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Just What Does the Bible Mean–
''the End of the World"?
Perhaps you've read the
passages in the Bible about
the "end of the world." Or,
you've heard others speak
or talk of Bible prophecies
about the "end of the
world."
What does this phrase
mean? The original disciples
wondered the same thing.
Alter listening to Jesus
preach in the Temple in
Jerusalem, the disciples
Peter, James, John and
Andrew came privately to
Christ and asked him
" ... what shall be ... the
end of the world?" (Matt.
24:3).
In the rest of the chapter,
Christ explains the events
leading up to the end. But
what specifically was meant
by " the end of the world"?
Oid Jesus mean the literal
obliteration of the physical
earth? Will the earth explode
in bill ions of fragments and
become specks of cosmic
dust? Or does this
statement mean that the
planet will be cremated by a
nuclear holocaust? Many
have wondered .
The good news is that
none
o! the above
conjectures is true! The
Bible reveals that this earth
will survive and prosper!
In the King James
Version, when referring to
"the end of the world," the
Greek word for "world" is
aion.
lt does not mean "world"
in the sense of a physical
globe. lt is better translated
"age," and is so rendered
in the Revised Standard
Version, New lnternational
and many other Bible
translations.
What then does the end
of the
age
signify?
First notice that the return
of Christ and the end of the
age
coincide.·
" what will be
the sign of your !Christ'sl
coming
and
o! the end of
the age?" (Matt. 24:3, NIV).
Few realize that Jesus is
returning to set up his
world-ruling government.
When he returns, he will
subdue all existing human
governments and replace
them with a perfect, divinely
controlled system (Dan.
2:44; lsa. 2:2-4). This act
will
end
the age of
man,
and
begin a new age .
Perhaps you did not know
that God allotted humans
6,000 years to work out
their own governments,
religions and educational
institutions and bui ld a
civil ization
apart
from God's
revealed way of lite.
As history records, man
has failed to control or
resolve 1he complex
problems of war, crime,
poverty, inflation, lamine and
disease. As this 6,000-year
period draws to a close,
man's problems will mount
until he threatens himself
with destruction and
extinction.
When this climactic point
arrives, Christ will
dramatically intervene (Matt.
24:21-22; Rev. 11 :15;
1
Thess. 4:16), saving
mankind from its
own
nuclear folly!
Thus, lar from causing the
destruction of the physical
earth, Jesus will return to
end
this "present evil age
IGreek:
aionl"
(Gal. 1:4,
RSV), bringing an age of
unprecedented
peace,
prosperity and harmony (lsa.
35: 1-10).
You need to understand
the basic reason why men
and women cannot resolve
their problems and rationally
govern themselves. For
critically importan!
information about this
subject and also for
knowledge about the
real
late of this physical earth,
write for our free booklets
Never Befare
Understood- Why Humanity
Cannot So/ve lts Evils
and
What is the Reward of the
Saved?
See inside cover for
addresses.
ical law of g ravi ty by stepping off a
10-story build ing, the law would
instead break you! And t he same is
true of God's spiritual laws.
given the chance to prove that he
could properly rule himself a nd
bring peace by his own efforts!
mately, world war a re inevitable.
Men unfortunately believe they
can ignore God 's Ten Command–
ments, summed up into two overall
points by Jesus Christ: that fi rst
you must love God above all, fol–
lowed by a deep !ove and concern
for others (Mat t. 22:36-40).
When Chris t returns to cut sho rt
man's onslaught agains t his neigh–
bor, will people rejoice and praise
God for his intervention? " ... all
the nations of the earth will
mourn.
They will see the Son of Man com–
ing on the clouds of the sky, with
power
and
great glory"
(Mat t.
24:30, N IV) .
The sad t ru th is that
if
God
intervened sooner, even today at
this moment, man's attit ude is such
that he would
argue
that he wasn't
August 1982
The result of thi s attitude?
"Therefore a curse [brought auto–
matically by man's disobedience]
consumes the earth; its peo ple must
bear their gui lt. Therefore earth's
inhabitants are
burned up ,
and very
few are left" ( l sa. 24:6, NIV).
The End to Nuclear Warfare
Ironical ly, many prominent scien–
t ists, pol iticians, world leaders are
calling today for what would be
the onl y e ffective solu tio n to
nuclear dest ruction. T heir solution
for prevention is well summed up
in this stateme nt by Albert Ein–
stein : "I am definitely
not
of the
opinion that the danger of war can
be eliminated without world gov–
ernment. Without such a conc rete
safeguard, t he arms race and, ulti-
" To 'ou tlaw' anything is of no
value," he cont inued . "We know
from long experience . .. that with–
out safegua rds such obligations,
however honestly intended , are not
honored in the event of war."
Man has passed the point of no
return. Regardless of his efforts to
suppress the proliferation of nu–
clear weaponry, sooner o r late r
someone will
use
nuclear weapon–
ry.
The concept of world govern–
ment , whi le hailed as a solut ion to
nuclear war, is at the same time
universally recognized as unattain–
able by mankind . Witness the dip–
lomatic jumble that occurs at the
United Nat ions.
The real and only solut ion was
touched on by a major U .S. news–
magazine a few years ago. One of
(Continued on page 42)
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