HOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE WORLD?

How do you understand what is going on in the world? Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his teaching of Habakkuk 2 sees an illustration of a universal principle in God’s dealings with humanity.

“In the present world situation a proper understanding of this principle is especially urgent. If we desire to be at peace within, in spite of what is happening in the world round and about us, the only way to do so is to understand this biblical philosophy of history which explains what is happening in the secular world and its bearing upon the Church of God. The essential principle is that history can be understood only in terms of God’s kingdom – that is, the rule of God in the world as a whole and including the Church. All history is being directed by God in order to bring His own purpose with respect to the kingdom to pass.

The problem is not a new one. We, in this century, have been foolish enough to imagine that our problems are exceptional and peculiar. They are not. We are experiencing only what God’s people have experienced many a time before. It is well to remember that history repeats itself, and so get rid of that foolish inflated opinion that we moderns have of ourselves. Our perplexities are by no means new. There are many people today who feel they cannot be Christians because of intellectual difficulties raised by the apparent frustration of history. But this problem is as old as humanity itself, and has perplexed people right from the beginning. Modern knowledge and modern events have really little to do with it, so let us get rid of any pride of intellect. The problem is the same as of the man who wrote the seventy-third Psalm or Habakkuk.

The historical theme is the one great theme of the book of the Revelation. However you interpret the book, it is clearly a forecast of history, a preview of relevant events through the long course of history until the final consummation. But many interpreters become so obsessed with the symbolism that they miss the main theme. They are so expert in the details that they lose the central truth. They fail to see the wood for the trees. The book of Revelation is primarily a great preview of history, with the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who controls history opening ‘the Seals’. It thus contains a message of consolation, not only for first-century Christians, but for Christ’s people at all times and in all places.

The truth stated is that there are only two possible attitudes to life in this world: that of faith and that of unbelief. Either we view our lives in terms of our belief in God, and the conclusions which we are entitled to draw from that; or our outlook is based upon a rejection of God and the corresponding denials. We may either ‘withdraw’ ourselves from the way of faith in God, or else we may live by faith in God. The very terms suggest corresponding ways of life. As a man believes so is he. A man’s belief determines his conduct. The just, the righteous, shall live by faith, or, in other words¸ the man who lives by faith is righteous. On the other hand, the man who ‘draws back’ is unrighteous because he is not living by faith. Here is the great watershed of life, and all of us are on one side of it or the other. Whatever my political or philosophical views may be, they must have this common denominator: either my life is based on faith or it is not. If it is not, it does not matter what my views may be, or whether I am controlled by political, social, economic, or any other considerations. What matters is whether I am accepting God’s rule or not.

There are two possibilities before each of us as we look out upon the world today and ponder the future course of history. I can observe and meditate upon what I see and then, after reading what military and political experts, statesmen and others write, I can finally turn to my history books. As a result I can make an attempt to draw my own conclusions and form my own opinions. Surely that is why most of us read newspaper articles or watch the news! We say, ‘This man is an expert; what does he think about it?’ There were experts who said there would not be a war in 1939. They claimed to have worked it out, and their considered opinion was that Hitler was unlikely to go to war. Many people accepted this opinion and made their business or other plans accordingly. They were governed by their own observations, and deductions, the application of common sense and a kind of worldly wisdom, or by the political acumen of certain prognosticators.

There is, however, another way of looking at things clearly taught in the Bible. It is not based upon conclusions drawn from the number of military divisions a country has or not, or whether the time has yet come for some country to strike or not. The Bible simply states that a certain thing will happen! It gives no reason. It just says it will happen because God says so. That is the case before us as it concerned the Chaldeans. No arguments are given; no careful balancing of the strength of rival forces; nothing but the bare statement of God to the prophet. And the prophets believes it and acts upon it.

This our position as Christians today. The choice is being forced upon us more and more. Is there anyone still foolish enough to bank on this world and what it has to offer? What is the controlling principle in our lives? Is it calculation? Is it worldly wisdom – a shrewd, balanced view based on history and human knowledge? Or is it the Word of God, warning us that this life and this world are only transient, and that both are merely a preparation for the world to come? It does not tell us to turn our backs entirely upon the world, but it does insist that we have the right view of the world. It emphatically states that what really matters is the coming of God’s kingdom. We must ask ourselves in the presence of God, the simple questions: Is my life based upon the faith principle? Am I submitting myself to the fact that what I read in the Bible is the Word of God and true? Am I willing to stake everything, my life included, upon this fact? For ‘the just shall live by faith’.”

(D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, From Fear to Faith)