|
About Jesus Steve Sweetman Isaiah 2 The
Mountain Of The Lord (ch. 2:1 - 5) Chapter
2, verse 1, specifically tells us to whom this chapter is written.
It is written to I
do not believe in Replacement Theology for a number of reasons which I
won't get into here. I've
done that elsewhere. I'll
just say that if you believe the church has replaced I
say all of the above to say this. Here
in verse 1, when Isaiah states that the prophecies found in this chapter
are directed to Verse
2 will catch our attention. It
begins with "in the last days".
"In the last days" refers to the end of this age in
which we now live. This term
does not refer to the end of the Old Testament, or any other time in
human history In
the New Testament, the phrase "last days" is seen in two ways.
Peter, on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 refers to the last days
as starting at the day of Pentecost.
He does this by quoting the book of Joel concerning prophecies of
the last days. So, in
Peter's mind, at least in the context of his sermon in Acts 2, the
"last days' began when the Holy Spirit came into the lives of the
believers. However, the term
"last days" is used often in the New Testament in terms of the
"very last days", as in the days just before the return of
Christ, as in, the time of the Great Tribulation.
The apostle Paul uses the term "last days" in this
respect a lot. In
verse 2 we see the term "mountain of the Lord".
This refers to the mountain in So,
when Isaiah predicts the "mountain of the Lord's temple will be
established as the chief among the mountains", this is what is
meant. When Jesus returns to
earth, He will recover all the land that I
won't comment on Replacement Theology too much, but because I've
mentioned it in this chapter, I'll tell you haw Replacement Theologians
interpret this verse. They
say the church will be raised up over all the nations of the world.
They claim the church will grow to such a state that Jesus must
return to earth and rule from the church. In fact there is no set time
for Jesus to return to earth as I believe there is.
Jesus only returns when we get things together enough that He
feels there is nothing else He can or should do but return to earth.
This puts the emphasis on us being perfected, and I see no hope
in the church reaching perfection prior to the return of Christ.
When
verse 2 says that "all the nations will stream" to the
mountain of the Lord, I believe this has a fulfillment in the millennial
rule of Jesus, yet, I also believe that its final fulfillment will come
after the thousand year rule of Christ when the New Jerusalem comes down
from heaven. I say that
because in Revelation 21:24 the apostle John saw something very similar
to what Isaiah saw. He saw
the "kings of the earth bringing their splendor" into the New
Jerusalem. Verse
3 tells us that "many people will come to the mountain of the
Lord" in those days. Zechariah
14:16 says the same thing. Note
"the house of the God of Jacob" in verse 3.
It's the God of Jacob's people who will come to The
ways of the Lord will be taught from Jerusalem, from Verse
3 states that "the law will go forth from Concerning
this question, I have a couple of comments.
One is that some prophetic futurists do believe the Law of Moses
will be reinstated, at least for the Jews, during the thousand year rule
of Christ. This might well
be true. This is the only
way to understand the last 8 chapters of the book of Ezekiel.
You can refer to my commentary on these chapters.
These chapters speak of a day when the Law of Moses, even with
its sacrifices, will some day in the future finally be obeyed by If
you have trouble with this, it is clear that Jesus redefined the Law of
Moses. You see that
throughout the gospels, especially on the sermon on the mount.
For example, He redefined adultery to be lust and murder to be
anger. So, when the law is
proclaimed from the mountain of the Lord as stated here, it might well
be the teaching of Jesus as seen in the gospel accounts.
Remember, Jesus said that if you love the Lord God with all your
heart, soul, mind, and body, and you love your neighbour as yourself,
you have fulfilled every last item in the Law of Moses.
It might be in reference to this that the law will be taught from
Jerusalem. All
of the above being said, I think the bottom line to this is that the
seat of authority will be in Jerusalem. As capital cities are the
seat of authority in nations, In
verse 4 it says that "He will judge between the nations".
The pronoun "He" refers to the Lord.
Who did Isaiah, and Israel, understand the Lord to be. The
Hebrew word translated as Lord is "Yahweh".
Yahweh will judge between the nations, but it is Yahweh in human
flesh. Yahweh in human
flesh, or, to be more accurate, Yahweh in His glorified human flesh,
will judge the nations. We
understand Yahweh as seen here to
be Jesus. So, here, as in
other Old Testament passages like this one, we see the doctrine of the
Deity of Christ. You
might wonder why Jesus will have to judge the nations.
Well, if you read the last chapter of Zechariah, you will see
that there is the possibility that some nations will be tempted not to
obey Jesus. Israel
obviously will obey the Lord because it's been prophesied that they
will. The point here is that
the nations of the world, who knew not the Lord Jesus, will have to be
taught the ways of God. It's
my thinking that this teaching will emanate from Jerusalem, but there will be many Jewish and Gentile believers throughout the
world teaching the Word of the Lord.
It's also my thinking that many who should be Bible teachers in
this age who aren't, for various reasons, will be teaching Biblical
truth around the world in these thousand years. Verse
4 also says that the Lord, will settle disputes.
We need to realize that that the book of Revelation speaks of the
thousand year rule of Christ, but the New Testament is pretty silent on
what will actually take place during this thousand years.
The Old Testament has lots to say about it, and here is one
place. The
thousand year rule of Christ is not the New Earth as seen at the end of
the book of Revelation. This
is how I view it. The Old
Testament was a time where Israel
was to represent God to the nations.
The
thousand year rule of Christ will not be a time of total perfection.
It will be a time where Jesus will rule.
This is why Jesus will settle disputes in the thousand year rule
of Christ. Just
in case you think this time in which Isaiah saw in the vision is the
time of the New Earth, it can't be.
The New Earth is a time of perfection. All
of the old will no longer exist. All
things will be made new. Beating
swords into plowshares will not take place prior to the return of Jesus.
It's only when He sets up His throne in Jerusalem, as seen here, that this will happen.
If you read Ezekiel 38 and 39 you will see what is described as a
possible nuclear war. Ezekiel
39:9 states that Israel
will use the weapons of their enemies as fuel.
That looks like beating swords into plowshares; beating weapons
into something that is useful and needed, and in this case maybe beating
nuclear weapons into nuclear energy for the thousand year rule of Christ
on earth. Verse
4 ends by saying there will be no war during the thousand year rule of
Christ. There will be
disputes, but they will be settled before they turn into fighting and
war. Isaiah
says, "come O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the
Lord'. This means that
the good things prophesied in the previous verses was meant to be an
encouragement for Israel
to walk in the ways of the Lord. Any
really, this is one very important reason why prophecy is in the Bible.
Prophecy is meant to encourage us to serve the Lord will all of
our hearts right now because there is a better day ahead. The
Day Of The Lord (ch. 2:6 - 25)
Notice
verse 6 that says. "They
are full of superstitions from the east".
It seems so much of our superstitions and false religions are
from the east. Anyway, for The
Philistines mentioned in verse 6 were to the west of "Clasp
hands with pagans" in verse 6 suggests joining in with pagan
practices which God forbade Israel
to do. Verse
7, which speaks of Verse
10 says, "go into the rock and hide in the ground".
Revelation 6:15 and 16 is an allusion to this very verse as seen
in the kings and people who hide
themselves in the rocks and mountains and just hope to die because of
fear of the wrath of God. In
verse 11 we see the basic sin of humanity, and that is pride.
Pride goes before a fall, as the proverb states.
We see the fall of prideful Verse
12 says that "the Lord has a day in store for the proud", to
bring them down. Only the
Lord will remain exalted. Humility
is one of the major marks of a mature Christian.
The problem with some Christians, especially those in the spot
light, is falling into the temptation of pride.
A minister of the gospel is a servant, but when the ministry
serves one's self, it is no longer a ministry.
That ministry will fall. You
can certainly see in these verses that Judah
is far from their God. The
problem is that this is just the beginning.
Before they fall to From
verse 12 to 18 we see that God will bring down every aspect of who Verse
19 is definitely related to Revelation 6:15 and 16.
Both verses are next to identical.
Men hide in caves hoping to escape the wrath of the majesty of
God. But of course, you
can't hide from God nor His wrath wherever you attempt to hide. Verses
20 and 21 continue on in this vein.
Men try to hide from God. They
even throw away their idles because they realize that their idols can't
save them. This reminds me
of Revelation 9:20. Even
though the wrath of God is being powered out in such power people
refused to repent and turn to God.
This
section ends with verse 22. Like
verse 5, Isaiah encourages
|