Man's history from the beginning has been one long chronicle of wars and destruction. The first battle ever recorded was one between four confederated kings on the one side, and five on the other, with the nephew of Abraham being caught between them (Gen. 14). The issue was decided when Abraham who lived outside of and above the fray entered the scene and •delivered Lot. Thus will it be at the close of this age; confederated kings of East (Arab world) and West will be engaged in combat, with the Jews in the center. At that time the Lord Jesus will appear from heaven to put down His enemies and deliver His earthly people (the godly remnant of the Jews) from their enemies.
The loss of life and property down through the ages as a result of wars is incalculable. And James, in giving the reason for wars and strife between individuals, gives the underlying cause of all wars: "Come they not... even of your lusts?" Man's lust, avarice, and greed have impelled him on from war to war. About the only times of tranquility have been when some great power subjugated most peoples under its iron rule, such as at the zenith of the Roman Empire. But as the conquerors relaxed to enjoy the fruits of their conquests, new elements from beyond, such as the Goths and Vandals, came in to upset the peace. Restive, subjugated peoples usually seized any opportunity to rebel.
But men have wearied of war with all of its tragic consequences, and from time to time have sought by various and sundry means to attain an enduring peace. Apart from the solution of one nation's achieving general mastery, another expedient has been military alliances which were supposed to create a "balance of power," so that neither side would dare engage in warlike acts against the other for fear of being itself destroyed. Then right after the turn of the century there was the illusion that man had learned the futility of war, so from henceforth an age of reason would prevail. They vainly imagined that all international disputes would be settled at conference tables rather than on fields of battle. But even as such predictions were being voiced, the seeds of the first worldwide conflict were being planted. Soon an assassin's bullet would precipitate the greatest war up to that time. As it progressed in scope and ferocity, predictions were freely made that it was a "war to end all wars."
At the conclusion of the first world war, there was a real desire for stable peace, out of which was born the League of Nations. This great international body was supposed to implement the craving for peace by adjudicating all strife between nations before it broke into open conflict. It was not long, however, before the League of Nations was found wanting; it was impotent to prevent the Japanese aggression in Manchuria and the Italian conquest of Ethiopia. Again the stage was all set for a world-wide conflict—this time of greater magnitude than before, with unprecedented loss of life and property. When the second world war began, the implements of war had not changed greatly since the previous international conflict, but as it progressed man's ingenuity was shown in bringing into play greater and greater weapons of destruction, climaxing with the awful devastation of two cities in Japan as the era of the atom began.
In view of these latest lethal weapons, the urge for peace was again dominant, and the United Nations was formed. This time the supposed weaknesses of the League of Nations were to be avoided, and so real peace was to be achieved. But alas, the United Nations was also doomed to failure, for God and His Christ were still rejected, and the heart of man was unchanged. God was entirely left out of the new effort, as was evidenced at the inaugural sessions by omitting prayers to God in deference to atheistic Russia. Formal prayers, however, would not have altered matters, for only by repentance and true turning to God would there be any real work in the souls of men. Without "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," pious prayers for peace are unavailing. God's Christ, "the Prince of Peace," is still unwanted in this world, and, by and large, men would rather have strife and conflict than have God and His Christ in their lives so as to interfere with their pleasures and mundane affairs.
The world with the League of Nations and the United Nations is like the demoniac of Mark 5 who "had been often bound with fetters and chains," only to have the chains "plucked asunder" and "the fetters broken." No restraints will suffice to subdue the passions and lusts of men in their lost and alienated condition.
In the 13 years since the founding of the United Nations, there has been much strife in the world. In a few instances, this international body has been a restraining influence, but its impotence has also become evident. Nations have not been content to rely solely on the offices of the United Nations, but have created various regional alliances, notably NATO and SEATO, to build bulwarks in Europe and Southeast Asia against Russian Communist encroachments. Plainly, the United Nations is not trusted, and the world has returned to the old "balance-of-power" theory, while it teeters precariously over the greatest war caldron of all time. These regional organizations require continual bulwarking to keep them from falling apart.
At this time of frantic efforts to secure peace, the implements of war get worse and worse until their potential for destruction staggers the imagination. We hear much of the power of the atom and hydrogen bombs carried by manned fighters traveling much faster than the speed of sound, and of intercontinental ballistic missiles, but the lurking destructive power of bacteriological and chemical agents is even more frightening. Man has truly progressed from the age of using a club against his fellow man to the time when he can visualize the destruction of what he calls civilization. Now that the stark realities of the awfulness of any future war and the incapability of man's controlling the forces at work are being better understood, it is hoped that peace may be at least prolonged by the fact that both East and West possess the same stupendous potentials of destruction; that is, that there may be the realization that a military stalemate exists (which a European statesman recently called a "balance of terror").
Thus it is hoped that Russia and China with their satellites on the one hand, and the Western powers on the other, will be restrained by the mutual fear of annihilation from starting any conflict. This is approximately where things stand in early 1958.
But through the years, Christians who have known their Bibles have not been fooled by the siren songs of wishful thinkers who predicted peace, nor have they been alarmed at the cries of consternation by realistic statesmen who see no way out of the impasse but a fearful holocaust which will probably destroy most of the human race. A child of God who has a fair understanding of the Word of God in his native tongue is not in doubt of the final outcome. He knows where it all tends and what the end will be, and he is "always confident," knowing that the supreme and all-powerful God who is his Father rules behind the scenes. Not one thing can happen to one of His children without His overruling hand permitting it.
While the world has gone through many cycles of hopes and fears during the past 80 years, some of the writings of a man of God, William Kelly, written about the year 1870, tell the sober judgment of world politics and world strife as understood then from a knowledge of the Word of Truth. We shall reproduce here some excerpts from his writings on the prophet Joel, for they still stand true today:
"Instead of peace being brought before the day of Jehovah comes, such a widespread gathering for war is to be as the world will have never yet seen. The desire to do great things, impatience of obligations, lust of conquest and military glory, will bring on men such a taste for war ere long that no restraints will suffice to keep them within bounds, especially as jealousy of each other will have led to the accumulation of vast stores for military purposes. So the closing scenes of this age will be found to be described in Scripture. I repeat, if one's conclusion were drawn from the thoughts of men, much might be said for the contrary. Some might think the age had gained better sense, that they had too deep a conviction of their forefathers' sin and folly in this respect, and that henceforth remonstrance and arbitration would gradually supersede the more savage diplomacy of 'blood and iron.' But in vain is it hoped thus to control the passions and will of man. The time of peace is not yet. Men may think they are going to succeed, but it will be with the Gentiles as of old with Israel....
"Hence, before that day comes, the utter failure of philanthropic and other schemes of improving the world will be clearly proved. It will be seen that all such efforts of men, or even of Christians, in ignorance of His mind, and false hopes, must come to worse than naught. At best they are but nostrums that serve in no way the purpose intended, but keep up the delusion for a little while."
The truth of God does not change with the changing fashions and modes of the times. It remains in its enduring character. And so the child of God may know with assurance how this age will end, and how the Lord Jesus will come to claim His own and then return with them in power and great glory to reign triumphantly; and he will know this long before there is any outward indication of its fulfillment. The Lord's disciples could be just as sure of the tumbling down of the stones of that marble temple which Herod built, even when it stood in all its grandeur without any sign of decay or destruction, as when the city was being sacked by the Roman legions in the year A.D. 70. He had told them there would not be left one stone upon another (Matt. 24:1, 2). We need nothing to confirm "the more sure word of prophecy," and the saints of God of a previous century could have had as good an understanding of what will come to pass as we who live on the verge of the coming of the Lord. We who can discern distinct shadows of events that are to take place after we are gone, cannot be more positive than those who lived 100 years ago. (We are not speaking now of the many strange and false interpretations which men have made of the Scriptures. The vagaries of human speculation are too numerous to mention, but the truth was there all the time and could have been known by the true Christian who searched the Scriptures in dependence on the Holy Spirit for light.)
In the 19th century, Miss H. K. Burlingham wrote:
"Thou art coming, mighty Savior,
`King of kings,' Thy written name,
Thou art coming, royal Savior!
Coming for Thy promised reign.
Oh the joy, when sin's confusion
Ends beneath Thy righteous sway!
Oh the peace, when all delusion
At Thy presence dies away.
"Thou art coming, loving Savior;
Coming first to claim Thine own.
Thou art coming, faithful Savior,
Thou couldst not abide alone.
In Thy Father's house in glory,
Sinners saved shall dwell with Thee;
Oh the sweetness of the story;
Love's own record we shall be.
"Thou art coming, gracious Savior,
Ah, to see Thy face we long;
Thou art corning, blessed Savior,
Righting all creation's wrong.
Nation rises against nation,
Trouble spreads from shore to shore.
Thou art God's supreme salvation,
Come, and chaos shall be o'er."