Fifty Years in the Light of Scripture

From: Christian Truth: Volume 4 By: Paul Wilson

• 8 min. read • grade level: 9

With the advent of New Year's day 1951 comes the halfway mark in the great 20th century—a suitable time to glance back over fifty years of unparalleled progress, to appraise them in the light of the Holy Scriptures, and then to look ahead and see what will probably take place before the century closes.

The history of the first half of the century is one of accomplishment, of success, of conquest, and of triumph by man in almost every field of endeavor. In that fifty years all of the world's millions of automobiles have been built, transforming the lives and habits of people in many nations; the airplane has been invented and developed until there is scarcely a spot on the earth where it has not been seen, and its speed has increased until it has outdistanced the speed of sound; radio has come in as an infant and grown to maturity; television has followed in its train; electricity has been made available to many millions of people to illuminate their homes and lighten their labors; highways, dams, skyscrapers, and structures of all kinds have been multiplied. Science of every kind has made strides, and technical skills have been brought into use to produce for mankind mechanical slaves too numerous to mention. The fields of medicine and surgery have added their triumphs to the amazing story of five decades. In short, there has never been another half century in man's history that has seen such startling development and progress. Does it not remind us of the words of Gen. 11, "and now nothing will he restrained from them, which they have imagined to do"?

We who are Christians daily use many of the modern conveniences developed in this short span, and we can do so thankfully as taking them from God. We can use the world while not treating it as though it were our own (1 Cor. 7:31³¹And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away. (1 Corinthians 7:31), N. Trans.), and we should discern what can he used for His glory and what cannot; for instance, we very much doubt that there can he a legitimate use for television in any Christian's home, for it will only bring the world in its many forms right into the home; it will surely impoverish the soul; it will he as "the melons, and the leeks, and the onions" of Egypt were to the Israelites, for it will certainly spoil the appetite for Christ, the true manna. There are many other things the use of which requires discriminating discernment by us who live in the age of man's greatest achievements.

And shall we applaud man and his ability to harness and use the elements, as though he were omnipotent? as though by an acquired mental capacity he were able to comprehend all things? No indeed, for what ability he has comes from his Creator. Does he thank the Creator for his intelligence? Does he not rather take credit for it as though he had not received it? There is great danger of deifying man in reviewing his accomplishments, rather than glorifying the God who made him and who made all things for man to use.

Then we need to reflect soberly On this also: Has man's increased wisdom brought him closer to God? Does the world by wisdom know God better than it did fifty years ago? Alas, alas, it is not so! the very reverse is true. The creature has used all his progress to exalt himself more than his "Creator, who is blessed forever." The world with all its wisdom in 1951, knows less of God than it did in 1901. Infidelity characterizes institutions of higher learning; in fact it is now almost so in the primary schools. And in professing Christendom the same retrogression is evident. In the beginning of the 20th century a modernist in the pulpit was a marked man, but by the middle of the century the preacher who accepts the Bible as the Word of God, and honestly believes all it contains, is the marked man—he is a rarity, accounted to be a relic from the dark ages.

And what shall we say of all the wonderful inventions that relieve the drudgery of work? Have people availed themselves of more leisure to seek after God? or has the god of this world, Satan, used these things to give people more time for the pleasures of this world? The answer may be daily seen in any city. Is not the divine prophecy of the last days true, that men are "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God"? (2 Tim. 3:4⁴Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; (2 Timothy 3:4), N. Trans.) Yes, verily! So if we consider all these developments in the light of what they have done to men's souls, we must admit that they have done real damage, for "what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Then there is another sad reflection: all of man's great inventions and discoveries have been turned to the account of making war. If he boasts of what he has accomplished he may well hang his head in shame to think that the ultimate of all has been the art of destroying his fellow man and, in so doing, always destroying much of what he has made for man to use.

We were a part of this same race that does not seek after God. It is only His sovereign grace that has picked us up and given us to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe His Word, and to be able to look back on all the works of man and view them in some little measure as He Himself sees them. Well did the prophet say, "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Isa. 2:22²²Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of? (Isaiah 2:22).

When we look at the history of the nations in this same short span of time, we see event after event crowded into its pages. The only two world-wide wars of all time occurred in this period the first one was dreadful, and the second far worse. Nations have been conquered and reconquered; governments have been overthrown, and thrones removed. Great empires have disappeared, and others have been reduced. Communism which was little more than a textbook theory at the turn of the century has captured the imaginations of so many minds that today perhaps 700,000,000 people are governed by it. A Jewish state in Palestine was only a Zionist's dream in 1901, but today it really exists.

Now as the last half of the century begins, the storm clouds thicken over the world. The probability of a third world war is mentioned on all sides. Fear and dread seize men at the very thought of the awfulness of the weapons of destruction being produced. What then seems to he in store? Trouble and more trouble. Man cannot cast out God's Son, the Prince of Peace, live without Him, and yet have peace.

But we who are Christians do not need to anticipate the next fifty years; the coming of the Lord may take place at any moment. It is imminent. Everything points to it, and He Himself has promised to come for us. There is not a single world development that must necessarily precede His coming. In fact, the signs of those things that are to take place after we are gone are already showing themselves. There is a nation of Israel in Palestine ready to accept the antichrist; the nations of Western Europe are coming closer and closer to the formation of the ten nation confederacy of the revived Roman Empire; the nations of the Americas, being descendants of the peoples of the Roman Empire, are being aligned to back this European merger; Egypt is ready to play her destined role as the "king of the south"; the Moslem world is just waiting for their occult leader who will unite them, become the "king of the north," and oppose Israel; Russia's avarice is forcing all the other nations into the pattern of "the time of the end."

So the latter part of this century of man's greatest achievements seems destined to he the last years of "man's day," and of Gentile supremacy. The coining of the Lord for the Church is at hand; the great tribulation with all its horrors will follow; and then Christ as the Son of man will return in power and great glory to make His enemies His footstool. He will come to rule all nations with a rod of iron, put down all unrighteousness, and bring in His glorious reign, often spoken of as the Millennium. May the realization of the fact that we are at the very end of this dispensation stir our hearts.