Undoubtedly the one text of Scripture that is oftenest referred to as proof of the millennium and the conversion of the world, is that one which speaks of the nations beating their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks.
There are two places in the Bible where these words are used: Isaiah 2:2-4, and Micah 4:1-5. These are almost precisely alike, except that where one uses the word "nations" the other uses "people," and the statement in Micah is a little longer than that in Isaiah:
"But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and 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. 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 pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 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 has spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever." (Micah 4:1-5)
Now let us examine this closely and see what it teaches. When is this scripture to apply? "In the last days."
Who is it that shall say these things? "Many nations [Isaiah: "Many people"] shall come and say;" etc. Exactly!
* In the last days then many people shall say that "the law shall go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."
* In the last days many people shall say, "The nations shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning-hooks."
* In the last days many people shall say that "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
* In the last days many people shall say, "Peace and safety," because "they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid."
* And, too, they will say that "the mouth of the Lord has spoken it."
All these things many people will say in the last days. But what says the Lord?
"In that day, says the Lord, will I assemble her that halts, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; And I will make her that halted 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)
This shows that at the very time, in that day, when "many people" are saying all those things, there will be some who will be "driven out," "afflicted," and "cast off," and that these will be a "remnant." And it is this "remnant" which the Lord says he will gather and over whom he will reign in Mount Zion forever.
This is clearly against the idea of the conversion and gath ering of all the world, for if that were true then there would be no "remnant" at all, nor would there be any that were "cast off " or "driven out" or "afflicted." How could there be any afflicted or driven out when every man could sit under his vine and under his fig-tree, with none to make afraid, and when none should ever learn war any more? Plainly there could not be.
Therefore the text does not at all teach that there shall be a millennium of peace and safety and the conversion of the world. It only teaches that in the last days many nations or people will say so, and will say that the Lord has said it; while the Lord himself says that "in that day" there will be a rem- nant, who will be cast off, driven out, and afflicted, and that this remnant he will gather, and will reign over them in Mount Zion forever.
That this is the true explanation of the text we have the whole Bible on this subject in proof. Let us follow this "remnant" and see what further is said about it.
"I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. ...[there] shall be deliverance.in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." (Joel 2:30-32)
"Therefore wait upon me, says the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them my indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." (Zephaniah 3:8)
Can it be possible that the Lord is going to assemble a con verted world to pour upon such a people all his fierce anger? Not at all. The word of God knows no such thing as the con version of the world, that is all.
"I will also leave in the midst of you an aff licted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord." (Zephaniah 3:12)
This is precisely what the Lord says in Micah 4, while many people are saying "peace and safety," and that the world shall be converted. This is further shown by the next verse. It speaks of this afflicted and poor people as the "remnant of Is rael," saying,
"The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid." (Zephaniah 3:13)
This whole connection shows that the time here spoken of is the same as that in Micah 4, and that the remnant here referred to is the same as the remnant there referred to, and that this remnant will be poor and afflicted, cast off and driven out. This is confirmed by another reference to this remnant:
"The dragon was was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelation 12:17)
The dragon is said, in verse 9, to be "the devil," "Satan." The "woman" is the church of God. The devil is wroth with the church of God, and goes to make war with the remnant of her seed. The devil works through earthly powers and agencies. In stirring up kings, and people, and nations to oppress the church he has ever endeavored to destroy her. This is continued even to the end, in a war with the remnant of Israel, the last of the church of God.
Says the Lord by Daniel, speaking of that great power that so long wore out the saints of the Most High:
"I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." (Daniel 7:21-22)
Here then is the story of the remnant. It is the last of the church. The people who compose it keep "the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." The devil, through the powers of earth, makes war upon them. By this they are "cast off " "driven out," and become an afflicted, and poor people. But there is deliverance in the remnant who the Lord calls, for,
"In that day, says the Lord, will I assemble her that halted, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; And I will make her that halted 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)
"And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." (Revelation 15:2)
Those who got this victory are they who kept "the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus;" and these are the remnant, who are driven out and afflicted, but whom the Lord gathers, and over whom he reigns in Mount Zion forever.
Yet at the very time when the devil is thus making war upon the poor, afflicted, but loyal remnant of the church of Christ, the popular pulpit, and the worldly church, will sing of peace and safety and the conversion of the world, and will think that because the world finds it to its interest to ally itself with the already too willing church, therefore the world is be coming converted, and a millennium of peace will reign on the earth!
Yes, says the prophet,
"From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yes, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth." (Isaiah 24:16-17)
Right here the reader may with profit read carefully the whole of the second chapter of Isaiah:
"The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come you, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, 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. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come you, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Therefore you have forsaken your people the house of Jacob, because they are replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: And the mean man bows down, and the great man humbles himself: therefore forgive them not. Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake terribly the earth. Cease you from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isaiah 2:1-22)
There is another line of scriptures that also prove positively that this promise of peace and safety, and of beating swords into plowshares, and spears into pruning-hooks, is only the saying of "many people" and not of the Lord at all.
Notice, the time at which the prophet says that many people will say these things, is "in the last days." Now what does the Lord say shall be the condition of things in the last days? This:
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
This is what God says there will be, in the last days; and this is exactly what now is, as any one can see who will look. Nor is there promise of these bad men growing better and better, until all shall be converted and there be left none wicked on the earth. On the contrary, this word says
"Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:13)
And in the face of these plain positive declarations of the word of God, pulpit and platform, priests and people, will declare that the world is growing better, that everything pros pers and is on the highway to the millennium. It is too, but not such a millennium as they are looking for and preaching, but one of destruction and devastation.
Again, says the Lord by the prophet Joel,
"Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for the press is full, the vats overf low; for their wickedness is great." (Joel 3:13)
When is the harvest?
"The harvest is the end of the world." (Matthew 13:39)
Who holds the sickle to reap withal?
"I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in your sickle, and reap; for the time is come for you to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." (Revelation 14:14-16)
This is the time, and the event, that is spoken of by Joel:
"Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great." (Joel 3:13)
The harvest is the end of the world. And when that time comes, the word of God says, "Their wickedness is great." Therefore any preaching that promises a reign of righteousness on this earth before the end of the world, is contrary to the word of God. What further says the Lord, of this time? This:
"Proclaim this among the Gentiles [nations]; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all you heathen, and gather yourselves together round about; thither cause your mighty ones to come down, O Lord." (Joel 3:9-11)
Then he continues:
"Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wicked ness is great." (Joel 3:13)
Therefore the word of God is plain that the promises of peace and of the increase of righteousness, that will be heard in the last days, are only the words of many people, and not the word of God; of a people too, who are "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God," and who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof; and from whom it is the duty of all who fear God, to turn away.
We are now living in the last days, in the very time when many people are saying all these things that are directly contrary to the word of God. And not only that, but they are said contrary to that word, in the very presence of the evil times and events that the word of God shows shall be.
From such turn away, for whoever trusts in such promises of peace and safety, and follows in the way of such words, shall not know peace.
"For the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come." (Isaiah 13:6)
"Therefore also now, says the Lord, turn you even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness." (Joel 2:12-13)