June, 1940
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
208
the Son of man is revealed” (cf. Lk. 17:26-30). We are expressly reminded by the prophet to remember the divine order: “First must he [the true Mes siah] suffer many things and be re jected”—then the cloud-burst and the glory! True it is that the prophet of God reveals the coming of a great “falling away” (Gr. “apostasy,” 2 Thess. 2:3), a great spiritual night when men shall forget God, spurn His words, when spir itual “darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people” (Isa. 60:2); but the prophet of God likewise gives us the. blessed assurance that “when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shfell lift up a standard against him; and, the Redeemer shall come to Zion . . . And the Gentiles shall come to thy [His] light, and kings to the brightness of thy [His] rising” (Isa. 59:19, 20; 60:3). True it is that the prophet of God declared that a day of frightfulness would sweep over the nations, when every nation would proclaim: “Prepare war, . . . Beat your plowshares into sWords, and your priming hooks into spears” (Joel 3:9, 10); but that same prophet also declared that when the nations “assemble” for the battle, and the “multitudes, multitudes [are] in the valley of decision,” then “the Lord shall roar put of Zion, and . . . be the hope of his people . . . then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more” (cf. Joel 3:14-17). Just beyond the day when all nations shall “prepare War,” and beat their plowshares into swords, lies the day when “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: [when] nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isa. 2:4). Yea, just beyond the day wherein by prophetic ear, the great English bard “Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew From the nations’ airy navies grappling in the central blue,” • lies the day when “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. In His days shall the righteous flourish . . . and his enemies shall lick the dust. . . . Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: and all nations shall serve him . . . and all nations shall call him blessed” (Psa. 72:6, 7, 9, 11, 17). As a matter of glorious truth, dark and foreboding as are all the clouds that now cover the earth, there is not one of them which the eye of faith does not see lined with silver, with hope, and with glory! Therefore— “Jehovah-God, Thy promise stands, Whate’er the fate of kings or lands! Before the dawn the night grows dark! Awake Thy church on earth to mark, ’Mid lust and hate, ’mid fire and sword, The nearness of her coming LORD!”
Hope in the Word of God Only as we turn our ears from the voices of men of this World, and heark en to the voice of the prophets of God, does hope return to the breast. Turn, if you will, from the prophets of God, and the prophets of despair sweep in, and we are complete^ overwhelmed by the appalling darkness of the most tem pestuous night since the windows of the heavens opened in the days of Noah. Then to the prophets of God we will go! True it is that the prophet of God bespeaks the advent of a godless “beast,” who is. to sweep over the earth, reddening it with “a ghastly dew,” with none to stop his victorious march until he shall finally succeed in planting “the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain” ; but, it is also true that this same proph et of God assures us that this beastly “beast” “ shall come to his end, and none shall help him” (Dan. 11:45). True it is that the prophet of God tells us of a coming day when “there shall be distress of nations, men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” ; but, it is also true that this same prophet of God tells us that “like wise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, . . . the kingdom of God is nigh at hand” (Lk. 21:31). True ..it is that the prophet of God advises us that a day is coming when “as it Was in the days of Noe, . . . like wise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded” (Lk. 17:26, 28), even thus shall it be again—a day when, as Dr. Butler said, all “moral principle is to be overcome by economic aspiration.” But it is also true that that same prophet of God ad vises us to remember that “THE SAME DAY that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed theifi all” who had grown rich and mighty even as they polluted the earth. Yes, we are assured that “even thus shall it be in the day when IS ROME REVIVING? According to an . Associated Press report, Ansaldo, editor of IL TELEGRAFO of Leghorn, re cently predicted that the victors of the present war would, attempt to “take possession of the whole world.” He stressed the necessity of Italy’s being powerfully armed “IF SHE HOPED TO BE ON THE SIDE OF THE VICTORS. The supreme interests of Italian work ers rest with Italy’s might. Only if Italy is strong, very strong militarily, will she be able to be . . . among the conquerors.” To those who read the prophetic word,' the Italian editor’s com ments have marked significance!
of his boasted “civilization” ? It will come, for it is written in the unfailing Word: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take coun sel together” (Psa. 2:2). What is that but a “Parliament” ? The wisdom of God, however, reveals that this “Par liament of Man” will be controlled by “the prince of this world,” even Satan; for, when “the rulers of earth take counsel together,” it will be “against the Lord, and against his Anointed” (Psa. 2:2). “The Federation of the World”—that also will come; for,, the “ Scripture [that] cannot be broken” (John ip:35) makes it plain that there is a day ahead when all nations shall march under one ¿lag (Zech. 12:2, 3; 14:1-3; Psa. 2:1, 2; Rev. 19:19, etc.), giving alle giance to one supreme head. For, it is written that in that day the conquer ing kings of the earth “have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:13). And “power was given him over all kin dreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall wor ship him” (Rev. 13:7,8); “and he caus- eth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their fore heads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark” (Rev. 13:16, 17) “and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (Rev. 13:15)— and that is FEDERATION—“the Feder ation of the World” ! Yes, Lord Tenny son was right—there is coming “the Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World” ; but, he seems not to have known that it would be the federation of the Antichrist. A Dark Picture Verily, “as far as human eye can see,” the future presents a dark picture —one of almost hopeless despair. Hu man events compel the belief that the federation of all the Satanic forces on this earth is in process of rapid forma tion. Evil forces ride the earth, “con quering and to conquer.” Everywhere there is “upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity [lit., ‘with no way ou f] •••Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming upon the earth” (Lk. 21:25, 26). Everywhere, men are beginning to wonder whether, after all, Mussolini, fifteen years ago, was not right when he said: “There is no such thing as liberty” ! That old World War veteran, General Smuts, years ago, spoke his conviction: “Of what we call liberty in its full meaning—freedom of thought, speech, action, self-expression —there is less today in Europe than there has been during the last 2,000 years.” And there is immensely less today than when General Smuts spoke those words.
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker