The Going Forth of the Law From Mount Zion.

Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:3-NIV)

I think the above verse reveals the convergence of the spiritual Israel, the Christian Church, with the physical people and land of Israel. Mount Zion will consist of the physical people and land of Israel brought to life by the coming of the Lord Jesus and His saints to dwell among them.

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob." (Romans 11:26-NIV)

The Deliverer, Jesus Christ and those who are an integral part of Him will descend from the heavenly Zion and save the earthly Zion. From there they will govern the nations of the flesh, that is, "Esau."

Deliverers will go up Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the LORD's. (Obadiah 1:21-NIV)

The "many peoples," of Isaiah 2:3, are people who have been saved from the nations of the earth.

I believe they will be going up to Jerusalem to experience the Presence and blessing of God, as well as to be taught and guided in His righteous ways.

I believe also that the house of the God of Jacob is Jesus Christ and those who are part of Him. There is no house of God other than Jesus Christ and those who are an integral part of Him. God no longer will dwell in a temple made with human hands.

So here we have a picture of Christ and His saints bringing the Presence and blessing of God to people on the earth, and teaching them the eternal moral law of God. The eternal moral law of God is written in our mind and in our heart as Christ is formed in us, because He alone is the Word of God.

The Sermon on the Mount gives us some idea of the eternal moral law of God, of which the Law of Moses was an abridged, covenantal, negative version.

I think, from the types of the Old Testament, that when the Lord comes He will establish His throne in Jerusalem. He will be surrounded by those who have appeared with Him.

All of those living in Israel at that time will be brought into the Kingdom of God, just as Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus was brought into the Kingdom of God almost against his will, so to speak. God has the power at any time to bring someone into His Kingdom.

The saints will govern the earth throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age. They will be ruling over flesh-and-blood nations, as far as I know, governing them with the iron scepter of the Spirit of God.

I don't think the whole Church will be involved at this time. Most of God's elect will still be in Heaven, it appears.

After the thousand-year Kingdom Age the earth and sky to which we are accustomed will pass away with a great noise. Then a new sky and earth will come into view. Down from the new sky will descend the new Jerusalem to be established on a high mountain of the new earth. The new Jerusalem will consist of all of God's elect, not just the firstfruits that governed during the Kingdom Age.

It seems likely that the nations living on the new earth will not be flesh-and-blood people, because the former things have passed away. What they will be like we will have to see when we get there.

But the pattern will be the same as during the thousand-year Kingdom Age. The nations will come up periodically to "keep the feast of Tabernacles." This means they will come to enjoy the Presence of God in Christ and the saints, being nourished and healed as they partake of the Spirit of God and of the fruit and leaves of the Tree of Life and the other trees of life growing from the roots of the main Tree, Jesus Christ.

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. (Zechariah 14:16,17-NIV)