What the World is Coming to (Part 1)
Preface
Many people say, "Stay out of the book of Revelation. That's a sealed book and
you really can't understand it."
It's true that, by attempting to interpret Revelation, people have done many weird
things with it. But, in reality, it's abook that was not intended to be sealed.
It was intended to be read and understood.
In this commentary on the book of Revelation we have sought to express
concepts and conclusions drawn after years of study. We do not ask you just to
accept them because we have stated them, but we urge you to search the
Scriptures to see if these things be so.
The Bible says,
These [people of Berea] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that
they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures
daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:11).
Also, the Scriptures tell us to "prove all things" and to "hold fast that which is
good" (I Thessalonians 5:21).
Forewarning
"THE END OF THE WORLD IS NEAR."
That statement used to be associated with old, gray bearded men walking
barefooted in long robes with sandwich boards over their shoulders. The front of
the board read "Repent" and the back read "The end of the world is near." We
used to pass them off as crackpots and laugh at such a thought or idea.
But lately I've been reading not the wild fanatical statements of some old, socalled
prophet but, rather, the statements of men of science, men with a Ph.D.
who are highly respected for their knowledge. These men have studied the
environmental conditions of the earth. Do you know what they're saying? They're
saying, "The end of the world is near."
In fact, these experts are saying that man has anywhere from fourteen to forty
years left upon this planet until we have so totally raped our natural resources
that we can no longer survive. These men with their doctorates, who are
carefully studying the balances of nature, are saying that the end of the world is
near.
Is this possible? Can we really believe these ecologists? Are we really destroying
nature's balances? Are we really wiping out hundreds of species, are we
depleting our energy resources, and destroying the environment around us? Is it
true that certain birds cannot hatch their eggs because of the DDT deposits in
the eggshells?
Is it true that the earth's ozone blanket is steadily disappearing?
Are such things really happening? Maybe they're just trying to scare us.
However, they aren't the only ones warning us.
Our militarists are telling us that
the end of the world is near. They're warning us that if man engages in a fullscale
atomic war, we'll exterminate ourselves from the face of the earth and it
will be the end of civilization.
In the face of these warnings, the United States continues to maintain its atomic
arsenal and the systems to deliver atomic bombs upon our enemies. By the
same token, our enemies are maintaining their atomic arsenals and the means of
delivering them upon the United States. The real danger is the widespread
proliferation of nations now possessing atomic weapons. We're in this mad war
of building these huge atomic arsenals.
And already there are enough atomic
weapons stockpiled to obliterate mankind from the face of the earth.
Not only are the ecologists and militarists warning us, but so are the diplomats.
Those analysts who study world conditions tell us that the world is sitting on a
powder keg - and the fuse is being lit in the Middle East. At any time the
situation can explode into a full-scale conflagration of the great world powers.
The end of the world is near.
Is it possible that man could come to the end of an era? Don't we just go on
forever, one society replacing another, one generation following another, on and
on and on? Hasn't man cried this before? What do they mean, "The end of the
world is near"?
The Answer
When Christians talk about the end of the world, they mean something different
than the scientists. The scientists are talking about the end of mankind.
Christians are talking about the end of the cosmos. This Greek word for world
means "the set order." Christians are talking about the end of the present world
order which is governed by Satan and in rebellion against God.
Man has had his day, and the day of man's attempt to govern himself is about to
close. For a long time we've sought to govern ourselves and to live
independently from God. We've tried about every conceivable form of
government. We've sought for equality and justice.
We've replaced one system
of government with another. But we've proven, by the variety of governmental
forms tried, that it's impossible for man to govern himself without falling into
corruption.
Even communism, the newest form, has already slipped into an
irrevocable form of corruption from which there is no recovery.
What's the answer? What's the answer to the world's cries for peace, and the
world's cries for love, and the world's cries for dwelling together in harmony?
There is no answer except Jesus Christ.
We who are of the church look for a new form of government - a monarchy that
embraces the entire world. We're waiting for our King to come and set up that
monarchy. We're waiting for righteousness to cover the earth as the waters
cover the seas.
This glorious coming Kingdom and the momentous events
surrounding its establishment are described to us in the prophetic book of
Revelation.
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