How Will God Vote? Part IV

Edward Hicks, The Peaceable Kingdom. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art via Creative Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peaceable_Kingdom_MET_DT4930.jpg

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6 (KJV)

“Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled.” Luke 6:21a (KJV)

“Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger.” Luke 6:25a” (KJV)

Many religious believers are trapped between two stories. Prophetic literature promises a peaceable kingdom of universal love and righteousness. Yet everyone experiences the painful reality of living in a fallen and corrupt world. As Christians around the world begin to plan for Christmas in 2020, the words of the prophet Isaiah seem hollow and empty.

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:6–7 (KJV)

Ever since Handel’s Messiah Christians have interpreted this passage as a prediction of the birth of Jesus. The New Testament, however, never explicitly makes that claim. Yet whether it…