Malachi 3:17

"And they shall be mine, saith Jehovah of hosts, even mine own possession, and in the day that I make; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."

In the background of such a prophecy as this, and in many other such promises in the Old Testament, there is the haunting fear of that "day," that terrible day that shall conclude the course of men on earth. A proper understanding of God's promise to "spare them" must be read against the universal consciousness of Doomsday that flies like a banner over both the Old Testament and the New Testament. "The end of the world" was mentioned in the giving of the Great Commission; and that ultimate catastrophe which, like the sword of Damocles, hangs over the heads of all mankind, is a definite part of holy revelation; and the concept of it is inseparably joined to all of the sacred promises of the entire Bible.

In this connection, it is interesting to note that the prognosis for man's future upon earth, as provided by the philosophies of infidels and unbelievers, invariably carries this pathetic threat. Bertrand Russell, for example, stated that the future of man on earth was no more promising than that of the pterodactyl or the brontosaurus. The world around us indeed seems to be rushing headlong forward on a collision course with disaster. Particularly, the last great prophecy delivered to mankind, the Book of Revelation, is a sevenfold description of the end of the present order and the founding of a new one. The assignment of the true follower of God in Christ is exactly that of the saints of old who waited patiently for the kingdom. True, the kingdom for us has come; but the ultimate execution of the wrath and judgment of God upon human wickedness has not yet occurred. And amid the howls and shrieks of unregenerated men who scoff at such things, let the true Christian remember that "In your patience ye shall possess your souls" (Luke 21:19).