2. Isaiah Chapter Two

Isaiah Chapter 2 The opening word of this chapter resumes what Isaiah stated at the beginning of his prophecies (Isaiah 1:1), but now introduces the subject of chapters two to five. In Isaiah 1:1 he spoke of seeing a vision, now he speaks of seeing a word. This marks the communication as supernatural. When men speak to one another they hear; God’s word was seen. This suggests two things; firstly, the word of God is "living," its energizing effect is to impart a revelation impossible to the merely natural mind; therefore, secondly, it involves a mind prepared and qualified to behold intelligently what God has to reveal. The seeing of the word will lead to a vision of the Lord’s glory in chapter six. In chapter one divine justice deals with rejected mercy; in Isaiah 2:5 divine mercy restores holiness. Accordingly the prophecy opens, not with denunciation of sin (that is to be renewed at Isaiah 2:6), but with the promise of blessing "in the last days."

"It shall come to pass" does not begin a quotation from Micah 4:1-3. It is a direct revelation to Isaiah. What is now in view is the glory of the Millennial Kingdom. "The mountain of the Lord’s House shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills" (Isaiah 2:2). The temple will apparently have a loftier site than formerly. There may be also an indication of the domination exercised therefrom over all other earthly powers (cp. Psalms 76:4-5). "All nations shall flow unto it," a metaphor from the peaceful flowing of a river, in contrast to the tossings of the sea of national strife and upheaval. The builders of Babel who sought to establish a world center found their scheme brought to confusion under divine judgment, and were scattered abroad. Mount Zion and the Lord’s House will become a gathering center for the nations in their recognition of His power and His claims.

There will be a mutual agreement and decision among many (not all, it would seem) of the nations to go up to Mount Zion, "to the House of the God of Jacob," with a genuine desire to be taught His ways and to walk in His paths: "for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3). Genesis 22:14 will be fulfilled (see also chap. Isaiah 51:4; Micah 4:2; Zechariah 8:3).

"He shall judge among [i.e., between] the nations" (Isaiah 2:4). He will administer justice regarding international questions and difficulties, which now so often give rise to war. He will "rebuke [or reprove] many peoples," rectifying their mistaken and selfish ideas, with the result that, after the tremendous clash of arms at Armageddon (Har-magedon) at the close of the great tribulation (the time of Jacob’s trouble), the manufacture of weapons of war will cease and agriculture shall flourish. No longer will they learn war. In Isaiah 2:5 the glorious future prospect assured to Israel stirs up Isaiah to plead with his people to return to God immediately, and to walk "in the light of the Lord." Hence the renewal of the lamentation for their deplorable apostasy. Verse 6 should begin with "For" (not "Therefore"): "For Thou hast forsaken Thy people, the house of Jacob" (not here the noble title of "Israel"). They were filled with customs and ways from the east (cp. Numbers 23:7) and had adopted from the Philistines the arts of divination, and had joined hands with the sons of strangers (that is the meaning of "please themselves"). That gold and silver and horses and chariots (Isaiah 2:7) filled the land was a complete ignoring of the command given in Deuteronomy 17:16-17. Solomon had erred in this respect, and from the throne downwards the nation thereby became permeated with idolatry under the influence of pagan peoples; high and low engaged in it; the mean man bowed down to what his hands had made, and the great man degraded himself (Isaiah 2:8-9). Hence the intercessor was now compelled to plead against his people that they might not be forgiven (cp. Hosea 1:6). The answer is given. Judgment is impending. They had forsaken the Rock (Deuteronomy 32:4; Isaiah 17:10; Isaiah 26:4; Isaiah 30:29); they must therefore flee to the natural rock and hide in the dust of the earth, from before the terror of the Lord and "the glory of His majesty" (Isaiah 2:10). Pride must be humbled. They had bowed down to idols; now their haughtiness must be bowed down, that the Lord alone might be exalted (Isaiah 2:11). Where God is not given His rightful place everything falls into ruin. The passage from here to the end of the chapter passes from immediate circumstances to the end of Gentile dominion and to the judgments which must fall upon the nations at the time of the Second Advent, preliminarily to the setting up of the Millennial Kingdom. The period is described as "the day of the Lord." The word "day," when used in this way, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, has the twofold significance of time and judgment. The natural day brings into light that which has been in darkness. The present period is called "man’s day" (1 Corinthians 4:3, a.v. and r.v. margins, for the text "man’s judgment"), for now man passes his benighted and often perverted judgment upon things. There have been days of the Lord in His judicial dealings with Israel in the past, especially by victory over the foes (Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 13:5; Ezekiel 30:3).

Here, however, as in Joel 2:31 and Malachi 4:5, the period indicated is yet future. It will see the complete overthrow of gentile power (Isaiah 13:9-11; 34; Daniel 2:34, Daniel 2:44; Obadiah 1:15) and the deliverance of the Jews. In Isaiah 2:13 the cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan, illustrative of natural glory and power, are symbolic of military leaders of the nations gathered finally against the Jews. In Isaiah 2:14 the mountains and hills, likewise emblematic of natural power, symbolize the mighty kingdoms of the nations. All that they have accomplished, in their pride and independence of God, both by way of strongholds on land (Isaiah 2:15), and in traffic and commerce by sea (Isaiah 2:16), is to be brought to nought. The self-exaltation of man must yield place to the exaltation of God alone (Isaiah 2:17).

Idolatry will be stopped (Isaiah 2:18), and men who gloried in their prowess and strength will flee to underground shelters, to "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" (Isaiah 2:19-20; see Isaiah 13:9-13; Joel 2:30-31; Joel 3:16; Haggai 2:6-7; Matthew 24:29-30; Revelation 6:12-17; Revelation 16:18-20).

Pagans, convinced of the futility and delusions of their idols, will hide them in the haunts of moles and bats, as if disgusted with them under their revulsion of feeling, and under the terror of Divine judgments. They themselves will flee to the cavities and crevices (the real meaning of the word rendered "tops") of the rocks-not that these will afford protection from the wrath of God.

Isaiah 2:22 exposes the impotency of the Antichrist, the Man of Sin, the leader of the great confederacy of the nations, the would-be conqueror of the world, the determined destroyer of the Jewish people, the man upon whom the nations had set their hopes of world-organization and prosperity, the man who "set himself forth as God" (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). His "breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?"-an exposure of his human frailty in face of the almighty power of the true God. For his doom see Deuteronomy 32:42, r.v.; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19:19.