| Highlights of Dawn | May 1950 |
“The Time of the End”
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” —Daniel 12:4
THE prophetic expression, “the time of the end,” does not mean the end of time, nor does it imply the end of human experience on this earth. Fundamental to a proper understanding of God’s plan for the recovery of mankind from sin and death is a recognition of the great scriptural truth that God designed and created this earth to be the everlasting home of the human race, that he created it not in vain but formed it to be inhabited. (Isa. 45:18) Therefore, when we read in the Bible concerning the “time of the end,” the “last days,” and the “end of the world,” these expressions should be understood as referring to the closing scenes of the reign of sin and death; or, we might better say, a transition period between a social order dominated by Satan—the “god of this world”—and a new social order which will be the kingdom of Christ.—II Cor. 4:4
Thus seen, any indication that prophecies pertaining to this period of time are being fulfilled should be studied carefully because they have a vital bearing on our lives as Christians, both now and also with respect to our hope for the future. Jesus expressed the matter clearly, saying, “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, lift up your heads; for your redemption [deliverance] draweth nigh.” (Luke 21:28) If we are actually living in the “time of the end” of Satan’s rule, it means not only that the deliverance of the church in the “first resurrection” to live and reign with Christ is near, but also the deliverance of the whole world of mankind from sin and death is soon to be accomplished.
The Great Awakening
All thoughtful minds recognize that tremendous changes are taking place in the world. The very foundations of the pre-1914 world are being terribly shaken, and the momentum with which they are crumbling seems almost daily to be increasing. Prior to the first World War Europe was controlled by hereditary church-state ruling houses. Now these have nearly all disappeared. Corning down to major developments within the last decade: Germany has disappeared as a great nation; Japan has ceased to exist as a major world power; China has passed into the Soviet orbit and is now controlled and will be used as a tool for the further spread of communism; the United Nations came into existence and has been proved impotent as an instrument to establish world peace; Russia has emerged from centuries of eclipse to become—because of its revolutionary designs—a power to be feared by the western world; the new State of Israel has been born; and the atomic age has been ushered in and with it the threat of race annihilation.
These outstanding changes in a social order are but the outward manifestations of something which is stirring in the hearts of the people—the symptoms, so to speak, of the determination of the masses to make changes which will better their conditions. There is a seething of unrest among the people everywhere. All around the world men are awakening to their rights—their rights to freedom and self-determination, and their right to a fair share in the bounties provided by mother earth.
This cry for liberty takes various forms. With the colored races it is primarily for civil liberties; with colonial subjects it is for freedom from their imperial overlords; with others, it is a demand for liberty of expression along all lines, politically, socially, and religiously. The impact of this awakening is making itself felt in every field of human endeavor. Political parties in the various nations where there is still a choice are particularly vulnerable to it, for as one party fails to give the people what they want, they are ready to vote in another, but only again to be disappointed.
The real significance of what is happening all over the world is recognized by very few. Most people are so involved in the many controversies that are raging about their heads, that they are unable to see the meaning of it all, or else recognize their inability to do anything about it. As one observer put it, “Like Rip Van Winkle, they are sleeping through a world revolution.” And even among those who partially understand what is happening there are few who have sought out and discovered the real cause.
What was it that brought about this era of change? Why did the world remain asleep throughout all the centuries of the past, and then, all of a sudden, begin to stir and thereby precipitate national, political, social, and religious changes in practically every part of the globe? The answer is found in one word—knowledge. With the invention of the printing press a torch was lighted which began to shine into the dark recesses of human minds, awakening humanity to a realization of its rights, and that these had long been denied by the ruling classes. It was only a flicker at first. Centuries elapsed before the increased circulation of knowledge made possible by the printing press began to reach sufficient numbers to affect the world as a whole in any drastic way. But the result of increasing knowledge was cumulative. By the opening of the Nineteenth Century it was beginning to manifest itself—among other ways—through invention. Through invention rapid means of travel came into use—beginning with the steamship and the railroad. Later came the automobile, and since the airplane.
This brought the nations closer together. The size of the world began to shrink. Many who formerly traveled no farther than a few miles from where they were born, became world travelers. Information concerning better conditions in one part of the world was carried to the less fortunate in other countries. There came a blending of thoughts and a comparison of ideas because the people of all nations were getting acquainted with one another.
Hand in hand with world travel came world communication by means of the telegraph, the telephone, and now the radio. Thus the events, both good and bad, in even the remotest parts of the earth became known everywhere within a matter of minutes, published and broadcast for all to know. This also is working tremendous changes in the thinking of men and women everywhere. The communist dictators know the power of a free distribution of world news, so behind the Iron Curtain they try to suppress all information from the outside world that does not strengthen their own position.
The power of knowledge is so great that if there were a single country in the world that actually had an ideal government, where the people enjoyed freedom and prosperity and equal rights such as all the world wants, the daily flow of the wholesome and encouraging news emanating from that country to the rest of the world—free from propaganda—would go a long way toward causing other nations to set up similar governments. But there is no such country.
The nearest to this ideal is America, and because the United States claims to be the champion of freedom and of equal rights, and because of the claim that democracy alone will save the world, millions are looking in this direction and keeping their ears attuned to what is actually occurring here. But what do they learn? They learn that here in America millions of bushels of potatoes are thrown away while the rest of the world starves. They learn that billions of dollars are available to prepare for war, but that America cannot afford the shipping charges to send these potatoes where they would help to save millions from starvation.
Then again, as the rest of the world looks toward America for an example, they discover that despite the American claim to be the sponsors of civil rights, our lawmakers filibuster all night in order to prevent a law being passed that would grant civil rights to millions of our own people. Can we expect that those who are looking to America for a lead will be favorably impressed with this sort of thing?
Nothing is gained by laboring the point, but examples almost innumerable could be cited to show why the whole world is not becoming stabilized by looking to and following the example of the United States. This is not the fault of Democracy as an ideology. The difficulty is well explained in a statement made recently by a well-known radio preacher to the effect that no matter how noble may be the utopias we erect, the human stuff of which they are made seems always to wreck them.
Knowledge has put it into the hearts of the people everywhere to want better things, but their own selfishness stands in the way of attaining that for which they struggle, and often the determination to better their condition makes them subject to exploitation by those in positions of power. Thus the whole world is in a seething state of unrest. Some are being temporarily held down by dictatorship—a dictatorship that is spreading itself over one country after another, particularly in Asia. Changes are everywhere occurring, and there is little that anyone can do but to stand aside and watch the parade. There is ferment and unrest everywhere. But because selfishness dominates the scene, the lot of many, such as in China, is like the proverbial fish that jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.
“God is shaking the nations,” says one noted radio minister speaking for the National Council of Churches in America. He doesn’t explain the method by which this shaking has been brought about, but the Bible does. In our text, and elsewhere, the Bible foretold the phenomenal increase of knowledge that we have seen occur in our day, and links it with what the Prophet Daniel describes as a “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1) We have noted the manner in which knowledge has prodded the world into a state of revolution, and it was in keeping with God’s design that this increase of knowledge should come to mankind just when it did.
In one of the prophecies of the Bible this increase of knowledge is symbolically described as the flashings of Jehovah’s lightnings, and the statement made that by these the earth is enlightened and made to tremble. The Prophet Haggai foretold that God would “shake all nations” and that then the desire of all nations would come. (Haggai 2:7) Thinking men the world over now recognize that this shaking is taking place, and the knowledge of this should lead to the obvious conclusion that the solution of the problems resulting there from is in the hands of the One who has caused these revolutionary events which we are all witnessing—and that is God.
God’s solution is the establishment of his long-promised kingdom in the hands of Christ. Nothing short of this kingdom can satisfy the desire of all nations. It will be a world government which will not be subject to the selfish manipulations of special or vested interests of any kind. All the agencies of this kingdom have been prepared under divine supervision. And those agencies will all function for the good of the people, and not to promote special interests of any sort whatsoever. And certainly not with the view of getting votes for re-election.
Yes, the “desire of all nations shall come,” but first the nations must continue to be shaken—shaken until they recognize their utter failure to restore peace and order and justice to a warring and chaotic world. Only by the eye of faith, and with vision enlarged by the promises of God, is it possible to look ahead and see the ultimate outcome of these distressing times. Happy are those who are blessed with such a viewpoint, for it means that they can enjoy freedom from fear, and can witness to those around them that a new King stands at the door, and soon will make manifest his authority and power for the eternal blessing of all mankind.