p. 7 | IS IT PEACE OR WAR?

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 23, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 43.

IS IT PEACE OR WAR?

The Word of God versus the Word of Men.

We have been asked to explain Micah 4:4. Our questioner seems to think that the prophet therein predicts that there will come a time of peace in this world, in which weapons of war will be transmuted into agricultural instruments, and the whole world will be at peace.

The prophecy in Micah 4:1–6 is almost word for word the same as that given in Isa. 2:1–5. Following is the prophecy in Micah:—

“1. But in the latter days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow unto it.

“2. And many nations shall go and say, Come ye, 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 out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

“3. And He shall judge between many peoples, and shall reprove strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

“4. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.

“5. For all the peoples will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”—Revised Version.

1. This is to occur in “the latter days.” The term, of itself alone, does not necessarily refer to the last days of the Christian age; but the connection in Isaiah clearly shows that this is the case. Both Isaiah and Micah looked forward to the very end. And all the prophecies of God’s Word indicate that these days “are the latter days.”

2. “Mountain” is used as a symbol of worship, and all it implies. The Lord’s house anciently was built on Mt. Moriah, high and lifted up, with strong, secure foundations. Babylon is represented as a destroying volcano. Jer. 51:25. Amid all the false worship and doctrines of earth, Christianity would be the most exalted, so that its excellence would be acknowledged by all the peoples. They would flow to it; that is, they would nominally accept it; for, as shown by the context, and elsewhere, it will be largely in a nominal way.

How true this is to-day. Notwithstanding its perversions and wounds received in the house of its friends, Christianity’s divine excellence in wisdom and purity has been acknowledged; Christ has been lifted up, and has drawn men of every nation. Those nations in which Christianity has been left free to do its greatest works are the first and most honored nations to-day, tho they take to themselves the glory of Christ’s effulgence and wisdom reflected from them. Peoples have flowed unto it, and will. Many, in the aggregate, have accepted and will accept, in heart and life, Christ Jesus; many will see only the superficial, and will be content with mere profession; many others will yield feigned obedience for a time, because it seems to be popular and prosperous, even as many at first followed Christ Jesus, but finally became offended at searching, testing truth. John 6:60–66.

3. Because of this general acknowledgment of Christianity, many will conclude that the world will be converted. “Many nations shall go and say,” And what these nations say is given in verses 2 to 5, inclusive. They say:—

a. Let us go up to the mountain of the house of the Lord; let us honor Christianity; let us become Christian, and be taught of God; we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

This is what the nations say; but the Word of God knows no such national religion till the righteous nation enters in, every one of whom is a child of God.

And how literally men are fulfilling this to-day. A large class among the Protestant sects are declaring that the Jews will return to old Jerusalem, the civil polity, the priesthood, the sacrifices, will be restored, and great blessings will come to the race through the return of the Jews. And thus Christ’s sacrifice for “the whole world” and “once for all,” is made of none effect.

Again, the great Roman Church is planning great things for Jerusalem. Rome will not always be her seat. Jerusalem to the Papacy is greater than Rome. The see of the King is greater than that of the prince. Christ is more than His apostle. What greater masterstroke could be effected than another crusade, in a different form, in which the nations are involved, in which finance and diplomacy will bear a part, and which will all result in placing the see of the so-called vicar of Christ in Jerusalem. Then would it indeed be said: “The ‘law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord ‘from Jerusalem.”

b. They, the nations, say: “He [the Lord] shall judge among many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off;” and obedient to His vicar, men will transmute death-dealing weapons into instruments of peace; that there shall be no more war; neither shall it ever be taught any more. All this is said. It was said at the Chicago World’s Exposition. It was said at the time of the The Hague Peace Congress. Prophet and apostle declare that men should cry, Peace and safety. But the actual fact of peace and safety is not here, as we will show later on.

c. Furthermore, the nations say that every man shall have his own estate; that the large land-owners and capitalists will in some way divide with the masses, so “they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree; and none [war-armed hosts, pitiless taxgatherers, rent collectors, or merciless creditors] shall make them afraid.” And these prophets of the nations say, “The mouth of the Lord of hosts hath ‘spoken it.’” In the language of another prophet, they say, “The Lord saith; and the Lord hath not ‘sent them; and they have made others to hope that ‘they would confirm the word. . . . Because, ‘even because they have seduced My people, saying, ‘Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a ‘wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered ‘mortar.’” But the Lord declares that the wall will fall, and destruction will come upon those who trusted in it. See Eze. 13:4–23.

d. The nations who say all this will not be zealous for righteousness and truth, for true peace can come only by righteousness (Isa. 32:17), and sanctification only by truth (John 17:17); but the nations will say, “All the peoples will walk every one in the name of ‘his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our ‘God forever and ever.” We shall have a grand good time, a free fellowship of Christianity with paganism, truth with error, light with darkness, life with death. That is what has already been seen in our congresses of religion. Read in the light of it such scriptures as 2 Cor. 6:14–18.

4. But God also says something. He gives His opinion. His own divine commentary concerning what the nations say. Because they thus speak, God’s prophet declares: “For Thou hast forsaken ‘Thy people the house of Jacob, because they be ‘filled with customs from the east, and are sooth- ‘sayers like the Philistines [see Deut. 18:14], and ‘they strike hands with the children of strangers.’ . . . Their land also is full of idols; they worship ‘the work of their own hands, that which their own ‘fingers have made.’” Read the whole of the second and third chapters of Isaiah, and note the character which these false prophets and nations possess in the light of Heaven.

Again: God has said that His people in the last days should be a “little flock,” “a few,” a “remnant” oppressed of the nations; and therefore we read at the very time the nations are saying that peace and fellowship among all are coming. “In ‘that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that ‘halteth, and I will gather her that is driven away, ‘and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her ‘that halteth a remnant, and her that was cast far off ‘a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them ‘in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever.’” Micah 4:6, 7. “Fear not, little flock; for it is your ‘Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32.

5. The Lord has also something to say concerning the latter days about war. Read again what the nations say, and then read what the Lord says in Joel 3:9–14:—

“Proclaim ye this among the nations: prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together: thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord! Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”

Thus the nations and people are speaking their soothing cry of peace. Thus has the Lord spoken,—a true warning of the time to come. Which will we believe? God has said much more than this; but is not this sufficient? He has told us of the prophesying of the false prophets, and they have prophesied falsely, as He declared. He foretold us the true condition of the world; and we see the facts as divine foresight predicted. Which will we believe? “For ‘when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden ‘destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a ‘woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ‘ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day ‘should overtake you as a thief.” May God help us to be so grounded in His Word that we may not be soothed to fatal slumber by the siren song of a false peace.