| Highlights of Dawn | December 1953 |
“Hope Springs Eternal”
“Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” —Luke 2:11
THE year 1953 is rapidly drawing to a close. It began with bright prospects and high hopes for millions of people the world over. In the United States, a new president was to take over the reins of government. In the minds of some it was as though all the ills which had afflicted the nation, and for that matter, the world, were largely due to the former administration, and now those ills were to be cured. And no doubt the new president did everything in his power to fulfill his campaign promises, and not without some success.
There is at least an armistice in Korea, and in “Operation Big Switch” thousands of prisoners of war have been returned home. But the Korean problem is not settled. Blame whom we will, it remains a fact that the Far East still seethes with discontent, and the same is true in practically every country of the Near East, as well as in Europe. At home the vicious cycle of increasing costs of living keeps a jump ahead of rising wages, and in the wake of this mad race there is labor discontent manifested in an almost constant rash of strikes the country over.
But despite the fact that no genuine progress has been made during the year toward a satisfactory settlement of national and international problems which afflict this sick and dying world, the people of at least the western world will commemorate the birth of Jesus, and sing the songs of peace on earth and good will toward men associated with that commemoration just as enthusiastically as ever. The Pope will call upon the nations of the earth to make peace with justice. Spokesmen for the various Protestant groups will urge the people within the sphere of their influence to accept and practice the Christmas mandate of good will. Handel’s Messiah and Christmas carols will re-echo across the land, in concert halls and in churches. Millions of Christmas trees will be sold, and millions of dollars spent to decorate them. Children and grown-ups as well will rejoice in the gaiety and the genuine spirit of friendliness which again this year, as for hundreds of years in the past, will, as it were, permeate the very air we breathe.
It is good that it shall be so, for it will serve as a gleam of light in the dark clouds which almost constantly hover over a bewildered and suffering world. For a brief few days the people will have their minds—and we believe their hearts also—turned somewhat away from self and from selfishness, toward God and toward the practice of love in human relationships. This will be true however vaguely they may understand what the birth of Jesus is designed by God ultimately to accomplish for the human race.
The people know that the celebration of Christmas stems from the fact that more than nineteen centuries ago a babe was born in Bethlehem whose birth was announced by an angel, with the promise that he was to be the Savior of the world and to bring peace to the nations. So they love to recall, even though briefly, this hope of salvation and this promise of peace. They know that the angel’s message has not been fulfilled this year, just as the people in other years—yes in the more than nineteen hundred other years since Jesus was born—have known that whatever bright hopes they may have held likewise went tumbling into a chasm of despair.
But, thanks to the indomitable spirit of optimism which fills the human breast, each year these hopes are picked up again, dusted off, and in the reflection of their lustre the world for a little while dreams of—yes, even practices in a measure—that peace and good will announced by the angel! We have called this optimism. Alexander Pope described it in another way. He said, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast,” and then added, “Man never is, but always to be, blessed.”
The Poet Was Wrong
We agree with the poet that hope does “spring eternal in the human breast.” Up to the present time it has also been true that human expectations of a better time coming, man’s dream of a “golden age,” his quest for an elixir of life, have failed. But this will not always be so. Pope put it too strongly when he wrote that man “never” is blessed, with the implication that he never will be. That would most certainly be true if man were left to his own resources, but man’s Creator, who sent an angel to announce the birth of Jesus, more than two thousand years prior announced to Abraham that it was his intention to “bless all the families of the earth.”—Gen. 12:3
Since God has promised to bless mankind, we can rest assured that they will be blessed! This design of the Creator to bless mankind with peace, happiness, and life is the great theme song of the entire Bible. Its first faint notes are heard in promises recorded in the early chapters of Genesis, and it reaches its grand crescendo in the closing chapters of Revelation, where we are given the assurance that “there shall be no more death,” and where we are told of God’s wonderful provision for the “healing of the nations.”—Rev. 21:4; 22:1,2
The promises of God which assure us of a coming time of blessing for all mankind—a year-around season of peace and good will, continuing for eternity—are associated with a personality, One whom he would send and empower to accomplish his purpose toward the human race. This promised One is first identified as a “Seed”—the “Seed” of the woman. (Gen. 3:15) Later the same One is identified as the “Seed” of Abraham.—Gen. 22:18
When the patriarch Jacob was on his deathbed he uttered a prophecy concerning his son Judah, saying that a lawgiver would not depart from this tribe until Shiloh come, and that unto him shall the gathering of the nations be. (Gen. 49:10) Shiloh means tranquil or peaceful.
At various times in the experiences of the natural descendants of Abraham it looked as though the “Seed” of promise had come. Moses was one of these. He was a great deliverer and lawgiver. Under his leadership the people were freed from Egyptian bondage, and brought into covenant relationship with God. But Moses made it plain that he was not the promised One, that a greater than he would come, raised up by God to give the people life, on condition of their obedience. Moses referred to this coming One as a great “Prophet.”—Deut. 18:15-19
Joshua, in turn, was a great deliverer, and as his name implies, a savior of his people, in that he led them safely across the river Jordan into the Promised Land, drove out the Canaanites, and apportioned the land to the various tribes according to God’s wishes. But he was not the Messiah.
The nation of Israel, to whom the promises of God were originally made, reached its zenith of glory and power under the leadership of Solomon. The glory of Solomon, and of the nation under him, became world renowned. The Queen of Sheba, hearing of the fabulous riches and great wisdom of this Jewish king, went to see for herself, and reported that the half had never been told. Even Jesus referred to the glory of Solomon. But Solomon was not the promised Messiah. He died, the nation was rent in two by opposing factions, and went rapidly into decline.
In 606 B.C. the last “prince of Israel” was dethroned, and the nation was taken into captivity in Babylon by the heathen king, Nebuchadnezzar. Seventy years later King Cyrus issued a decree permitting the Israelites to return to their own land, and thousands of them did, but they never regained their national independence. They continued to be a subject people, and were vassals to Rome when Jesus was born.
But through all the long centuries of their varying experiences, the devout among the Israelites clung to God’s messianic promises. They continued to look for the birth of the One who was to be their King and Deliverer, and the One who would extend the sphere of his influence to embrace and bless all the nations of earth. Their poets sang about this glorious One, and their prophets foretold his coming.
Isaiah wrote—and shortly his words will again ring out in the beautiful “Messiah” as it is sung throughout the land—“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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”—Isa. 9:6,7
To Be Born in Bethlehem
The Prophet Micah was also inspired by God to foretell the birth of Jesus, and not only his birth, but the very city in which he would be born. He wrote, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”—Micah 5:2
In a prophecy recorded in the 9th chapter of the Book of Daniel a time measurement is given, pin-pointing the date when the Messiah would appear. It is a period of sixty-nine symbolic “weeks,” or 483 years, “unto Messiah the Prince.” (Dan. 9:25) This time measurement was to begin with the year in which a decree would be issued granting the Jews permission to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and its walls. This was the decree which later was issued by Artaxerxes.
The devoutly studious among the Jews would know of this prophecy, and those living at the time when the measurement was about to run out would naturally be in high expectation of that great event—the long-promised coming of their Messiah and King. Because of this, we read concerning the time when Jesus was born that the people were “in expectation” of him.—Luke 3:15
In time and on time the promised King was born. The announcement of the angel—“Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ [the promised Messiah] the Lord”—emphasized the reality of the event, in contrast with the mere promises of God which had gone before. True, those promises were sure, and the people, basing their hopes upon them, believed that the Messiah would come. But through many long centuries, generation after generation of expectant Israelites went into death without seeing their divinely inspired hopes come to fruition.
But think of the ecstasy which must have filled the hearts of those Judean shepherds when they heard the angel announce, “Fear not, for unto you is born this day, in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Yes, to them, a few humble shepherds of Israel, had come a message which had been denied previously to all their patriarchs, leaders, judges, prophets, and kings, for these sheep-tenders heard the angel say, “He is born.”
Let it be said to the credit of the Israelites that as a nation they had never assumed that they could accomplish God’s purposes for him. If temporarily they had high hopes concerning the ability of one or another of their leaders, such as Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, or others, it was because they believed God had appointed them and would empower them to act for him. But this has not been generally true in connection with the professed followers of Jesus during the present age.
We all know the story of Jesus’ rejection as the Messiah of promise by the majority of the nation to which he presented himself. His disciples, like all the other devout of Israel, had long waited for the consolation of Israel by the coming of the promised King; but temporarily their hopes were dashed when he was taken from them and crucified. Later two of them said, “We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.” (Luke 24:21) It was, but they had not yet learned just how it was to be done.
The disappointment of the disciples when Jesus was crucified has been repeated in connection with the expectations of thousands of his followers since, and for the same reason; namely, a misunderstanding of the divine plan of redemption and salvation centered in him. Jesus’ disciples soon had their hopes revived by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. In this they were given indisputable evidence of his divine appointment. The Early Church accepted this miracle as one of the cornerstones of their Christian faith. The whole Christian community since then has continued to acclaim the fact of Jesus’ resurrection.
Even in the professed Christian world of today, in which faith in the miraculous is probably at an all-time low, the Easter celebration of the resurrection is almost as deeply ingrained in the customs of the people as is Christmas. No, the frustration of hope in connection with the establishment of peace and good will as announced by the angel is not due to the fact that “The Prince of Peace” was crucified; for all believe that he was raised from the dead.
“On His Shoulder”
We have already noted the fact that the Israelites clung resolutely to their belief that the power of God, acting through his promised Messiah, would fulfill all the glorious promises he had made. It was this thought that Isaiah expressed when concerning the coming King he prophesied, “The government shall be upon his shoulder.” Soon after the death of the apostles, and of the Early Church trained under their leadership, the Christian community began to lose sight of this viewpoint and finally came to believe that through themselves, and through their association with the world and with civil governments, peace on earth would be established.
This was not the divine plan. Nor did the apostles entertain any such viewpoint. The great inspiration of the Early Church was its faith in the promises of Jesus to return, to take his faithful followers unto himself by raising them from the dead, and together with them to establish the messianic kingdom. Just as the prophets of God had foretold the suffering and death of Jesus, they also had prophesied like experiences for his followers, and that this would continue for an entire age in the plan of God—this Gospel age.
So those first Christians did not try to conquer the world for Jesus. They preached the Gospel far and wide, as Jesus had commanded, but they did not expect that their witness would fulfill the angel’s message of “peace on earth.” The Apostle Paul wrote, “It is given unto us, not only to believe on his name, but also to suffer for his sake.” (Phil. 1:29) They expected no more than this from the world.
Their present reward for faithfulness was their joy and peace in the Lord, and in the assurances of his promises to again “send Jesus Christ,” knowing that until then, and only then, would the prophetic testimony pertaining to the blessing of all the families of the earth be fulfilled. The angel announced that Jesus would be a Savior, and the glorious day of salvation for the whole world which he ushers in at his return is described by the Apostle Peter as “times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”—Acts 3:19-21
Year after year the nations strive for peace but fail to attain it. Having lost sight of the fact that the messianic purpose of God to establish peace is to be accomplished by the returned Messiah, and not by human efforts, to the people generally the Christmas celebration has become merely an expression of what they would like the world to be, rather than a demonstration of their faith in what they know it will be. But even the wish keeps the thought alive, and in this we rejoice.
Meanwhile let those whose hearts have been made to burn within them through the assurance that there has been no miscarriage of the divine plan—either because of human indifference or for any other reason—be more than ever faithful in proclaiming the good news. Perhaps not many will give ear to the message just now. The deferred hopes of the people, repeated from century to century, have dulled the ears of many. But there are still some who have a “hearing ear,” and whose hearts are made glad when they learn that the glorious announcement of the angel on the night Jesus was born is to be translated into reality, that both peace and salvation are soon to come to the nations.
If the fulfillment of God’s promises has seemed long in coming, let us remember that in individual experience it has not been any longer than the life span of any believer. Each of the patriarchs waited a lifetime, and then died in faith without seeing the fulfillment of God’s promises. The same was true of the ancient prophets and other faithful ones of the past.
The shepherds were enraptured by the angelic announcement given to them, but they did not see its fulfillment. Nor did the apostles and other faithful ones throughout the age. But hope has continued to spring eternal in the hearts of all who have put their trust in the promises of God. This hope has been more than merely a longing for something better; it has been a conviction born of faith in the integrity of God and in his ability to fulfill all his good purposes.
Meanwhile, God has watched his people with pleasure as he has seen them give evidence of their faith in him by their loyalty to his precepts, a loyalty which, in the experience of many, has led them into death. All, indeed, have died trusting in the promises of God. But they are not forgotten, for the plan of God is to awaken his people from the sleep of death that they might participate with his Messiah in carrying out the glorious things which they believed.
And herein, briefly stated, is the explanation for the seemingly long delay in the fulfillment of God’s messianic purposes. It is simply that throughout the ages, and from each generation, he has been selecting, proving, and training those who will serve as the personnel in his messianic kingdom arrangements. What a wise procedure! How the experiences of men and nations, as recorded on the pages of history, prove the need for righteous rulers who have proved their loyalty to God, and their genuine love for man!
Those thus selected and tested, from Abel to John the Baptist, will be awakened from the dead and serve as the human representatives of the kingdom. Those during the present age who have proved their fidelity to God and their willingness to die with Christ, will be associated with him in the spiritual phase of the kingdom. Together these resurrected faithful ones, under the headship and leadership of Christ, and empowered by the Spirit of God, will govern all nations. Then the whole world from the heart will be able to join the anthem of the angels, singing, “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men!”