| Highlights of Dawn | February 1954 |
“Christ, the Hope of the World”
THE religious world of today is just as chaotic as the political, and it would seem as though 1954 will be marked by unusual strife among many in high seats of authority, particularly in the Protestant churches. The World Council of Churches will hold its 1954 general assembly in Evanston, Illinois, during the month of August. Selected to be one of the principal themes for discussion at Evanston is the topic, “Christ, the Hope of the World.”
The General Secretary of the World Council is Dr. Willem Visser ‘t Hooft, of Holland. He and other prominent delegates who will attend from Europe are letting it be known that to them the Bible teaches that the hope of the world is centered in the Bible’s promise of the second coming of Christ and the ushering in of the Millennium.
On the other hand, many of the prominent delegates from this country—particularly those of the modernist school of thought—will argue that Christ is the hope of the world only to the extent that through human efforts humanity can be induced to adopt his moral and ethical teachings as a way of life. To them, if the Bible’s promises of the second coming of Christ and the establishment of his kingdom are authentic at all, they simply mean that he comes only to those who try to govern their lives by his teachings—that there will be no literal return of Christ to establish an actual government to take control over the nations.
These two viewpoints will be hotly contested when the World Council meets in August. Indeed, the controversy has already begun, an example of which was recently offered to the public in Washington, D.C. Dr. Visser ‘t Hooft, in the United States to make arrangements for the council meetings in Evanston, has lectured in a number of large cities, including Washington, where he emphasized what he referred to as the literal interpretation of the Bible concerning the return of Christ, the judgment, and the Millennium. He also stressed the Bible truth that there can be no hope or salvation for the world outside of Christ.
On the following Sunday Washington clergymen, representing the liberal, or modernist, wing of Protestantism, replied to the clergyman from Holland, letting it be known where they stood on the issue. Rev. Ross Allen Weston, of the Arlington Unitarian Church, said:
“I doubt very much if Jesus would want to be a Christian today. I cannot see him identifying himself with any religious institution that by means of narrow, exclusive dogmas, separated the human family into ‘Christian’ and ‘heathen.’
“I cannot imagine him agreeing to a barrier which excludes the greater part of the world’s population: those who have never been, are not now, and never will be Christians. His love for humanity was too great to partake in such arrogance and audacity as that. What the World Council of Churches is proposing to say is that the basic hope of the world is not the life, not the spirit, not the teachings of Jesus, not the love and courage that lived in his personality, but the acceptance or rejection of a piece of doctrine about Jesus.”
Rev. Weston further suggested that a “truly” World Council would make “essential moral purpose and ethical practice” the test of a man’s religion, whether he worshiped God “in cathedral, church, synagogue or mosque.” We cannot help but admire the generous spirit which indicates a willingness to include all humanity, regardless of religious conceptions, in its fraternal embrace. But is this clergyman correct when he says that if Jesus were here today he would not associate himself with any religious institution which did not have this liberal outlook on religion?
This question cannot be answered by a simple yes or no. There can be no question about Jesus’ love for the whole world of mankind, and certainly he would not exclude any who walk in darkness from the opportunity of salvation. But we think it is reasonable to conclude that his attitude today is the same as at the time of his first advent, which was one of loyalty to his Heavenly Father’s plans and purposes.
When Jesus sent his disciples out into the ministry he said to them “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 10:5,6) Had Rev. Weston been in Judea at the time and heard about this commission he would most likely have been greatly incensed over such a “bigoted,” restricted viewpoint; unless, that is, he understood the divine purpose which Jesus had come to accomplish.
Too often in our generosity toward mankind and our desire to have them all—regardless of their knowledge or lack of knowledge of God—included in the fold of divine favor, we lose sight of God’s ability to enlighten those whom he desires to use and bless. But God does not leave his people in ignorance of his will. If he wanted the heathen to be his people today he is quite capable of enlightening them so they could worship him in “spirit and in truth,” not in ignorance.
But God does love the heathen. So did Jesus love them. He loved them when he told his disciples to confine their ministry to the Jewish nation. But Jesus recognized the “due time” aspects of the divine plan of salvation. He knew that this present age was not the time in that plan for the enlightenment and salvation of the whole world, but rather a period during which the church—Greek, ekklesia, meaning “called out” class—was to be reached through the proclamation of the Gospel, and that this opportunity was to be restricted for a limited time to those of the Jewish nation. After his resurrection he removed this restriction, and commanded his disciples to go into all the world.
But even then it was not the divine intention that the whole world be converted by the preaching of the Gospel. James states the matter correctly when he quotes Peter as saying that the purpose of God in this age was to “take out” from the Gentiles “a people for his name.” “After this,” he explained from the prophecies, the Lord would “return” to “build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down,” that the “residue,” or remainder, “might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord.”—Acts 15:14-17
The European clergymen are right when they insist that the hope of the world is in the second coming of Christ, but we wonder if even they realize the full extent to which the world will be enlightened and blessed during the thousand years of his second presence. The Unitarian clergyman in Washington will rejoice when he realizes that God’s plan, carried out through Christ, will be far more comprehensive than his own limited understanding is now able to appreciate.
The promise of God is that he will turn to the people a pure message, that they may all call upon him to serve him with “one consent.” (Zeph. 3:8,9) The result of this will be that the knowledge of the glory of God will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. Then every creature “in heaven and on earth” will be heard saying, “blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.”—Rev. 5:13
Another Washington clergyman—Rev. Carl Heath Kopf of the First Congregational Church—in his reply to Dr. Visser ‘t Hooft, said that the Evanston conference “will be split right down the middle,” also that:
“Jesus is available to us now, for our redemption and guidance. If we open our hearts to him, he will come again now, by the power of his life and what he stood for. We do not have to wait for some far off event.”
The Rev. Alfred W. Hurst, also of Washington, expressing his view of the manner in which Christ is the hope of the world said:
“Christian faith says that life now is important. It is not content to offer ‘pie in the sky by and by’ as a compensation for privation here. As a matter of fact, we are in eternity now and may live here with a sense of the presence of God as we seek to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with him.”
And so the controversy goes on. Those who know the plan of God and the vital necessity of belief in the shed blood of Christ as the only basis of salvation for both the church and the world need not be shocked at the utter lack of faith in the vicarious atonement represented in the statements of the eminent clergymen of Washington which we have quoted. From what they say, it is apparent that they have no faith that God will ever do anything for humanity, that it is up to man to save himself by his own works, or else not be saved at all.
No, we should not be surprised at these expressions of unbelief, for they represent the nature of the “Gospel” which’ is being preached today from too many American pulpits. It is one of the definite fulfillments of the prophecy which Jesus expressed in question form when he asked, “When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith in the earth?” (Luke 18:8) The reference is evidently to faith in God and in God’s kingdom plan of salvation, and certainly such faith is at a very low ebb today.
Just what the Fundamentalist clergymen of Europe who will attend the World Council of Churches mean by the coming of Christ, the judgment, and the Millennium, is not explained. However, the use of such scriptural language indicates that the Fundamentalists are trying to maintain their faith in the inspiration of the Bible, and their belief that its promises will be fulfilled. Doubtless conditions in Europe have much to do with their viewpoint. Referring to the theme of the Evanston council, Dr. Visser ‘t Hooft, in a speech in Chicago, said:
“The theme of hope was chosen because of its relevance in the world today, when so many areas show a certain hopelessness, while elsewhere there are certain false hopes; for example, under a totalitarian ideology such as the communist.”
Clergymen who live in Europe and have gone through much of the “last days” “distress of nations with perplexity,” being so much closer to the danger and distress areas of the world, realize more fully than most American clergymen how futile it is to continue putting their trust in human wisdom and ability to save the world. They know, therefore, that the return of Christ and the setting up of his kingdom is the only hope of the world. May they also know how marvelously that hope will soon mature, and the wonderful blessings which will come to the people as a result!
Death of the “Piltdown Man”
The modernist conception of “Christianity” has its roots deep in the theory of human evolution as opposed to the biblical account of man being the direct creation of God in his image. One of the much hailed “proofs” of human evolution has recently “died,” namely, the “Piltdown man.” He was “born” in 1911, when anthropologist Charles Dawson unearthed skull fragments and part of a jaw in a gravel pit near Piltdown, Sussex, England.
It seemed obvious that the skull fragments were human, but the jawbone was more like that of an ape. However, after much deliberation and study by scientists, it was concluded that they originally belonged to the same creature, and that this was perhaps the “missing link” between ape and man for which evolutionists had long been looking. So they put them together, molded a plastic face and head to suit their imagination of what this “missing link” probably looked like, and put it on display in a glass case in the British Museum, where it has been gazed at and studied by the public for a generation.
This Piltdown man was supposed to be the “first Englishman,” although we doubt if many Englishmen really gloried in being able to claim relationship to such a creature. But none need be longer concerned, for the “Piltdown man” has “died,” or we might better say, he has been “discovered.” Now it has been determined by scientists that the apelike jaw bone is, indeed, from an ape, and a modern ape at that.
Nobody knows just who played the trick, or why, but there is evidence that a deliberate attempt was made to deceive. This part of the story does not, of course, particularly interest Bible believers, but it does afford satisfaction to realize that one of the most trusted “proofs” that the Bible is not authentic has been taken away from the evolutionists.
This will probably be the only instance where deliberate deception in exhibits will be discovered. Nevertheless, we are confident that as time goes on, and anthropologists become more skilled, they will discover that the conclusions they drew from various “findings” were unwarranted, and merely the wild guesses of their very vivid imaginations. The fate of “Piltdown man” reminds us of a quotation in the booklet, “Creation,” from Science magazine, written by the late Dr. William Emerson Ritter, professor of Zoology at the University of California. He wrote:
“If one scans a bit thoughtfully the landscape of human life for the last few decades. he can hardly fail to see signs that the whole battleground of evolution will have to be fought over again, this time not so much between scientists and theologians, as among scientists themselves.”
These words were truly prophetic. Since they were written, archeologists have unearthed in ancient Bible lands many proofs of the authenticity of the Holy Scriptures, such as the ruins of the city of Ur, and parts of the walls of Jericho. The great hope of the scientists that they would surely very soon discover the fossil remains of creatures that were truly half man and half ape, and thus have definite proof of their theory of human evolution, has not materialized.
Minds which do not profess to be scientific naturally ask why it is, if evolution is a law of nature of which all forms of life are the result, we do not see this law operative at the present time. Man as we know him has not changed in thousands of years except to deteriorate; nor have other animals. There is a known fixity of species which scientists, with all their knowledge and skill, cannot bridge.
The human population problem today is becoming a serious one. The increase of earth’s population can be pretty well accounted for down through the ages. As we turn the searchlight of investigation back into the past, we see earth’s population becoming ever smaller at a rate that would bring us to a beginning with one human pair about the time the Bible assigns to the creation of our first parents.
This is not difficult for a non-scientific mind to understand. But what such minds cannot grasp is why, if man has been on the earth for millions of years, and did not start with merely one couple, but by an evolutionary process came into existence at various places on globe at the same time, a population crisis was not reached long before the twentieth century, A.D.?
Another question which unscientific minds are prone to raise is the one concerning man being in the image of God. Throughout the noncommunist world great stress is laid these days on the claim that man is not a mere machine, but a child of God, created in his image. Even the Modernists continue to voice this viewpoint.
But how is this? If man is a product of evolution, having risen to his present level from protoplasm, starting on the upward climb millions of years ago, at what point in this evolutionary process did he become the son of God and take on those qualities we have in mind when we say that he was created in the image of God?
But why go on? The Scriptures declare that man was indeed created in the image of God. Through his fall into sin and death much of that image has been lost. However, man still possesses the ability to reason, to know right from wrong. With few exceptions he still possesses a conscience, and to some extent is guided thereby. Man still, by nature, reaches out in worship to a Higher Power.
But even more important to us is the Bible’s assurance that man is to have an opportunity to be restored to his lost perfection, and to his lost dominion as king of earth. The Apostle Paul wrote, “We see not yet all things put under” man, but we see, in the outworking of the divine plan, that progress is being made toward that end—“We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”—Heb. 2:8,9
Dying for the sin-cursed and fallen race was the work of Christ at his first advent. During the thousand years of his second presence he will restore the redeemed race to life. This is why he is the world’s only hope.
Truly our minds and hearts find a glorious rest and satisfaction as we continue to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”—Matt. 6:10