| News and Views | October 1945 |
The End of the World
IN THESE days of rapid change, the news that a global war has ended seems to be something which belongs to the remote past. Why, that occurred more than a month ago! Already we have entered the post war era, which yesterday was looked forward to as “the brave new world of tomorrow.” It IS a new world, but the bravery which it was hoped would be one of its outstanding characteristics has been replaced by a new and awful fear. The lights of peace have been turned on, and the shadows of war have been lifted. There is unbounded elation because of alleged victory over the forces of evil, but the final stroke of combat which brought that victory has created a fear such as mankind has never before experienced. Norman Cousins, writing in The Saturday Review of Literature of August 18, says:
“It is a primitive fear, the fear of the unknown, the fear of forces man can neither channel nor comprehend. This fear is not new; in its classical form it is the fear of irrational death. But overnight it has become intensified, magnified. It has burst out of the subconscious and into the conscious. It is thus that man stumbles fitfully into a new age of atomic energy for which he is as ill-equipped to accept its potential blessings as he is to counteract or control its present dangers.”
Exponents of public opinion are freely admitting that governments, as we know them today, will have little to do with directing the shape of the developing new world which has been born. Science will control that more than governments. But the ultimate result of the work of science—until God intervenes—will depend largely upon human behaviorism. In this new atomic age into which we have been blasted, science now has within its grasp that which can be utilized to satisfy the whole range of material requirements, save to give life to a dying world.
Yes, science can now destroy as with a magic wand the gnawings of economic want which have been so largely the cause of war. But science has not reached the hearts of men. Atomic bombs will not, and cannot, destroy human selfishness. As one writer put it, the supreme task of leadership now is to teach, men how to use the awful knowledge that science has not only discovered, but now clarified. The alternative, says this writer, is utter ruin.
With atomic energy as a backdrop on the stage of human behavior, revolutionary changes must be made in global political and economic arrangements. Many issues which seemed to be of tremendous importance yesterday will be of little consequence tomorrow. In the military field it will make little difference who has control for example, of the Dardanelles. So-called “impregnable fortresses” have overnight become as obsolete as Pharaoh’s chariots which bogged down in the Red Sea.
Already the world’s wise men are calling for a new diplomacy. Some have designated it “atomic diplomacy,” one which will find expression in a world government. This, it is claimed, is the only means now of averting annihilation. In that age of long ago, which ended on August 5, 1945, many of the alleged solutions for world problems were advocated as alternatives for world chaos. But now human wisdom is struggling, not alone to avoid chaos, but the complete extinction of the human race.
As an alternative to world government it has been ironically suggested that men should get rid of the source of their trouble. This suggestion calls for the abolition of everything relating to science and civilization. Machines, and the knowledge required to operate them, should both be destroyed, it is said. Laboratories should be smashed, factories dismantled, universities torn down, libraries burned, the works of art ripped apart. According to this theory all scientists should be murdered, also teachers, lawmakers, mechanics, and anyone and everyone else who has anything to do with the machinery of knowledge and progress. Literacy, it is suggested, should be punished by death. In short, this suggestion is that man revert to conditions as they existed prior to the advent of science and education of any kind. It is said, sarcastically that thus emancipated from science, from progress, and from knowledge, man could be reasonably certain of prolonging his existence on this planet.
Those interested in biblical prophecy naturally wonder what this new and terrible outlook for the future means with relation to the divinely inspired forecast of world events. Some wonder if it means that the end of the world is near. Undoubtedly, the end of the world IS near. But only those who understand what the Bible means by the end of the world are able to take comfort out of the thought.
Due to the traditional misconceptions of what the biblical end of the world implies, few in the past have cared to give it the serious consideration it deserves. Many, even of those who professed faith in the Bible and its prophecies were inclined to dismiss the subject from their minds, with the wish, expressed or implied, “I hope it doesn’t come in my day.” But now it is no longer possible for these to comfort themselves with the thought that no matter what the end of the world may be, it is something that future generations will have to worry about rather than ourselves, for now the great crisis of the ages is recognized as imminent.
The full possibilities of the atomic age, it is predicted, will be realized for either good or evil within a comparatively short period of time. However, while the prophecies give us no guarantee that terrible havoc and destruction are not to be visited upon mankind, we are assured that the race itself will not be destroyed, and that this planet on which we live is to abide forever as man’s home.
The prophecy of Jesus concerning the end of the world is certainly true of conditions today. He said that there would be distress of nations, with perplexity; that men’s hearts would be failing them for fear. Jesus also foretold of this time that human selfishness would wreak such destruction upon the race that unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But He also gives us assurance that these days of trouble would be shortened before all flesh is destroyed. In His forecast, Jesus quotes the prophecy of Daniel, showing that there was to come upon the world a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.—Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21,22
The Master’s prophecies concerning the end of the age are also descriptive of world events at the time of His second presence, for it is His coming that signals the end of the age. His disciples had asked Him concerning the signs of His coming (Greek, parousia, meaning presence) and the end of the world (Greek, aion, meaning age). (Matt. 24:3; Luke 21:7,24-31) It was in reply to these questions that Jesus gave such a graphic description of our time.
It has been the failure to realize that the Greek word aion, mistranslated “world” in the disciples question, does not refer to the planet earth, but to an era, a period of time that has contributed to the erroneous theory that the biblical end of the world means the destruction of the earth. No wonder those who hold to this wrong viewpoint are now concerned over the meaning of the atomic bomb!
Jesus does not return to earth at His second advent to destroy the planet. The Apostle Peter makes this point very emphatic when, in Acts 3:19-21 he tells us that the second coming of Christ is for the purpose of ushering in “times of restitution [restoration] of all things.” In order that we may still have further assurance of this, Peter declares that the glorious hope of restoration was set forth “by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Men have spent six thousand years destroying one another, and now have developed the means of committing racial suicide; but Christ returns to restore, not to destroy. Only the fact of His return to intervene and call a halt to the course of human selfishness will avert the terrible catastrophe toward which mankind is speedily and helplessly being precipitated.
“Restitution,” as Peter used the word to describe the work of Christ at His second advent, means the restoration of man to the Edenic life and perfection which was lost because of sin. Man was created to live on the earth, and only because of sin and selfishness has he failed to live here everlastingly.
But the prophet assures us that God created not the earth in vain, but formed it to be inhabited. (Isa. 45:18) It has not been in vain because it is the divine purpose to restore the human race to life on the earth. The medium by which the work of restoration is to be accomplished by Christ is that of the long-promised Messianic Kingdom. That will indeed be a world government—not a world government devised by man, but one which will be imposed upon all nations through the authority and power of the divine Christ.
We also have the positive promise of God’s Word that “the earth abideth forever.” (Eccles. 1:4) Thus we know that the Scriptures which portray the “end of the world” are descriptive, not of the destruction of the planet, but merely of the end of an age. Indeed, when viewed in the light of God’s Word, the end of the world, instead of being something to dread, is seen to be that which will result in rich blessings to all mankind.
“Earth” Not Always Literal
It is interesting, as well as instructive, to note the varied uses of the word “earth” in the Scriptures. When we read that “the earth abideth forever,” it is evident that the literal earth is meant. (Eccles. 1:4) But when, as in Jeremiah 22:29 we read, “O earth, earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord,” we at once conclude that here the word is used symbolically to denote the people living on this planet. Certainly the literal earth cannot hear the Word of the Lord, but the people can.
In Daniel 7:7,19,23, we are told of a “dreadful and terrible beast” which devours the whole earth. Surely this is not the literal earth, even as the beast which does the devouring is not literal. Daniel, in this chapter tells of four beasts, and explains that they are four kingdoms. This is a use of language with which we are all acquainted. Beasts symbolize kingdoms in many parts of the earth, even today. There is the Russian bear, for example, and the British lion. To say that a beast of this sort devours the earth simply means that as a powerful governmental organization it controls the people of the earth and appropriates their resources to its own selfish uses.
The “Worlds” of the Bible
The term “world,” as used in the Bible, seldom refers to the planet earth. It is sometimes a translation of the Greek word aion, meaning age, but in the main the term is used to translate the Greek word kosmos, meaning order, or arrangement. And even where the word kosmos is used in the Scriptures it doesn’t always refer to exactly the same thing. John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world [Kosmos], that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I John 2:15 reads, “Love not the world [kosmos], neither the things that are in the world.” Surely God would wish us to love that which He loves, so it is manifest that kosmos of John 3:16 is not the kosmos of I John 2:15. It seems plain that the former applies to the people of the earth, while the latter has reference to the sinful, selfish arrangements and associations of the people.
Jesus, as reported in John’s Gospel, chapters 14 and 15, has a great deal to say about the world, or kosmos, which Christians are not to love. He tells us, for example, that Satan is its prince. He explains that Christians must be expected to be hated by it, even as was the Master Himself. He also explains that He had called his disciples out of this evil kosmos, hence that they were to remain separate from its entanglements. No one, in reading these wonderful chapters, has ever supposed that Jesus was discussing the literal planet earth. Why, then, should we suppose that when the prophecies describe the ending of this same kosmos, or world, of which Satan is the prince, it means the destruction of the literal earth?
The Greek word oikoumene is translated both earth and world in the New Testament. This word means “the habitable land” as distinguished from the uninhabitable, but is used pictorially to represent arrangements of the people. In Acts 17:6 it is used, and here we read that Paul and his associates were turning “the world upside down.” Certainly they were not turning the literal earth upside down. This remark reminds us of a similar use of language by the Prophet Isaiah. In a description of the great time of trouble with which the present age is now ending, he says, “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down.” (Isa. 24:1) In both these Scriptures, the expression, turning the earth, or world, upside down, is a symbolic description of disturbances in world society.
Symbolic Fire
Traditional misconceptions of the biblical end of the world to some extent developed as a result of a failure to realize that oftentimes the Scriptures use the term fire in a pictorial manner. Note, for example, Peter’s words, “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.” (I Pet. 4:12) We have never heard of any Christian becoming confused with this symbolic statement, thinking it referred to literal fire. It is clearly a description of trying experiences through which all Christians must pass, and by which the dross of their characters is burned away. But the righteous are not destroyed by these fiery trials.
Another interesting symbolic use of the term fire is that of Isaiah 33:14,15: “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from the holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from the hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.” Here, as in Peter’s epistle, the fire and the burnings are symbolic of the trials through which the righteous successfully pass, and are in no sense of the word to be understood literally.
The Apostle Paul also uses the term fire in connection with the experiences of Christians. He admonishes us not only to have a sure foundation for our faith and works—which foundation is Christ Jesus—but also to take heed how we build upon that foundation. Some, he says, build with “gold, silver and precious stones,” while others build with “wood, hay and stubble.” Paul explains that the kind of material we use in our building will be revealed by “fire.” If it be “wood, hay and stubble,” the fire will destroy it; if it be “gold, silver and precious stones,” the fire will not harm it. (I Cor. 3:11-15) No student of the Scriptures has ever supposed this to be a reference to literal fire.
Another enlightening biblical use of the symbolism of fire is that of Isaiah 47:14. This text is part of a prophecy of the destructive trouble that was to come upon Babylon. The trouble is likened to fire that consumes; but that it is not literal fire is revealed in the fact that a part of the trouble—the symbolic fire—was to be the lack of fire by which to keep warm. The passage reads: “Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.”
Peter’s Prophecy of Our Times
One of the outstanding prophecies of the Bible which symbolically portrays the ending of the present age is that of 2 Peter, chapter 3. This is also one of the prophecies of the Bible which has been misinterpreted to prove the erroneous theory that the end of the world means the burning of the earth. In this chapter, Peter refers to the destruction of the antediluvian world as an illustration of the ending of the present world.
It was not the literal earth which perished at the time of the flood. It was a world, or kosmos, which then came to an end, not the literal earth. The arrangement of things among men, their methods of government, the civilization of the pre-flood world, ended, and a new world was started, of which Noah and his family were the nucleus.
Peter explains that just as the symbolic heavens and earth that were before the flood, which made up the kosmos of that period, came to an end, even so shall the “heavens and the earth which are now,” come to an end. But as the literal heavens and the literal earth did not perish at the time of the flood, we are not to suppose that this prophecy has reference to the destruction of the literal heavens and earth at the second coming of Christ. Indeed, such a conclusion would seem absurd, especially when we consider that the heavens as well as the earth are included in the picture of destruction which, if interpreted literally would call for the destruction of the whole universe. What a wide-scale use of atomic destructive power would be involved in such a cataclysmic wiping out of all God’s work of creation!
The symbolism of “heavens” and “earth” is very meaningful when we take into consideration the relationship between the literal heavens and the literal earth. Atmospheric conditions, the tides, seasons, days, nights, heat and cold, etc., are in direct relationship with the movements of the sun, moon, and stars. So earth’s society, the present kosmos, or world, has its “earth” and “heavens,” which bear a similar relationship to each other.
In other prophecies, such as Joel 2:1,2,10; Luke 21:25,26; and Matthew 24:29, the symbolic heavens are described more in detail, and are shown to contain a “sun,” “moon,” “stars,” and “clouds.” These prophecies show that as conditions develop which destroy the kosmos, the “sun” becomes darkened, and the “stars” withdraw their shining.
What men call civilization, or the civilized world, is composed of many elements: national, economic, financial, and religious. The religious, or professed spiritual elements of the present kosmos are clearly a part of that which is represented by the “heavens.” Jesus said concerning the end of the age that “the powers [influence] of the heaven [over the remainder of the kosmos]” would be “shaken.”
Elements Melt
Referring to all the various elements of the symbolic heavens and earth, Peter declares that they “shall melt with fervent heat.” The Greek word here used for elements is the same as that employed by the Apostle Paul when, in Galatians 4:3,9, he refers to the weak and beggarly “elements” of this “world.” Paul was referring to the elements of society as then constituted, such as Judaism, heathenism, Romanism, etc. And it is the elements of society that make up the world of today which Peter refers to, declaring that they will “melt with fervent heat.” Viewed from this standpoint, who cannot see that the elements of this world are already “melting,” disintegrating—losing their cohesion.
In the great time of trouble by which the present world order is to be completely destroyed, there is of necessity a great deal of literal destruction. Many of the cities of Europe today are rubble. The same is true in Asia. It is conceivable, however, that despite all of this actual destruction, the pre-1914 world order could survive. More important to mankind as a whole than the destruction of hundreds of cities and millions of men, is the fact that through this long period of international struggle a world order has been virtually destroyed, and it is this destruction which primarily is referred to in the prophecies.
And that destruction continues despite the ending of a global war. The use of atomic bombs which contributed to the shortening of the war destroyed two Japanese cities and many thousands of human beings, leaving other thousands blinded and otherwise maimed for life. But this demonstration of what atomic power will mean in years to come, in addition to destroying two cities, destroyed also all sense of security for the peoples of the whole world, and at one stroke made obsolete all human plans for coming peace and good will among men.
Looking back over the progress of knowledge and science during the last hundred years, it is apparent that these have been contributing factors to the dilemma in which the world finds itself today. Knowledge, enlightening the minds of fallen men and woman, has increased their desire for gain, and science has implemented these selfish desires by giving the nations the instruments to destroy their fellows in order to secure earth’s bounties for themselves. Thus the atomic force of knowledge is bringing the present evil world to an end.
Knowledge is a major contributing cause of world chaos only because of the selfish way in which it is used. Knowledge itself, like atomic power, can be as potent an influence for the blessing of mankind as it has thus far been in the destroying of a world. Instead of discarding knowledge, therefore, all should recognize that the real solution is indeed a new world order under the administration of one centralized government.
As a general rule, men view with suspicion too great a centralization of governmental authority and power. It was to guard against this that in the arrangements of the United States Government it was decided that jurisdiction should be decentralized in a measure by a division between federal and state authority and a division of the federal government into three departments—the legislative, judicial and executive. History proves that centralized government often leads to tyrannical dictatorship.
With the warnings of history thus before them, the people of the world will hesitate to give their sanction to a world centralization of power, into whomsoever’s hands it might be entrusted. The probabilities are, therefore, that no such centralized world government will be established by man. The nations will rather risk the dangers of atomic power than the slavery imposed by world despots.
Is there, then, any hope that the human race will be saved from the result of its own selfishness? Yes! And that hope is in God. In the days before August 5, 1945, the expression was sometimes heard, “God or chaos,” but now it is “God or extinction.” In turning to God, and accepting the Kingdom which He is about to establish in the hands of Christ, the world will not be disappointed. Long ago the Creator foresaw the extremity to which selfishness would lead, and in a prophecy applying to that time, extends the invitation, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, there is none else.”—Isa. 45:22
God’s assurance of his saving power in this time of the world’s greatest need is the climax of a prophecy in which we are told that He created not this earth in vain, but formed it to be inhabited. Were it not for the assurances of the Word of God, and our knowledge of the outworking of His divine plan in the creation of the human race, we might all wonder at this time if the creation of this earth as a home for cruel and selfish man had not been in vain!
In this same prophecy the Lord says, “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.” This may well indicate that the destructive powers invented by the selfish ingenuity of man may yet reduce the nations to mere remnants of what they are today. It is this, indeed, that the world now fears. And it will be when these remnants of the nations are assembling themselves, looking to their false gods of organization and power for a way to prevent complete annihilation, that they will be made to hear the divine invitation, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.”
Every Knee Shall Bow
In the next verse of this same prophecy (Isa. 45:23) the Lord says, “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.” In the New Testament the Apostle Paul quotes this statement concerning the bowing of all knees, and the swearing of allegiance by all tongues, and shows that it will be fulfilled through Jesus. (Phil. 2:10,11) It is clear, therefore, that the prophecy refers to the establishment of divine authority in the earth in the hands of Christ, through the operation of the centralized world government which will be the Kingdom of God. Yes, Jesus is yet to be the King who will rule “from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”—Psa. 72:8
Will this government be accepted by the peoples and nations of the earth? Yes! The Prophet Isaiah declares, “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountain, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”—Isa.2:2-4
A reference to Daniel 2:35,44, will show that the Lord’s “mountain” is in reality His Kingdom, hence Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the “mountain of the Lord’s house” denotes the Kingdom of the Lord in the hands of His ruling house, made up of Jesus, His beloved Son, and His faithful followers who will reign, with Him as kings. (Rev. 5:10; 20:4) This Kingdom, the prophet declares, will be established in the “top” of the mountains, or kingdoms. This indicates that it will take first place as the dominant ruling factor in the affairs of all men and nations.
In view of God’s assurance o His world to come wherein dwelleth righteousness, and peace, and joy, who will fear the end of this present evil world?