IS IT PEACE? | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 16, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 33.

"IS IT PEACE?"

MEN desire peace, therefore they predict it among the nations. There are those who believe that the predictions will prove true; that the Congress of Religions in 1893 and the Peace Conference in 1899 are the heralds of the peace of the world, when nations shall sheathe their swords, spike their guns, and cast the metals of their weapons of war into jubilant bells of harmony. Those who can not believe this are called pessimists, croakers, etc., just as if they did not desire peace as well as others.

But with the truth-loving, prudent mind, the question is not so much, What do I desire? as it is, What shall be? What is bound to come?

But there are those who believe that somehow, sometime, all the various nations of earth will be at peace. Ministers have preached it, poets have sung the theme; and multitudes believe it, and believe that the Bible teaches it.

The prophecy, above all others, perhaps, on which this is based, is found in the second chapter of Isaiah, verses two to five, which read as follows:—

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it."

"And many people shall go and 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 ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord."

It would certainly be a desirable thing if the swords of earth were all beaten into plowshares and the spears into pruning-hooks.

But does this prophecy teach that such will be the case?

"Mountains" are symbols of kingdoms, of a place of refuge and safety. The mountain of God stands for the kingdom of God. Mountains of earth are symbolical of earthly kingdoms. See Ps. 11:1; 30:7; Isa. 25:6, 7; Jer. 31:25.

"The Lord's house" refers to the church of God. The mountain of the Lord's house ought always to be the mountain of the Lord, but it has not always been. When the church departed from God by backsliding, and united with the world, she forsook the mountain of God for the mountains of earth. Thus the Lord speaks to her:—

"Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot." Jer. 3:6.

"Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed; even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice. Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance; for thou hast discovered thyself to another than Me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it." Isa. 57:7, 8.

The passage from Isaiah has certain reference to the Christian dispensation and the backslidden church in the last days. It is worthy of much study.

In the first five chapters of Isaiah the Lord sends His message to a backslidden people. "They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward." Isa. 1:4. "They be replenished from the East, and are soothsayers like the Philistines." Isa. 2:6. In the light of symbolism this prophecy thus indicates that the earthly governments—one in profession—with which the church connects herself are stronger than the other powers (mountains and hills) of earth. And this is the fact. The so-called "Christian nations" of earth are far in advance in power and progress of the other nations of earth. This is owing to Christian enlightenment, but instead of using God's blessings to glorify Him, they have been used to exalt man. If these blessings had been used as the Lord designed, the heathen of earth would have been brought to Christ, and He would have been glorified; but nation and church have exalted material things, and instead of the peoples of heathen lands flowing to Christ, they are imitating the "Christian nations," building great war-ships, drilling armies, forming great corporations, and oppressing labor.

Because of all this exaltation of the professed Christian church and Christian nations "many people" shall go and say: "Come ye and let us go up to the house of the Lord." Micah tells us that it is "many nations" that shall come and say the same thing. These "many people" say that God will teach us, and we will walk in His ways; the "many nations" say that the Lord will rebuke strong nations, so that they shall beat their swords into plowshares; the "many nations" say that "they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree" unmolested; the "many nations" declare that the Lord hath spoken this; the "many nations," in their blind union with the world, say, "All the peoples will walk every one in the name of his god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever." It is the many people who utter the prophecy; it is not God who gives it.

Be not surprised, reader. This is but a repetition of all the past,—the prediction and seeking of peace in iniquity; of proclaiming peace when God proclaims war. Read the prophecies of Jeremiah to a nation which had filled full its cup of iniquity—a nation that is the type of a world lying in sin. Note the multitude of

false prophets which rose up and predicted peace. Jeremiah stood alone; the other prophets were many; but the word which the one spoke was more than the dreams of all.

God has predicted what the last days shall be,—the condition of the time which shall usher in the great day of the Lord. Let us put the two prophecies, that of the Lord and that of the "many people," side by side, that we may more clearly see the difference:—

What the Lord Says.

(Joel 3:9-14.)

"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about; thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision."

What Many People Say.

(Isa. 2:3-5.)

"And many people shall go and 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 ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord."

And what does God say to His professed people for thus deceiving the world? Read the very next verse in Isaiah 2: "Therefore," because of this false message, "Thou 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. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself; therefore forgive them not. Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty."

And all this prophecy concerning the backslidden church of Christ, and the many people among them, is literally fulfilled now. We learn the predictions of peace by the many peoples of the church, of the beating of weapons of war into implements of husbandry, of the hiding of sin, of the soothing message to the wicked over a mutilated Bible, of the heaping together of silver and gold and treasure, of the honor and exaltation of humanity, the worship of the work of their own hands, instead of the worship of God, of the mock humility and hypocrisy of the evil-disposed, and the hypocrite great in position; and the Word of God indicates that their case is hopeless. There is no forgiveness, because there is no genuine repentance and humility.

And the things taking place in the world today are demonstrating the truth of both prophecies above quoted, written in the same generation. Never were there such preparations for war taking place as now. From the greatest to the least of nations the incessant labor goes forward, as tho the very mighty men heard the call of God in their very ears.

And yet, despite the prophecy by the son of Pethuel, and many other prophecies, many people are crying, "Peace, peace." Nay, more, "many nations" are now in representative conference at The Hague talking for a peace which they prophesy, which they doubtless devoutly wish for, but which in their heart of hearts they do not expect this side of war.

In this sinful world there is no hope of peace. The wide-heard cry of peace forbodes destruction. Blessed is he who heeds not the voice of false shepherds, but is warned by the more sure word of prophecy: "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 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. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." 1 Thess. 5:1-6.