Recent months have seen calming of conflicts between Cambodia and Thailand, Pakistan and India, and Armenia and Azerbaijan. Prolonged war between Israel and Iran was averted. Israeli airstrikes destroyed hundreds of targets across Iran, while Iranian missiles rained down on Israeli cities. Most were intercepted, but those that penetrated aerial defense systems caused widely televised destruction.

Lives were lost on both sides, with great numbers injured and billions in damage. The war saw its climax when United States bombers destroyed Iranian nuclear sites in the most sophisticated stealth raids ever seen.

War between Israel and Hamas continues, with hostages still in captivity, catastrophic food shortages throughout Gaza and vast swaths of the country flattened.

Even larger is the Russia-Ukraine war, with all efforts to end it failing. Outside economic pressure and aid packages are not producing the desired result. Some estimates place the combined death toll at over 1 million, with Ukraine alone requiring more than half a trillion dollars—and many years—to rebuild. Reports of forced conscription on both sides show how dire the situation has become.

The Way of Peace

Speaking collectively of mankind, the apostle Paul wrote, “Their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known” (Rom. 3:15-17).

As terrible as the conflict is for the countries directly waging war, the threat to world peace is even greater. After U.S. President Donald Trump threatened “severe tariffs” on Russia if war did not stop in 50 days, he more recently changed the deadline to 10 days, citing no apparent willingness to produce peace.

These would include secondary tariffs—tariffs on countries who trade with Russia.

The blow-by-blow exchange via social media that followed bears recounting.

Following this news, Dmitry Medvedev, the former president of Russia and current deputy chairman of the National Security Council under President Vladimir Putin, warned, “Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.”

Mr. Trump countered with a statement to “tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!”

The dialogue did not calm down, with the former president of Russia reminding President Trump to remember “how dangerous the fabled ‘Dead Hand’ can be,” a reference to its automated nuclear retaliation systems.

In response, Mr. Trump announced: “…I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.”

Russia has since “…declared that it no longer considers itself bound by a self-imposed moratorium on the deployment of nuclear-capable intermediate range missiles, a warning that potentially sets the stage for a new arms race as tensions between Moscow and Washington rise…” (The Associated Press).

Whether mere saber-rattling or a prelude to a wider war, these developments signal the most significant escalation between the world’s two deadliest nuclear powers ever seen. There has since been talk of a potential breakthrough in peace talks—but the fact that nuclear war is even being discussed by politicians at the highest levels is an alarming testament to the ever-present danger facing humanity.

God’s Perspective

Peace seems like an unrealistic dream. Yet the God who created the “way of peace”—who is Himself called the “God of peace” (Heb. 13:20)—has a plan. It begins with understanding how He views the world—and how He will soon address it.

The prophet Isaiah shows God will soon interrupt world affairs with a message. A voice will declare, “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withers, the flower fades: because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand forever” (40:6-8).

A rhetorical question follows: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?” (vs. 12).

These are of course feats only God can achieve.

Continuing, “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counsellor has taught Him? With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding?” (vs. 13-14).

This is the same Being who in chapter 55 declares, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (vs. 8-9).

Returning to chapter 40, it becomes plain how God views the nations of the world—even its superpowers: “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance…” (vs. 15).

To a God of infinite power, the capacity of Earth’s mightiest nations is as trivial as a water droplet or small mound of dirt. Instead of allowing mankind to accelerate toward war, the God of peace will soon interrupt affairs, enforcing peace!

Tomorrow’s Wonderful World

My book Tomorrow’s Wonderful World – An Inside View! explains the tragic state of human affairs regardless of who is in power or what is dominating the current news cycle:

“Billions today live with no hope. Yet all wish for better lives, a better tomorrow for themselves and their families. Most also recognize that the collective future of all nations seems equally hopeless. If one considers history, the course of the past 6,000 years, it is difficult to avoid pessimism. When the full picture is brought into view—when all facts are considered—this world is hopeless. Modern civilization is beset—overwhelmed!—with every conceivable problem, evil, and ill that competing, grasping, self-promoting human beings could devise. Having always been sick, it is now deep in terminal illness, wheezing out its final desperate gasps before breathing its last.

“The present world is a condemned building. It is like an old, empty row house—abandoned, overgrown, burned out, littered with trash, marred by broken windows, and covered in graffiti. Built on a wrong foundation from the beginning, its already weak underpinnings have now eroded to the point of collapse under its own weight. Like all condemned structures, dangerous if left standing, this building must come down. With explosive charges in place, it is soon to be imploded and the rubble scraped away in advance of a new and magnificent world architecture foretold long ago to replace it.

“The plight of all nations today stands in stark contrast to the world that is coming. An artistic masterpiece soon to be unveiled, a fantastic future—truly incredible!—lies ahead for every nation of the world! But it will not and could never occur under the hand of men.”

Words of Life

Jesus Christ taught, “freely you have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8). The true nature of the fantastic future I referenced is explained only in the pages of the Bible. Real hope awaits humanity!

The Restored Church of God is able to offer Tomorrow’s Wonderful World – An Inside View! and all other materials we produce free of charge because of faithful members’ tithes and offerings as well as the generous support of readers and viewers who choose to support the Work of God.

Read it now to learn why the world is the way it is—but also to begin to understand the awesome hope that lies ahead for mankind!

The world will not end in nuclear destruction. Character will not completely collapse. God will intervene before it is too late, and mercifully give mankind a prophesied future it desperately needs but does not understand.