| Highlights of Dawn | October 1957 |
The World Crisis and Its Final Outcome
NEVER before has there been so much confusion, perplexity, and distress. The newspapers and other periodicals, the radio and television, are constantly calling our attention to the fact that it is “crisis” time. There is crisis among the nations, and in governments. There is crisis in the state and in the church. Crisis is in the air, and everywhere. Jesus foretold this when he said that men’s hearts would be failing them for fear as they look ahead to the things corning upon the earth.—Luke 21:25,26
We are living in the most momentous time of all history. It is the ending of an age, and a new age is being ushered in. The scientists tell us of many past ages —the Azoic, or lifeless age; the Triassic age, the Carboniferous and Reptilian ages. These were all before the creation of man. Coming to the Bible we learn of the antediluvian age, the patriarchal age, the Jewish age, the Gospel age. In the present time of crisis we are entering the millennial age.
Recently the papers have been calling attention to some of the things which help to make the “crisis” condition through which the world is passing. Living costs continue to rise. Most countries in the world are plagued by increasing inflation. In Isaiah 2:20 we read, “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they have made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats.”
No one in this country has any gold. We are not allowed to have gold. But silver and gold are used in the prophecies to symbolize money in general, and that which represents money, such as stocks and bonds. “Gold and silver,” or money, have always been “idols” to the people; but in this “crisis” time, their ultimate complete loss of value will lead to the destruction of such “idols.”
Strikes everywhere are also a part of the “crisis” conditions of the world. In James 5:1-5 we read of the struggle between capital and labor; and this battle will be fought to the finish. Prophecies concerning the various aspects of the “crisis,” have been in the Bible right along: and, as they are fulfilled, we are helped to realize the importance of the time in which we are living.
The Jubilee Trumpet
The sounding of a trumpet is one of the symbols used in the prophecies to help us understand the meaning of this perilous time of crisis. Trumpets were used by ancient Israel to announce the incoming year of jubilee. The jubilee year was one during which slaves were set free, and those who had lost their possessions had them returned; so now the antitypical jubilee trumpet is blowing.
As the shout of liberty and equality is trumpeted around the world, the first effect is to produce “crisis” conditions. The people in all the backward nations of the earth are responding to the call and are demanding their real and fancied rights. The result of this is a struggle between the “haves” and “have nots,” which contributes further to the acute “crisis” conditions leading to the full ending of the age.
Another aspect of the present crisis is the manner in which the people and nations are crying, “peace and safety,” while all the time their plans for peace continue to fail, and destruction stares them in the face. Paul wrote about this, saying, “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 cometh upon them, as travail upon a women with child; and they shall not escape.”—I Thess. 5:2,3
This cry of “Peace and safety” has been going on for many years. It was heard in 1913, the year before the outbreak of the first World War. Paul foretold that this cry would be accompanied by sudden—in the Greek text, “unexpected”—destruction which would come upon the world as “travail” upon a woman with child. Travail comes in spasms, each spasm followed by a period of easement, until the birth occurs.
So, true to the prophetic illustration, a spasm of destructive trouble came unexpectedly upon the world very quickly after that now pearly forgotten “peace year” of 1913. It was the destructive World War which began in 1914. That “spasm” of travail did not bring the birth of the new day, the kingdom age; but it greatly weakened the old world. After a period of easement there came another major military “spasm” of destruction—the second World War—but still the world government which is Christ’s Kingdom, has not fully manifested itself.
Certain prophecies indicate that there were to be three of these major “spasms” of “travail” upon the old order. Certainly another spasm is now clearly taking shape, and may soon be upon the nations. If that should be the last, it means that the Kingdom of Christ is near—very near, indeed. Surely, then, we should continue more earnestly than ever to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”—Matt. 6:10
And what a joyful message this is to proclaim to the world! Concerning it the Prophet Isaiah wrote, “Say to them that are of a fearful heart [that is, at the time when the hearts of the people are filled with fear, as they are during this “crisis” time], Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.”—Isa. 35:4
Other prophecies speak of the present “crisis” time as the day of God’s vengeance.” (Isa. 61:2) This is because it is a time when the Lord is so overruling in the affairs of men and nations that all evil institutions are to be destroyed to make way for Christ’s Kingdom. God hates sin, but loves sinners, and, in the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom, provides the necessary agencies to extend an opportunity of everlasting life to all mankind.
Thus, as the prophet admonishes, we are to explain that the present time of crisis is the day of God’s vengeance, but that he is not vengeful against the people; for the ultimate outcome designed by the Lord is the everlasting salvation of the people—“he will come and save you.” Isaiah explains to some extent what this will mean. He continues, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.”—Isa. 35:5,6
Yes, today’s world crisis is leading into the happiest of all ages in human experience. It will be a day of gladness for the living; and the dead will be awakened that they, too, might share in the blessings of the new day. Assuring us of this, Isaiah wrote, “The ransomed of the Lord shall return, … with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”—Isa. 35:10
Another prophecy concerning the final outcome of the present world crisis is given to us by the Apostle Peter. He said, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted. that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the 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
Restitution means the act of restoring. It is God’s plan to restore all that was lost through the sin of our first parents, including the earthly paradise. Peter assures us that this glorious fact was foretold by all God’s holy prophets. Adam, through his sin, brought death to his progeny. Christ is referred to by the Apostle Paul as the “last Adam,” who, in his resurrection, was made a “quickening,” or life-giving spirit—I Cor. 15:45
As a life-giving spirit, Jesus is prophetically referred to as the “everlasting Father,” a Father, that is, who will give everlasting life to his obedient subjects. He is also “The Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6,7) So the final outcome of the present crisis upon the nations will be the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom, which will bring peace and health and life to all mankind. Let us rejoice in this glorious prospect!