| Highlights of Dawn | January 1955 |
This Collapsing World
“The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the, rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies. What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.” —Nahum 1:5-9
THE beginning of 1955 sees the world still in chaos, and the people harassed with fear of worse conditions to come. During 1954 some festering sores of discontent were temporarily salved over while the physicians attending the dying social order turned their attention to other areas of pain and discontent. But these worldly-wise physicians—call them statesmen if you like—not understanding the basic cause of the malady they are attempting to treat, and having no cure for it even if they did understand, can do little else but apply temporary outward remedies, which frequently are repressive measures to prevent violent eruptions which would lead quickly to the death of the patient.
To use the language of the diplomats and statesmen, these remedies have been “pacts” and “treaties,” “partitions” and “divisions” of countries, “rearmament” and “defense” agreements, with an occasional mutual trade agreement. All of these minor and temporary arrangements are made under the duress of military might by which there is an attempt to force agreements through fear of what might happen if the other fellow is not agreeable.
Without attempting to spell out the details of what will happen during 1955, it is safe to predict that the same sort of piecework diplomacy will continue. At times it may seem to the diplomats that their patient is so much subdued that once more we will hear the cry of “peace and safety.” But, if so, students of the Bible’s prophecies will know that this will be but the signal for further outbreaks of discontent in war and revolution which, through the years since 1914, have gradually caused the social order, as the people once knew it, to collapse—or, to use a scriptural term, to “melt” from the heat engendered by the “fire” of God’s indignation against the entrenched sin and selfishness of this “present evil world.”—Gal. 1:4
World diplomats and statesmen are doing the best they can to prevent the complete collapse of civilization. They are doubtless sincere in their desire to have peace, security, and prosperity. After all, they have little or no faith in the promises of God to establish a better world—indeed, probably very few of them even know that God has made such promises. Civilization as they know it seems better to them than utter chaos—anarchy—so they continue to build up their military might, each side hoping that ultimately the other side will give in, yet fearing all the time that this won’t happen and that the great military machines created by a divided world will sooner or later meet head-on in a destructive collision of global strife that will completely destroy what is now left of civilization.
The Prophetic Viewpoint
Students of the prophecies see the Lord’s hand in what has been happening in the world, particularly since 1914—the end of the prophetic period of time described by Jesus as “the times of the Gentiles.” (Luke 21:24) Many at one time thought that the prophecies pertaining to the “end of the world” referred to the literal burning up of the earth, but now we see that this is not the correct viewpoint. Now it is discerned that the Lord uses the earth as symbolic of a social order, that the “mountains” represent kingdoms and governments of the earth, and that the “fire,” the “earthquakes,” the “floods” which overthrow and “melt” the “mountains” are the various characteristics of the “great tribulation” which Jesus explained to his disciples would be among the signs of his presence and the end of the age.—Matt. 24:3,21,22
Nor are we to expect that the Lord will necessarily employ miraculous means to accomplish the things which he has foretold. For example, in Haggai 2:22 the Lord declares, “I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them [the military strength of the nations]; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.” Here the Lord is telling us that he will destroy “this present evil world” by pitting the selfish and warring factions of earth against one another.
A similar thought is presented in Isaiah 42:13,14, where again the prophet declares, “The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies. I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.” This destruction is brought about, as the prophet says, by the Lord stirring up jealousy among the selfish and opposing factions of earth.
“He shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies,” declares the prophet. In Psalm 46:6 we read, “The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.” The warring factions of earth do not recognize the actual “voice” that is keeping them in confusion and chaos and irresistibly bringing about their collapse. In times past it always seemed possible for the Gentile nations, the “heathen,” to patch up their differences and enjoy a measure of peace for a while, but not now. Through the prophetic “increase of knowledge,” “gathering of the nations,” and “assembling of the kingdoms [governments],” the Lord has intervened; for the time has come for the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom, and Satan’s world must therefore be set aside.—Dan. 12:4; Zeph. 3:8
And think of what has already occurred along this line! The once strongly entrenched hereditary ruling houses of the old Roman world have, for the most part, been overthrown. Other forms of government have taken their place; and although weak and bankrupt, they are preparing for another onslaught against one another.
The bankruptcy of the nations is reflected in the greatly inflated currency of every country. With nearly three hundred billion dollars of national debt, even the United States dollar is worth only about one-third of its original value.
The moral and religious standards of the world continue to collapse, so that there is no sure foundation upon which man can build a new world for himself. This is in partial fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy concerning our times, when he said that “the powers of the heavens shall be shaken”; that is, the powers of spiritual and religious control will lose their hold upon the people, resulting in moral anarchy.—Matt. 24:29
The pre-1914 world has been collapsing along every front, nationally, socially, religiously, and economically. These changes are occurring not only in what was formerly Christendom, but throughout heathendom as well. Look where we will, whether in Asia, Africa, South America, Australia, Europe, or America, there is an upsurging of the people against the restrictive social, moral, religious, and economic standards of the past.
The evidences of a collapsing world are being recognized by the people themselves, although they do not understand their prophetic meaning. We have before us an interesting observation by Robert Beverly Hale, of the Metropolitan Museum, of New York City, in which he explains how the collapse of the old world is reflected in modern art. He says:
“Does our art seem violent, it is because we have perpetrated more violence than any other generation. [‘A time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.’] If it deals with weird dreams, it is because we have opened up the caverns of the mind and let such phantoms loose. If it is filled with broken shapes, it is because we have watched the order of our fathers break and fall to pieces at our feet.
“We have seen in our century, the development of fantastic scientific paraphernalia and much ill will. We live in the fear of some monstrous event which will bring, at the best, a curious and distorted future; at worst, annihilation. The artist is in part a prophet. We should not complain if the shadows that have lately haunted us have for some time been visible upon his canvass.”
Sydney J. Harris, writing in the Chicago Daily Mirror, commenting on the above, said:
“The modern painter is no longer ‘realistic’ in the old fashioned sense, because the universe has taken on a different aspect of reality. All the ancient gods have been questioned; some have been overthrown; and nothing has yet risen to take their place. The chaos in the frame is, in its own way, a realistic reflection of the chaos in the mind of modern man.”
No, nothing has yet risen to take the place of the gods, the standards, the partial security, and the religious ethics of the world that is collapsing; but soon something will arise, and that something will be the promised kingdom of Christ. In one of the beautiful symbols of what this will mean for the fear-filled and suffering world, Malachi wrote, “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings.”—Mal. 4:2
How glad we are to have the assurance of God’s Word that this is so! Just as our text declares, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.” The “day of trouble” is upon the world, and has been these many years, but the Lord has been the strong-hold of his people in that he has revealed to them through his word the true meaning of this time of “great tribulation.”
David expressed a similar thought when he wrote, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in [the time of] trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.”—Ps. 46:1-3
To the world, these trying times of fear and distress appear in a different light. To those who believe that there is a God, it appears that he is disinterested in human affairs, or lacks ability to change this distressing course of human events. This faithless viewpoint is recognized by the prophet when in our text he asks, “What do ye imagine against the Lord?” The prophet’s reply is that the Lord “will make an utter end”; so that “affliction shall not rise up the second time.”
How glad we are to know that this is the real objective of the “time of trouble”—that “affliction shall not rise up the second time.” This rising up of affliction had its beginning in the Garden of Eden when our first parents transgressed God’s law. They were condemned to death, and all their progeny have died as a result of their disobedience. But throughout the ages the Lord has not interfered further with the course of fallen man; he has allowed sin and selfishness to take their course.
In a text already quoted (Isa. 42:14), the Lord explains that to do this he had to “refrain,” that is, restrain himself. (Isa. 63:15) But now, at the end of the “present evil world,” when his due time has come to intervene, he is using the wrath of men to accomplish the downfall of the institutions of selfishness, not because he wishes to see the suffering of the people increased, but to guarantee that “affliction shall not rise up the second time.”
This “affliction,” the reign of sin and death, which began in Eden, has now culminated in a time of “great tribulation,” or affliction, such as never was since there was a nation. Jesus added, “No, nor ever shall be.” Thank God for this assurance! It signals the end of all affliction because it is a necessary preparation for the full manifestation of the glorious kingdom of the Messiah, that kingdom through which the Lord’s will is to be established throughout the earth, even as it is now in heaven.
This will mean not only that there will never be another “time of trouble” such as the one through which the present generation is passing, but also that the “affliction” that has plagued the human race throughout all the ages—the sickness, pain, and death resulting from original sin—will forever be put down, never to rise again. Christ must reign, Paul tells us, until all enemies are put under his feet, “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”—I Cor. 15:25,26
Let us rejoice in this glorious prospect! May we realize, also, the responsibility the knowledge of these truths imposes upon us. After graphically describing the passing away of this present social order, telling us that the elements shall melt with fervent heat, Peter admonished, “Seeing then that all these things shall be [are being] dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.”—II Pet. 3:11