The Man Who Will Rule the World

[Resource Manager]

 

THE MAN WHO WILL RULE THE WORLD

 

The remarkable world.

 

The backcloth is ebony.

 

Strung in bright profusion, throughout the endless reaches of space are myriad clusters of innumerable stars, with colours amazingly beautiful. In the constellation of Aquarius hangs a magnificent cluster of stars like a swarm of glittering bees; in Canes Venatici the chief star is actually two great suns, one yellow, the other a gorgeous lilac. Blue-white and red; orange and white; violet and pink—starry gems in radiant beauty, befitting the diadem of the Creator whose Hand has created them.

 

We marvel at the Divine technique of their Creator. With omniscient genius and incomparable efficacy, He made the countless stars and their satellites, set them into prodigious orbits throughout limitless space and, with invisible ties, holds them whirling and moving in such mathematical precision that we can foretell an eclipse or the visit of a comet years in advance. Such is the wonder implied in those simple words: “He made the stars also” (Genesis 1:16 — Most of the quotations in this booklet are from the Revised Version of the Bible. The rest are from the King James or Authorised version.)

 

Near the centre of our galaxy is the earth, “a cosmic pebble circling a minor star in one of millions of enormous galaxies” almost unnoticeable in the cold, awful depths of space.

 

God is not only concerned with the very large; He is concerned with the earth, even though it is very small. So incredibly ingenious is its design that we can almost say that it is alive.

 

It wears a mantle of air and other substances, precisely designed to sustain the life He has placed on its surface. Forty miles above the surface of the earth is a layer of ozone. There are two kinds of ultra-violet rays—the long and the short. The long are deadly and they would blind and blister the human race. The short rays, on the other hand, prevent us all from dying of rickets. And, wonderfully, the ozone layer —poisonous to man —is distant enough to be harmless to us, but absorbent enough to filter out the deadly long rays, and yet leave the beneficial short rays to come through.

 

God has put water in abundance on the earth's face. In the known universe, liquid water is an exotic rarity! For since the universe consists of stars at millions of degrees Centigrade, or of frozen solids drifting in the abyss of space, there are not many places where liquid water can exist! Yet, on the surface of the earth, it is present in large quantities. It has undoubtedly been put there, so that there may be life. The earth itself breathes, like a living thing. Sea water, splattering itself into small droplets on the sea shores or on wave-crests is absorbing oxygen, breathing so that the fish can survive. Plant roots die and rot, soil animals burrow and tunnel—allowing air to enter and leave the soil.

 

Then there is the land. The marvel is that there is any land. If all the earth's surfaces were levelled, the continental masses would be 1.5 miles under water! And of all the earth's surface, only the top six inches can support life. And what marvels of life it does support! Gigantic elephants and towering sequoias, graceful swans, fleet-footed cheetahs, a vast array of animal and plant life! And these life forms intricately inter-related to each other through the invisible links of food chains, form another strand in the complex mesh of life, created and sustained by our Creator.

 

He cares for the smallest, and for the greatest, and everywhere we see His handiwork. There is an iridescent blue butterfly that flits through tropical forests. The wings are an incredible, glittering blue that astonished the author when he first saw it. But the blue is not because of a pigment, like that which makes people's skins brown or yellow. The wings are covered with minute scales, much like shingles on a tropical roof: and the scales are covered with perfect structures: row upon row of them, looking like skyscrapers upon arching supports. Imagine each 'skyscraper' to be made of pure glass and the distance between the reflecting floors to be exactly half a wavelength of blue light. Each wing scale reflects only blue light — and the result? A butterfly so blue, it takes the breath away.

 

Such is the work of God's fingers in this, His Creation.

[Resource Manager]

Man the ravager

 

Into this magnificent domain, man has been placed, and for nearly seven thousand years has been proving that he is unfit, incapable of ruling himself and therefore of ruling the earth. For in our century particularly, and in the one preceding it, the earth has been ruthlessly ravaged for the sake of gain.

 

Millions of acres of fertile land have been utterly desolated. The thriving, teeming topsoil has been carelessly destroyed by ploughs, by mismanagement, by the utterly stupid and despicable idea that there is more land over there when this is no good. Thousands of acres of the world's forests have been stripped of their trees, because it is cheaper to plunder than to plant.

 

The beautiful ocean, the source of so much of the planet's oxygen, protein, and chemicals, is being destroyed, recklessly polluted by sewage and poisonous chemical wastes being dumped on its shores and in its depths. Why? Because even though the wastes could be hygienically and safely disposed of, that would cost money: money which is already committed to far less worthwhile causes.

 

And our atmosphere. Skilfully designed as it is to protect us and to support the flame of life, we pollute it, wilfully, continually, and for gain. The effects of jet aircraft, motor car exhausts and factory chimneys are well known to all of us.

 

It is not only our physical environment that is being polluted. Social conditions are declining at an ever-increasing rate. Chaos is increasing on every hand. All over the world there is social upheaval and international discord. Political disagreements result in violence and bloodshed. Bombings, hijackings, kidnappings and the like dominate the news. And no one seems capable of doing anything about it.

 

The need for a Ruler

 

For a long time now, it has been recognised that the world needs a Ruler. Prominent statesmen have stated publicly that disaster will certainly overtake the world unless some form of universal government can soon be set up.

 

The more we consider the idea, the more relevant it becomes. With one Ruler at the helm, numerous vital strategies become plausible and possible. The world's resources need to be distributed evenly, so that millions do not starve while others have too much to eat. Laws must be made —and enforced—that the world's resources may be used without polluting or defacing the environment, and its fruits be for the benefit of all and not for the enrichment of the wealthy.

 

The world needs a common language. So much confusion and misconception can arise when people communicate even in their own tongue, that it is small wonder that nations are at each other's throat, when many tongues obscure their meaning or intention.

 

The world needs a common economic policy, and a common currency. It needs wise agricultural laws so that nations need not compete with each other to sell their produce and trade wars and all their evils will be a thing of the past.

 

The arms race must be stopped, the armament factories dismantled, all weapons destroyed, and men must learn the art of peace and redirection of their resources.

 

Finally, and most important of all, one God must be worshipped as the great Creator of the world in which men live. They have become ignorant of His laws and disobeyed His commandments, and so reap the consequences of their neglect of Him.

[Resource Manager]

The man

 

These are immense problems. It will require a MAN to solve them: a most exceptional man, adequate for the great task. He must have enough power to enforce all his decisions, yet not be corrupted by the possession of it. He must be able to treat every nation with justice, yet be sufficiently concerned about every nation to want to solve their problems for them.

 

With character free from moral stain, he must be forever immune to bribery and corruption, strong enough to resist the pressures of those with vested interests who seek but their own. He must be rigid in stamping out wickedness and opposition to his wise policies, yet never be vindictive to enemies in surrender. He must be deeply concerned with the well-being of the poor, a helper of the weak. In other words, he must be a man who owes his allegiance to the real possessor of heaven and earth, he must belong totally and permanently to GOD.

 

Where can we find such a man? Is their such a man? Yes! Thank God, there is.

 

The Man who will Rule the World

 

There is only one man who could ever fill those requirements.

 

He didn't choose the job; He was chosen for it. He was fitted for it by his deeds, by his words, by his sufferings, by his character. He was appointed by the Owner and Maker of the heavens and the earth, after he had shown that he was able and willing to do all that the Maker required —even to laying down his own life in a shameful and painful death, so that others might live.

 

Let the Maker Himself tell us the consequences of such a life:

 

“And being found in fashion as a man, he (Jesus) humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:8-11).

 

There is abundant Bible evidence—testimony by the Maker of heaven and earth —that Jesus of Nazareth is the man who will rule the world. Here is a short selection from that testimony:

 

“And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:31—33).

 

“For he (Jesus) must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:25, 26)

 

“And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness doth he judge and make war ... and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:11-16)

 

“He (Jesus) shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River unto the ends of the earth ... yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him” (Psalm 72:8, 11)

 

“... and he (Jesus) shall speak peace unto the nations: and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River unto the ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:10)

 

“Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgement and justice in the earth” (Jeremiah 23:5)

 

“I shall give thee (Jesus) the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psalm 2:8).

[Resource Manager]

This Earth —not another

 

From the testimonies quoted above, it is clear that the Lord Jesus will be King over the earth, this earth, not a kingdom somewhere in the skies or beyond. It is true that there are passages which speak of a new heavens and a new earth, but the newness refers not to a physical replacement, but to the moral regeneration of this world which is to take place. There is no suggestion in the Scriptures anywhere that heaven, or a heavenly kingdom is to be the site of Jesus' rulership. It is the earth, Planet Earth as we now understand it.

 

Jesus: King without a throne—as yet

 

The details of God's promise concerning Jesus at the time when the announcement was made to his mother Mary, are important statements:

 

“And thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall rule over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:31-33).

 

He was to receive:

 

a. The throne of his father David;

b. Kingship over the house of Jacob (= the nation of Israel);

c. A kingdom which would never end;

 

He has never exercised his kingship over the Jews, although at the end of his life, soldiers mocked him with the title in grim jest:

 

“And they plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him saying, Hail, King of the Jews!” (Matthew 27:29).

 

Pontius Pilate, in bad humour with the Jews who had thwarted his wish to set Jesus free, put up the ironic sign:

 

“THIS IS JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS”

 

The Jews themselves in savage spite stood under his cross and jeered:

 

“He is the King of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him'.' But God is not to be mocked. The promise stands.

 

“The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David”

 

The words of Jesus' parable are true:

 

“They will reverence my son” (Matthew 21:37).

 

The Lord Jesus will be the King of the Jews. He is not their King as yet —at any rate they have not acknowledged him as such. But he is their King: by birth, by right, by Divine decree. And so he will be.

[Resource Manager]

The character of the King

 

The man who will rule the world, as we have said, must be a unique character altogether. It is a grave mistake to bring Jesus down to the same level as any other man, as writers often do. He is not to be compared with Mohammed, Patanjali, Buddha and other leaders of world religions. This cannot be. For there is one thing that stamps his character as absolutely without equal: he was sinless.

 

There is another feature of the Lord's character which must strike the most casual reader of the Gospels, a feature indispensable to the future King of the world: Jesus is absolutely selfless. All that matters is that the will of God be done. He has no concern for himself.

 

At the time of his arrest, for example, a short while before he was to be executed like any common criminal, he was concerned with the safety of his disciples: “... if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way” (John 18:8). On his way to execution he was concerned with his beloved Jerusalem and not with himself: “And there followed him a great company of people, and of women which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me but for yourselves, and for your children …” (Luke 23:27, 28). While he hung on his cross, he showed concern for his mother and her welfare, and committed her to the keeping of one of his disciples (John 19:26, 27). While they were knocking the nails into his hands and feet, Jesus prayed to God, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). He found time, even on the cross, to comfort one of the thieves who had been cursing him only a short time before, and to promise him a place in his kingdom (Luke 23:39—43). So we could go on, detailing incident after incident in his life, to show how remarkable was his unselfishness.

 

Neither did he stand on his dignity or retaliate when treated evilly;

 

“And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with a rod, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?” (John 18:22, 23 Revised Version margin).

 

Quite unconsciously, the officer had fulfilled a very ancient prophecy . . . “they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek” (Micah 5:1).

 

Again, “Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with rods, saying: “Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee?” (Matthew 26:67 margin).

 

It was an incredible situation. Jesus, slapped, punched, hit across the face with rods, took it all without murmur, without attempting to fight back. Yet, had he wished, he could have stopped them all with a word. “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” he had said earlier (Matthew 26:53).

 

Even in such a situation, Jesus displayed no spite, vindictiveness, or malice. What a lesson we could learn from this! What a lesson the world could learn from this! What a King he will make! For if he is to be the King of all the earth, such behaviour is absolutely essential. A lesser man would deviate from his course, become vindictive or treat his enemies unrighteously. Not Jesus. He can be depended upon to behave with the utmost correctness towards his enemies, showing mercy wherever he can show mercy, but sticking rigidly to the righteous policy God has dictated.

[Resource Manager]

Jesus and the vested religious interests

 

Every nation under the sun adheres to some religious creed or other. The Western world, by and large, adheres nominally to Christianity. The East is dominated by Mohammedanism, Buddhism and Hinduism. The Communist countries are ruled by the teaching of Marx or Mao as the case may be.

 

This difference in religious outlook contributes in no small measure to the character of the people being ruled. When Jesus assumes the reins of world government, it will be one of his major tasks to replace the numerous religions of the world with one true religion.

 

There will be a time when a Divine message will go forth:

 

“And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he saith with a great voice, Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters” (Revelation 14:6, 7).

 

Neither the nations nor their leaders will easily accept this. There will be a period of time in which the world's inhabitants will be re-educated in the worship of the true God. Conflicts between Jesus and the religious and political leaders will inevitably arise.

 

But he has had much training in this very sort of conflict. Throughout his ministry he faced the vested religious interests of his day and fought them to the finish. The leaders appeared to be religious. They often fasted—with long faces.They wore robes which marked them out as especially holy men. They made long prayers and chants.

 

And yet, in some of the Bible's severest language. Jesus denounced them in terms which must have cut them to the bone. Hypocrites! Blind guides! Children of Hell! Fools and blind! Whited sepulchres! Offspring of vipers! He had preached to them, debated with them, disputed with them. He had done everything he could. And now there was nothing left to do but denounce them openly and severely so that their innocent followers might at least know his opinion of them and perhaps leave their fold, (see Matthew 23).

 

They killed him then. They thought that he was finished —only to discover to their complete discomfiture that God had raised him from the dead. His disciples took up the cause:

 

“Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified” (Acts 2:36). The days when men could take him with wicked hands and slay him are gone forever. He is now the judge of all the earth. “I was dead and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades (= the grave)” (Revelation 1:18). There is no longer anything that can stand against him: he has had much practice in fighting falsehood, and will do so in the future as he did in the past.

[Resource Manager]

The return of the King

 

Jesus is not on the earth today. Ha certainly is not King over all the earth. Up to now he has never been King. Does this therefore mean that he never will be?

 

Far from it. Let us select a few more testimonies from the New Testament on the same subject:

 

“Jesus said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return …” (Luke 19:12).

 

“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

 

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus.” (Acts 3:19, 20 RV).

 

“The elders which are among you, I exhort … Feed the flock of God ... and when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:1, 2 — 4).

 

“... afterward they that are Christ's at his coming” (1 Corinthians 15:23).

 

“For our conversation (= citizenship) is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ ...” (Philippians 3:20).

 

“Behold I come as a thief; blessed is he that watcheth …” (Revelation 16:15).

 

This selection, which we emphasise is only small and only a selection, from the vast number of similar passages to be found in the New Testament, shows clearly that the Lord Jesus must come from heaven to take up the reins of government of the world.

 

The capital city of the world

 

No. Not New York. Not Moscow. Not Berlin. Not London.

 

“The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David …” Where was this throne? In Jerusalem.

 

Jerusalem —the capital city of Israel.

 

Jerusalem — whose very name means the 'possession of peace'.

 

“And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3,4).

 

“The Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously” (Isaiah 24:23).

 

“At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart” (Jeremiah 3:17).

 

“And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations which came up against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:16).

[Resource Manager]

An ominous note

 

An ominous note has crept into the words of the last prophecy we quoted. Did you notice those few words “Every one that is left of all the nations?”

 

When the Lord appears again to assume the reins of government, as we have pointed out, there will be few nations indeed who will capitulate. There will be such an exhibition of Divine wrath that the very foundations of the Planet will quiver. The prophets, as always, describe it graphically:

 

“For thus saith the Lord of Hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, and I will shake all nations—and the result of the wrath of God is “and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with my glory, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Haggai 2:6).

 

“The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall and not rise again". (Isaiah 24:20, 21). Then the prophet goes on to describe the capture and imprisonment of many of the kings and rulers of the earth, followed by:

 

“Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously” (Isaiah 24:19 — 23).

 

This may be thought of as merely poetic language. Far from it. It is plain that some cataclysmic events must occur, much bloodshed take place, the kings of the earth and much of their armies decimated before the Lord Jesus Christ can be truly declared to be the King of the kings of the earth.

[Resource Manager]

The call of the King

 

There is much that the king must do when he comes. Even from the few prophecies we have quoted it is clear that there is much bloodshed to come on the earth: blood that will be shed by the righteous hand of the Lord Jesus when he comes, the blood of the enemies of God. Yet, it is equally plain from the Scriptures that God does not want to destroy anybody. He says so:

 

“Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves and live ye” (Ezekiel 18:31, 32).

 

God is appealing to their common sense. If you disobey me, you will die, He says: so why not have some sense and do what is right? I don't want to destroy you. The converse is true though: if you insist on being wicked, I shall certainly destroy you.

 

That, in sum was God's message to Israel through their long history. It is still His message to them today, and still they will not listen. Had the Jews repented of their wickedness two thousand years ago, the Lord Jesus may well have returned already. Peter said so in his strong speech recorded in Acts. (We quote the Revised Version which makes it plainer than the AV)

 

“But ye denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of Life; whom God raised from the dead ... But the things which God foreshowed by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and turn again.

 

(1) that your sins may be blotted out

(2) that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and

(3) that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus” (Acts 3:14 — 20).

 

We have broken verses 19 and 20 into point form so that it may be clear that the coming of the King of the Jews is dependent upon their repenting of their evil deeds and turning back to God whom they had rejected.

 

So very much depends on their repenting. They are a stubborn and wilful people, it is true. But, we also must face the unpleasant fact that we, reader and writer of this pamphlet, are also stubborn and wilful people. And more than that —we take pride in it! We think that being stubborn is a virtue! We stubbornly insist in refusing to acknowledge that there is a God and that we depend upon him. We wilfully go on our way thinking that everything we have has come to us by our own efforts, and that we have merely been unfortunate in not getting more of the good things of this life when we wanted them.

 

Equally, we pride ourselves in the fact that we are never wrong, and that even if we are, we can manage to talk our way out of it. After all, we are just as good as the next man, aren't we? And so we go on —committing the greatest of all sins daily: ignoring the presence or existence of the God who has made us and the earth on which we dwell. The Jews did the same and Ezekiel's words are testimony to the fact that this was so.

 

The King is coming, and his only concern will be to find those who were prepared to seek God and do as He asked. How will you fare before the Ruler of all the Earth? He says: “The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Do you know what he has said? And if not, do you know what to do about it? If you have read this far, it is a fair assumption that you are keen on finding out. The next section will offer some suggestions how to go about it.

[Resource Manager]

The search for the King

 

We, the writer and publishers of this booklet, firmly believe that the Bible is God's word. In it is revealed all that a man needs to find his way to the kingdom of God. It is the only guide-book to the salvation from death that God offers, and therefore we must treat it with the highest reverence, and certainly not casually or indifferently.

 

Having said this, we would also agree that it is not the easiest of books to understand. How could it be? It reveals the mind of God to us —His way of thinking and looking at men. If His mind is infinitely greater than ours, then it is reasonable that His thoughts are greater than ours and it will therefore take a great deal of application on our part before we begin to really understand what He is saying. How then shall we proceed?

 

Difficult things are always made somewhat easier when we know that there are other people who are having the same struggles we are having and so can share our burdens. It will greatly help you if you make an effort to get in touch with people who have the same reverence for the Word of God that we have and that you desire. Wherever in the world you may be reading this booklet, there is probably a Christadelphian meeting near to you which will be more than delighted to assist you in your search for understanding of God's word. If there isn't then a line to the following address will speedily bring you the help you desire and need. C.A.L.S., 3 Regent Street, Birmingham B1 3HG, United Kingdom.

 

In addition, there are numerous booklets and pamphlets on many aspects of Bible teaching available quite free of charge on request. We shall be delighted to send them to you.

[Resource Manager]

The decision

 

But when all is said and done, the decision to serve God or not is a purely individual matter. No one can make it for you, and no one can or should force you to do so. The decision is yours. But in all honesty, the consequences of serving Him or not serving Him must be made plain to you.

 

If you do not choose to serve Him, then you are condemned to death as surely as if you had stood in the dock and heard a judge pronounce a death sentence on you. You are condemned to the few years of existence left to you, with all the miseries that are attached to them and the unenviable prospect of an open grave yawning before you—a grave whose mouth will close on you with total finality. There will be no escape.

 

On the other hand, if you do choose to serve Him, the highly desirable prospect of eternal life lies before you. Jesus says so:

 

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

 

Before you lies the certainty of seeing the day when all of the earth will rejoice in a full and joyous life which even God's prophets find hard to describe:

 

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing ... Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert ... and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah 35:1 — 10, extracts).

 

“Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt” (Amos 9:13).

 

“And there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb (Jesus) shall be therein: and his servants shall do him service; and they shall see his face; and his name shall be upon their foreheads. And there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign forever” (Revelation 22:3 — 5).

 

No, it's not a difficult choice, is it?

 

The way to being saved that day is straightforward; “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:15, 16).

 

“He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16, AV and RV).

 

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Take up your Bible and start to read it diligently. Learn of Jesus and his Father and what they demand of you: then take up your cross and follow him even to death, because even if you die he will raise you up from the dead and give you eternal life at the Last Day.

 

Though the earth may shake and the heavens may fall “the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary .... they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28, 31).

 

Learn of His ways and be wise:

 

“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever”

 

WILFRED ALLEYNE

 

ManWhoWillRuleWorldAlleyne.pdf