Ezekiel 37 foretells another central factor of God's global village that stands in stark contrast to today: "Moreover," God says through Ezekiel, "I will make a covenant of peace with them ... I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forever" (Ezekiel 37:26). When God's sanctuary is set up on earth, worship, ethics and law will be established at the village center.

God's temple, in which Christ, the King of Kings, dwells, will stand in the center of God's global village—in Jerusalem. This will provide a seat for a civilization philosophically centered on the universal principles and laws of Almighty God. Worship of the King at the village center will provide a rallying point from which peace and stability will naturally flow outward: "For out of Zion shall go forth the law," proclaims the prophet Isaiah, "and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3).

Tangible change will be enforced, and a climate of peace will result: "He [Jesus Christ] shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:4).

Contrast this to the village centers of today, where entertainment and commerce appealing to the senses are the focal point. While churches, temples and cathedrals may yet stand at village centers today as architectural monuments to the values of bygone years, they are no longer edifices where the villagers congregate. Movie theaters, sports arenas and shopping malls have long since replaced them as the main gathering places for the populace.

That will change in God's global village. When Christ returns to earth, His temple will be the village center. The prophet Ezekiel describes in meticulous detail the size, shape and function of this edifice in chapters 40-43.

But the overarching attraction is that Christ in His glory will dwell in the temple for the express purpose of living among the villagers: "Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me. And He said to me, 'Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever'" (Ezekiel 43:6-7).

This scripture poignantly describes the perfect balance Christ will strike between serving as divine Ruler to be obeyed and worshiped and His dwelling among His people to lead a true community of fellowship. Ezekiel 44 states that the princes or leaders among the people will eat "bread before the Lord," and the priests will enter the sanctuary to serve at Christ's table (Ezekiel 44:3, 16).

Contrary to the priests of old and many religious leaders today, they will teach the villagers "the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths" (verses 23-24).

The focus is on Christ, not sensual pleasures. Moral standards are clearly delineated and equitably applied. The judges are upright and above reproach. The laws are universal and no one is above them.

In short, it is a completely different village from the one we live in today, because the dynamics have changed. No one—neither bully nor beast—shall "hurt or destroy" in God's global village. Why? Because His village "shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). GN