| News and Views | January 1946 |
World Destruction—Then World Government
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”—Isaiah 9:6,7
THE releasing of atomic energy with its threat of almost limitless destruction, if misused by selfish and rival nations of the earth—in self defense or aggression—has brought to the fore the need for a universal government to establish and maintain law and order among all the nations. Reduced to its simplest equation the theory is that it requires more than one to make a quarrel, hence, if there is but one government in the whole earth, there will be no other government with which to quarrel, thus there will be peace. And, if the world has peace by virtue of being ruled by a single government, then there will be no danger of the race being destroyed by atomic bombs. So goes the theory.
The idea of a world government is not new. It existed and has been attempted long before scientists learned how to split atoms. Millions have spilled their blood in military conquests which have had as their objective the spread of power and control over as much of the earth as possible. History records four “universal empires”—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
The advocates of world government today are not prompted so much by ambition for empire as by fear of racial destruction. It is hoped that all nations will see the urgent need for a world government, and will work together for its establishment; even if it necessitates the surrender of some of their much cherished “sovereign rights.”
While ambitious rulers in the past have sought to establish world control in their own hands, it is probably safe to say that the present agitation for world government is the first serious attempt that has been made to bring the nations of earth together on a common basis of self-interest and preservation since God scattered the people and confused their language when they attempted to build the Tower of Babel four thousand years ago. That tower, as man conceived it, was to be a symbol of unity among men to bind them together in a common cause. Its construction was attempted not long after the flood, and it seems evident that fear of further catastrophe, of whatever nature it might be, had something to do with the desire of the people at that time to keep together.
An interesting observation on God’s part is recorded concerning the feeble efforts of man in the venture to build the Tower of Babel. “Let us go down” and see what man is doing, is the way the record reads. Here was a work so small from God’s standpoint that it couldn’t properly be appraised from heaven. God, who can see the sparrows fall, had to “go down” to the scene of action, and when he did, that first dream of world union straightway came to an end.
We can’t help wondering if God’s viewpoint of human efforts has changed much since then. Man has dug and probed into the secrets of creation until he has succeeded in discovering and releasing some of the tremendous power that the Creator locked up in the atom, and now he’s afraid. Confronted with a potential for destruction which defies human imagination, puny man is terrified. Men today are probably as afraid as were the antediluvians when the waters of the flood began to rise and engulf them. We must do something, they say, and the only thing they can think of which might hold back the flow of atomic bombs threatening to destroy the entire race is to form a world government. Let’s get together and build a “tower,” lest we all be destroyed, is now the hue and cry.
The claim being made by so many, even by important scientists such as Prof. Einstein, that a world government is the only solution for the present plight of the nations, is the climax to trends in this direction which have been gathering in strength for many years. God’s Word foretold this trend, prophesying that all the efforts of men to work together in a common cause, were, on account of selfishness, foredoomed to failure.
“Why do the nations tumultuously assemble, and the people imagine a vain thing?” the prophet inquires. He reveals the nature of the “vain thing” which the nations imagine, saying, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed.” In the second verse following, God’s viewpoint of united nations is expressed. The prophet says, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.”
The uniting of nations in leagues of one sort or another which we have witnessed during these “last days”—whether to make war or to keep the peace—has been for the purpose of preserving the old world order, described by the apostle as “this present evil world.” It is God’s purpose expressly declared through the prophecies of his Word that this evil world shall be, yea must be, destroyed, and that its place in the earth will be taken by the long-promised kingdom of Christ. It follows, therefore, that when the nations take counsel together in order to forestall this destruction which they see coming upon them, they are actually taking counsel against the Lord, and against his plan for world peace. security, and happiness.
While fear of world destruction is the motive back of nearly all the get-together efforts of the nations, the Scriptures reveal that from another standpoint God is responsible for this assembling. This viewpoint is not difficult to grasp. The prophecies reveal that in this “time of the end” there would come to mankind a great increase of knowledge. It is this increase of knowledge that is responsible for all the “scientific” discoveries of our day. Man imagines that by his own intelligence he has unlocked the secrets of nature, but this is not true. The simple fact is that because God’s time has come for the destruction of this present evil world, he has allowed man to pry into these secrets sufficiently to unloose the destructive forces which are destined to hasten the dissolution of civilization. Knowledge along all lines, used selfishly, is contributing toward this end. By making possible rapid communication and travel it has forced the nations into a closer relationship with one another, and through fear of destruction they form leagues for self-protection.
Viewed from the human standpoint, motives of selfishness, symbolically described by the Revelator as “unclean spirits like frogs,” are the reasons which cause the nations to unite. But at the same time, it is because God has released the flood gates of knowledge, which fallen man is incapable of utilizing for his good, that the nations are gathering in self-defense against the “Frankenstein” which their selfish misuse of knowledge has produced.
The Revelator declares that the nations are gathered “into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” The term “Armageddon” is used in the Scriptures to symbolize the great struggle of men at this end of the age which results in the destruction of the present order of things. It is a struggle in which God directs the issue to his glory through the establishment of the kingdom of Christ. This overthrowing of an order of things is described by the Revelator as “a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.”
God sets forth his purpose in gathering the nations at this time, saying, “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.”
The “earth” which is devoured by the fire of God’s jealousy is not the planet upon which we live. This term is frequently used in the Scriptures as a symbol of the present social order, and in this prophecy God’s purpose of world destruction is clearly stated. And it is well to note that while the nations gather for self-defense, divine strategy overrules, so that their forming of leagues results, rather, in their destruction.
In view of the present dilemma of the nations, human wisdom is insisting that there must be world government, or else world destruction. But God’s Word sets forth the fact that world destruction is inevitable, and that following this there will come world government, a government presided over by the “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
The Language Barrier
When God scattered the people back in the dawn of history at the time they attempted to build the Tower of Babel, he confused their language as a means of preventing a common understanding among them. This language barrier has ever since continued to be an effective one in keeping the nations separated. This separation has, it is true, resulted in selfish competition, yet evidently God saw that this would be better for the race than to allow them to pool their selfishness by remaining united.
It is not God’s purpose that the nations of earth shall always be separated, but he has his own plan for world government. While no one can say with certainty the extent to which present human efforts to establish unified control over the earth will be permitted to succeed, the Scriptures do reveal clearly that the ultimate end of all such human efforts is failure.
God has decreed that the government which actually will save the people is to be established by Christ—“the government shall be upon his shoulder.” Jesus highlighted this purpose of God by teaching his followers to pray, “Thy kingdom [government] come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” True, Jesus was crucified because he claimed to be a king, but this did not defeat the divine purpose centered in him, for the government which the prophets foretold he would establish is yet to become a reality; and “of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”
The Kingdom Theme
The “kingdom,” or government, theme of the Scriptures is a most interesting one. It begins in the Book of Genesis, and in a glorious crescendo reaches a climax in the closing chapters of Revelation. It is implied in promises made to Abraham. On several occasions God promised this patriarch that all the families of the earth were to be blessed through his seed.
The apostle tells us that Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” A “city” is often used in the Bible as pictorial of a government, just as we use the names of certain cities today. When we speak, for example, of official Washington, London, or Moscow, we are not referring to the buildings in these centers of population, but to the governments therein located.
So Abraham looked for a “city” that was to be built by God, a government that would be established by almighty power, and backed up by divine authority. As Abraham understood the matter, the personnel of this future government was to be made up of his “seed,” his descendants. This hope was passed on to his son Isaac, and to Isaac’s son, Jacob. At Jacob’s death it was inherited by his twelve sons. At that time they were sojourning in the land of Egypt, but in ‘due course, and as a token of his care over them, God delivered his people from Egyptian bondage, and after forty years’ wandering in the wilderness, they were restored to the land which he had promised to their fathers.
Shortly before Jacob died, he uttered a prophecy which narrowed down the hope of rulership to the descendants of his son Judah—“The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” The title “Shiloh” means “peacemaker,” and in Jacob’s prophecy undoubtedly it is a reference to Christ, who was born to be “The Prince of Peace.”
Gathered Unto Shiloh
“Unto Him [Shiloh] shall the gathering of the people be,” the prophecy states. When this promise was made, several hundred years had passed since the people were scattered at the Tower of Babel, and it indicates that it was not God’s purpose that they should remain scattered forever. But neither did God intend that men, by their own efforts, would be able to reassemble themselves and work together in a world government. As the prophecy indicates, God was even then developing his own plans for the regathering of the people—“Shiloh,” The Prince of Peace, was to be the central figure of the coming world union, the great Leader who was to save the world from chaos and destruction.
While Jesus was to be the foretold Prince of Peace, the great Ruler of all nations, God established a typical kingdom to govern the little nation of Israel, the natural descendants of Abraham. Saul was the first of Israel’s typical kings, and Zedekiah was the last. Zedekiah was overthrown because the iniquity of Israel had come to the full. In connection with his overthrow God said, “Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same, … I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: … until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.”
The “diadem” and “crown” mentioned in this prophecy refer to the God-given right to be the world Ruler which was mentioned in Judah’s prophecy, the “sceptre” of divine promise concerning the kingdom of God. God’s wonderful blessings upon the natural descendants of Abraham, especially during the reign of Solomon, led this little nation to believe that he would use them to establish his foretold universal rulership, but their hope was blasted when Zedekiah was taken a prisoner to Babylon and their whole nation went into captivity with him. God had other plans. He whose right it was had not come—“Shiloh” had not yet been born.
Babylonian Empire
With the overthrow of the typical kingdom of Israel, Babylon became a universal empire. This was by divine permission. It was also by divine permission that Medo-Persia succeeded Babylon as a world empire, which in turn was followed by Greece, and finally, Greece by Rome. This is revealed in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a great humanlike image. Daniel, a Hebrew captive in Babylon, and vitally interested in the affairs of his people, interpreted this dream, explaining that its glamour of gold, silver, brass, and iron depicted the four great empires just named.
The feet and toes of the image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream were of iron and clay mixed. In the dream the king saw a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which smote the image on its feet, causing it to fall, and grinding it to powder. Then the wind blew the powder away, as the chaff from a summer threshing floor.
Then the stone which smote the image grew into a great mountain which filled the whole earth.
Daniel explained to Nebuchadnezzar that the head of gold represented him as the head of the Babylonian Empire. The prophet traced the course of history down through the successors of Babylon to the fourth empire, which was Rome. Then come the divisions of Rome, as shown in the feet and toes of the image. Next the image is smitten by the stone, which afterward becomes a great mountain to fill the whole earth. Daniel explains that this stone pictures the kingdom, or government, of God, and that it would be established in the days of “these kings,” represented by the feet and toes of the image.
The expression, “days of these kings,” applies to modern times, for it should be remembered that the various divisions of Rome, as depicted by the feet and toes of the image, still existed in Europe, until those hereditary rulers were overthrown as a result of the first and second world wars. Today communism and various brands of democracy have supplanted practically all of those old governments. We call attention to the modernity of this part of the prophecy because it has a vital bearing upon the matter of world government, and upon the fact that the time has come when God will establish such a government. It should be especially noticed that the force which overthrows the image is the kingdom of God which ultimately fills the whole earth.
God used Daniel to record other prophecies pertaining to the development of a world government. In one of them is shown that from the time a decree would be issued to rebuild the city and walls of Jerusalem until the coming of Messiah the Prince, would be a period of “seventy weeks,” and that the Messiah would be cut of in the midst of the last, or seventieth, week of this period.
At the time this prophecy was given, the Israelites were in Babylon, and it was not until the Medes and Persians took the reins of control away from Babylon that the people of God were permitted to return to their own land. King Cyrus then issued a decree permitting them to return and to rebuild their temple. This was in 536 B.C. But the decree of Cyrus said nothing about rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and its walls. The decree covering this point was issued eighty-two years later by Artaxerxes.
As Daniel had pointed out, it was from the issuing of this latter decree that a period of sixty-nine weeks was to elapse before the coming of Messiah the Prince. This period turned out to be one of four hundred and eighty-three years, culminating at the time Jesus was baptized as the Messiah by John the Baptist. In this we have a key to the time prophecies of the Bible. This key was suggested to the Prophet Ezekiel. It is the method of counting a day for a year. Sixty-nine weeks of seven days’ each would be four hundred and eighty-three days, and in time prophecy just that many years.
The Messiah Cut Off
But there was a factor in this prophecy that escaped the attention of the ancients, and particularly those who expected Jesus to establish a kingdom at the time of his first advent. It was the fact that though the end of the sixty-ninth symbolic week would be the time for Messiah to come, yet that in the midst of the next week, the seventieth, he would be “cut off, but not for himself.” Jesus was cut off in death, dying not for himself, but for the sins of the whole world. His earthly ministry lasted just three and one-half years, half of the seventieth week. So, while this prophecy revealed the time for Messiah to come, the coming to which it referred was to be for sacrificial purposes, and not as a ruler.
Previous to Daniel’s time, God provided another and longer time measurement, which, in the light of the fulfillment of other prophecies can now be seen to mark the time when Christ was to establish his kingdom. This measurement is one of 2,520 years, dating from 606 B.C. to A.D. 1914—the time when the kingdoms of this world began to crumble.
The 2,520-year measurement is contained in a prophecy warning Israel concerning the result of continued disregard for divine law and the worshiping of false gods: Various corrective punishments were foretold, with the warning that if in spite of these the Israelites continued to disobey they would be punished “seven times” more. This “seven times” of punishment began with Israel’s last king, Zedekiah, when he was taken captive to Babylon in 606 B.C. “Seven times” in biblical prophecy is a period of 2,520 years, and would, therefore, end in 1914.
Jesus’ Prophecy of Our Times
In Jesus’ prophecy of our times, he said that Jerusalem, that is, the Jewish people, would be trodden down of the Gentiles until “the times of the Gentiles” were fulfilled. It is in this same prophecy that Jesus quotes from the Book of Daniel to show that the end of the present age, and the time for his government to be established, would be marked by a “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” This “time of trouble,” according to Daniel, would coincide with the “standing up” of Michael, “the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people.” This indicates that the present time of great distress upon the nations portends divine intervention by the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom.
It will be conceded, we believe, that beginning with 1914, the world has been passing through a “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” Certainly, with the universal wreckage threatened by atomic bombs, there will soon be no doubt of this in the minds of those who are left alive to think.
It is also well-known to all, that interlocked with the national and international distress since 1914, the problems of the Jewish people and their right to Palestine have become front-page news. Jesus and the prophets, in their previews of this “time of the end,” point out this extraordinary combination of events.
The time measurements of the prophecies, when relating to nations and peoples, usually indicate merely the turning points in their experiences, and this is the significance of the 1914 date in prophecy. It is certainly evident that the Gentile nations of earth began to be destroyed in 1914. It is also true that the Jewish people, because of the experiences through which they have passed since then, are realizing as never before their need of the Holy Land, for the time has come when God is again taking a hand in their affairs.
The Seed of Abraham
As we have seen, the personnel of God’s government is to be the “seed” of Abraham. This “seed” is Christ, the “Shiloh” promised by Jacob, and “The Prince of Peace” of Isaiah’s prophecy. Paul informs us that the true followers of Jesus are also to be a part of the promised “seed,” not upon the basis of nationality, but because of individual loyalty to God and to the principles of righteousness contained in the divine will for them. The work of God in the earth during this present age has been the selection and preparation of this class to live and reign with Jesus in his world government.
Christ’s rulership will be spiritual. Neither Jesus nor his church will rule as men, but will exercise their control through human representatives. These will be the resurrected worthy ones of past ages. There are a number of scriptures which indicate this. They show that this centralized government of Christ will first make itself manifest in Palestine—not through unbelieving Jews, but through the miracle of the returning ancient prophets who, backed by miracle-working authority and power, will begin there a rule destined quickly to spread until it embraces the whole earth.
This is not visionary, it is realism. It is a realistic acknowledgment of the fact that man has failed, and that unless the Creator of man intervenes, his creation will have been in vain. It is the realism of Christianity, and to believe it is to have faith in what God has promised to do through Christ. Just as the present age was introduced by the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection, so the new age now dawning is to open up in its fullness by another demonstration of the miracle-working power of the resurrection.
The power sealed up in atoms is miraculous. Man is able to release a measure of it, but he doesn’t understand its secret. Should it be thought incredible that the One who made all the atoms should use sufficient of his knowledge and power to raise the dead, since this is what he has promised to do? For six thousand years God has been training the personnel for operating a world government. As they finished their training they fell asleep in death, and in God’s own due time his power restores them to life, and together they will be ready to assume their positions of rulership in the world government of divine promise.
Characteristics of World Government
The characteristics of the world government to be established by Christ are reflected in the several titles which the Scriptures apply to him. The term “Christ” itself is one of them. It means anointed. The thought is taken from the ancient custom of anointing kings at the time they were inducted into office. It denotes right, or authority Jesus is the Anointed of God. His government will function, not by the will of man, but by the authority of God, and for the purpose of establishing God’s will in the earth. Jesus will be the first ever to rule so universally and by actual divine right!
Jesus is also called “Wonderful.” Christ’s kingdom will not come into power by popular vote, yet the people will soon recognize the sterling qualities of their new Ruler, and be ready to acclaim him as “Wonderful.” He will be wonderful, not because of his military genius, not because he is able to induce the masses to die in his support, but because of his love for the people. He who is to be the Kings of kings, the greatest and most wonderful Ruler of all tie, first of all died for his subjects because of his great love for them.
“Counselor” is another title which the Scriptures apply to Jesus. The thought here is that of a counselor-at-law, one who pleads the case of another. In the New Testament Jesus is spoken of as the great “Mediator between God and men.” One of the purposes of his reign is to re-establish harmony between God and man. The world has been estranged from God through wicked works, but they are to be restored to his fellowship and favor. This will be brought about through the mediatorship of Christ—the great “Counselor” of the people.
Jesus will also be the “mighty God.” He will be worshiped as the great Benefactor, the loving Savior of all mankind—but not as the eternal God and Creator. One of the prophets speaks of Christ’s kingdom as a “mountain,” and tells us that in this mountain there will be spread a “feast of fat things”—denoting an abundance of everything which contributes to human happiness. It is also promised that in this kingdom, death will be swallowed up in victory, and that all tears will be wiped away. Then follows a description of how the people will react in gratitude for these blessings. They will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, … we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”
Truly they will be glad to glorify Jesus as the “God of their salvation.” They will have tried other gods—the god of wealth, the god of power, the god of militarism, the god of communism, and the god of capitalism, but they will all have failed utterly to bring salvation. Instead, all of these gods created by selfish man have, by warring with one another, threatened to destroy the race. But Christ intervenes to save the people from these gods. He gives the people those blessings of life which they crave, and gives them life itself. Yes, he will be a “mighty God,” and the people will say, “Lo, this IS our god.”
“The everlasting Father” is another title applied to Jesus, and is a further description of what his rulership will mean to mankind. Father means life-giver, hence the “everlasting Father” will give everlasting life to those who obey the laws of his worldwide government. No other ruler has ever had everlasting life on the agenda of blessings promised to his subjects. This provision of life by earth’s new Ruler includes the awakening of the dead, that they too might share in the blessings of his government.
“There won’t be room for all,” someone may object. Such a fear is groundless. God commissioned our first parents to multiply and fill the earth, and we may rest assured that when sufficient people have been born to fulfill this commission, the propagation of the race will, by divine providence, cease. There is a trend in that direction even now, as we all know.
Actual figures reveal that in the more than six thousand years since creation, there have not been sufficient people born to come anywhere near overpopulating the earth. It is a singular fact, however, that now the living population of earth has reached the point where its natural increase would soon become a real world problem, except for the fact that Christ’s new government will soon take over in the affairs of men, and this feature of the divine arrangement for man will gradually cease.
Jesus is also to be the “Prince of Peace.” In the world government which he will establish, the nations will learn war no more. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks—and they will certainly find some other use for atomic energy besides that of making bombs to destroy the race. By obedience to the laws of Christ’s world government, the people will find the way to peace in their communities, peace in their homes, and peace in their hearts.
Above all, the Prince of Peace will establish peace between God and men—a peace without which every other form of peace would only be shallow and temporary. When Jesus was born, the angels proclaimed, “Peace on earth, and good will toward men.” God’s good will toward men was expressed in the birth of Jesus, and it will be expressed still further in the establishment of his kingdom. And because men will be blessed by the good will of God; all the other blessings which they crave will flow to them like a river, even from the throne of God.
Indeed, the blessings of peace, and joy, and health, and everlasting life, are illustrated by the Revelator as a “river of water of life.” On the banks of this river are the “trees of life, and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations.” With the people of all nations healed and restored to life; with God’s will re-established in the earth; with the dead restored to life; with the knowledge of God filling the earth as the waters cover the sea; who will not then give glory to God, their Creator?
Today we are living at the borderline of that new government which, according to the Scriptures, will be “the desire of all nations.” As the prophet foretold would be the case, the nations are now being shaken and humbled in order that they might realize the need of Christ’s government. This shaking of the nations must continue for a while, and undoubtedly there is much distress still ahead; but the end will be glorious, for God has promised to turn to the people a pure language of truth and righteousness. Humbled by the complete failure of their own selfish plans, they will then gladly call upon his name and serve him with one consent.
What can we do about it now? We can believe the promises of God, and, resting in these promises, endeavor to comfort others by telling them to “fear not”—neither atomic bombs, nor other tragedies produced by human selfishness—for the time is near when Christ will assume control over the earth, to bring order out of chaos, peace out of war, and life out of death. What a glorious prospect! And this is human destiny, planned and guaranteed by the Creator—a destiny of eternal life and happiness, on an earth filled with peace, good will, and the glory of God.
Referring to the present time of distress, the prophet, addressing those who have faith in the promises of God, admonishes them to seek peace and righteousness, with the promise that they may be hidden by God in the day of his wrath. The consecrated followers of Jesus need not fear any, trouble which yet may come, for God will overrule all of their experiences for their highest good. Even death is not a tragedy when viewed in the light of God’s promises, for the dead are to be raised—the church in the first resurrection to reign with Christ, and all others to enjoy the rich blessings of life on the earth. Surely we do not need to fear!
True, the dark and ominous clouds of trouble are now hanging threateningly over a world that is filled with fear, but WE need not fear! The clouds will one day break to reveal the sunshine of God’s favor in the establishment of that world government which he has promised. Meanwhile, as we wait and pray for that kingdom, let us rejoice in the knowledge of the blessed time to come, and, rejoicing in it ourselves, may we, whenever and wherever and by whatever means possible, tell the glad tidings to all the world that Christ the King is soon to reign. In our hearts we can even now sing:
“All hail the power of Jesus’ name
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown him Lord of all.”
Let us proclaim far and wide that the time is near when in answer to the Christian’s prayer God’s will is to be done throughout the whole earth, that all mankind will indeed crown Jesus “Lord of all.” Let us make it known that this will lead to, and make sure, the human destiny decreed by the Creator—that the man whom he created in his own image will be restored to that image, and have his lost dominion over earth restored to him.