By Herman Everett

In my lifetime we have had two world wars and many minor conflicts. Just this last year, there were more floods, tornadoes, and more upset weather conditions in various places than I have ever known. And in spite of all the food that is produced, there is still hunger in the world.

Despite all the bad news, when we look into the Bible, there is a bright future just ahead for those that do God’s will. Many cannot imagine a world without strife, upset weather, war, and sickness–a world where nations are at peace and no family has to worry about sons and daughters being sacrificed on the battlefield, nor a world where tornadoes never touch down, volcanoes are extinct, where rains fall in due season, and where food supplies are more than adequate to support the population of the entire world.

How can a world such as this come about? Not by man, but rather by God. Man cannot have peace without turning his whole life and thoughts over to God. In the first days of the New Testament Church, Peter boldly proclaimed, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the Mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:19-21) 

There will be some nations that will rebel after Christ comes, but they will suffer and learn lessons the hard way. In Zechariah 14:17-18 we read, “And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

And also in Revelation 19: 15-16, “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” So we see when Christ comes to rule the nations it will be with force. Today man lives by his own rules which are not good in God’s way of thinking and not in accord with the Holy Scriptures.

In the future, when Christ comes to rule with a rod of iron, there will be no more wars–there will be total peace. Micah 4:1-5 says,  “ But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. :2  And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. :3  And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. :4  But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. :5  For all people will walk everyone in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.” 

Praise God! Then, and not until this comes about, will all nations and people be at peace.

Isaiah, describes the conditions after the Messiah returns in Isaiah 11:6-9  “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8  And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. 9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

I am glad I made my stand on the seventh day Sabbath and have part in the church at Caldwell, and I am thankful for the brothers and sisters in Christ that I have met, and the beautiful fellowship that we have had together. I would love to take this opportunity to thank everyone who prayed for me while I was in the hospital last winter (1983-84). I know if the Lord would not have answered yes to your prayers I would not be writing at this time. Praise the Lord for His supernatural power.

(Reprinted from “The Herald of Truth,” Vol. 30, #4, August, 1984)