Isaiah 2:1

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 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 all the nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord... and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come ye and walk in the light of the Lord.

Before the world beats its swords into plowshares, the Day of the Lord must come—so walk now in the light of the Lord.

The Word Isaiah Saw

In Isaiah chapter 1, verse 1, we read of "the vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem." Now in chapter 2, verse 1, we read of "the word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw." That is an interesting concept—the word that Isaiah saw. The Lord spoke to many Old Testament prophets through visions and dreams, sometimes through an audible or internal voice. Here Isaiah appears to have seen a vision, again concerning Judah and Jerusalem, a message spoken directly to the people he lived among.

Verse 2 gives us the timing: "It shall come to pass in the last days." Underline that, because it sets the context. When will this prophecy come to pass? In the last days, "that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains... and all the nations shall flow unto it." God is going to establish His kingdom, and all the nations will come to that exalted place.

The Millennial Reign of Christ

This prophecy speaks of what we typically call the millennial reign of Christ. We read of it again in Isaiah chapter 11:

But with righteousness shall he judge the poor... The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid... and a little child shall lead them... They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

We are looking forward to that day. We were instructed in the Lord's Prayer to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The psalmist says, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem." When we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we are praying for the Prince of Peace to come and establish peace there. I guarantee you there will be no peace in Jerusalem until the Prince of Peace is there enthroned upon Mount Zion. It does not matter who signs a peace treaty; peace will not come until He is there.

Coming to a Person, Not a Place

In verses 2 and 3, all nations flow unto this kingdom. They come unto the Lord—not just to a place, but to a Person. That is an important aspect of Christianity. We do not come to a temple; we come to Christ Himself. He is the way we come before the Father, as He said in John 14: "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me."

Today we approach God by grace through faith, worshiping Him in spirit and in truth, as Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4. But there is coming a day when all nations shall say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord," to meet with God Himself. Notice the global focus. In Revelation 5, every tongue, tribe, nation, and kindred are gathered together praising the Lord in that day.

Many of the people Isaiah was speaking to believed God's word and grace were only for their race, only for Israel. But from the very beginning God's word was unto all nations. That is why He promised Abraham, "In you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." And notice verse 3: "He will teach us his ways." We will not go to meet a rabbi or a pastor—you won't look for Pastor Chuck or Pastor Miles. Pastor Jesus will be there, the King of kings, the good Teacher.

Peace and Forced Righteousness

When Jesus rules and reigns upon the earth, there will be an established peace and a forced righteousness. There will be no more war during the millennial reign of Christ. They will take their swords and beat them into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks—instruments of war becoming instruments of fruitfulness, not death. Both believers and non-believers alike look forward to that day.

Jesus promised in Matthew 24 that before this day comes, there would be nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, wars and rumors of wars. Ever since He spoke those words, war has not ceased on the earth for 2,000 years. Every generation in our own nation has seen war, and now we see multiple wars at once.

After the Second World War, a desire to end armed conflict stirred the founding of the United Nations. During the modern era man thought he could bring about a kind of nirvana through science and technology, but what that produced in the 1940s was the atomic bomb and great destruction and fear—and out of that despair the post-modern era began. If you visit the United Nations building in New York, you will see a great statue by a Russian artist of a man beating a sword into a plowshare, based on this very verse. The desire to do away with armed conflict is shared by many. But we must recognize that before this verse can come to pass, another prophecy must come first.

Joel 3: The Reverse Command

In Joel chapter 3, the prophet says something almost identical—but reversed:

Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men... Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong... for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision... The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake.

Notice the timing. Isaiah 2 speaks of Jerusalem at peace and God's kingdom established. But Joel 3, also in the latter days, comes before that. Before man beats his sword into a plowshare, God tells the people of the earth to beat their plowshares into swords and get ready for war, because He is coming to judge. Before He brings righteousness and sits enthroned, He will come with judgment and with a sword.

The heathen will gather together to fight against God. Consider that for a moment—men will gather with swords and spears, or with modern weaponry, helicopters and tanks and missiles, in the valley of Megiddo, to fight against God. That has to be one of the most foolish things anyone could ever do. If you fight against God, you will lose. Jacob wrestled with God in Genesis 32 and walked with a limp the rest of his life. God said to Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." Yet mankind in rebellion will gather at Armageddon, and God will come to judge them. Isaiah 63 tells us a sword will go forth out of His mouth, and the blood will run to the horses' bridles for 1,600 furlongs.

God Shall Laugh

What does God do when the nations gather against Him? Psalm 2 gives us a glimpse:

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed... He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

The mindset of man is, "Let us break their bands asunder; we don't want you to rule over us, God." When all of mankind gathers to fight against Him, God will not be quaking. The earth will shake, but God will not be afraid. He stands to judge—"Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe."

When you trace this event from Genesis to Revelation, you find coded bits of information everywhere—Joel 3:10, Isaiah 63, Matthew 24, Revelation 14 and 19. The picture is this: God gathers all these rebellious men into the valley of decision, called His winepress, and the vats overflow. Isaiah 63 says He treads the winepress alone; Revelation 19 says His robes are stained with blood. "Beat your plowshares into swords"—but it will be for nothing. This will happen before Isaiah 2:4 is fulfilled. How do we know? God said it: "It shall come to pass in the last days."

Walk in the Light of the Lord

If we know that day is coming, who wants to be in the winepress of the wrath of God rather than standing with Him? Look at the exhortation in verse 5: "O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord."

Peter said the same in 2 Peter 3:14: "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." And John in 1 John 3:3: "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." If you know this day is coming, you prepare for it.

How do we get ready? Walk in the light. John 1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." John the Baptist came to bear witness of that light. Jesus, the true Light, came into the world to His own people, but they did not receive Him.

Why Men Love Darkness

Why did His own not receive Him? Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son... For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." Then notice verse 19: "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light... lest his deeds should be reproved."

Man is afraid to come to the light, fearing his sin will be exposed and judged. That is exactly what Satan—a liar from the beginning—would have man believe: that if he comes to Christ, God will strike him dead, so stay in the darkness. But those who have believed find that is not the case. First John 1 declares, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all... 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."

Yes, when you walk in the light your sin is exposed—but His blood cleanses you from all sin. That word "cleanse" is the same Greek root used in John 15, where Jesus speaks of God pruning away dead branches. The blood of Christ removes the sinful flesh from us as we come to the light. Now you can see why God's word to His people in Isaiah's day was: judgment is coming, so come and walk in the light, that you may not be under judgment but receive His grace.

The Sins That Bring Judgment

Why had God forsaken His people? Verse 6 onward tells us. First, an abundance of cultish practices: "they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines." Their nation was filled with mysticism. Second, in verse 7, an abundance of wealth: "Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures." As Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." The stock market in Jerusalem was well above 10,000; people focused on real estate and bigger kingdoms for themselves.

Third, an abundance of horses and chariots. What is wrong with that? Nothing in themselves, except God forbade Israel in Deuteronomy to multiply them, because, as Psalm 20 says, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." Israel was to trust in God, not military might. Fourth, verses 8 and 9, an abundance of idols: "their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands." There was worship and humility in Judah—but to false gods. So God says, "forgive them not." There is no forgiveness for the unrepentant. Though the cross is sufficient for all mankind, Exodus 34 says God "will by no means clear the guilty."

Is Our Nation Any Different?

I ask you: is our nation filled with the same things? Cultish practices? I saw a news report that one industry thriving in this economic downturn is fortune tellers and palm readers. A woman in Los Angeles charges $250 an hour, and now people come asking, "Will I lose my job? Will I make my rent?" If you are paying a palm reader $250 an hour to find out if you'll make rent, some wires are mismatched.

Wealth—focused upon? Horses and chariots—do we trust in our cruise missiles, our nuclear submarines? I would say yes. And idols. When we hear "idols," our minds go to little golden statues, and we think we are too progressive for that. But an idol is anything someone puts their trust in other than God. Our nation is in despair because people lost so much in their 401(k)s and home equity—where was their trust? When we get to Isaiah 19, we will see that shaken idols are an indication that God has removed His hand of protection from a people.

The Day of the Lord

Verse 10: "Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty." Then their pride is addressed: "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." Circle "in that day."

Verse 12 introduces the Day of the Lord. Make this note: the Day of the Lord is any time God intervenes in the realm of humanity—and every time we see it in Scripture, it is associated with judgment. Who is it focused on? "Upon every one that is proud and lofty... and he shall be brought low," upon the cedars of Lebanon, the oaks of Bashan, the high mountains and towers, the ships of Tarshish—everything man trusts in and exalts against God will be leveled. Verse 18: "And the idols he shall utterly abolish."

Verse 19: "And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord... when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth." This matches Joel 3:16 and Revelation 6:15-16, where "the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men... hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 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."

Verse 20: "In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold... to the moles and to the bats." They will cry to their gold and silver gods, "Save us! Help us!"—and find them ineffective, and throw them away.

Cease Ye from Man

The application comes in verse 22: "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Do not trust in man; he cannot save you in that day. The nuclear arsenal of America will not help man in rebellion toward God. The ships, the instruments of war, the bunkers man builds—none will conceal him when the Lord comes to bring wrath. There is only one place of refuge. So Isaiah says to his people, and to us: "Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord."

A day is coming when He shall come again. Scripture says His sword will be bathed in heaven, and He will come on a white horse to judge the earth, descending to the very Mount of Olives from which He ascended—and it will cleave in half, one side to the north, one to the south. Some ask, do you really believe this literally? Yes, I do. Why? Because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it, and God has already fulfilled an abundance of the prophecies in this book.

Already Coming to Pass

Isaiah says a nation will be born in one day. Has anybody ever heard of that? May 14, 1948—a nation born in a day, after being exiled more than 1,900 years. Just today I read that many Jews are leaving America to return to the land of Israel. About a year ago in a prophecy update I said this would happen, that the children of Israel would begin to leave America to go back to the land—and the Associated Press did an article on it this very week. We are seeing the very things Jesus foretold come to pass before He comes again. He will come again, and Scripture says those who are His will return with Him. I want to be there on that day. Let me say it: I will be. Will you? Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You for Your word, that You have told us the end before it comes. One of the clearest marks of Your authorship of the Scriptures are these prophetic passages where You reveal things before they happen. As we see in the New Testament, "he that hath this hope purifieth himself"; the one looking for these things is diligent to be found in You, in peace, without spot or blemish, blameless. And Lord, we know tonight we can only be blameless by Your blood, which cleanses us from all sin.

In the second-to-last chapter of the Bible, You revealed through John that the kingdom You establish will have no need of the sun or the moon, because Your glory will enlighten it, and the Lamb—Jesus, You—are the light of that place. We look forward to the day when we will physically walk in the light of the Lord. But by grace through faith tonight, Lord, we step in and say we want to walk in the light as You are in the light, having fellowship with one another and with You, knowing You have removed our sin as far as the east is from the west. We praise You and thank You, in Jesus' name. Amen.