THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD.
By Francis M. Wilcox
Cry of Peace—Peace Congress—Swords into Plowshares or Plowshares into Swords?
FOR years the doctrine has been advocated throughout Christendom that before the coming of the Lord this world would witness a reign of universal peace, that there would be a disarmament of the nations, and that songs of praise and deliverance would take the place of the din of war and the clash of arms. Would that it might be so. Would that we might turn from the dark picture of sin, and witness one of triumph of the cross and the beauty of righteousness; but such in this world is not destined to be our lot. While it may be our heart's desire to have things otherwise than they are, we can not, as wise men and women, shut our eyes to the condition of things that exists. In this world, and with men, we must deal with things as they are, and not as they ought to be. Signs in the Political World.
The Word of the Lord plainly shows that in the last days there will be those who will predict the disarmament of the nations and the millennial reign of peace. We have a prophecy of this in the fourth chapter of Micah, verses 1 to 8. Please observe, however, that the Lord Himself does not say that this condition will exist before He comes. He does, on the other hand, plainly say that there will be a class of people (many nations) in the last days advocating this idea. But even while they are advocating this idea, the Lord says (verse 6) that there will be some who will halt and be driven out to be afflicted. Furthermore, in the third chapter of Joel, verses 9 to 12, we have the statement of inspiration that in the very time that some among the nations of earth are crying, "Peace and safety," and predicting the universal reign of peace, the nations will be actually preparing for war. The plowshares will be beaten into swords, and the pruning-hooks into spears. The weak shall say, "I am strong." All the nations shall assemble together and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and there will take place the battle of the great day of God Almighty; and the nations of the earth will be given to the sword, and upon each will be visited the judgment and execution which he has prepared for his fellow. Then it is that the Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem. The heavens and the earth shall shake; the wicked hosts shall be thrown into utter confusion, crying to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, to hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne. But the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. What a striking fulfilment of this prophecy of Micah and Joel do we find in the world to-day! From nearly every pulpit of the land, during the last few decades, has the prediction of the world's conversion been sounded, and men been lulled into security and sleep with the thought that before the Lord comes the world must bow in obedience to His will and wishes. And the grand culmination of this cry which has been sounding through the land is found in the Peace Congress recently assembled at The Hague, containing representatives from all the leading nations to devise some method of disarmament, according to the proposition of the czar of Russia. Yet, notwithstanding all these protestations of friendship between the representatives of the nations, as never before in the history of the world is every country preparing for the last great conflict. The words of Micah are being strikingly fulfilled, and no less strikingly is the word of the Lord through Joel meeting its fulfilment before our very eyes to-day. Notwithstanding the czar's peace proposals, Russia is straining every nerve to push her conquests in the East. England, Germany, France, and even Italy—burdened as she is with an enormous war debt and oppressive taxation, which are threatening a civil war at home—are doing all in their power to increase the efficiency of both their land and sea forces. Last year millions of dollars were appropriated in each of these countries for the building of new war ships and the increase of their war equipment on land and sea. The partition of Africa among the nations of the Old World is still fresh in the mind of all who have followed the political events in the Dark Continent. And now the dismemberment of China by the same powers of Europe has already begun. The nations to-day are watching each other most jealously, and vying in their attempts to place themselves in the best possible condition for home defense or aggressive warfare. And not alone this. Our own country, which in the past, from its quiet position in the Western Hemisphere, has not been a party to the intrigues of the nations of the Old World, has now entered the great political arena, and purposes to take a hand in the adjustment of the international questions which will concern the future history of the world. The whole field of Europe to-day is like a vast military camp. In every nation are seen drilling armies, and in every harbor maneuvering fleets. The whole Eastern continent is like a vast arsenal, which at any time may be started by a single stroke into a vast conflagration. These conditions the Word of the Lord tells us are indications that the day of the Lord's coming is greatly hastening. The world will be evangelized, but not converted. The Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in earth's remotest parts, and out of all the nations will God gather a people for Himself. That Gospel is now rapidly doing its work. May the Lord grant we shall so admit its claims in our hearts that we shall not be engulfed in the great day of devastation, but shall recognize the claims of the Prince of Peace here, so that we may dwell under His benign rule through the endless ages of eternity.