1. Will the cry of universal peace ever be a reality, and enduring peace be inaugurated permanently through peace conferences and a federation of earthly powers?
“For when they shall say, Peace and safety: then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape,” I Thessalonians 5:3.
2. What does Isaiah say about the ambassadors of peace?
“The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly,” Isaiah 33:7.
3. What does the Bible say about a federation of nations and the final consequence?
“Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces . . . . Take counsel together and it shall come to nought,” Isaiah 8:9, 10.
NOTE: We greatly realize that the efforts of man in the direction of perpetuating peace among nations is in this age a work commendable to the highest degree, and without which empires and kingdoms would be rent asunder, and anarchy would reign supreme. However, for persons to rely upon this as a means to a permanent end and to a full realization of all that God has promised, is wrong, and will sometime bring to them sorrow and disappointment. God has said in His Word that such will never be, until Jesus the Prince of Peace shall return to earth again to bring in lasting peace.
4. Are God’s people to depend on the efforts of nations as a means of perfecting stable conditions on earth, or are they to be afraid in the evil day?
“Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid,” Isaiah 8:12.
5. Is there a time of peace spoken of in the Bible, when war will cease for a stated period, and which will be inaugurated by the efforts of man?
“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree,” Revelation 7:1.
6. What was the purpose for this period when the winds (or wars) would not prevail, nor molest the inhabitants of the earth?
“And I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea. Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads,” verses 2, 3.
NOTE: It will be seen from Revelation the eighth and ninth chapters that there were to be great political upheavals among the nations during the consecutive periods from the time of Christ’s ascension until He is to come again. These trumpets are all war signals, and the events recorded are largely in the past. At the sounding of the seventh and the final trumpet, Revelation 11:15, voices are heard in heaven saying the “Kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.” According to revelation we must not look for enduring world peace until after the coming of Christ. See lesson on the Battle of Armageddon.
7. What does God reveal to us through the prophet Joel about the events of the last time, and the conditions of Judah and Jerusalem, just before the last great war?
“For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehosaphat, and will plead with them there for My people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land,” Joel 3:1, 2.
8. While the children of God’s heritage are scattered among the nations, and His land is parted, what is the decree to the Gentiles?
“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow: for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision . . . . The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel,” Joel 3:9-16.
God reigns and rules the universe,
All other powers must cease.
Christ soon will sit on David’s throne,
And He will bring us peace.
This great peace cry goes out to all,
But this is only man,
For it will never come I know
Till worked by God’s own plan.
This great peace cry God said would come
Just in the darkest days;
And last till Christ would come again
And change man’s wicked ways.
And in His own good time He’ll send
His Son to David’s throne;
With peace that spreads o’er all the earth,
And reigns from zone to zone.
_Mrs. Andy Bennett