The writers of the Old Testament visualized a world where there would be no further conflict. This is symbolically described by Isaiah as the Lord's house, which would be established in the top of the mountains, and all nations would flow unto it. Those who assembled in this exalted place were not to present merely a victorious people, triumphant in battle, who had set to flight or conquered their enemies. All nations flowing together here were assured of a unity which would be permanent, because it would be based on spiritual reality. In the top of this mountain all nations would come together because they were of one purpose, impelled by one desire, to learn of God, to walk in His paths, to obey His law. Here there would be found no occasion for rivalries and suspicions, for aggression and pitilessness; there would be found none of those factors which make for war.
There is a description in Isaiah of one called Lucifer, who brought terror and weakness to the nations and shook kingdoms. Complete and final was his downfall, and when he was overthrown, men wondered at the mesmeric power which he had wielded. With his defeat came divine assurance of safety, on behalf of those who were weak and small, not less than those who were rich and strong. In the place thereof was the reign of harmony, for "the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it."
The establishment of Zion, the sense of abiding security, does not come to nations any more than it does to individuals as the result of destroying their enemies, of exterminating dire phases of evil. The guarantee of no recurring Lucifers lies not merely in the violence of their downfall, in the effectiveness of the conflict waged against them, but in the recognition and establishing of that sanctuary with which they must be replaced. The Lucifers which rule the lives of men and nations in their tyranny of greed and ambition, of human might or human weakness, will be cast down when men understand the nature of the Zion which awaits them, revealing to them right ways, instructing them in laws which spell beneficence and peace.
