Live in Peace

DEVOTION

ISAIAH

LIVE IN PEACE

Isa 2:1-4

2:1 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2 In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

NIV

From this description, these events, this event has not yet happened. There has never been nor is there now any nation which has destroyed its swords and spears to make tools of agriculture. The phrase, “In the last days” is the key to why this vision given to Isaiah is about what will happen when the new city of Jerusalem comes down from heaven and the Lord himself takes up residence with his people. However, what we find in the description of the new city is the lack of a temple, at least in the sense of a structure. What John was shown is that the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple. We could also see this vision given to Isaiah in another sense as well. If we considered that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we might be tempted to see the church as chief among the nations, at least in the eyes of God. There has been in the past, such as the day of Pentecost when thousands came streaming into the mountain of God, accepting Jesus as their Savior. Today in some other countries the gospel is bringing thousands to repentance and accepting Jesus. It would seem our country had a revival once but seems to be in a period of decline. Yet we must view this vision as what is to come in the last days. It is the event of all events, the end of what is and the beginning of what will be. We are now living in, as people have always lived, at war with each other. There has never been world peace, no matter how many Miss Americas work at it. Yet this is our hope, we put our trust in this truth that we will one day live in this place with our God and he will dwell among us for all eternity. Now coming back to our being the temple, we can see that as we come up to the mountain of God, as we become this temple when we accept Jesus as our Savior, he brings us up to his mountain and he teaches us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. His law will go out from Zion into our hearts, and we will spread the word of the Lord. He will judge the nations at the end times, but also in the sense that we are a holy nation a royal priesthood, he has judged us as his nation and we have set aside all the implements of war, anger, bitterness, rage, revenge, jealously, envy, malice, and we have fashioned them into making every effort to live in peace with all men. Let us live in this hope that one day we will be with our Lord. In the meantime, let us live in peace, both with the peace in our heart and peace with God and with men. This is not the peace as defined as the opposite of the havoc of war, but this is the Shalom peace. It is defined as the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is. So until the last day, we live in peace.