The September
11 terrorist attacks on America continue to weigh heavily on the minds of most
Americans. How wonderful it is for those who have been saved by the blood of
Christ that we can face tragic events like these with the knowledge that our
eternal future is secure in our Father’s hands (John 10:29)!

Many people are
asking questions such as “Where was God in all of this?” “Why did He allow it
to happen?” “Can any good come out of all this?” While wrestling with such
questions, my thinking has taken me down several different roads. All of the
articles in this issue relate to our attempts to learn God’s lessons for us
from the terrorist attacks.

1. Perhaps God
has allowed the attacks on America to reflect back to us our own attitudes and
behavior. These ideas are explored in “Reflections from the Towers.”

2. A parallel
might be drawn between Osama bin Laden, the presumed mastermind behind the
terrorist attacks, and the ancient Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Three times
the LORD referred to Nebuchadnezzar as “My servant” (Jer. 25:4-9; 27:4-7;
43:8-13).  The LORD used this godless, God-hating (Dan. 3:14-20) monarch to
bring the nation of Israel to its knees (2 Ki. 24,25; 2 Chron. 36).  When that
work was complete, God brought Nebuchadnezzar himself to his knees (Dan. 4:32).
Is it possible that bin Laden, who has no love for the God of Christians, has
been raised up by God to be His “servant” to scourge a nation that is
increasingly turning away from their God and His Son Jesus Christ? If this is
so, then we surely can count upon the Lord Himself to bring bin Laden down …
but not until He has first brought America to its knees. Two articles help us
to learn more about King Nebuchadnezzar.

3. The lesson
Jesus gave to the people concerning the collapse of a tower in Siloam may apply
as well to the collapse of the towers in New York City. The enclosed gospel
tract, “The Twin Towers,” examines this connection.

4. A Christian
woman recently asked my wife and me how the events of September 11 tied in with
biblical prophecies concerning the end times. Her particular reason for asking
this question was to find out whether she should quit her job and spend the
rest of her days until the Lord’s coming ministering the gospel to the unsaved.
Isn’t that neat? Would that we all had such a love for souls! Actually,
Scripture does not give us any specific events—wars or otherwise—that help us
to predict when the rapture (that is, the Lord’s coming for His people) will
occur. The article, “The Second Coming of Christ,” discusses this point. Any
decision as to giving up our regular employment in order to devote our lives to
the gospel should be made, not with respect to events around us, but with the
firm conviction that it is the Lord who is calling us to do so.
Meanwhile, all believers are called upon to “do the work of an evangelist” (2
Tim. 4:5); there is much that we can do during our coffee breaks, lunch hours,
evenings, weekends, and retirement years for the Lord. Let us redeem the time (Eph.
5:16).

5. If we were
called upon to give counsel to the families of the victims, what would we say?
“Counseling the Grieving and Hurting” makes a few suggestions.

6. The recent
events serve as a poignant reminder of the brevity of life and the suddenness
of death. The following hymn expresses it well:

 

Life at best is very brief,

Like the falling of a leaf,

Life the binding of a sheaf,

Be in time.

Fleeting days are telling fast

That the die will soon be cast,

And the fatal line be passed,

Be in time.

 

Time is gliding swiftly by,

Death and judgment draweth nigh,

To the arms of Jesus fly,

Be in time.

Oh, I pray you count the cost,

Ere the fatal line be crossed,

And your soul in hell be lost,

Be in time.

 

May the Lord
help each of us as we talk to others about these tragic events and what they
may mean.  May we be given wisdom from above to provide answers from the Bible
to peoples’ questions.

“With the
merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful; with an upright man Thou wilt show
Thyself upright … and with the froward Thou wilt show Thyself froward” (Psa.
18:25,26). This is one of the verses that came to mind in the wake of the
recent terrorist attacks upon the World Trade Center towers and elsewhere in
America. It tells us that God at times reflects back to us—both as individuals
and as a nation—our attitudes and behavior. Haven’t we all experienced it? If
we drive courteously or are helpful to other people, we find other drivers
being courteous to us and other people being helpful to us. If we cheat other
people, we find other people cheating us.

God’s
reflecting mirror is also seen in Psa. 109:17; Isa. 33:1; Matt. 5:7; Rev.
13:10; and 16:6.

We surely do
not condone the violent and murderous actions of the terrorists; the leaders
must be found and brought to justice. However, I cannot help but wonder if God
has permitted this violence against America in order to reflect back to us the
violence we Americans have been legally and approvingly inflicting upon our
fellow Americans in recent decades. Physical violence has been brought upon
millions of unborn babies; this is legal and widely accepted. Emotional
violence has been brought upon millions of children and teenagers when Dads and
Moms decide they do not love their life partners anymore, are not willing to
make the personal sacrifices stated in their wedding vows, and divorce one
another; this is legal and widely accepted. Moral violence is being brought
unremittingly by the entertainment industry upon citizens young and old; our
nation’s moral values are twisted to the point where we “call evil good, and
good evil” (Isa. 5:20); this too is legal and widely accepted and defended.

Very
appropriately, there was national mourning for the thousands who died when the
twin towers were destroyed. But don’t we kind of shrug our shoulders when we
read of the victims of 17,000 murders, 16,000 drunk driving fatalities, 90,000
rapes, and over a million other violent crimes committed in America each year?
An estimated 20 percent of adult Americans were victims of sexual abuse as
children. Well over a million American women annually are beaten—severely
enough to receive police and medical attention—by their husbands, ex-husbands,
or lovers, and some 3,000 die as a result. (Physical abuse of husbands by wives
is less common, but still substantial.) Sadly, this is not at all a phenomenon
confined to non-Christians and alcoholics. A study has shown that physical
battering of wives occurs in about four percent of Christian families. Does our
outrage toward the perpetrators of these acts of violence approach that which
we have toward the terrorists who have attacked America?

Let us bring it
even closer to home to us who are God’s children:Every time we lose our temper
(Jas. 1:19; Eph. 4:31), make a false accusation against our brother (Exod.
20:16), spread an evil—even if true—report about another person (Rom. 1:29;
Jas. 5:20; 1 Pet. 4:8), fight with our siblings over an inheritance (Luke
12:13-15), or call a person a bad name (Matt. 5:22), we are acting violently
against our fellow men. The Lord Jesus equated some of these behaviors to
murder when He said, “You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You
shall not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment;
but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause
[most often the case] shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall
say to his brother, Raca [or worthless], shall be in danger of the council; but
whosoever shall say, You fool [or moron], shall be in danger of hell fire”
(Matt. 5:21,22).

Yes indeed, the
leaders of the terrorists must be found and brought to justice. But at the same
time, may we all—both as individuals and as a nation—do some serious
soul-searching about our own little acts of violence and attacks upon America.

“Search me, O
God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any
wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa. 139:23,24).

“The LORD has
sent unto you all His servants the prophets … but you have not hearkened, nor
inclined your ear to hear. They said, Turn again now every one from his evil
way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has
given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever; and go not after other
gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke Me not to anger with the
works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt. Yet you have not hearkened unto
me, says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, Because you have not
heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,
says the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will
bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against
all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them…. Moreover I
will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of
the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and
the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an
astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years. And
it shall come to pass, when 70 years are accomplished, that I will punish the
king of Babylon and that nation, says the LORD, for their iniquity” (Jer.
25:4-12).

The prophet
addresses himself to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, not to the rulers as
such. For 23 years he had exercised his office among them, declaring the word
of the LORD. Since the 13th year of Josiah, when the reforms were going on, to
the present, when idolatry prevailed everywhere, he had spoken unto them,
“rising early and speaking,” but they would not hearken. Other servants and
prophets had preceded him, but to them likewise they had turned a deaf ear. The
messages of all had been in a great measure alike. They said, “Turn again now
every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings … and I will do
you no hurt.” But there had been no response nor sign of repentance that He
might not be provoked to anger.

Because the
people had refused to hearken, the northern army led by Nebuchadnezzar, whom
the LORD calls “My servant,” should be brought against them and the nations
round about them who had seduced them into their idolatrous practices. All joy
and gladness, as well as all that told of a people pursuing the ordinary
avocations of life, should cease, and the whole land should become a
desolation. It was not to be forever, however, but “these nations shall serve
the king of Babylon 70 years.”

This period is
a most significant one. When the children of Israel were about to enter the
promised land, the LORD told them that every seventh year was to be a sabbath
in which the ground was to lie fallow. Here is the commandment:“Speak unto the
children of Israel and say unto them, When you come into the land which I give
you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD. Six years you shall sow
your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in the
fruit thereof. But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the
land, a sabbath for the LORD:you shall neither sow your field, nor prune your
vineyard. That which grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap,
neither gather the grapes of your vine undressed:for it is a year of rest unto
the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for you, and for
your servant, and for your maid, and for your hired servant, and for your
stranger that sojourns with you, and for your cattle, and for the beast that
are in your land, shall all the increase thereof be meat” (Lev. 25:2-7).

A promise of
assured prosperity, if observed, was also given, for we read, “And if you shall
say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather
in our increase, then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year,
and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And you shall sow the eighth
year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in
you shall eat of the old store” (Lev. 25:20-22). Thus there would be no
lack, but an abundant supply, if they kept the year of rest and gave the land
its sabbath, in this way acknowledging their divine ownership and themselves
Jehovah’s servants.

Not only did He
promise blessing if His Word was obeyed, but through Moses He solemnly warned
them of judgment if they failed to give ear to His commandments. If they walked
contrary to Him, He would walk contrary to them; and He declared, “I will
scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you:and your
land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her
sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, and you be in your enemies’ land …
because it did not rest in your sabbaths when you dwelt upon it (Lev.
26:33-35). And in verse 43 of the same chapter He says, “The land also shall be
left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lies desolate without
them; and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity because …
they despised My judgments, and because their soul abhorred My statutes.”

Selfish Judah,
doubtless, reasoned that time would be gained and wealth more rapidly
accumulated if the year of rest were allowed to pass unobserved. They had to
learn the truth of the words, “Those who honor Me I will honor, and those who
despise Me shall be lightly esteemed” (1 Sam. 2:30). So it has been with many
self-seeking children of God ever since. Time spent in waiting upon Him has
been esteemed as time lost. Many are too busy to give Him His portion.
Business, pleasure, everything that begins and ends with self, in short, must
come first, leaving little or no time for Him. But He invariably balances things
at last. Many a saint has spent long, weary months and years on a bed of
languishing, for the simple reason that the things of God were crowded out and
neglected in days of health and vigor. Yet, blessed be His name, as in the case
of His earthly people, the days of captivity have been made to become days of
great fruitfulness. It was in their subjection to the Babylonian yoke that
Judah learned to abhor idols. Never has the nation offended on that ground
since. The seasons of the Lord’s chastening are not lost time. Afterward they
yield “the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby”
(Heb. 12:11).

The discipline
over and the lost sabbatical years made up, the nation of Judah was to be
permitted to return to their land “When 70 years are accomplished, I will
punish the king of Babylon and that nation, says the LORD, for their iniquity”
(Jer. 25:12). The overthrow of Babylon would be the signal that Israel’s
redemption had drawn nigh. Daniel, it will be remembered, was a student of the
writings of the former prophets, and it is recorded that he “understood by
books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the
prophet, that He would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem”
(Dan. 9:2). He had God’s sure word, and he knew that he could rely on it.
Jeremiah but spoke the words that, by the inspiration of the Almighty, had been
given him.

It is
noticeable that Babylon, having been permitted to destroy Jerusalem, and having
been the instrument of Jehovah’s discipline, should in her turn be utterly
destroyed for her manifold abominations. “Judgment must begin at the house of
God” (1 Pet. 4:17). However, the nations will not escape. Jer. 25:15-26 gives a
list in detail of the various peoples to whose lips the wine cup of Jehovah’s
fury must be pressed. “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the
ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Pet. 4:18). How the nations were made to
drink and to fall before the might of Jehovah has been for long ages a matter
of authentic history.

(From Notes
on Jeremiah, Loizeaux, Neptune, NJ; used by permission.)

In Job 33:14-17
we are told, “For God speaks once, yea twice, yet man perceives it not. In a
dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumberings
upon the bed. Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, that
He may withdraw man from his purpose [or work], and hide pride from man.” This
is how God often speaks to men where they have not open Bibles to give them the
clear revelation of His will. He has many ways of reaching those who seem bent
upon their own destruction. The fourth chapter of Daniel is a remarkable
example of God’s matchless grace, and illustrates most preciously the words
just quoted.

God had spoken the
first time to Nebuchadnezzar in giving him the dream of the great image of
the times of the Gentiles (Dan. 2). But the heart of the king was willful, and
he continued to go on with his own purpose, in his pride and folly. God spoke
to Nebuchadnezzar the second time by the marvelous vision of the Son of
God in the midst of the fiery furnace, keeping His faithful witnesses from all
danger and harm (Dan. 3). But again the proud king kept on his way, with
insubmissive heart and unsubdued will. Now God speaks the third time,
and this in a most humiliating manner, to the confusion of this great
world-ruler before his princes.

In the passage
in Job, Elihu goes on to show that when dreams and visions do not avail, God
sometimes allows disease to grip the body till the poor sinner is broken in
spirit and crushed in heart, ready at last to cry, “I have sinned, and
perverted that which was right, and it profited me not!” (Job 33:27). Then “He
will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the
light” (verse 28).

So in Daniel 4,
written by Nebuchadnezzar himself, and preserved and incorporated into the
volume of inspiration by Daniel, we have the interesting account of the means
God used to bring this haughty king to the end of himself, and lead him to
abase himself before the Majesty in the heavens. In other words, this is
Nebuchadnezzar’s conversion, and seems clearly to show that a work of grace
took place in his soul before he laid down the scepter entrusted to his hand by
Jehovah.

There is a
typical meaning too, no doubt. In Nebuchadnezzar we see a picture of all
Gentile power and its departure from God, its degradation and bestial
character, and its final subjugation to God in the time of the end, when Christ
shall return in glory and all nations shall bow before Him, owning His
righteous rule.

Nebuchadnezzar
was the embodiment of authority given from heaven:“The powers that be are
ordained of God” (Rom. 13:1). But the king’s madness depicts the turning away
of the nations from God and the corruption of governments to serve human ends.
Has not this been characteristic of the great ones of this world? Instead of
kings standing for God and acting as His representatives to maintain justice
and judgment in the earth, do we not find pride, self-will, covetousness, and
self-seeking generally controlling them? All this is pictured by the debasement
of Nebuchadnezzar when his heart was changed to the heart of a beast, and he
was driven forth to eat grass like the oxen of the fields.

But the day
draws near when God will assert Himself, and all Gentile dominion shall come to
an end. Then the long-promised King will shine forth in His glorious majesty,
and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor unto the new
Jerusalem, the heavenly throne-city of the coming kingdom. Then will the
nations look up as redeemed men, and not down as the beasts that perish.

Even in this
present age history teaches us the value of a national recognition of God’s
moral government. We have heard of the heathen chieftain who came from his
distant domain to visit Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. One day he asked
her if she would tell him the secret of England’s progress and greatness. For
answer, it is said, the queen presented him with a Bible, saying, “This book
will tell you.” Who can doubt that according to the measure in which that Book
of books has been believed and loved by any people, God has honored them; and
you will find that every nation that has welcomed and protected the gospel has
been cared for and blessed in a special way. On the other hand, let there be a
national rejection of His Word, as in the case of the French nation, who were
among the first favored by Him in Reformation times, but drove out the truth He
gave them, and you will find disaster following disaster.

But let us now
turn directly to our chapter for a concrete example of all this. It begins
with:“Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that
dwell in all the earth” (Dan. 4:1). This comes home to my heart in a most
marked way. I realize that I am reading the personal testimony of one who was
in some respects the greatest monarch this world has ever known; I am
privileged to have his own account of how he—a proud, self-willed man—was
brought to repentance and to the saving knowledge of the God of all grace!

What a miracle
this is! In fact, every conversion is a miracle—every soul that is saved knows
that it is to be dealt with in supernatural power. It is God alone who changes
men about like this. He picks up a vile, wretched sinner and makes him a holy,
happy saint. He works in the drunkard’s soul and changes him to a sober, useful
member of society. He breaks down the proud and stubborn, and they become meek
and lowly, easy to be entreated. Are not these things miracles? Indeed they
are, and they are being enacted all around us; yet men sneer and say that the
miraculous never happens in this law-controlled, workaday world of ours! Oh
that men might have their eyes opened to see and their ears to hear
what God in His grace is doing on the basis of the one offering for sin of His
blessed Son upon the cross!

“I thought it
good,” Nebuchadnezzar goes on, “to show the signs and wonders that the high God
has wrought toward me. How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to
generation” (Dan. 4:2,3). What a splendid confession this is, and how different
from his previous acknowledgments in chapters 2 and 3! Ah, his conscience has
been reached now, and he knows God for himself, and delights to tell of His
signs and wonders wrought toward him! He owns Him now not as a
god, but as the one true and living God whose kingdom rules over all, and shall
continue forevermore. This is not the millennial kingdom of Christ of which he
speaks, but God’s moral government of the universe, which nothing ever alters
for a moment.

And now I would
like to be very personal, and press some questions home upon each listener.
Have you ever been brought into direct contact with Him, so that you can speak
confidently of what He has done for your soul? Have you been humbled by getting
a sight of yourself as a lost, undone sinner before Him? Have you owned
yourself unclean and undone, in dire need of sovereign mercy? And do you know
what it is to have fled for refuge to the very God against whom you have sinned
so grievously, and to have found in His Son our Lord Jesus Christ a hiding
place from the judgment your sins deserved?

Before God
awakened Nebuchadnezzar, he had been “at rest in [his] house, and flourishing
in [his] palace” (verse 4). There is a deceitful rest and peace that lulls many
a soul into a false security. To be untroubled is no evidence of safety. Be
sure that your peace is founded on the blood of Christ shed upon the cross.

Nebuchadnezzar
tells us how he was aroused from that false security in which he had dwelt so
long. “I saw a dream,” he says, “that made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my
bed and the visions of my head troubled me” (verse 5). God saw that he needed
to be troubled—he needed to be awakened from his sleep of death. It was grace
that thus exercised him. And in some way every soul that is saved has to pass
through this period of soul-anxiety and concern. Nebuchadnezzar turned, as
before, to the wrong source for help in his time of difficulty. He called in
his magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers, to whom he narrated his
dream, but to no avail. At last Daniel came in, and to him the king turned
expectantly and related his dream (verses 6-18).

The meaning was
evidently clear to Daniel from the first, but we are told that he was
astonished for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. Nebuchadnezzar must
have discerned the anxiety and sorrow in the face of his minister, for he spoke
in a way to give him confidence to proceed with the interpretation. It is a
blessed thing for any soul to get to the place where he can say, “Give me God’s
word, and let me know it is His word, and I will receive it, no matter
how it cuts and interferes with my most cherished thoughts.”

“My lord,
Daniel answered, “the dream be to those who hate you, and the interpretation
thereof to your enemies. He then proceeded to explain the dream. Nebuchadnezzar
had been set by God in a special place of prominence in the earth as the head
of all peoples and dominions. But he was to be humbled to the very lowest
depths (verses 19-27).

All happened
exactly as Daniel had said, for Nebuchadnezzar, still not humbled, though he
had listened so respectfully to the words of the prophet, walked one day, a
year later, in the palace of his kingdom overlooking the city. As he walked he
said to himself, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of
the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” (verses
28-30). Thus did Nebuchadnezzar forget how he was indebted to the most high God
for the position he occupied and the riches and the glory of it, and took all
the credit to himself. While the word was in his mouth the decree was spoken,
and he was informed by a voice from heaven that the time had come when the
dream should be fulfilled. The same hour he lost his reason and became a
pitiable spectacle, unfit to associate with his fellows. He was driven from men
into the open fields where he became like the beasts that perish (verses
31-33).

After seven
years Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes; his reason returned to him; he saw
that God had been dealing with him; his lesson was learned; he blessed the most
high God; he turned to Him in repentance; he owned Him as his God; and then he
wrote out this account of his conversion, that others might, with him, be
humbled before the only true God and bless Him for His mercy.

Thus will it be
with the spared nations after the judgments that are to take place in the time
of the end. Nebuchadnezzar aptly typifies all Gentile power, as we have already
noticed. It has been haughty, insolent, and heaven-defying. Forgetting God, the
true source of authority and power, it has become like the beasts of the earth.
You know something of its course since it crucified the Lord of glory. The
nations have been mad—as utterly bereft of all true reason as was the demented
king of Babylon. But the day is nearing when God, in His grace, is going to end
all this and deliver a groaning world from the evils of selfish despotism and
national jealousies. Christ’s personal return from heaven will conclude the
long period of Gentile misrule. Creation groans for the hour when the one true
King will be manifested, when our Lord Jesus Christ “in His times will show who
is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1
Tim. 6:15).

“The blessed
Potentate” means a truly happy ruler! The world has never seen a happy
potentate in the past. Shakespeare’s line has passed into a proverb:“Uneasy
lies the head that wears a crown.” But in the days of our Lord Jesus Christ,
when He takes the rod of power and reigns in righteousness, the world, for the
first time, will see a happy Potentate. Who can measure the happiness of
the Son of God when He descends to take the kingdom for which He has waited so
long; when He has His own beloved bride with Himself to share His glory! Then
“He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied” (Isa. 53:11).

“That happy
Potentate” excludes all sorrow and disappointment. “That only Potentate”
excludes every other rule. Upon His head will be many crowns. Every other crown
will be cast at His feet, and He will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Happy for those, in that day, who have humbled themselves in this, and who,
like Nebuchadnezzar, have owned the righteousness of His dealings with them;
who have confessed their sins before Him; and who will be able to exclaim with
joy, when He descends in majesty, “This is our God:we have waited for Him”
(Isa. 25:9).

Have you bowed
in contrition at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, and trusted Him as your own
Saviour, and owned Him as your rightful Lord? If you have, you can look up and
say with happy confidence, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

(From Lectures
on Daniel the Prophet, Loizeaux, Neptune, NJ; used by permission.)

In presenting
the truth as to the second coming of our Lord Jesus it is imperative that we
follow the clear lines of Holy Scripture. The New Testament is full of this
subject from Matthew to Revelation. But we must distinguish, and not confound,
the closing part of our Christian age and that of the next or Jewish
age—the last week of Daniel’s prophecy (Dan. 9:20-27), the last half being the
time of the great tribulation. The present dispensation is called the “Day of Grace.”
Daniel’s last week will be characterized as the “Day of Trouble” (Jer.
30:7). The millennium that follows is a thousand year period called the “Day of
the Lord” (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10). The eternal state that follows the
millennium is styled the “Day of God” and also the “Day of Eternity” (2 Pet.
3:12,18 JND).   In Daniel, as also in Rev. 6-19, dates are given, but none of
those dates refer to our Christian age. To observe the characteristic features
of our age as given in the Epistles, and the characteristic features of
Daniel’s last week as given in the prophecies, is most important; they should
not be confounded.

Some of the
features that apply to the close of the Christian age have for long been
manifest:the moral and spiritual darkness thickens day by day; but nowhere in
the New Testament have we the least hint as to how long these characteristic
marks may continue. We are now [this was written in the year 1916] about 1900
years on in our Christian age. The spirit of lawlessness had already begun in
the apostle’s day. How much more now (1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:1-13; 1 John
2:18-19).

The world is
now confronted with an appalling war [World War I]. We should not underestimate
the gigantic struggle now going on among the nations. But even this is not the
worst. Darker days are yet in the future. Wars, energized by more than human
agencies, will follow our age; they take place after the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ for His own (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Armageddon, as presented in Rev.
16, will take place at the close of Daniel’s last week—the close of the Day of
Trouble. To have our mind calm and stayed by the Word of God is the great thing
for us.

Predictions
concerning the present war are very harmful. We have seen and heard such
predictions during the last half century, and the enemy has used them to
confuse many and to discredit the truth. Let us all be warned and use great
caution concerning events as they are now taking place.

Within our own
lifetime we can remember the great war that was waged between Russia and Turkey
(two nations that come within the scope of the prophetic Word), and some
thought that the end was at hand. But that conflict passed, peace was restored,
and the Lord did not then come.

Since then
there have been conflicts between Greece and Turkey, Italy and Turkey, and the
Balkan States and Turkey, but each time peace was restored and the end of the
age has not come.

Now we are in
the second year of a war that surpasses all that Europe or the world has ever
yet known or witnessed. What a call for prayer to the whole Church of God! What
earnestness this dread conflict should awaken in the hearts of all the redeemed
people! It is clear that the present world is yet an evil world. As thousands
day by day are violently thrown into eternity, oh for hearts to be stirred and
energized by the Spirit to walk before God and serve the Lord with increased
devotion!

Yet, amid this
dread conflict, let us beware of premature predictions concerning the second
coming of our Lord Jesus on that account. We cannot say that this is the last
link in the chain of great events to bring in our Lord’s second coming. This may
be the last, but, as we have said, times and dates do not form part of the
Christian dispensation. It is very important to note that in all the New
Testament no war is mentioned after the one predicted by the Lord concerning
the Romans’ destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20-24) until we come to Rev. 6
when the same empire, revived, will once more come to the front. Wars
and rumors of wars will then fill the air until the final struggle—the
battle of Armageddon.

The apostle
Paul’s entire ministry, in which are fully made known the characteristic
features of our age as well as the marks of its close, passes over this entire
subject and never once mentions these struggles or wars among the nations.
Throughout the history of Christianity there have been many wars, but the
entire New Testament passes them all over and gives them no prophetic notice
whatever. This silence of Scripture ought to cause special inquiry and produce
moderation as to predictions at the present time.

We must turn
away from all these conditions—national, political, and ecclesiastical. As we
view the second coming of our Lord Jesus we stand upon a safer foundation—the
unerring Word of God and the promises left us by the Lord Jesus. Do we believe
His coming is near? If so, what is our basis for such a belief? From John 14 to
Rev. 3, the Lord’s return is ever presented to the Church as its hope. From the
infant days of the Church the second coming of Christ was ever before them.
Wars gave them no evidence of the near approach of Christ’s coming. It was the
promises given by Christ and by the apostles that formed the basis of that
hope. When the Thessalonians “turned to God from idols to serve the living and
true God, and [waited] for His Son from heaven (1 Thess. 1:9,10), no great
political event was occurring; yet the Church has never since been so stirred
by, and joyfully looking for, that blessed hope. They were waiting for the
fulfillment of His promise, “I will come again” (John 14:3). Their hearts were
encouraged in this hope by the pen of the apostle, “For yet a little while, and
He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:37). The sure Word
of God, we repeat, was the firm basis upon which they looked for Christ’s
return.

Is it not a
mark of the Church’s deep declension that events such as this horrible world
war are required to stir us to look for the Lord’s second coming? Does it not
prove that we are not hanging upon that special promise left us before
He went away, and that we are not making that blessed hope our meat and drink
continually?

Let us afresh
gird our loins, trim our lamps, and be “like unto men who wait for their Lord”
(Luke 12:35,36).

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 34.)

I recently
received a letter from a brother saying that some co-workers of his had
relatives in lower Manhattan at the time of the September 11 horrors. He
writes, “All escaped, so fortunately my friends do not have to deal directly
with personal tragedy. I’m not sure that most people (myself included) are
equipped to help others deal with something of this severity. What do you
think?” This brother raises a good question. How well are we equipped
for such a task. It might be a good idea for each Christian assembly to
schedule a series of meetings to discuss what the Bible teaches us about
counseling people who have lost loved ones or are experiencing other kinds of
severe trials.

       General Principles

Based on my own
rather limited experience, five important principles of counseling emerge:“Let
every man be swift to hear, slow to speak” (Jas. 1:19); “pray without ceasing”
(1 Thess. 5:17); “comfort the faint-hearted” (1 Thess. 5:14 JND); “Jesus wept”
(John 11:35); and “all Scripture … is profitable … that the man of God may
be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16,17). Let us
be careful not to jump in quickly with lots of verses like Romans 8:28 (as I
have had a tendency to do), but simply listen to, pray with, console, and weep
with the grieving or hurting person. As we listen, we may find out more
specifically what is troubling the person. Maybe the major grief is due to an
aching heart that is terribly lonely since the death of a loved one. Maybe there
are guilt-feelings or real guilt due to unconfessed sins against the loved one
who has died. Maybe there is excruciating physical pain. Maybe there is anger
toward God or medical personnel or family members. Maybe there are fears of
different sorts. Instead of giving a blanket prescription, “Well, brother, just
read your Bible and take your troubles to the Lord in prayer,” let us pray for
the spiritual wisdom to help the person by gently suggesting specific Scripture
verses and passages for specific concerns.

Counseling Those Who Are
Unsaved

If the
counselee is unsaved (or we are not sure of his/her state of soul), we must
still be willing to listen, pray, console, and weep. In addition, I believe it
is important to ask questions that will reveal the person’s relationship with
the Lord. In my personal experience as a volunteer at the Baltimore City
Detention Center for the past 16 years, many inmates have come to me with
overwhelming burdens and have poured out their grieving, troubled, hopeless,
and despairing hearts to me:Maybe a close family member just died (often a
grandmother who was particularly loving and caring or a brother who was shot to
death), or his wife has filed for divorce, or his entire family will have
nothing to do with him, or all of his family live far away and he has no
friends or relatives locally, or he has been evicted from his apartment and all
of his belongings will be put out by the street, or he has lost his job because
of his incarceration, or he tests HIV-positive, or he has been falsely and
wrongfully charged with murder, etc. Sometimes I can do a little bit to help
with these immediate problems, but many times I am utterly unable to help them
with these things. But, thank God, I can help with the greatest, deepest
need of that man. So I bring the discussion around to his relationship with the
Lord and go through a presentation of the gospel with him. Almost invariably,
these men go away thanking me for giving them hope and telling me that they
feel like the burden has lifted. How many of them have truly become saved I
cannot say, but they have been pointed in the right direction and can begin to
see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Counseling Those Who Are
Saved

A Christian
woman, grieving over the untimely loss of a loved one, asked, “What did I
do that the Lord should take away my loved one?” The Scriptures have much to
say in answer to questions like this. Here are 15 reasons given in the Bible in
answer to the question, “Why does God allow His people to suffer?”

 1. That we
might be partakers of Christ’s sufferings. “Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you … but rejoice, inasmuch as you
are partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (1 Pet. 4:12,13; also Rom. 8:17; Col.
1:24; 2 Tim. 2:12; 1 Pet. 2:21).

 2. That we
might be purified and partakers of God’s holiness. “For [our fathers] for a
few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but [God] for our profit, that
we might be partakers of His holiness” (Heb. 12:10; also Job 42:6; Psa.
119:67,71; 1 Pet. 5:10).

 3. That we
might learn more of God’s grace and goodness and manifest the works and
goodness of God. “His disciples asked Him saying, Master, who sinned, this
man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither has this
man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest
in him” (John 9:2,3; also Psa. 107; Rom. 8:28).

 4. That we
might glorify God. “If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are
you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you; on their part He is
evil spoken of but on your part He is glorified (1 Pet. 4:14,16; also Psa.
50:15; John 11:4; 17:5).

 5. That we
might demonstrate the superiority of the power and grace of God to the power of
Satan. Satan said, “Touch all that [Job] has, and he will curse Thee to Thy
face.” Job said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the
name of the LORD” (Job 1:11,21; 2:5,10; also Mark 5:1-15; Rev. 2:10).

 6. That we
might learn patience. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into
diverse temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith works
patience” (Jas. 1:3; Rom. 5:3).

 7. That we
might realize our own weakness and learn to depend more upon the Lord’s
strength. “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart
from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you:for my strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses for Christ’s sake:for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor.
12:8-10; also 1:9).

 8. That we
might be drawn closer to one another as children of God and members of the body
of Christ. “Peter therefore was kept in prison; but prayer was made without
ceasing of the church unto God for him” (Acts 12:5,12; also 2 Cor. 1:9).

 9. That we
might be able better to comfort, encourage, and empathize with others in their
suffering. “Blessed be God … who comforts us in all our tribulation, that
we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Cor. 1:3-7).

10. That we
might be a testimony to the unsaved. “And at midnight Paul and Silas
prayed, and sang praises unto God:and the prisoners heard them…. And the
keeper of the prison … fell down before Paul and Silas … and said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:25-31).

11. That we
might be weaned from this present world and provoked to yearn for the next
world. “For we who are in this tabernacle [that is, our physical body] do
groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed [that is, our soul
and spirit with the Lord and our body in the grave], but clothed upon [that is,
with our resurrection body at the coming of Christ]”(2 Cor. 5:4; also 4:17; Phil.
1:23).

12. That we
might smite the consciences of evildoers by returning good for evil. “If
your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink:for in so doing
you shall heap coals of fire on his head” (Rom. 12:19-21; also 2 Ki. 6:21-23;
Matt. 5:44; 1 Pet. 3:6).

13. That we
might be awakened to our sin or judged for our lack of repentance and
persistence in sinning. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you,
and many sleep”(1 Cor. 11:30).

14. That we
might have impressed upon us the seriousness of sin, even after we have
confessed it to the Lord. “And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife
bore unto David, and it was very sick” (2 Sam. 12:7-15).

15. That we
might receive the natural and just consequences of our sinful behavior. “Be
not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also
reap” (Gal. 6:7).

Christians who
are experiencing serious trials and tribulations often needed to be told about
these various reasons for pain and suffering. It needs to be emphasized that
only three of the reasons in this list of 15 pertain directly to the person’s
own sinful behavior.

“In the
multitude of counselors there is safety” (Prov. 11:14; 15:22; 24:6). May the
Lord give us all the wisdom through His Word to become better counselors.

              * * *

My life is but
a weaving,

Between my Lord
and me;

I cannot choose
the colors,

He worketh
steadily.

 

Ofttimes He
weaveth sorrow,

And I in
foolish pride,

Forget He sees
the upper,

And I, the
underside.

 

Not till the
loom is silent,

And the
shuttles cease to fly,

Will He unroll
the canvas,

And explain the
reason why.

 

The dark
threads are as needful

In the Weaver’s
skillful hand

As the threads
of gold and

silver,

In the pattern
He has planned.

              * * *

The potter has
the power,

The knowledge,
and the skill,

To fashion
every vessel

According to
his will.

 

The pattern and
the purpose

Of every vessel
planned,

Its usefulness
and beauty

Are in the
potter’s hand.

 

The clay makes
no decision

Has no will of
its own,

But yielded to
the potter,

His pattern is
made known.

 

And thus the
Master Potter

Our service has
outlined;

He asks us to
be yielded

Unto His will
and mind.

 

His purpose to
acknowledge,

To listen to
His voice,

To let Him plan
our pathway,

According to
His choice.

 

A vessel marred
and broken,

We may not
understand,

But all can be
committed

Unto the
Potter’s hand.

 

Our Father’s
way is perfect,

His thought
toward us is love;

He’s fashioning
and molding

For life with
Him above.

 

To trust the
Heavenly Potter

And let Him
mold the clay,

Brings joy, and
peace, and

blessing

And happiness
alway.