If you’ve ever been to either Disneyland or Disney World, you probably have enjoyed listening to the song, “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” on Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress.
It’s a song that celebrates progress and technological advancements in the United States, and how the hope of things getting better leads to “a great big beautiful tomorrow.”
The Upward Trend.
The belief that things ultimately improve over time has been a foundational belief of the American people and many of our greatest leaders.
In the twilight of his life, Franklin D. Roosevelt recalled the words of his old Groton School rector, Endicott Peabody, who had told him, “Things in life will not always run smoothly. Sometimes we will be rising toward the heights - then all will seem to reverse itself and start downward. The great fact to remember is that the trend of civilization itself is forever upward; that a line drawn through the middle of the peaks and the valleys of the centuries always has an upward trend.” (Jon Meacham, The Soul of America, 8)
President Roosevelt was taught, and believed, that the trajectory of civilization, especially the United States, looked something like this:
Yes, there may be dips and valleys, but ultimately, the trend is upward. This is a common belief among the American people, and it has shaped who we are as a nation.
The United States has long been shaped by the promise, if not always the reality, of forward motion, of rising greatness, and of expansion of knowledge, of wealth, and of happiness. (Jon Meacham, The Soul of America, 9)
Our nation is founded upon the belief in the promise that things will, in the long run, always get better.
But this is a lie - a terribly great lie that we have believed and swallowed “hook, line, and sinker.”
The Downward Cycle.
The Scriptures declare that the “trend of civilization” is not an upward trending line - but rather, a spiraling downward cycle. King Solomon, a man whose wisdom exceeded those before and after him, wrote:
A generation comes and a generation goes, but the earth remains the same through the ages.
The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries away to a place from which it rises again. The wind goes to the south and circles around to the north; round and round the wind goes and on its rounds it returns. All the streams flow into the sea, but the sea is not full, and to the place where the streams flow, there they will flow again.
All this monotony is tiresome; no one can bear to describe it: The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content with hearing. What exists now is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing truly new on earth. Is there anything about which someone can say, “Look at this! It is new!”? It was already done long ago, before our time. No one remembers the former events, nor will anyone remember the events that are yet to happen; they will not be remembered by the future generations. (Ecclesiastes 1:4-11, NET)
What is Solomon saying about our world - including history? That it’s all just one cycle after another. We may think we are progressing - “Look at this! It’s new, right? This is progress, right?” - but we have just forgotten what came before us.
As we continue to look to the Scriptures, we discover the cycles just like Solomon said, but we also notice things generally getting worse over time, not better.
Judges
The book of Judges is twenty-one chapters of the same cycle played on repeat.
* Israel is faithful to God.
* Israel disobeys God and rebels against Him.
* God hands Israel over to her enemies.
* Israel cries out for help, so God sends a judge to deliver them.
* Israel serves God faithfully again.
* Repeat the cycle.
The deeper into this cycle we go, the worse things get. The most evil, gruesome events and actions of the people actually show up near the end of Judges.
But let’s keep going in the Scriptures to see if things get better. Maybe Judges is just a “blip” in an otherwise “upward trending” story.
Kings
Maybe once the nation asked for a king, surely that would be an improvement over everyone doing what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25). But three kings in, and the nation endures a bitter split into a northern kingdom (Israel) and a southern kingdom (Judah).
While the southern kingdom had several kings who were faithful to God, the northern kingdom had none. After much wickedness, the northern kingdom was violently carried off into Assyrian captivity in 722 BC. The southern kingdom didn’t last much longer, finally being taken captive by Babylon, and Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC.
So once again, things didn’t get better - it got worse.
Christian Age
Let’s fast forward to the New Testament. Jesus Christ has come to this world, died on the cross, been resurrected, and gone back into heaven at the right hand of the Father. His church has been established (Matthew 16:18; Acts 2). Surely now things will get better, right?
As the Lord’s apostle Paul was writing his last letter to Timothy, perhaps just months before his execution, Paul warned Timothy of what lay ahead.
But know this, that in the last days [the age of Christ] perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (2 Timothy 3:1-5, NKJV)
You know, it sort of sounds like Paul is warning Timothy that things are going to get worse. He continued:
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:12-13, ESV)
So the Scriptures paint a pretty clear picture.
* Judges: a cycle that gets worse.
* Kings: a cycle that gets worse.
* Paul: more difficult times are coming; evil people will go from bad to worse.
Rome
The hope of an “upward trend” is not unique to the United States. The Roman Empire also once believed in the promise of civilization’s “upward trend.”
Rome enjoyed a period of stability and prosperity from 27 BC to AD 180. Many believed that the “Pax Romana” (Roman Peace) was a sign of this “upward trend” of humanity. They felt their empire and peace would last forever. One of their poets, Vergil, had their idol god Jupiter promise in the Aeneid: “I set no bounds to their dominion and no end of time. To them I give empire without limit.”
And yet, Rome fell in AD 476.
The promise of an “upward trend” provided false hope and security to the Roman people, just as it provides false hope to the people of America today.
Rome thought they were different - destined to last forever; ordained and blessed by the gods. The United States of America thinks much the same.
But the cycle has never changed.
Nations rise, and nations fall. Only God’s kingdom stands forever.
The American way of thinking is that while there may be dips and valleys in our history, there is ultimately an upward trend. But God, through His word, tells a very different story. He describes human history upon this earth as a gradual downward spiral, going from “bad to worse.”
Now, you may be thinking, “Jameson, that sure sounds awful hopeless.” And yes, it does. And that’s the point.
If your hope is in the things of this world - nations, power, money, etc. - then you have no hope. You will be bitterly disappointed. All nations fall, all rulers fall out of favor and power, and wealth will always be “uncertain” (1 Timothy 6:17).
But there is a “kingdom” that is on a different path than all the rest (Daniel 2:44; 1 Peter 2:9-10). There is a Ruler who remains on the throne, no matter what (Psalm 2; Revelation 19:11-16). There is a treasure you can “store up” that you can count on (Matthew 6:19-21).
While the world continues its downward spiral away from God, the people of God - Christians - are on an upward trend toward God (Romans 8:28-30). We “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
There is an “upward trend.” But it’s only in Christ.
The “Great American Lie” whispers to trust in America - that this time, things will be different. Things will be better.
But don’t listen to the lies - they’ve been told to us from the beginning.
“Did God really say things will go from bad to worse? That’s not what’s going to happen. After all, the United States is different!”
“You will not surely die.”
We’ve heard that one before - and things only got worse. Just as God said.
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