Guns—A World Without Them
FROM the beginning of human history, man has resorted to violence in his dealings with his fellowman. Murder surfaced in the first family when Cain slew his brother Abel. The slaughter has continued ever since—within families, within tribes, and between nations. As the weapons became more powerful, the victims became more numerous. Stones and clubs gave way to spears and arrows, which were replaced by guns and bombs. The destruction of hundreds became thousands; today the thousands have become millions. And not just in war but also during peace. Not just by soldiers but also by private citizens. Not just by adults but also by children. Will the escalation of violence ever end? If it depends on people, the prospects are bleak.—2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13.
Christ Jesus foretold that this would be a time when nations would rise against other nations in horrendous wars, snuffing out the lives of millions. Pestilences and earthquakes would take a heavy toll in many places. Man would be polluting the earth to such an extent that its ability to sustain life itself would be threatened—many scientists are now voicing that fear. But man’s love of money causes him to plunge onward in his polluting rampage, and it will end only when Jehovah God himself intervenes “to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”—Revelation 11:18.
Many scoff at such warnings and thereby fulfill another part of the foretold sign of the last days: “You know this first, that in the last days there will come ridiculers with their ridicule, proceeding according to their own desires and saying: ‘Where is this promised presence of his? Why, from the day our forefathers fell asleep in death, all things are continuing exactly as from creation’s beginning.’”—2 Peter 3:3, 4.
But this dark cloud hovering over mankind has a silver lining. Jesus foretold that at his presence, there would be “on the earth anguish of nations, not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation, while men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.” But he also said it would be a time to “raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near.”—Luke 21:25-28.
The nations are in anguish, the masses are turbulent, and individuals are in fear of the things coming upon the earth, but it is a time of deliverance for those who are waiting for the coming Kingdom of God and the Thousand Year Reign of Christ Jesus. That will be the time for the fulfillment of Jehovah God’s promise of ‘new heavens and a new earth wherein righteousness is to dwell.’—2 Peter 3:13.
And no guns! None will be needed for war. “He is making wars to cease to the extremity of the earth. The bow he breaks apart and does cut the spear in pieces; the wagons [war-chariots, Rotherham] he burns in the fire.”—Psalm 46:9.
None will be needed for personal protection. “They will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble; for the very mouth of Jehovah of armies has spoken it.”—Micah 4:4.
Only the upright, none of the wicked, will be there. “The upright are the ones that will reside in the earth, and the blameless are the ones that will be left over in it. As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth; and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it.” (Proverbs 2:21, 22) Then “the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”—Psalm 37:11.
In God’s eyes violence ruins the earth. In Noah’s day “the earth came to be ruined in the sight of the true God and the earth became filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:11-13) Hence, Jehovah ended that world with a global Flood. Jesus likened the end of this present violent world at his presence to the end of that ancient one: “For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.”—Matthew 24:38, 39.
In God’s new world everyone living will fulfill Mark 12:31: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” And Isaiah 11:9: “They will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain; because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.” And also fulfilled in that new world of righteousness will be the glorious conditions described at Revelation 21:1, 4: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” Certainly, then no human societies bristling with guns!
None of these momentous changes for man’s blessing will be brought about by revolutionaries with their blazing guns mowing down the opposition. Rather, they will be brought about by Jehovah God through his Kingdom under Christ Jesus. So Isaiah 9:6, 7 says: “There has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. To the abundance of the princely rule and to peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom in order to establish it firmly and to sustain it by means of justice and by means of righteousness, from now on and to time indefinite. The very zeal of Jehovah of armies will do this.”