Isaiah 2: The Prophecy Continues

Today, I am going to continue in Isaiah, chapter 2. If you would like some background on the book or more information, please review Isaiah 1 in the blog entry below. The chart in that entry will remind you that the first six chapters of Isaiah deal with Judah, the southern area of the split kingdom. So let’s begin by reading chapter 2:

The Future House of God

1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. 3 Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He 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.

The Day of the Lord

5 O house of Jacob, come and let us walk In the light of the LORD. 6 For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with eastern ways; They are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they are pleased with the children of foreigners. 7 Their land is also full of silver and gold, And there is no end to their treasures; Their land is also full of horses, And there is no end to their chariots. 8 Their land is also full of idols; They worship the work of their own hands, That which their own fingers have made. 9 People bow down, And each man humbles himself; Therefore do not forgive them. 10 Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty. 11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up--And it shall be brought low-- 13 Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, And upon all the oaks of Bashan; 14 Upon all the high mountains, And upon all the hills that are lifted up; 15 Upon every high tower, And upon every fortified wall; 16 Upon all the ships of Tarshish, And upon all the beautiful sloops. 17 The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The LORD alone will be exalted in that day, 18 But the idols He shall utterly abolish. 19 They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily. 20 In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver And his idols of gold, Which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and bats, 21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily. 22 Sever yourselves from such a man, Whose breath is in his nostrils; For of what account is he?
Isaiah 2:1-22 (NKJV)

The first verse of the passage lets us know this is a continuation of the vision or actual sight Isaiah was given by God of future events. Remember, this is the first book of the “Major Prophets,” and the word prophecy comes from the Greek words of “pro” meaning “before” and “phanei” meaning “to speak.” So prophecy is to speak of an event before it occurs. No other religious document is able to do this, but the Bible is filled with prophecy. Many Biblical scholars have difficulty believing books were written before the events happen. The book of Daniel is so accurate, that many Biblical scholars dated it to be written at a much later time. That amazes me that even men who have spent their lives studying God’s Holy Word are so filled with their own prideful intelligence that they don’t just accept the veracity of the Bible. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in Qumran in 1947, it threw those doubters for a loop, as the complete Book of Daniel was there in its Hebrew form. It was identical to the text of the Septuagint, when the Bible was translated from Hebrew to Greek in 286 B.C. While most of the prophecies in Daniel had already come true in 1947, there are still some scholars who will get a chance to see more come true!

In the second verse, we see a phrase common to many of the prophetic books, “in the latter days.” The verse says, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it.” Are we “in the latter days” now? In a broad sense, yes. But specific to this event, we are not yet there. Sometimes in the Bible, the term “in the latter days” refers to actions that occur in the Tribulation, the Great Tribulation or in the period right before. There are many ages discussed in the Bible and we have been living in the “Church Age” ever since Jesus returned to heaven. This period has continued for almost 2,000 years. After the removal of the church from the earth, the Tribulation begins with the last half of the Tribulation (a period of 3 ½ years) called the Great Tribulation. After the Great Tribulation comes the Millennium, the 1,000-year reign of Jesus on this earth. In this case, “Latter days” refers to the Millennium. That is when Mt. Zion, “the mountain of the Lord’s house,” shall be established as the highest point on earth. It shall be the most exalted of all the places on the earth, and it is easy to see why. Jesus will physically establish His throne and rule from that place. It is easy to see that God has never lost sight of Jerusalem, nor has Satan. If a skirmish occurs there, it is not buried in the midst of a daily newspaper, but always is on the first page. That is a constant reminder of the place that location retains in the heart of God. He gave the Jews the country of Israel in an everlasting covenant, but many Bible-readers have trouble differentiating between the land covenant and the land-use covenant. God gave the land to the Israeli people without restriction, though their usage of the land did have restriction. As long as they were following the Lord and keeping His commandments, they would retain usage of the land. That usage ended in AD 70 and began again in 1948, with the re-occupation of Jerusalem following in 1967. Most Bible prophecies referring to “the latter days” take place after the time when the Jews re-entered their land.

Verse three continues by saying, “Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” In the Old Testament, men were required to come to the Holy City of Jerusalem twice a year for the feasts. There are seven feasts of Moses…three in the spring, three in the fall and one sandwiched in between. My guess is those compulsory attendances will resume and continue in the Millennium. I think people will flock to Jerusalem in that time. Remember, at least when the Millennium begins, every single person on the face of the earth will be a believer in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. When the Great Tribulation ends, those fighting on the side of the antichrist will be put to death. Those surviving the devastation of the time will enter into the Millennium and repopulate the earth. And what devastation it will be. Read the words of Jesus from Matthew:

21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.
Matthew 24:21-22 (NKJV)

The children born in that time will have to make the same decision that each one of us has made…whether or not to follow Jesus. You would think that would be an easy decision when faced with the love and perfection of Jesus reigning on this earth, but once again, many people will choose their own ways. This verse in Isaiah tells us that Jesus will be teaching them His ways. There are so many verses in the Bible where it says that men did what was right in their own eyes. Some people erroneously believe that sin is doing what is wrong in our own eyes, as we all know the difference between right and wrong. These verses in the Bible make us aware that sin is an absolute…it doesn’t change for each person. Jesus will teach His ways, so that people will know the difference between His ways and their own. Can you imagine living in a world where Jesus rules? We know He will be fair! We also know He will show mercy. Yet He will rule with judgment. We won’t have to imagine it, as if you have made a commitment to Him, you will be there ruling with Him! Verse two tells us that the law will go forth from Mt. Zion. It is easy to see that this is something that is yet to happen, as Jesus never ruled from Mt. Zion before!

The prophecy continues in verse 4: “He 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.” This is a fairly well-known verse and you might remember the song “Down By the Riverside” that takes a chorus from this verse: “I ain’t gonna study war no more.” With Jesus ruling in righteousness on the throne of David, what will be the point of war? Simply by speaking a word, just as He breathed this universe into existence, He could stop any uprising. What do we see from this verse? There will still be different nations, or He would not have to judge between them. Additionally, there will be an agrarian economy, as there will be a need for the farmer’s tools of plowshares and pruning hooks. And it appears all man’s technological advancements will be gone, too, though we will just have to wait and see on that one! It is hard to imagine a world without war, especially for those of us alive today. There have been more people to die in war in the 20th century than in all of history up to that point. That has to do with the “achievements” in weaponry, and secondly, the deterioration of the hearts of the people in reference to a relationship with God. The center of the world will be the Fourth Temple. To remind you, the first temple was built by Solomon. The second temple, desecrated by Artexerxes Longimanus, was rebuilt in the times of Nehemiah. The third temple will exist in the Tribulation and will be desecrated by the antichrist. The fourth temple will exist in the Millennium.

The next section of Isaiah deals with “the day of the Lord,” a phrase that appears 19 times in the Old Testament. This is a pre-Millennial time, but just barely. This is at the end of the Great Tribulation when Jesus returns in wrath and judgment on a sinful world. Let’s start in verses 5-6: “O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with eastern ways; They are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they are pleased with the children of foreigners.” First of all, don’t forget the name God have to Jacob if you have trouble deciphering who He is speaking of here…Israel. The words “You” and “Your” are capitalized here, which gives us insight into the fact that we are speaking of God. The Jews are God’s chosen people and the Bible tells us that “God will never leave us or forsake us.” Yet here, it says He has forsaken His people. Those seem to be conflicting statements, but though God chose them as His people, they have not chosen Him as their God. Once you have made that commitment to Jesus as your personal Savior, He will not let you out of His hands! The verse continues by stating that the Jews are filled with eastern ways and are soothsayers. All false religions come from Babylon, and those false religions are just as prevalent today as they were in Biblical times. It saddens me to hear professing Christians, who believe that we all worship the same God. The god of Islam is Satan! They worship the sun god and the moon good…just look at the symbols used in their religion. When questioned whether Moslems followed the same God as Christians in a press conference with Tony Blair on November 20, 2003, American President George Bush rankled Evangelical Christians with the following statement:

"I do say that freedom is the Almighty's gift to every person. I also condition it by saying freedom is not America's gift to the world," Bush replied. "It's much greater than that, of course. And I believe we worship the same god."

In Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, the two chapters in the Bible that deal with the fall of Satan, we learn that his lofty goal was to be worshipped alongside Almighty God. Satan realized it was impossible to be above God, but his pride made him yearn to be at the same level. As Christians, we have to be cautious not to elevate Satan to that level in our own beliefs. Is Satan powerful? Yes! He is certainly more powerful than us. He was the most powerful of all the angels. He continues to battle against us, as we are in God’s army. Review Daniel 10:12-14 to see how a powerful angel of the Lord was delayed in arriving to help Daniel by 21 days of spiritual warfare against demons. But fear not, greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world!

The prophecies continues in verses 7-9: “7 Their land is also full of silver and gold, And there is no end to their treasures; Their land is also full of horses, And there is no end to their chariots. 8 Their land is also full of idols; They worship the work of their own hands, That which their own fingers have made. 9 People bow down, And each man humbles himself; Therefore do not forgive them.“ These are amazing verses! Remember a point I made in the introduction to this chapter. We can pertain these verses to Israel, to the United States and to us individually. This area seems to hit the nail on the head when we look at the United States. Our land is so rich compared to the rest of the world, certainly filled with silver and gold. There is no end to the treasures here, especially in comparison to others. Our land is also full of idols, with people worshipping the work of their own hands. As I said before, an idol is anything that takes the place of God, and we as a nation have a propensity to worshipping ourselves before God. Maybe it is different in other areas of the country, but I have been made fun of often here for my beliefs. One woman said, “I choose not to believe in fairy tales.” Neither do I! Thinking they were wise, they became fools. This book was written specifically about Israel. If God humbled His chosen people by sending them into captivity and then dispersing them to the four corners of the world, will He not do the same to the United States, which has departed from following Him? “In God We Trust” is on every coin or dollar, yet our society wants to change that phrase. It already has changed its trust in the Lord. Prayer is gone from school and we can’t even mention God. The founding fathers didn’t propose the separation of church and state to create this chaotic mess. Don’t forget, though, the real separation of church and state is coming soon. It’s called the rapture!

Verse 10-11 says, 10 Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty. 11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. “ Here is one of those wonderful verses that will help us unlock the book of Revelation. Let’s spring forward to that:

15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves 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 who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 "For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"
Revelation 6:15-17 (NKJV)

In that day, all men are so filled with a fear of the Lord that they will hide in the caves and rocks and pray for death. Do you understand the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty? The terror of the Lord is easy to visualize! The Creator of all we can see and all that we cannot see certainly has control over every man, every rock, every atom. He can destroy just as quickly as He can create, and He breathed the universe into existence. Our world has grown in technological advancements and scientists think they can do it all. Our knowledge might have increased, but it does not compare to God, who knows everything and has nothing to learn! The glory of the His majesty is a different concept. Everyone who has been in the presence of God, even in a vision, acts in the same manner. They fall face down upon the ground, unworthy to stand or lift their eyes unto the Lord. They feel the separation between His perfection and our unworthiness, our dirtiness, our hugely lacking imperfection. It won’t take us anytime at all to feel the glory of His majesty!

Notice in the verses in Isaiah what God is doing with his terror and the glory of His majesty. He is humbling the prideful and haughty. Who is guilty of that sin? All of us, and if you need more emphasis on how God views pride, read these verses:

16 These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.
Proverbs 6:16-19 (NKJV)

The list begins with pride. Pride is what caused the fall of Lucifer, who took ⅓ of the angels from heaven with him when he fell.

The next section to discuss is verses 12-17: 12 For the day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up--And it shall be brought low-- 13 Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, And upon all the oaks of Bashan; 14 Upon all the high mountains, And upon all the hills that are lifted up; 15 Upon every high tower, And upon every fortified wall; 16 Upon all the ships of Tarshish, And upon all the beautiful sloops. 17 The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The LORD alone will be exalted in that day, “

The day of the Lord will come upon everything proud and lofty. Notice it does not say everyone. While everyone on this earth has issues with pride, God takes each of us who come to Him and works on that issue. Even as Christians, we continue to have issues with pride. I catch myself continuously putting myself above others. God doesn’t tell us to put ourselves at the bottom of the list of priorities. He tells us to take ourselves off of the list, putting the needs of others first. He will supply our needs. But since we are clothed in His righteousness, He doesn’t judge us as Christians for our prideful issues. The rest of the world, who have not accepted His free gift of forgiveness, are in a different category entirely. Notice that all of creation will be brought down. The highest mountains will be reduced to rubble in that day, as one stone will not be left on top of another. The mighty trees will come tumbling down, as well. When the Great Tribulation ends, those going into the Millennium will see a different world, one more like the Garden of Eden before sin changed all of creation. Adam’s sin had far deeper ramifications than affecting humans, as we can see from the following verse:

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
Romans 8:18-22 (NKJV)

I think it is interesting to see the phrases “everything lifted up” and “high and lifted up.” While that is a great description of pride or haughtiness, it also reminds us of Him who was high and lifted up for our sins, on the cross at Calvary. How ironic that the most humble of men would be high and lifted up! That is a place He deserves to be now, elevated before us as our King.
Don’t forget to notice that the last phrase in this passage is identical to the last phrase in the previous passage…”The Lord alone will be exalted in that day.” If the Holy Spirit puts it in there twice, we are certainly supposed to take notice. No one else will be exalted. It doesn’t matter what you have done, what great deed you have accomplished in His kingdom. God alone will be exalted!

And finally, let’s discuss the last section of Scripture in Isaiah 2: 18 But the idols He shall utterly abolish. 19 They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily. 20 In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver And his idols of gold, Which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and bats, 21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily. 22 Sever yourselves from such a man, Whose breath is in his nostrils; For of what account is he? “

We know from His Word that God is a jealous God, and in this time, He will abolish all of the idols. After the Tribulation, the demonic triumvirate of Satan, the false prophet and the antichrist will all be punished by the Lord, yet an amazing thing happens at the end of the Millennium. Once again, though finally this time, Satan is loosed from his chains. This is only for a short time, and it is hard to imagine why this has to happen. As I have referred to before, the children born in that 1,000-year period are going to have to make a commitment to Jesus. It astounds me to no end that many of them will choose Satan, and God allows Him to be set free to fight to lead his followers. Yet at the end of that period, all followers of Satan, and Satan himself, will be sent to the lake of fire and brimstone. We as believers will occupy a new heavens and a new earth for eternity. But that’s getting a little ahead of this passage of the Bible…once again, all idols are gone. For the second and third time in this chapter, we see where those mighty men who don’t believe in God end up…in caves hiding from Him. It’s easy to hide from something or someone who doesn’t exist. They will be confronting their own atheism or agnosticism, though it will be too late to change their minds. The verses tell us that God arises to shake the earth mightily. We know from the Book of Revelation that the earthquakes will be larger than ever before in that time. In fact, there will be a worldwide earthquake. When I think of the size of those quakes and the terror they will bring, I just shudder in fear. The 9.3 earthquake that caused the Indonesian tsunami December 26, 2004, was said to have shaken for 10 minutes at the epicenter! The earthquakes coming in Revelation will be even larger than that. Having been in the 6.7 Northridge quake, I understand how the earthquake seems to go on much longer than the actual time. Scientifically speaking, the Richter scale measures earthquakes on an exponential scale…a 7.0 is 10 times as powerful as a 6.0. I am so glad I will be at the wedding supper of the Lamb when that is going on! Once again, for the sake of emphasis the Lord has placed that phrase here twice “When He arises to shake the earth mightily.”

The last verse says “Sever yourselves from such a man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for of what account is he.” Anyone know a man whose breath is not in his nostrils? God is telling us in no uncertain terms to not put our trust in man, but to trust in Him. It doesn’t matter who that man is, he will eventually let you down. God will never let you down. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He made that promise. He hasn’t broken one, yet and He certainly isn’t going to start with breaking that promise. If you have never done so, give your life to Him now before it is too late.