5 29 03

5:50a

Micah 4

Of verses one through five, which discuss the mountain of the Lord in the last days, verse five really sticks out to me. �All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.�

What does that mean? This makes me think that perhaps, even after all is said and done, there are people who will believe in different deities. I�ve grown up with the assumption � I�m sure most Christian�s have � that when it�s all said and done, everyone will believe in and worship God, the same God, the God of Christianity. Now, I�m not so sure of that.

Maybe I�m missing something here.

1 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 peoples will stream to it.
2 Many nations 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, and word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. 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.
4 Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken.
5 All the nations may walk in the name of their gods: we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

Okay, so God�s temple will be established on a hill which will rise above all other hills� a mountain � I�m not sure of that, as from what I�ve seen, those �mountains� in Jerusalem are just glorified hills when compared to the Rockies, Cascades etc. I�m not exactly sure what that means, and I don�t think I can actually know until it happens � it will be a mountain people flock to in streams� I suppose like a holy crusade or something. (I don�t mean �crusade� but the word I want eludes me at the moment. I�m talking about a religious journey, not a battle)

Then, many nations will want to learn of God�s ways and follow His paths. However, it doesn�t say all nations, just many. Then the word, the law, will be sent from Zion? The Zion of today, or the Zion of the end?

Then, it seems that Jesus will be the over-seer of disputes and arguments between nations. Again, the key here is �many� as opposed to �all�. It�s like he would be emperor over the nations of the earth and kingdoms, presidents and the like will come to God/Jesus to sort all this stuff out. I�m not sure I understand what this really means. Does this mean that Jesus will be the God of His people on earth; that God will remain in His heaven and His son, Jesus, will be the ruler of this world??? Does it mean that, in somewhat modern terms, Zion will be set up like the ruler of the United Nations or something? This verse also says that the instruments of war will be made into instruments of agriculture. I think this is figurative rather than literal, but I don�t know. It could mean that there simply won�t be international war anymore rather than no war at all, but it also says that they will not train for war anymore. So, could this mean that there simply won�t be any physical fighting anymore???

Verse 4 seems pretty cut and dried to me. Basically, I understand this to mean that everyone will have their own bit of land and they�ll work it and support themselves from it. I believe this to mean that everyone will have their own space and no one will have to be afraid of robbers, bandits, thieves and other �bad guys�.

But this last� in light of the first four verses, I wonder if it doesn�t mean that there will, indeed, be as many religions and faiths in the end as there are now.

I�ve always thought that once it was all said and done and God was King, that there would be one religion� one spirituality. I have simply assumed that Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, paganism, multiple deism etc. would all be done away with and that Christianity would be the only religion.

Wow, if verse five is any indication, even after Jesus takes His throne, there will people who worship Zeus, Shiva, Buddha et al.

This really, really, really surprises me. I�m going to have to mention this at services Saturday. I need additional input.