The Desert Shall Blossom

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” —Isaiah 35:1

ONE of the serious problems facing the people in large areas of the earth today is that of obtaining adequate supplies of water. We are told that in many places even in the United States the average water level is falling rapidly. Millions of acres of land are being made productive by irrigation from water supplied by artesian wells and by damming up rivers. Now, also, serious consideration is being given to the possibility of artificially causing rain to fall when and where needed. The officials of the great city of New York are hopeful that artificial rainmaking will help to augment the city’s shrinking supply of water.

Normally, of course, large areas of the earth’s surface are desert wastes, such as the great Sahara in Africa, and our own vast stretches of arid land in the Southwest. These enormous tracts of land, it is claimed, would be highly productive if they could be supplied with water. So our scientists are giving serious consideration to the problem of making more water available for the many sections of the earth where now it is either limited or not available at all.

Human beings cannot exist without water, and in the Bible we find many of God’s promises of everlasting life associated with water, water thus being used as a symbol of that which sustains life. We read, for example, of the “river of water of life.” (Rev. 22:1,17) To the woman of Samaria at the well of Jacob, Jesus said, “Whosoever drinketh of the water I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”—John 4:10-15

In the Book of Isaiah a prophetic invitation is extended: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” (Isa. 55:1) In another wonderful promise recorded by the Prophet Isaiah, descriptive of the blessings of life which are to be extended to the whole world of mankind during the thousand years of Christ’s reign, it is said that “in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.” (Isa. 35:6,7) In this same chapter, Isaiah writes that “the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.”—Isa. 35:1

These prophecies will doubtless have a literal fulfillment during the time of Christ’s reign, for God has promised that then all the dead are to be restored to life and given an opportunity to live forever, which means that all the land surface of the earth will be needed in order that adequate supplies of food may be produced to meet the needs of all. And if mere scientists are already beginning to discover the secret of utilizing the elements in order to produce some measure of rainfall, surely the hand that created the elements and has perfect control over them, will experience no difficulty in fulfilling his promises to supply the deserts with water and thus to turn them into fruitful fields. By utilizing modern methods of farming, the Sahara Desert alone could be made to produce enough food for a large portion of the present population of earth.

While there is no question but what the Lord will, in his own due time and way, provide an abundance of literal water so that the literal deserts shall blossom as the rose, the prophecies which assure us of this also seem to have a deeper meaning, in that they refer to refreshing blessings which, although properly likened to water, are of far greater importance to mankind, because they pertain to everlasting life.

With this thought in mind, let us examine briefly some of the wonderful statements recorded in Isaiah, chapter 35. The chapter opens with the statement, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” To whom does the prophet refer by the pronoun “them”? This is clearly a reference to some he has previously mentioned, and turning back to the preceding chapter we discover that in reality they are all the peoples of the earth who have been left in a “wilderness” condition because of what the prophet describes as the “day of the Lord’s vengeance.”—Isa. 34:8

This prophetic “day of vengeance” is the transition period between the man-made world which even now we are witnessing coming to its end, and the full establishment of God’s new world—that new social order which will be the kingdom of Christ. This day of vengeance is described by the Prophet Daniel as a “time of trouble,” and by Jesus as one in which there was to be “distress of nations with perplexity,” and when the people would look forward with fear to the things coming upon the earth. In Isaiah’s prophecy a more detailed description is given, which reads:

“Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.”—Isa. 34:1-3

Two global wars have already demonstrated how literal this description of the distress of nations can be, and no one can predict what may yet be in the offing so far as the destruction of human life is concerned during the time when “this present evil world,” as it is described by the Apostle Paul, is coming to an end. Without going into detail as to the many symbols used in this prophetic description of the present time of God’s vengeance upon the nations, it is clear from the entire prophecy as outlined in this chapter that ultimately the people of the earth will be left in a very desolate condition. The prophet declares, for example, that upon the earth shall be stretched out “the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.”—Isa. 34:11

It is evident, then, that the “wilderness and the solitary place” mentioned in the opening verse of the chapter 35 do not refer so much to a literal wilderness as to the desolated condition of the people who, because of the great “time of trouble,” have been reduced, as it were, to hopelessness, their hearts and lives having become an arid waste, having lost sight of the real purpose of their existence. How reassuring, then, is the promise that for these desolated peoples of earth their wilderness shall be turned into joy, and their desert of life shall be caused to “rejoice and blossom as the rose.”

And how will this be accomplished? Simply by providing them abundantly with the “water of life,” Primarily, the water of life is the knowledge of God and of his divine plan for the salvation of the human race. It is referred to in Zephaniah 3:9 as a “pure language,” and in this prophecy we are told that after the whole symbolic earth has been devoured with the fire of God’s jealousy—another description of the day of God’s vengeance by which Satan’s world is destroyed—this pure language, this water of life, will be given to the people, and as a result they will all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. (Zeph. 3:8,9) No one has ever called upon the name of the Lord in Spirit and in truth, that is, in the proper attitude of heart, and in keeping with the truth of his plan, who has not been caused to rejoice. If his heart has been as a “desert,” it has been caused to “blossom as the rose.” And this will be the experience of all mankind when in the beginning of the new age they call upon the Lord for his guidance and blessing.

Jesus said of the present time that men’s hearts would fail them for fear as they looked forward to the things coming upon the earth; but those who understand the plan of God and know the meaning of present world chaos and distress need not fear. Indeed, in this remarkable prophecy they are bidden to bear a message of reassurance to those who are fearful, and such a message could be none other than the Gospel of the kingdom. The prophet writes, “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. 35:4

This is indeed the day of God’s vengeance, but the divine purpose is not to inflict suffering upon the human race. Incidental to the collapse of their own selfish institutions, many do suffer; but the divine purpose in destroying the present evil world is in order that his provision of salvation may become available to the people through the agencies of his new world under the kingdom of Christ. So our message to the people should be that the Lord has come to save them, that soon “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”—Isa. 52:10

“Then,” continues the prophet, “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.” (Isa. 35:5) The divine purpose is to restore all mankind to perfection of mind and body, and this certainly will include the opening of blind eyes and the unstopping of deaf ears. There are to be times of restoration of all things, declared the Apostle Peter, and this divine purpose was foretold by all God’s holy prophets, of which Isaiah was one.

However, this wonderful promise also has reference to those who are blind to the truth of God’s Word. Jesus said to his disciples, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” (Matt. 13:16) Very few have been thus blessed during the present and past ages; but during the incoming new age all the blind eyes will be opened. Then they will all have eyes to see; that is, they will be able to discern the divine will, and to know of God’s gracious provisions of life for them and for all mankind. The knowledge of God’s glory, we are told, will then fill the earth as the waters cover the sea.

“Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.” (Isa. 35:6) This, too, will have a literal fulfillment. And besides, those who haltingly serve the Lord now because they fail to know him as they should, and those who do not sing his praises because his character has been misrepresented to them by the creeds of men, shall leap, as it were, in the service of God, and together with all mankind they will say, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”—Rev. 5:13

And then, thank God, the waters of truth shall gush forth in the wilderness of their lives and in the deserts of their hearts. refreshing their souls, causing them to rejoice “even with joy and singing,” because their lives—which, without God, were as a desolate wilderness—will “blossom abundantly.”

“And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness,” continues the prophet. This, of course, is a symbolic highway. It suggests a way of progress, and it is a way, says the prophet, that leads to holiness. The term holiness, as here used, denotes perfection; so the highway is God’s provision to enable mankind to return to the perfection of life that was forfeited by sin in the Garden of Eden. And there will be no need for anyone then to go astray, for the way of return to God and to perfection will be made so plain that “the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.”

No “lion” shall be on this highway, the prophet assures us. The greatest of all lions which hinder people today from serving the Lord is Satan the devil. The Apostle Peter declares that he goes about as a roaring lion “seeking whom he may devour.” (I Pet. 5:8) But Satan will be bound during the Millennium, so he will not be able to hinder the return of the people to their God.

“But the redeemed shall walk there,” that is, over this “highway” the “ransomed of the Lord shall return” from death, and in returning they “shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isa. 35:10) What a glorious prospect! While we are glad of God’s assurance that he will supply plenty of literal water for the needs of the human race throughout the endless ages of eternity, we can rejoice even more for the promised “river of water of life,” of which all who will may drink and live forever.

Religion in Government

THE Constitution of the United States provides for the separation of church and state. Doubtless the reason for this was that many of the Founding Fathers of our country had so recently either experienced or observed in Europe the many evils that result from mixing of religious and civil affairs in the government of a nation. Millions of Americans today are as keenly opposed to church-state affiliations as were our forefathers who framed the Constitution, and many of these are alert to oppose any developments which may seem like an abridgment of the separation principle. The controversy as to whether or not federal aid to education should be made available to parochial schools stems from this deep-rooted tradition that religion must be kept out of government.

However, even in America today, there are millions who feel that separation of religion and government is a mistake; that it is one of the major causes of the dilemma in which the world finds itself in the midst of this century of “progress.” This is the official viewpoint of the Catholic Church, and has been since the days of Emperor Constantine who, originally a pagan, professed Christianity and exalted the church to a position of power. Thus the Roman Empire changed from pagan to papal and the rule of Papal Rome throughout Europe was virtually unchallenged for centuries.

While the Protestant movement changed somewhat the status quo of the Roman setup, to this day the Catholic Church insists that this was against the will of God, and contrary to the best interests of the people. Referring to the period during which so many millions in Europe have refused to bow the knee to Rome, and when the principle of the separation of church and state has gained such popularity because of the American stand, Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, outstanding Catholic radio preacher of America, has called it the “era of historic liberalism.” In his opinion, this era is now closing, and he visualizes the people of all nations returning to what he considers a position of security, through recognition of the need of religion in government, and he hopes, naturally, that the world will decide in favor of the Catholic religion.

Religion in Ancient Governments

It is admittedly difficult for governments which claim to be civilized to ignore entirely the principle of religion. Religion is a profession of the recognition of the right of a higher power than man to shape the pattern of human behavior. The basic laws of America today, and of all civilized countries, find their origin in the code of conduct given to the ancient nation of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai. The use of the Bible in the administering of an oath is fundamentally a recognition of religious authority in government. Opening sessions of Congress with prayer is the same.

Historically, the recognition of the need of religion in government is extremely old, dating back to the days of ancient Egypt and Assyria. Religion was a very powerful influence in the Babylonian Empire. Although the Babylonians had their various “gods,” the religious rulership of the people headed up in their king, and was similar to what is recognized today as the worship of the state.

Highlighting this use of religion in government is the case of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He erected a giant image, representative of himself as head of the state, and commanded that when a certain signal was given, all the people of the realm should bow down and worship it. There were three of the Hebrew children, close associates of the Prophet Daniel, who refused to bow down to the image, feeling that to do so would be a denial of their own God, Jehovah. In harmony with the warning previously issued by the king concerning any who refused to worship his image, these three Hebrew children were cast into a fiery furnace. However, Jehovah delivered them. This resulted in liberty to the Hebrews to worship their God instead of the gods of Babylon.

When Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians, Darius, the Mede, became ruler. The enemies of Daniel, jealous of the high position he had been given in the new government, persuaded King Darius to issue a decree that no one should pray to any other god than the king himself during a period of thirty days, and that anyone doing so should be cast into a den of lions. Daniel disobeyed the decree and was cast into a den of lions, but, like the other Hebrew children, Jehovah delivered him.

These incidents, which are so familiar to all Christians, help to point up the fact that even in that ancient time religion played a very important role in government; and it continued to do so right on down to the days of Rome. The Medo-Persian Empire was succeeded by the Grecian, and then came the ascendancy of Rome. In the Pagan Roman Empire the emperors assumed the title Pontifex Maximus, meaning “chief religious ruler.” Here, as in Babylon, we see the religious and civil affairs of the state united in one individual, a dictator. Today we have virtually a duplicate of this arrangement in the totalitarian dictatorships of communism and fascism—in other words, a flareback of the ideology of Pagan Rome.

When Papal Rome took the place of Pagan Rome in the rulership of the old Roman world the title Pontifex Maximus was assumed by the popes. The religious and civil aspects of government were thus divided, the emperor being the civil ruler and the pope the religious ruler. However, the religious authority was supreme, overriding the civil whenever it was deemed necessary. For example, the kings of Europe under that system were crowned or uncrowned by the pope. Thus the civil rulers were merely the representatives of the religious head of the empire.

It was against this system that the Reformers protested. The popes claimed—and as a matter of fact they still claim—that in the exercise of their authority they are acting merely as representatives of Christ, that in reality divine authority is invested in them, and to disobey their edicts is tantamount to disobeying God, thus bringing upon oneself the displeasure of God. From the Catholic standpoint this would be a tragedy indeed, leading to thousands of years of additional purgatorial suffering after death, if not to eternal torment in the alleged fires of hell. It is not difficult to realize that the wielding of such authority by a mere human being could easily lead to all sorts of abuses and to unendurable intolerance.

This is just what did happen, and it was in the light of this background of evil which, at the time, was still so fresh and vivid in the minds of the Founding Fathers, that the Constitution of the United States was written. To them, the separation of church and state, or of religious and civil government, seemed to be an absolute essential to the proper exercise of liberty, particularly of religious liberty. However, the papacy has not changed its viewpoint, and is constantly working toward the end of re-establishing itself in its former position of authority in matters of civil government.

And, strangely enough, there are many today who are beginning to wonder if we should not have more religion in government. They are wondering if the idea of almost totally ignoring religion in civil affairs may not be the cause of much of the world’s troubles. Especially is this true in the minds of many who recognize that communism is a religion as well as a form of government. In this connection, we quote from an editorial in The New York Times:

“The whole struggle of East and West is throwing up some of the most profound spiritual problems in history. It would be a fatal mistake for western countries to think of the expansion and pressures of Soviet communism simply in terms of territories, countries, political forces, military threats, espionage, or propaganda. We are in the midst of a conflict as fundamental in its way as that of Christianity against the pagan world. Communism, like fascism, puts itself forward as a substitute for religion.”

As we have already noted, churchianity, during the early centuries of the age, supplanted pagan religion as an ally of the state, and thus Papal Rome was born. It would seem now that the forces of paganism are making a strong bid to regain the ascendancy in the religious heavens, and there are many who are strongly of the opinion that the only adequate way to combat this effort is for the professed Christian world to organize itself into a union of religion and state and thus be in a position to fight fire with fire, as it were.

A Theocratic Government

To go back into ancient history again, particularly sacred history, we find that the government of Israel was one which combined religion with the civil affairs of the nation—much more realistically, it would seem, than was true in any other nation. Of King Solomon, the Scriptures state that he “sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father.” (I Chron. 29:23) In many instances the kings of Israel led the people into the worship of false gods; but those who were loyal to Jehovah were truly his representatives, and during the periods of their rulership the nation prospered materially and spiritually.

And now that a new state of Israel has been created in the ancient Holy Land, one of the great issues in the new government concerns the extent to which the ancient Jewish religion will be enthroned in its former position of authority in the nation. Dr. Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, a recognized Jewish scholar of ability, has recently written a book entitled, “Jewish Survival.” In this book, and arguing for the return in Israel of the ancient religious form of government, she says:

“The much-hailed ‘democratic achievement’ of the separation of church and state is, to the Jew and translated into the Jewish realm, an illogical abstraction, for the separation of religion and state subverts the basic facts of Jewish existence and survival.”

This is strong language, yet wholly true in so far as the biblical Jewish state was concerned. God was the Ruler of that state. It was not a democracy, nor an autocracy. It was a theocracy, and designed by God to prefigure the kingdom of Christ. That theocracy came to an end in the year 606 B.C., when the last Jewish king, Zedekiah, together with the Jewish people, were taken captive to Babylon. Concerning this the Prophet Ezekiel declared that it would “be no more” until He came whose right it was, and that then the kingdom would be given to Him.

The One who has the right to rule for God, in keeping with this prophecy, is Jesus. He is to be King of kings and Lord of lords. The new Jewish state will probably continue to have its controversies over the extent to which religion should have a place in its government, but the real kingdom which the ancient Jewish government foreshadowed will be in the hands of Jesus. Associated with him will be his church.

However, when Jesus was raised from the dead it was not as a human being. His rulership will be invisible. Nevertheless, it will have visible representatives. These will not be members of the Israeli Government, but as the Scriptures reveal, the resurrected Old Testament servants of God. These, according to the Bible, are to be made princes in all the earth. (Ps. 45:16) Then, not only Palestine, but all the earth, will come under this divine government. Because its rulers, visible and invisible, will be perfect, it will be a righteous government, a government which will satisfy the desire of all nations. It will supplant both Moscow and Rome as possible ruling centers of the world, for the promise is that then the “Law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Micah 4:2) It is for this government that we pray when we offer the petition, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”—Matt. 6:10

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