Dear Brethren and Co-Workers with Christ,
Greetings from Charlotte, NC! You and I have a truly magnificent future—if we walk with God! For our Father in heaven has made all of us “in His image.” He—the great Creator and Governor of the entire Universe—hopes to bring us into His Family as full sons of God. We will not be like cows or goats compared with Christ whose face now shines with glory like the sun (Rev. 1:16). God intends to make us full brothers of Jesus Christ in the resurrection from the dead. The Apostle Paul was inspired to tell us that—at that time—Christ will be “the firstborn of many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).
My dear brethren, the only reliable guide to our ultimate future is the inspired Word of God. It reveals to us the mind of God—the plan and purpose of God for our lives. Each of us would do well to prove the divine inspiration of the Bible to ourselves—and then learn to believe what our Creator is telling us to do in His Instruction Manual—the inspired Word of God. Jesus said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). And the Son of God—our Savior—described the coming resurrection from the dead in these eye-opening words, “But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:35-36).
So our ultimate goal in this life is to become full sons of God—“sons of the resurrection” when Christ returns as King of kings to set up His government on this earth. As the “last trumpet” sounds, God tells us, “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” (Rev. 11:15). At that time, the living Christ will set up His Government and bring genuine peace and joy!
What then?
Will the true Christians—after being resurrected from the dead—just “roll around heaven” for all eternity with nothing to do? No way!Again, if religious people would actually study their Bibles, they would learn of Jesus’ direct statement about the real future of true Christians, “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father” (Rev. 2:26-27). And God plainly tells us in Revelation 20:6, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”
Dear brethren and fellow co-workers, I used to wonder why Jesus Christ and the true saints assisting Him would rule this world with a “rod of iron.” The answer has been coming to me more and more in the last several years! For instance, my wife and I were watching the usually enlightening television show, “60 Minutes,” just last Sunday. One of its segments focused on the horrifying brutality taking place because of political and ethnic strife in the Congo. The woman reporter calmly and thoroughly discussed—with live interviews of the victims—the fact that rape is being used over and over as a weapon of war in this conflict! She and a local Congolese doctor explained how increasing tens of thousands of women were being systematically raped—and “gang raped”—in order to totally humiliate and even exterminate entire villages in that region. The medical doctor calmly explained how these thousands of women were so completely humiliated that they often lost the will to live. Usually, their husbands—if any—would be forced to watch this atrocity at gunpoint and then would be so discouraged or fearful that they would leave them after these awful brutalities took place. These women would often be left to starve or somehow survive in their humiliation.
All over this earth, women are being denigrated, humiliated, tortured, raped and murdered just because they are—as the Bible says—the “weaker sex.” And sometimes, of course, their own brothers, husbands or sons are not only forced to watch, but then are tortured or killed themselves. As most of you know, this kind of inhuman behavior is being repeated in many parts of Africa, Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere.
No wonder we will need to rule this world with a “rod of iron!” God is going to intervene in human affairs and use His resurrected saints to put an end to these horrible human atrocities.
However, after one or two generations of the right kind of teaching and training, a whole new world will be fully realized. Our great God tells us, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). The “knowledge of the Lord” will be based on the Ten Commandments—the great spiritual Law of God which has always been the basis of His way of life for human beings. In Tomorrow’s World, God’s Word tells us, “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; 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” (Micah 4:2-4).
Think of it!
If you and I truly surrender to God through Jesus Christ and walk with Him and follow His way of life, we will have the joyous opportunity to assist Christ in “wiping away the tears” from many thousands of eyes, helping countless men and women learn to live the way of peace and joy! We will have the opportunity to “be there” under Christ’s immediate supervision—helping to rule this entire world in a very real government which Christ will soon set up—headquartered at Jerusalem (Zech. 14:4, 9).
Now, our challenge is to powerfully preach and publish the dynamic message of Christ’s soon-coming Kingdom—the only real hope for a suffering world. We must do all we can to help increasing millions to come to know the reality of God and the magnificent purpose for their lives, and then pray that many will be willing to humble themselves and to act on God’s precious Truth so that they, also, may be supernaturally protected during the Great Tribulation (Rev. 3:10) and then have their part in Christ’s coming Kingdom.
Meanwhile, our comparatively small Work with a team of very dedicated men and women here and around the world—certainly part of the “little flock” (Luke 12:32) of God’s true people—continues to have an increasing impact with the true message of God. The total number of co-workers helping us rose to 3,926 this month, which is nearly 36 percent over a year ago. Along with our Church membership and collection of supportive co-workers, our tiny group combined grew to 9,531 this month. How tiny is this? Only one person out of more than 700,000, out of all the men, women and children on this earth, is supporting Jesus Christ’s end-time Work. But this little group has really helped make significant accomplishments.
The Tomorrow’s World telecast brought in over 200,000 responses this past year—our biggest year ever. This count brought our total response-count since the Tomorrow’s World television program began nine years ago to over one million as of this month, for which we are deeply thankful. To date, the telecast in dozens of countries around the world has now been watched by nearly 14 million households, and these households comprise more than 35 million individuals whom we think have been positively affected in some way or the other by the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is just from television, let alone the millions we can reach on the Internet and hundreds of thousands who read our publications.
Thank you for your part in this end-time Work of the living God! And please remember that since all of our publications are sent out absolutely free of charge, we rely on your prayers and your support to carry on this Work. Jesus Christ clearly indicated what we should all be doing: “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:20-21).
Our ultimate reward will come from God Himself! If we truly give our lives to Him, He will take care of all our genuine needs in this life, and will then give us eternal life as “sons of the resurrection”—assisting Jesus Christ in bringing to this entire world a degree of peace and joy beyond anything they have ever experienced! As Jesus directly stated, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work” (Rev. 22:12).
With Christian love,
Roderick C. Meredith