Can There Be Peace on Earth?

MEMORY VERSE: “And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” —Micah 4:3

MICAH 4:1-7

THE answer to the question, “Can there be peace on earth?” is an affirmative one. However, this lesson emphasizes that peace will not come to the peoples of earth through human efforts, but because the Lord will establish his authority over the earth through the agencies of his long-promised kingdom. In the first verse of the lesson this kingdom is likened to a great mountain which “shall be established in the top of the mountains, and … exalted above the hills.” The “mountains” and “hills” represent the various governments of earth, great and small, as coming under the domination of “the mountain of the house of the Lord.”

The Lord’s ruling house in the earth was at one time the Davidic line of kings. But this was merely a typical arrangement and was superseded by Jesus. Concerning Jesus the angel Gabriel said, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”—Luke 1:32,33

Jesus, then, will be the chief one in the ruling house of the Lord, but the Scriptures reveal that associated with him will be those of the present age who have suffered and died with him. These are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Rom. 8:17,18) Another promise to this same group is that they shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years.—Rev. 20:4,6

This is the Lord’s ruling house, but it will be spiritual, and invisible to man. However, it will have human representatives. Jesus indicated who these would be when he said that the people would come from the east, west, north, and south, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God. (Matt. 8:11; Luke 13:28,29) A prophecy concerning these human representatives of the kingdom says that they will be made “princes in all the earth.”—Ps. 45:16

Verse 2 of our text declares that many nations (Isa. 3:2 says “all nations”) shall say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” “Zion” was the capital hill in Jerusalem and would here symbolize the spiritual phase of Christ’s kingdom, while “Jerusalem” would be a symbol of the human phase of the kingdom, headed by the Ancient Worthies. To establish such a kingdom calls for the resurrection of Jesus and his true followers from the dead, and also the resurrection of the Ancient Worthies. What a demonstration of divine power!

Thus peace will be brought to the peoples of earth by the exercise of divine power in this and whatever other ways are necessary.

Peace will come, not through preparation for war, but because the people will learn the Lord’s ways of peace, and will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks. Instead of preparing for war they will learn war no more. (vs. 3) Then “they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid.” (vs. 4) This is not just a dream of man. It is the plan and determined purpose of God. Micah asserts, “For the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.”

At the time of the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom, the worshipers of false gods will still be bowing down to their idols. The Jewish people to whom the glory of the kingdom will first appear will quickly give allegiance to the true God. They shall become a strong nation, and “the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even forever.”—vss. 5-7

The “tower of the flock” mentioned in verse 8, which properly belongs in the lesson, is the glorified Christ Jesus, and his faithful followers will be associated with him. Micah says that to this “tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion,” shall “come, even the first dominion.” “The first dominion” here referred to is the dominion that was given to our first parents when they were created. They were commanded to multiply and fill the earth, and have dominion over it.—Gen. 1:28

Through sin this dominion was lost. But Christ took the sinner’s place in death, and through the agencies of his kingdom mankind will be restored to life, and “the first dominion” will also be restored to the faithful of that coming age—“Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”—Matt. 25:34

QUESTIONS

How can peace be brought to the earth?

What is the Lord’s ruling house?

What is the “mountain of the Lord”?

Why will the nations beat their swords into plowshares?

Who is the “tower of the flock,” and what is “the first dominion”?

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