14 day plan

The coming King & His Kingdom

Day 10 of 14

GNT

Micah 4:1-7

The Lord's Universal Reign of Peace

(Isaiah 2.2-4)

1In days to come

the mountain where the Temple stands

will be the highest one of all,

towering above all the hills.

Many nations will come streaming to it,

2and their people will say,

“Let us go up the hill of the Lord,

to the Temple of Israel's God.

He will teach us what he wants us to do;

we will walk in the paths he has chosen.

For the Lord's teaching comes from Jerusalem;

from Zion he speaks to his people.”

3 He will settle disputes among the nations,

among the great powers near and far.

They will hammer their swords into plows

and their spears into pruning knives.

Nations will never again go to war,

never prepare for battle again.

4 Everyone will live in peace

among their own vineyards and fig trees,

and no one will make them afraid.

The Lord Almighty has promised this.

5Each nation worships and obeys its own god, but we will worship and obey the Lord our God forever and ever.

Israel Will Return from Exile

6“The time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will gather together the people I punished, those who have suffered in exile. 7They are crippled and far from home, but I will make a new beginning with those who are left, and they will become a great nation. I will rule over them on Mount Zion from that time on and forever.”

Reflection:  This vision of God’s Kingdom is very similar to one we read earlier in Isaiah, not only will all nations gather to hear the Lord, and there be peace but the lame and those who have been driven away will also be brought close. Jesus ministry was one of attending to the lame and the outcast and rejected. He embodied this concern of the Lord’s in his own life.

Question: What would not being afraid look like for those who are lame and have been driven
away? How might we embody
this part of God’s kingdom today?

Prayer:  Father, thank you for deep peace, for rest in you, for contentment. Thank you for hope for those who are lame, rejected, afflicted. Help me and my church to be an instrument in your world to offer your comfort and welcome to those around us. Amen

We are reading the Bible with Jessica Smith until 24th March.

Micah 4:1-13

The Lord's Universal Reign of Peace

(Isaiah 2.2-4)

1In days to come

the mountain where the Temple stands

will be the highest one of all,

towering above all the hills.

Many nations will come streaming to it,

2and their people will say,

“Let us go up the hill of the Lord,

to the Temple of Israel's God.

He will teach us what he wants us to do;

we will walk in the paths he has chosen.

For the Lord's teaching comes from Jerusalem;

from Zion he speaks to his people.”

3 He will settle disputes among the nations,

among the great powers near and far.

They will hammer their swords into plows

and their spears into pruning knives.

Nations will never again go to war,

never prepare for battle again.

4 Everyone will live in peace

among their own vineyards and fig trees,

and no one will make them afraid.

The Lord Almighty has promised this.

5Each nation worships and obeys its own god, but we will worship and obey the Lord our God forever and ever.

Israel Will Return from Exile

6“The time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will gather together the people I punished, those who have suffered in exile. 7They are crippled and far from home, but I will make a new beginning with those who are left, and they will become a great nation. I will rule over them on Mount Zion from that time on and forever.”

8And you, Jerusalem, where God, like a shepherd from his lookout tower, watches over his people, will once again be the capital of the kingdom that was yours. 9Why do you cry out so loudly? Why are you suffering like a woman in labor? Is it because you have no king, and your counselors are dead? 10Twist and groan, people of Jerusalem, like a woman giving birth, for now you will have to leave the city and live in the open country. You will have to go to Babylon, but there the Lord will save you from your enemies. 11Many nations have gathered to attack you. They say, “Jerusalem must be destroyed! We will see this city in ruins!” 12But these nations do not know what is in the Lord's mind. They do not realize that they have been gathered together to be punished in the same way that grain is brought in to be threshed.

13The Lord says, “People of Jerusalem, go and punish your enemies! I will make you as strong as a bull with iron horns and bronze hoofs. You will crush many nations, and the wealth they got by violence you will present to me, the Lord of the whole world.”