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Written by Ralph Levy
The world’s population continues to expand inexorably. What can all the newcomers to planet earth expect? Will there be enough to go around? Is there any hope of a better world for our children?
From reading my Financial Times the other day, I learned a startling fact: The world’s population is about to hit 7 billion (Sept. 19, 2011, p. 7)! That’s seven thousand million, to be precise, since the term billion has variant meanings throughout the English-speaking world.
The article points out that this is expected to happen in less than two months—on Oct. 31, experts estimate.
There are a lot of people living on planet earth, people who largely wish for the same things: peace, food and shelter, family, freedoms and the essentials of a fulfilling and satisfying way of life.
A mixed picture, but not a hopeful one
Will the future provide for the goals of so many human beings? The panorama isn’t hopeful. The same article points out the varying life expectancies between nations: a low of 44 in Afghanistan, compared to an average lifespan of 83 years in Japan. It also points out the wild disparities in fertility rates, which are much higher in the more poverty-stricken nations of the world and in those where female education is limited.
“The UN population division says 42 percent of the world population lives in low-fertility countries where women are not having enough children to ensure that, on average, each is replaced by a daughter who survives to child-bearing age. High-fertility countries … are concentrated in Africa” (ibid.).
Future conflicts, financial crises and crop failures
Of course, it’s not just the population explosion that threatens the future of humanity. Simmering tensions, such as those in the Muslim world and the long-standing conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors, threaten to explode, while the world’s economic system rocks and gyrates wildly. Wealthy nations in Europe and North America are concurrently struggling to contain economic and financial problems whose outcomes are hard to predict.
In the meantime, food prices escalate as newly-industrialized nations such as China and India demand a richer, more protein-dominated diet, while world agriculture suffers droughts and crop failures in places like Australia, China and parts of North America. Food distribution bottlenecks are leading to mass starvation in nations experiencing civil strife, such as Somalia.
How much hope is there for all these mouths? How much hope is there for the future of humanity?
Long-term hope!
The answer is, in fact, good news: There is real hope in the long-term! Yet in the short- to medium-term, human survival will seem threatened and humanity will be unable to provide real solutions.
In His famous Olivet Prophecy, Jesus Christ described the threats and challenges facing the world’s soon-to-be 7 billion. He spoke of wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6), strife between nations and races, famines, pestilences and earthquakes (verse 7).
Later in the same prophecy He spoke of the time of the Great Tribulation, so great it would seem that all humanity will be on the very brink of extermination (verse 22). What lies ahead will be more serious and life-threatening than either of the world wars of the 20th century.
That time of tribulation and war will be followed by a series of heavenly signs that will augur an event that will change the course of history. Jesus Christ will return to bring an end to all the suffering and warfare and to usher in the very government of God over this earth!
Christ’s second coming announced with a trumpet
In the same prophecy we read of the coming of the Messiah being accompanied by the sound of a trumpet (verse 31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). The allusion here is to the sound of the ram’s horn (shofar in Hebrew), an instrument used in the Bible to call an assembly or to warn people of impending war. When that instrument sounds in the hearing of all, things will really begin to change.
Once Jesus Christ has returned to earth, there will be hope for humanity, though sadly many of the 7 billion plus will have lost their lives in the times of trouble that will precede this great event. Yet there will be a future for planet earth and for humankind, though not one springing from human effort. Divine intervention alone will bring that day! This is something to be looked forward to with eager anticipation.
Ralph Levy is a minister of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, who grew up in England and now lives in the United States. Dr. Levy enjoys serving the Church, reading, travel and foreign languages. He has a Ph.D. in biblical studies and has worked in foreign language and religious education for much of his life.
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