Ever
since Jesus spoke of the Kingdom
of the Heavens, ever since John received the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem
coming down out of heaven, Christians have been waiting for, as Jesus told us
to pray, ‘your kingdom come, your will take place, on earth as it already* is in
heaven. ‘ (Matthew
6:10, other translations)
In the year 2033, it will be 2,000 years since Jesus returned to heaven. With
all that time passing, some may be getting discouraged and wondering “when!”
will the promise come.
This
week’s Bible reading (week
ending December 25, 2016) was Isaiah chapters 11 through 16. (For decades
now, all congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been assigned a weekly Bible
reading that finishes the whole Bible in about 2 years.) A phrase in Isaiah 15:1 stuck
out in my mind. It speaks of the “silencing of Moab.” Although there are other prophecies
of national condemnation, this one stuck out because it truly is “silenced” out
of existence. For example, ask yourself: “Who was Moab? Where was the land of
Moab?” Do you know?
The
people of Moab
were descendants of Lot, nephew of Abraham. But where did they live? Where
was the land of Moab? After opening this link, open the “Alternate
presentation” to see the map. On the map, look at the lower right corner of the
Salt Sea. The section in blue is Moab. (More here.) Now look at a present-day
map of the same area. Do you see even a vague mention of Moab? Indeed, it
has been silenced. In fact, an open search on Google for “Moab” yields only the
area in Utah. Yet Israel still exists. Egypt still exists. True to God’s Word,
Moab is forgotten.
But
what does that have to do with us? Coming back to the introduction, the promise
is still pending, it
has not lost its vibrancy. Just as Moab was forgotten, after spending
centuries in God’s Kingdom, we will have completely forgotten about all the
divisive national boundaries that exist today. We may be hard pressed to recall
what the initials USA meant. Russia will no longer be in our vocabulary. Why?
Because “the
earth will be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah” causing all men to live
in unity as children of God and not as some national or ethnic designator. Yes,
through fulfilled prophecies, we have our hope made “more sure.”
Footnote:
Yes, I readily admit to adding the word “already.” It was done to emphasize
that God already completely rules heaven without any need for divisive
governments.
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