| Highlights of Dawn | September 1970 |
Perilous Times
ON THE lovely grounds of the United Nations high above the East River in New York City is an eloquent statue symbolizing the nations beating their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks. This organization was formed twenty-five years ago in the lofty hope of bringing about international co-operation and peace. It was conceived in the universal distress and fear that followed the sufferings and desolation of World War II as an assembly where all nations, great and small, could unitedly strive to promote justice and well-being among all peoples of the world. Henceforth, reason and persuasion were to replace tanks and fighter bombers. The preamble of the charter specifically states that the purpose of the U.N. was “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” On this high note, President Truman said at the time of the signing of the charter in San Francisco: “We have signed a great instrument for peace and security and human progress in the world.”
In point of fact, however, experience has shown that the smaller nations of the world have virtually no effective voice in its deliberations; for, in the words of one of its eminent leaders, it has become “the battleground of two giants”—the Soviet Union and the United States. Its debates are regularly marked by recrimination, wrangling, and bitterness. It has passed resolutions beyond counting; but it has resolved no national hatreds, and has solved no deep-seated world problems. It failed dismally in the Hungarian crisis, and again in Czechoslovakia; it is failing today in Vietnam, and in that touchiest of all danger spots, the Mideast. As an attempt, however well-intentioned, at peaceful world government, it has failed; and the imposing structure that houses its faltering machinery is a costly symbol of futility.
Let us notice, briefly, a few of the more serious “sore spots” around the world. The formerly lovely land of Vietnam has been torn and devastated by war for an entire generation—first between France and the forces of communism, now between these same forces and those of the United States, including, we should point out, a small and diminishing token force from the U.N. military complement. The United States alone has lost more than 40,000 of its young men in this seemingly endless, futile encounter, with hundreds of thousands wounded more or less seriously, and more or less permanently. If we are to believe the ratio of enemy killed as compared to our own losses, the enemy has lost hundreds of thousands of lives. And who would hazard a guess as to the number of Vietnamese civilians—men, women, children, aged and infants—who have been driven from their homes and farms and shops, subjected to poverty, hunger, and degradation, and killed or maimed? Even in the doubtful event that, on the withdrawal of the warring factions, a coalition government can be formed to establish somewhat stable conditions, one wonders what the future holds for that unhappy land; and for Cambodia, and Thailand, for that matter. And for Burma, and Laos.
Soviet Russia, although not outwardly engaged in active war at this time, is devoting vast amounts of her resources militarily, to the deprivation of the needs of her people. She is reported to be fast approaching military parity with the United States and has, indeed, surpassed the U.S. in some categories of weapons. Russia is said already to have attained a “first-strike” capability against China, but not as yet against the United States; but as the time of that capability nears and is perhaps reached, that fact will surely change the thinking and way of life of this nation. The so-called satellite nations—really, peoples in bondage—are a constant source of concern to the Soviets, some of whom are impatiently seeking a larger measure of freedom and self-determination within their own borders. Who can predict whether there may not again be another bloody uprising and repression such as took place in Hungary, and later in Czechoslovakia? At the same time, within the borders of the Soviet Union itself there is a subdued but gnawing disillusionment and dissatisfaction at the meager allotment of consumer goods available to the public, in spite of all the central planning.
Just what is going on inside China is not entirely clear. One thing is clear, however, and that is China’s determination to create nuclear weapons, in which direction she has already had some success. This, of course, is not a happy portent for the future; for weaponry is constructed in order to be used. The question in China’s case, however, is: to be used against whom? The United States? Russia? or both? In the meantime, the United States is not unhappy about the current controversy between China and Russia, for it at least temporarily makes each cautious about taking on additional antagonists. However, the presence of some 300,000 well-armed Soviet troops close to China’s northern border creates another ever-present threat to the fragile peace of the world.
Then there is the boiling situation in the Mideast. This quarrel has not cooled down since the six-day war in June of 1967, with the pace of activity increasing measurably in the last half year. This could be the most serious trouble spot of all; for although the contest is primarily between Israel and the surrounding Arab states, standing poised on the sidelines and watching every aspect of this struggle are their respective allies, the United States and Russia. Should open war again break out between Israel and the Arab states, the big question then would be whether either or both of the two great powers would enter the fray—and to what extent. We have already seen how political pressure in the United States has affected the direction of the war in Vietnam, resulting in the beginning of phased withdrawals of American troops from that area, and in restricting operations by the United States within Cambodian borders. And there are those who believe this same pressure might again be exerted to prevent the sending of American troops to Israel’s aid, even though that nation were facing utter defeat. This is an interesting observation, in the light of Bible prophecy.
Students of God’s Word have long known it was God’s purpose to regather the Jews from all the nations whither they had been scattered, to their homeland, wherein they would for a time prosper, and then be attacked by an overwhelming host in a time called Jacob’s trouble, causing much cruel suffering to the Jews. When final defeat for Israel would seem inevitable, the Scriptures indicate that God would then come forward and save them, bringing great destruction upon the enemy. Thus, blindness would be removed from Israel, and their eyes would be opened to the fact that he was their God.
One of these prophecies is found in Jeremiah 30:3-7 “For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.”
In the 38th chapter of Ezekiel, verses 5, 6, speaking of this same time, the prophet describes those who will attack Israel: “Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands; and many people with thee.” Addressing the attackers, the prophet says that they will “be like a cloud to cover the land,” (vs. 16) and that they would “go up to the land of unwalled villages to take a spoil.” (vs. 11) In the succeeding verses the Lord indicates that he would then utterly destroy the attackers. “Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”
It will not be by Israel’s might, and it will not be by the might of her allies that she will be saved; for the Scriptures seem to tell us that at that time she will be alone, except for the Lord God. This is suggested by the 13th and 14th verses of Jeremiah 30: “There is none to plead thy cause that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines. All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not.” Yes, it will be the Lord God alone who will save Israel in that day. Her earthly allies will have left her. And thus will God be magnified in the eyes of Israel and of the world.
In addition to wars and rumors of wars, the world is beset by almost countless other difficulties—financial, economic, social, moral. Consider the plight of our own great nation, which might be considered to present a microcosm of the problems afflicting all humankind; for what is happening here is more or less indicative of what is occurring in many parts of the earth. One well-known news commentator not too long ago wrote an article entitled: “Not tomorrow, but now—The Era of Anarchy.” He was not speaking of some foreign nation. He was speaking of the United States. One has but to glance at his daily newspaper, or briefly listen to the evening televised news, to see the validity of his argument.
The maintenance of law and order is one of the principal topics of debate among political opponents. Authority seems to be breaking down at every turn and on every side, and many people are becoming frightened. Protest marches and peace demonstrations resulting in destruction, looting, and even death, are commonplace. Cries for freedom and liberty are being raised, often meaning freedom and liberty to do just about what one pleases, regardless of the rights, wishes, or comforts of others. Solemnly signed labor contracts are torn up on any pretext. Illegal strikes and walkouts demoralize production and transportation, even of essential goods, causing inconvenience and suffering to many. Racial tensions explode in factories, where, along with the sandwich and coffee, the lunch box harbors knives and drugs. The demands of the unions for ever higher wages appear to be insatiable.
The financial and social plight of our larger cities and the never-ending need to increase expenditures for housing and welfare is frightening to our public officials, while the destructive forces of inflation continue apace. Morality, with many, is going out-of-date. A new term has crept into the language of the accountants who prepare the financial statements of large corporations—it is the word “shrinkage.” It relates to the inventories of these companies, and is an inoffensive substitution for the word “theft,” whether it be shoplifting by customers, or the taking home by employees of goods off the shelf: and it is known to run into very large sums.
Truly, we are living in a world that is bent on getting, rather than on giving; a world increasingly devoted to the pursuit of ease and pleasure, rather than truth and virtue; a world that is parting company with the precepts of the Lord and the Bible. These things are not confined to the United States—they afflict the entire world to some extent.
This must all be very confusing and discouraging to those sincere souls who believe it is their duty and responsibility as Christians to bring about kingdom conditions of peace, justice, harmony, and happiness in the world, and that the outcome hangs on the success of their efforts in this direction. But none of this comes as a surprise to the true student of God’s Word. The Heavenly Father, who knows the end from the beginning, foresaw the specially troublous times that would occur at the end of this Gospel Age, and through the prophets and the apostles he has revealed these things to his people.
While the Lord was yet with his disciples, he indicated to them that he would leave them for a time, and that he would return to establish his kingdom in the earth. Earnestly desiring to know when he would return, the disciples asked him, “What shall be the sign of thy coming [presence] and of the end of the world [age]?” In reply to their question, the Lord gave a brief recital of the events that would take place down through the Gospel Age. He said there would be wars and rumors of wars; nation would rise against nation; there would be famines and earthquakes; the saints would be persecuted for their faith; iniquity would abound and the love of many would wax cold; and the Gospel of the kingdom was to be preached to all nations for a witness. Then, he told them, there would be “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”—Matt. 24:21
The prophet Daniel describes this same period in the closing days of the Gospel Age as a “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time,” and he tells us that “at that time shall Michael [our Lord Jesus] stand up”; that is, take a hand in earth’s affairs, preparatory to the establishment of the kingdom and the work of judgment and restitution of the world of mankind. Daniel continues: “And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many [all, Young] of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting [age abiding, Rotherham] life, and some to shame and everlasting [age abiding] contempt.” And then, so that we might know just where we are on the stream of time, Daniel identifies it for us as “the time of the end: [when] many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”—Dan. 12:14
Probably few would deny that the world is indeed experiencing a time of trouble “such as never was since there was a nation.” And it is equally obvious to all that we are living in a day when knowledge and travel—running to and fro—are increasing at unprecedented, almost unimaginable, rates.
It is a time of trouble “such as never was,” not only as to its severity and world-wide scope, but more particularly as to its character and composition. One translation (TCNT) speaks of this time of trouble as one “the like of which has not occurred from the beginning of the world down to the present time.” The world is not unfamiliar with wars. Nor has it been free from sin, cruelty, oppression, disease, poverty, strife, immorality. All of these have plagued mankind in more or less degree from the time of his creation. But today, along with these, and largely as a consequence of the present-day increase of knowledge, we have additional, and unique, problems—problems such as were not even imagined a short half century ago.
For never before has the world been threatened with nuclear extinction; never before has environmental pollution endangered the continued existence of the human race; never before have demands for social and political change been so universal and insistent; never before has the number of human beings occupying this globe been such as to raise serious question as to the adequacy of the planet’s food supply. And then there is the burgeoning problem of drugs in the lives of young and old. These are the things that make this time of trouble different, unique—a time of trouble “the like of which has not occurred from the beginning of the world down to the present time.” Surely, we are in that time described by Daniel when the Lord would stand up, preceding the establishment of the kingdom, and the raising of mankind from the dust of the earth.
The sorry conditions that prevail in the world today are not confined to the great national and international problems such as wars, nuclear bombs, etc. Indeed, the larger troubles which are so apparent to all are largely the natural outgrowth of the selfishness that is increasingly possessing the hearts and motivating the actions of the people as individuals. The Apostle Paul, under inspiration, pictures for us the conditions of men’s hearts at the end of this age. In writing to Timothy, he says: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times [trying seasons, Diaglott; times full of danger, Phillips] shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.”—II Tim. 3:1-5
How accurately Paul has described the selfishness and decadence that is more and more fully possessing and poisoning the hearts of men! Paul here, of course, is not describing the true followers of the Lord, but rather is warning the Lord’s people to avoid such company as one would avoid the plague, lest one become infected with their diseases. “From such turn away,” he admonishes. We might wonder how any who truly love justice and mercy and have tasted the goodness of God’s love, and who have given themselves to the Lord in consecration, could ever be persuaded to leave the paths of righteousness. But the danger must be there, else the apostle would not have thought it necessary to issue so explicit a warning.
We live today in a world that is more and more casting off moral and ethical restraints as one would cast off an unwanted and burdensome cloak. Even among some of those from whom we might ordinarily have expected some measure of resistance to the downward trend—parents, teachers, religious leaders—we find a growing tendency to condone, if not actual participation in, the trend. We give just one example.
In a recent General Assembly of one of the Protestant church denominations, a vote was taken as to whether a violation of the seventh commandment constituted sin. The proposition that such violation was indeed wrong was carried by a mere handful of votes! In other words, of the moral leaders of this church group almost one-half do not consider a violation of God’s seventh commandment to be a sin. Let us think back, those of us who are old enough to do so, and compare the present attitude of these religious leaders with that which existed, let us say, a mere fifty years ago, and we will have some idea of the distance downstream that the world has drifted.
These are truly “trying times,” “times full of danger” for all the Lord’s people; for more than ever before, as he sees his dominion toppling under the blows of Jehovah’s great General, Satan would “seek to draw thee from the prize.” The truth, and our consecration and relationship to the Lord, and all that that privileged position implies, alone will guard us in these last days of this present evil world against the enticements and ensnarements of the Adversary. But we would, if we may, especially stress this point to the young among the Lord’s people, and particularly the consecrated young. For it is against these that the Adversary seems to be directing his evil campaign in these last days.
And what have the young of the world to look forward to in this tormented period of the world’s history? What kind of future is painted for them? For the boys, will it be a two-year hitch in the army, with all its sweat and suffering, perhaps death? And surviving that ordeal, will universal pollution or the threatened population explosion bring starvation to the world? Or, escaping these, will that final sword of Damocles, the hydrogen bomb, do its ultimate work? One way or another, the future, apart from an understanding of the Bible, looks dark to all mankind; but to the young people of the world, who feel they have had no part in creating these awful conditions, and who are filled to bursting with a natural love of life, the prospects are particularly distressing. But to the young in the Lord it is different; for these, no matter what the present or the future may bring, there is a glorious hope, there is a purpose in living and giving, there is peace and quietness in the love and fellowship of the Lord. To the young in the Lord we would urge—these blessings are yours; claim them now!
In these last days one can perhaps think of no better counsel for all the Lord’s people than that suggested by the Apostle Paul when he said, “This one thing I do.” In his own life he had laid aside all other things, and concentrated all his energies on running for the prize. How appropriate for these times are the words he wrote to Titus: “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our. Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:11-14) Yes, the Heavenly Father is using the trying experiences of this present time to prove and test and purify his own very special treasure.
And recall, again, his words to the church at Philippi: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation [generation], among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life.” (Phil. 2:12-16) Phillips renders the latter portion of this passage: “Be God’s dear children, blameless, sincere and wholesome, living in a warped and diseased world, and shining there like lights in a dark place. For you hold in your hands the very word of life.”
Our Lord Jesus was “the true Light, which [eventually] lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1:9) If we take into our hearts the apostle’s admonition, “This one thing I do,” we will be busy striving to reflect that Light in our own lives, holding forth the Word of truth to all who may have a hearing ear. And being thus occupied, there will be no time or inclination to listen to Satan’s blandishments.
In the meantime, we are in the troublous times of this dying, evil world. But while we are in this world, we are not of it. The conditions about us are a challenge to the sincerity and depth of our consecration. God has permitted evil to reign for a time in order to teach all men a lasting lesson respecting the sorrows that proceed from sin and disobedience to his righteous laws. In his wisdom, he also uses these same conditions to test and prove our faith in him and our loyalty to the cause of righteousness, and our worthiness to reign with Jesus for the blessing of the families of the earth.
The Lord’s people are insulated from the fear and evil which fill the world. They are insulated from the fear by their understanding of God’s wise and loving purposes; from the evil by their devotion and love for their Heavenly Father and their Lord Jesus, in whose footsteps they are walking, and by their love for the world of mankind, for whom, like their Lord Jesus, they are laying down their lives in sacrifice.
No, this tottering, evil world cannot be salvaged by the efforts of imperfect men, no matter how sincere and earnest. But how glad we are that God has promised a new world, a new heavens and earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness; a new world, under Christ’s soon-to-be established kingdom, where wars will be no more; for at that time they will, indeed, beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; a glorious world wherein all mankind, called forth from the grave, will have an opportunity to gain everlasting life. How thankful we should be that God has placed in our hands the very Word of life!