Micah 4:2-4 describes the Lord ruling from Zion such that he settles disputes for people, ushers peace, and teaches the nations his ways, and in the passage people live under their own fig tree and vine without any fear. To this end I have already written an elaborate article explaining the value of Zionism for complementing the great commission, but in the following article I will explain practical solutions for the spread of local Zionism. I believe that although the spread of the gospel message is of critical value to the mission of the church, once the gospel is received those that receive it should not have to live their lives as if they had received an empty bag.
The place of local Zionism in the church is that it gives church members much more than an empty bag, and to this end it provides good on the promises of salvation. If for example a church wanted to provide members and converts with their own “fig tree” and “vine” (as Micah 4:4 describes), then in times of financial distress the church could break the bondage of financial oppression through making intervention. In such a way a church could buy foreclosed properties at a fraction of the property value and could distribute those homes back to homeowners under an agreement that the homeowner shall never again borrow against the home.
Perhaps churches could in turn get such “redeemed home-owners” to use their own homes as independent local churches for gathering friends and family every Friday night around a meal. In this way the household nature of worshiping God in the Passover (Exodus 12:3-4) could be extended to include family and friends for a weekly end of the week celebration. I have in fact made an elaborate plan and explanation for why a church could include Friday, Saturday, and Sunday into a worship practice that would follow such a pattern.
Another point to consider is that Leviticus 23:22 and Leviticus 19:9-10 both command that farmers are to leave parts of their field open for the community to harvest (especially the poor). The fact that most people today live in cities and are far removed from agriculture means that Bible obeying homeowners should consider bringing agriculture to their own communities by growing fruit and nut trees. In this way those whom would have their homes redeemed by the church would be transformed into individuals that would produce not only enough for themselves but also they would have something to give to others as well (Note Ephesians 4:28).
In such a way people that had previously lived under a debt lifestyle, that takes a person’s fruitfulness and gives it to creditors, could instead live under a Biblical lifestyle that contributes fruit freely to everyone. In this way God’s promise to Abraham to make him a blessing in order that all the people of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3) would be realized through individual home owners producing fruits and nuts for their own communities. Overall, if such practices would be established, then the establishment of Zionistic communities would occur and would reflect the message of Micah 4:2-4.
