| HIGHLIGHTS OF DAWN | December 1992 |
The Hope of Universal Peace
“Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace, good will toward men.” —Luke 2:14
SUCH WAS THE song of the angels as heard by the Bethlehem shepherds on the night of Christ’s nativity. And never has there been any greater song ever sung within the hearing of human ears. Like music, its words have wafted down to comfort men through nearly twenty centuries of sorrows; and still it bears its note of highest triumph in spite of wars, rumors of wars, the overturn of dynasties and kingdoms, and the many other grave social and political problems that face humanity at the present time.
There is solace and reason in the angels’ message, such as should appeal to every right-thinking mind. It naturally provokes the question, “Why should there not be peace on earth?” Surely man should prefer peace and life to suffering and death. There is peace in heaven where the holy angels dwell; and about the throne of the Eternal there is perpetual calm. Then why should not a similar condition obtain on this earth? Is it because God does not want peace on this planet, and because he takes satisfaction in seeing strife and bloodshed among various groups of the human race? Certainly this is not so, especially since the Bible assures us that God is love, and that he is all-wise in the carrying out of his benevolent purposes and plans.
His Birth Did Not Bring Peace
Another question that presents itself is this: Why did not the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, bring the promised “peace on earth, and good will toward men”? We all know it did nothing of the kind. As a matter of fact the world at large knew nothing about the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, until a long time after his First Advent. To be sure, a good many heard of Jesus, the miracle-worker in Israel, during his brief ministry there; but at most they simply took him for another prophet, if they seriously considered his mission at all. The world could not well fit him into its affairs. Yet Jesus had a law applying to society, to home life, to public administration, and to the individual, which, if men had received, would have revolutionized the social order, destroyed pride and selfishness and exalted love in men’s hearts—and where love dwells, peace must necessarily exist; for no man deliberately fights with one whom he truly loves.
But at the First Advent of Jesus, the time had not come for the application of such principles. Many events must take place, and numerous trials endured, before the world would learn lessons essential to its future happiness. The birth of Jesus was but one step in the divine program. Other steps were that he was to grow up to manhood’s estate, preach the Gospel, perform miracles, die on Calvary as the world’s great ransom offering for sin, then be raised from the dead, ascend into heaven, be made “Head over all things to the church which is his body” (Eph. 1:22,23) and ultimately, as a glorious spiritual being of the highest order, return to earth, overthrow the kingdoms of this world in a great time of trouble, and then establish his own righteous reign of peace throughout all lands.
Speaking of this last mentioned event, the Prophet Isaiah wrote, “The government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice, henceforth even forever.”—Isa. 9:6,7
The World’s Great Need
One of the greatest needs of mankind today is worldwide peace. Historians record that for thousands of years the restless tide of war has surged around the world, breaking on the coasts of every sea and resounding far inland wherever human beings dwell. There were some short, quieter periods during which the spirit of pious men were founding a reformation, or in which intellectual power or love of learning and art precipitated a Renaissance—but only to be followed by more and greater wars.
The history of all Europe is mainly a record of bloodshed, both before and after the Reformation. Following the Seven Years’ War in Europe came the Napoleonic campaigns which cost England alone a thousand million pounds and two million lives—to say nothing of her later conflicts. Nor has the United States escaped the power of the war god. After the American Revolution and her Mexican conflict came the devastating civil war between the North and the South. Then in Europe, in 1870, the nations there again indulged their desire for combat, which settled nothing. Then followed the Boer War, the Spanish-American War, the Balkan War, the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, Vietnam conflict, and most recently, the Gulf War.
World War I & II, and Their Aftermath
What did the world gain by the two World Wars? Did they furnish any solution to the problems facing the countries involved? Did they make conditions easier and better for the common people? Did they assist in relieving the congestion of our cities? Did they provide permanent employment for men who need work, thus making happy homes and creating real, dependable prosperity? Did they “make the world safe for democracy,” giving greater confidence in governments and assurance to the people for the future? Did either of the World Wars do any of these things, or did they cause general and increased suffering which is still being felt throughout the earth? The answer is obvious.
The aftermath of both World Wars has been tragic—worldwide poverty, unemployment, discontent, discouragement, political jealousy and unrest, and fear of what will come next. Despite the lessening of the proliferation of armaments among the superpowers of the world, these countries still maintain huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons of a variety of sizes and purposes.
The League of Nations, and later—in our day—The United Nations, has shown that it is impotent to prevent war. Statesmen are beginning to realize that world peace today lies outside the province of any man or set of men. One reason why nations do not have peace is because they do not want it enough. When they want it sufficiently to cry out in all sincerity to God to send it to them, then peace will come. But that will not be until after the last great struggle, which the Scriptures call Armageddon, when the power of selfish nations shall fall not to rise again. Concerning this final struggle the Psalmist David prophesied: “Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.” And then, speaking of the peace to follow, he said, “He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear asunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.”—Ps. 46:8,9
The Bible Message
The hope-inspiring theme of the Bible is a message of peace. In fact the Bible is the one dependable authority which holds out a hope of universal peace for mankind. That such peace for the human family was the original intention of the Creator is clearly indicated by the peaceful environment in which the Lord placed our first parents. In Eden there was no strife. Nor was there any curse upon man. The curse came later, after sin had entered. Then the Lord said, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake. … Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”—Gen. 3:17-19
It was not long after Adam’s fall that strife arose in the earth. The first murder evinced the power of rage and jealousy that had entered the human heart. As man multiplied there came wars. We read about them in the days of Abraham. In due course of time came the establishment of universal kingdoms—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. All came into being by means of wars. This was foreseen by the Prophet Daniel, who, standing by the great sea of human life, saw in vision four huge beasts rise up out of that sea.
These four beasts represented the aforesaid four world empires that were to hold sway over humanity. The sea from which they arose pictured strife, conflict, war. And all this is true to the facts of history, for it has been chiefly by means of wars that all empires have come into being and have been extended. “Might makes right,” has been one of the maxims of the world, and this has been selfishly carried out in spite of the fact that it has ever spelled sadness and bloodshed for the human race.
Other Human Needs
But it is not merely a cessation of warfare that the weary world needs. Another thing it needs is rest from the economic struggle that millions have to endure in order to exist. With the majority of men life is a battle, from the cradle to the grave. This is due to the unequal advantages accruing to men because of the fact that a few selfishly wield power over their fellows—the power of wealth. This is true also, on an even larger scale, with respect to nations. There are wealthy nations, and there are the third-world countries which are newly emerging from poverty, or struggling to do so. The earth is amply productive for all, but its products are cornered and controlled so as to make multi-millionaires of a few and paupers by the millions. That this unequal condition will cease to exist with the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom, we are assured by God’s inspired prophet, who wrote, “They shall build houses and inhabit them [not rent houses from others], and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat. … They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain [kingdom], saith the Lord.”—Isa. 65:21-25
The world also needs rest from sickness, suffering and death; and all this will come when the Prince of Peace begins his glorious reign. The Revelator tells us that at that time the Tree of Life will be restored, and that its leaves will be for the healing of the nations. (Rev. 22:2) He also says that there will be “no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, nor any more pain” (Rev. 21:4), when the divine plan of the ages is fully consummated. So, for the sorrow-stricken world of the present time the Bible indeed holds out a glorious vision of the coming of universal peace. That is why the angels sang their joyful anthem on the night of Jesus’ birth.
A Glorious Future
Can we imagine for a moment what a fulfillment of the following prophecies will mean for the world: “It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain [kingdom] of the Lord’s house shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord’s house, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion [the divine kingdom] shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. … And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”—Isa. 2:2-4
Ah, yes, when men cease to learn war they will cease to make war. When they cease to hate they will learn to love. When they cease to follow the ways of evil they will learn to follow the ways of God. When they become disgusted with their own failures all along the line of human endeavor, they will seek divine assistance. And man’s extremity will be God’s opportunity. Then love will become the universal law, and hate will go down in defeat before it; for men will learn to think sanely, justly, kindly, purely and unselfishly; and, by the help of God they shall rise up into a nobler realm of human existence. To accomplish this will be the stupendous task of Christ’s universal kingdom. But because God and Christ will be at the helm, we know it cannot fail!
All who have faith in the divine Word of truth, and who are living in expectation of that great age of life and peace, can now lift up their heads and rejoice, for all the signs of fulfilled prophecy today indicate that the glorious Messianic era is at hand when God will fulfill to men the wondrous hope of universal peace on earth, even as he has promised over and over again in the Scriptures.