Well may we ask, as we begin the "fifties," What will the next ten years bring to this poor world? We who are the Lord's need have no fears as to the future; we can say with the woman of faith in 2 Kings 4, "It is well." But our deep sympathies should be with the unsaved people all around, for ominous indeed are the signs of the future. A storm is gathering which will make all the past troubles of the world seem but very trivial. We should have more of the spirit of Him who wept over Jerusalem because of the troubles that were coming on it.
If we realized what is surely coming on this Christ-rejecting world we would be warning men, women, and children, and seeking to lead them to safety as Rahab did those whom she brought under the shelter of the scarlet line. Lot realized too late what was coming on his relatives, friends, and acquaintances in Sodom, and rushed out in the night to plead with his sons-in-law to flee for safety, but alas! they would not heed his warning.
As the end approaches, events seem to move at an accelerated pace. Let us glance back just ten years. On New Year's Day in 1940, world war number two was only four months old. Only Poland had been conquered; England and France had not yet felt the war's sting; the Netherlands and Belgium were not invaded; Russia had not taken over Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania; Germany and Russia were still at peace; Italy had not entered the war; Greece had not yet been alarmed; Japan was at peace except for a campaign in China; the United States was complacent and at ease; Great Britain still ruled Palestine under the League of Nations mandate. But the great changes and terrible calamities that followed are well known.
In the short space of ten years millions died in battle, from starvation, from hardships, from broken hearts, and from atrocities in concentration camps. The maps of Europe and Asia have been remade, and rulers have been overthrown and governments changed in a single decade.
And what about the outlook? It is dark and foreboding; the world is a much greater armed camp today than it was ten years ago, and the great armaments race is on between East and West. Something that was little more than a physicist's dream then—an atomic bomb—is now a dread reality, with both sides rushing to stockpile the most terrible weapon of destruction ever invented. If people were not somewhat stunned by all that has happened there would be much greater apprehension and dismay now. Then too Satan keeps them occupied with fleeting pleasures and vanities, so that they have little time for contemplation; but the time is fast approaching when their hearts will fail them for fear of those things that are coming on the earth (Luke 21:26).
But what about the uplook? It is bright and cheery! The long dark night has almost ended and the Morning Star will appear at any moment. Our calmness and peace in the midst of a confused world will depend on whether we look up or look around. There is a word given in Luke 21:28 for the Jewish remnant who will be here during the great tribulation: "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." And if they are to "look up," how much more should we who have reason to expect His shout at any moment?
The last ten years witnessed more events for alignment of nations preparatory to the coming of the day of judgment than any previous time in history. Today we see the Nation of Israel in Palestine (a thing unthinkable ten years ago); Egypt is again independent; the Moslem world is ready for a leader to unite them against Israel; Russia is stronger than ever, and more greedy; European nations in the west are weak individually, and are seeking to perfect a common defense against Russia; Germany is divided along the lines of the old Roman Empire with Bonn, an old Roman Empire outpost, the new capital of Western Germany; the Atlantic Pact binds the great North American melting pot to support a league of Western European nations in the struggle with communism; the Roman church is actively engaged in the war with communism and is throwing her support to every nation which will oppose this deadly ideology.
Fellow-Christians, let us look up with expectant gaze and not be disconcerted by the confusion around. All is working out the purposes of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will. This world cast His Son out of it, and judgment impends; and in His Word He has been pleased to reveal His plans to us. We need not see another development before we hear that shout in the air, and all that is lacking in the final arrangements for the time of the end is for the false prophet to proclaim himself the Messiah in Palestine and be accepted by the mass of the Jews; a leader of the Moslem nations to be the "king of the north"; and an incident to unite "ten kingdoms" of Western Europe into a revived Roman Empire with the backing of the Atlantic Pact nations of North America.
We need to keep our eyes and hearts heavenward and beware of being drawn away by the things that Satan is using to blind men and hinder saints. His seductions are on the increase and everything that displaces Christ in our hearts robs Him and us. In this connection may we say a word about television? Surely it is one of his devices to bring the "pleasures of sin" into the homes of Christians from the very places we shun—the theater, the arena, and other centers of carnal amusements. It combines his stock in trade—"the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life"—in one instrument. The eye, it is said, takes in more than the ear, and this latest invention of Cain's world meets both eye and ear with things that shock spiritual perception. May we one and all weigh these words: "Do all to the glory of God," "Set your affection [minds] on things above," and "Children, keep yourselves from idols," for "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.