No. 815
Part Seven – Proposed Remedies
“Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? . . . We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one unto his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven.” (Jer. 8:22; Jer. 51:9)
This is a continuation of our series on “The Day of Vengeance” in our July through October 2024 papers, and our May and June 2025 papers.
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Various remedies are advocated as “cure-alls” for the relief of the groaning creation in its present, admittedly serious, condition; and all who sympathize with the suffering body-politic must sympathize also with the endeavors of its various doctors having diagnosed the case, who are all anxious that the patient should try their prescriptions. The attempts to find a cure and to apply it are surely commendable. Nevertheless, sober judgment, enlightened by God’s Word, tells us that none of the proposed remedies will cure the malady. The presence and services of the Great Physician and His remedies will be required, and nothing short of their efficient and persistent use will effect a cure for the malady of human depravity and selfishness.
It is manifest that none of the principal theories advanced for the betterment of present conditions (including socialism, communism, nationalism, tariff and tax schemes, etc.) are adequate to the necessities of the case. Besides these proposed remedies, there are any number of people who incessantly preach and pray about what they see wrong, and who want someone to stop the course of the world, but who neither see nor suggest anything even remotely practicable.
Some honest but thoroughly impractical souls vainly imagine that the churches, if awakened to the situation, could avert the impending social calamity, revolutionize society and re-establish it upon a new and better basis. They say if only the churches could be awakened, they could conquer the world for Christ and could themselves establish on earth a Kingdom of God upon a basis of love and loyalty to God and equal love for fellowmen. Some of them even claim that this, the Christ-spirit in the churches, would be the second coming of Christ.
How hopelessly impracticable this theory is need scarcely be pointed out. They consider their strength to be their numbers. If their vast numbers were saints, moved and controlled by love, there would indeed be force behind the argument, and it would seem thoroughly practical to say that if these were awakened to the true situation they could and would revolutionize society at once. But sadly, “tares” and “chaff” predominate, and the “wheat” class is small. As the great Shepherd declared, His is but a “little flock.” Like their Master, they are of “no reputation” or influence, and among them are not many wise, mighty or noble by the world’s standards. (1 Cor. 1:26) “Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” (Jas. 2:5)
No, the spirit of Christ in His little flock is not sufficient to give them the Kingdom! The Church has never been without those who had this spirit. Our Lord declared before He left us that He would be with us to the end of the age, and so it has been fulfilled. But He also promised that as He went away (personally) in the end of the Jewish Age, so He would come again (personally) in the end of this age. He assured us that during His absence all faithful to Him would “suffer persecution” – that His Kingdom joint-heirs would “suffer violence” until He came again and received them unto Himself. He would then reward their faithfulness and sufferings with glory, honor and immortality, and a share in His throne and its power to bless the world with righteous government and knowledge of the Truth. Finally, He would then destroy the willful workers of iniquity from among the workers of righteousness. For this not only the groaning creation, but those with the first-fruits of the spirit (Rom. 8:23) have groaned and waited – for the Father’s time and the Father’s manner of bestowal. He has shown clearly that the time for these blessings is now at hand, and that they will be introduced by scourging the world with an awful time of trouble, which the saints escape by being changed and glorified in the Kingdom.
Unless any claim that wealth and education would have permitted the nominal church – “Christendom” – to conquer the world, God has given them these very advantages. Yet these opportunities seem to operate reversely, to cultivate pride, arrogance, and infidelity called “higher criticism” and will eventually result in the wreck of society. “Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)
“THAT BLESSED HOPE”
In considering the question of supply and demand which is doing so much to divide humanity into two classes, the rich and the poor, we have as far as possible avoided harsh criticism of either side, firmly believing that present conditions are the result of the constitutional law of selfishness (the result of the Adamic fall) which dominates the vast majority of the human family, rich and poor alike. These deep-seated laws of constitutional selfishness are detested by a small number (chiefly the poor) who have found Christ and come heartily under His spirit and law of love. They would gladly abandon all selfishness, but they cannot. If all the rich were dead today, and their wealth distributed pro rata, those laws of selfishness would within a few years reproduce the very conditions of today. Indeed, many of the wealthy of today were once poor. And any system of laws that the majority of men might enact, which would deprive men of the opportunities for exercising their acquisitive and selfish propensities, would sap the life of progress and rapidly turn civilization back toward indolence and barbarism.
The only hope for the world is in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ – the Millennial Kingdom: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (Tit. 2:13) “Which hope we have as an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast.” (Heb. 6:19) “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. 1:13)
It is God’s long promised remedy, delayed until its due time and now near, thank God, even at the door. Once more man’s extremity will be God’s opportunity – “the desire of all nations” will come at a juncture when human ingenuity and skill will have exhausted themselves in seeking relief to no avail. Indeed, it would seem to be the divine method to teach great lessons in schools of experience. Thus, the Jews directly (and we and all men indirectly) were taught by their Law Covenant the great lesson that by the deeds of the Law no (fallen) flesh could be justified before God. Thus did the Lord point His pupils to the better New Covenant of Grace through Christ.
The time of trouble, the “day of vengeance,” with which this age will close and the Millennial Age will open, will not only be a just recompense for misused privileges, but it will tend to humble the arrogance of men and to make them “poor in spirit,” and ready for the great blessings God is ready to pour upon all flesh. (Joel 2:28) Thus He wounds to heal.
Those unfamiliar with the divine program may perhaps inquire how the Kingdom of God can be established if all these human methods fail? What different scheme does it propose? If its scheme is declared in the Word of God, why cannot men put it into operation at once and thus avoid the trouble? We answer, God’s Kingdom will not be established by a vote of the people, nor by the vote of the aristocracy and rulers. In due time He “whose right it is,” He who bought it with His own precious blood, will take unto Himself His great power and reign. Force will be used: “And he shall rule them [the nations] with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers.” (Rev. 2:27) “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord . . . For then [after they are humbled and ready to hear] will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” (Zeph. 3:8-9)
Not only will the Kingdom be established with force and be a power that men cannot resist, it will so continue throughout the entire Millennial Age. The entire reign is for the specific purpose of vanquishing the enemies of righteousness: “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” (1 Cor. 15:25) His enemies will “lick the dust” and those that will not obey will be “destroyed from among the people,” in the Second Death. (Acts 3:23) Satan will be bound – all his deceptive and misleading influences will be restrained. (Rev. 20:2-3) Evil will no longer appear to men to be good and good appear to be evil or undesirable. Truth will no longer be made to appear false and lies made to appear true.
But as heretofore shown, the reign will not be one of force only; side by side with the force will be the olive branch of mercy and peace for all the inhabitants of the world, and they will learn righteousness when the judgments of the Lord are abroad in the earth. (Isa. 26:9) The sin-blinded eyes will be opened; and the world will see right and wrong, justice and injustice, in a light quite different from now – in “sevenfold” light. (Isa. 30:26; Isa. 29:18-20) The outward temptations of the present will largely be done away. Evils will neither be licensed nor permitted. A sure and swift penalty will fall upon transgressors, meted out with unerring justice by the glorified and competent judges of that time who will also have compassion upon the weak. (1 Cor. 6:2; Psa. 96:13; Acts 17:31)
These judges will not judge by the hearing of the ear nor by the sight of the eye, but rather they will judge by righteous judgment. (Isa. 11:3-4) No mistakes will be made; no evil deed will fail to receive just recompense: even attempts to commit crimes must speedily cease under such conditions. Every knee will bow to the power then in control and every tongue will confess to the justice of the arrangement. (Phil. 2:10-11) The new order of things will begin to appeal to the hearts of some (probably gradually with many), and what at first was obedience by force will become obedience from love, and appreciation of righteousness. Those who obey merely because compelled by force will eventually be cut off in the Second Death. (Rev. 20:7-9; Acts 3:23)
The rule and law of love will thus be enforced; not by consent of the majority, but in opposition to it. It will be turning civilization back from its ideas of republican rule and placing mankind temporarily under an autocratic rule for a thousand years. Such autocratic power would be terrible in the hands of either a vicious or an incompetent ruler; but God relieves us of all fear when He informs us that the Ruler of that age will be the Prince of Peace, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has the welfare of man so at heart that He laid down His life as our ransom price in order that He might have the authority to lift out of sin-defilement and restore to perfection and divine favor all who will accept His grace by obedience to the New Covenant.
Early in the Millennium it will become apparent to all that this course which God has outlined is the only one adapted to the urgent needs of the sin-sick, selfish world. Indeed, some already see that the world’s great need is a strong and righteous government. They have begun to see, more and more, that the only persons who can safely be entrusted with absolute liberty are those who have been soundly converted – who have renewed wills, renewed hearts, the spirit of Christ.
THE PROPER ATTITUDE FOR GOD’S PEOPLE
What must we who see these things in their true light do now? We suggest that all that can now be done is to let our moderation be known unto all men. If engaged in business, either pay a reasonable wage or a share of the profits or else do not hire, and avoid dishonesty of every form. “Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.” (Rom. 12:17) Set an example of “godliness with contentment,” and always by word as well as by example discourage not only violence, but even discontent. Through faith and full consecration, seek to lead the weary and heavy laden to Christ and the Word of God’s grace. Should you, by God’s grace, be the steward of more or less wealth, do not worship it, nor seek to see how much you can accumulate for your heirs to wrangle over and misuse, but use it, according to your covenant, for God’s service and under His direction; remembering that it is not yours to keep, nor yours to use for yourself, but God’s, entrusted to your care, to be used in joyful service, to the glory of our King.
We have seen that it is inevitable, under the present social law, that either the masses of humanity will be crushed into the mire as the slaves of wealth and intellect, or that the present social order will crash under the reign of anarchy. We have seen that the Scriptures declare that it will be the latter, bringing an awful retribution upon all men, rich and poor, learned and ignorant. By actual demonstration it will teach men the folly of selfishness, and help them in the future to appreciate the wisdom of God’s law of love. The “great tribulation” will teach all a fearful, but eventually a most profitable, lesson. We are therefore prepared to next examine what the Scriptures have to tell us respecting the fall of “Babylon” – Christendom – in the great struggle in which this age will end.
We have viewed the failure of Christendom to adopt the spirit of Christ’s teachings. We have seen how the knowledge and liberty gained from His teachings were blended with the spirit of evil and selfishness. From present foreshadowings we mark the sure approach of the dread calamity – anarchy and every evil work. We see the justice of its permission, and read therein the divine law of retribution. Though we lament the evils which incur the retribution, yet realizing its necessity and justice, and having learned also the ends of mercy to be attained eventually by this very means, our hearts exclaim, “Great and wonderful are thy works, O Lord, God, the omnipotent! righteous and true are thy ways, O King of the nations.” (Rev. 15:3, Dia.)
To be continued in our August 2025 paper.
(Excerpts from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume IV, Chapter X, condensed and edited. Lengthy quotations have been omitted.)
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FORCES MUSTERING FOR ARMAGEDDON
“For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev. 6:17)
God seems to have given the Book of Revelation with the intent of covering up great and important truths, not only because these were not due to be understood, but because He designs to keep certain features of His Plan from the world. Being a book of symbols, the Revelation will not be understood by the world in general; but the Bible assures that when the due time comes, the wise among His people, the “wise virgins,” will understand. (Dan. 12:10; Matt. 25:1-13)
The Prophet Daniel tells us that the Time of the End is the time for those wise toward God to understand His great Plan, and he gives two particular signs by which this time will be especially marked: “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” (Dan. 12:4) Today we see this prophecy fulfilled. All over the world the people are running “to and fro” as never before, and all over the world opportunities for knowledge are such as have never before been known. The remarkable fulfilment of this prophecy characterizes our day as the Time of the End, in which this Gospel Age is to be concluded and the Messianic Age to be ushered in.
In the Scriptures God has seen fit to associate the name of Israel’s famous battlefield with the great controversy between truth and error, right and wrong, with which the change of dispensation will take place. While the phrase, “Battle of Armageddon,” is heard on all sides and is applied in many ways, nevertheless Christians realize that in the Bible this phrase is used in a spiritual sense.
We are saying nothing whatever against godly Christians at any time or in any place, in any church or out of any church. We realize that the Word of God conveys a terrible arraignment of some of the great systems of our day – some that we long have reverenced, that we have esteemed as containing many of God’s people. We have nothing to say against godly individuals; what we have to say in the interpretation of Scripture is with respect to these systems.
The Scriptures mention three agencies connected with the gathering of the hosts to this great battle. We read that three “unclean spirits” (teachings) will go forth from the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet, and that these three will be in accord. These three doctrines, symbolically represented by frogs, are to have a mighty influence throughout the civilized earth; they are to gather the kings and their armies to the great Battle of Armageddon. (Rev. 16:13-16)
The ecclesiastical kings and princes, with their retinues of clergy and faithful adherents, will be gathered in solid phalanx – Protestants and Catholics. The kings and captains of industry, and as many as can be influenced by them, will be gathered to the same side. The political kings and princes, with all their henchmen and retainers, will follow in line on the same side. The financial kings and merchant princes, and all whom they can influence by the most gigantic power ever yet exercised in the world, will join the same side, according to this prophecy. They do not realize, however, that they are coming to Armageddon.
These “doctrines of demons,” represented by the frogs, will lead many noble souls to assume an attitude quite contrary to their preference. For a time, the wheels of liberty and progress will be turned backward, and medieval restraints will be considered necessary for self-preservation – for the maintenance of the present order of things and for the prevention of the new order which God has decreed.
In giving this interpretation, we must indicate what is symbolized by the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet. Bible students of nearly all denominations agree with us that the Dragon of Revelation represents the purely Civil Power. Protestant interpreters generally agree with us that the Beast “like unto a leopard” (Rev. 13:2) represents the Papacy. But fewer still, we fear, will be ready to support our view that Protestantism is the “image of the beast” (Rev. 13:15), elsewhere styled the “false prophet.” (Rev. 16:13)
“UNCLEAN SPIRITS LIKE FROGS”
The symbolisms of Scripture, rightly understood, are always forceful. When the Holy Spirit used a frog symbolically to represent certain doctrines or teachings, we may be sure that the true application will fit well. A frog is a small creature, yet it puffs itself up until it almost bursts in its efforts to be somebody; it has a wise look, even though it does not know much; and whenever it utters a sound it croaks. The three most prominent characteristics of a frog are then pomposity, an air of superior wisdom, and a continual croaking.
Applying these symbols, we learn that an evil spirit, influence, teaching, will come from the federated Protestant churches, from the Church of Rome, and from the civil authorities, and the three will be in full agreement. The spirit of all will be boastful, an air of superior wisdom and knowledge will be proudly assumed – all will croak in harmony. All will predict dire results to follow, involving the interests of both the present and the future life, if their counsel be not heeded. However conflicting the creeds, the differences will be ignored in the general proposition that nothing ancient must be investigated or repudiated, but that all things must remain as they are.
The divine authority of the Church, and the divine right of kings, aside from the Church, will not be permitted to conflict. Any persons or teachings in conflict with these boastful and unscriptural claims will be branded as everything vile, at the mouths of these frog-like spirits, speaking from pulpits and platforms and through the press. The nobler sentiments of some will be strangled by the philosophy of the same evil spirit which spoke through Caiaphas, the high priest, respecting our Lord Jesus. As Caiaphas declared it expedient to commit a crime in violation of justice, both human and divine, in order to be rid of Jesus and His teachings, so these frog spirits will approve of every violation of principle necessary to their self-protection.
The croaking of these frog spirits of doctrine will gather the kings and princes – financial, political, religious and industrial – into one great army. The spirit of fear, inspired by the croakings, will scourge the passions of otherwise good and reasonable men to fury, desperation. In their blind adherence to these evil spirits, evil doctrines, they will be ready to sacrifice life itself on the altar of what they mistakenly suppose is righteousness.
As we understand the Scriptures, for a brief time these combined forces of Armageddon will triumph. Free speech, free mails, and other liberties which have come to be the very breath of the masses of our day will be ruthlessly shut off under the plea of necessity, the glory of God, the commands of the Church, etc. All will seem serene until the great social explosion takes place, described in Scripture as “a great earthquake.”
In symbolic language, an earthquake signifies social revolution. The declaration of the Revelator is that it will be “such as was not since men were upon the earth.” Our Lord Jesus and the Prophet Daniel describe it as “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.” (Rev. 16:18-19; Matt. 24:21; Dan. 12:1)
THE OPPOSING FORCES AT ARMAGEDDON
The false, froglike teachings will gather together into one host the great, the rich, the wise, the learned and the kings of the earth. At this juncture divine Power will step forward and marshal the hosts to Armageddon – to the Mount of Destruction. The very thing which they sought to avert by federation will be the very thing which they will hasten. Other Scriptures tell us that God will be represented by the great Messiah, and that He will be on the side of the masses. Thus, we read: “And at that time shall Michael [the God-like One – Messiah] stand up [assume authority], the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people.” (Dan. 12:1) He will take possession of His Kingdom in a manner little expected by many of those who erroneously have been claiming that they were His Kingdom, and authorized by Him to reign in His stead.
The Scriptures declare, “His servants ye are to whom ye obey.” (Rom. 6:16) Some may be rendering service to Satan and error while claiming to be serving God and righteousness; and some of these may be serving ignorantly, as did Saul of Tarsus, who “verily thought” that he did God service in persecuting the Church. The same principle holds true in reverse. As no earthly king holds himself responsible for the moral character of each soldier who fights in his battles, so the Lord does not vouch for the moral character of all who fight on His side of any question.
The same principle will apply in the approaching Battle of Armageddon. God’s side of that battle will be the people’s side; and that very nondescript host, the people, will be pitted at the beginning of the battle. Anarchists, Socialists, and hot-headed radicals of every school of reason and of unreason, will be at the forefront of the battle. The majority of the poor and of the middle class prefer peace at almost any price. The masses have no sympathy with anarchy; for they realize truly that the worst form of government is better than none.
Conscious of their own weakness as compared to the financial, religious and political kings and princes who will then hold sway, the masses will be restless. Through the ballot and the peaceful readjustment of earth’s affairs they will seek for the elimination of evil, for the placing of monopolies, utilities and the supplies of nature in the hands of the people for the public good. The crisis will be reached when the hitherto upholders of law become violators of that law and resisters of the will of the majority as expressed by the ballot. Fear for the future will lead the well-meaning masses to desperation, and anarchy will result when Socialism fails. This is the extremity toward which multitudes are being driven by the force of circumstances propelled by selfishness.
A comparatively small number, God’s consecrated people will at heart be longing for Messiah’s Kingdom. These will wait patiently for the Lord’s time; they will be of good courage, knowing the outcome: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” (2 Pet. 1:19) Horrible indeed would be the outlook for the future did we not have the infallible Word of God assuring us of a glorious outcome.
(Excerpts from Pastor Russell’s Sermons, pages 232-238, condensed and edited.)
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