In the first three Q&As of this series, we have seen how the decline in societal standards has plummeted over many decades, particularly in the area of education, and where we have arrived at the juncture where this madness cannot go on for much longer.
Let us now move on to education in the future which is awesome to look forward to, when the standards that God will expect in the Kingdom of God will be instigated at the return of Jesus Christ.
Let us again quote from Mr Armstrong’s book, “The Wonderful World Tomorrow,” where he shows on page 63 WHY modern education is wrong:
“Modern education has been based on a false, erroneous, untrue foundation. The supposedly educated of this world — even the great minds — have absorbed false knowledge. They have been trained in a false approach to knowledge. Almost always, error is based on a false assumed premise or hypothesis, taken for granted, never questioned — and, of course, unproved. The ‘educated’ minds have been filled with such false hypotheses. They have allowed a false sense of values to flood their minds.
“Truth appears to them to be fable. What is right may be to them foolishness. That which may be utterly wrong appears to be right. They come to view things through the false concept of evolution.
“This miseducation holds their minds captive.
“It has been explained how the natural carnal mind, devoid of revealed knowledge from God, is limited to knowledge of the physical and material. The approach to all knowledge in the Western world has been through the evolutionary hypothesis — never through God’s revealed knowledge.
“In God’s millennial civilization, the basis of all knowledge dissemination will be revelation. Light will replace darkness — truth will replace error. Understanding will replace crass materialism. True knowledge will replace intellectual ignorance.
“The educating and re-educating of this world will be one of the most important tasks the Kingdom of God will face. Young people today follow too often false and deceptive values. Their entire thinking will require reorientation — a change of direction.”
“The educating and re-educating of this world” is a great place to start to review the massive difference between education today and God’s way of doing things.
We have briefly looked at education today at school, college and university levels, but when Christ returns, the whole world will need to be re-educated, and not just those young people in their scholastic and formative years. The world will have gone through the most horrendous time in all of human history, as we read in Daniel 12:1: “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book.”
The world will literally be “shell-shocked,” as defined by the Free Dictionary as “stunned, distressed, or exhausted from a prolonged trauma or an unexpected difficulty,” and that is putting it mildly. Worldwide education of the young and old will be necessary to show them the right way to live after 6,000 years of human misrule, mismanagement and ungodly education.
First of all, we will have a new language, as we read in Zephaniah 3:9: “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, That they all may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him with one accord.”
The background to this whole scenario can be found in Genesis 11. In the first verse we read, “Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.” Because of man’s attitude and behavior, God confused their language, as is stated in verse 9: “Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” Man has been living ever since with the consequences of these actions.
According to Ethnologue, which is widely considered to be the most extensive catalogue of the languages of the world, there are currently 7,117 known languages spoken by people around the world. Of these languages, 90% are spoken by less than 100,000 people. There are around 46 languages that only have a single speaker! In Asia, there are 2,294 spoken languages, in Africa 2,144, in Americas 1,061, in the Pacific 1,313, and in Europe 287 languages.
It is amazing that there are so many languages in the world today; and what about all of the various accents within each language? Language is a means of communication – the thought in your mind is then translated into speech and uttered via the vocal cords, and the hearer hears the words that are uttered and the mind digests and, hopefully, understands what is being communicated. Unfortunately, all too often, because of double meanings, intonation and different levels of understanding, what is said may be misconstrued, and problems ensue. And that is just at the basic level of one language, but when translations are involved, the problems can multiply.
The problems that all of these languages currently can cause are immense but God is going to give all the nations a pure language so that they may all call upon His name and serve Him with unity of purpose. He will reverse the process by eliminating confusion and by restoring harmony and unity. Of the thousands of languages in the world today, not one of them is a pure language. All that will change with the return of Jesus Christ when He sets up the Kingdom of God on earth, and because it will be a pure language, there will be no double meanings which can often be confusing and even vulgar, and there will be no pagan names for most days of the week as we have them today in English and other languages. Through the vehicle of a pure, universal language, God will unite all nations under His perfect rule. And everyone can have understanding through this pure, universal language. There will be no loss of understanding through translation problems that we experience today. It will be a time of joy, happiness and abundance, with complete comprehension that only a one-world-language can give. And with one pure language, illiteracy will be eliminated.
This new language will be necessary for proper education, so that full understanding will be available to all in the same language in the future coming Kingdom of God.
(For further important information of the pure language to come, please read our Q&A, titled, “Is there a contradiction between Zephaniah 3:9 and Zechariah 8:23?”).
True education requires true educators, which in turn requires the establishment of God’s government. Sir Winston Churchill wryly observed that “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” There is probably a good deal of truth in that statement because even democracy has monumental failings. The only government that can work correctly at all times is the government of God which will be instituted at the beginning of the 1,000-year reign of Christ. We find how this will happen in the book of Daniel, chapter 7:
Verse 14 states: “Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.”
This is about the responsibility given to Jesus Christ at His return. And then we see, in verse 27, that the saints of God, those who will have been resurrected at His return, will be part of that spiritual government: “Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.”
Christ will rule over and with the saints who will assist Him in ruling on earth. We read in Luke 19:17-19, in the parable of the minas, how this will be achieved: “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’”
In Luke 22:29-30, we read: “And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” The disciples were told directly by Jesus that they would have judging responsibilities in the Kingdom of God.
Another encouraging verse is Revelation 5:10: “And [You] have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” In Revelation 2:26, we see the reward for those called by God who remain faithful and loyal to Him to the very end: “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations…”
These verses show that government will be hierarchical—from the top down—and that authority will be given to those who remain faithful to God until Christ’s return. Unlike human government, it will be perfect and well organised. There will not be any elections or spending of huge amounts on electoral campaigning.
Revelation 1:6 shows us what positions the saints will occupy: “… [Christ] has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Corinthians 6:2 states: “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?”
We have seen that the saints will be kings, priests and judges. God’s Law, not the law of man, will be paramount, and He has laid out the principles for living, as clearly shown in His Word. The God Family will enforce the laws, and the office of priest includes, and will continue to include, a teaching responsibility. Education for everyone will be spiritually based, and there will not be allowed any man-made rules and regulations that conflict with God’s perfect Way.
So far, we have taken some time to outline the basis of living in the Kingdom of God where there will be one universal language understood by all, and just one righteous government.
Right education is vital and re-educating the world will be no easy task. The world today has absorbed so many wrong values, many even sincerely, but that will have to be addressed as a matter of urgency. We see this false approach reflected today in Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” However, there will be one huge advantage at that future time compared to today. We read in Revelation 20:1-3 about the removal of the influence of Satan and his demons during the Millennium:
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.”
“Satan’s Broadcasting System” (“SBS”) will be closed down for about 1,000 years during the Millennium. We state in our booklet: “Angels, Demons and the Spirit World”, on page 54:
“In Romans 10, the ‘abyss’ is used as an analogy in association with the dead who are buried. It is also used as an analogy in Luke 8 and in Revelation 20. When Satan and his demons will be placed in the ‘abyss’ at the beginning of the Millennium, they will be as good as dead—unable to influence and deceive the nations any longer during that time period (compare Revelation 20:3). The fact that they won’t be able to destroy others will give them spiritual torment—that is why they asked Christ whether He had come to torment them before ‘the time.’
“Satan’s spiritual torment, and that of his angels, will continue. After a time period called the Great White Throne Judgment, Satan and his demons will be cast into the lake of fire, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Revelation 20:10; Matthew 25:41). Their torment will be spiritual, as they will see all of their evil works destroyed by fire (compare 2 Peter 3:10–13), and their influence on others will be gone forever. Their final fate might be revealed in Jude 13, referring to ‘wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.’ Compare, too, 2 Peter 2:17).
“God knows what is in store for them, and so do they.”
(To Be Continued)
Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)
