Since the dawn of civilisation, international peace has eluded humanity. We’ve had brilliant minds and magnificent machines that have allowed us to peer into the atom, send spacecraft to Mars, and put the world in our hands with the smartphone. Yet one common factor arising consistently in every era, despite every technological leap, is the inevitability of war. The late American general Douglas MacArthur expressed it well in his address at the ceremony ending the Second World War:
“Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods through the ages have been attempted to devise an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start, workable methods were found insofar as individual citizens were concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger international scope have never been successful. Military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war.”[1]
We have tried every form and philosophy of government conceivable (apart from one!), but none has managed to achieve global peace. It’s as if conflict and war are written into the human condition; we seem unable to overcome our own nature pulling us into conflict and self-interest. The biblical writer James saw the elusiveness of peace as a problem in our hearts and minds, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God” (James 4:1-2 NIVUK). So given this human condition, is there a way to universal peace?
Looking at the last century, many would conclude it’s an impossibility. Since the First World War—the “war to end all wars”—one source lists that we’ve had a further 227 wars[2]—in fact, there wasn’t a year in the 20th Century that was free from war. And every century since the 1400s has seen an increase in the number of wars compared to the previous century[3]. That doesn’t bode well for the 21st Century.
But there’s good news for the world. World peace is just around the corner! And the pattern for its realisation is written in the pages of your Bible.
The prophetic book of Isaiah is not only the most well-attested of all the Old Testament books with a complete manuscript dating back to 100BC, but it’s also referred to as “the Bible in miniature”[4]. This is true not just because its arrangement reflects the wider biblical narrative but because many of the themes and language of the New Testament are found within the pages of this magnificent book. Indeed, Jesus and the apostle Paul quote Isaiah more than any book of the Old Testament. This is why Isaiah is nicknamed ‘the 5th gospel’.
One of Isaiah’s opening prophecies is of a time that will shortly come to pass. Such foretelling gives us the very formula for how world peace will be achieved:
“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 lifted up 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 disputes 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 anymore.” (Isaiah 2:2-4 ESV)
Here, in a nutshell, we have one of the most stunning and comforting promises by God Almighty of His healing intervention in the affairs of humanity. World peace is possible and promised, and will be made permanent with the commencement of this pattern of activity: come, learn, change. But there’s more to this pattern than meets the eye.
A word on prophecy:
Prophets spoke to their own age and to the future. The prophetic message often had an immediate fulfilment and a future one too. This is most obvious in the case of Messianic prophecies that, although written in close proximity to one another, in fact refer separately to the first and second coming of the Messiah. Prophecy can therefore be understood by telescoping near and far. At the moment the prophet was inspired by God’s Spirit, it was impossible for them to know the distance in time between prophecies. For them, it was like looking at mountain peaks from a long way off. They were unable to judge the distance between the two peaks. What may look like one mountain with two peaks was in fact two mountains spaced far apart. So when the prophet wrote, future events are described as if they are next to each other, whereas they may be thousands of years apart.
Some have noticed this peace-filled programmatic vision has an inherent structural integrity. These three verses are a closed structure with a “rhetorical completeness…of poetic perfection, complete in itself, to which the rest of the book relates as an ideal.”[5] This completeness is seen in the circularity of the passage—the ideas/phrases used in the first half of the passage are repeated in the second half. The ideas/phrases are therefore mirrored in each half. Furthermore, the first half has a movement of ascending, while the second half has a descending movement. Rabbi and biblical scholar Jonathan Magonet noticed this mirror image can be viewed as a mountain. When separating the passage’s individual clauses, the same idea/phrase appears in the ascent and descent (the clauses have been labelled with corresponding letters and the mirrored phrases have been italicised): [6]
Magonet creatively points out that if the structure is viewed horizontally, it forms a mountain. There is an ascent, a flowing movement up the mountain to the House of God. There, at the apex of the passage/mountain, we encounter God—His word and law spoken and taught by the reigning Messiah. Then the descent, a downward movement from Zion to the nations, leading to the transformation of the instruments of death (swords), through effort and force (beating), into instruments of life (ploughshares/pruning forks). Although these signs are figures, the things they signify are literal. Notice, though, that peace is achieved as a result of this new divine instruction and language—God’s way of life— a new way to live, a way of peace, not war. Such will be the effect of this profound wisdom and teaching that it will lead peoples and nations to turn from their ways of war to ways of peace.
This is why we call the House of God the International Centre for World Peace; because that’s what will be its purpose. It will be a new centre for education and administration, a centre of learning and wisdom, a centre where all nations will come to hear the words of their new king, Jesus the Prince of Peace. This teaching will form a new universal language in understanding God and His purpose for humanity, a teaching that will lead to peace between peoples and nations.
Thus, the Temple will be the sacred centre, from which peace will emanate over all the earth. Jerusalem and Zion are to be the setting of God’s cosmic activity to bring about world peace in the soon-coming Messianic age.
Here at the ICFWP, we will be holding monthly VR events and posting podcasts that further explore this plan of God and His way to peace. We hope you can connect with us in the VR space either through a PC or VR headset. Or jump on our YouTube channel for the latest podcast. You can also stay up-to-date with all our content and developments by subscribing to our newsletter over on our website at www.icfwp.org.
[1] Douglas MacArthur – Radio Broadcast to the Nation Following USS Missouri Surrender Ceremony (americanrhetoric.com)
[2] All wars in the 20th century, since 1900 | the Polynational War Memorial (war-memorial.net)
[4] Pawson, D. and Peck, A., 2007. Unlocking the Bible. True Potential Publishing, Inc., p.321.
[5] Landy, F., 2003. Torah and Anti-Torah: Isaiah 2:2-4 and 1:10-26. Biblical Interpretation, 11(3), p.320.
[6] Magonet, J., 1991. Isaiah’s Mountain or The Shape of Things to Come. Prooftexts 11(2), pp.175-81.
Cherie Fox - June 15, 2021
Great article, thanks so much for this. Packed with info! What an exciting future lies before us!
Richard Fowler - June 17, 2021
Thank you, Cherie. I’m glad you liked it. The Isaiah passage mentioned in the blog is one of my favourites!
Mr D Plumley - July 8, 2021
That has helped me understand the purpose of the project.
Richard Fowler - July 9, 2021
Glad it has helped to clarify things, Mr Plumley. If you’d like any further info, please reach out. Blessings!