IMAGINE how a caring father feels when seeing his children suffer from malnutrition. It pains him to his very heart. If that is how a human parent reacts, think of how our loving heavenly Father must feel. He is fully aware of the suffering of hundreds of millions who find themselves in this situation.
Despite mankind’s good intentions to provide food for the hungry of the world, at the beginning of the 21st century, hunger is on the increase. However, our heavenly Father, Jehovah, can and will do something to eradicate hunger forever. How do we know?
The Bible explains that when God placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, he provided them with everything they needed to be secure, content, and well fed. God told them: “I have given to you all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth.” Jehovah’s purpose was for Adam and Eve’s children to “fill the earth” and for all humankind to have an abundance of good things to eat.—Genesis 1:28, 29.
Although the first human couple rebelled against their Creator and lost his blessing, God’s original purpose for mankind has not changed. The Bible calls Jehovah “the One giving bread to the hungry ones,” and it contains numerous prophecies indicating that he will eliminate all problems that have to do with access to food.—Psalm 146:7.
When Jesus’ disciples asked him for a sign, or evidence, to identify when he was going to establish his Kingdom and intervene in earth’s affairs, Jesus listed the conditions that would precede that intervention. One of them is “food shortages.” Careful consideration of Jesus’ words gives the assurance that mankind’s suffering will soon end.a—Matthew, chapter 24.
Concerning the Paradise that God will establish, Psalm 72:16 prophesies: “There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow.” In ancient Israel grain would normally grow in the valleys. Yet, in the blessed conditions described by this prophecy, seed sown even on the most barren, arid, and unproductive land—which normally would not produce anything—will yield abundant fruitage. “In the time of the Messiah,” says one Bible scholar, “it would be as if fields of grain waved everywhere, even on the tops of mountains, or as if the hills were cultivated to the very summit, so that the whole land would be covered over with waving, smiling harvests.”
What a difference between the future that the Bible foretells and the lot of millions today! Yes, indeed, in the future that God promises, “the earth itself will certainly give its produce; God, our God, will bless us.”—Psalm 67:6.
If you would like to know how you and your loved ones can enjoy these and many other blessings described in heartwarming Bible prophecies, do not hesitate to ask Jehovah’s Witnesses in your area or to write to the appropriate address on page 5 of this magazine.
