Be "of sound mind" as the new order approaches
"But the end of all things is at hand. Therefore be of sound mind." - 1 Peter 4:7.
Innumerable proofs indicate that a new order is near. An examination of the present world order also reveals that there has never been a time like ours. For the first time in history, all man-made systems are in crisis. No matter which of the many systems of the present order you look at, each shows signs of serious trouble: political systems, religious systems, social systems, police systems, school systems, transportation systems, monetary systems - indeed, the list of systems currently in crisis is almost endless. Even the most important things, such as air, water and food, are now seriously threatened.You could compare the current order to an old building whose foundations are full of cracks and whose beams and girders are brittle and rotten. You can freshen up such a dilapidated building with lots of paint or decorate it artistically and furnish it with new furniture, but nothing can give it the strength it needs to stand for any length of time. No matter how much is done to remove and cover up the serious cracks in the present structure of human society, nothing can prevent what Jesus said from happening: "A house divided against itself will fall down." - Luk 11:17.
The most accurate and convincing proof that a new order is near, however, is provided by the promises and prophecies of the Word of God, the Bible. The biblical prophecies point not only to the present moral decay and disregard for truth and justice that have led to the worldwide crisis in which the present order finds itself, but also to God's express purpose to remove all these present systems within "this generation" in an incomparably "great tribulation" and then to establish His own order, an order with new systems that will be based on justice, on love for God and on love for neighbor. - Matt. 24:21, 33, 34; Rev. 7:14-17.
"There [are] new heavens and a new earth, which we expect according to his promise, and righteousness will dwell in them." (2 Peter 3:13) The "promise" to which the apostle Peter refers here can be found in the Hebrew Scriptures, in Isaiah 65:17. Bible scholars have long recognized that the "heavens" and "earth" mentioned here are to be understood symbolically. For example, a commentary in M'Clintock and Strong's Cyclopædia (vol. IV, pp. 122-127) reads: "By the new heavens and new earth mentioned in Isa. LXV [65], 17, is meant a new government, a new kingdom, a new people ..."
This means a new order. After God's kingdom under his Son will have eliminated all enemies of God's sovereignty, it will ensure that God's will is done on the whole earth according to the request in the well-known Lord's prayer or Our Father. (Matth. 6:1 This "kingdom of heaven" will thus form the "new heavens" through which humanity will then be directed and guided. The new earthly society, which will consist of those who survive into the new order, will not have to suffer from the imperfect, unsatisfactory and profit-hungry systems that cause so much trouble and disappointment and create so many dangers today. It will be built on righteousness, and its new systems will be guided by the heavenly government to which it is subject.
