WG-14-15. THE WAY OF DELIVERANCE
15. THE WAY OF DELIVERANCE
“Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of God and our Father" (Gal 1:4). THE foregoing picture of the world is one to fill the heart with awe and gloom; and well it might if this were all that Scripture revealed on this subject. We know now—that is, if we believe the Bible—how this vast organization came into existence, and who is its presiding genius. This information, however, is not all the truth which the Bible discloses concerning this earth, which was created to be man’s habitation. It is only the dark story of the past and present. But there is a future. While the world in its present condition is aptly described in Scripture as “this present darkness,” we are not left to grope our way through that darkness.
We are, indeed, in “a dark place,” but we have a light bright enough to guide us through it. “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed in your hearts, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place” (2Pe 1:19). We have, indeed, an enemy who is full of guile; but if we avail ourselves of our Bibles, “we are not ignorant of his devices” (2Co 2:11).
Unfortunately for the whole world, this light of prophecy, given for the special purpose of guiding us through the present darkness, is sadly neglected by Christians, and we can safely infer to whose influence this neglect is due. The effects of the power of the deceptions that are in the world are not by any means confined to unbelievers. All human beings, so long as they are in “this present evil world,” are to some extent under the influence of that power. The spiritually blind man does not, upon conversion, receive clearness of vision, but is in a perturbed state wherein he “sees men as trees walking.” The regenerated soul does not step out of gross darkness directly into the full light of truth. On the contrary, the path of the justified man is rather “as the light of dawn, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Pro 4:18, R.V.,marg.). Hence the general neglect by Christians of the “more sure word of prophecy.”
Satan does not lose his interest in a man when he is converted to God. On the contrary, it is after the new nature is given that the conflict begins (Romans 7 :). Not that the regenerated man can ever fall into Satan’s hands again, for none of the Good Shepherd’s flock shall ever perish, nor shall any be plucked out of His hand (John 10:28); but the influence of the Christian upon the unbelieving world can be limited. Hence it is the desire of Satan to arrange compromises between the believer and the world, and so to occupy the time of the former with the affairs of the latter that he shall exert no influence for the saving of souls, and have no time for the study of the Word. Neglect of the Bible, and particularly of prophecy, thus directly serves Satan’s purposes; whereas, all Scripture is profitable, and is given by God to the express end that the man of God should be “throughly furnished unto all good works” (2Ti 3:16-17).
Thus it is that, through the influence of the world upon all mankind, and particularly because of the ascendancy which the world has been steadily gaining in the nominal and professing church, the light of prophecy is neglected, and the above-quoted passage is treated as if it read, “we have a very uncertain word of prophecy, to which you do well to pay no attention whatever.” But God’s people are waking up to the recognition of this neglect, and are beginning to realize the importance of studying that part of the Word which contains yet unfulfilled prophecy. This awakening is, indeed, one of the many and increasingly numerous signs which indicate the near approach of that long-expected time of the restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3:21).
We do not here enter upon the great range, extent, and detail of “the more sure word of prophecy.” It is enough for our present purposes to say that from Scripture we may learn that the joint enterprise of man and Devil will speedily be brought to an end; that the end will be destruction; that the debris of the world-system will be swept off the stage and consumed in the fires of judgment; that the powers of heaven shall be shaken, and the inhabitants of earth be terribly afraid; that the same Jesus who from the Mount of Olives ascended into heaven shall so come again in like manner as He went into heaven; that He will banish all sorrow, pain, and fear, and will bring in everlasting righteousness; that nations shall come to His light, and kings to the brightness of His rising; that the government shall be upon His shoulder, and of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end; that the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; and that the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea.
Such is the word of prophecy; and it is "sure,” because the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it, who also is faithful and will bring it to pass. In the power and light of His sure Word of prophecy it is possible, nay, it is easy, to withdraw our affection from the world and from the things that are in the world. In that light we may view with perfect tranquility the disintegration of all that is connected with this present visible order of things; for though “the world passeth away and the lust thereof,” nevertheless we, who believe the Word of God, “look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2Pe 3:13). In glancing backward over the subjects touched upon in these pages the reader will observe that the prominent and universal traits and tendencies of human nature, and the most pronounced characteristics of human society have been traced to, and shown to be fully explained by, the record of the third chapter of Genesis. Rather we may say (inasmuch as Genesis has been aptly termed “the seed-plot of the Bible”) that the few words contained in the first seven verses of that chapter are the seeds whereof all true descriptions of the human heart and of human society are the ripened harvest. Whence came words of such immense reach and compass that they give us, in this remote day, the only explanation of the origin of the world-system? From whom could they have come except from Him whose hand places in the tiny seed the germ of the mighty tree?