Consider a world without rampant disease.
Electron micrograph of an Ebola virus
Photo by CDC, Public Domain
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
This is a follow-up consideration to “Time of Prosperity Because of No Expenditures on War“, as one watches the news about Ebola coming to America’s shores. Consider the emotional, political and economic impact of diseases overall, even if you are never yourself personally touched by it. Some have compared this to HIV, in which literally billions of dollars are spent annually to combat.
Again, this is not to minimize the human side of things, but it should illustrate just how interdependent we all are and how the consequences often go far beyond the immediate parties.
OTOH, have we really thought about consequences fully? A speaker today spoke about how it will take individuals and nations time to come fully into the knowledge of the truth. It won’t be immediate. Obviously, they will first learn Who is in charge, but even as we all took time to learn more about God’s ways and be converted, it will take time for them to learn more as well. They will seek out the truth, however, and that will be the main difference between now and then (Isa 2:2-3; Zec 8:20-23).
Zechariah 14 talks about sending “plagues” against Egypt or any other nation that doesn’t come up to the Feast of Tabernacles. Again, this might not happen right away, and God is patient. There are 1,000 years to learn, after all. However, it will happen if it becomes stubborn rebellion; that much is true.
We need to be mindful that “plague” doesn’t always mean disease, though. The plagues of Egypt, for example, involved various types of calamities. The only one specifically mentioned in that passage is drought.
However, will God protect people from all consequences of their actions? I don’t think so. People will hear a voice behind them guiding them, but the choices are still the individuals. The reality is that people learn by doing, and people learn by experiencing the consequences of thier actions. Some of those consequences will undoubtedly be physical. You can tell, warn, etc., but some people will not learn.
I recently ran into this very sort of thing, and it was in conjunction with consequences. I was telling someone I did not understand their seeming inability to link consequences with their actions. Their response? They changed the subject! It absolutely went over their head! I might as well have been talking to the wall. In fact, at least the wall might bounce back some of the sound waves.
That, in a nutshell, is carnal human nature.
There are none so blind as those that will not see.
~ John Heywood (and possibly earlier)
I am, therefore, not going to say there will be no disease during the Millennium, but I think it evident that there will not be rampant disease. Christ will come to earth to bring healing, after all, but people will still have to overcome themselves in order to make it into spiritual beings. The Feast of Tabernacles pictures a time unlike any that has come before, and to a great extent the Millennium will be a time where mankind will be protected from evil, even from himself. Yet, the end goal will still be to get as many as are willing into the Kingdom as spiritual sons and daughters of God.
There won’t be large fund drives to eradicate this disease or that. There won’t be huge government expenditures on fighting disease, although there will likely be some geared towards prevention — real prevention. Rather, the Great Physician will be on the earth, and healing, physical, emotional and spiritual, will be the priority.