Isaiah 2:1-4
In Isaiah Chapters 2 – 4,
For our time this evening, we will just look at the first perspective in verses 1-4:
Isaiah 2:1 The
word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning
Isaiah introduces himself
again and professes that he is speaking the word that he saw, which came from
God. Verse 2 is a prophecy of the church and it has several elements to it:
This same prophecy is
repeated by Micah in Micah 4:1-3. The “latter
days” would be some time in the future. As we examine these 5 points, we will
see this prophecy would also happen on the same day as part of Joel’s prophecy
was fulfilled, which says:
Joel 2:28 And it
shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all
flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream
dreams, Your young men shall see visions.
29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days..
Daniel also talks about
the latter days as well:
Daniel 2:28 "But
there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King
Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the
visions of your head upon your bed, were these:
Daniel goes on to
describe the future empires based on the image the king had saw in 31-34.
Head of gold – King Nebuchadnezzar
Breast and arms of silver– Medo-Persians
The belly and thighs of brass –
Legs of Iron and feet of iron mixed with clay –
In Verse 44, Daniel tells of an everlasting kingdom (the church) that
would be set up during the 4th kingdom, which was the
Daniel 2:44
"And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other
people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it
shall stand forever.
All of the prophecies
about “latter days”, “those days”, those things that take place “afterward” all
point to the great event that happened on the day of Pentecost during the
Acts 2:14 But
Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them,
"Men of Judea and all who dwell in
By Peter stating that
Joel’s prophecy was being fulfilled means that all other prophecies that had to
do with the Messiah and His kingdom were also being fulfilled. The reign of
Christ would be in the “latter days’ and His reign would never be succeeded by
anyone else. There will be no other age or dispensation of time. There is a easy
way to remember this. The prophecies of Isaiah 2, Joel 2, and Daniel 2 were
fulfilled in Acts 2.
The term mountain is used
figuratively as a kingdom in verses like Psalm 76:4 and Jer. 51:25. I believe
Isaiah is using the word mountain in the same way and that is referring to the
Messianic kingdom that the Jews were looking forward to. This everlasting
kingdom would be ruled by someone who came from the seed of David.
2 Samuel 7:12 "
When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your
seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his
kingdom. 13 "He shall
build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
forever.
As I mentioned earlier,
this is that same everlasting kingdom that Daniel spoke of in Dan. 2:44. Of
course, all of these prophecies are talking about the church/kingdom of God
that was established on the day of Pentecost that Jesus reigns over. Jesus was
from the seed of David since He was born from Mary. Jesus knew exactly who He was
and what He was doing:
Matthew 16:18
"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My
church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 "And I will give you the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven."
This shows that Jesus was
the one who built His church, and He uses the term “the kingdom of heaven”
synonymously with the church. His church is the same as saying His kingdom.
To the Jews this would
literally mean
The Book of Hebrews
confirms that this eternal kingdom, which is the church, is the antitype of the
literal
Hebrews 12:22 But you
have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who
are registered in heaven,
Hebrews 12:28
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and
thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
All of these verses
simply show the place that the church/kingdom would be established would be
Homer Hailey simply said:
“It would transcend all the kingdoms of the world in greatness and grandeur.”
Jesus gives a great example of just how great this new kingdom would be in:
Matthew 13:31
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed
in his field, 32 "which
indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than
the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its
branches."
No doubt, the spiritual
kingdom that Jesus established is greater than any kingdom that has been, is,
or will be. Only the
Unlike the old covenant,
the new convent would allow all nations to become part of this new kingdom that
Jesus built. So, both Jews and Gentiles can be part of it. This idea goes all
the way back to the promise God made to Abram:
Genesis 12:3 I will
bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all
the families of the earth shall be blessed."
It was several years after Pentecost before the apostles
understood that Gentiles were to be included in the
Acts
2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39
"For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are
afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."
Peter was telling the Jews what they needed to do to be saved and become part of this new kingdom, but notice this promise of salvation was not just for the Jews, their children, and their future generations, it was also for those who are afar off, which is reference to the Gentiles as can be seen Eph. 2:17. Furthermore, all those who would be called by God through His gospel (2 Thess. 2:14), would be part of the new kingdom, which clearly included everyone.
Even the Great Commission showed that all nations would be included in the good news of Jesus:
Matthew 28:19
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe
all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age." Amen.
All this shows that God’s plan from the beginning was to eventually include every person in His new kingdom.
3 Many people shall come and say,
"Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the
God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths."
For out of
The “many people” spoken of here is referring to both Jews and Gentiles. However, when the message of this new kingdom and what it offers was being taught, there were many more Gentiles that wanted to be part of it than the Jews. In fact, Paul saw this first hand because he talks about how the Gentiles were willing to accept this new kingdom while his fellow Jews were not:
Acts 13:45 But
when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting
and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew
bold and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to
you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 "For so the Lord has
commanded us: 'I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be
for salvation to the ends of the earth.' "
48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and
glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal
life believed. 49 And the word
of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region.
Isaiah also said in verse
3:
For out of
This is saying the same
thing since the Word of God is His law. His word/law would go forth from
Luke 24:46 Then He
said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 "and that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning
at
Notice what Jesus tells
His disciples shortly before His accession to heaven:
Acts 1:4 And
being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from
Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He
said, "you have heard from Me; 5
"for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the
Holy Spirit not many days from now."
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him,
saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to
Jesus makes it easy for
us to see that this new law was not the same law of the O.T. but it was
something different and its would have it beginning at
Jeremiah 31:31 "
Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah -- 32 "not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke,
though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.
33 "But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of
So this new law and its
teachings would happen at the establishment of the kingdom/church that would
begin at
Let’s examine our last
verse:
4 He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people; 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 anymore.
This is one of the more
difficult sections of the prophecies to understand, but here is the way
understand it. The way that God will judge between the nations and rebuke them
is through His Word. Keeping things in context, His Word/law will go forth from
John 12:48
"He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges
him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.
When Isaiah said:
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 anymore.
This is simply a message
of peace. It is not saying that there would be no more wars among men, it was
saying those who enter into to this new kingdom and live by the Word that is
taught from it will be at peace with one another within the kingdom of God. As
Jesus said:
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they
shall be called sons of God.
As Paul said:
Romans 12:18 If it is
possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
Jesus is our example
because He was our peacemaker who came to make peace between us and God.
Ephesians 2:14 For He
Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle
wall of separation, 15 having
abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus
making peace, 16 and that
He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby
putting to death the enmity. 17
And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were
near. 18 For through Him we
both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
When we keep verse 4 in
context with the prophecy of the new kingdom/church it becomes easier to
understand this prophecy made by Isaiah. When we do live according to God’s
Word there will always be peace within God’s kingdom, but unfortunately man can
mess that up and cause strife and division through their arrogance of their own
opinions, and they can upset the peace within the church, but men and women who
do this are to be marked and avoided (Rom. 16:17-18).
In these short 4 verses,
Isaiah gives us the most detailed prophecy in the O.T. about the coming of the
kingdom/church that Jesus would reign over. I also want to mention that Micah
gives this same prophecy in Micah 4. I
know I have covered a lot of material, so let me summarize it:
This prophecy that Isaiah made could not have been made by any man. The details he gives of the coming kingdom/church combined with the prophecies of Joel, Daniel, Micah, and others that all came to pass in Acts 2 proves to me that God is the one that gave them that information. So, these 4 short verses, offer strong evidence of the existence of God and His infinite wisdom.
Before I close out this lesson, I want offer you a few more facts about the establishment of the eternal kingdom the Isaiah spoke of.
The kingdom was not
set up while Jesus was on the earth.
Mat. 3:1-3 John said the kingdom was at hand.
Mat. 4:17 Jesus said the kingdom was at hand.
Mat. 6:9 Jesus prays for the coming of the kingdom.
Mat. 10:7 Jesus sent the 12 out and told them to preach that the kingdom was at hand.
In Mark 9:1 we learn that the kingdom would come with power.
Luke 24:44-49 teaches that the Spirit and the power were to come together.
If we can show when the Spirit came, we can show when the kingdom came.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells the apostles to wait in
In Acts 2:1-4, The spirit came on Pentecost. So, the kingdom came at Pentecost.
When you read the N.T., you find that kingdom is spoken of as coming before Acts 2, but after Acts 2, the kingdom is spoken of as present reality (Col. 1:3; Acts 8:12).
These points just further prove that the kingdom/church the Isaiah prophesied of happened on the Day of the Pentecost in Acts 2.
I hope you have found this information helpful and interesting, I know that I did.