The pressures that we deal with everyday are incredible. The Holy Spirit enlightened that Apostle Paul as to the temper of the days just before Jesus return. I believe we are living in those days right now. Listen to Paul words, written by inspiration 2000 years ago, but completely accurate in describing today:
But you must realize that in the last days the times will be full of danger. Men will become utterly self-centred, greedy for money, full of big words. They will be proud and contemptuous, without any regard for what their parents taught them. They will be utterly lacking in gratitude, purity and normal human affections. They will be men of unscrupulous speech and have no control of themselves. They will be passionate and unprincipled, treacherous, self-willed and conceited, loving all the time what gives them pleasure instead of loving God. They will maintain a facade of “religion”, but their conduct will deny its validity. You must keep clear of people like this (2 Timothy 3:1-5 – J.B. Phillips Translation)
In the middle of this intense pressure cooker type tension, we need to be reminded that Jesus really is returning to earth one day! And when He returns, he will right every wrong, the tension of living will disappear, and for the first time since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, peace will rule the earth.
Notice Micah 4:1-4: In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all— the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. (2) People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. (3) The Lord will mediate between peoples and will settle disputes between strong nations far away. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. (4) Everyone will live in peace and prosperity, enjoying their own grapevines and fig trees, for there will be nothing to fear. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has made this promise!
A mountain in the Bible refers to a kingdom or a government that rules. So the mountain of the Lord’s house is referring to the kingdom of God that will rule the earth during the one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ on earth after His return (see Revelation 20). A day of peace and universal prosperity and health will rule when Jesus returns! He will rule over the entire earth and right every wrong. Now that gives us much hope as we deal with current hardships!
2500 years ago, a king in Babylon had a dream of a statue of a man made of gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay. The prophet Daniel interpreted the dream. The metals in the statue stood for world empires that have ruled over the Middle East and over Israel since its beginning as a nation. In the dream, a stone cut out of a mountainside, smashed the statue and then the stone covered the entire earth!
The stone represents the Lord Jesus Christ, and the mountain refers to the kingdom of God. Again, we see that when Jesus returns, every diabolical human authority and nation that is against God’s purposes will be defeated by Jesus the Christ!. And His peaceful rule will encompass the whole world. With this understanding, let’s read read about the King’s dream interpreted by Daniel:
Daniel 2:31-35 – New Living Translation
“In your vision, Your Majesty, you saw standing before you a huge, shining statue of a man. It was a frightening sight. (32) The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, (33) its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay. (34) As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. (35) The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.
When Jesus returns, every injustice, every oppressive government, every diabolical selfish scheme of man will be removed by Him from the earth, and will be replaced with peace, prosperity, health and blessing!
Let’s not get so caught up in all that happening today that we forget the overshadowing fact that Jesus will one day straighten it all out. Let’s live in the hope of Jesus’ return!
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen! (Isaiah 6:1-9 – New Living Translation). Be encouraged today!