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tianity to be the spiritual Savior
ot
the world, also torecast the overal l,
general sequence of events that
would characterize the world trom
His time to now and right on into
the tuture.
Jesus Christ
ot
Nazareth was an
up-to-date
futurist
in the truest
sense
ot
that term. He talked not
only
ot
the mind-bending, fast-mov–
ing, sometimes horrifying events to
presage His second coming, but
also of a wonderful world to come.
He spoke directly
ot
an altogether
ditterent kind
ot
society that would
envelop the earth in future ages.
The rel igious leaders
ot
Jesus'
day thought they had backed Him
into a cerner with a trick question
about marriage and the resurrec–
tion . But He deftly sidestepped their
picky question by informing them
ot
the never-before-heard-ot condi–
tions of tomorrow's world. He spe–
cifically torecast: " But those who
are accounted worthy to attain to
that age and to the resurrection
from the dead neither marry nor are
given in marriage, for
they cannot
die any more . . ."
(Luke 20:35-36,
RSV).
Have you ever heard
ot
a world in
which people don't die any more?
Visionary tuturists of our day con–
template a tantastic world with a
vastly lengthened lite-span made
possible by replacement parts
for worn-out body organs. But
8
how many of them envision the
ultimate: "They cannot die any
more"? In perhaps the old–
est Gospel account-that
ot
the book
ot
Mark-
Jesus Christ entered
into the country of Ga–
lilee, "preaching the
gospel of God, and
saying, 'The time is
tulfilled, and the king–
dom
ot
God is at
hand; repent, and be–
lieve the gospel' "
(Mark 1:14-15, RSV).
In the Greek language,
the word
euaggelion,
sometimes translated
evange–
/os, is better rendered into the
English language as "good news. "
Equally acceptable in the Eng lish
language would be " the glad tid–
ings," or simply " the gospel. "
The Good News
So "good news" means the " gos–
pel. " When Jesus commanded His
disciples to go into all the world and
preach the gospel
ot
the Kingdom
ot
God to all the world as a witness, He
could just as easily have said, had He
been speaking in the Engl ish lan–
guage: "Go you therefore into all
nations, announcing the good news
of my soon-coming Kingdom to rule
the world." So the essence
ot
the
Great Commission to the Church
ot
God involves preaching
good news.
However, on the other side of the
coin , the conclusion is inescapable
that, excepting general statements
and parables about the Kingdom of
God and short declarations about
"the world to come" (and those
mostly in direct relationship to the
problems and affairs
of this lite),
there is not all that much material in
the tour Gospel accounts about the
wonderful world tomorrow
per
se. In
terms of sheer volume in the Gos–
pels, Jesus Christ dealt mostly with
the problems a human being has in
this present lite on his way into the
Kingdom of God. Condit ions in to–
morrow's world are simply not the
subject of whole chapters in the tour
Gospel accounts.
Ot
course, Jesus Christ of Naza–
reth continual ly reterred to what was
written in the Old Testament as au–
thoritat ive. He supported and en–
dorsed its contents. And almost
every prophetic writing in the Old
Testament
contrasts
coming calami–
ties brought on by massive disobedi–
ence with the good news of
tomorrow's world.
For instance, the first chapter of
lsaiah is a stinging indictment
against a sick nation so satiated with
sin that the whole country is plagued
with putritying sores trom head to
toe. lsaiah likens the whole nation to
the vileness
ot
Sodom and Gomor–
rah . He then calls tor national repen–
tance after telling them their "hands
are tul l
ot
blood" (meaning sense–
less, violent, brutal murders in their
cities and towns). "Wash your–
selves: make yourselves clean; re–
move the evi l
ot
your doings from
betore my eyes; cease to do evil ,
learn to do good; seek justice. cor–
rect oppression ; defend the father–
less, plead tor the widow" (lsa. 1:15-
17, RSV).
Yet in chapter two, lsaiah goes on
to tell of the time when " many
people shal l go and say, Come ye,
and let us go up to the mountain of
the Lord, to the house
ot
the God of
Jacob; and he will teach us of His
ways, and we wil l walk in his paths :
for out
ot
Zion shal l go torth the law,
and the word of the Lord trom Jeru–
salem. And he shall judge among
the nations, and shall rebuke many
people: and they shall beat their
swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks: nation
shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any
more" (lsa. 2:3-4, RSV).
Chapter three of lsaiah " lapses"
back into warnings
ot
stern punish–
ments such as tamine, the erosion
ot
tru ly effective leadership, hatred be–
tween young and old, and many
other evi ls sure to come on any
disobedient nation. Chapter nine
prophesies again
ot
God's govern–
ment with Christ at its helm here on
earth. Chapter ten then condemns
the political corruption and chica–
nery
ot
this present evil world.
Then chapter eleven goes into a
rather detailed description
ot
uta–
pian condit ions in the world _tomor-
The
PLAIN TRUTH October-November 1977