, or in other ways, but it continues to tremble until it finally falls. Then the Kingdom of Messiah will be established in its place.
As for the Lord’s people, they are not to be agitators or trouble-makers. They are to be subject to the powers that be, as they endeavor faithfully to explain to those who have a hearing ear, the true significance of present world events. Thus we are to be ambassadors of the new Kingdom, which the Scriptures show is nigh, even at the door. What a privilege it is to be living in these last days, and to see enacted the scenes which will constitute the most outstanding historic period of all ages!