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(Continued from page 4)
ernment that is going to
come.... "
"God Almighty is going to send
him [Jesus] again in all the power
and the glory of the Great God.
And he is going to rule over all
nations. And
1
have come here to
tell you that it is going to happen in
our generation.
"Peace is going to come. And it's
going to come because ... all
nations are going to be taught and
are going to have to live in the way
of give and the way of love and not
in the way of lust for power, not in
the way of selfishness and greed, in
vanity exalting the self above
others ... All of our troubles come
because we have lived the wrong
way. We've brought these troubles
on ourselves."
End to Power Struggles
This world is composed of an end–
less array of
struggles for power
among nations.
lt
should be
obvious by now that until these
struggles are brought to an end,
mankind will not experience peace.
But they will be brought to an
end-suddenly!
"And the seventh angel sounded;
and there were great voices in heav–
en, saying, The kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of
our Lord, and of his Christ; and he
shall reign for ever and ever" (Rev.
11:15).
Mankind won't appreciate this
divine intervention at first.
"And the nations were angry and
thy wrath is come, and the time of
the [nations] tbat they should be
judged, and that thou shouldest
give reward unto thy servants the
prophets, and to the saints, and
them that fear thy name, small and
great; and shouldest destroy them
which destroy the earth" (verse 18,
from the original Greek).
Only after Christ returns will the
nations, each without fear of his
neighbor, be able to "beat their
swords into plowshares and their
spears into pruning hooks" (Isa.
2:4, Micah 4:3).
Men always want to put the cart
before the horse. Nations deliber–
ate the need for disarmament. Yet
44
disarmament can never
precede
peace. Peace must come first,
which means the coming of the
Kingdom of God to put an end to
the world's power struggles- and
to the unseen influence of Satan.
And in this Kingdom, the
King-Jesus Christ- will judge
the world with righteousness (Psa.
96:13, 98:9, Acts 17 :31, Rev.
19:11 ). A nation with grievances or
disputations against a neighbor
state, legitimate or imagined, will
receive a hearing, and the judgment
imposed will be fair and honest,
backed up with all the power of the
u
niverse, not a toothless world
court.
Peace: An Attrlbute of God
True peace, believe it or not, is not
·a trait of human nature, but is an
attribute of God, reflecting God's
mind.
Peace results from going the
right way: God's way. It is listed as
one of the major fruits (meaning
products or results) of living
according to the influence of the
Spirit- the mind and attitude--of
God (Gal. 5:22).
The opposite of peace-"the
works of the flesh"-is "hatred
. .. wrath, strife, seditions . .."
(verse 20). This sounds like a litany
of the horrors we witness not only
in the Middle East, but world–
wide.
Peace is far more than merely
the absence of war. Peace can be
defined as a "state of tranquility
and quiet."
It
signifies harmony,
un.ity and likemindedness.
When all men and nations every–
where are in harmony with God
and his spiritual law
we wi/1 have
peace.
Simple as that!
We find in
1
Corinthians 14:33
that God is the
author- the
cre–
ator--of peace. "Great peace," we
are told in Psalms 119: 165, "bave
they which love tby law."
When the knowledge of God's
way fills the earth as the waters
cover the sea (lsa. 11 :9), there will
indeed be "great peace." And great
prosperity also, as nations will no
longer devote time and money to
armaments production and the
planning for war C'neither shall
they learn war any more"- Isaiah
2:4).
We are told that the whole earth,
after Jesus Cbrist returns, will be
"at rest" and "quiet"- living in a
condition of peace {lsa. 14:7).
The law of God is the
cause
that
wi ll produce the right
effect–
world peace. Significantly, the pro–
mulgation of God's 1aw will ema–
nate from the Middle East, the
source of so much heartache and
bloodshed today.
"For out of Zion shall go forth
the ' law, and the word of the Lord
from
Jerusa/em"
(Isa. 2:3, last
part). Jerusalem will be the capital
of the coming World Tomorrow. It
will no longer be the chief bone of
contention between major nations
and teligions.
Not long ago Jordan's King Hus–
sein remarked: "The Almighty in
his wisdom, did not make Jerusa–
lem that important and touchy a
point in the hearts and souls of all
of us- Jews or Christians or Mos–
lems-except to offer us a chal–
lenge to learn how to respect each
other and live together. Jerusalem
must be the essence of peace, a
symbol of peace."
Not many years from now Jeru–
salem will be more than a mere
essenc~
or an aspiration for peace.
It will be the very fountainhead of
peace, for the benefit of nations
around the world.
"Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and ·
be glad with her, all ye that love
her.... For thus saith the Lord,
Behold, 1 will extend
peace
to ber
like a river, and the glory of the
Gentiles like a flowing stream . . ."
(lsaiah 66:10 and 12).
There will be an end to war
but
no end to peace,
as we read:
"For unto us a child [Christ's
first coming] is born, unto us a son
is given: and the
government
shall
be upon bis shoulder: and his name
shall be called Wonderful Counsel–
lor, The mighty God, The everlast–
ing Father,
The Prince of Peace.
"Of the increase of his govern–
ment
and peace
there shall be no
end, upon the throne of David, and
upon his kingdom to order
ii,
and
to establish it with judgment and
with justice from henceforth even
for ever. The zeal of the Lord of
hosts will perform this" {lsa. 9:6-
7),
o
The author accompanied Editor- in-Chief
Herbert W. Armstrong on his recent trip to the
Middle East.
The
PLAIN TRUTH