Will the World Get Worse and Worse?

What about the future? Will it get worse and worse?

This question is quite common.

Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

Matthew 13:33

When people hear that the kingdom of God is present and advancing, they often respond, “Just look at how bad the world is. This is a very common view. They say things are getting worse and worse.” But that reasoning usually comes from comparing today with an imaginary past rather than with actual history.

I’ve made reference to this many times. Let’s please go back through the centuries. Ancient societies practiced slavery, human sacrifice, infanticide, public torture and killings, and brutal warfare. Conquering armies destroyed cities, slaughtered populations, and carried survivors away as slaves.

The black plague, disease and famine killed millions. Women, children, the poor, and the disabled had very few protections and life was very difficult while ordinary people often lived under violent rulers with virtually no legal rights.

Then consider the terrible medieval centuries. The mid evil lords ruled over impoverished peasants. Religious and political wars devastated entire regions. People were tortured in dungeons, burned at the stake accused of witchcraft, beheaded publicly, or imprisoned without a fair trial.

The Black Death wiped out a massive portion of Europe’s population. Sanitation and cleanliness were primitive, medicine was limited, and many children never survived to adulthood. Life expectancy was often short, harsh, violent, and uncertain.

The centuries that followed this had their extreme challenges as well. There has never been a century untouched by evil, suffering, and human corruption.

This does not mean everything today is good. Evil remains real, and modern technology gives humanity the ability to cause destruction on an enormous scale. But television, the internet, and social media place the suffering of the entire world before our eyes every day constantly on our minds.

Previous generations usually knew only what was happening in their own region; but today we carry worldwide tragedy in our pockets. That can make our generation appear overwhelmingly wicked when history tells a very different story.

The kingdom of God was never promised to arrive through political perfection or the immediate disappearance of every evil. Jesus compared it to a mustard seed that begins small and grows into a great tree. Like the scriptures we started this thought off with.

As stated above, the kingdom was compared to leaven hidden in meal, quietly working until the whole lump is affected. The kingdom advances through transformed hearts, truth, mercy, a declaration of reconciliation, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Across the centuries, the gospel has crossed national, racial, and cultural boundaries. Slavery has been legally abolished throughout most of the world. Human sacrifice and public torture are broadly condemned. Hospitals, schools, orphanages, charities, and relief organizations have spread across the nations to give humanitarian aid. This was unheard of for most of the previous centuries.

Human dignity and care for the weak have become moral expectations in ways that were very uncommon throughout much of ancient and medieval history. Humanity has not become sinless, but neither has the kingdom been standing still. It continues to move forward.

Please do not measure Christ’s reign in His kingdom by the worst headline of the day. The news highlights what is violent, shocking, and unusual and it rarely reports every quiet act of love, forgiveness, generosity, and faithfulness that is most definitely taking place. Darkness is loud, but the kingdom often works like leaven, silently, patiently, and from within. Many times our focus is on what’s bad in the world and fail to see the good right before our eyes.

Now imagine the world am in the future or thousand years from today if the leaven of Christ’s kingdom continues working through generation after generation. Imagine in the far future how many nations may be transformed, how much violence may disappear, how much knowledge may increase, and how deeply mercy, justice, and the love of our fellow man may shape human society.

Think about that. The world of that distant future may look back upon our century as we now look back upon the brutality of distant times and centuries before us.

Christ is reigning now. His kingdom has not failed because darkness still exists. Light does not cease to be light merely because there are places it has not yet reached. The kingdom began as a mustard seed, but it continues to grow.

We must trust this. Its future is not the triumph of darkness, but the continuing increase of Christ’s government and peace, until the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

We are not waiting for Christ to establish a future political kingdom upon the earth. We live in His present spiritual kingdom, a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit which shall continue to grow and endure forever.

“Of His government and peace there shall be no end”

Isaiah 9:7