Isaiah 2:2-4
“It will happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house will be established on the top of the mountains, and will be lifted up above the hills; and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, 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 instruction will go out, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations, and will arbitrate concerning many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.”
The prophet Isaiah, writing in Judah around the 8th century BCE, often spoke to a nation facing threats from powerful empires. Here, he offers a vision of a future age where God's influence on the world leads to universal peace among nations, a contrast to the constant warfare of his time.
What does a vision of nations disarming and learning peace together ask of us when conflicts seem deeply entrenched?