My dear readers,

God’s "New World Order"

(Reprinted: Reformation Banner April/June 1992)

That the present "world order" cannot go on forever it is obvious. We witness a creation that has "lost its direction … spun out of control," and mankind heading for self-destruction. Unless the Creator God intervenes we have no hope: fallen man cannot save himself. That God will indeed come to man’s rescue is the heart of the Christian message.

The apostle Paul wrote, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they (the creation), but ourselves also … even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption …the redemption of our body" (Rom 8:22-23). The redemption won for us by our Lord will bring about a restoration of the whole creation, and the emergence of God’s Kingdom or "New World Order."

Daniel was given a vision of God’s New World Order in two spectacular visions. In the first, God’s Kingdom was seen as a stone which struck the last world empire (the feet of iron and clay) and broke it to pieces. Then the stone became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. In Daniel’s words: "… the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed … but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever" (Dan 2:44).

In the second vision, Daniel saw a vision of our Lord’s Second Coming: "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit … thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him … and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days … And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed …

"And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him" (Daniel 7:9, 10, 13, 14, 27).

The two visions are one: they describe the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to establish His glorious kingdom, with total control and dominion over the whole earth, "that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him."

The apostle John was given to see a vision which corroborates Daniel’s. In Revelation 20 he describes God’s New World Order, a kingdom on earth of a thousand years, during which time Satan is bound and rendered powerless, and the people of God shall reign with the Lord Jesus Christ a thousand years.

This is the message of hope for the world. This is the message which God’s people should give to the world. It is the Gospel message of hope: out of the present chaos and strife, God is about to bring to pass His everlasting kingdom of righteousness, justice and peace, superseding all the kingdoms and nation-states of the world.

The Lord Jesus Christ must come

All of man’s plans to create a New World Order will fail. History is our best teacher: it tells us that man left to himself is unable to create a world of justice and peace. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive"(1 Cor 15:22), in Adam men will fail. But "in Christ shall all be made alive," alive to the things of God, and equipped to be admitted into His everlasting Kingdom.

God’s plan will be perfectly fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, at His coming "from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power" (2 Thess 1:7-9).

God’s "New World Order" is not a "free for all" but is strictly for those who have received His Gospel of Salvation and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins"(Col 1:13-14).

God’s New World Order, or glorious everlasting Kingdom, awaits the return of the King. This is the long expected event, which we firmly believe will be soon. His Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom, not social or political, not created by fallen men, but by the Lord. There is only one way of entry into God’s Kingdom: it is by "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21).

To us and all believers, the Lord has committed the message of the Kingdom. Our one great business is to "Go … teach all nations, baptizing them … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you …" (Matt 28:19-20). The Gospel of the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ alone is able to admit a person into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. All other ways are as "thieves and robbers" (John 10:1, 7-10).

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor