By John Aldworth

In Micah 4:1-4 it is prophesised that ‘in the last days’ (i.e. the time of the Day of Christ when He rules earth from heaven) his Government will be ‘established in the tops of the mountains’ (i.e. ruling over all nations and their governments’) and that ‘people shall flow unto it’. The heart of man will be so changed that many nations will say:

Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths, for the word of the law shall go forth of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Imagine trying to bring that about now when the world shuns and rejects Jesus Christ and leaders of the self-proclaimed ‘State of Israel’ do not know Him either. But in the world to come that Jesus spoke of (Luke 20: 35) He as the King in heaven shall (Micah 4:3):

… judge among many people and rebuke strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords in ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

What a fantastic thought. A world at peace. The saving from not spending on war on its own would lift billions out of poverty were it distributed them in terms of food and a roof overhead. And in the Day of Christ it will be.

Of course, there is one proviso. Those who would enter into this blessed kingdom of God must, of course, acknowledge that God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ is the King. And they must know and acknowledge Him as Saviour and Lord.

Which means that not only am I ‘a Communist though Christian’, but a godly royalist as well. And, for the record, as a loyal subject of Her Majesty the Queen, I hold that the constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, as evolved over many histories of struggle for better government by the British people, is by far to be preferred to the republican presidential model. And, for all that goes wrong with it, and at times that’s a lot, the Royal Family provides a steadying, compassionate leadership that in family and personal terms is a Christian model form others to follow.

But back to the Day of Christ, for there’s much more to say. Micah 4:4 proclaims that in that golden time of God’s outpouring of peace and plenty, the removal of every curse and return of the earth and all therein to its pre-Flood creation splendour, ‘… they shall sit every man under his vine and his fig tree and none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it’. One might say there will also be a chicken in every pot.

The passage above says that in God’s own ‘New World Order’ – in contrast to wicked, perverted Satanic counterfeit we endure today - everyone will have both their own place and an ample means of supply. They won’t need to be ‘collectivised’, nor will they work as temporary seasonal workers, on the large and mechanised cropping farms of the rich. They each have ‘their own fig and vine tree’ yet still share with others God’s bountiful supply.

What’s more, those counted worthy to enter this kingdom won’t have to work hard in the sweat of their brow to plough, sow and plant – the earth will grow food of and by itself, thus freeing people to creatively contribute to society from their giftings and talents without having to be a farm labourer or wage slave to survive. Proof scripture for this is Psalm 72:16 where ‘handful’ means an abundant supply:

There shall be an handful of corn in the earth on the tops of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon; and they of the city shall flourish like grass.

And both capitalism, which today concentrates half of the world’s wealth in hands in less than one per cent of its inhabitants and condemns half of humanity to poverty, starvation and death, will be gone. As will man-made communism which, in China and elsewhere today, is really only capitalism by another name. The Lord will deal a death blow to both of these false economic systems in ‘His day’, the Day of Christ. Here’s how, as prophesied in the words of Jesus Himself (Mark 4:26-29):

And He said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up, he knoweth not how. For (then) the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

Now granted, this parable sets out prophetically how the kingdom of God will be manifest on earth – i.e. first the ‘blade and ear’ stage, which was fulfilled in the miraculous, Pentecostal Acts period, then the ‘full corn in the ear’ and the ‘harvest’, in the soon coming Day of Christ which the Lord will usher in at his appearing (2 Timothy 4:1). However, it also explains how the earth will produce both spiritual and physical fruit and grain without weeding and hard work in the pre-millennial kingdom. Several Old Testament scriptures confirm that is so. For example:

Psalm 67:6-7: Then shall the earth yield her increase: and God, even our own God shall bless us … and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Isaiah 65:21-23: And they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabit … they shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth seed of trouble.

Psalm 72: 16: There shall be a handful (actually ‘an abundance of grain, KJV margin note) of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

Picture this then: the earth restored to its original creation beauty. That is it will be returned to the climate it enjoyed before the devastation of Noah’s Flood. Instead of summer and winter, spring and autumn, there will be a balmy, sub-tropical warmth every day. Neither too hot, nor too cold, no snow, nor storms or violent winds. And no rain, and no need for man to till the earth. It will be like it was in the beginning: Gen. 26:6: ‘But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the ground’.

The earth will be reshaped; the deserts and volcanic wastelands will disappear. As Isaiah: 40-4 says: ‘Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth.’ Scientists assert that if mountains were removed and valleys filled the earth’s surface would be greatly increased enabling at least seven times the food production of today.

The curse God laid on the earth for Adam’s sin (Gen. 3:17-19) will be removed and the earth will bring forth fruit and grain of its own volition. This is promised in the great prophecy and proclamation of truth voice by the Apostle Peter in Acts 3:21, saying that heaven must receive (i.e. retain) the Lord Jesus Christ ...

… until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken of by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Even the animal kingdom will be mightily changed. Creatures will no longer be ‘red in tooth and claw’: all predatory behaviour will cease, Isaiah 11:6-7 proclaims:

The wolf shall also dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and lion and the young fatling together ... and the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

What’s more, there will be no ‘Rich List’ of billionaires in the Day of Christ. Today, as I write in 2018, just 62 people own as much wealth as the poorer half of the global population, as the widening of the gap between the rich and poor accelerates sharply.

Indeed a recent Oxfam report shows how rapidly worldwide wealth is becoming further concentrated in the hands of a very few, with the number of people owning the same amount as the bottom half of humanity falling from 388 to 62 in five years.

Oxfam says a "broken" economic model underpinned by deregulation, privatisation and financial secrecy has seen the wealth of the richest 62 people jump by 44 per cent in five years to US$1.76 trillion (NZ$2.74 trillion). In that time, the wealth of the poorest 3.6 billion people plunged by 41 per cent.

In my home country, New Zealand, the richest man Graeme Hart added more than $4 billion to his coffers in 2017, as more and more Kiwis joined queues at food banks and some are forced to sleep on the street. Oxfam revealed that in New Zealand 28 per cent of all wealth made in 2017 went to the richest 1 per cent of Kiwis. The 1.4 million poorest New Zealanders got the equivalent of just 1 per cent of that wealth.

But that won’t be so in the Day of Christ. Isaiah 24:21-23 reveals the fate of the money barons and their political manipulators. It certainly won’t be pleasant but seemingly in this God-brought about ‘communism’ not a drop of blood will be shed:

And it shall come to pass in that day the Lord shall punish the host of high ones that are on high; and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in prison, and after many days they shall be visited.

So the streets of Rochdale will not run with blood, as I once thought, but nevertheless justice will be done as the Lord brings about an equitable society that gives a fair deal to all who believe in Him. And if that’s not real Communism, I don’t what is.

The end