This is perhaps the greatest age of progress that the world has ever known. The spirit of it has gripped nearly every individual, and has penetrated even to the spiritual side of man’s life. Christ’s brethren are caught up, and could well be overwhelmed in this restless urge to penetrate beyond the earthbound realms that have confined man since creation. An entire new vista has opened up that has almost destroyed faith in the promises of God to bless mankind in the earth. No wonder Christ asked the question, ” . . . shall He find faith in the earth” (Luke 18:8)?
Scientifically, man has made great progress, and theories held as true fifty years ago are now proven obsolete. The tendency is to weigh spiritual things by the same scale, and cast off accepted doctrines as now being outdated in the progress of knowledge. Herein lies a very real danger. While we must recognize that progress is an inevitable result of increased knowledge, we must realize that the basic rules of the universe have always been the same, that the progress has been in man’s greater knowledge of the principles involved.
The Scriptures have always encouraged progress. Note such passages as, “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ . . . ” (2nd Peter 3:18); “Study to shew thyself approved unto God . . . rightly dividing the word of truth” (2nd Timothy 2:15); “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat” (Hebrews 5:12); “Till we all come . . . into the knowledge of the Son of God . . . unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).
The Bible is unique in the fact that one who has studied it faithfully for many years can truthfully say that he has not grasped all the wisdom and knowledge this wonderful book contains. With prophecy, particularly, we must keep an open mind, and as events progress in these last days, change our way of thinking on many details. This does not, however, destroy the over-all picture.
For example, years ago Bible students were quite sure that the earth was flat, for did not the Scriptures say that God would bring His people from the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:12) ? This conclusion might also have been reached after considering Revelation 7:1: ” . . . I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth . . . ” . Therefore, they reasoned, if the earth had four corners, it must be flat. Those who claimed it to be otherwise were punished as heretics. This idea is not so strange when we realize that in these last few years, since the space program began, scientists have found, to their embarrassment, that neither is the earth round, but elongated at the poles and somewhat pear shaped. Students of the Bible did not grasp the fact that as far back as the days of Isaiah the inspired Word spoke of the earth as a spherical object (Isaiah 40: 22). Job says it was “hung on nothing” (Job 26:7), which, of course, we know to be true. These are days of advanced knowledge, even in spiritual things, for, more and more, the Bible is being vindicated by scientific and archaeological discoveries. If we approach the Scriptures reverently, and with a desire to understand, we will find that new and hidden meanings will open to us.
Isaiah, chapter 24, is a terrible indictment against the earth and its inhabitants. Chapters 25 to 27 of Isaiah give the complete picture. What we would like to point out is that, although these chapters have been read all through the ages, it was not until this generation that they have been fully appreciated. At this stage we would like to bring out the important fact that the Bible is different from any other book in that it is not a consecutive record of historical events. This is true with events past, present, and those yet to come. In fact, one of the Psalms covers the space of a thousand years in one verse. It goes back and then forward, then back again. Thus we cannot read it as a consecutive record as we would a history written by man.
With this truth established, let us again look at some of the things that Isaiah has told us. Chapter 24, verse 2 speaks of religious indifference, economic chaos, financial breakdown through inflation and the leveling of rank. Verse 5 is an indictment, and its cause and the result are portrayed in verse 6. Verses 17-20 seem to refer to the atomic age in which we are now living, and were not understood in times past. It is only in these enlightening days that we can understand.
People in these troubled times, whether they admit it or not, are very much frightened by the conditions that prevail in the world around us. And well they might be! But the believer need not be afraid. Let us look at Isaiah 26:20: “Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.” Here is the believer’s shelter in the time of terrible devastation into which the world is fast heading. “And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:7-9). What a glorious prospect for those who put their trust in Him! “0 Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things . . . Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall” (Isaiah 25:1 and 4). Can this be a picture of the time when the atomic conflict begins? This picture we most certainly can appreciate as never before. And to reassure the believer of an era of hope and blessedness, the assurance of a resurrection is repeated in Isaiah 26:19: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.”
Since we know these things, the apostle asks us what manner of people we ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness (2nd Peter 3:11). Holy conversation — that passage comes home to us all. “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words shalt thou be condemned” (Matthew 12: 36, 37). A well beloved brother, speaking of this, has reminded us fittingly that it is when we are angry that we speak the kind of words that show what kind of people we really are. We do well to remember always that none of our words go unheard, but are kept on record with God. For those who may be able to control the rising of bitter words springing from an embittered heart, the solemn warning again comes: “The Lord can discern the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). We may be able to conceal the wayward promptings of our hearts from others, but “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13). This is a very sobering thought, and makes the servant of God consider very carefully even the very thoughts he has. There is a wealth of wisdom in the words of the writer of the Proverbs when he says: “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Let us note what Paul tells us about this matter. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
Thus, in a world fast approaching the time we have considered briefly in the prophecy of Isaiah, we have an anchor to our souls, steadfast and sure. The eternal promises of God are like the shadow of a rock in a weary land, and those who put their trust in Him shall not be disillusioned, but shall “mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). The Revelator tells us in Revelation 21:3, 4 that “. . . God Himself shall be with them . . . and wipe away all tears from their eyes, . . . neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things have passed away.” Then they shall know all things, the progression of knowledge shall lead them into an era too wonderful to comprehend, and we can fervently say with Isaiah: “This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working” (Isaiah 28: 29).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One