“He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.”

That’s the first part of Isaiah 2:4, the verse I quoted from yesterday. It’s interesting to me that even in this view of the Messiah’s kingdom, there will be disputes between people and a need to mediate between nations. I don’t know that Isaiah is literally saying that people will continue to find reasons to fight in the realized kingdom, but it does show how deeply ingrained in the human psyche is the desire to fight.

I’m frankly pessimistic about the possibility of human beings to eliminate wars, particularly disputes over territory. There are few places left on earth that don’t have multiple groups that can claim historic rights to that territory. Texas boasts of having existed under six different flags (though that’s only because the Native Americans didn’t use flags!). If you think about it, any of those groups can say, “This land used to belong to us; it is still rightfully ours.” (Well, I don’t know that the Confederacy would do that) That happens time and again in our world, with war being the result in most cases.

Those who have what they want insist that the status quo should be preserved. Those that have lost territory ask that historic ownership rights be preserved. And I don’t see any end to this.

Until one day, when the Lord will judge between the nations and settle disputes for many peoples.

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