The Fight Against Disasters Won
THE efforts of the United Nations and of individual governments to mitigate the effects of natural disasters are surely laudable. Projects such as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction suggest that mankind need not be helpless in the face of such calamities. If individuals, communities, and governments take appropriate steps, lives can be saved.
This is very interesting, because the Bible tells us that soon there will be a change in the governmental oversight of mankind. Since the days of Jesus, Christians have prayed the Lord’s Prayer (the “Our Father”), which includes the expression: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matthew 6:9, 10) God’s Kingdom is an actual government. According to Bible prophecy, very soon it will “crush and put an end to all [human] kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.” (Daniel 2:44) Imagine all mankind under one perfect government. What a change that will be!
If present-day governments see the need to take steps so that natural hazards do not become natural disasters, we can be confident that God’s government will ensure that its subjects never suffer in this way. God’s Kingdom will bring lasting peace to this planet for the first time since Cain killed Abel. Under that Kingdom, “the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.” (Psalm 37:11) The Kingdom will educate mankind so that in a very real sense ‘all persons will be taught by Jehovah, and their peace will be abundant.’—Isaiah 54:13.
Today, most victims of natural disasters are among the poor. However, with perfect oversight and proper education, under God’s Kingdom, mankind will not suffer the pangs of poverty. Foretelling such conditions in a way that people of his day would understand, the prophet Isaiah wrote: “Jehovah of armies will certainly make for all the peoples, in this mountain, a banquet of well-oiled dishes, a banquet of wine kept on the dregs, of well-oiled dishes filled with marrow, of wine kept on the dregs, filtered.” (Isaiah 25:6) Yes, a banquet of good things! Further describing life under Kingdom rule, the psalmist wrote: “There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow. His fruit will be as in Lebanon, and those who are from the city will blossom like the vegetation of the earth.”—Psalm 72:16.
Clearly, man’s fight against natural disasters will be over. With the guidance of God’s spirit and the oversight of God’s Kingdom, God-fearing humans will have won that fight. What a relief that will be!