Chapter 24
A Grand Future in Store for You
1-3. (a) Why do we live at a most favored time in human history? (b) What change is God going to bring about for our benefit?
IN MANY ways you live at a most favored time in human history. Not because of the way world conditions are today but because of what the Bible shows the near future is due to bring.
2 Jehovah God knows how much there is need for a change—a big change—in things here on this planet. He is clearly the only One who can bring about that change. The world of mankind is now thousands of years old. But it is still wrestling with the same old problems that have continually troubled human society: war, hunger, poor housing, injustice, economic problems.
3 The things that need straightening out in the present world system are really too many to number. Surely there must be something better than this. And the Bible shows that Jehovah God does have something far better in store for those who love and serve him. In fact, he has been using some six thousand years to unfold his purpose for bringing about a completely new order, a paradise of pleasure. In that new and delightful order of things he promises to eliminate once and for all time the corrupt and violent and selfish conditions that rob life of so much of its joy.
HOW AND WHEN CHANGE WILL COME
4-8. (a) How will Jehovah bring about the needed change? (b) What proves that the time for this to take place is very near? (2 Timothy 3:1-5; Matthew 24:7, 8, 32, 33)
4 How will he do this? First of all by doing away with the mixed-up and ineffective rule of this earth under the hundreds of political systems now operating. He declares his purpose to replace them with a single government of his own making, his kingdom by his Son Jesus Christ. God caused the prophet Daniel to foretell that, saying: “In the days of those kings [or rulerships] the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom . . . will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.” (Daniel 2:44) When will this happen? There is a way of knowing when it is near.
5 If you live in a temperate zone of the earth and you see the leaves on the trees turn brown and fall off, and you see the skies daily becoming grayer and feel the air becoming crisp and cool, and you see flocks of birds flying toward a warmer zone of the earth—without looking at the calendar you know that winter is approaching, don’t you? It is not just any one of those things that tells you that, because skies can become gray even on a summer day, or trees might become diseased and lose their leaves. But all those things put together make up a sure sign of winter’s approach.
6 In a similar way, there is a “sign” made up of many features that the Bible gives. And this sign tells us that the time is at hand for God’s kingdom by Christ Jesus to take control of this earth. You can see that sign today just by looking at newspapers or through news programs on radio and television. What is it?
7 Jesus foretold that within a certain generation there would come a time especially marked by wars, hunger, disease and earthquakes, along with much anxiety and uncertainty as to what the future would bring upon the earth. Aren’t those the very things we are continuously faced with today through the news sources? No generation before in human history has seen all those things in such quantity as the generation living on the earth since 1914. This is why historians call 1914 a “turning point” in mankind’s history.
8 Speaking of the generation seeing that “sign,” Jesus said: “When you see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, This generation will by no means pass away until all things occur.” (Luke 21:31, 32) This means that God’s new order has drawn near. What changes will it bring?
CHANGES GOD HAS IN STORE FOR THE HUMAN FAMILY
9-13. (a) In God’s new order, what conditions are going to exist for all mankind? (b) What convinces you that these things really can and will take place? (Revelation 21:5)
9 By placing this planet and its inhabitants under the rule of just one perfect, heaven-directed government, God promises to stop for all time the political bickering and fighting that waste so much of the world’s wealth. That will mean the end of wars that take the cream of the nations’ youth and, afterward, send them back with large numbers crippled, having hands, arms or legs amputated, perhaps blind or, worse, in the form of lifeless corpses. Those who live in God’s new order will all be peace-loving persons who have carried out the Bible prophecy at Isaiah 2:4: “They will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.” With peace prevailing earth wide, wonderful things can then be accomplished for the good of all people everywhere.
10 Not only will political corruption and waste stop. The greed of giant commercial systems will also be brought to a halt. Many of these systems are dirtying up the earth, polluting the air, the water, the land, killing off earth’s wildlife. But the Bible tells us, at Revelation 11:18, that God is going to “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.” Then, the beauty of earth’s forests, the sparkling clearness of its streams and lakes, the freshness and fragrance of its air, and the rich variety of its bird, fish and animal wildlife will all be restored. You can be among those enjoying these things in the grand future that God has in store for those putting faith in his Word.
11 Our Creator promises that, in his new order, the rich produce of the earth will be enjoyed by all persons, wherever they may live. No more on this earth will you see starving children with bloated bellies and shriveled arms, as is true in many parts of the earth today. At Isaiah 25:6, 8, God caused this prophecy to be written: “And Jehovah of armies will certainly make for all the peoples . . . a banquet of well-oiled dishes . . . He will actually swallow up death forever, and the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will certainly wipe the tears from all faces.”
12 Yes, best of all, the Bible shows that God is going to restore perfect health to obedient mankind. All the sadness and suffering that disease and pain and death have brought will end forever as his Son’s kingdom brings the curing of human sickness and imperfection. Revelation 21:4 tells us: “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.”
13 That means the time will come when the process of aging that results from human imperfection will be eliminated. How loving of God to provide for a future that will be free from such things as wrinkles, graying hair or baldness, brittle bones, loss of muscle tone, shortness of breath and all the other things that now come with old age. Yes, and for persons already old, God is able to do what Job 33:25 describes, saying: “Let his flesh become fresher than in youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor.” Yes, Jehovah God can bring health and strength that are actually better than what youth today has, because even young people now get sick and some die unexpectedly at an early age.
HOW YOU CAN ENJOY THE FUTURE
14-16. What do you need to do in order to enjoy this grand future?
14 That grand future can be yours if you do as the Bible says: “Remember, now, your Grand Creator in the days of your young manhood [or young womanhood], before the calamitous days proceed to come, or the years have arrived when you will say [as people suffering from old age say]: ‘I have no delight in them.’”—Ecclesiastes 12:1.
15 It is not just a matter of thinking of your Creator now and then. It is a matter of remembering him every day and all day long by seeking to live in a way that pleases him and that will make him want to have you among those who will live in his new order. He will not force you to do this. You must do it of your own choice and free will. You know that when your parents have to force you to do something that you should do, then they get no real pleasure out of seeing you do it. But if you do it willingly and gladly because you know it pleases them, you bring them much happiness. So, too, Jehovah in his Word says: “Be wise, my son, and make my heart rejoice.”—Proverbs 27:11.
16 Yes, enjoy your youth, the springtime of your life, and get the best out of it. Build the qualities that will bring you the greatest happiness possible, both now and in the future. Use your youth to get a fine start on the road to life, not just to a few short decades of life in this present dying, decaying system of things, but to eternal life in the freshness of youthful vigor on God’s paradise earth.