| Highlights of Dawn | September 1952 |
Europe and Israel in a Dying World
“Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” —Genesis 12:1-3
IT WAS four thousand years ago that God made this promise to Abraham, and today its fulfillment is reaching a climax in the experiences of a chaotic and dying world. The nations of Europe are economically sick, and without the gift of American dollars would rapidly sink into utter chaos and ruin. Because of persecutions, and in the hope of bettering their conditions, the natural descendants of Abraham are leaving the weakened countries of Europe and endeavoring to establish themselves as a new nation in the land which God promised to Abraham so long ago. The new State of Israel is also having its economic problems, but is making courageous efforts to solve them, with the determination peculiar to pioneers in a great cause.
The experiences of Abraham’s descendants throughout the ages have been varied indeed. The Bible records many prophecies which have been fulfilled by these experiences. Their long period of slavery in Egypt, and their deliverance from this bondage, were foretold. Under the leadership of Moses they entered into a covenant with God at Mt. Sinai, and the Lord foretold the manner in which he would bless them under this covenant if they remained faithful to it. God also warned of the punishments which would come upon them if they were unfaithful. These forecasts of their experiences also came true.
During the periods when the Israelites were faithful, nations which sought to exploit them were severely punished by God, thus fulfilling the original promise that he would “curse” anyone that endeavored to bring suffering upon his chosen people. When they were unfaithful to the Lord, he permitted them to suffer; but when they cried unto him, he heard and delivered them from their adversities.
Prominent among the promises made to the Israelites were those which inspired them to look for a coming Messiah, One who would deliver them from all evil, and would establish them as a powerful nation which would be in a position to extend benefactions to all other peoples of the earth. The promise that the “seed” of their father, Abraham, would bless all the families of the earth was understood to mean that they would become a ruling nation among nations, and that from them the promised blessings would flow out to the people.
Moses, their revered leader and lawgiver, encouraged them in their hope of a coming Messiah when he said to them, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.” (Deut. 18:15) David, the “sweet singer of Israel,” wrote concerning their coming Messiah, “He shall have dominion … from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” (Ps. 72:8) Concerning this same great Ruler and Deliverer, Isaiah wrote, “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 forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”—Isa. 9:6,7
During the reign of King Solomon the Israelites had good reason to think that possibly their messianic hopes were to be fulfilled through him. The nation reached the zenith of its power and glory during the reign of this wise king. The Queen of Sheba heard reports concerning Solomon’s glory. Upon making a personal investigation she observed that the half had not been told. But Solomon was lured away from his worship of Jehovah, the God of Israel, by his heathen wives, and following his death the kingdom was divided, and fast went into decay.
Ten of Israel’s tribes rebelled against the rulership of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, and appointed Jeroboam to reign over them. This ten-tribe segment of the nation ultimately went into captivity in Assyria, a captivity from which there was no official returning. Some time later, the two-tribe kingdom succumbed to Nebuchadnezzar and was taken captive to Babylon. This marked the end of their national independence. Concerning the overthrow of the nation’s last king, Zedekiah, the Prophet Ezekiel wrote:
“Thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end. Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.”—Ezekiel 21:25-27
With the overthrow of Zedekiah, the nation began a seventy-year captivity in Babylon. They were released from this captivity and many of them returned to Canaan, but they did not regain their national sovereignty. They were thenceforth a subject people successively to Medo-Persia, Greece, and then to Rome. However, with Ezekiel’s edict that Israel’s diadem and crown should be removed, there was coupled a renewal of the divine promise pertaining to their hope of a coming Messiah. Their kingdom was to be overturned only until “he come whose right it is,” and then it was to be given to him. By all the promises of God, this “right” belongs only to Israel’s Messiah.
King Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
THE Israelites were taken captive to Babylon early in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. In the second year of his reign the king had a dream which greatly troubled him, although when he awakened he could not recall the details. The magicians and astrologers of Babylon were unable to furnish these details for him, so he issued a decree that they should all be slain. Then Daniel, one of the Hebrew captives, was recommended as possibly being able to help the king in his dilemma; so he was sent for. By God’s help this devout servant of the Lord was able to tell the king of his dream, and to interpret its meaning.—Daniel 2:31-45
It was a remarkable dream! In it the king saw a human-like image having a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass or copper, and legs of iron. Its feet and toes were a mixture of iron and clay. In his dream the king saw a stone cut out of a mountain without hands. This stone smote the image on its feet causing it to fall. After it fell the broken fragments were ground to powder under the weight of the stone, and the wind blew the powdered fragments away “like chaff of the summer threshing-floors.” Then the stone grew’ until it became a great mountain which “filled the whole earth.”
Daniel gave Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation of this remarkable dream. He said to him:
“Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”—Dan. 2:37-44
Here we have one of the most outstanding prophecies of the Bible! Beginning with Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, it forecasts Babylon’s fall, and a succession of world powers identified in history as Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. It reveals the disintegration of the Roman Empire, as shown by the mixture of iron and clay in the feet and toes of the image (mixing of autocratic power with “the seed of men”). Also the divisions of that empire represented in the various states of Europe as they existed just prior to the first World War which began in 1914.
Furthermore, the prophecy reveals that in the days of “these kings”—the kings, that is, which were represented by the toes of the image—the “God of heaven” would “set up a kingdom,” and that this ultimately would mean the complete overthrow of divinely authorized Gentile power, as shown in the image of gold, silver, brass, and iron. It does not show the immediate end of all Gentile nations, but rather the sudden overthrow of an ideology which throughout the centuries was adhered to by the particular succession of Gentile powers shown in the image.
The claimed basis of their authority was that they reigned by divine right. To a limited degree this was true. To Nebuchadnezzar Daniel said, “The God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom. … Thou art this head of gold.” Centuries later, when Rome, the fourth world power shown in the image was ruling, the Apostle Paul wrote, “The powers that be are ordained [margin, ‘ordered’] of God.” (Rom. 13:1) This concept of rulership continued throughout the centuries in the old Roman world, which was largely European. It was often referred to as the “divine right of kings,” and Europe continued under the domination of this system—although the old Roman Empire was divided—until 1914.
Since then remarkable changes have occurred. All the previously powerful hereditary ruling houses of the old Roman world have now been destroyed, either by the violence of war and revolution, or by the vote of the people. The latest of the significant ones to lose its power was the House of Savoy in Italy. There are a few powerless kings left, such as in Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, and Greece—and we might also mention the make-believe ruler of England. However, none of these longer boastfully claim, as all the ruling houses of Europe did in the past, that they reign by divine right, or by the grace of God. These remaining reminders of a world that is dying all know that they are still on their powerless thrones by the grace of American dollars, or the sufferance of the people, rather than the grace of God. This is particularly true of the King of Greece.
One of the best illustrations of what has occurred in connection with the kingdoms shown by the ten toes of the image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream is the attendance at the funeral services of two British kings—Edward the VII, who died in 1910, and George the VI, who died early in 1952. There was assembled at the services of King Edward the greatest display of crowned heads the world has ever witnessed. But with the death of King George, there were only five insignificant kings left to attend his funeral rites. Could we want better proof of the accuracy of biblical prophecy concerning one of the stages in the process of a dying world?
The overthrow of these age-old and deeply entrenched ruling houses has left a condition of uncertainty, chaos, and fear. Ambitious men, drunk with the lust to exercise power in many of the countries involved, rushed in to fill the vacuum which was left when the old established governmental systems of Europe collapsed. These exercise dictatorial control over the people. During the second global war, fascist dictatorship sought ruthlessly to extend its sphere of authority world-wide, only to be destroyed, and the people they controlled rendered prostrate in poverty and fear.
Now another form of dictatorship, claiming to represent the interests of the poverty-stricken masses is in control of half of the old Roman world, and threatening to engulf the remainder at the slightest provocation. Meanwhile that part of Europe which is showing some signs of recovering from the smashing blows of the second world-wrecking war, is hoping against hope that the threatening menace from the east will not engulf them.
The power of propaganda is giving western Europe a slight feeling of security. In Germany, the youth who were born during and since the last war are again being schooled in the idea of the greatness of the German people and their ability to recover from the ravages of war. They little realize that without the aid of American dollars, through the Marshall Plan and the rearmament program, all Europe would ere this have hopelessly collapsed.
And herein lies one of the most significant symptoms of the sickness of a dying world! America today is the only island of defense in a world that is being engulfed with poverty and starvation. Even so, if the mighty resources of America could be utilized wholly to assist the economic recovery of other nations, there still might be some hope. But instead, the threatening menace of a third world war is causing the diverting of the major resources of America and of all nations into a gigantic preparation for war. This can ultimately but leave the whole world, including America, more weakened and impoverished than ever.
View the world situation as we will, it becomes increasingly apparent that the collapse of the hereditary ruling houses of the old Roman world marked the beginning of a dying process which is relentlessly resulting in the death of a social order, that social order which the Apostle Paul described as “this present evil world.” (Gal. 1:4) And nowhere in responsible circles is it being advocated that an effective remedy would be the re-establishment of the ruling ideology of the “divine right of kings.” To a large extent, all faith in God is lost by those who are attempting to keep the world alive. Should a powerful personality appear on the scene who claimed that he had divine authority to rule, no one would pay any attention to him.
Such has been the great change which has occurred in a few short years. For centuries the idea expressed to Nebuchadnezzar by Daniel that the God of heaven had given him a kingdom was accepted by the people of the Roman world as applying successively to their rulers. But suddenly this viewpoint was rejected, and the rulers who exercised authority under it were overthrown. The prophetic image seen by that ancient King of Babylon has collapsed. These kings have had their day.
The present state of the world, as it seeks to readjust itself in the vacuum formed by the passing of Europe’s royalty, would be disheartening but for the fact of Daniel’s further prophecy in which he stated that “in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom.” The kingdoms of Europe existed by divine permission, but they were not God’s kingdom. They were allowed to exist to hold the world together until the due time came in the divine plan for their overthrow and preparation for Messiah’s kingdom to be established in the earth. This is the kingdom which Nebuchadnezzar saw, first as a stone which smote the Gentile image on its feet, and then became a great “mountain” which filled the whole earth.
The “Times of the Gentiles”
While the old Roman world, with its system of government prefigured by Nebuchadnezzar’s image, has been perishing, something equally significant from the prophetic standpoint has been occurring. Briefly stated, it has been the return of the Jewish people to their Land of Promise, and the establishment there of the new State of Israel. This, as we shall see, is one of the convincing signs that the “God of heaven” is preparing to set up his kingdom, that long-promised kingdom of the Messiah which has been the hope of both Gentiles and Jews throughout the ages.
One of the striking facts concerning this development is the time during which it has occurred, for in this also we find an accurate fulfillment of prophecy. Jesus was the last of Israel’s great prophets, and to the Christian world, the greatest of them all. Speaking of Israel’s bondage to Gentile governments, which had begun more than six centuries before his day, he said, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”—Luke 21:24
We have in this expression, “times of the Gentiles,” an indication that in the divine plan a fixed time had been determined upon during which the Israelites were to be a subject people to the Gentiles, and without national sovereignty of their own. It is apparently this that is referred to in a prophecy recorded by Moses in Leviticus, chapter 26. Four places in this chapter Israel’s great lawgiver and prophet mentions a period of punishment which he describes as “seven times.” (vss. 18,21,24,28) Certain prophecies in the Old Testament indicate that a prophetic “time” is a period of 360 years. Seven such periods, or “seven times,” would therefore be 2,520 years.
It is a fact well established by secular history that the nation of Israel lost its independence and went into captivity to Babylon in the year 606 B.C. Two thousand five hundred and twenty years from that date brings us to the year A.D. 1914—the year when the first World War began the work of destroying the hereditary ruling houses of Europe. That war, which wrought havoc and devastation generally, had one constructive result. It was the opening up of Palestine to the Jews in a more realistic manner than had been true for centuries.
Out of that war came the Balfour Declaration which undertook to guarantee the right of the Jews to return to their Promised Land, and to rebuild for themselves a national home. Under the terms of that guarantee hundreds of thousands of them did return, and remarkable progress was made in establishing a home for the Jewish people. While many difficulties and much seeming delay has been experienced, that beginning of freedom which came out of the first World War has now resulted in the actual rebirth of Israel as a free and independent nation, no longer “trodden down of the Gentiles.”
Mr. David Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister of Israel, clearly recognizes the significance of the Balfour Declaration as changing the age-long status of the Israelites. In fact, he sees in the French Revolution, at the close of the eighteenth century, one of the circumstances leading up to the emancipation of the Jewish people. In a speech to the General Staff and officers of Israel’s army, in which he used Isaiah 43:5,6 as a text, he said:
“The French Revolution, which preached liberty, equality, and fraternity, was not confined to the boundaries of its own country. Its impact was strong on all the countries of Europe, it shook the foundations of monarchical dictatorship and feudal regimes, and provided the first impulse towards the liberation of the Jews, the Jewish Emancipation, and towards equality of rights for them in Western countries.
“In 1917 the Balfour Declaration was proclaimed. For the first time since the destruction of the temple the Jews were recognized as a nation by a world power and were assured of the right to return to their own country. The League of Nations, which was formed at the end of the first World War, gave the Balfour Declaration international validity, and recognized the representatives of the Jewish people as a body authorized by international law.”
This furnishes double proof that the “times of the Gentiles” have ended. For, not only has the Gentile world been dying since 1914, but the Jewish people have been freed from’ their domination by the Gentile nations. We are surely living in a wonderful time of the world’s history, the real significance of which can be clearly understood only in the light of biblical prophecy. It is a time upon which the prophecies of the Bible are focusing to tell us that the kingdom of the Messiah is at hand.
Years of Trouble
We might suppose that when the time came in the plan of God for him to fulfill his promises to restore the Israelites to the land he gave to their father, Abraham, it would be a time of undisturbed peace and joy for them. But this has not been the case. These past years during which they have been returning to their Promised Land and becoming established there as a nation, have also been years of the worst suffering this persecuted people have ever experienced.
It was during this time that millions of Jews were murdered in Nazi concentration camps, and untold suffering was inflicted upon them in other ways. Besides, the Balfour Declaration, implemented largely by the authority of the League of Nations, became inoperative when that organization died. The British Government originated this declaration, but Britain herself failed to stand back of it, and the Jews were faced with the necessity of protecting their interests in the Holy Land by the force of arms.
But despite these difficulties, the Israelites have gained their independence as a nation, and are in possession of much of their land. There are many prophecies in the Bible which foretold this. And these prophecies are now being fulfilled just as surely as were the prophecies which forecast their scattering among the nations. One of these prophecies reads:
“Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.”—Jer. 16:14-16
There are prophecies which foretold the return of the Israelites to their land following their captivity in Babylon. Some students of the Bible mistakenly suppose that all the prophecies which speak of their return from exile were fulfilled at that time. But this is not so. The prophecy we have just quoted speaks of their return from the land of the north, and from “all the lands” into which they had been scattered. This people was not scattered among all nations during the Babylonian captivity, but they were thus scattered during the long centuries after this Dispersion.
And the promise was that they would be gathered, that the Lord would first send “fishers” to lure them back to their land, and later “hunters” to drive them back. In these two expressions is described a sequence of events in the experiences of the Israelites at this end of the age which is truly remarkable.
The “fishers” were undoubtedly represented in the Zionist movement which was founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897. Through this organization ardent Jews who believed that the time had come for Israel to repossess the Land of Promise worked ardently to interest them in the project. But few were interested, although now that it has been accomplished, the great vision and initiative of Mr. Herzl is recognized in Israel and one of its new towns is named after him. And his bones have been brought there from Austria for reinterment.
But the “fishing” method did not accomplish all that the Lord intended. Few Jews heeded its call to go to Palestine. Then the “hunting” method was employed. This was more harsh, and is the explanation of the severe trouble which came upon them under the Nazi rulership, and otherwise. With few exceptions those who survived this experience had little else in mind but the determination to go to Palestine, where they hoped to find friendship, peace, and security.
Jeremiah records another significant prophecy which is also being fulfilled by the experiences of the Israelites as they continue to repossess their land. We quote:
“Lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. … Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. … For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.”—Jer. 30:3-5,7,11
In this prophecy also it is revealed that the foreordained time for the Jewish people to repossess their land would be marked by special trouble upon them, that it would be a time of “fear, and not of peace.” How true this has been! But the assurance is that they shall be saved, and that the nations responsible for their trouble would be destroyed. Here, then, is a pattern of what to expect so far as Europe and Israel are concerned.
Another prophecy which is strikingly true of what we have seen occur with respect to Gentile nations and the Israelites is Joel 3:1,2. Here the Lord foretold that the time for the Israelites to be released from their age-long captivity would be marked by a warlike gathering of the nations. It reads:
“Behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.”
In verses 9-11 of this chapter, further details are given concerning the gathering of the nations at this time, and the valley of “Jehoshaphat” is interpreted to be the “valley of decision.” Literally, the word means, “Jehovah hath judged.” In other words, Jehovah is the one who renders the decision concerning the nations which are gathered for this battle “of that great day of God Almighty.” (Rev. 16:14) And every prophecy bearing on the point emphasizes that his decision is against them. Ultimately they must all perish as nations, and then the people under their control will have the opportunity of being blessed through the rulership of the Messiah. And notice what the prophecy says concerning the gigantic preparations for war which have already brought the whole world virtually to the point of bankruptcy and ruin. We quote:
“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen [Gentiles], and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down. O Lord, let the heathen [Gentiles] be weakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen [Gentiles] round about. … Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”—Joel 3:9-14
How graphically this prophecy describes the gathering and arming of the nations, as we of this generation see it increasingly occur. And it is in the opening verses of the same prophecy (Joel 3:1,2) that this was foretold to take place when the time came for “Judah and Jerusalem”—the Jewish people—to be released from their serfdom to Gentile nations. Surely we could not ask for a more definite confirmation of the time in which we are living!
And what is this time? The prophecy just quoted identifies it as the “day of the Lord.” (Joel 1:15; 2:11,31) This expression is used many times in the prophecies pertaining to our day. Their united testimony indicates that the reference is to the promised time when the God of heaven would intervene in the affairs of men and establish the kingdom of Messiah. To begin with, this foretold “day of the Lord” is of necessity marked by trouble because it involves the overthrow of humanly constituted authority in the earth in order that the Messiah might have undisputed rulership in the affairs of men.
Until now we have for the most part been witnessing merely this necessary trouble. The Prophet Daniel describes it as a “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1) There are other developments, however, which are in preparation for the new kingdom of Messiah. One of these is the regathering of the Israelites, and their re-establishment as a nation. This miracle of our day is closely related to the setting up of Messiah’s kingdom; that kingdom in which he will rule “from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”—Ps. 72:8
The Faith Seed of Abraham
Probably Abraham thought that his son Isaac would be the “seed” which God had promised to use as the channel for blessing all the nations of the earth, but Abraham died without seeing his hope realized. However, the promise was confirmed to Isaac, and later to Jacob, yet neither of these was used by God to fulfill his promise of blessing. In a deathbed prophecy, Jacob narrowed this essential part of the covenant with Abraham to his son Judah, indicating that from this tribe of Israel would come the promised deliverer, the Messiah. Jacob referred to this coming One as “Shiloh,” and said that unto him would the gathering of the people be.—Gen. 49:10
So the promise of the coming “seed” was kept alive, being passed on from one generation of Israelites to another, and by one after another of their prophets. However, since the destruction of Jerusalem in 70-73 A.D., and their dispersion among all nations, they have had no national prophets. Nevertheless, every devout Jew even now, who has retained his faith in the promises of Israel’s God, still has confidence in the fact of a coming Messiah.
Meanwhile, and paralleling the period of Israel’s dispersion, a great religious movement has developed having a prophet of Israel as its central figure. We refer to Christianity. To every devout Christian Jesus is the Messiah God promised to Israel. This conviction is based upon many of the Old Testament prophecies which foretold the characteristics of the Messiah, and the work which he would accomplish. He was a natural descendant of Abraham, and of the tribe of Judah. And the New Testament writers see him as obedient to all the divine requirements of the One who would be so highly honored by the God of Israel.
The Apostle Paul, himself a great Jew, wrote concerning the promise to Abraham, saying, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made; … not … to seeds, as of many; but as of one. And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16) Christians accept this, and the many other references in the New Testament which identify Jesus as the promised Messiah. The Apostle Peter also refers to Jesus, when he informs us that the prophets of Israel had foretold “the “sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.”—I Pet. 1:11
The fact that Jesus suffered and died has made it difficult for some to see that he could have been the real Messiah. The general expectation of Israel was that their Messiah would be a conquering hero, One who would lead their nation to great heights of national and international glory. They believed that he would deliver them from Gentile oppression, and Jesus’ disciples inquired respecting it when they asked whether he would “restore again the kingdom to Israel.” (Acts 1:6) How, then, could Jesus be that Messiah?
Jesus was not a national leader. He had no army. He used none of the human methods ordinarily employed by those who aspire to leadership among their people. He gathered a little band of the common people of his day around him, and went about doing good. Finally, when his enemies plotted to kill him, he surrendered to them and allowed himself to be put to death. Jesus’ own disciples were perplexed by this. They, had accepted him as the Messiah, but they could not understand how a dead Messiah could fulfil all the wonderful promises which were centered in the One whom God would send.
Later, however, they came to see that this also was a part of the divine arrangement. That is why Peter wrote as he did concerning the prophetic testimony pertaining to the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. The Prophet Isaiah had written that the Messiah would be “brought as a lamb to the slaughter,” and would “pour out his soul unto death.”—Isa. 53:7,12
A hint of this divine arrangement for the Messiah, the promised “seed” of Abraham, is seen in God’s request to Abraham that he offer his son Isaac in sacrifice. Abraham demonstrated his willingness to do this, and then the Lord provided a lamb to be used instead of Isaac on the altar of sacrifice.—Genesis 22:1-14
The New Testament reveals that Jesus died as a substitute for father Adam, and through him for the whole human race. Thus he took the sinner’s place in death, and made possible the release of the prisoners of death. The Apostle Paul explains the wide scope of this arrangement, saying “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (I Cor. 15:22) How reasonable this is! God had promised that the Messiah would bless all the families of the earth, but how could they be blessed while sleeping in the tomb? Fundamental, therefore, to the work of the Messiah, was the necessity of his first of all dying that the world might live.
One of the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah refers to his death, but assures us that he would not be left in death. (Psalm 16:10) In Isaiah 53:12 Jehovah, the God of Israel, says concerning the Messiah, and because of his faithfulness in pouring out his soul unto death, “I will divide him a portion with the great.” This indicates that the Messiah would be raised from the dead and exalted to a high position of favor with his God.
The New Testament records prove that Jesus was raised from the dead, that he did enter into the promised glory which was to follow his suffering and death. However, God’s promise to bless all the families of the earth through the Messiah has not yet been fulfilled. Instead of peace and security and health and life, there are wars, and chaos and suffering and death. There has never been a time since Jesus came and died when there has been any evidence of the real fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies which describe world-wide blessings under the rulership of the Messiah.
But this is no reason to doubt that Jesus was and is the Messiah. Just as his immediate disciples did not understand why he should be arrested and killed, so many have failed to see a further feature of the divine arrangement through him which has been in process of development throughout the centuries since. Paul mentions it in Galatians 3:27-29, where he writes:
“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
In Galatians 4:28 Paul also writes, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” Here is the explanation of God’s work in the earth during the past nineteen centuries. It has been to select from both Jews and Gentiles a company of people to be associated with Jesus, to be co-workers with him in fulfilling the promises of God to bless all the families of the earth. The promise to these is that if they suffer and die with Jesus they will live and reign with him in his messianic kingdom.
The Dead to Be Raised
To grasp the fullness and beauty of this mighty purpose of God to bless all nations through Christ and his associates, it is necessary to have faith in God’s promises to raise the dead. All Jews and professed followers of Jesus who believe the testimony of the Word of God, know that God has promised to raise the dead. The hope of everlasting life depends upon this. As Christians, we see in the resurrection of Jesus the evidence of God’s ability to raise the dead. Paul declared on Mars’ Hill that by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, God had given assurance unto all men.—Acts 17:31
The Bible reveals that it is God’s purpose at this end of the age to raise the true followers of Jesus from the dead, that they might live and reign with Christ. Christ and his church will exercise a spiritual rulership over the earth, and will themselves, as powerful spirit beings, be invisible to the world. But they will have human representatives, who, according to the Bible, will be the ancient servants of God—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets. These are referred to by the Prophet David as those who will be “princes in all the earth.”—Psalm 45:16
Thus, the visible part of the kingdom of Christ will be in the hands of these ancient worthies who also will then be raised from the dead. (Heb. 11:13,39,40) God selected and prepared them during past ages for this high position in his kingdom, even as, during the present age, he has been selecting and preparing the followers of Jesus for their places in the messianic rulership. These two phases of the messianic kingdom are symbolically described in the Bible as “Zion,” and “Jerusalem.” One of the prophecies using this symbolism reads:
“Come ye, and let us go up 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.”—Isaiah 2:3,4
The Bible clearly indicates that the headquarters of the messianic kingdom will be in the Holy Land, the land that God promised to Abraham for an everlasting possession. It is for this reason that the natural descendants of Abraham are now being regathered there. Just as the opportunity to be associated with the Messiah in the spiritual phase of the kingdom was first offered to the Jewish nation (the original chosen people of God), so now, the opportunity of participating with the resurrected ancient prophets in the visible phase of that kingdom will first be offered to these. When, in the resurrection, the prophets are restored to them, they will doubtless quickly recognize the hand of the Lord in their affairs and be the first to fall into line with the kingdom arrangements.
The prophecies show that yet one more effort will be made by Gentile nations out of the “north” to destroy Israel, and that then the Lord will miraculously deliver his people. Isaiah 66:18-21 refers to those who escape destruction when they attack Israel, and says that God will reveal his glory to them through his dealings with the Israelites. A further returning of the Jews is then described, and the explanation given that the Lord will take of them “and make priests and Levites.”
These titles apply to servants appointed to teach the people the ways of the Lord. So, associated with the resurrected ancient prophets, there will also be these faithful ones whom the Lord will then appoint. We may assume that this enlarging of the kingdom arrangements will continue until not only Israel, but all nationalities of the earth—“all the families of the earth”—will be participating in the kingdom joys.
What a glorious prospect for both Jews and Gentiles!
So we need not be concerned that European civilization is dying. Rather, in the regathering of Israel we can see that God is preparing to establish a real civilization of peace and joy, over which Jesus will be the great King, the antitypical David, the One like unto Moses. Yes, he will be the One whom Moses promised would come and bring deliverance to all the families of the earth. Let us, then, join in a proclamation of these glad tidings to all who may have ears to hear.