The Prophet Joel foretold just the conditions that we see about us in the world today (see `Joel 3:9-11`). The Lord Jesus also informed His followers that "wars and rumors of wars as well as dreadful calamities would continue all down through the centuries until the time of His second advent (`Mat. 24:6,7`), and then in the very end of the Age, "the last days," would be the great tribulation, a time of war and trouble involving all nations, the preparations for which are fulfilled in the conditions of the present. When the final great cataclysm, the overwhelming flood of trouble, has drawn to its close, then Messiah's reign of peace begins. A universal government will be established in the earth, the Kingdom of God, and "the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called . . . The Prince of Peace; of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end." (`Isa. 9:6,7`) The connecting verses to the one quoted in your question, show that the conditions of peace referred to will not be established until after the "mountain" (Kingdom) of the Lord is set up in the earth. (See verses 2 and 3)
