| Highlights of Dawn | February 1953 |
These Unprecedented Times
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” —Matthew 24:21,22
REPORTS from eyewitnesses reveal that when the first hydrogen bomb was exploded the mile-wide island on which the test took place simply melted and disappeared. They say that this successful test has ushered in a new age, the hydrogen age. It was only a few short years ago that the atomic age began, when two Japanese cities were destroyed by atom bombs. Now this type of bomb rates second in its destructive potentiality, and we are living in an age when, by the use of one missile of destruction, a mile square of the earth’s surface itself can be turned into gas and made to disappear.
Surely Jesus did not overdraw the picture when, in his forecast of our times, he said that there would be tribulation “such as was not since the beginning of the world.” (Matt. 24:21) In saying this, Jesus was quoting from an Old Testament prophecy which describes the same era as a “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1) It is these unprecedented conditions of our upside-down world which so clearly identify the time in which we are living as that prophetic period of the Bible in which the presence of Christ would be manifested and his kingdom established for the blessing of all the families of the earth.
Everyone recognizes that the world is passing through a severe period of uncertainty and distress. But many insist that no prophetic significance is attached to what is taking place. Philosophers and historians who have no faith in the prophecies of the Bible attempt to explain the situation by saying that history is repeating itself. There have always been wars, they say, and at different times civilizations have been destroyed, yet always a new one arises.
But this explanation does not stand up under close scrutiny, for there are many conditions and situations in the present chaotic conditions of the world which have no precedent in history. This verifies the words of Jesus that it is “tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world.” For example, never before has the very existence of the human race itself been threatened by ghastly missiles of destruction such as atom and hydrogen bombs. Where in history can our worldly-wise philosophers find a parallel to this?
How It Started
One of the fundamental causes leading up to the present distress of the world has no parallel in the experiences of the human race. We refer to the sudden and unprecedented increase of knowledge which has come to the world within the last 150 years. Even this was foretold in the Bible as due to take place in the “time of the end.” At that time, the prophet wrote, “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”—Dan. 12:4
To those of our generation who have not bothered to ponder the facts of history it may be assumed that the world’s present high standing in the fields of science and education is the result of a gradual development during many thousands of years. But this is not so! There was no advance whatever, for example, in modes of travel and transportation from the days of Abraham, four thousand years ago, until within the last 150 years. The same was true with regard to all phases of human knowledge and skill.
We do not mean by this that the people were less intelligent in the remote past than they are now. Archaeological discoveries prove that even prehistoric man was highly intelligent. Undoubtedly the men who designed and built the great pyramid of Egypt, or the massive and beautifully decorated heathen temples of ancient times, would have been equally capable of master-minding the technical developments of our day had it then been God’s due time for these inventions to come to light. But it was not.
It was the invention of the printing press five hundred years ago that led to the present increase of knowledge and to our era of science and invention. Gutenberg’s printing machine was crude, but improvements were rapidly made. Even so, it required centuries before the art of printing, resulting in an unprecedented diffusion of knowledge throughout the world, began to change the shape of world events.
But finally it did begin to make changes. This was due partly to the fact that the accumulated knowledge of one generation could be, and now was, preserved, and built on by the next generation, to increase its knowledge. This made possible the development of inventions which, while crude in their beginning, as we enjoy them today seem miraculous in their efficiency and perfection.
But even these crude beginnings of all our fundamental inventions were made within the last 150 years. Prior to the nineteenth century there were no railroads, steamships, automobiles, airplanes, electric lights, telephones, telegraph, wireless, radio, television, atom or hydrogen bombs. And the high state of developments in all of these has come within the last fifty years.
Let the unbelieving philosophers find a parallel for this in history, if they can!
Knowledge Used Selfishly
Millions have benefited greatly as a result of this sudden increase of knowledge! The standards of living have been raised in many countries. Manufacturing machinery, owned and controlled by business interests, has increased the wealth of a few, and through the power wielded by labor unions has made possible a phenomenal increase of wages for the masses. But withal, both the captains of industry and the artisans of labor are less satisfied today than they were a hundred years ago.
The reason is largely attributable to the fact that the increase of knowledge has widened the horizons of human desire. While a hundred years ago men were glad to walk several miles to their job and work twelve hours a day for six days a week, and never knew of vacations, today they ride to their places of employment in luxurious cars, work forty hours a week, and get from one to four weeks off each year with pay. But still there is an almost constant undercurrent of discontent.
This is true even in the most favored countries of the world. At the same time, the prophetic increase of knowledge has in recent years been reaching into the more undeveloped countries of the earth, and the people in these lands are now beginning to voice their demands for a just share of the earth’s bounties. This ground-swell of discontent is becoming increasingly boisterous, and is posing an ominous threat to the western nations, which are barely able to cope with the problems which the increase of knowledge has brought into their own back yards.
An Upside-down World
One of the prophecies concerning our time reads, “The Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.” (Isa. 24:1) How true a description this is of the world situation today! More than half the population of the earth is living on subnormal rations, not because the earth is unable to produce enough food, but because of the selfish misuse of the earth’s resources.
Through modern methods of farming, North America could provide ample food for the whole human race. But to keep prices up, the farmers are paid to limit their planting. And when the limited planting results in an over-supply, the government buys the surplus and gives it away or destroys it, this again to keep food prices high.
We mention this to highlight still another phase of present world distress which is quite different from anything recorded in history. The increase of knowledge has made possible a world of plenty, but has created a problem in the distribution of these bounties which selfish human wisdom is unable to solve.
And just as the Prophet Isaiah foretold, the inhabitants of the earth are being scattered abroad. The refugee and displaced persons problem is quite new in human experience. Two global wars in a generation have been largely responsible for this, but the ever increasing populations of already overcrowded countries have helped to make it more acute.
A few centuries ago there was no problem of overpopulation. With the discovery of two continents in the western hemisphere, and no restrictions placed upon those who wished to emigrate to the “new world,” density of populations in European countries caused little anxiety. This viewpoint, however, underwent a change when the United States began to raise barriers to the free inflow of population from other countries.
True, there is still plenty of living room in Canada, Australia, Africa, and other places. But even these countries cannot absorb immigrants fast enough to afford a great deal of relief for Europe and Asia without dangerously disturbing their own economies. But even if they could, this would not for long solve the population problem of the world.
At the present rate of increase, there will be twice as many people on this planet seventy years from now as there are today. That will mean more than three hundred million in the United States alone, barring an even greater increase here due to forced migration from other countries. And in the same period the populations of all other countries will be doubled. Think what that will mean in Europe, in India, in Japan, in China, and in other already overpopulated countries.
Actually, this rapid increase of population will become a problem of major proportions long before seventy years. World economists and philosophers are already grappling with it in anticipation of the crisis which will so soon be precipitated. And here again is a situation which has no parallel in history. Never before has the increasing population of the earth been a global problem.
“Wars and Rumors of Wars”
Worldly-wise unbelievers are quick to point out the fact that there have always been “wars and rumors of wars.” Therefore, the fact that we have this situation confronting us today is no proof, in their judgment, of the fulfillment of biblical prophecies, but merely a recurrence of events experienced by previous generations. They go even further than this, and say that in the past civilizations have been destroyed, so that even though our present civilization should succumb under the blight of war and revolution, it still would be nothing new in human experience.
It is quite true that there have always been wars and rumors of wars. Jesus foretold that this would be true of the entire age preceding the time of his return. (Matt. 24:6) It was true throughout the ages preceding Jesus’ first advent. Mighty empires rose, flourished for a time, and then were overthrown. Daniel’s prophecy speaks of some of these—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and finally Rome.—Dan. 2:27-45
But Daniel forecast that with the division of the Roman Empire and the overthrow of these divisions, something different would take place. “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,” he wrote. (Dan. 2:44) This explains why, after nearly forty years of war and disintegration, no stable social order has taken the place of those pre-1914 governments of Europe.
In the period beginning with 1914 there have been two global wars. This in itself is new in the annals of history. True, there have always been wars, but not world wars. The divinely foretold “increase of knowledge” is responsible for expanding wars between nations and empires into global struggles in which practically all nations become simultaneously involved. Because there had never before been such an increase of knowledge, wars were limited in their scope.
Ideological Struggles
Expansion of commerce and the lust for power have been the principal contributing causes of war in the past. These factors are not entirely absent in the present angling for power which is keeping the nations of earth at such a nervous tension. But a new factor has entered the scene. Now the world is divided into two armed camps by conflicting ideologies.
This also is new in human experience. We do not mean that nations in the past have always had the same form of government, nor that men and women have never before dreamed of freedom and equality. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that in the succession of world power as it was transferred from Babylon to Medo-Persia, to Greece and then to Rome, ideology in government played little part.
But how different it is since the remnants of the old Roman Empire have passed from the scene. This was not so noticeable during the first World War, but the new motive for war began to take shape about the time of its close when communism commenced to rear its head in Russia. This, for the first time in a truly effective manner, represented the entrance of a new element into human struggling.
We say it was an effective entrance, because today it has resulted in the entire world being lined up in what is essentially a two-way division of ideologies. It is a two-way division from the standpoint of communism being on the one side, and all other ideologies—religion, democracy, free labor, unionism, capitalism, etc.—on the other. While the noncommunist world is in disagreement on nearly everything else, it is united in its determination to destroy communism.
Here again is something unprecedented in human experience. Let the unbelieving check their history books and they will find nothing to parallel this global struggle of ideologies. And besides, it was brought about by the increase of knowledge which was foretold in the Scriptures. It was the awakening of the world to a sense of its rights that laid the foundation for this struggle of ideologies.
Had the printing press never been invented, with the increase of knowledge resulting therefrom leading to the education of the masses, and to all the means for the promulgation of knowledge now enjoyed by man, the human race would have continued to sleep in its ignorance and serfdom. Church-state governments would still be ruling Europe. Conflicting ideologies powerful enough to embroil the world in a third global war are evidences that the masses are being awakened by the increase of knowledge.
The Confederacy of Nations
Another thing which is new in the world today is the uniting of nations for defense and for war. It is true that in times past two or more nations have temporarily formed alliances and thus pooled their strength to fight an enemy. But in our generation two world organizations have been formed—the “League of Nations” and the “United Nations.” The first of these has already failed in its purpose, and died. The second is still functioning, though terribly weakened by dissention and indecision.
Never before had there been such a uniting of nations on a global scale. Indeed, never before have the nations of the earth been close enough together, from the standpoint of communication and travel, to make such a union possible. Imagine an envoy from Australia, or even from Europe a hundred and fifty years ago, traveling to New York to attend a General Assembly of the United Nations. And think what it would then have meant for an envoy from a distant country to consult with his home government on important issues that might arise. It would have been impossible!
This uniting of nations has also been made possible through the prophetic increase of knowledge. Where is there a parallel in history to this combination of circumstances?
The Return to Palestine
Never before in human experience has there been a global war, much less two in a generation. But to make the matter even more outstanding is the fact that out of those wars has come the repossession of Palestine by the people to whom God promised it, and the establishment there of the new State of Israel.
For nineteen centuries the Jews have been a wandering, persecuted people, without a homeland. Had human wisdom endeavored to plan a suitable time for them to return to the Promised Land and establish themselves there as a free and recognized nation among nations, certainly a time would not have been chosen when the whole world was aflame with war, and when economic dislocations were threatening the very existence of civilization. But it was at just such a time that this miracle took place, another unprecedented occurrence in human experience.
And the striking thing is that the gathering of the nations for war and the returning of the Israelites to the Promised Land are foretold in the Bible as taking place simultaneously. Joel 3:1,2 informs us that when the time should come for the return of the Israelites, the Lord would “gather all nations.” This same prophecy depicts the great controversy there would be in connection with the land, even as we have seen it take place.
No, the claim that what is happening in the world today is simply a matter of history repeating itself, will not stand up in the light of facts. Something new, and big, and different is taking place, something which is beyond the control of human ingenuity. The prophecies of the Bible are speaking to us through these events and telling us that “the day of the Lord” is at hand, which, according to the Bible, was to be a “day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.”—Joel 2:1,2
Hope in Christ’s Kingdom
The outlook would be gloomy indeed had we no other explanation of present world conditions than the one which claims that history is merely repeating itself. Those who claim this also told us prior to 1914 that the world had reached its highest pinnacle of civilization, and would continue to climb. How tragically wrong they were.
But there is a way out. It is God’s way! The same inspired and unerring prophecies which so clearly and accurately foretold the unprecedented conditions of these distressing yet wonderful times, assure us that this would also be the Lord’s due time to establish his long-promised kingdom in the earth. This will be the Lord’s way of solving world problems.
According to our text, this time of “great tribulation” is to be cut short before all flesh is destroyed. It will be done by divine intervention in the affairs of men. We can therefore be sure that the human race will not be destroyed.
And we can be sure of something else, also, which is that those who have perished in this time of great tribulation, on the battle fields and elsewhere, are to be restored to life. Nineteen centuries ago God raised Jesus from the dead to be the Ruler in the kingdom which is soon to manifest itself in the control of human affairs. That same power will raise all from the dead during the thousand years of that glorious kingdom, the first ones being those who will live and reign with Christ.
But won’t that make the population problem even more acute? No, for that also is under divine control. God’s command to our first parents was to multiply and fill the earth. We may be sure that when a sufficient number have been born to fulfill this purpose, God, in his own way, will bring the matter under control.
And in this fact alone we have one of the strongest evidences that we have reached a vital time in human experience. The status is such today that a few more doublings of the human race would overcrowd the earth, but as yet there is still room for the living as well as for those who have died. The point might be illustrated like this:
Put two germs in a bowl. Let us assume that their number doubles every second, and that at the end of the first hour the bowl is full of germs. When is the bowl half full? At the end of the fifty-ninth second, of the fifty-ninth minute, for it was the last doubling that filled the bowl. So in human experience, beginning with our first parents we are, symbolically speaking, now in that last second.
But instead of using the more or less gloomy expression that “it is later than we think,” let us rather accept the explanation offered in the Word of God and be assured that it is “early,” yes, early in the morning of a new and glorious day. It is so early as yet that it is still dark. It is, as the prophet foretold, like the “morning spread upon the mountains.” (Joel 2:2) There are still threatening storm-clouds of trouble, but the sun will soon appear, that glorious “Sun of Righteousness” which will arise “with healing in his wings.”—Mal. 4:2
And that will be the most unprecedented event of all. Men have dreamed of a golden age, but have given up hope of expecting it ever to come. This is because they have assumed that its coming depended upon them. But God has promised it, and his almighty power guarantees its certain realization. And even now, the morning of that new age is dawning. True, it is still dark, but those who are watching from the vantage point of divine prophecy can see a break in the clouds, and beyond the gray streaks of dawn a glorious morning such as the world has never before experienced.