Jesus, The World's Saviour |
The aim of these pages is not to frighten or depress: there is enough to be distressed about without adding to it. What we have said so far does look rather pessimistic, but we have already hinted at answers and solutions - something much more optimistic. We must now come to that - and give the Bible a fair hearing. Please let it speak: it really does make a lot of sense. Never let it be said that you turned away from an opportunity to learn the truth about this planet's fate.
The Bible really does have the answer. The Bible is a realistic book: it is not a collection of fairy tales, nor of idealistic nonsense. It paints a realistic picture of all that is wrong with the world and with mankind; it presents a sober assessment of the problem, and it offers a sensible solution.
The apostle Peter, speaking in Jerusalem shortly after Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, and then ascended to heaven, promised:
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Jerusalem |
There is much more to be said about this speech of Peter's and the conclusions he draws, and the demands he makes, in the words which follow on from the above; but let us just consider the short extract quoted. It speaks categorically of "times of refreshing", "the times of restoration of all things". That is cheering news: there is a plan, a long-standing and a long-term plan, to put this world in order, to make it once more "very good". And the plan was revealed long ago through "his holy prophets".
![]() Hebrew Scroll of the Old Testament |
The answer, then, lies in the books of Israel's ancient prophets. Dry, dusty, untrustworthy old myths? What relevance can Hebrew scrolls from several thousand years ago have for today? Well, let them first speak. Here are a couple of examples:
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Too good to be true? An answer, at a stroke, to the ecological disasters of the world; to man's chronic diseases and depressions? That's how it would appear.
"They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their
spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war any more"
Micah 4:3 |
These words from the prophet Micah became the motto for the United Nations. The UN was set up in the aftermath of the Second World War in the hope that disputes between nations could be settled peacefully, and that war could be avoided. Sadly, it was not to be. While the UN has often helped to reduce tensions between nations, it has not been able to eliminate war - nor will it ever succeed in doing so. What the Lord God says through Micah, however, is that He will judge between nations, and through His intervention, wars will ultimately cease. |
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Inscription at UN Headquarters in New York |
How will it happen? To understand this, we have to review (very briefly!) the whole of Bible history - the whole of God's revealed purpose. It started, as we have seen, in Eden. It progressed through the time of Noah and the Flood; on to the age of Abraham and the Jewish patriarchs, who received very important promises of a Land and a People; forward then to the nation of Israel, whom God brought into the 'Promised Land'.
We move to the history of the kings (Saul, David, Solomon and their successors) and prophets (Isaiah, Daniel, Micah and many others), and learn from their writings what God had in mind for the restoration of all that had gone wrong.
Much of what the prophets wrote had to do with the Jews - their future tribulations and their final restoration one day to their own land. But the restoration of Israel would be bound up with God's greater purpose with the earth, and with the coming of one very special person: the Son of God.
Speaking of the kingdom of Israel, the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel said:
''I will make it overthrown! It shall be no longer, until he
comes whose right it is, and I will give it to him"
Ezekiel 21:27 |
There is no real break between the Old Testament and the New Testament, and it is in the pages of the New Testament that the spotlight falls on that special person.
Jesus of Nazareth, born to Mary, was truly the Son of God, and in him all the predictions of the prophets were fulfilled. His sufferings were foretold:
"He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief ... He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as
a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth ... he
bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors"
Isaiah 53:3,7,12 |
There is no doubt about the historical truth of the life and death of Jesus the preacher. We have little difficulty in imagining that someone who said the sort of things he said would indeed get into trouble with the authorities, and it is not hard to believe that he was sentenced to a cruel death by crucifixion. But what about "He bore the sin of many ..."? Again, there is no great difficulty in understanding the words, especially if we look a little more deeply into the background of the Old Testament.
To be brief, we can say that Jesus Christ died because, unlike Adam and Eve (and the rest of mankind), he would not rebel against God's wishes. His desire was always to obey God - his Father - and he was prepared to submit even to death. Yet he had done no wrong! He is the only one since creation who has not been disobedient to God's commands. Because of his obedience, God did not leave him in the grave: He miraculously raised the murdered Christ, calling him out of the stone tomb, never to die again.
We refer to the death of Jesus Christ as a sacrifice, because it was the death of a man giving himself willingly for the sake of all who would be his followers. Through that sacrifice God can accept us back into His favour, and has promised that (if we believe and associate ourselves with His Son), He will grant us eternal life in a restored and perfected earth. Forty days after he rose from the dead, Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, and he is there now as the Lord and Saviour of those who want to be his disciples.
In God's plan, the Lord Jesus Christ is destined to return literally to the earth.When he was taken up into heaven, angels assured his puzzled followers:
"Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in
like manner as you saw him go into heaven"
Acts 1:11 |
So Jesus is alive now, and only his coming back to the earth will bring about an end to all the havoc that mankind has wrought upon it.
But how can he achieve this? What power has Jesus to stand up against all the vested interests and might of superpowers and the evil intrigues of men and nations? They killed him once before - could it not happen again?
The reply we give is that Jesus is not this time to be the "babe of Bethlehem", nor the dying man on the cross. He is the risen Son of God, and has been given "all authority in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). He, the first of all mankind, has been granted an immortal nature; and when he comes back to earth, he has no need to fear the world's politicians. He will have his own laws, his own government, and will set about forming his own Kingdom in which he will rule for God. He will be opposed, certainly, but he will achieve his purpose, and man's ambitions will be put down. "Doesn't this sound like a dictator?" you may say. Perhaps it does, but not a merciless, selfish dictator; rather a dictator in the better sense of a leader who will rule with complete authority in the world's best interests.
That, in fact, is what Peter was thinking about when he talked of "times of refreshing" and "the times of restoration of all things". This, very briefly, is the Bible backdrop to God's New World.