INTRODUCTION:

1.     We saw back in Isaiah 1:1 that Isaiah’s ministry concerned Judah (the southern kingdom) and Jerusalem “in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”

2.     Isaiah wrote about the deliverance of Judah from the Assyrian invasion, and the Babylonian captivity.

3.     We also saw that Isaiah’s prophecies often looked beyond his day – all the way down through the corridors of time to the second coming of Christ.

4.     Isaiah’s name means, “Salvation of the LORD” and salvation is the theme of his book (cf. 1:16; 53:4-6).

5.     Another great theme in the book of Isaiah is the restoration of Israel “in the last days” (2:2).

6.     Isaiah looked ahead to the time when God’s righteous kingdom would be established and people from all over the world would come to Jerusalem to worship the true God of the Bible (not Allah).

7.     Isaiah chapters 2—5 form Isaiah’s second message.

I. THE LAST DAYS OF ISRAEL (2:1, 2).

1.     In continuation of what was said in Isaiah 1:25-27, Isaiah declares that Israel will one day be restored and exalted.

2.     These events shall come to pass “in the last days” (2:2). The last days of Israel should be distinguished from the last days of the church.  Isaiah 2:1 says, “Judah and Jerusalem.” You do not find the church in Isaiah’s prophecies.

3.     The NT refers to the church as a “mystery,” i.e., something not taught in the OT.

4.     Our Lord said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” 

5.     Some Bible teachers “spiritualize” Scripture, and they confound Israel with the church, but this is not the proper way to interpret the Bible.

6.     The RCC taught that they were the true Israel.  Then later on, the Reformers continued with the confusion. John Calvin wrote these words about our text, “This concerns a scene of the restoration of God’s church.”  Calvin’s interpretation contradicts Isaiah 2:1.

7.     In this dispensation – “the age of grace” – God is working through the local church.  But some day – maybe very soon – God is going to remove the church at the rapture.

8.     Isaiah’s prophecy here in chapter 2 (and there are many throughout the book of Isaiah) looks beyond the church days to the last days of Israel.

II. ISAIAH’S PROPHECY CONCERNS ALL NATIONS (2:2b, 3).

1.     The “the LORD’S house” is the temple in Jerusalem.   Have you ever wondered why there is so much turmoil in Israel?  Why is this little country such a hot spot?  Why is it such a valuable piece of real estate?

2.     Why do the Arabs and Muslims hate Israel so much?

3.     Israel is the most important country in the world because it is the very spot God has chosen to be the political and religious center of the world during the millennial kingdom (cf. Micah 4:1-5; Zech. 14:16, 17).

4.     The Lord Jesus Christ will sit upon the throne of David (Isa. 9:6, 7).

5.     “Many people” (2:3) will flood into Jerusalem to learn about the true God of the Bible. Contrast that with the chaos, confusion, and unbelief we are witnessing today.

6.     The pope apologizes to the Muslims and they want to cut his head off.   Very few people really want to learn the Word of God.

III. THERE WILL ONLY BE PEACE WHEN THE PRINCE OF PEACE RETURNS (2:4, 5).

1.     There will never be peace on earth under human governments (cf. Psalm 2).  We were reminded of this sad fact just this past week.  Our president went to the UN and explained what the US is trying to accomplish in the war against the terrorists.

2.     The very next day, Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, went to the UN and ridiculed President Bush. 

3.     I am old enough to remember when Nikita Krushchev, the Soviet premier, went to the UN, took off his shoe, banged his shoe on the desk, and boasted, “We will bury you!” 

4.     Communists, dictators, and terrorists will come and go, and there will be no peace till our Lord returns.  He said we can expect, “wars and rumors of war” (Matthew 24:6).

5.     But when our Lord returns, for the first time in the history of the human race, all the nations in the world will dwell together in peace.

6.     Before the Lord returns to establish His kingdom there will be seven years of terrible tribulation, culminating at the battle of Armageddon (cf. Joel 3:9, 10).

7.     So the message during the tribulation will be: “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears” (Joel 3:10).

8.     But when Christ returns and is sitting upon His throne, the message will be: “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks” (Isa. 2:4; Micah 4:3).  THE EXACT OPPOSITE.  {Isaiah & Micah were contemporaries.}

9.     Interestingly, back in 1959, the communist Soviet Union donated a statue to the United Nations in NYC.  The statue is still there.  It is bronze statue of a man with a hammer beating his sword into a plowshare, symbolizing man’s futile effort to bring in peace without God.

10. Atheist, communist Russia was responsible for wars all over the world and the death of millions of people.   And yet they sent this ridiculous statue to the UN.

11. The UN is responsible for wars all over the world and they proudly display this statue outside their headquarters in NYC.

12. We are not ready for the fulfillment of Isaiah 2:4 because Joel 3:9, 10 must come first.  And before the tribulation will be the rapture.

13. Soon the world will have their desired leader.  The Bible identifies him as the antichrist.   Daniel 8:25 says that “by peace” he shall destroy many.

14. First Thessalonians 5:3 says, “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”

15. But when Christ returns, there will be genuine peace.  There will be no more nuclear threat from North Korea or China or Iran.   There will be no more military science or military academies, because “neither shall they learn war any more” (Isa. 2:4b).

CONCLUSION:

1.     Isaiah 2:5 refers to Israel – “O House of Jacob” – but certainly applies to all of us.  We are to walk in the light of the LORD.

2.     Ephesians 5:8 says we are to “walk as children of light.”

3.     First John 1:7 says, “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.”

4.     Psalm 89:15 says, “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.”

5.     Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

6.     And he said in John 12:35, “et a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.”