The unceremonious collapse of the so-called Summit Conference, together with the vehemently acrimonious charges made by Nikita Khrushchev, left a world that is almost shockproof somewhat stunned. That which was supposed to ease world tensions only increased them as two world giants brought charges and counter charges against each other. Much smaller contentions have in times past brought on wars, with their resultant destruction and loss of life. But since in this day each side possesses most frightful weapons which could, if fully unleashed, make shambles of man's so-called civilization, only the knowledge that the winner would be a loser in such a contest causes men to halt just short of actual war. Some people refer to it as the strategy of "brinkmanship"; that is, to see how close they can come to war without actually engaging in it. But who can tell when someone may miscalculate, and the terrifying lethal machines be unloosed?
Mankind in general desires peace, but not peace at any price. If he were given an alternate choice of either having the uncertainties of the present with the haunting fears and terrifying prospects for the future on the one hand, or a full and complete surrender to God which would separate him from the pleasures and frivolities of the world on the other, he would almost surely choose the former. We know, of course, that the work of the Spirit of God in the soul, repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ would be requisite for the latter; but we are speaking only of man's preference.
The Old Testament prophesied of the coming of the "Prince of Peace"; and when He came into the world, He was hailed by angelic voices, saying, "On earth peace." But after His life of devotedness to God and service to man, His disciples were led to say, and correctly, "Peace in heaven." It was not the time for peace on earth. "He is despised and rejected of men," and, as Peter said, "Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life." Acts 3:14, 15. Since men knew not the way of peace, and when the "Prince of Peace" came they rejected Him for a murderer, is it any wonder that true world peace eludes them?
The disillusionment of the great men of the earth who sought peace at the Summit Conference is still not as hopeless and disheartening as that which will yet come according to Isa. 33:7-"The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly." Disappointment will meet all who seek a real peace in this world until the "Prince of Peace" will put down all His enemies and reign gloriously.
The Word of God gives us some glimpses of war and treachery between kingdoms of old, in Dan. 11, where battles, intrigues, and conferences were conducted between the warring Seleucidae dynasties of Syria and the Ptolemies of Egypt. (So accurate is the prophetic account that infidels have contended that it must have been written after the events.) At one point in the alternating war and diplomacy ventures, the Syrian king gave his daughter to be the wife of the Egyptian king; but this supposedly master stroke failed, for she became loyal to her husband (v. 17). At another time, after a Syrian victory over Egypt, the two kings sat down to a conference; but God said beforehand, "They shall speak lies at one table." Treachery was in their hearts while peace was on their lips. How well God knows what is in man!
Statesmen and so-called Russian experts are sifting every shred of information for the answer to why Russia should have chosen to wreck, in a torrential rain of invectives by their chief man, the conference which was to include the very chief men of Great Britain, France, and the United States. Is it not still evident that "The way of peace have they [men] not known"? Of course Mr. Khrushchev seemed to have some justification for his attitude, but this would not have altered matters if he did not feel he had more to gain by wrecking the conference than by letting it go on. Whether it be by war, intrigue, or so-called diplomacy, everything must subserve the Russians in their chief aim-bring more of the world under their sway. We are reminded of the words of another great Russian, Peter the Great (1672-1725): "The Russian nation must be constantly on a war footing, to keep the soldiers warlike and in good condition. No rest must be allowed, except for the purpose of relieving the State finances, recruiting the army, or biding the favorable moment for attack. By these means peace is made subservient to war, and war to peace, in the interest of the aggrandizement and increasing prosperity of Russia.'
Although Peter the Great thought it would be comparatively easy to set one nation against another, and then Russia take over the winner at will, and thus "keep steadily extending... frontiers," he never in his wildest moments envisaged a time when such a large percentage of humanity would be under the heel of Russian power; but he did let out the manner of manipulation, of which his modern successors have become masters. So we hear of Russia's power to destroy the world in war, then of a cold war which can just as really destroy nations by weakening the will to resist. Then we hear of "peaceful co-existence," but it is questionable whether a lamb would be allowed to co-exist with the Russian bear, unless the lamb were first inside of the bear.
As the world gets older, it becomes none the wiser; and so strife and uncertainty become an established custom. The moment is fast approaching when men's hearts will fail them for fear as they anticipate the awful unleashing of stored destruction. Scientific and technological skills increase while man departs further and further in heart from God. Soon all of man's greatest achievements will be rubble. May our hearts be set more and more upon those bright and pure scenes above, so that we can say with the poet:
"This world is a wilderness wide!
We have nothing to seek or to choose;
We've no thought in the waste to abide;
We have naught to regret, nor to lose."
We read in Isa. 14 of a man who is coming who will make "the earth... tremble," and "shake kingdoms." He will make the world a wilderness and destroy its cities (vv. 9-17). This man is called the "king of Babylon," because he will be the holder of that Gentile power which began with Babylon and will end with him. In this portion, the word which is transliterated "Lucifer" means merely "O Bright Star, Son of the Morning," and should have been so translated. "Lucifer" has been taken by many to mean "Satan," but later sentences prove it is a man. He is the "morning star" of the Old Testament, while Christ is the Morning Star of the New Testament. This man king of Babylon—is the beast of the revived Roman Empire. He will promise to usher in a new day, but what a day it will be! The Scripture seems to indicate that at the very end, perhaps in the middle of those seven years when this man receives satanic power, he will unleash those terrifying weapons in the so-called "arsenals of democracy," and make shambles of the earth. God is going to bring down all the pride of man and allow him to destroy much of which he has boasted.
Fellow-Christian, we look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior who will take us home to His Father's house ere long. Those bright and blessed scenes are our prospect, and that in spite of the growing numbers of so-called evangelical leaders who are now denying the hope of the Lord's soon return-that which many of them once preached.
Two things rush on apace-man's great works, and his power to destroy them. He is much like a child who builds a beautiful house out of blocks, which he then with one sweep tumbles into a heap. It is a principle with God to allow man to reach his zenith before He will bring it all down.
And when we speak of God's power to destroy, we think of His word, "Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.... The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage." Isa. 24:1, 20. First He will let men destroy much, but then He will arise to "shake terribly the earth" (Isa. 2:19). Men may have forgotten that God has such power, and vaunt themselves of the power that they have created-in fact God is seldom thought of in connection with the earth and with men. But a few days ago, God gave just a little specimen of the power that He has, and many thousands were cut off. Man cannot harness what God sets loose. He may reason against God's having anything to do with it, but the fact remains that just an earthquake in Chile broke mountains, caused lakes to disappear, sent volcanoes into action, even where none had previously existed. But this does not touch the hearts of those who were not personally affected by it. It seemed a long way from them. This earthquake was not a small temblor, but was of about the same intensity as the San Francisco quake in 1906. It was not, however, the strongest one ever recorded. The seismic waves, rushing across the great Pacific Ocean at more than 400 miles an hour, destroyed property in Hawaii and the Philippine Islands, and sent waves 20 feet high into low-lying areas of Japan, 10,700 miles distant. It is estimated that this earthquake unleashed a force equal to 25,000 "A" bombs. How small man and all his doings really are when put side-by-side with God! His Word declares that there will be "great earthquakes... in divers places." And a time is coming when there will be "a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great." Rev. 16:18.
God is not indifferent to what this world did to His Son, nor to its ungodliness, its corruption, its atheism, its infidelity, and its homage to the soul-destroying, unprovable hypothesis of evolution. Some day man will find he was wrong, but all too late. God will arise and shake terribly the earth. Men will see His power and also yet prove that His word was correct: "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Heb. 9:27. If a sinner in his sins should read these lines, let him be warned now and flee to Him for refuge through the precious blood of Christ.