Isaiah 2:1-11
Isa 2:1
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah
and Jerusalem.
Here begins another vision which Isaiah had seen.
This one also concerns itself with Judah and Jerusalem.
It also contains a prophecy of the coming of the kingdom of Christ on
this earth.
Isa 2:2
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that
the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto
it.
Many look at this passage and believe it is speaking of a
physical thousand year reign of Christ but the Bible does not teach such a myth.
Isaiah is now looking to the future when Christ would come and by his
death, resurrection, and ascension the last days would be ushered in.
The last days commenced at the time of the cross and will be completed
when the Lord returns on the last day.
Hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds; (Hebrews 1:2)
If you notice Hebrews 1:2 speaks about the last days which already
commenced at that time. The book of
Hebrews was written about 41-45 A.D. making it one of the earliest books of the
New Testament.
The mountain of the Lord’s house is referring to the
kingdom of God which shall be established by the teaching of grace and those who
become saved will become part of the kingdom of God.
Mountains in scripture sometimes refer to kingdoms and if you notice the
mountains in this verse is exalted above the hills.
We have all seen hills and realize that mountains themselves are much
taller and more majestic than hills.
This is teaching that the kingdom of God will supersede every earthly
kingdom as was prophesied by Daniel.
And in the days of these kings
shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and
the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and
consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
(Daniel 2:44) The verse
then states that people will flow into it which means that the gospel of grace
will go throughout the world and many will become saved and as they do they will
flow into the kingdom of God by means of salvation only.
Isa 2:3
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go
up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will
teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go
forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
This verse speaks about the prophecy which came from God
to Abraham.
And I will bless them that bless thee,
and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be
blessed. (Genesis 12:3) The
Gospel will go forth throughout the entire world and there will be not one
nation on earth where there is no gospel witness or those who have become saved.
Those who are the Elect of God will want to seek out the kingdom of God
and to the house of the God of Jacob which is the true body of believers.
The one who will teach us his ways will be the Lord Jesus Christ himself
through his teachings, the scriptures, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
given to each believer. As a result
of receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior, each Christian will be
able to walk in the paths that Jesus walked in obedience to God.
The law which will go forth from Zion will be the royal law and not the
law of Moses since that would be fulfilled in Christ.
If ye fulfil the royal law
according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do
well: (James 2:8)
The word of the LORD will go forth from Jerusalem.
It first came forth on Pentecost in the physical city of Jerusalem which
was the beginning of the evangelization of the world and since that day the word
has gone forth from the New Jerusalem which is the body of Christ.
And I John saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. (Revelation 21:2)
Isa 2:4
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke
many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more.
The word “judge” in the Hebrew can also be taken to have
meaning of rule. The Lord Jesus
Christ will have rule among many people and that judgment will be in then
household of God.
For the time is come that judgment must
begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of
them that obey not the gospel of God?
(1 Peter 4:17) Judgment began at the house of God when Christ went to
the cross and became the vicarious sacrifice for the sins of his people and they
were judged and found not guilty because they were in Christ.
He will also rebuke strong nations which are the Gentile nations.
Those who have persecuted his people and would not allow the preaching of
the gospel in their countries.
The first part of this verse seems to be leading up to
Judgment Day when the sins of the unbelievers in all the world will be brought
to light.
And before him shall be gathered all
nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his
sheep from the goats: (Matthew
25:32) The second part of this
verse seems to begin a section describing life in the New Heaven and New Earth.
The weapons of war, the swords and spears will be melted down and turned
into farm implements. The plowshare
was shaped in such a way that it could be turned into a sword and also a sword
could become a plowshare if needed.
No longer will there be any war between nations or people and war will not be
learned anymore. One of the biggest
wars in history is the ongoing war between God and the unbeliever.
A person who is an unbeliever is at perpetual war with God until they
become saved and once they are saved, there is peace between them and God.
Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
(Romans 5:1) To not
learn war anymore also means to stop sinning against the Lord because when a
person is unsaved, they concoct many ways to sin against the LORD.
Isa 2:5
O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light
of the LORD.
Throughout the Scriptures, we read the name “Jacob” and
many times it refers to the body of believers.
Jacob was in the line of Abraham and from him came Judah through which
the Lord Jesus Christ came.
I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye
say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was
not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, (Malachi 1:2 )
Why did the LORD love Jacob?
It is because he was a true believer and God’s love is qualified which means he
loves his children but hates the unbeliever because they are in rebellion to
him.
The foolish shall not stand in thy sight:
thou hatest all workers of iniquity. (Psalm 5:5)
Isaiah 2:5 has a double meaning.
It is speaking about physical Israel that they were to return to the LORD
and walk in the light of his teachings.
Remember Judah came through Jacob.
Secondly, this verse speaks about the body of believers that we will walk
in the light which is salvation in Christ.
But if we walk in the light, as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
False religion only engendered darkness but the truth of God is the only
light this world knows.
This then is the message which we have
heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness
at all. (1 John 1:5)
Isa 2:6
Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of
Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers
like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.
Then God gives the reason in the following verses why he
has forsaken the physical house of Jacob.
God never forsakes the true body of believers but they can suffer along
with other when a group or country comes under the judgment of God.
Some who suffered were Ezekiel, Daniel, and Jeremiah.
They suffered because they were removed from their homes along with the
others. They were replenished from
the east, that is, they thought they were completing themselves by taking
religion and ways from those kingdoms of the east such as Syria or Babylon.
They had become soothsayers which were like mediums and that was
forbidden under Levitical law. Ye shall
not eat any thing with the
blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. (Leviticus 19:26)
To please themselves means they were well-satisfied by the ways of the
strangers or the pagan religions.
They thought that by partaking of these false religions that they would live a
satisfied life. The Philistines
were famous for all kinds of enchantments or divinations but they were forbidden
for the Israelites because they would be invoking the kingdom of Satan.
During the time of Nehemiah there was a great divorce of Israelites from
their pagan wives.
And the seed of Israel separated
themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the
iniquities of their fathers. (Nehemiah 9:2)
That means they continued to practice marrying pagan wives and husbands
for 300 years after Isaiah’s warnings.
Isa 2:7
Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is
there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither
is there any end of their chariots:
God would have been their wealth and strength but they
saw the gold and silver in the pagan lands and wanted to be like them.
There was nothing wrong with wealth itself but it was how they made their
wealth. This was also forbidden
under the law.
Neither shall he multiply wives to
himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to
himself silver and gold. (Deuteronomy 17:17)
They were taken away with the prospect of continuing to grow wealthy and
they did not care how they made their wealth.
Their wealth was turning them away from the LORD.
They had even broken God’s law by multiplying horses for themselves.
But he shall not multiply horses
to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should
multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth
return no more that way. (Deuteronomy 17:16)
What the LORD was teaching that they should not look to chariots or many
horses as their strength because the LORD was all the strength that they needed.
Woe to them that go down to Egypt
for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because
they are many; and in horsemen,
because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel,
neither seek the LORD! (Isaiah 31:1)
God was to be their protector not the military.
And also the Strength of Israel
will not lie nor repent: for he is
not a man, that he should repent. (1 Samuel 15:29)
Isa 2:8
Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work
of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
God was their center of worship as it was to be done in
the temple in Jerusalem but they had turned away from the LORD and attached
themselves to the false idols which were nothing but their own creations.
The idols were not just in one place but were all over the land as many
people partook of the false religions along with the worship of the false gods.
18 What profiteth the graven image that the
maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the
maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? 19 Woe unto
him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach!
Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no
breath at all in the midst of it. (Habakkuk 2:18-19)
15 The idols of the heathen are silver
and gold, the work of men's hands. 16 They have mouths, but they
speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; 17 They have ears, but
they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. 18
They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in
them. (Psalm 135:15-18)
Isa 2:9
And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth
himself: therefore forgive them not.
The mean man is the one who is a frail or fragile man who
looks to the idols for strength.
The great men were the princes and the leaders of Israel who forgot their high
positions and have humbled themselves before the pagan idols.
Isaiah beseeches the LORD not to forgive them for this idolatry but to
deal with them with divine judgment because of their gross sins which were
soothsaying, idolatry, coveting wealth and making wealth illegally, etc.
Judah was in a situation of saturated sin.
Isa 2:10
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear
of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
Then when their day of retribution will arrive when the
Babylonians will take them away from the land, they will seek to hide from the
invaders but they will be unable to and all who took up the idols will suffer
from the LORD’s judgment. This is a
foreshadow of judgment day when the kings and the great men of the earth will
attempt to hide from the LORD but it will be to no avail.
15 And the kings of the
earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the
mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens
and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and
rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb: (Revelation 6:15-16)
Judah will do everything it can to hide itself from the judgment of God
but none will escape from the judgment to come.
They will experience both the judgment of the LORD and will see his
glory. Not his full glory because
they would be consumed by it but the glory of his majestic domination of them
who has taken up the worship of idols.
The glory of the LORD will exceed their idols.
Isa 2:11
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the
haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in
that day.