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The kingdom of God is essentially a vision for world peace. The most poignant description is found in Isaiah 2:2-4
In the end of days the mountain of the house of YHVH will be established at the head of the mountains… Out of Zion will go forth the Torah and the word of YHVH from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations and rebuke many peoples; and they will crush their swords into shovels and their spears into shears; nation will not lift up sword against nation; and they will not learn war anymore.
Isaiah prophesies in beautiful, poetic Hebrew about peace and prosperity, a righteous government, Jerusalem as the global capital and worship center - all under a divine king, called "the prince of peace" (Isaiah 9:6).
Every truth has its counterfeit. Jeremiah warned of promising a false peace without dealing with the root issues of human sin and evil. "They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace, when there is no peace'" (Jeremiah 6:14).
Another sharp prophecy about the end times which takes place immediately before the coming of Yeshua is found in I Thessalonians 5:3 – For when they say, "peace and security," sudden destruction will come upon them.
This contrast between the real peace and the false peace is even compared in Isaiah 28 to the difference between making a "lying covenant with death" (verse 15) and trusting the "tried and tested foundation stone laid in Zion" (verse 16).
There is a true peace, based on the biblical prophetic vision of Zion and the Messiah. And there is a dangerous false peace, that comes right before and results in a disaster.
Are we for peace? Yes of course. Yet we want the true peace, and we are wary of false peace arrangements that work against the coming of the true peace.
I recently heard excellent teachings from two Orthodox rabbis from very different streams of Judaism here in Israel. They taught so well in the areas of their expertise, yet they both made the same tragic mistake in side-references as to why they don't believe that Yeshua is the Messiah.
They made the classic claim, "Yeshua can't be Messiah, because when Messiah comes, there will be world peace." The answer, of course, is that there are two main themes of prophecies about the Messiah: one as a suffering servant and one as a conquering king.
What our dear Orthodox family misses is that these two descriptions must refer to one person, executing God's plan in two stages.
Righteous suffering is part of what makes Messiah worthy to be the conquering king.
The Messiah must come first to be killed as a suffering servant and atoning sacrifice in order to deal with the depth of human sin and evil.
Then be resurrected to demonstrate the victory over death.
Then the message of true repentance, righteousness, and the kingdom of God must be taught to the whole world as a "Light to the Gentiles" (Isaiah 42, 49).
Only then can the conquering king come to punish the wicked, reward the faithful, establish a righteous government, and bring world peace.
So how will the false peace come? All humans have a desire for peace. The false peace will come from those who want peace while rejecting God's plan which includes Zion and Messiah. It's not difficult to imagine imposing a forced peace on the Middle East by those who reject both of those elements.
The Orthodox Jews who believe in the Bible, Zionism and Messiah are likely to stand as we do in opposition to diplomatic and political pressures for a false peace. However, without seeing Yeshua as the Messiah, some will be prone to receive false messiahs or antichrists in the later stages of the conflict.
While the general trends of these end times prophecies are already taking form, it is too early to identify specific fulfillments. Let's keep praying.
