See the Missed Insights series here
He (Jesus, The Lord God) shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords (weapons) into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword (weapons) against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
(Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3) 1
In our war-mongering world today,
These words trigger unimaginable images.
I’ve pondered what they seek to convey,
And to understand their strategic inferences.
Let’s strategically unpack these points, individually,
Since one day soon, they all will be fulfilled,
Let’s try to perceive their higher messages, contextually,
And what, in us, The Lord seeks to instill.
Point #1: Rebuking the Nations.
The Old Testament is FULL of Heaven’s rebukes,
Of leaders who led their nations to sin -- despotic.
Those nations were then invaded by foreign troops!
Warfare: Heaven’s 3rd, ramping-up sin-response tactic! 2
Today, Heaven’s rebukes of sinfulness still go unheeded,
By nations’ leaders, and especially their 'sintizens'! 3
Yet we are shocked when its predicted responses are meted,
Which are wars, wild beast attacks, pestilences and famines.
Today, nations ignore The Lord’s rebukes, sent prophetically
The above verse speaks of when He will rebuke them, personally,
When LITERALLY, ‘to their knees’, they are brought, pathetically,
When He starts His global, Millennial Reign, punitively. 4
Point #2: Beating Swords into Plowshares.
Many Bible scholars think this accents the pursuit of peace.
But that’s clearly counter-intuitive to human nature!!
Pursuing peace will NEVER prompt weapons production to cease!
So what could trigger this strategic prediction to occur??
The Lord will hit the 're-set button’ on civilization,
Reducing human, land animals and plant populations,
Driving humanity back to subsistence cultivation. 5
Survivors will be struggling with His righteous promulgations!
Here’s one possible rationale for the Great Tribulation:
To give surviving humans and their offspring, a clear reason,
To connect-the-dots between sinfulness-and-retribution.
But just like us, years on, their offspring won’t know this core lesson.
Selah…
Point #3: Learning War …No More (?).
Having suffered through the apocalypse,
Plus 2 massive wars that were lost in Israel,
Survivors' wills, and abilities to fight wars, will be stripped!
By The Lord’s and our power and LIGHT, they’ll be dazzled! 6
For a thousand years, the study of warfare will be banned.
But to such, will human spirits ...easily bend?
In hearts of those born later, might the flames of war be fanned??
If so, what might that mean for how that age …could end??? 7
If defunct weapons remain in plain sight,
And are cannibalized for agricultural tools,
Interests of those born later, could ignite,
To learn about those old weapons, and how they were used!
Either way, a final, attempted war is portended,
After The Millennial Reign age will have concluded.
Ergo, learning war ‘no more’, might just be ‘book-ended’.
OR, in that final war, people might …just be deluded!!! 8
~~~
Here’s the repetitive conclusion from human history:
Paradise was found, then lost. Undenied!
But for a thousand years, The Lord will end this, decisively.
Then, ALL life on Earth will be …‘GLORIFIED’.
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1 See the context here.
2 See: Four Judgment Henchmen, Explained. As you read this post, consider this: Since pestilences are the last of Heaven’s ‘ramping-up’ responses to overwhelming sinfulness on Earth, where in its calculus would a global pandemic possibly fit?? And if, after such, we simply carried on with, and even ramped up our sinfulness, what might be Heaven’s likely …next response?? Selah!!!
3 Sintizens - sin-prone, sin-loving citizens. It's my latest portmanteau. I figure it's a bit more polite than 'shitizen'. Agree? (Yep, that's a word!)
4 See: Zechariah 14 and Revelation 19, affirming/confirming The Lord’s personal return to planet Earth. See also: The Millennial Reign (Series), and Is Jesus God? (Series).
5 Recall, this is EXACTLY what happened after the global flood! After the apocalypse, agriculture practices globally, might initially be reduced to barebones, subsistence farming as a result of the tremendous environmental and population destructions during the apocalypse. I imagine no large scale, commercial farming operations will survive the two predicted, global earthquakes. Also, globally, markets and distribution networks will very likely crash. The combination of people who will be slaughtered by the anti-Christ before the apocalypse, and those killed during the apocalyptic plagues, will result in a greatly-reduced population from which work forces can be drawn. See: Humans, Rare on Earth (Series).
6 See: Revelation - Future Attacks in Israel. The Lord and we, His GLOWING entourage of immortal saints, will appear to the apocalypse survivors, as aliens invading the Earth. See: Imminent Eminence (Poem), wOw! Earth, Filled (Series), and Look at Me …Then (Poem). Tell me, do you have plans …to GLOW?? Will you be in His entourage??
7 The Bible is silent on how The Millennial Reign age, the 5th age of our history, will end. It does predict, AFTER this age ends, satan (and probably his crew of demons) will be released from their captivity to trigger a final, massive, attempted attack on Israel, by peoples who will not have known devilish temptations, as we do today! Imagine that! Click here to see what I imagine about how that age could possibly end, given lessons from our history.
8 Book-ended, i.e., limited to during The Millennial Reign age. Having had no opportunity to ‘learn/study war’, I imagine the people in this final war of history might possibly be deluded (by devils) into believing their sheer numbers in this massive attempted invasion of Israel, would be adequate to achieve their objective(s) — which might be to get their hands on the tremendous amounts of wealth that will have accumulated in Israel, per Isaiah 60. If so, that would be no difference in how devils delude us today! Agree? Since the creation of Adam, devils have well-honed their ‘human deception’ skills and tactics. And guess what?? So have we well-honed our willingness and abilities …TO BE DELUDED!
