Isaiah 2

CHAPTER 2

The Mountain of the Lord (2:1–5)

(Micah 4:1–3)

1–2 In this section, Isaiah looks ahead to a time when the mountain of the LORD’S temple will be established—in the last days (verse 2). The “mountain of the Lord” is Mount Zion, that is, the temple mount in Jerusalem. The “last days” are the days of the Messiah, the period that has already begun with Christ’s first coming and which will extend to His second coming, when the final purposes of God will be fulfilled.

Isaiah has already prophesied about the judgment coming upon Jerusalem (Isaiah 1:7–8) and about the city’s eventual restoration following the return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon (Isaiah 1:2526). In verse 2, however, Isaiah is looking beyond that to a day when Jerusalem and its temple (symbolizing the Lord’s presence) will become a light for the entire world, drawing all the GENTILE nations to it. In this way, God’s original plan to bless the peoples of the world through ABRAHAM and his descendants (the Jewish nation) will be fulfilled (see Genesis 12:1–3 and comment; General Article: God’s Plans for the Unreached).

3–4 In those “last days” many peoples (the Gentile nations) will come to the house (temple) of the God of JACOB¹² (verse 3). God’s law—the law of MOSES—will go out from Zion,¹³ and His word will go out from Jerusalem.¹⁴ The Lord Him(verse 8). Isaiah is likely referring to the self will reign in Jerusalem and judge the nations, and as a result, there will be PEACE¹⁵ (verse 4).

5 Here Isaiah offers a challenge to the people of Judah—indeed, to all Israel: Come . . . let us walk in the light of the LORD. Israel had been specially chosen and blessed by God; the Israelites had been given God’s word and His promises. It was unthinkable that they should not walk in God’s light—His love, His truth, His will. We too, who have been called to follow Christ, must likewise walk in His light (see Ephesians 4:1; 5:8–20).

The Day of the Lord (2:6–22)

6–9 Suddenly Isaiah’s tone changes. No longer is he talking about a Judah where the Lord’s light shines; he is talking about a backslidden and disobedient nation which has been abandoned by God because of its evil practices¹⁶ (verse 6). God is going to allow His people to be overcome by foreign enemies; it will indeed seem as if He had totally “abandoned” them. In verses 6–9, Isaiah describes the sins of the people of Judah, the worst being the sin of idolatry: Their land is full of idols¹⁷ situation in Judah during the reign of Ahaz, one of Judah’s most wicked kings¹⁸ (2 Kings Chapter 16).

10–18 In these verses, Isaiah prophesies that the Lord will bring judgment upon the evildoers of Judah; they had best go into the rocks and hide in the ground (verse 10). Because, says Isaiah, the Lord has a day in store for them (verse 12). On that day—the day of judgment—the arrogant will be humbled and the proud will be brought low (verse 11). Pride is the attitude in man that leads him to exalt himself and put himself in the place of God; it is this attitude which leads a man to create his own “gods”—idols—rather than worship the true God who created him! All manifestations of human pride will be brought low by God;¹⁹ God alone will be exalted in that day²⁰ (verses 13–17).

19–22 When God’s judgment falls—whether in this life or the next—the wicked and proud will learn their lesson: they will learn the folly of self exaltation and idol worship. But then it will be too late. So Isaiah urges his people to stop trusting in man (verse 22), who has but a breath in his nostrils and then is gone (Psalms 39:4–6; 144:4).

Notice that in this chapter Isaiah has started by describing the “ideal” (verses 1–5), and has then gone on to describe the “reality.” The people of Judah were not “walking in the light” (verse 5); rather, they were “clasping hands with pagans” (verse 6)—that is, they were living as worldly people and not as godly people. The challenge ever before us is to lead godly lives in the midst of a godless world—to seek the ideal in the midst of imperfect reality (Matthew 5:48).