| Highlights of Dawn | April 1955 |
The Day of the Lord
“But of the times and seasons brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction shall come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” —I Thessalonians 5:1-4
SINCE our first parents transgressed God’s law more than six thousand years ago sin and selfishness have dominated in the affairs of men, leading to unhappiness, pain, and death. The Bible likens this long period to a nighttime, when “darkness” covers the earth and “gross darkness the people.” (Isa. 60:2) Through the Bible, nevertheless, the Lord promises that the darkness of sin and death will not last forever. Through the prophet David, the Lord says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”—Ps. 30:5
During the pitch darkness of this long night of sin, sorrow, and death the noble-minded of the human race have longed for the coming of “day,” and the sages have tried to assure them that a “golden age” will dawn in which truth, righteousness, peace, health, and life will be enthroned, and when the evils which now plague mankind will be no more. There have been times when it would seem that this new day of joy was about to dawn, and the hopes of many have been lifted high, only to be dashed to the ground by the cruel logic of unexplained failure.
Throughout the “night,” however, the great God of the universe, who is the God of the Bible and of Christianity, has had his representatives in the earth, and through them has borne testimony to the fact that the “morning” will come, that sin, suffering, and death are not to continue forever. The prophets of the Old Testament were among these servants of God. They wrote as they were moved by his Spirit, and their united testimony harmoniously foretold that a great Deliverer was coming, One who would speak peace to the nations, destroy sin and death, and wipe away the tears from all faces.—Isa. 25:8
To Abraham this great One was to be his “seed,” an offspring through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed. (Gen. 12:3) The Lord caused Moses to prophesy the coming of One who would be like unto him, a great deliverer and lawgiver. (Deut. 18:4) Isaiah wrote, “Unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. 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.”—Isa. 9:6,7
Certain promises of God gave the Israelites reason to believe that his purpose would be fulfilled through their nation, so they waited longingly for the promised One to arise and do for them and through them all that had been promised. In the days of King Solomon the nation rose to a high pinnacle of fame and glory, and doubtless many then thought that the morning of prophecy was near and that soon the darkness of the night would be dispelled.
But their hopes were dashed. Following the death of King Solomon the kingdom was divided, and after a few generations the larger segment was taken captive into Assyria, and the smaller into Babylon. To the last king of Judah, that “wicked prince of Israel,” the Prophet Ezekiel said with reference to the rightful rulership of the nation, “It shall be no more until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him.” (Ezek. 21:25-27) The One “whose right it is” is the great Messiah and King of the prophecies, he who was to dispel the darkness of the “night,” and bring in the new day of promise. The Prophet Malachi refers to him as the “Sun of Righteousness” who will “arise with healing in his wings.”—Mal. 4:2
For seventy years the nation was held captive in Babylon, a captivity which began in 606 B.C. Then King Cyrus of the Medes issued a decree permitting the Israelites to return to their own land, which many of them did. But they were without a king, remaining a vassal nation. Naturally, under such circumstances the devout among them longed for the fulfillment of God’s promises concerning the coming of a Messiah. Finally their hopes were lifted. Jesus was born.
An angel announced the birth of Jesus, acclaiming him as the “Savior” and “Christ,” or Messiah. (Luke 2:10) The Prophet Simeon referred to Jesus as “a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” (Luke 2:32) During his maturing years Jesus grew in favor both with God and with man. (Luke 2:52) But when, at the age of thirty he entered upon an active ministry, bitter opposition arose against him which, in three and one-half years, resulted in his crucifixion.
The new King of earth was dead, and his little group of faithful followers were disheartened. Their faith was shaken. They thought the “morning” had come, but now it was darker than ever, for the “Light” which they trusted would bring the day had been extinguished. But they were not left long to grope in darkness, for God raised the King from the dead. They soon became aware of this, and their hopes were renewed.
All during the long nighttime of sin, each disappointment of the Lord’s waiting people had led to a better understanding of one or another aspect of his divine plan of salvation. This was so in the case of those first disciples. The resurrected Master appeared to two of them as they journeyed to Emmaus, although they did not at first recognize him. After listening to their sad tale of disappointment in which they said concerning him, “We trusted it was he that should have redeemed [delivered] Israel [from the Roman yoke],” he said to them, “O slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?”—Luke 24:25,26
Telling about this experience later the disciples said, “Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, while he opened unto us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32) And no wonder! They had failed to realize that the prophecies had foretold the suffering and death of Christ as the Redeemer of the people. They had not known before this that he was to make his soul an offering for sin, and that upon him was to be laid “the iniquity of us all.” (Isa. 53:4-12) They had thought that his death was a great tragedy, proving perhaps that he was not the Messiah at all. But now this stumbling-stone to faith had become a further assurance for their faith.
But still all did not seem right. Jesus was so unlike what they had known him to be, and they saw him only occasionally, and then very briefly. The last time they saw him they made bold to ask, “Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” To this question Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost, part of the earth.”—Acts 1:6-8
Again they were disappointed. They hoped, now that Jesus had been raised from the dead, that deliverance would come, that Israel would be set free, and that the “Light” which was to “lighten the “Gentiles” would begin to pierce the darkness of earth’s nighttime of sin. But not so. There was a time for this—“times of refreshing” as Peter later explained—but the Lord was withholding from them the knowledge of just when that time would be. Meanwhile, after receiving the Holy Spirit, they were to be witnesses for Christ, a task which, they later discovered, led to suffering, persecution, and ofttimes death.
But the coming of the Holy Spirit gave them further understanding of the divine plan as it centered in Christ. They knew that his commission to go into all the world to preach the Gospel was not for the purpose of converting all nations, but to be a witness to the world, a witness that would be heeded by a few who would respond and become his followers. James described these few as a “people for his name,” and explained that after these were taken out of the world then would come the time when the “residue,” or remainder, would seek after the Lord.—Acts 15:13-18
Understanding this, they were not discouraged by the hardships which resulted from letting their light shine, but were willing and ready at all times to die for the Master, if need be. When the friends of Paul endeavored to dissuade him from going to Jerusalem where his enemies were plotting against him, he replied, “What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”—Acts 21:13
Just as the hearts of two of the disciples “burned” with joy when they learned that the suffering and death of Jesus was an essential part of the messianic program, so now they all rejoiced to realize that they had the privilege of sharing in the foretold suffering. Now they understood what Jesus meant when he had invited them to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow him. As Peter explained, they did not think strangely concerning the trials which came upon them, but rejoiced that they were partakers of Christ’s suffering.—I Pet. 4:12,13
They rejoiced in this because they knew that if faithful through suffering, faithful even unto death, they would be brought forth in the “first resurrection” to live and reign with Christ. (Rev. 20:4) Paul wrote, “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him.” (II Tim. 2:11,12) Those first disciples understood that these precious promises were to be fulfilled at the time of Christ’s second visit, and that not until then would that glorious kingdom of promise be set up in the earth to dispel the gloom of the long nighttime of sin and death.
It was but natural that those in the Early Church should wish for the early return of their Lord. Paul wrote, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” (Rom. 13:12) Since God was holding an understanding of the times and seasons in his own power, even the apostles had no way of knowing just how long it would be before the morning dawned. Peter wrote that there was a “sure word of prophecy” to which he urged the faithful to take heed, “until the day dawn,” and the “day star” arise in their hearts.—II Pet. 1:19
But the apostles did have revealed to them that there would first come a falling away from the faith and apostasy. Paul mentions this in II Thessalonians 2:3. In our text, taken from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he speaks of the “day of the Lord” coming “as a thief in the night,” but that the brethren would “not be in darkness” concerning it. From this some developed the thought that the Lord had already returned, that the “day of the Lord” therefore had already come. It was to correct this misunderstanding that Paul wrote concerning a great falling away from the faith which would occur, and that a “man of sin” would be revealed, the “mystery of iniquity.”
In keeping with this, and even while the apostles were still living, this falling away from the faith began, although it was largely held back by them while they lived. But soon after their death false teachers entered in among the believers, many arising even among themselves, who perverted, the truth of the Gospel, until the “wheat field” of the Lord’s planting virtually became a field of “tares.”—Matt. 13:18-30,37-42
The apostasy manifested itself in various ways. Jesus’ commission to his disciples to bear witness to the truth among all nations was misconstrued to mean that the conversion and salvation of the world depended upon the efforts of the church. While distorted concepts of Christianity spread throughout Europe and parts of Asia, and later to the western hemisphere, the assumed task of converting the world never even approached accomplishment; and now this humanly inspired undertaking is further from realization than ever before.
Quite apart from the calamitous events which came upon the world beginning in 1914, the missionary efforts of churchianity were failing. At the close of the nineteenth century there were twice as many heathen in the world as at its beginning, and this despite the fact that it was the century of the greatest missionary efforts since Pentecost. At its beginning large Bible societies were formed, and millions upon millions of copies of the Word of God were circulated among the people of all nations. But the world was not converted.
In Isaiah 55:8-11 the Lord reminds us that his thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and his ways than our ways, and adds that the “Word” which he sends forth does not return void, but accomplishes that for which it is sent. Since, after nearly two thousand years of missionary effort the world is still unconverted, it is evident that millions of the Lord’s professed people have had a wrong conception of his plan. The realization of this should now be dawning upon the thoughtful, causing them to re-examine the Bible in an effort to discover wherein their concepts of Christianity have been wrong.
The Counterfeit Kingdom
The foretold falling away from the “faith once delivered unto the saints” occurred along still another line. The attempt to convert the world, limiting the opportunity of salvation to those who believe in this life, was based on the false premise that all the wonderful promises of God concerning a time when the knowledge of his glory would fill the earth as the waters cover the sea were to be fulfilled through human efforts. The Bible associates these promises with a “kingdom,” a powerful government, which was to be set up in the earth; and in the great apostasy from the true faith, the professed followers of the Master attempted to establish this promised kingdom.
This counterfeit of Christ’s true kingdom was first setup Rome through the union of church and state. The darkest period of European history was the centuries during which this unholy alliance ruled the people. The Reformation, came, but most of the reformers followed the example of Rome insofar as the union of church and state was concerned; so Christendom, “Christ’s kingdom,” as set up by man, was divided.
The evils of church-state government are now well known, and quite generally acknowledged, except by the papal hierarchy. It was from these evils that the Founding Fathers of America fled. This counterfeit of Christ’s kingdom did not establish peace and good will as the prophecies of the Bible assure us will be accomplished by the true messianic kingdom. Instead, it spawned wars and fomented hate and strife. Realizing this, our forefathers wisely safeguarded the United States against such a system developing here by making union of church and state unconstitutional.
There is no need to labor this point. Regardless of any claims made for the merits of church-state governments, this attempt to set up Christ’s kingdom in the hands of imperfect men, and through it fulfill all the wonderful messianic kingdom promises, has failed. It has failed so completely that the word Christendom itself, a word that was coined to describe what was claimed to be Christ’s kingdom, is now seldom used. Even in Italy, where the unchaste church of Rome first committed spiritual fornication with the kings of the earth, the kings have been ousted and a republic has taken their place.
The system still functions nominally in some European countries, but nowhere is it a real power in human airs. And in this time of world crisis, no responsible individual or group is openly recommending a return to church-state governments as a solution to the problems which confront the distressed nations and people of the earth. So, again, the failure of misconceived human efforts calls for a re-examination of God’s Word to discover his real plan.
But many fail to do this, with the result that they lose faith in the glorious promises which describe a “morning of joy” in human experience, to be ushered in by divine intervention through the establishment of the real kingdom of Christ. They think of such a viewpoint as being nothing more than a “utopian dream,” having no foundation in fact and no possibility of fulfillment. So the world goes on in despair, trying one remedy after another, but failing to find a solution for the distressing problems which threaten its complete destruction.
The people of God who are moved by Peter’s admonition to take heed to the “sure word of prophecy” until “the day dawn” are not perplexed over these failures of human efforts. They know that it was not God’s will to convert the world during the present age. They know that the church-state governments of Europe were counterfeits of the real kingdom of Christ, therefore could not endure. Not only are they blessed now with this knowledge, but saw in advance, and proclaimed publicly, that the “kingdoms of this world” would crash in a “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.”—Rev. 11:15-18; Dan. 12:1
To the Lord’s people the long-promised “day of the Lord” is now dawning, but, as the prophecies reveal, it is dawning amidst “clouds and thick darkness,” making it to begin with “a day of darkness and of gloominess.” (Joel 2:1,2) It is this aspect of the “day of the Lord” that is referred to in our text. So far as the world is concerned, it has come as a “thief in the night”; that is, unexpectedly.
And how true this has been! As the twentieth century dawned there were high hopes in the minds and hearts of millions that so-called Christian civilization was rapidly moving forward. This viewpoint is well emphasized by the fact that a well-known church paper changed its name to “The Christian Century,” in the belief that within the hundred years then beginning the cherished hopes of Christendom for peace on earth and a world converted to Christ would mature into reality.
How wrong this viewpoint was! The wise men of the world, still thinking that God wanted them to bring in the promised reign of righteousness, did not know that the real King of earth was already present, that the “day of the Lord” had come in the which the symbolic heavens and earth created by man were to “pass away with a great noise.” (II Pet. 3:10) Because they had not given heed to the “sure word of prophecy,” the destruction which was to mark the beginning of the “day of the Lord” came upon them as “a thief in the night.”
Paul wrote that this would occur when “they” were saying “Peace and safety,” and it did. Paul added, “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” This also proved to be true. For many years prior to the outbreak of the first World War in 1914, the crushing effects of which are still continuing to destroy “the world that now is,” the fact that this “time of trouble” was coming was known and proclaimed the world over by Pastor Russell and his associates.
But they stood alone, and were called prophets of doom. Was not civilization advancing, their critics asked? In the light of increasing knowledge along all lines it was unthinkable, the world said, that a “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation” could come upon the nations. Instead, they insisted, this is to be a century of greatest human triumph. The prophecies of God’s Word meant nothing to those being guided by worldly wisdom, so the trouble came upon them “as a thief in the night.”
Paul explained that the foretold “sudden destruction” would come “as travail upon a woman with child.” This means, in spasms, which has also been true of the chaotic years since 1914. The two World Wars and the “great depression,” each were shattering blows to the “Christendom” erected by man. Now the nations know not what they are facing. But this did not come upon the “brethren” as “a thief in the night” nor are they now bewildered.
But there is more to the “day of the Lord” than these harrowing years with which it dawns. The trouble through which the world is now passing is only incidental to the necessary overthrow of humanly constituted authority in the earth. As the trouble increases, and reaches even greater crisis proportions than heretofore experienced, the authority and power of Christ will be manifested, speaking peace to the people. It is this that is promised in Psalm 46:10, where the Lord speaks to the raging nations, saying, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen [the nations], I will be exalted in the earth.”
For a thousand years this kingdom authority and power will exercise firm but loving control over the people of the earth, fulfilling all the glorious promises of God concerning the daytime of peace and joy for which men have longed and. hoped and prayed, but could not attain. It will be then that the Gospel-age followers of the Master will actually convert the world, for they will be glorified with their Lord, Christ Jesus, and will be reigning with him as kings and priests to extend God’s promised blessings to “all the families of the earth.”