p. 16 | PEACE AND SAFETY

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 17, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 33.

PEACE AND SAFETY.

Few indeed there are in the serious walks of life but what long for peace. The desire for war within the ranks of the military rises, generally, from those who are ambitious for advancement in rank. Among the common citizens it is aroused sometimes by patriotic ardor; sometimes by sordid desires for gain. Surely there is war sufficient now in the vast Orient, and all the spirit of war in some of our states and cities. Yet, despite manifest conditions, many false prophets, as of old, are crying of peace and safety. Of this time the prophet says:—

“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” 1 Thess. 5:3-5.

At the very time that the Lord, through faithful servants and by a multitude of signs, is warning the world of its coming doom, and exhorting all to flee from the wrath to come by hiding in God, and laying up treasure in heaven, another class will be crying, “Peace and safety! a good time coming!”

Peace in sin has ever been the cry of false prophets, from Jeremiah to the present day. Isaiah and Micah show us that this cry will deceive many people and many nations, and the “many people” and “many nations” will say: “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people, 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.” See Isa. 2:3-5; Micah 4:2-5. The mixture of idolatry, the divided worship implied in the message, is shown in Micah 4:5.

But concerning this message of peace of “many people,” the prophet says: “For Thou [God] hast forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob, because they be filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of strangers.” Isa. 2:6.

Now here is the cry as predicted. Already we hear it preached. And the Word declares, “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them; . . . and they shall not escape.” But the children of God shall not be deceived. That day will not overtake them as a thief. The false message that deceives and lulls to sleep thousands will be to the children of the light an evidence that Christ’s coming is near.