Peace & Progress. Not.

If you bother to study prophecy in the Bible at some point, you will see that it has been 100% accurate in telling history in advance. The fates of Babylon, Egypt, Rome, and Israel were told in predictions made thousands of years ago.

The God of the universe provided us with a book of knowledge. And then backed it up by making the planets and stars align in perfect union to confirm an ongoing story actually shown in the heavens.

But, the predictions are not all fulfilled.

Any sane individual would look at the accuracy record and look to the events unfolding in the world today, and realize that we should be aware of what "history in advance" might be saying about our generation. The generation alive today on earth.

The present governments and powers of the world will be removed, in a sudden dramatic event, when God intervenes and sets up His own government. To avoid misunderstanding it should be said that it is not the populations of the earth who are to be destroyed: it is the power and authority of their human governments, to be replaced by the new Kingdom of God. Many other prophecies tell us of the nature of this Kingdom; the uprightness of its rule, the truth of its teaching, and the peace it will at last bring to mankind through their recognition of "the God of heaven".

But how exactly is this great change in the earth to be accomplished? The ancient texts tell us.

Now this surely is what should concern us: if the prophecies of the Bible about nations and empires have proved so true over a period of thousands of years, are not those other things they predict also likely to come to pass? Is it not unreasonable to say: "Well, I accept that the prophets were right in their predictions in these historical matters, but I can't believe what they say about the future for us."

Why not? They have given evidence that they were setting out not their own ideas, but the very purposes of God. Whatever else they say must surely claim from us all the most careful attention.

Peace and Progress? Not.

What a shock the events of the 20th century have been! The dream of progress and peace has faded. Two terrible world wars, with millions of slain and untold damage and suffering, have been followed by the development of the mostly frightfully destructive weapons ever invented. The varying solutions in which the "wise men" of the 19th century put their trust have all been exposed as false. More widespread education has not been followed by higher moral standards, but by a growth in dishonesty, greed, violence and crime. Democracy in politics has not proved the magic cure for social evils that was expected. Finally - cruellest blow of all - science has proved a frighteningly double-edged weapon. Far from being an era of peace, this "civilized" 21st century has become an age of strife and violence. No wonder the attitude of so many people is one of pessimistic resignation. There seems little any one can do.

And if you think electing the latest political hack to a position of power is the answer, you are setting yourself up for a major disappointment.

Now what has Bible prophecy to say about all this?

It has a clear forecast of the "last days", "the time of the end", when the career of mankind in the earth will come to a critical point. It is not a picture of continuing progress and peace, but rather of world trouble and fear. The clearest and most striking example of this is found in what Jesus says to his disciples, when they asked him what would be the sign of his return to the earth and of "the end of the world". He tells them first about the fate of the Jewish people:

They (the Jews) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles (the nations), until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luke 21:24).

Now this is a brief description of what we have already considered in prophecy concerning Israel. The Jews were to be driven as captives into all nations: Jerusalem was to be subject to Gentile powers. Note that Jesus implies a limit to this: "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled". We have seen the beginning of this in our own days: Jerusalem is no longer dominated by "foreign" powers - it is under the control of Israel itself.

World Distress and FearSo what he says next must also apply to the same days - the days of Israel's restoration to their own land; This is what he foretells:

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after (for expectation of) those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken (v 25-26).

This is no picture of peace and progress. It is a world of distress and perplexity, of fear seizing men's hearts as they contemplate the events taking place on "the inhabited earth" (as the word Jesus used literally means).

The Apostle Paul, writing about 35 years after the time of Jesus` prophecy, has this to say about the character of the last days:

. . . In the last days there will come times of stress. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents. ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it . . . (2 Timothy 3:1-5, RSV).

This is an astonishing picture of a civilization; mankind is throwing off all restraint and indulging its own desires, reckless of consequences. Its uncanny resemblance to the developments in our own world cannot be denied.

So this is the position: whereas the "wise men" of only 100 years ago were confidently anticipating an era of progress and peace for the nations of the world, the Bible was foretelling a world of distress, fear, and perplexity, an age of violence, self-indulgence and hatred. Our human philosophers were wrong; the biblical texts were right. But they spoke and wrote over 1900 years ago! How could they have known?

Ready to dive in?