[God] shall judge between the nations,
and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.
I appreciate it because it represents hope and vision of what can be. And the way Isaiah articulates this vision is by using the imagery of tools used for violence and domination being scrapped and transformed into tools used for the service of the community, tools for food production and cultivation rather than destruction. Isaiah speaks of the day when this comes to fruition being in the future, something to both look forward to but also work towards. Because this vision of the future requires us to take an active role in planting and tending the seeds for it to eventually blossom. There's no definite date, because who can say when all the various causes and conditions will ripen and give rise to these effects? But they most certainly will never come into being without our active participation. If we don't choose to be agents of peace and reconciliation, especially when doing so is difficult or seems pointless, then peace and reconciliation will never become humanity's inheritance. The tools don't shape themselves, nor do they act of their own accord. This work is indeed difficult, and not without sacrifice and suffering as it challenges those with privilege and power who profit from violence and exploitation; but it's the exhortation of the prophets from Isaiah to Martin Luther King, Jr. and heart of Jesus' ministry—the world can be transformed, and we must be willing and ready to make this vision of the world a reality. Only when the world is ruled by love and justice and concern for the common good will "the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills."
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