| Highlights of Dawn | April 1959 |
This Traveling World
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” —Daniel 12:4
THE “time of the end” referred to in our text is an era in human experience during which the inability of fallen and selfish man properly to rule himself is demonstrated, and the people are prepared to welcome the authority of Christ’s kingdom, that government which, in the divine plan, is destined to bring lasting peace, security, health, and happiness to “all the families of the earth.” Our text indicates that when the “time of the end” came many would “run to and fro,” and also that “knowledge” would be “increased.”
It is the “increase of knowledge” that leads up to and makes possible the foretold running “to and fro,” The evidence is overwhelming that we are now living in the time when this prophecy is being fulfilled. The traveling world of today is something distinctly new in human experience. Prior to this “time of the end” in which we are now living, the facilities for travel were definitely limited as compared with today.
Nor did our present methods of travel develop gradually throughout the centuries. Not until this foretold “time of the end” were men able to travel faster or more comfortably than Abraham did four thousand years ago—unless they had a better donkey.
This general period prophetically described as the “time of the end” is mentioned by the Prophet Nahum as “the day of his [God’s] preparation,” meaning the time when the peoples of earth are being prepared for the blessings of Christ’s kingdom. Nahum foretold that in this time “chariots shall be with flaming torches,” that they would “rage in the streets,” and “justle one against another in the broad ways.”—Nahum 2:3,4
Nahum declares that these “chariots” would “run like the lightnings.” The prophecy of Isaiah 66:20, after mentioning the limited methods of travel with which men were acquainted in ancient times, speaks of “swift beasts” which would be used when Israel and all the nations were gathered to behold the glory of the Lord.
While we are not able, definitely, to identify these “chariots” and the swift beasts, and to say that one represents automobiles and the other trains, or other specific means of rapid travel, it is evident that in these prophetic visions Nahum and Isaiah saw strange, fast-moving vehicles which were vastly different from anything with which they were acquainted. They had wheels, so Nahum called them “chariots,” but what curious chariots! Their speed was so great that it seemed like “lightning”; and there was so much running “to and fro” that these “chariots” seemed to “justle one against another in the broad ways.”
A Rapid Development
Until the “time of the end” there had been no fundamental changes in modes of travel from the early days of the Egyptian dynasties. Aside from the Ark, which was built according to specifications given to Noah by God, the Egyptians seem to have been the first to discover a way of travel by water. The same may be said concerning vehicles which move on wheels. The first mention of “wagons” and “chariots” we find in the Bible shows them being used by the Egyptians.
There is apparently no historical record to indicate who invented the wheel which made possible the first “wagons” and “chariots,” but it was a discovery of fundamental importance. Without it, practically none of our modern means of travel would have been possible. However, the ancients did not apply the principle of the wheel to anything that could move faster than a chariot drawn by horses. So, while a pharaoh could ride in a chariot with a little more pomp and glory than Abraham enjoyed on the back of a donkey, neither kings nor peasants; rulers or slaves, could travel any faster up to one hundred and fifty years ago than did the ancients.
But following the invention of the printing press, and aided by the increasing knowledge made possible thereby, men began to experiment with sources of power other than beasts of burden and galley slaves. James Watt discovered the pent-up power of steam, and out of this discovery came the steam engine. Later the power of steam was applied to travel.
In 1814 George Stephenson, of England, built the first locomotive. It was called “Puffing Billy.” “Billy” didn’t function too satisfactorily, and it was not until 1825 that Stephenson perfected an engine that would really travel and haul “wagons.” (Freight cars in England are still called “wagons.”)
In America, the development of railroads went on simultaneously with the achievements being attained in England. In 1827 the State of Massachusetts built a railroad from Boston to Albany. However, the “wagons” used on this road were not drawn by steam engines, but by horses and mules. Everyone who had a wagon with flanged wheels was privileged to use this “rail road.”
In 1328 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was begun. But here again, to begin with, the cars were not drawn by steam power. Charles Carroll, the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence, opened the work of building the “B&O.” When he drove his spade into the ground, he said, “I consider this among the most important acts of my life.” He was right!
In the United States, steam locomotives were first successfully used in 1831, in South Carolina. But even then there was much doubt about the practicability of these mechanical horses. In the beginning they could travel only on the level, and many improvements were needed to make the roads safe. However, year after year trains went a little faster, and travel became easier and safer. At first the top speed of travel by railroad was fifteen miles an hour.
When a line was opened from Albany to Schenectady there was a dinner, with speeches. Among the sentiments applauded was the statement, “The Buffalo Railroad—may we soon breakfast in Utica, dine in Rochester, and sup with our friends on Lake Erie.” This was tremendous speed for that day, and it, was only a little more than a hundred years ago.
Travel by means of power other than of flesh and muscles had come to stay. The rapid development of railroads from that first crude beginning a little over a century ago is well known to all. Today we take the railroads for granted, although now their eighty to a hundred miles an hour speed is considered much too slow by a large portion of the traveling public, so sensational have been the developments within the century.
In the early days of railroading, the general public did not take so kindly and enthusiastically to the new contraptions. The story is told of a small group of enterprising citizens of Lancaster, Ohio, who, being more alert to the advancing times than their fellows, and learning that a railroad was being built across the state, asked the school for the use of the schoolhouse in which to hold a promotion meeting to influence the builders of the new road to veer it in the direction of Lancaster.
The school board refused the use of the schoolhouse for this purpose, stating as their excuse that railroads were an invention of the Devil to “carry immortal souls down to hell.” This was just a little over a century ago. The Bible alone foretold the change, and the reason for it, that has come in that century, when practically no progress in travel had been made in the nearly six thousand years which preceded this “time of the end.”
Until recent years railroad trains were powered by steam produced by wood-burning furnaces, then coal, and finally oil. But now the improved “Puffing Billy” is almost obsolete, being replaced by the Diesel engine using oil. Eventually, perhaps, atomic energy will supply the needed power for virtually all travel, and the old steam locomotive, with its romantic glory, will be a relic of the past, although the recent past.
Other Modes of Travel
Hardly had railroads become established when the inventive mind of this new day of increasing knowledge began to think about the possibilities of a horseless carriage. This was about the beginning of the twentieth century. We all know the situation today. One of the major problems of the United States now is to build roads fast enough to accommodate the ever increasing number of automobiles. To a lesser degree, this also is a major problem in many other countries of the world. And the automobile today is a thing of beauty, comfort, and speed.
There has also been a tremendous advance in travel by water. Following the Flood, the Egyptians had boats which were propelled by galley slaves. Boats thus propelled, and those later powered by sails, were first used largely for commerce in the small world known to the ancients. However, through the centuries travel by ship became more customary, although it was hazardous. Even on the little sea of Galilee the lives of the disciples became imperiled when a storm arose. And the Apostle Paul nearly lost his life when traveling by ship to Italy. Even as late as the discovery of America by Columbus, ships were not really safe for sea travel, and they could move over the water no faster than the wind would drive them.
The application of steam power to ships began to speed up this method of travel also. In 1790 John Fitch experimented with steam as a means of driving boats. But not until 1807 was the first steamboat successfully built. The builder was Robert Fulton, and the boat was named the “Clermont.” This wonder of the modern world could move through the water at the unheard of speed of four miles an hour, and this against the current of the Hudson River!
On the day the Clermont was to be tested, crowds went to the river’s edge, ready and almost anxious to jeer. When a defect stopped the boat for a moment, they cried, “Failure!” To their surprise, however, and probably chagrin, it soon was moving again, steaming its way toward Albany. Within four years there were similar boats on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; and in 1818 the “Walk-in-the-Water” plied its way over Lake Erie from Buffalo to Detroit.
Again this was but a beginning. Compare travel by ships of that time with what the world enjoys today and you get a striking example of the foretold “running to and fro” referred to in our text, and prophesied for this “time of the end” in which we are living. Atomic power has already been applied to ocean travel. Submarines can now travel around the world without refueling. They can even pass under the polar icecap. It is to the discredit of human wisdom that the development of the atomic submarine was brought about by the needs of war.
Air Travel
Meanwhile air travel has become not only a reality, but one of the world’s largest activities. Considered from the standpoint of speed, traveling by train or by our present-day speedy automobiles seems like a snail’s pace compared with the speed by which one can get from place to place by air. Regular travel by air to all parts of the world has now reached a speed of more than three hundred miles an hour, and “jet” travel is even faster.
Those who, in 1831, were so happy that it had become possible by means of the “rail road” to eat breakfast in Utica, dinner in Rochester, and supper in Buffalo—a total distance of about two hundred miles—could not then visualize the possibility of a time coming when one could eat breakfast in London, luncheon in New York, and dinner in Los Angeles or San Francisco, a distance of six thousand miles. The jet plane has now made this possible.
And the end is not yet! Recent news dispatches reveal that there are already on the drawing boards plans for “flying machines” with speeds up to ten thousand miles an hour. How would you like to travel from New York to London in twenty minutes? Amazing, perhaps, but who will dare to say that it is impossible? We can see no practical value in traveling ten thousand miles an hour, but the fact that it is being talked about and being planned helps to emphasize that we are indeed living in the “time of the end” when, as our text points out, the people would “run to and fro.”
Sir Isaac Newton, noted mathematician of his day, was an ardent student of the Bible. Commenting on Daniel’s prophecy that in the “time of end” the people would “run to and fro,” Newton predicted that the time would come when people would travel as fast as fifty miles an hour. Voltaire, the noted French infidel and contemporary of Newton, made light of his prediction. If Newton had predicted the present air speeds of from three to five hundred miles an hour, he probably would have been considered insane.
Not only is it now possible to “run to and fro,” but people are doing this on a scale that is almost incredible. Millions of the earth’s population are moving about by one means or another at all times of every day and every night. For one to travel to Europe and back a hundred years ago made him something different from an ordinary person. But now it is the person who does not travel that is different. Yes, the “time-of-the-end-world” is surely a traveling world!
Day of Preparation
As we have noted, prophetically the “time of the end” is also referred to as the day of God’s “preparation.” (Nahum 2:3,4) Naturally we inquire, For what is the world being prepared? Briefly stated, the ultimate purpose of God to which all details of preparation are leading is the establishment of the world-wide kingdom of Christ. It is through the agencies of this kingdom that God will fulfill all his wonderful promises to bless the peoples of the earth with peace, and health, and everlasting life.
Throughout the ages of the past, God’s work in the earth has been limited in scope. He promised Abraham that through his “seed” he would bless all the families of the earth. In the New Testament we learn that the “seed” of Abraham through which the world is to be blessed is a faith seed, made up of both Jews and Gentiles who accept Christ as their Redeemer and Messiah, and who follow in his steps of sacrifice faithfully unto death.
The selection and preparation of this promised “seed” of blessing has been an important work, but it has not called for the enlightenment of the world. Nor has it involved dealing with the world in any general sense. Thus, ancient methods of communication and travel were quite adequate so far as the accomplishment of God’s purposes was concerned. But now a change is near. The promised “seed” of blessing is nearly complete, and the long-promised blessing of the people of all nations is about to be accomplished.
This calls for a world-wide work through the agencies of Christ’s kingdom—a work in which communication and transportation can play an important part. It will be a work of blessing, not merely of one community, or of one nation, but of all communities and of all nations. It will be a work of uplift and blessing, not of one race only, but of all races. This divine plan for the blessing of all the families of the earth through the “seed” of Abraham will call for global action by a world government, and that government will be the long-promised kingdom of Christ.
This government which, as Isaiah foretold, will be on the “shoulder” Of Christ, in the sense that he will have the responsibility for its success, will displace and succeed all other governments of earth. The laws of that divine government will be binding upon all people, and its influence and authority will be felt and ultimately recognized in every nook and corner of the earth.
The Bible tells us that in the kingdom of Christ the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. (Isa. 11:9) Think of the herculean task this would imply, if only the ancient methods of communication and travel were available! True, the Lord could perform a miracle. He could write the message of his love and his glory on the sky. There, also, he could inscribe the laws of the kingdom where all could read, even as he once wrote Ten Commandments on tables of stone.
But God is already performing the miracles which will, in his own due time, bring about the fulfillment of his promises. Let it not be supposed that the puny mind of man has unlocked the secrets of nature which have made possible what is taking place in the world today. No, it was God’s due time for these things to be known, and he has permitted man to discover to a limited degree how certain secrets of creation can be used as they are being used today.
It has been God’s hand in the affairs of man that has brought about the present increase of knowledge. This is in “preparation” for the time when, under the direction and authority of Christ’s kingdom, communication and travel as we know them today, and greatly improved, will be used to enlighten the peoples of the whole earth. It will be through these channels, not by trumpet blasts from the sky, that the “Spirit and the bride” will say, “Come,” and when those who hear will say, “Come,” and when “whosoever will” may come and partake of “the water of life freely.”—Rev. 22:17