| Highlights of Dawn | July 1962 |
This Faithless World
“When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” —Luke 18:8
OUR text is the conclusion of the parable of The Importunate Widow. In this parable a non-God-fearing judge, after much importuning by a widow to be avenged of her enemy, granted her request. Applying the parable, Jesus said, “Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.” Then follows our text, “Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
Quite clearly the thought thus presented is that God’s professed people, among whom, throughout the age, have been his “elect,” lose their faith on account of the continued permission of injustice, and of suffering, sin, and death. Since Jesus applies this lesson of the parable to the time of his return and the end of the age, we are warranted in appraising the status of faith throughout the earth today on the part of the professed followers of the Master as a fulfillment of this prophecy; for there is abundant evidence that we are even now living in the days of Christ’s second presence.
In Great Britain, during the closing days of the second World War, a survey was made to determine the effect of the war on the religious viewpoints of the people. This survey indicated that in a surprisingly large number of cases the hardships of the war had caused a dwindling of faith, and in many instances the complete loss of faith. In the case of a small percentage of the devoutly religious the troubles of the war had led to an increase of faith.
The results of this survey in Great Britain some twenty years ago points up a situation which is now quite general throughout the professed Christian world. Many are asking why God is seemingly holding himself aloof from the world’s troubles, and allowing human sufferings to continue and increase without doing anything about it. Failing to receive a satisfactory answer to this question, many begin to lose faith even in the existence of God.
Nor has the situation improved in recent years. For a time following the war there was a much-hailed resurgence of faith and devotion to God throughout the Western World, but now this is beginning to ebb. The spirit of the great revival has spent its force, and for the most part the world remains in the clutches of worldliness and doubt, endeavoring to drown its fear of the unknown future in pleasure, and men have become “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.”—II Tim. 3:1-5
However, deep down in the hearts of the masses there is a desire for belief in a Supreme Being. Nationwide polls indicate that a very large proportion of the people claim that they believe in God. However, this belief is very vague and indefinite. Their difficulty is in relating their belief to what they see going on around them, and to their own experiences. Actually the “faith” of many is not much more than a wish that there might be a God who is genuinely interested in his human creatures; a great Supreme Being in whom they could find refuge from the storms of human passion and suffering which have so continuously swept over the earth during the years of our generation.
The lack of an intelligent and genuine faith on the part of so many in the professed Christian world is due to misunderstandings concerning the plans and purposes of God with respect to his human creatures. For a long time the view of churchmen generally was that the world was getting better and better; that with the advantages of education, and by the aid of science and invention, humanity was about to enter a sort of golden age of peace and prosperity. The prophecies of the Bible depicting the age ending with a “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation” were rejected as the writing of pessimistic religious cranks.—Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21,22
The wishful thinking that the world was getting better was based upon the erroneous view that the work of God in the earth since the first advent of Jesus has been the converting of the world to Christ and to Christianity. This misconception of the plan of God is based upon a misunderstanding of Jesus’ commission to his disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. (Matt. 24:14; 28:19; Acts 1:8) It was taken for granted that the preaching of the Gospel throughout the earth was for the purpose of “winning the world for Jesus,” and thus bringing in an era of peace and good will among men.
Students of the Bible and of history should have known a long time ago that nothing like this was being accomplished. True, throughout the Middle Ages the name of Christ was spread throughout Europe, but this was not done by the preaching of the Gospel so much as by the power of the sword. As the conquering armies of Rome fanned out over the various countries of Europe, the Roman brand of Christianity was made the official religion in each country beaten into submission. The people of these countries knew nothing of the Gospel. They had, no Bibles, and no way to learn of the gracious plans and purposes of God. They simply and automatically became subjects of a corrupt church-state system of governments which masqueraded in the name of Christ and was called Christ’s kingdom—Christendom,
As a result of the reformation, some of these countries broke away from Rome, but continued their church-state governments on an independent basis. Individual faith in God and in the Bible was encouraged, but little information was furnished concerning the purposes of God as set forth in the Bible. Indeed, the vast majority of the people did not, even then, possess Bibles. Around the opening of the nineteenth century numerous Bible Societies came into being, and began to function efficiently in a general distribution of the Bible. This good work has continued until today. We would probably be safe in saying that there is a Bible in the home of most people in the Western World.
True, millions of these Bibles are rarely read, being looked upon more as a great piece of literature, or in other cases as a source of comfort to the occasional reader. But still, the fact that the Bible has been so widely circulated during the last century and a half has given some credence to the view that the world is being converted, and therefore was getting better day by day. Christendom’s leaders, in promoting this view, did not bother to explain how to harmonize this view with what happened during the many centuries preceding, when the cross of Christ was being foisted upon the masses by the power of the sword, and when genuine believers in the sacred Word, but dissenters from the Church-state system, were burned at the stake, or otherwise cruelly tortured and put to death.
Missionaries Unsuccessful
DURING the more than a century and a half in the course of which the Bible has been so freely circulated, intense foreign missionary efforts have been enthusiastically promoted by the various denominations of the professed Christian world. However, the heathen nations were not converted to Christ by these efforts. A few individuals in each of the countries where these efforts were made accepted Christ in the light in which he was presented to them, but the number of these was negligible, and even at the height of foreign missionary efforts they were far from keeping pace numerically with the general population growths.
Now, of course, with half the earth under the heel of godless communism, these missionary efforts have been greatly curtailed, and the dark clouds of unbelief in any kind of deity are spreading over heathen countries even as they are over the professed Christian world. But we should not be discouraged with this situation, for it is exactly as the prophecies of the Bible foretold. We have reviewed briefly the course of history which has led up to this well-nigh universal unbelief simply to show that a misunderstanding of the plans and purposes of God have contributed to the faithlessness of the people. The proposition is a simple one. If God is not able to accomplish what he proposed to do, why should we have confidence in him? The next step of unbelief is that perhaps there is no God.
The Called of God
JESUS said to his disciples concerning the truths which he was teaching them, “Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.” (Matt. 13:17) Even the immediate disciples of Jesus did not for a time fully grasp the meaning of his teachings and mission. They had accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah, but thought he would immediately establish his kingdom. It was a great test to their faith when Jesus was put to death on the cross. But later, through the enlightening influences of the Holy Spirit which came upon them at Pentecost, they learned that the messianic kingdom was not to be established until Christ’s return.
The disciples also learned that as ambassadors for Christ their mission was to preach the Gospel far and wide; not to convert the world, but to take out from the world those who responded through full devotion, and proved worthy to live and reign with Christ when his kingdom was established. (Acts 15:14-17; II Cor. 5:20; Rev. 14:1,4; 20:6) So, at this end of the age the Lord has taken a few into his confidence, as he did the disciples of old, and through his Word has revealed to them some of the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”—Matt. 13:11; Luke 8:10
So far as the religious world in general is concerned, one of the mysteries of Christ’s kingdom is the fact that it was not intended to be established at the first advent of Christ, but at his second advent, and that up to the present time God has not been trying to convert the world. The understanding of this truth automatically clears up a number of misapprehensions concerning the plans and purposes of God. The erroneous view is that the purpose of converting sinners is to save them from eternal torture, and take them to heaven when they die. Now we have learned that God does not intend to eternally torture anyone, not even willful sinners; but rather that the “wages of sin is death,” and that those who willfully disobey the kingdom laws will be destroyed from among the people.—Acts 3:23; Rom. 6:23
We have learned, also, that it is not the divine purpose to transfer as many humans to heaven as can be induced to accept Christ before they die. However, there is a glorious heavenly hope held out to all consecrated believers who follow faithfully in the footsteps of Jesus even unto death. (Rev. 2:10) The purpose of this arrangement is that these might be associated with Jesus in the kingdom work of enlightening and blessing the remainder of the human race during the thousand years of his kingdom. It is not simply to take people to heaven.—Acts 17:30,31
Two Salvations
TO STATE the matter in another way, we might say that there are two salvations—a heavenly salvation to which believers during the present Gospel Age are called, and an earthly salvation which will be offered to the whole world of mankind during the thousand years of Christ’s kingdom. The understanding of this great truth is essential if we are to know the meaning of the apparent failure of Christianity, and of the seeming evidences that God is not interested in the affairs of men today, or else is powerless to do anything to alleviate human suffering.
Basic also to a proper understanding of the true and living God of the Bible and his plans and purposes toward his human creation, is the acceptance of the Bible’s teaching that “the wages of sin is death.” (Gen. 2:17; Rom 6:23) Naturally, we are prone to be concerned about the suffering world of today; but actually, each generation of the human race, from Adam right down to modern times, has suffered, and all have gone into death. The people of each generation could well have asked what God was doing about human suffering.
Because of the redemption from sin and death provided through Jesus, the Bible depicts the dead world of mankind as being merely asleep. David speaks of it as “the sleep of death.” (Ps. 13:3) This conveys a beautiful and comforting assurance. Those who are “asleep” in death will be awakened from that sleep in a glorious new day when the divine Christ will be blessing the people. Meanwhile they are sleeping, even as a person who finds escape from his worries of the day in a restful sleep through the night.
Meanwhile, God’s work in the earth has been in preparation for that glorious new day of Christ’s kingdom. In order for any worthwhile and permanent blessings to reach mankind it was necessary that the people be redeemed from sin and death. Simply to stop a war in Europe or some other part of the earth to prevent people from further suffering would not meet the demands of God’s love and interest in his human creatures; nor would the temporary relief from suffering for other causes. God’s Love called for a permanent remedy for all human ills, and for this reason he sent his Son to redeem man from death—not alone the people of our generation, but all the offspring of Adam. The Bible says, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”—I Cor. 15:21,22
But God in his wisdom knew that the people, left in their ignorance, and to their own selfish devices, would not in any great number accept the benefits of his grace through Christ; so his love provided for a thousand years during which a powerful government in the hands of the resurrected Jesus would enlighten and rule the world, and furnish every opportunity for the people to benefit from the death of Jesus.
God’s wisdom, meanwhile has provided that a limited number of the human race would be given the opportunity during the present unfavorable time, when sin and selfishness exercise such a strong influence throughout the earth, to qualify to live and reign with Christ by following in his footsteps of sacrifice, which is the way of love. It has been to reach and enlighten these, not to convert the world, that God has caused the Gospel to be preached throughout the earth during the present age.
And even prior to the first advent of Jesus, God was preparing for the future blessing of his human creatures. When Jesus was raised from the dead he was highly exalted to the divine nature, and, like God, is now invisible to human eyes. (I Tim. 1:17) His footstep followers, when raised from the dead, will be made like him. Their rulership over the earth will, therefore; be invisible to the human race, but they will have human and visible representatives. The Bible reveals that these will be those often referred to as the “Ancient Worthies”—those faithful servants of God from righteous Abel to John the Baptist. These, the Scriptures declare, are to be made “princes in all the earth,” and are to be looked up to by the people as their religious teachers.—Ps. 45:16; Matt. 8:11; Luke 13:28,29
Total Remedy
THUS we see that through all the centuries from the creation and fall of man until now God has been mindful of his suffering human creatures, and has been preparing to put an end to that suffering. At times, no doubt, when it has served his larger purpose to do so, God has intervened to relieve the suffering of an individual. He may well have interfered with other situations which have brought suffering to the people, such as wars; not because his time had come to destroy all suffering, or to make an end of all war, but in order that his purpose with respect to his own people might be carried out as he has designed.
Otherwise, while loving the entire human family, God has allowed each generation to fall asleep in death, and to remain in death until his arrangements for their eternal blessing have reached completion. Then these will be awakened from the sleep of death, enlightened concerning God’s loving provision for them, and given an opportunity to believe, obey, and live.
In the Bible the redeemed human race is described as the “ransomed of the Lord”; that is, those who have been ransomed by the precious blood of Christ. (I Tim. 2:3-6) In a promise of the resurrection of the dead the Scriptures state, “The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”—Isa. 35:10
The “returning” referred to in this text is from the land of death—from the condition described in the Bible as the “sleep of death.” These returning ones—all mankind—will “come to Zion.” It was from Mount Zion in Jerusalem that God ruled over the ancient nation of Israel, so the Bible uses Zion as a symbol of that world-wide government which will be upon the shoulder of The Prince of Peace. (Isa. 9:6,7) That the people will then “come to Zion” simply denotes their recognition of the authority of the messianic kingdom; and it will be in their acceptance of Christ, and their obedience to his kingdom, that they will “obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
And these blessings and joys of the kingdom will be world-wide. The Lord will then “make wars to cease unto the end of the earth.” (Ps. 46:9,10) All evils which now afflict mankind, and destroy peace and happiness, will no longer be allowed. The Prophet Isaiah assures us “that they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain”; that is, the Lord’s kingdom. (Isa. 11:9) Here again Mount Zion is the background of thought suggesting the messianic kingdom.
The knowledge of the Lord will then fill the earth. There will then be no misunderstanding as to the will and plans of the great God of the universe, our Heavenly Father. The people will no longer be led astray by false teachings concerning God, and concerning his intentions toward his human creatures. Satan, who has deceived all nations, will then be bound. (Rev. 20:1,2) As the people are awakened from the sleep of death they will know that they have neither been in heaven nor in an abyss. of fire and brimstone, nor yet in a traditional purgatory. They will quickly know that the wages of sin is death, and that they had simply been asleep in death. And they will rejoice to be alive again and to know of the love of God through Christ, and of the wonderful kingdom arrangements designed for their blessing and joy.
Those who, even under present evil conditions, were noble-minded and did all they could to alleviate human sufferings, and prayed that God might do more in this respect, will then rejoice to realize that God’s loving plan was bigger and better than their highest thoughts could imagine. They will realize, also, that the short period of suffering through which the Creator permitted them and their friends to pass, resulted in no permanent injury, but rather, served to increase their appreciation of the more comprehensive love of God which provided eternal joys, not only for them, but for the people of all nations; and not alone for those of this generation, but for mankind of every generation.
Yes, all the people will then realize that the love of God is broader than the human mind is able to conceive. In that blessed knowledge all tears will be wiped away. Sickness and death will be destroyed. All injustices will be set aside, for in that kingdom justice will prevail, and those who continue to practice injustice will be destroyed. (Isa. 26:9) Nor will the righteousness of the people be merely an outward form of pretention, for the laws of God will be written in the very hearts of those who yield themselves to the influences of the kingdom’s just and righteous laws.—Jer. 31:31-34
Then, the inventive genius of man will be utilized for the common good of all people. The great potentials of nuclear power and of solar energy will be harnessed for the purpose of providing an abundance of good things for the returning “ransomed of the Lord” to enjoy, instead of being utilized for selfish, destructive purposes, as at present. Fear will be removed, and economic security will be assured to all, for every man will dwell under his own vine and fig tree.—Micah 4:4
Then the prayers of those who now look to the Lord for material blessings will be answered, and on a much larger scale and more completely than anyone at the present time could think possible. God does love the people, and will remove their distresses when his “due time” comes. (Rom. 5:6; I Tim. 2:6) Today, because the people are under condemnation to death, God may not seem near to many. But, of the period of Christ’s kingdom, we read that then God will dwell with the people, and be their God, and they shall be his people. The result of this will be that “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”—Rev. 21:3,4
The conditions which at present have resulted in such a widespread lack of faith on the part of the people will all be changed, and the people will believe and will rejoice in the God of their salvation. Indeed, the Bible tells us that then the people will say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”—Isa. 25:6-9
Meanwhile, those who have been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, have their faith increased by the very conditions which now are destroying faith in others, for we see the marvelous manner in which the prophecies of the Bible are being fulfilled. The very fact that there is little faith in the earth today, and that to so many it seems that God is not interested in the people, or appears not able to do anything about their suffering, those exercising faith see this sad state to be a fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy. Hence this very condition strengthens our faith, and inspires us to bear witness to the truth of the near-establishment of the kingdom which, as we have seen, is to enlighten and bless the whole world of mankind, Let us, then, continue to “show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.”—I Peter 2:9