THE WORLD TODAY is torn by bloodshed and strife! Many see only the lengthening shadows of the approaching sunset of the present age and they are filled with forebodings and fears. Yet there are men and women who do not despair and who continue to fight and work because the expectancy is inherent within them that sometime, somehow, the present carnage – born of chaos and of war – will pass away. These stalwarts firmly trust that the sunset of the present order will be followed by a welcome sunrise, fulfilling the vision of the coming era of peace when goodwill toward all men will prevail.
Is such an expectation justified? If it were not for the fact that there is a Sacred Record that foretells the sunset of the old order, followed by a description of “a new heavens and a new earth” (Isa. 65: 17), there could be no real justification for this optimism.
However, the same Book that brings comfort to the sorrowing and hope to the dying declares to us who behold the death struggles of this ending age that the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in His wings (Mal. 4: 2). The promise is that, following the sunset and the darkness, the inauguration of a New Order of the Ages will come, “when nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more” (Isa. 2: 4). Men will not labor in vain in the new era, nor bring forth for trouble. They will all enjoy the work of their hands; sublime visions will be fulfilled and righteous ambitions will be realized.
The international sky is taking on the lowering hues of the murky setting sun. Yet the very shadows cast over the landscape betoken the coming end of oppression for those who now groan under heavy burdens as, with aching hearts and longing eyes, they press on with unfaltering faith.
The charts which tell the time of night and day show that soon – very soon – the breaking of the dawn will come into view, both bright and glorious. Even now, although it is eventide, there is light! We have the Divine guarantee that what the Prophet Micah stated will come to pass (Micah 4: 4) when “they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it.” |
