God tells us that he will establish his church in the last days in Zion and that the word would go forth from Jerusalem to all the world. He further tells us that the character of his people will be peace-loving. They will beat their spears into pruning-hooks and their swords into plow-shares. He calls for Israel to walk in the light of the Lord. They were a people that had borrowed the customs and idols from the heathen. He likens them to trees, hills, and mountains that would soon be obliterated. This chapter is a gold mine just waiting for you to pan your own gold.
Ascending God’s Mountain and the Fall of Human Pride
Isaiah 2:1
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
The emphasis is upon the message and not on the messenger.
Isaiah 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.
Isaiah is told that in the distant future God’s house will be higher than the hills and established in the mountains and that all races and ethnic groups will flow into it like a mighty river. Jesus said he would build his church.
Cross References
- Mat 16:18: Jesus said that he would build his church
- Act 2:17: Peter said that Pentecost was the last days.
- Heb 1:2: Paul calls the Christian age the last days.
- Act 11:15: Peter calls Pentecost the beginning.
- 1Ti 3:15: Paul calls the church the house of God.
- Rom 10:18: Paul says that their word went to the end of the world.
- Col 1:23: Paul says that the word was preached to all the world.
- Dan 2:28-45: Daniel’s vision of the latter days had its fulfillment at Pentecost (Daniel pictures the stone [Jesus] smiting the metallic man and destroying the four kingdoms and becoming a mountain and filling the whole earth.)
- Isa 11:10, Isa 49:6, Isa 60:11,12: Isaiah pictures the Gentiles coming to Christ.
- Psa 2:8, Psa 22:27, 72:8, 86:9: David also speaks of all nations serving God.
- Mal 3:12: Malachi prophecies that all nations shall call God blessed.
Summary: In the last days beginning at Pentecost all nations were present and the apostles called this the last days, the church was established and the word of the Lord went forth from (Zion) Jerusalem to all nations, within one generation the entire world was evangelized. All of this has its fulfillment in Jesus.
Isaiah 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.
Zion will be the source of revelation and it will originate from Jerusalem. Jesus applied this scripture to the beginning of the church in Luke 24:46-47.
Isaiah 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.
No longer will it be Jewish, but rather among the nations, and he will rebuke many people. They will not be warlike but a people of peace. Isaiah tells us that Jesus will rebuke the nations. These verses are fulfilled under the administration of our Messiah Jesus.
Cross References
- Isa 11:3-4: And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
- Isa 9:7; 11:6; Psa 72:3, 4-9: Additional readings on the Messiah's peace.
Isaiah 2:5
O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
The word of the Lord is likened to a lamp that dispels darkness and prevents us from stumbling.
Cross References
- Luk 1:79: To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
- Joh 12:35-36; 1Th 5:5: Additional readings on walking in the light.
Isaiah 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.
God had abandoned his people because they had practiced the customs of the land; they had become soothsayers, diviners, fortunetellers, a degenerate race full of hokey religion and pagan hocus-pocus.
Cross References
- Lev 19:31: Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
- Isa 47:12-13; Lev 20:6; Deu 18:10-11; 1Ch 10:13; 1Ki 11:1,2: Additional readings on forbidding occult practices.
Isaiah 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:
Everywhere you looked there was gold and silver and gadgets and trinkets, horses and chariots (chariots were their war machines).
Cross References
- Deu 17:16: 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.
- 1Ki 10:21-27: Account of Solomon's wealth and chariots.
Isaiah 2:8
Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
They had all sorts of gods and idols which they had made with their own hands to worship.
Cross References
- Jer 11:13: For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
Isaiah 2:9
And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.
These pretentious egos from commoner to nobility were caught up in the worship of Idols. Isaiah paints a picture of them as a degenerate race not worthy of forgiveness.
Cross References
- Jer 18:23: Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.
Isaiah 2:10
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
Perhaps this is where we got the phrase “crawl under a rock and hide”. They needed to hide from their shame.
Cross References
- Jdg 6:1,2: And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds.
- Isa 10:3; Isa 42:22; Hos 10:8: Additional readings on hiding from judgment.
Isaiah 2:11-12
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. For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
These haughty men who were so high minded were about to be brought down by the Almighty. God is going to bring these big heads down a notch. God has had enough of their pride and arrogance and pomp. The scripture makes it plain that God is sending Babylon to punish Israel for their sins and they will be hiding in the dens and caves but they will be discovered and killed. God is going to pay them a visit but it will not be a friendly visit.
Cross References
- Isa 13:9: Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
- Amo 5:18: Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
Isaiah 2:13-16
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
These high and mighty self-important, eminent men are likened to the giant cedars of Lebanon or the mighty oaks of Bashan that are chopped down. Isaiah carries the picture further and compares these men to high mountains and lofty hills. The prophets were good with word pictures─they likened Egypt to a “dragon of the Nile” and Babylon to a crocked sea serpent. These high ranking, snobbish arrogant people will come down like a toppled high tower or a wall that tumbles down from a gigantic mudslide. These big heads are going down like a sinking ship or a fading picture.
Isaiah 2:17-18
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
When God gets through with these hoity-toity, self important, snooty folks they will look like a dwarfed cedar of Lebanon. These swell heads will look like a pygmy in a giant exhibition. Their religious icons are heading for the garbage dump.
Cross References
- Isa 27:9: By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
Isaiah 2:19-21
And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
After getting all their idols dumped they will try to hide from the terror of God. They will be looking for a rock cave for a hang out from the dazzling presence of our God. These very gods that they had worshipped are being discarded as if of no value. They will load them to the dump. Men are pictured as crawling into caverns or under cliffs to get away from the terror of God when he rises to shake the earth. Their chance of escaping the wrath of God was as unlikely as a small boat surviving an ocean vortex. Later in this book Isaiah will give an expanded view of how God will shake the earth.
Isaiah 2:22
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?