Our whole planet is in rebellion against the Creator. World events are daily going from bad to worse, spiraling out of control, as mankind reaches the end of the 6,000–year "rope" our Father in heaven has given it to experiment with humanly devised religion, education, science, governance and medicine apart from God.
Our history books offer a litany of wars, interrupted by only the shortest periods of peace. Generation after generation, nearly every nation sends its young people to be killed or maimed on the field of battle in some war or another. Young men—and lately even young women—shed their life's blood at the behest of their leaders, in the name of national pride or defending their homeland. Even after a 20th century that brought two World Wars and the most horrible weapons of mass destruction ever known, mankind has not yet learned the way to peace, nor understood how to care for the environment and not abuse it.
The first "war" took place when one brother murdered another. "Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him" (Genesis 4:8). Since Abel's blood was shed (v. 10), we can assume that Cain used some kind of weapon, whether a stone, a club or perhaps a hand implement used in farming.
Soon the search was on for more efficient ways to kill. A sword or spear can kill an animal, but works equally well on other human beings. The bow and arrow used for hunting can just as easily inflict wounds and death on human enemies. A humble axe—crafted for cutting down trees and shaping timbers—becomes a fearsome, destructive device for the chopping of bodies.
The Chinese found that the powder they used in celebratory fireworks could also propel projectiles from tubes into ranks of hapless soldiers, and could batter down the walls of castles, forts, towns and houses. A rifle may be used to hunt for food, or to hunt one's fellow man. Aircraft can deliver food to the needy, or can drop immense quantities of explosives on military and civilian targets. Nuclear energy can provide electricity, but—in the ultimate horror yet known in war—can also create bombs to mount on missiles that can in minutes send a payload of widespread annihilation to a target thousands of miles away. Indeed, almost every human invention has been created for, or adapted to, some military purpose. Even now, space exploration is being used to set the stage for devastating weapons, planned to orbit the earth, which are being designed to rain down destruction and death on unsuspecting victims.
Mankind's Last Opportunity
Most of us in God's Church are very familiar with General Douglas MacArthur's famous speech, delivered in April 1951 to a joint session of the United States Congress, in which he uttered these wise words: "Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods through the ages have been attempted to devise an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start, workable methods were found insofar as individual citizens were concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger international scope have never been successful. Military alliances, balances of power, Leagues of Nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be 'by way of the crucible of war.' The utter destructiveness of war now blocks out this alternative. We have had our last chance. If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature and all the material and cultural developments of the past 2,000 years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh."
Yet mankind has not improved its character as MacArthur advised. Carnal men and women have been unwilling to humble themselves before God, and will soon experience the final folly of human existence on Earth—war against Jesus Christ Himself! We read: "Because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come" (Revelation 11:17–18).
More than 2,000 years ago, the Word—who was with the Father from the beginning—came to Earth as a humble carpenter, in the fleshand- blood person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, the Christ, taught by His word and His example the way to peace, then died for the sins of the world He came to teach. He knew His message would not be received by many at that time, as the whole world was blinded by its present ruler, Satan the devil (John 14:30). Now, near the end of mankind's 6,000 years of misrule, Christ's message is going to the nations powerfully, to prepare the way for His return. Why must He return? If God the Father did not send Jesus Christ back to the Earth at just the right moment, all life would be extinguished from the face of the planet! "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened" (Matthew 24:21–22).
Rejecting Christ's way, nations continue to insist on using military force to settle their disputes. And we know that famine and disease are the siblings of war; they follow wherever their elder brother treads down the crops, turning once-verdant fields and orchards into shell-pocked graveyards. "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows" (Matthew 24:6–8). The time for mankind to repent is running short, and the nations will soon discover who is truly their Lord, when they are ground fine by the "crucible of war" in the greatest time of trouble ever known in all of human history. Only the coming of the Savior will end the carnage and prevent cosmocide—the total destruction of our planet and all life on it!
At the conclusion of the great battle of Armageddon, the conquering King of kings and Lord of lords will take the first step to ensure future world peace. He will deal quickly with Satan—the prime instigator of man's inhumanity to man— and also with Satan's arch-accomplices, the Beast and the False Prophet. The Apostle John recorded his vision of these stupendous events: "And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh" (Revelation 19:19–21).
The prophet Zechariah gives further insight into events that will take place when Christ comes to smite the nations for their rebellion: "And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths. It shall come to pass in that day that a great panic from the Lord will be among them. Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor, and raise his hand against his neighbor's hand; Judah also will fight at Jerusalem" (Zechariah 14:12–14).
The prophet Isaiah also foresaw the defeat of God's enemies, which we celebrate at the Feast of Trumpets: "Then Assyria shall fall by a sword not of man, and a sword not of mankind shall devour him. But he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall become forced labor. He shall cross over to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the banner," says the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 31:8–9).
What will happen when Christ has defeated the human forces that have opposed Him? He will then turn His attention to His and humanity's greatest enemy: "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while" (Revelation 20:1–3).
The book of Leviticus describes a ceremony that foreshadows this putting away of Satan. "Then he [the High Priest] shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord, and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.
"And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, [that represents Satan] and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness" (Leviticus 16:15–22).
Restoring the Earth
Though Satan will no longer be able to stir up the natural carnality in human hearts, our planet will at first be a shambles, with its fields and oceans laid waste. Earthquakes and wars will have ravaged its cities (Revelation 16:18–19). Many of the trees and all the grass will have been destroyed: "The first angel sounded: and hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up" (Revelation 8:7). All the creatures in the sea will be dead. "Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died" (Revelation 16:3). Water turned to blood will be undrinkable: "Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood" (Revelation 16:4).
Humbled human beings will finally understand that, unless the Savior had intervened to end the conflict and restore the Earth, all life would have been extinguished in just a few days, and our planet would have become a barren rock spinning in space. Christ must come to "destroy those who destroy the earth" (Revelation 11:18).
Where blood had once flowed, living water will now flow instead. "And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in both summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth" (Zechariah 14:8–9). As the oceans are cleansed by the flushing action of the "living waters," life will return to the seas. "This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes" (Ezekiel 47:7–9). Lakes and rivers will also be restored, as cleansed waters from the oceans evaporate and form clouds to deposit moisture on the land. Fields and trees will be watered, and will grow and flourish once more, as in Eden. "The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice" (Isaiah 35:1–2).
Teaching Will Begin
Teachers know that they cannot teach unless they have their students' attention. The Great Tribulation and the trumpet plagues—leading to the Day of the Lord and Christ's glorious return with the angelic armies and the saints at His back—are just the first lesson. "And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND Lord OF LordS" (Revelation 19:15–16). Though Satan will have been restrained, human beings who have survived into the Millennium will still have his wicked inclinations instilled in their minds. Old habits die hard. At first, some will stubbornly refuse to obey Christ's commands. "And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain" (Zechariah 14:16–17).
Yet, slowly but surely, all human beings will learn the Truth, and will come to understand God's plan. The wise will begin to seek Christ, their Savior. All who are willing to humble themselves will come to Him, fasting and weeping, to repent of their national and personal sins. "Many nations shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off" (Micah 4:2–3).
A Peaceful Millennium
War will be outlawed, and those who violate edicts from Jerusalem will answer for their crimes. "Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment —this honor have all His saints. Praise the Lord!" (Psalm 149:5–9). The sons of God will teach people everywhere to love one another, and will show them the ways of peace, prosperity, happiness— the path that leads to membership in the royal family of God. "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all people walk each in the name of his god [this is a reference to the firstfruits—Christ's younger brothers], but we [those firstfruits] will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever" (Micah 4:3–5).
Even in the Millennium, people will be born with carnal human nature. After a thousand years of peace, Satan will be released, and the final generation born in the Millennium, susceptible to Satan's influence, will be required to face his temptations. "Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are [were cast]. And they [Satan and the demons] will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Revelation 20:7–10).
The Great White Throne Judgment
The Day of Atonement is a one-day festival picturing a specific point in God's plan, but it also pictures an ongoing process. Even during the Millennial reign of Christ and His saints, generation after generation of human beings will need to repent of their carnal human nature and become "at one" with God in order to enter His Spirit-born family.
Because all who have ever lived will need to repent and become atoned to God, He will convene the Great White Throne Judgment. For the many whom God had not previously called, this will be their first opportunity to understand His way, come to repentance, and accept His Son's sacrifice as atonement for their sins. "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works" (Revelation 20:11–13). Not everyone will repent; some will harden their hearts against God and choose death in the Lake of Fire (v. 15).
Even death itself will be cast into the Lake of Fire (v. 14). All the bloodshed, war and death that has marked human history from the beginning will finally be a thing of the past. "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4). God speed that day!