Chapter XX1.3

THE SUPER-STATE From time immemorial, Utopia has been a dream of the peoples of the world-a state. . . a place. . . a country in which all conditions would be perfect. The Bible speaks of a thousand years of peace-the millennial reign of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Of late, we have heard much of the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and the Great Society. These philosophies envision a time in which all nations, peoples and races will be one world, one language, one government, one church, one people, with one ruler.

Such a dream and hope is admirable because it is based upon Scripture. But man’s efforts to bring into being such a state is doomed to failure, like an inherent weakness in a child with an inherited disease. This concept is good because of the need for a centralized government; a ruler with universal authority and complete control is absolutely essential to the welfare of the nations of the world. But before such a state can exist, there must be found a competent, supreme ruler to govern. The question arises, Where is such a man to be found? There have been world rulers before now-Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Darius, Alexander the Great, the Caesars. There have been others like Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini, who had aspirations of becoming world dictators. None of these ever succeeded in exercising complete control of any given area. The population explosion has introduced problems so vast and complicated that no human brain can grasp them, much less master them. Each passing day, it becomes more and more evident that man is not going to be able to introduce a Super-State or the Great Society. No man appears on the horizon, capable of dealing with the situation as it now exists throughout the world. The slowness of the processes of "evolution" (?) renders it impossible for a man to evolve today to take control, and only destruction lies ahead. The human race is not improving; instead, it is growing worse and worse, and the conditions existing in our cities today under the march of so-called civil rights reverts to the jungle and has none of the marks of civilization. The world is longing for, looking for and dreaming of a superman who will bring order out of this present chaos. This hope for a superman is not a dream alone, because a Superman is in the offing. He not only is a Superman, He is a supernatural Man, He is the God-Man, prophesied in the Word of God, from Genesis 3:15 as the Seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent, on through the entire Bible. The world is longing for and looking for this Superman and He must be found; yea, He will be found. The world will have a choice for a superman. He will be Satan’s man and will be known as the anti-christ. The Lord God Almighty has a choice and His Man will be the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the sources of so much grief and sorrow in the world today is because of the conflict between these two messiahs, striving for the allegiance of men-Satan’s false messiah, the anti-christ; and God’s true Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that until the Lord Jesus Christ returns there will be no peace. There will be wars and rumors of wars. There will be continual conflict between the forces of unrighteousness (Satan’s kingdom) and the forces of righteousness (Christ’s kingdom), until those here upon the earth become so degenerate that the Lord will return in judgment, after which He will establish the Super-State which is known as the millennial reign of Christ, an actual reign of a thousand years here upon the earth.

ANNUAL TIME PERIODS. . . . . OF MAN

Accepting Bishop Ussher’s date of the creation of Adam as being approximately 4000 B.C, we find time divided into three specific periods of years.

1. LUNAR YEAR, composed of 12 months, 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 2.8 seconds each. Roughly speaking, this Isaiah 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes and 34 seconds; 6000 such years from 4000 B.C. came to a close about 1821-22.

2. The Bible speaks of the PROPHETIC YEAR of 12 months of 30 days each, or 360 days; 6000 prophetic years came to a close about 1911-12.

3. SOLAR YEAR: 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45-51 seconds; 6000 of these from 4000 B.C. will come to a close about 2001-02.

There are approximately 180 years between the end of the lunar 6000 and the solar. This 180 years definitely seems to be the time of the end. Practically all modern inventions have been discovered or have come into being since the close of the 6000th lunar year. The midnight cry-rediscovery of the truths of the second coming of Christ- came to pass about 1825. The increase of knowledge in the study of prophecy has taken place since then. The development of the internal combustion engine, resulting in the automobile and airplane, mass production of automobiles, and flights into space have all come within that period of time.

We are approaching the end of the 6000 solar years, but only God the Father, and Son and Holy Spirit knoweth the day and the year. THE WHOLE PLAN OF SALVATION GOD’S PART AND MAN’S PART

There are some today who recognize the foreordaining and electing love of God in the salvation of a sinner but refuse to recognize man’s part. On the other hand, there are those who fully recognize man’s responsibility but completely ignore God’s electing love. The Scripture truth recognizes both. By that, we mean that no one is saved unless he is chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Also, no one is saved unless there is a personal acceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour. The Lord Jesus Christ has set forth these truths in a most remarkable fashion in Luke 15:1-32. Get your Bible and open it to this chapter. Here we have discussed the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. Some commentators list these accounts as three different parables; consequently, they fail to see any connection between the three and thereby lose the truth which Jesus seeks to teach. Notice first of all, that this teaching has to do with lost people. You will see in verses 1 and 2 that these lessons cannot be applied to the backslider. In the second place, you will note in verse 3, the Scripture says that He spake this parable unto them. The three accounts-the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son-are three parts of one parable. Discuss the parable of the lost son without reference to the lost sheep and the lost " coin, and you have a perverted view of salvation; likewise, discuss the lost sheep or the lost coin without a presentation of the lost son, and you still have a perverted concept of the plan of salvation. It takes all three to give the complete picture. The shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ; the woman typifies the Holy Spirit, and the Father is God Almighty. The first lesson we gather is that all three persons of the Godhead are active in the salvation of a lost individual. In the account of the lost sheep, the fact is emphasized that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, goes after the one which is lost until He finds him. When He finds him, He puts him on His shoulder and brings him home. He then calls in his friends and neighbors, and they rejoice over the lost sheep being found. You will note it was a sheep that was lost. There are those who think that before salvation, a lost person is a goat, but after he is found, he becomes a sheep. God, however, sees this lost person as a sheep because he was chosen in Christ for salvation from the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). A precious truth is set forth here. Everyone who is chosen is going to be saved without the loss of a single one. (See John 17:6; John 17:9-10; John 17:12; John 17:20-21; John 17:24.) In the account of the lost coin, the woman with the lighted candle seeks diligently until she finds the coin. (The feminine aspect of the Holy Spirit is noted in more than one place in Scripture.) Here we have the account of Him working on the inside to find that which is lost. The Holy Spirit works within. In this instance, there must needs be a candle lighted in order to guide in the search. The Word of God is the candle. "Thy Word is a lamp un. to my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalms 119:105). The woman with the candle seeking the lost coin typifies the Holy Spirit using the Word of God to find the lost individual and bring him to a realization of his lost condition. In both of these stories of the lost sheep and the lost coin, notice that the lost objects are passive; that is, all of the searching and finding is done by God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Many stop here in their evangelism and leave it all to God, disclaiming any responsibility on the part of man; but the parable is not complete. We have the third part-the lost son.

Here the sinner is called a son, but he is a lost son. You recall how the Lord spoke of Israel as being lost. He called them the "lost sheep of the house of Israel." The individual who is chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world for salvation is already reckoned by God to be a son, but he is a lost son. Note a few things relative to his condition: he is in a far coun. try; he is wasting his substance in worldliness; there is a famine and he is in want (wordly pleasures, desires and appetites can only end in want because man was not made for these things and they cannot satisfy); there is no man who can give him what he needs-only God Almighty can supply it. In verse 17, we read that he came to himself. He realized his need and the inability of any man to supply it. He knew there was help with God the Father, and he came to Him. (How shall the lost hear unless someone tells them? This is our part as the Lord leads us.) The lost son decided that he would go to his father. Herein is the second part of salvation, that is, man’s part. This lost son, even though chosen, elected, predestinated and foreordained to be saved, had to exercise his own volition and get up and go home to his father. Had he not done so he would still have been in the pen with the swine.

Now here is the whole story of salvation in just a few words. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself chooses one from the beginning; the Holy Spirit through the Word of God brings conviction upon that one of his lost and undone condition and reveals to him that Christ died for him; then the lost person must personally, individually, and willfully receive Jesus Christ as his own personal Saviour.

God definitely saves, and man definitely receives.