Real Security in a Violent World
REAL security is much desired by all decent people. But with so much trouble and violence in the world today, can such security be a reality?
Many persons feel that security can be attained if the country in which they live is strong. Is your hope for security based on your country’s military might?
The United States, one of the two most powerful nations on earth, now spends about $75,000,000,000 a year for defense, or what is often called “national security.” Yet news reports tell of an increase of 15 percent in the Soviet Union’s expenditures for armaments to counter the military might of the United States.
NO SECURITY IN NUCLEAR WAR
What kind of security has been purchased with this fantastic annual spending by both countries? A congressman in the United States noted recently that if only eighteen of Russia’s giant hydrogen bombs were to hit the United States, three out of five persons could be killed! That would be over 120,000,000 persons! And many, perhaps most, of the survivors would be injured. The congressman showed that each bomb would create a fire storm 170 miles in diameter, an area of about 22,500 square miles!
It is claimed that even this could not destroy the capacity of the United States to retaliate with her own missiles. Thus, even if Russia struck first, she would be devastated by nuclear weapons from the United States. Most of Russia’s citizens would be annihilated.
What kind of security is it when all that the citizens of the two most powerful nations can hope for is that only a small part of the population will be spared from annihilation in a nuclear war?
Also, in a devastating nuclear exchange between larger powers, atomic fallout would kill and cripple people in other nations hundreds of miles away.
LESSON OF HISTORY
Those who look to military might for security would do well to note the lesson of history in this regard. There have been many powerful nations and empires in ancient history. But how many of them have survived as great powers to this day? Not a single one of them! All came down to defeat, the security of their inhabitants shattered!
One such example was the mighty world power of Babylon. The city of Babylon itself was surrounded by massive walls and protected by a huge army. She was thought to be impregnable. Yet when Babylon was near its height of power, God’s prophet Jeremiah foretold this: “Babylon must become piles of stones, the lair of jackals, an object of astonishment and something to whistle at, without an inhabitant.”—Jer. 51:37.
True to God’s prophetic Word, in one night mighty Babylon’s power was smashed by invading Medo-Persian armies in 539 B.C.E. In time Babylon was abandoned and became a mound of rubble. To this day it remains just what God’s Word foretold, a pile of stones, the habitation of wild animals!
What of the mighty Roman Empire that came later? Through military strength she dominated the entire Mediterranean world. But what happened to her? In time her strength was sapped by internal dissension, corruption and immorality. The book An Outline of Ancient History adds:
“The imperial government became so expensive that it could no longer raise taxes sufficient to meet the required expenditures. . . . it kept on spending more than it received, and consequently it ran hopelessly into debt. As a result the currency was inflated until it became practically worthless. . . . hatred and envy ruled everywhere . . . roads were no longer secure.”
The gross corruption, the idolatrous worship of pagan gods and emperors, along with the glorification of pleasure and violence, brought internal decay. Soon, even Rome’s famous military legions could not stop the invaders from the north. The Roman Empire collapsed. Are Babylon and Rome exceptions? Did the rest of the nations fare any better in world history? How much security is there in any system of man-made government? Historian Arnold J. Toynbee, in his book A Study of History, states:
“We are faced with the fact that, of the twenty-one civilizations that have been born alive and have proceeded to grow, thirteen are dead and buried; that seven of the remaining eight are apparently in decline; and that the eighth, which is our own, may also have passed its zenith for all that we as yet know.”
The facts of history testify that there is no true and lasting security for any nation in this system of things. The time comes when each crumbles, either from inside or outside pressures, or both. And, really, it cannot be otherwise. Why not? Because when nations disregard God’s laws for human behavior, they cannot succeed. And for nearly 6,000 years now every nation has eventually done just that! Historian Toynbee says:
“The sense of drift . . . is one of the most painful of the tribulations that afflict the souls of men and women who are called upon to live their lives in an age of social disintegration; and this pain is perhaps a punishment for the sin of idolatry committed through worshipping the creature instead of the Creator; for in this sin we have already found one of the causes of those breakdowns from which the disintegrations of civilizations follow.”
Today, many nations are experiencing a shocking growth of violence and immorality. Without God’s laws to act as a restraint, this is what can be expected.
Do the officials of your country really depend upon God and his laws? Do they show this by encouraging their citizens to follow these laws of God? Do they stimulate interest in God’s Word, the Bible, so that people can line themselves up with its right principles?
You will find, if you look closely, that no world ruler on earth does this. Instead, there is evidence of moral disintegration at high levels of government as well as within the general population. God’s laws are not truly respected and his Word is ignored.
With such conditions prevailing, military might alone is an empty refuge for persons looking for security. God will positively not protect any nation’s security when leaders and people alike ignore his laws and his Word! Instead, God’s Word declares: “If you leave him, he will cast you off forever.”—1 Chron. 28:9.
MILITARY ALLIANCES FAIL
History also shows that military alliances are no guarantee of lasting security.
In the eighth century before the Common Era, King Ahaz of Judah saw Syria and Israel coming to war against him. The Bible says of Ahaz and his people: “His heart and the heart of his people began to quiver.”—Isa. 7:2.
These people professed to worship Jehovah God. On many previous occasions God had protected them when they relied upon him. The prophet Isaiah told them: “Jehovah of armies . . . should be the object of your fear, and he should be the One causing you to tremble.”—Isa. 8:12, 13.
But King Ahaz did not turn to Jehovah for help. Instead, he sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser, king of mighty Assyria, and pleaded: “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me out of the palm of the king of Syria and out of the palm of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” Ahaz then took silver and gold and “sent the king of Assyria a bribe.” (2 Ki. 16:7, 8) God’s Word states of all this: “There was an acting with great unfaithfulness toward Jehovah.”—2 Chron. 28:19.
While Assyria temporarily aided Ahaz, what eventually happened? The Bible notes that in time “the king of Assyria came against him and caused him distress, and did not strengthen him.” The very one Ahaz looked to for help turned on him!—2 Chron. 28:20.
TRUSTING IN JEHOVAH
After King Ahaz died, he was succeeded by Hezekiah. In King Hezekiah’s time, the mighty world power of Assyria again threatened Judah. What would Hezekiah do? Would he imitate faithless Ahaz and look for a military alliance to halt Assyria?
King Sennacherib, monarch of invading Assyria, sent messages to Judah. He urged the people: “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you people, for he is not able to deliver you. And do not let Hezekiah cause you to trust in Jehovah . . . Who are there among all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand so that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”—Isa. 36:13-20.
There might seem to be logic in his appeal. Assyria’s gigantic military machine had already crushed all opposition. Not a single nation or city had been able to withstand her forces.
What did Hezekiah do? “Hezekiah began to pray to Jehovah, saying: ‘O Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, sitting upon the cherubs, you alone are the true God of all the kingdoms of the earth. . . . And now, O Jehovah our God, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Jehovah, are God alone.’”—Isa. 37:15-20.
Hezekiah did not resort to military alliances. He turned to Jehovah in faith. With what result? “The angel of Jehovah proceeded to go forth and strike down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. . . . Hence Sennacherib the king of Assyria pulled away and went and returned and took up dwelling in Nineveh.” Never before had the Assyrian army suffered such a devastating defeat! Even boastful Sennacherib was later killed by his own sons while worshiping his false god Nisroch. So Hezekiah trusted in Jehovah. It brought real security.—Isa. 37:36-38.
WHEN JESUS WAS ON EARTH
When Jesus was on earth many turned to the wrong place for security. When the Jewish chief priests and Pharisees noted the miracles that Jesus was performing, they said: “What are we to do, because this man performs many signs? If we let him alone this way, they will all put faith in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”—John 11:47, 48.
The priests were fearful of upsetting their relationship with the world power, Rome. They had turned away from God and to the politicians for security. How foolish! Little did they realize that in spite of such turning to political and military might for security, it would do them no good!
In that very generation, in the year 70 C.E., Roman armies came and devastated Jerusalem. Within a few years most of the land of the Jews was torn asunder. More than a million died, including priests and Pharisees! Thousands more were enslaved. Yet, true Christians who trusted Jehovah were guided to security and lived through that time of desolation. History testifies that they were spared.—Luke 21:20-24.
END OF ALL MILITARY MIGHT NEAR
Today, the nations are armed to the teeth with fantastic weapons of destruction. Each year this military preparation escalates. But just as Jehovah wrecked the military power of Assyria, so he will grind into the dust today’s military-political forces that work against real security.
Soon, God himself will fight the last war that this system of things will ever see. At this war, called Armageddon in the Bible (Rev. 16:14, 16), God will use his almighty power to bring to nothing the military and political elements that have brought such havoc to the earth. God invites “all the birds that fly in midheaven” to this occasion. Why? The Bible states: “Come here, be gathered together to the great evening meal of God, that you may eat the fleshy parts of kings and the fleshy parts of military commanders and the fleshy parts of strong men and the fleshy parts of horses and of those seated upon them, and the fleshy parts of all, of freemen as well as of slaves and of small ones and great.”—Rev. 19:17, 18.
Thus, God clearly warns that all who do not trust in him for security will be led to disappointment. They will be destroyed along with the wicked system of things they prefer to support.
But what of those who do turn to Jehovah, who do put their trust in him? God’s Word promises them: “Seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth, who have practiced His own judicial decision. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.”—Zeph. 2:3.
The only real security in the approaching time of trouble sure to come is to be found in Jehovah God. He can, and will, protect those who turn to him for security. These he will preserve alive into a righteous new system of things where they “will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.” Such earth-wide peace will exist in that new system of things because Jehovah promises that “the bow and the sword and war I shall break out of the land, and I will make them lie down in security.”—Ps. 37:11; Hos. 2:18.