The Kingdom of God

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 shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples 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. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; 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 any more.

Isaiah 2: 2-4

The prophet Isaiah predicted a future that sounds like pure idealism. In the history of the world, I cannot remember any time when people beat their swords into plowshares. The rule of God which is to go forth from Zion (the hill on which the temple in Jerusalem was built) is not only for Israel; but, for "many peoples". The plan for worldwide peace is a theme that goes back to Eden. No more thorns and thistles. No more war and strife. It is the rule of God which is perfect for mankind. When YHWH finally acts to reestablish Jerusalem ("Zion") as the place where he will live and reign, it will be for all of us. This is the same promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 12, that through his seed "all nations" of the earth would be blessed.

Even more specifically, God promises to do this through the arrival of the ultimate king of Israel, the descendant of David ("son of Jesse"). This king will possess the wisdom he will need to bring God's justice to the whole world. Isaiah went on to describe this in chapter 11: 1-9:

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins. 6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall feed; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious. 11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. 12 He will raise an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

The restoration of Israel that is recovered from the remnant of his people is a sign of the Lord's hand. Israel, as a nation, ceased to exist when Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans in 70 A.D. Jewish people were scattered throughout the nations (the "Diaspora") for almost two Milena. In 1947, the United Nations voted to restore a homeland for the Jewish people. No other nation on earth has ever come back from the dead in this manner. Hebrew, a language that nearly disappeared, is now restored as the language of modern day Israel. Certainly the wolf and the lamb have not laid down together in our time. But the fact that Israel exists as a nation today is not something that we should ignore. Does this means we are living in the last days? Perhaps? But, no man knows the hour or the day. But, Jesus did tell his disciples that they would know the "season". Before 1947 these passages were thought of as literary illusion. But, if we remember that Jesus was a historical figure that lived real space and time, then I believe there is room to suggest that upon his return God is not yet done with his plan to redeem this physical world just yet.