Context No. 3479 of 4322 · Isaiah

Isaiah 2:1-16: in context

1This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. 3Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s 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 the law shall go out of Zion, and the LORD’s word from Jerusalem. 4He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples. 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 any more. 5House of Jacob, come, and let’s walk in the light of the LORD. 6For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, with those who practice divination like the Philistines, and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners. 7Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. 8Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. 9Man is brought low, and mankind is humbled; therefore don’t forgive them. 10Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the glory of his majesty. 11The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the arrogance of men will be bowed down, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. 12For there will be a day of the LORD of Armies for all that is proud and arrogant, and for all that is lifted up, and it shall be brought low— 13for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan, 14for all the high mountains, for all the hills that are lifted up, 15for every lofty tower, for every fortified wall, 16for all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery.

Isaiah sees two things held together. First, a glorious vision of the last days: the mountain of the LORD lifted high above the hills, all nations streaming to it to learn his ways, and the fruit of it, swords beaten into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks, nations no longer learning war.

And then, turning to the present, a sober diagnosis: a land full of silver and gold, horses and chariots, and idols, a people bowing down to the work of their own hands, lofty and proud. The coming day of the LORD is described as the humbling of all that pride: every lofty tower and high thing brought low, so that the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. There is the great purpose running through both the vision and the judgment, that the LORD alone be exalted. Human pride and idolatry set themselves up in God's place; the day of the LORD tears them down so that he alone stands high, and his peace fills the earth.

Am I letting pride and idols exalt themselves in my life, or do I live for the day when the LORD alone is exalted, humbling myself before him now?

Sources

Isaiah 2:4: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares... neither shall they learn war any more."
Isaiah 2:11: "The lofty looks of man will be brought low... and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day."
Isaiah 2:8: "Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands."