I came across this in my Bible reading today:
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
and peoples shall flow to it,
2 and many nations shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore;
4 but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
and no one shall make them afraid,
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. – Micah 4:1-4
The temple that was built in Jerusalem was on a hill; in fact, it’s still there, you can go to its remnants. This is why in the prophets, God’s people are always said to be going up to Mt. Zion, they are ascending – which is where we get the term ‘Psalm of Ascent,’ – we’re going up to worship the Lord our God. The prophet Micah envisions a day when God’s kingdom will be established permanently. Like much prophecy, it is both present and future – God’s kingdom will be established permanently in Jerusalem with the coming of the King, Jesus Christ. And the temple that predates Jesus was established right there in Jerusalem. But its future also in showing that at the end of the story, there will be no more war, no more pain, no more death, and no more sin. These words are poetic and powerful: they won’t learn war no more. Many people have learned the words of verse 4 through the pen of George Washington, who co-opted these verses in speaking of his own retirement from civil service. They are made famous in the musical “Hamilton.”
But God’s view is far bigger than that. Turn on the news and you still see, amazingly, posturing from world leaders regarding their military might. Leaders from Russia, China, and North Korea have just gathered for a large military parade in China. Countries still attack countries, people die – war is still very much a present reality. It’s not the way it should be. We should be thankful that God is in providence, handed power to governments (Rom. 13) to quell evil – that’s important, for the church is not to do that anymore. We don’t attack non-Christians, we don’t have sharia law as Muslims do, and we shouldn’t. We are the plural and diverse people of God, transcending borders. But when allies defeated evil in Nazism in WWII, that was a good thing in curbing sin in the world, and that must happen. But so much war is completely superfluous, people killing people, for no reason, since the dawn of humanity. And we should hate that as God hates that. There is a day when there will be war no more. But who are you trusting – who are you getting behind in seeing that day? Governments are flaky and unpredictable – and sinful. In yourself? What can you do? Only the Lord has promised peace and has the ability to come through on those promises. Peace on earth is growing daily despite the horrible news – and it must be that way because the Holy Spirit has gone into every corner of the globe through the church of Christ. That is the seed of peace, and the beginnings of God’s kingdom on Earth – so rejoice in it and trust in Him!