What you see happening in the world are the birth pains of a new kingdom. The heavens are God’s throne and the earth is His footstool. To paraphrase RE Isaiah 25:2:
“Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble at his word: Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified. But He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that renders recompense to his enemies. Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? — says the Lord. Shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb? — says your God. Rejoice with His covenant people and be glad with her, all you that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her, that you may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the gentiles like a flowing stream.”
And to paraphrase Revelation 4:1: “And there appeared a great sign in heaven, in the likeness of things on the earth: a woman, clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And the woman, being with child, cried, travailing in birth and pained to be delivered. And she brought forth a male child, a new order of things, who was to rule all nations with the words of God given unto them, even a rod of iron; and her child was in contact with God and his throne.”
And again, “for the Devil has come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time” Id., at 5.
These upheavals in the world are the tantrums of a dying influence from a desperate adversary who knows God has begun to establish His rule and bring again His kingdom. He whose right it is to rule, for He created this world, has and is taking steps to exercise His right. All the foolish, vain and corrupt systems that oppose Him are doomed. As the Lord has put it: “And thus with the sword and by bloodshed, the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn. And with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed has made a full end of all nations[.]” T&C 85:3
These things are necessary. But, as the Lord has promised in a covenant (and God cannot lie when He establishes His word by covenant-LoF 3:16, 22, 38; Titus 1:1; Ether 1:12), “And I, the Lord your God, will be with you and will never forsake you, and I will lead you in the path which will bring peace to you in the troubling season now fast approaching.
“I will raise you up and protect you, abide with you, and gather you in due time, and this shall be a land of promise to you as your inheritance from me.
“The earth will yield its increase, and you will flourish upon the mountains and upon the hills, and the wicked will not come against you because the fear of the Lord will be with you.
I will visit my house, which the remnant of my people shall build, and I will dwell therein, to be among you, and no one will need to say, Know ye the Lord, for you all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
“I will teach you things that have been hidden from the foundation of the world and your understanding will reach unto Heaven.
“And you shall be called the children of the Most High God, and I will preserve you against the harvest.
And the angels sent to harvest the world will gather the wicked into bundles to be burned, but will pass over you as my peculiar treasure.” T&C 158:12-18
Our challenge is to keep the covenant we have been given so these promises can be vindicated. We have every reason to be of good cheer. The final words in the Answer to the Prayer for Covenant are: “Be comforted, be of good cheer, rejoice, and look up, for I am with you who remember me, and all those who watch for me, always, even unto the end. Amen.” T&C 157:66 We have a front row seat for the most amazing moments in history.