A Long Walk in a Peaceful Direction

Isaiah 2:1–5, The Message

The Message Isaiah got regarding Judah and Jerusalem:

There’s a day coming

    when the mountain of God’s House

Will be The Mountain—

    solid, towering over all mountains.

All nations will river toward it,

    people from all over set out for it.

They’ll say, “Come,

    let’s climb God’s Mountain,

    go to the House of the God of Jacob.

He’ll show us the way he works

    so we can live the way we’re made.”

Zion’s the source of the revelation.

    God’s Message comes from Jerusalem.

He’ll settle things fairly between nations.

    He’ll make things right between many peoples.

They’ll turn their swords into shovels,

    their spears into hoes.

No more will nation fight nation;

    they won’t play war anymore.

Come, family of Jacob,

    let’s live in the light of God.

So I have to admit that we could spend a month in Isaiah alone because there are so many gems to share.  Today’s diamond has to do with a vision for Jerusalem, but it is a vision much bigger than Jerusalem.  God shares with Isaiah about a time of revelation so powerful coming from Israel that it will draw the attention of all nations.  Of course, Israel is where many huge revelations have taken place, but none was bigger than the revelation given through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  The world continues to be changed by that revelation.

Notice what Isaiah shares about what will happen as the world turns to the revelation coming out of Zion (a name for the hill on which Jerusalem was built):

He’ll settle things fairly between nations.  He’ll make things right between many peoples.  They’ll turn their swords into shovels, their spears into hoes.  No more will nation fight nation; they won’t play war anymore.  Come, family of Jacob, let’s live in the light of God.

Wartime(swords) will turn to time of replanting (shovels and hoes).  Fighting will cease.  Light will increase.  The vision suggests that, under the influence of God’s revelation, people move towards peace, not war, and towards unity, not division.  I have to say that this matches my over-a-lifetime experience with seeking to be taught the ways of Jesus.  The impulses toward aggression and anger of my younger days still rise up in me from time to time, but it is much less frequently and sometimes I see myself moved to compassion in situations that once had me up in arms.  I feel much less compelled to be so defensive all the time and more compelled to work for peace in my relationships.  I use the words “less” and “more” to describe the process because I have so much more growing to do.  I am still, as Paul says, “by nature [a child] of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3 NASB), but looking back I see real progress in my spirit on the path a peace.  And so many others that I have known over the years have given testimony to the same journey learning God’s ways have had on their bent toward reconciliation and unity with others.

The invitation to all God’s people is to “Come, family of Jacob, let’s live in the light of God.”  This is a lifelong journey.  I have found it to be painfully slow sometimes.    But I must say that I like the direction of increasing light over increasing darkness. What about you?

Prayer:  Jesus, we seek to be taught your ways of peace.  Help us to lay down our proverbial swords and make them into implements of planting seeds of peace in our spirit, our relationships, and the world. Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people living in households that ripe with anger and/or violence.

Song:   Lay Down Swords, Boys – Shawn Mullins