The much-anticipated year 2000 has arrived. As 1999 drew to a close, Time magazine (Nov. 8) presented a spate of articles directing our attention to the exuberant optimism of the next century: "Can I Live to Be 125?," "Will Robots Make House Calls?," "Can I Grow a New Brain?" and "Can I Replace My Body?," to mention a few.

Media hype to the contrary, how do seasoned observers, journalists, economists and politicians expect the future to turn out? Based on their opinions, are we on the path of greater peace and prosperity, or should we expect something different?

Two scenarios

Let's begin with advice from two respected sources. William Strauss and Neil Howe, authors of The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy (1997), think the United States in particular is headed for social upheaval. Their theory is that sometime after the year 2000 America will enter a fourth-generational cycle, which they define as a great crisis.

Conversely, some experts suggest our lives will be more comfortable in the third millennium.

The Futurist (June-July 1998) provides samplings of anticipated lifestyle changes beyond 2000. It predicts community assistants who will drop by to offer their services for hire to communities and neighborhoods, charging fees for yard work and pool maintenance, picking up dry cleaning, and performing or overseeing routine home repairs. These services will provide what busier families will have less time to do.

Intelligent wallpaper, they say, will turn flat walls into an art gallery or television screen. Intelligent refrigerators will record the inventories of butter, juices and other staples, allowing a homemaker to print out a grocery list for her next trip to the supermarket.

Virtual aquariums or scenic vistas will add variety, beauty and tranquillity to a family room. Our consumer-oriented society is envisioned to give us ever greater ease and comfort.

For families on the go, in-home videoconferencing will keep next of kin in touch with each other in a world of wider family separation.

This potentially utopian future sounds exciting, except for one potential problem: It offers no advice on how mankind can solve the historical dilemmas that have plagued it for millennia. Our bloodstained, violent history proves that this problem can be a crucial factor in whatever kind of world lies ahead. Based on the record, the portent is ominous.

Great advances are expected in our ever-more-sophisticated technology, but few forecast improvement in human behavior.

Again, are we really on the threshold of a more humane and comfortable age, or are we stumbling headlong toward an abyss? Does Bible prophecy offer any answers?

Considering the historical record, what does biblical prophecy show will take place within the next millennium? You can know. The Bible specifically foretells the future of humanity. Amazingly, God guarantees humanity a utopian success even beyond its wildest dreams. But before that new age dawns, storm clouds lie ahead.

A coming superpower

Amazingly, the Bible speaks of a coming superpower in Europe that will be established under the leadership of a great emperor. A great church and confederation of nations will combine their resources to establish the most powerful union this world has ever known (Daniel 2:31-45; 7:1-28; Revelation 13:1-18; 17:3-18).

In his visit to Spain a few years ago, Pope John Paul II encouraged Europeans to "return to their roots." What might those roots be? In November the Roman Catholic Church extended the olive leaf to German Lutherans, hoping to heal the 500-year-old rift between Lutherans and Catholics. Together they signed the "Joint Declaration on Justification by Faith," an open appeal to Lutherans to come home. Could this remarkable act be a part of the roots to which Pope John Paul II was referring? History records that European emperors have declared their reigns to be revivals of the Holy Roman Empire, guided by the great church.

Originally, the ancient Roman Empire included both Eastern and Western Europe. With the lifting of the iron curtain earlier this decade, we can, for the first time in more than 1,500 years, see the way clear for Eastern and Western Europe to come together again. Could a final revival of the ancient Roman Empire end as it began, encompassing East and West?

The Bible describes a coming ruler in Europe who will dominate an economic, religious and military confederation of nations in the latter days. His initial intent to join forces will no doubt be for outwardly peaceful, logical reasons. But prophecy shows that perspective will change—and suddenly.

Two world governments

The prophet Daniel, referring to the end of the age of man, speaks of two coming new world orders. The first will be sculpted and led by human beings and will last for only a few years. The second is predestined and is guaranteed by Almighty God to last forever (Daniel 2:44).

In the sixth century B.C. Daniel interpreted a dream for the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar. In his dream the ruler had seen a giant image of a man, with four sections of its body composed of four kinds of metals. With God's inspiration and help, Daniel interpreted the image to represent a sequence of four powers that would dominate the civilized world. History shows they were, in order, the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greco-Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great, and the Roman Empire.

The great Roman Empire was to be "the fourth kingdom," a kingdom "strong as iron" that would "break in pieces and crush others" (Daniel 2:40). History proves that great empire did just that, crushing and absorbing many smaller peoples and kingdoms before it fell in its own turn.

But Daniel pointed out some peculiarities about this fourth kingdom. Its two legs were of iron and its "feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron" (verses 33, 41). This kingdom would be divided, "partly strong and partly fragile" (verses 41-42), and the people composing it "will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay" (verse 43).

Daniel then adds: ". . . In the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" (verse 44).

The final kingdom of which Daniel spoke—a kingdom that "the God of heaven will set up" and "which shall never be destroyed"—is none other than the Kingdom of God, the primary message of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:14-15).

A puzzling prophecy

But how is that possible? Such a kingdom was never established during the days of the long-ago Roman Empire. Daniel makes it clear that the Kingdom of God is a literal kingdom, "an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away . . ." It "shall not be destroyed." In that Kingdom "all peoples, nations, and languages" will serve Jesus Christ (Daniel 7:14).

This prophecy obviously hasn't been fulfilled. So how could the Kingdom of God replace the Roman Empire?

The key is to understand that the Roman Empire will rise again. As past European rulers have looked to the might and glory of Rome as a model for their power, another dictator will emerge to lead a modern-day revival of the Roman Empire.

Daniel's puzzling prophecy then becomes much clearer. The mixture of iron and clay indicates that nations in the end-time alliance will be a mixture of strong and weak. Because of cultural and ethnic differences, they will not adhere to each other, just as iron and clay do not mix. As the image had 10 toes like a man, this alliance will apparently be comprised of 10 "kings" who are rulers of nations or groups of nations (Daniel 2:44). Daniel prophesied that "in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed" (same verse).

Revelation 17 describes the scenario with similar imagery. It shows 10 kings who "receive authority for one hour"—in prophetic terminology, a brief time—from a dominant ruler. The 10 kings "give their power and authority" to this ruler (Revelation 17:12-13). They also "make war with the Lamb"—the returning Jesus Christ, who will defeat them and establish the Kingdom of God on earth (Revelation 11:15; 19:11-21).

Your Bible describes a future great confederation of nations that will dominate the world scene economically, militarily and religiously. Jesus Christ instructs us to be aware of world conditions and Bible prophecy that we might be spiritually alert not be caught unprepared when these things come to pass (Luke 21:34-36).

Major changes to come

We may, in the immediate future, see dramatic technological advancements that make life more comfortable. We will likely witness a short time of relative world peace. At first it may seem that that peace may be the peace promised mankind by God (Luke 2:14). Don't be deceived. It won't be God's peace, and it will be short-lived (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11). Although overwhelming by human standards, this final humanly designed government will be replaced by Jesus Christ and His government (Revelation 19).

Only at Jesus Christ's return will the earth see unprecedented peace and unparalleled prosperity. It will remain thus for at least 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4). During that millennium—yet ahead of us—the human spirit will be changed; God will change it.

Then everyone will know the true God (Ezekiel 36:26-27; Hebrews 8:11). Because man's heart and spirit will be changed, wars will cease—happiness, productivity and peace will prevail. No academies will teach young men how to wage war (Micah 4:1-5). The "waste places"—cities destroyed in warfare leading up to Christ's return—will be rebuilt (Isaiah 58:12).

Rain will fall in due season. The plowman will overtake the reaper; the treader of grapes [will overtake] him who sows seed (Amos 9:13). Even formerly wild animals will be made peaceful (Isaiah 11:6-9).

From the standpoint of biblical prophecy, we may be on the threshold of an age different from any era mankind has ever experienced. You can prepare yourself for it. But know that dark storm clouds will grace the horizon before the brightness of a new age shines forth, that a great tribulation will darken man's future before we experience a promised paradise.

For now, we can pray for that new age that will bring the peace and prosperity God has guaranteed mankind from time immemorial (Isaiah 11). As Jesus Christ instructs, let us pray to God for that new and exciting time yet: "Thy kingdom come." GN