Isaiah Chapter 2
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Isaiah 2
Isaiah 2
Good evening friends, we come back to our study in the book of Isaiah this evening, I hope you are doing well and have enjoyed the first 2 weeks as we opened the Word of God
Today we come to Isaiah chapter 2
It is here this section that we are going to see one over arching theme as we look at the next couple of chapters with this one, and it is God is exalted and the proud are humbled.
Now from what we know, the timing of the text suggests that this is happening during the time of Uzziah the King.
2 Chronciles 26 briefly describes the highlights of his 52 year reign as king. His military conquests, his large army and with it, his very large pride.
We know that Uzziah would understand what it meant to be proud. He enjoyed a huge success because of his army military accomplishments.
The nation is enjoying a time of economic prosperity. and Uzziah while a good king for the most part, there were times when he allowed ungodly practices to take place, and at one point God judges him for his sins, he is struck with leprosy (2 Kings 15:16-21).
V. 1
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
We get a little detail as we open this text, we are told that Isaiah, this is what the Lord revealed or showed him concerning Jerusalem and the of course the southern kingdom, Judah, but Benjamin is included in this as well.
V. 2
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
We see the beginning of a new look at the future kingdom of God. This will be what God will ultimately do in Zion. When God tells us this, we know that God invites the audience to come and join him and his plan or they can reject it, but there is consequences when we fail to follow God.
This new era will inaugurate a series of new relaitonships between God and his dwelling place in Zion, God and the people who come to hear him teach and God and the various warring nations .
God will change this world and it will come about byu his presence, teaching and yes his judgment.
Here in this verse God says the new Zion will be the chief or highest of the mountains, this will show the nations that the Lord is supreme and great.
You see right now, even though Jerusalem is a great city, a lot of wealth was there, a vast army but still God and his House was not valued. But when the Lord comes and establishes his Kingdom, the will sit on His throne and will alone be exalted. All those false things like might, pride or what ever that people trusted in, he will do away with them.
When God is exalted in His cities the nations will come and go in and out of that city.
Ver 3
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
The Temple of God will be one that the nations will come to in order to worship.
The word of God will go forth and people, the nations literally will desire to learn the ways of God. They desire to walk in a way that is pleasing to Him. So instead of lives marked by sin as we’ve seen with these kings and their reign that Isaiah is ministering too, these people return to the Lord.
Now this is a future day,
Ver 4.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and 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.
Understanding what God is going here the nations will come and trust God and submit themselves, their people to the righteous decisions of God.
Do you remember how Moses in the Old Testament heard the peoples cases and made decisions, so many came that his father in law Jethro had to help. This is similar, God will judge between the nations and their peoples.
One consequence of God being judge and God we see there is no need for war, no need to fight for rights, God will make sure all his right and well . so the weapons of war are rendered useless, only suitable for tending the gardens and farms...
This tells us that a marvelous reign of peace begins...
What is special about this message is that the people during Uzziah’s time were always preparing for war, they hadn’t really experienced much in the way of peace in their life time. so to hear the prophecy that peace would come, that brings more hope for them.
No more war and no more fighting, or fear just joy and peace.
How wonderful...
Now verse 5
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord.
Isaiah shifts gears here, he is not talking about their future, and the future of Zion when peace comes....
Instead is calls for them to change their thinking, re-organize your outlook, and change you life based on what God is doing now and in the future.
The leadership of Judah and its people can carry on with eating and drinking and being marry but they will be empty, and dead on the inside with their self serving activity. Instead they can live in a way that glorifies God and following his instructions.
Their decision will determine who will enjoy the Kingdom of God.
So this is the first 5 verses… now we are going to move on to verses 6-11, the second section of the text and listen as God speaks about those who are rejecting the way of the Lord.
Ver 6
6 For you have rejected your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are full of things from the east
and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines,
and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.
God will humble these people who have done wrong and chased after everything but Him.
The “house of Jacob” was not walking in God ways. God has abandoned them in the sense of not paying attention to them, leaving them alone to depend on their own resources.
The Lord will will remove his hand from them, they will not be protected and they will not know his direction. All of this was because of their sinfulness.
And as you look at the second part of verse 6 here God defines His reasoning for not helping them. East lies Babylon and other countries that have chased after false gods.
They accepted or embraced those things from the east.
To the west, Philistines were no better, They accepted witchcraft and divination, fortune telling, speaking with the dead in hopes of learning what to do and when to do things.
The phrase of striking the hands of foreigners is to give their approve of the practices they dis...
Lev 19:16 says you shall not interpret omens or fell fortunes.....Instead of holding to the truth of God’s Word, they were adopting “superstitions from the East
Even today the worlds people chase after things taught by Eastern religions. Boone NC is the transcendental mediation capital of the US.
For example....Yogi isn’t just stretching, you are assuming the position or pose of offerings to those gods that are worshipped in India. You might do yogi and have no intent on false worship but you are enguaging in all that like it or not..
So we must be careful, we must learn to look at and ask critical questions about those things around us, can I do this or that…???
Be your best for God.....
Ver 7
7 Their land is filled with silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is filled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
God tells them they look to other things for their stability, wealth, gold and silver.... the forces or items of war… horses and chariots.
It is harder for those who have it all to depend on God, those who have little truly have nothing else, so they tend to reach out first.
17 The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.
10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
Some trust in horses and chariots, but we trust in the name of the Lord.
In our world today, especially the USA, people look to the gov’t or some other institution to supply their needs instead of realizing that God is our true provider.
Every good and perfect gift comes from above, Amen!
Verse 8...
8 Their land is filled with idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.
Do you see the condition of the land? and also it tells us of their heart…
The land is filled with “idols” false gods and goddesses, The people of Judah worshipped them, and truly they were worthless,
By the way, the word Idol means just that worthless and of no value. and rightly so, God did not create these, human hands did...
How sad, they have a glorious God who has made heaven and earth and all that is in it, and they desires the worthless things of man.
All to often people tend to trust in themselves and what they can do instead of relying on God’s and his provision.
lets move on, verse 9
9 So man is humbled,
and each one is brought low—
do not forgive them!
Wow, Isaiah begins to describe the consequences of the nations actions. God says the proud men and women will be brought low, humbled. and they will be humbled in the real sense of that day and time and in the future as they Lord casts judgment on those who sought self over God,
They have become like a empty well. Nothing in them that is worth while.
22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing
and obtains favor from the Lord.
4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
is riches and honor and life.
We must be careful and not be prideful, ( trusting in self, saying you are better than God by what you trust in…)
Verses 10-11
10 Enter into the rock
and hide in the dust
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty.
11 The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
When you look at this, we see these prideful people, all they can do is to try and hide from the Lord, and from His judgment.
But they cannot hide,
And it is coming sooner than you think...
Remember the tower of babel, They disobeyed God and he humbled them. And even though God has reached out to them, and at times even punished them, they still fall back to these ways
the end