Jesus Ends War Forever in the Age to Come
IN JESUS' KINGDOM TO COME - GUNS, VIOLENCE, AND WAR WILL DISAPPEAR. THE REASON WHY IS NOT WHAT YOU'D EXPECT (explained in 4 paragraphs)
What happens to guns, war, and violence under Jesus' reign in the next age? The answer is astounding. When the "knowledge of God covers the earth" the mindset of all humanity shifts. "Love God and neighbor" is understood to comprise "the good life" and the resulting actions from this moral compass result in global peace. When Jesus returns the effect will be similar to the first photographs taken of the Earth from outer space. It's impossible to view the Earth as flat when the spherical truth is before our eyes. To do so is futile and silly. It is the same with gun culture, violence, and war in the Lord's presence. It will be embarrassing, like the medieval beliefs that witches float and the sun orbits the Earth.
Isaiah prophesies figuratively that under Jesus' reign mankind "will beat the sword into a plowshare" and "the lion will lie down with the lamb." Meaning, nations will no longer compete for resources and human beings will not pursue power and status. This is Jesus' kingdom of the "first will be last and the last will be first"- where today's societal values will put you at the end of the line in God's Kingdom.
There's a reason Jesus said, "blessed are the peacemakers" and the Apostles preached non-violent imitation of Christ when faced with physical persecution. They practiced in part what we will live in full during the Kingdom to come. View it as a dress rehearsal. Today we, as Spirit-filled Christians, experience New Creation in part under the transformative power of Jesus inside us, but in the future, it will be in full view all around us. This is why there will no longer be tears shed because the value system of the Lord (true wisdom) will be put into practice. The fascinating part, is that this value system will not be forced on others (God does not usurp free will), it will collectively be embraced by all humanity as a better way to live. Jesus' return not only overturns systems of oppression and injustice but his very presence in our midst realigns his "very good" creation to being "image bearers". Imagine that. A collective epiphany about how to live well. Knowledge certainly has the power to dispel futility!
Our challenge today as Christians, like street theater, is to perform the character of Jesus publicly in a society where the "first is still first, and the last is last". This is our vocation of reconciliation. To be a city on a hill in a world of darkness. Our lives and speech must exemplify the sermon on the mount because it will be en vogue in the age to come. As the early adopters of Jesus' reign and rule we must be billboards that point to this great hope. Rather than compromising our platform by being outspoken in favor of "guns, violence, and war" let's preach the better future Jesus envisions in his "new heavens and earth". Peter challenges the body of Christ, "knowing the next age to come, what sort of people should we be today?" This is the great hope that the Apostles carried forth from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and the remote regions of the Earth, often dying in declaration of how to participate. Jesus will "make all things new" - today it is in small pockets of New Creation ("we must be born again") within our families and communities but in the future it will cover the Earth. God bless.
ISAIAH 2:4 And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war anymore.
ISAIAH 11:6-9 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
REVELATION 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”
REVELATION 22:17 “Come. Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life."
© 2024 by The Apostles Handbook
