BOTH ARE SIGNS OF OUR TIMES—THE DELUSION OF ARMAMENTS IS BROKEN
By S. B. Horton
ONE OF THE BIG BRITISH FIELD-GUNS PLACED IN POSITION IN FRANCE
The Scriptures give as a conspicuous sign the cry of “peace and safety” among the nations. We read in Micah 4, the first part of the chapter, that in the last days many nations shall come and say certain things, among which will be, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks.” We also find that Paul says, in 1 Thess. 5: 1-3, in reference to the day of the Lord, that “when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them.”
DEPENDING ON PEACE TREATIES
It has been thought, before the present titanic struggle in Europe broke upon a stupefied world, that with the existence of international peace treaties, together with the great plans for periodical meetings at the Hague by representatives of the nations, war would be a remote possibility. A large proportion of the peace-loving people throughout the world were unprepared for the coming of the present European war.
A DELUSION BROKEN
But the present death grapple in Europe has swept away several delusive provisions which have been entertained by those looking for universal peace, one of which was that a strong armament is a guarantee of peace. In other words, it was thought that the more heavily the nations armed themselves, the less likelihood would there be of war, because of the fact that the horribleness in prospect would be so great as to dissuade the nations from drawing sword.
Colonel Roosevelt recently gave a pronouncement upon the subject of peace treaties in which he closes a long article with the statement: “Neither the existing Hague court, nor any peace treaties of the existing type, will exert even the slightest influence in saving from disaster any nation that does not preserve the virile virtues and the long-sightedness that will enable it by its own might to guard its own honor, interest, and national life.”
However, many are assuming that the Bible, in the above text from Micah, predicts universal and permanent peace among the nations. European statesmen are quoted as saying that overtures of peace can not be entertained until there is a likelihood of militarism giving way to permanent peace.
CASTING SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES
A very significant incident came to light recently in Washington in connection with the signing of twenty-nine peace treaties by the ambassadors and ministers from as many nations. The secretary of state, Mr. Bryan, secured a number of obsolete swords and scabbards, the blades of which he had made into miniature plowshares, recalling the Biblical text, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares.”
He had the text placed upon these plowshares, and distributed them among the diplomats as paper weights, intending that they should be reminders of “the better way,” as Mr. Bryan expressed it.
We also read, in the daily prints, of some factories in Europe which had heretofore been manufacturing agricultural implements, now turning their energies to the manufacture of war implements. These things must appear to the Bible student as very significant of the times in which we live. It becomes the duty of every individual to study, as never before, God’s revelation with reference to the things of the world and their ultimate end.
Photo by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
A STONE CUT WITHOUT HANDS
The prophecy in Daniel 2 says that “a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”
Again in Revelation this statement: “And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldst give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth.” Rev. 11: 18.
WHEN PEACE WILL FINALLY COME
There can be no international peace until all the units which go to make up the nations shall have the Prince of peace formed within, the hope of glory, and shall follow His teaching in regard to loving their neighbors as themselves. We should be thankful that the time is not far distant when the Prince of peace will come, and bring to those who are looking for Him—and only such—everlasting salvation. Then shall they go with Him to the mansions He is now preparing in the skies.
The present war, while not Armageddon, portends in that direction; and the peace-and-safety cry, together with the war spirit, forms a two-part sign of the times in which we live, namely, the last days.
