The Great Vision of Hope and its Realization

The Bible contains the revelation of God to the human race in great messages. What man cannot discover by a course of reasoning, called philosophy, or by a process of research, called science, God has made known in the Scriptures. True Jews believe in the Old Testament as the book in which God speaks; true Christians share this belief and in addition acknowledge the New Testament as the Word of God, which completes God's Revelation to man.  

The message of the Bible as to man's condition is pessimistic. It does not flatter man, but reveals his true condition. True enough, the Bible tells us of man's noble origin, not beastly, but the offspring of God. Something happened and man became degraded. He was dragged from his throne, dragged down lower and lower to the level of the beast. The Bible calls this tragedy "Sin." Man, called by God to be in fellowship with his Creator, by transgression became alienated from Him. Having turned his back upon God, his heart was darkened; he became an idolator and wandered into a swamp of filth, into a horrible pit, into the quicksands of unrighteousness and all forms of evil. The Bible makes known this sad condition, lays bare the desperately wicked heart of man, shows in sacred history what individuals as well as human society and human governments are capable of doing. The history of Israel is the history of pessimism. Highly favored of God, for to them belong "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises" (Rom. ix:4), they left the worship of the true God, became idolators, practised the abominations of the heathen. Judgment came upon the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Finally the promised One, the Messiah, appeared; they knew Him not and rejected Him. The revealed history of the Gentile nations shows the same hopeless deterioration. There is no progress, no improvement. The "Times of the Gentiles" end, as we have seen in the first part of this volume, in political, economic and moral chaos, in lawlessness and God defiance.  

In the New Testament the same condition of things is revealed. The dreams of Christendom of a better world, of world conquest and world conversion, through what is termed "a Christian Civilization," are not warranted by the statements of the New Testament. As to the future, the present age, and its end, the utterances of our Lord and the inspired messages of His holy Apostles are all pessimistic. The Lord Jesus Christ predicted an age ending of disaster, capped by "the great tribulation" (Matt. xxiv). The writings of the Apostles, Paul, Peter, John, and of James, and Jude know nothing of a converted world, of the establishment of the Kingdom of God during the present age. All predict apostasy and a coming lawlessness. How true and reliable these messages are our own times witness. Man's condition, the condition of Jews and Gentiles, political, moral conditions, are, according to the Bible, as far as man is concerned, hopeless. As a wanderer who has lost his way, and wandered into a dismal swamp, sinks deeper and deeper, and the greater his efforts are to extricate himself, the deeper he sinks, so is the condition of humanity. Hopeless and helpless!  

But the Bible is also the most optimistic Book in the world. Here are the paradoxes of the Bible. While the Bible reveals darkness, it reveals light, glorious light. It reveals increasing lawlessness for this age, but it also shows a coming enthronement of righteousness. It reveals a chaos, but it makes known a coming day when chaos will end. It makes known the failure of human governments, whether monarchial or democratic, but it promises another government, when a King shall reign in righteousness. The Bible reveals the hopelessness of man, but it has a great Hope for all the world.  

God has met the hopeless and helpless condition of sinful man, whether Jew or Gentile. He has reached down to lift man out of the horrible pit and the miry clay, to bring man back to Himself. The hand which is extended to man is the pierced hand of the Man of the Cross. All that is needed for man to be saved, to end his hopelessness and helplessness, is to take hold of that hand. That hand lift« man not only out of his desperate condition, but lifts him into glory.  

As we are not writing on the marvellous story of redemption, the individual salvation through Him "who died for our sins" we shall not enlarge on this glorious truth.  

But the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the hope of salvation, the only hope of the individual, is more than that. He is also the "Hope of Israel" and "the Hope of the nations of the World," through whom some day all will be changed and an age of righteousness and peace will come in history.

This "great Hope," the most magnificent, glorious optimism, is revealed in both Testaments. All the Prophets of God and David in the Psalms make it known, and the New Testament confirms that Hope, and gives the most positive assurance of its future realization. When a great master-architect erects a great palace, surrounded by beautiful gardens, he does not go ahead in building in a haphazard way. Before he ever begins to do anything, he draws his plans. He maps out the grounds. He has the correct measurements, knows the length, the breadth and the height of the building. All, down to the minutest details, is sketched by him. And so the great Architect, the MasterBuilder, before the foundation of the world, made His plans. He planned a physical creation and He planned the ages during which man's and the world's redemption are to be accomplished. He has not kept His plans secret. He has made them known so that believing man may know and enjoy the secret of the Almighty and be guided by His plans and purposes. Yet Jew and Gentile, including Christendom, pay no attention to God's purposes and reject the great Hope, which God has revealed in them.  

Speaking to a Samaritan woman, a lost soul, He came to seek and to save, our Lord said "Salvation is of the Jews" (John iv:22). What did He mean by this sentence? It means much more than many a theologian or commentator has understood. God revealed Himself exclusively to Israel, His chosen people. The promised seed, the Messiah, was to come from the tribe of Judah and to be, according to the flesh, the son of David. He appeared in the fulness of times,1 had come in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. After His life in humiliation He died on the cross, not as a martyr, but as the Lamb of God, suffering vicariously for the sins of His people, as revealed in Isaiah's great prophecy, "for the transgression of my people was He stricken" (Isa. liii:4-10). After His finished work on the cross the message of salvation was proclaimed world-wide. As He commanded, to "the uttermost part of the earth," the Gospel is preached to all the nations and millions of Gentiles, erstwhile idolators, are brought to the knowledge of the true God, receiving the blessings of true salvation and became spiritually Abraham's children. This is one of the meanings of "Salvation is of the Jews."  

There is a wider meaning. Significantly the Jewish disciples of Christ, before He returned to heaven, asked Him their last question. "Wilt Thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?" (Acts i:6). In His answer He did not rebuke them for what has been called "carnal hope," but He said, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power." The intervening age between His departure, followed by the offer of salvation to the Gentile world, and the final restoration of the kingdom to Israel at the end of the age, all was unknown to His disciples, because unrevealed.  

As we have seen before Israel has a great Hope. It consists in more than a national revival, a regathering of the tribes from all the nations, a restoration to their own land and the outpouring of great material blessings in the return of the former fruitfulness of the land of their fathers. There is going to be a great spiritual change. The nation, not all, but those who did not abandon their hope, because they  believed, will be born again. There will be a national repentance and turning to the Lord and in His sovereign grace He will be gracious unto the remnant of His people. The Spirit will be poured out upon them (Isa. xxxii:15; Joel ii:28; Ezek. xxxix:29); a nation will be born in a day (Isa. Ixvi :8); and the prayerful longings for mercy of many generations, will be graciously answered. Micah closed his prophecy with the expression of that Hope for spiritual blessing, still used in an orthodox Jewish ceremony: "He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old" (Micah vii:19-20). This Hope is confirmed in the New Testament. Paul in the great Roman Epistle tells Gentile Christendom, that God had not cast away His people, that there will be a fulfillment of His oathbound covenants. He states that "all Israel shall be saved" by the coming of the Redeemer to Zion. He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob—"For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" (Rom. xi:26-27).  

Closely linked with this Jewish Hope of restoration and spiritual blessing, the restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets (Acts iii: 19-21), are the promises of blessing for all the nations of the world, yea for all the earth, including creation itself, suffering and groaning under the curse. What man attempts, and has attempted in the past, the solution of such problems as—War, Injustice, Crime, Poverty, Famines, Pestilences and others will be brought about, when Israel's Hope is realized and they are in possession of their national blessings. The only Hope left in the midst of the hopelessness of our dying age is this Hope of the world as promised in the Bible, to be realized after Israel's King receives the kingdom, when the title above His cross, "This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," will be made good, and when He, Who was once crowned with thorns will be crowned King of kings, Lord of lords and King of the Nations. Thus in a larger sense it will be true that "Salvation is of the Jews," not only salvation of individuals through Him, Who is Israel's Messiah, but the salvation of nations and universal blessing.  

We confine ourselves to a very few of the more prominent prophecies which constitute the Hope of the world, in which the visions of Hope and Glory shine forth in majestic brightness. We do not quote the many predictions promising Israel's restoration and regeneration, but the promises of Hope for the world.  

We take first the question of War. We have learned the hopeless outlook from the side of man. No treaties, pacts or disarmament plans have abolished war. Instead of bringing about the dreams of an evolutionary optimism, the anticipated warless world remains an Utopian chimera. The outlook for universal peace is more hopeless in 1935 than ever before in human history. The advocates of bringing about peace among the nations of the world frequently speak of "nations turning their swords into plowshares and spears into pruninghooks." Some of them even do not know that it is a quotation from the Bible, and the great majority of nominal Christians and religious reformers never think of examining the Scripture passage where this is written. We find it in the second chapter of Isaiah. Here is a great, outstanding Messianic Prophecy. It concerns the last days, the coming days of Israel's glory. According to this Prophecy (Isa. ii:2-4) the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains. It does not mean the establishment of the "church," but the establishment of a great house of worship in Israel's land, following Israel's restoration. It will become a house of worship for all nations: "all nations shall flow unto it." They will look to Jerusalem and to Zion for instruction for "out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." And He, the Christ, Israel's Messiah, our Lord, "shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people." Then comes the famous prophecy, "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." To take such a wonderful statement out of its connection, without considering the context is, to say the least, illogical. Before nations do what is promised here, before they stop fighting with each other, Israel's Hope must have been realized, but before that takes place the Messiah must have come back to Zion. The hope of a warless world can only be realized through Him, Who is the "Prince of Peace."  

We find this title of Christ in another chapter of this Prophet (ix:6-7). The child to be born, and in that child, the Son given, is Christ. His names of Deity and power are revealed. The last is "the Prince of Peace." Then the assurance is given that "of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom." So it is clear when the throne of David is filled by Him, who is the Son of David, Whose legal title to that throne is established in the genealogy of the opening chapter of the New Testament, there will be a government of lasting peace, vested in the Prince of Peace.  

Many Hebrews have rejected Christ on the plea that He cannot be the Prince of Peace, because the announcement at His birth, "Peace on Earth," has never been true in the history of Christendom. And some point to Matthew x:13: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword." In harmony with this, He announced the war conditions of our entire age (Matt. xxiv:6, 7). These statements were made by Him, because His own, the Jewish people, rejected Him, not only the Jews, but the Gentiles as well. He will be the Prince of Peace in the day of His glorious return, in the crowning day, when He shall receive the kingdom, when the message of Gabriel to His Virgin Mother will become history—"the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father David" (Luke i:32).  

We quote another passage, which contains the Hope of a warless world. Zechariah ix :9-10 is a great prophecy acknowledged by orthodox Jews and orthodox Christians as Messianic. It is partially quoted in the New Testament (Matt. xxi:4) when our Christ entered into Jerusalem, welcomed by many as the King of Israel. But not all was fulfilled. There is a second coming of the same King to Jerusalem, a coming not to suffer and to die, but a coming to be glorified and to reign. And here is the great Hope again: "And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off. And He shall speak peace unto the nations, and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river even unto the ends of the earth."  

From other prophecies we might quote we select a Psalm. It is the forty-sixth. It is one of Israel's great hymns of faith and worship. It is prophetic of the time of their restoration. The King in the preceding Psalm, who comes as the mighty conqueror—overthrowing His enemies, who receives the sceptre and the throne, is King Messiah. This is the interpretation of some Jewish commentators and of all true Christian expositors. He comes to execute judgment but the remnant of Israel will be saved in these judgments, which sweep over the nations. In this Psalm they express their confidence of deliverance through Him who comes to judge. And here is a retrospect, beginning with the sixth verse. "Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth (His judgments). He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire." It is the same order of events. First, Israel's deliverance and blessing through the manifestation of their Messiah-King and after His coming, universal peace. After that comes the blessing for all the nations over whom the Lord as King reigneth.  

Many other Psalms reveal Israel's blessing and restoration, always followed by universal blessing for all the nations. The sixty-seventh Psalm gives us a splendid illustration. Listen to Israel's prayer: "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause His face to shine upon us." Several orthodox Hebrew expositors say that the face of God is the Messiah. And so it is. Our New Testament speaks of "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. iv:6). But why do they pray for blessing upon themselves? "That Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations." When Israel's blessing has come, there will be praise in the earth. "O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for Thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon the earth." And more than that: "Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us (Israel) and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him."  

As we saw in preceding chapters the governments of man have all failed and are nearing collapse. From 1900-1935 we have witnessed tremendous political changes. Thrones of empires have crumbled into dust. Republics arose filled with disastrous strife and unrest. The boasted rule "by the people and for the people" is rapidly passing. The "New Deal" is heading for Socialism and Communism, both lawless and antichristian. But the Bible gives the optimistic vision of a coming government, which will not fail, a government in which righteousness and equity will rule, a government of peace, a government which will end poverty and injustice, a government of abundance in all things.  

When that government is set up, all other governments will be abolished. All the kingdoms of the world will be merged into one great kingdom. All nations, whether colored or white, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Caucasian, the Hamitic races and all others will form a great brotherhood. Man's scheme to end poverty, the foolish attempts to distribute wealth, the "soak the rich" program, the Quixotic dreams of a Huey Long and the lying boasts of a demonized communism of being the solution of social and economic problems are no longer needed. That coming government with the great King upon the throne will also end all the great manmade world religions. Islam, Hinduism with its abominable caste system, Buddhism with its Nirvana, Confucianism, and other heathen semi-philosophical and metaphysical systems will disappear and will be no more. Idolatries, Fetishism, the worship of inanimate objects and of beasts with degrading ceremonies and obnoxious customs, will all be abandoned. Nor will Christendom exist when that government is enacted. Roman and Greek Catholicism, aping pagan idolatries and practises, will be swept away. Protestantism with its rationalistic denials, its religious strife, will be unknown. True worship of God will be established in all the earth. "Glory to God in the Highest and Peace on Earth" have come. "And the Lord shall be King over all the earth, in that day shall there be one Lord, and His Name one" (Zech. xiv:9). Such is the optimism of the Book of books.  

"Thy Kingdom come" has been the prayer from millions of lips throughout this age. It has not come. Man has tried in every possible way to bring that kingdom, through Churchianity, through reform movements, through legislations and finally through Socialism and Communism. All has failed! That kingdom and government of righteousness, peace and abundance, ending poverty, want, starvation, crime and injustice will surely come; but not till the King, Whose is the kingdom appears.  

Daniel saw Him in his vision. When the Gentile times ended with the great vicious, nameless beast, typifying the final Gentile world power, with its ten horns and dictating little horn, when it had spent its vicious God and man defying power, heaven was opened for the holy seer. The Son of Man appeared in the clouds of heaven. "And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed" (Dan. vii:14). This "Son of Man" is Israel's Messiah, the Christ of God, who was on earth and ascended in His resurrection body up on high, having left the promise that He would return in the clouds of heaven. When that day, for which true Jews have longed and His true Church has always expected, comes, then that kingdom and true government will be given to the world. A mighty shout will be heard on earth, throughout the unseen regions, the heavens above, heard by the angels of God and the gathered saints in glory: "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." A great worship follows: "We give thanks to Thee Lord God Almighty, which art, which was, and art to come, because Thou has taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned" (Rev. xi:15-18).  

The coming government through Him, Who has acquired this kingdom rule by the way of the cross, where He paid redemption's price, is the prophetic testimony of many Scriptures. Isaiah reveals it. "With righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins" (Isa. xi:4,5). "Behold a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment" (Isa. xxxii:1). "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert" (Isa. xxxv:5, 6). "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isa. lx:1-3). These are a few of Isaiah's inspired utterances.  

We refrain from quoting the God-given visions of the other prophets. Perhaps the most outstanding description of that coming government of righteousness and peace is the seventy-second Psalm. David is the author according to the closing verses. He wrote the Psalm for Solomon, his son. Known to all Hebrews and Christians, who believe the Bible, is the fact that the Messiah is a son of David according to the flesh. God made a covenant with David, that from his loins the Goel, the Redeemer-King should come. David's son, who is David's Lord (Psa. cx:1) is foreshadowed by Solomon, which means "Peace." David in the seventysecond Psalm gives a prophetic picture not of the reign of his natural son, but of the supernatural Solomon, the Prince of Peace. Take your Bible and read the Psalm. In the opening verses righteousness and peace are mentioned. The coming King is the true Melchisedec, the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace; His crowning day is coming (Zech. vi:9-14). Then begins His reign. He will judge in righteousness; the corrupt and corrupting politics which we have pointed out in this volume are for ever gone. He will do justice. The children of the needy will be saved by Him. The political, industrial, capitalistic oppressors will be broken to pieces. Read these glorious descriptions of His government! See in them the solution of the world problems! See how every need is met!  

"He shall deliver the needy when he crieth  

And the afflicted who is without a helper.  

He shall have compassion on the poor and needy  

And shall save the souls of the needy ones.  

He will redeem their souls from oppression and violence  

And precious shall be their blood in His sight.  

And He shall live; and to Him shall be given the gold of Sheba;  

And prayer shall be made before Him continually.  

All the day shall He be blessed.  

There shall be abundance of corn on the earth  

Even to the top of the mountains;  

The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon;  

And they of the City shall bloom like the herb of the earth.  

His Name shall endure forever;  

His Name shall endure as the sun;  

And men shall bless themselves in Him;  

And nations shall call Him blessed" (Verses 12-20).  

And universal peace is prominent in this inspiring vision of the coming world government. "The mountains shall bring peace to the people." "And abundance of peace till the moon be no more." His will be the world-wide rule. "And He shall have dominion from sea to sea; and from the river unto the ends of the earth." "All nations shall serve Him." "The whole earth will be filled with His glory." He receives the nations for His inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession.  

David, the great king died and Solomon began his reign. It was the most remarkable reign in the world's history. No such king as Solomon ever reigned before and none ever after him. For forty years the most ideal conditions prevailed. We must glance at them. Solomon possessed a marvellous wisdom, not his own, but given to him as the answer to his prayer. During his reign war was abolished. Not a single conflict with outside nations, nor internal strife took place. There was a government which had brought peace. It was an extended kingdom. "For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river; and he had peace on all sides round about him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon" (1 Kings iv:24, 25). There were immense provisions, so that nobody lacked anything. A Gentile, king Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants to assist in building the House of the Lord; the Queen of Sheba, a Gentile, came and presented Solomon with priceless gifts. "And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones; there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon" (1 Kings x:10). Gold was the most abundant article in his kingdom. Six hundred and sixty and six talents of pure gold came to Solomon every year. They did not abandon the gold standard; gold was put to use everywhere. He made two hundred targets of pure gold, six hundred shekels worth of gold to each; three hundred golden shields each containing three pounds of gold. His throne was solid ivory overlaid with gold. All the drinking vessels and utensils were of solid gold. The combined navies of Tarshish and of King Hiram brought every three years great stores of pure gold. His riches exceeded all the other kings of the earth. From everywhere nations brought presents unto him. Silver had no value whatever. "The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones." He built the great Temple, and here gold was lavishly used both inside and outside. Large numbers of workmen were employed; several hundred thousands are mentioned in the record. It has been carefully estimated that gold and other materials used in the Temple amounted to $34,399,112,500. The jewels are reckoned to have exceeded this amount. Millions more must be added to this fabulous wealth. Solomon made no peace treaties, yet there was peace, and war under his reign was unknown; there was no want, but abundance of everything; poverty was unknown; immense riches belonged to that kingdom; Gentiles came to Solomon acknowledging his greatness and worshipped the God of Israel. Then suddenly this great kingdom, its peace, abundance, riches and glory, through the sin and failure of its head, Solomon, passed away.  

The forty-year reign of Solomon, the king of peace, the riches of his kingdom, its glories and the happiness of the subjects in that kingdom and the building of the House of worship, as well as the worship of the Gentiles, in Solomon's day, all is typical of Him and His reign, Who is greater than Solomon. It gives us a little glimpse of what the coming government of the King of kings, the true Prince of Peace will be. For such a time of blessing, peace, abundance and glory the nations of the world are waiting. It will never come through man's work. It will surely come when Israel's Hope of the ages appears with the manifestation of Him, whom they once rejected and Whom they shall know by the nail prints in His hands and feet.  

Another question remains. Is there Hope for creation? It is also in a hopeless condition. Earthquakes do their disastrous work. Seismographs may register their power and distance, but do not stop them. Droughts and floods alternate, destroying human lives and prosperity. Plights increase. No sooner are certain pests abolished but other ones appear. Diseases continue their ravages. Medical science may boast of past conquests and greater ones in the future, but cemeteries the world over are still the growing cities of the dead. Has this to continue forever, or is there Hope? There is! Paul in the Roman Epistle speaks of a coming deliverance of creation. He saw all creation groaning and travailing in pain together. It is so still. But he saw a better day, when creation's groans and moans will cease, "when the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God" (Rom. viii:19-22). God's redemption work would be incomplete and a failure if it did not include all creation. But it will. Paul's words are not visionary but rests upon certain promises of the Old Testament Scriptures.  

"The wolf also shall dwell with the Iamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. xi:6-9).  

Some call it a poetic description of some strange kind, denying the literal meaning. The literal meaning cannot be denied. The day comes when there will be not only peace among nations, but peace in the animal kingdom. See also Isaiah lv:13 and lxv:25. Disease and death will be dealt with. This is indicated in another prophecy of Isaiah. "There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed" (Isa. lxv:20). And ultimately there will be a new earth and a new heaven.  

And can He, who is the King, and more than that, Creation's Lord, by Whom and for whom all things were created, accomplish all this? He manifested His power, when on earth in humiliation, "not knowing where to lay His head." He commanded wind and waves and they obeyed His Word. The blind had their sight restored; the lame walked; the deaf heard; the maimed were restored, and no disease was beyond His help. He halted the bier on which they carried out the widow's son. His majestic command to arise restored him to the weeping mother. Talitha Cumi was His word of power and the maid arose. "Lazarus, come forth" and the dead friend, though four days in the tomb, arose. Will His power be less when He is on the throne?  

Hopeless— Yet there is Hope. The Hope of Israel and the Hope of the World is Israel's Messiah. That Messiah is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Prophets announced His coming. He came in holy birth. The end-goal of incarnation was the Cross. He promised to come again in words which cannot be misunderstood. The age which followed His return to the Father, has lasted long. Centuries have come and gone. The message of the cross has been preached on all continents, among all nations. That preaching has brought millions to God. His Church has been called as Body and Bride to share some day the glory of the Head and the inheritance of the Bridegroom. That true Chuch has its special Hope, well termed "that blessed Hope" when all who are His shall see Him as He is, become like Him and participate in all His glory. It may be soon, that day when the long expected "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," that Hope of the Church, to meet Him in the sky, will be realized. Many thousands the world over await the gathering shout.  

Israel has wandered on. Theirs is a great Hope. Modern Judaism may deny it; the true Hope has never died, as we have seen, in that nation, God's chosen and peculiar people.  

A great change in human affairs and history is imminent. It cannot be much longer delayed. World conditions are rushing towards a catastrophe. Western civilization is on the rocks. Before He appears, who is the ONLY HOPE, great events will yet take place. The manifestation of the mystery of lawlessness must head up in the lawless one. Nations will rush at each other. Israel's last page of trouble, the great tribulation, is yet to be written. A great world trial is rapidly approaching. Great judgments are impending with terrific physical upheavals. We look at the approaching storm precipitating all into an abyss of hopelessness. We look again and see a marvelous sunrise. The Morningstar appears, the herald of the Day and the Sun in all His glory.

Even so Come, Thou Hope of the hopeless, Thou Hope of Israel, Thou Hope of the World, all Nations and Creation. Even so, Come Lord Jesus.
 

1 Some Jewish teachers of the past, especially during the middle ages, said that time for Messiah's appearing had long passed.