Isaiah 2:1 – 22 The Mountain of the House of the LORD (Micah 4:1-3)
“This is the message that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war.
The Day of Reckoning
Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD. For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with influences from the east; they are soothsayers like the Philistines; they strike hands with the children of foreigners. Their land is full of silver and gold, with no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, with no limit to their chariots. Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. So mankind is brought low, and man is humbled— do not forgive them!
Go into the rocks and hide in the dust from the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty. The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted— it will be humbled— against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan, against all the tall mountains, against all the high hills, against every high tower, against every fortified wall, against every ship of Tarshish, and against every stately vessel. So the pride of man will be brought low, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols will vanish completely.
Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth. In that day men will cast away their idols of silver and gold— the idols they made to worship— away to the moles and bats. They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth. Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?”
Poor Isaiah! How can he possibly get the attention of the wealthy citizens of Judah? Business is booming, and people are concentrating on methods of increasing their incomes. “Their land is full of silver and gold, with no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, with no limit to their chariots. Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.” Hmm! Sounds quite a bit like a lot of countries at Christmas, doesn’t it? And there are lots of trees – oaks of Bashan, cedars of Lebanon, and mountains. Sometimes there is even snow, and Mount Hermon in the north is so tall that its top is covered with snow for much of the year.
The Israelites are practically choking on their prosperity! But are they thanking and praising the God Who has made all this wealth possible? No! Instead the Israelites are running after every pagan god they can find, following their own ways instead of closely following the One True Living God. “Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.”
This chapter of Isaiah is both a joyful declaration and a stern warning. Isaiah proclaims that: ”In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war.” Wonderful news! Magnificent news! But….
Isaiah is also warning the people of Judah that the Day of the Lord is coming, a day when God will judge all those who have refused to worship Him. In that day, men will throw away all those things they have previously treasured, finally realizing that their silver and gold and idols are worthless when viewed in the light of God’s holiness. People will also realize that all the leaders whom they have trusted have failed them and afford them no protection against the wrath of God.
APPLICATION: Christmastime is a wonderful time, made more so by the Christmas lights that bedazzle us. In rural America, people sometimes hang lights on barns, silos, and even tractors and combines. I was raised in a community with a large Swedish population, and traditionally the Swedes put candles in the windows to light the way for Mary and Joseph and the Christ Child.
Isaiah is begging the Israelites: “Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.” What makes the light of the Lord different from all other lights? God is the Giver of light. (“God is the Lord, and He has given us light..” Psalm 118:27) The light of the Lord protects us. (Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?”) The light of the Lord is everlasting. (Revelation 22:5 “There shall be no night there; They need no lam nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light.”) The light of the Lord defeats the darkness. (John 1:5 “The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”)
A children’s worship chorus tells us, “It is a great day to serve the Lord! Walk in the light of God! Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk in the light!” Today, it IS a great day to serve the Lord! let us walk in the light of God!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to run to Your light and to walk in it all the days of our lives, for as we walk in Your light, we will become light bearers to others. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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