| Highlights of Dawn | May 1973 |
The Knowledge of the Lord
“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” —Isaiah 11:9
NEVER before in the annals of history has man possessed so much knowledge as he does at the present time. This general diffusion of knowledge has occurred for the most part within the last hundred years, although some of the basic inventions were in use prior to this. But going back less than two hundred years the human race was getting along without railway trains, steamboats, telephones, the telegraph, all of which appeared on the scene during the nineteenth century.
Now these basic inventions have been expanded and perfected to almost unbelievable proportions. Today a person not more than fifty years old might find it difficult to imagine a world without radio and television, and without computers. Who would ever have thought that the reporting of daily occurrences in the news would include trips to the moon?
It is well to keep in mind, however, that only a very small percentage of the people possess a workable understanding of the many mechanical, electrical, and electronic inventions of our day. Most people can drive an automobile, but very few indeed would know how to repair one, nor do they comprehend the principles of its operation.
Another fact we should remember is that these advantages of modern invention are not universally enjoyed throughout the earth. It is easy to appraise what is taking place in our own community without considering that it is not the same throughout the entire earth. For example, the high standard of living we enjoy is not the lot of even all the people in the United States, for there are ten million people even in this, the richest and most highly favored country of the world, who go to bed hungry every night.
And in the “backward” countries, which comprise such a large portion of the earth’s land surface, the situation is even worse. Hunger and need along all lines is facing millions of the human race, and yearly the situation worsens. Economists are truly concerned for the future, for it would seem that knowledge has not solved any of the basic problems of the human race.
Strange, indeed, are the many paradoxes so common to the times in which we are living! While there has never been so much knowledge, it is a time of folly and madness. Evidences are multiplying all around us to substantiate faith in God, yet unbelief and godlessness are on the increase. With all the advantages of our day, horizons of opportunity leading to peace and happiness should be appearing on every hand; but instead it is a time of darkness and fear, for the wisdom of the wise has perished. It is a time when the hope which springs eternal in the human breast should be lifting the world up to new heights of joyful anticipation; but instead there is despondency and despair on every hand. Science has placed a land of milk and honey before the whole world, but nearly all the human race is in want, starvation, or misery.
Communication
Communication is the passing of information from one to another—either individuals, communities, or nations. Never before has it been possible to communicate with others the world over on such a rapid and vast scale. The coming into use of the art of printing was the introduction of better communication than that enjoyed by the ancients. This, in turn, triggered an increase of knowledge which led to the telephone, the telegraph, the radio, and television.
The mass communications of our day have, symbolically, reduced the size of the earth and brought its nations almost within one another’s backyards. What is happening the world over is known by the rest of the world—in many instances while it is taking place, and certainly the same day. Through television, world events can be seen in our living rooms; and we can see the tragedy of a destructive fire in our own or a neighboring city as it occurs.
Besides, television is used to present travelogs depicting items of interest in various parts of the earth. Drama and a great variety of other presentations are brought into our homes. There are even special programs for young children by means of which their “book learning” is begun at a very early age, considerably before their parents would risk their traveling the streets to reach a schoolhouse.
We ponder all this, and we think, and properly so, what a wonderful age this is in which we are living! But when we ask if this mass communication has brought the world any nearer to God, or given the people as a whole a better understanding of him or of his grand design for the redemption and recovery of the human race from sin and death, the answer has to be a negative one. The truth is that there is less faith in God today than there was before the present era of rapid and mass communication dawned.
Higher Education
The majority of the people in large areas of the earth are still illiterate. A letter from southern Nigeria states, “About ninety percent of the older generation is illiterate and cannot search the Scriptures by themselves. Young men and women who are literate have become more materialistic and debauched.” This is in a backward country, and the young men and women attending our institutions of learning here in America, on the whole, are not doing much—if any—better.
Much valuable information along scientific and social lines is being disseminated by our colleges and universities, but when it comes to the truths pertaining to God and his plan, these are being undermined and cast aside, and the unproved theory of human evolution substituted. So, again, we must say that the advances in knowledge as displayed in our institutions of higher learning are not bringing the pupils, as a whole, any nearer to God, neither has it given them a better understanding of his plan. For the most part our young people leave these institutions with less faith in God, and with lower moral standards than when they entered them.
Travel
Modes of travel are constantly improving as a result of the increasing knowledge of our day. For example, in the case of automobiles, the powerful V-8 engines will, in a matter of a very few years, be replaced by turbine engines. There are, even now, a limited number of cars, and many buses, in the United States and other places, being powered by this new and improved type of engine. It uses less fuel, and causes much less pollution of the atmosphere than the piston type of engine which up to now has been so generally used. But here again the rapidly increasing knowledge has not increased faith in God, and certainly will not contribute to a knowledge of God as is promised in our text.
We could go on to other means of rapid travel, including the airplane, and note the fact that it is expected that in a remarkably few years improved jets will be hustling people hither and yon as fast as eight thousand miles an hour. But this will not increase the knowledge of God in the earth; just as is true of the much appreciated household appliances available to the people in certain parts of the world.
For War and Not for Peace
It is a well-known fact that the ever-increasing knowledge of our day is directed toward the manufacture of more deadly weapons of war, including hydrogen bombs, and the much dreaded napalm. Certainly this is not contributing to a knowledge of God; besides, the people seem not to have learned that the world’s problems cannot be solved by war; although the rulers of the major powers of earth still insist that the only way to keep the peace is to be prepared for war, and to make war so horrible and destructive it will be avoided. How different this is from the ways of the Lord!
The time will come, however, when this will be changed. The Lord has given us a direct promise to this effect. We quote:
“In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.”—Micah 4:14
The Lord’s Kingdom
“The mountain of the Lord” mentioned in this wonderful prophecy is in reality the kingdom of the Lord. A mountain is also used in Daniel 2:35,44 to symbolize the Lord’s kingdom; which is also the case in Isaiah 25:6-8. The prophecy speaks of this kingdom as being “the mountain of the house of the Lord—the Lord’s “ruling house,” that is. This language is based on the custom of nations being governed by a supposedly royal family. The “house” of the Lord is his ruling family, made up of his beloved Son, Christ Jesus, and those who faithfully followed in his footsteps, and in the resurrection are highly exalted to live and reign with him. These are also sons, or children of the Lord.
This ruling house of the Lord is to be established in “the top of the mountains, and … exalted above the hills.” In other words, the Lord’s kingdom will take control over all the earth, toppling all other kingdoms and governments, and the “people shall flow unto it.” And the people and nations shall say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” This will be the first time in the experience of the human race that such a universal desire to become acquainted with God and his ways and to serve him, will be demonstrated.
With the establishment of his kingdom the Lord will have effective ways of creating within the hearts of the masses this desire to be taught of him—to acquire a knowledge of him and of his ways. This will not be through the threat of hydrogen bombs, or any sort of man-made methods of frightening the people into submission. God’s appeal to the people and nations of earth will be the appeal of love and sympathy. They will note the wonderful way in which his kingdom is operating, beginning probably in the Holy Land, and they will desire to come under its beneficent rule, so will say, “Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.”
The people then will also say, “He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” It will be then that the people will begin to learn of the Lord, and to “walk in his ways.” What a wonderful educational program will then be in operation! Knowledge of the Lord will then be increased. Doubtless the Lord will use some or all of the present methods of communication in the dispensing of this knowledge to the people. Other marvelous advantages of the present “day of his preparation” will doubtless also be used in the Lord’s educational program—not to teach young men the art of war, but the advantages of peace. For then they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and they will learn war no more.
Then the people will learn that God’s way to have peace is to get rid of their instruments of war. Nor will this result in one nation having an advantage over another, for all will participate in this kingdom program of education. War seldom settles anything worthwhile, but God’s program of peace and good will is destined to assure happiness for the people of all nations. This is not a dream, but will become a reality, for the promises of God have given us assurance that this is what he has provided for the human race—all the families of the earth, which are to be blessed through the seed of Abraham.—Gen. 12:3
And there will be economic security for all, also. This thought is beautifully symbolized by the promise: “They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.” (Micah 4:4) This is not a humanly conceived utopia, but a part of the plan of God for the sin-cursed and dying race.
Not only will there be peace, good will, and economic security when the knowledge of the Lord fills the earth, but there will be health and life also, for Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, gave his life as a ransom that all might have an opportunity to live forever. That is the reason that in the “mountain” of the Lord death will be swallowed up in victory, and tears will be wiped from all faces.—Isa. 25:6-9
“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” our text declares. The reason given for this is that “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” When the people have their hearts and minds filled with a knowledge of the Lord, they will seek ways of helping, instead of destroying one another. Thus wars will end—national and international wars, as well as community wars. And above all, the people will be brought into peace and harmony with the Lord; which condition is basic to all peace.
That will be the time when the Spirit of the Lord will be poured out “from on high, and the wilderness [will] be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field [shall] be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness shall remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.”—Isa. 32:15-17