Isaiah 2:5 – 4
Several weeks ago we began looking
at the Book of Isaiah, but I had to put this study off for a bit because of
everything that has been going with getting our building back in shape. The
last thing we looked at was Isaiah 2:1-4. The verses gave us a prophetic
description of
Tonight, we will be looking Isaiah 2:5 – 4. Here is quick outline of what these verses cover:
As we begin our study tonight at
verse 5, we change from talking about the glorious future church to the current
corrupt condition of
Isaiah 2:5 O house of Jacob, come and let us walk In the
light of the LORD. 6 For You
have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with
eastern ways; They are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they are
pleased with the children of foreigners.
7 Their land is also full of silver and gold, And there is no
end to their treasures; Their land is also full of horses, And there is no end
to their chariots. 8 Their
land is also full of idols; They worship the work of their own hands, That
which their own fingers have made. 9
People bow down, And each man humbles himself; Therefore do not forgive
them. 10 Enter into the rock,
and hide in the dust, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His
majesty. 11 The lofty looks
of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the
LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
In verse 5, we see a plea for God’s people to turn away from their wicked
ways and to return to walking in the light of the Lord. Verse 6-9 appears to be
a prayer to God as Isaiah speaks to God about the corruption of His people. God
was no longer with them because of their choice to turn their backs on God by
embracing the way of the foreigners. God had Moses specifically tell His people
not to associate with other nations because He knew they would corrupt them (Deut.
7:1-5).
We must learn from this today. If we keep immersing ourselves with the
world and with those that add and take away from God’s Word it will not be long
until we start adopting their ways instead of God’s ways. I believe everyone
starts out with good intentions of staying faithful to God’s Word, but little
by little even the most faithful person can be changed to start thinking like
man instead of relying on God’s wisdom.
We also learn that
Of course these are
general truths because there are always exceptions to the general rule, but we
today are also warned about the dangers of the pursuit of great possessions in
the N.T.
1 Timothy 6:9 But
those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many
foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root
of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in
their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Those with great possessions can use their riches for good:
1 Timothy 6:17 Command
those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in
uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to
enjoy. 18 Let them do
good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a
good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
We learn in verse 8 of
our text that their land was full of idols they had made with their own hands.
Later, Isaiah would give even more details about how foolish his people were
about worshiping manmade idols (Isa. 44:9-20). For example, he describes how a
man would take a piece of wood and burn it to cook his food and then use the
part of that wood to carve into an idol and then bow down to it. Man can be
very foolish at times. Those who bow down to manmade idols are absolutely
ridiculous.
As Isaiah finishes his
petition to God, he basically says do not forgive them Lord because their ways
are corrupt.
Next, Isaiah addresses
his people once again:
10 Enter into the rock, and hide in
the dust, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty. 11 The lofty looks of man shall be
humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the LORD alone shall
be exalted in that day.
In a very dramatic way,
Isaiah is telling his people to prepare for the judgment God will give them
because of their apostasy. We must learn today that we must prepare for the
judgment of God at the end of time because we will not be able to escape it.
Either we will be prepared to face the judgment day and be counted a faithful
servant, or we will be unprepared and be cast out where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
Verse 11 just reiterates
what verse 6 – 10 said and shows that the haughty people who have turned their
back on God will be humbled. This of course came to pass when
Isaiah 2:12 For the
day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty,
Upon everything lifted up -- And it shall be brought low -- 13 Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that
are high and lifted up, And upon all the oaks of Bashan; 14 Upon all the high mountains,
And upon all the hills that are lifted up; 15 Upon every high tower, And upon
every fortified wall; 16 Upon
all the ships of Tarshish, And upon all the beautiful sloops. 17 The loftiness of man shall be
bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The LORD alone
will be exalted in that day, 18
But the idols He shall utterly abolish. 19
They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth,
From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to
shake the earth mightily. 20
In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver And his idols of gold,
Which they made, each for himself to worship, To the moles and
bats, 21 To go into the
clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of
the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth
mightily. 22 Sever yourselves
from such a man, Whose breath is in his nostrils; For of what account is
he?
Isaiah is describing how
the haughty will be crushed and how all these things they have trusted in will
be destroyed. When they are, God will be exalted because it will show that He
is in control of all things and than there are no substitutes for God. Just as
God said, after the Jews were taken over by their enemies, they were brought
low and they realized how foolish it was for them to trust in things and in
man’s ways. When the Jews returned after their captivity, we do not read about
them embracing tangible idols made from wood, metal, or stone. They seemed to have
at least learned their lesson about making idols with their hands to worship
from that time forward.
Isaiah ends the chapter
by teaching them not to put our trust in man. Instead, we should always put our
trust in God. Man is good at leading people astray as they push their own
prideful agenda, but we will never go wrong when we stick with God’s Word
teaches.
In chapter 3, Isaiah
describes the anarchy of his people. It gives a sad picture of a people who
have turned away from God and toward the customs and philosophies of the surrounding
heathen nations.
Isaiah 3:1 For
behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah
The stock and the store, The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of
water; 2 The mighty man and
the man of war, The judge and the prophet, And the diviner and the elder; 3 The captain of fifty and the
honorable man, The counselor and the skillful artisan, And the expert
enchanter. 4 "I will
give children to be their princes, And babes shall rule over them. 5 The people will be oppressed,
Every one by another and every one by his neighbor; The child will be insolent
toward the elder, And the base toward the honorable." 6 When a man takes hold of his
brother In the house of his father, saying, "You have clothing; You
be our ruler, And let these ruins be under your power," 7 In that day he will protest,
saying, "I cannot cure your ills, For in my house is neither
food nor clothing; Do not make me a ruler of the people."
Isaiah lets them know
that God is in control and He is going to show them because He is going to
cause them to have weak leadership and the basics of life will be taken from
them. Moses warned their forefathers long ago that if they rebelled against God
that this would happen to them (Lev. 26:25-26; Deut. 28:49-57). This all came
to pass when King Nebuchadnezzar took them over (Ezek. 4:16-17). In fact, the
famine was so great that men and women ate the flesh of their parents,
children, and mates: (Jer. 19:9; Lam. 4:10; Ezek. 5:10).
Next, Isaiah pronounces
the woe that
Isaiah 3:8 For
Jerusalem stumbled, And Judah is fallen, Because their tongue and their doings Are
against the LORD, To provoke the eyes of His glory. 9 The look on their countenance
witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as
God’s people were so
immersed in their sin that they had become like those in
In verses 10 and 11 we
see the idea of reaping what you sow, because the righteous will reap what the
sow, which means they will be blessed, but the wicked will have to face the
consequences of their actions and it will not be pleasant. This concept has not
changed under the N.T.
Galatians 6:7 Do not
be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also
reap. 8 For he who sows to
his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will
of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Verse 12 of our text
tells us that their downfall is their leadership. Their leaders are leading
them out of the light in the darkness of the world. Unfortunately, there are many
leaders in the church today that are just like these men and women during
Isaiah’s day. They are pushing their own agendas to try and loose God’s Word so
that people can feel free to do things that the Scriptures do not authorize. It
is true that history does repeat itself when we fail to learn from the past.
In verse 13 – 15 God is
depicted as standing to judge His people, but more so He is judging those
corrupt immature leaders of His people. In a similar way, those that lead in
the church will also be judged by how they lead as well:
Hebrews 13:17 Obey
those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls,
as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for
that would be unprofitable for you.
Now Isaiah has specific
pronouncement of woe on the wicked women of
Isaiah 3:16
Moreover the LORD says: "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, And
walk with outstretched necks And wanton eyes, Walking and mincing as they
go, Making a jingling with their feet, 17
Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab The crown of the head of the
daughters of Zion, And the LORD will uncover their secret parts." 18 In that day the Lord will
take away the finery: The jingling anklets, the scarves, and the crescents; 19 The pendants, the bracelets,
and the veils; 20 The
headdresses, the leg ornaments, and the headbands; The perfume boxes, the
charms, 21 and the rings; The
nose jewels, 22 the festal
apparel, and the mantles; The outer garments, the purses, 23 and the mirrors; The fine
linen, the turbans, and the robes. 24
And so it shall be: Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; Instead of
a sash, a rope; Instead of well-set hair, baldness; Instead of a rich robe, a
girding of sackcloth; And branding instead of beauty.
These women would face their own special judgment because of their haughtiness and their seductive ways. All these things they wore that would be taken away from them were designed to get them attention in a sensual way. As Homer Hailey said:
To their shame and
humiliation, the sexual features to which they would attract attention would be
laid bare in the hands of crude, rough, barbarous captors.
These women who had adopted the ways of the wicked nations would have all their things taken from them and their secret parts would become exposed. Instead of smelling good, they would end up stinking from the condition their captors would leave them in. Instead of pretty hair, they would be bald. Instead of beauty they would be branded. It makes me sad to think that they brought this horrible treatment on themselves, but we must understand that living an un-pure life can do this to you. While there was nothing wrong per see with some of these things these women wore, their attitude and how they presenting themselves was the main problem.
Isaiah is not finished yet, because now he pronounces some more woes on his people as a whole, which mainly deals with what happened to their men:
Isaiah 3:25 Your men
shall fall by the sword, And your mighty in the war. 26 Her gates shall lament and
mourn, And she being desolate shall sit on the ground. 4:1 And in that
day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, "We will eat our own
food and wear our own apparel; Only let us be called by your name, To take away
our reproach."
When their enemy comes in, many of their men are going to die. So many are going to die that 7 women will have to fight over 1 man to get a husband. Isaiah paints a dark picture of the consequences of his people’s sins. We must realize that while sin may have it temporary pleasure, it will never last and almost always will have negative consequences in this life. Even if we somehow escape the consequences of our sins in this life, we will all face the consequences of our sins at the judgment day. So, mark my words, ultimately our sin will find us out.
Staring in verse 2, Isaiah begins talking about the hope through the branch of the Lord:
Isaiah 4:2 In that
day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious; And the fruit of
the earth shall be excellent and appealing For those of
The great judgment on God’s people has been proclaimed, but now Isaiah is now talking about the latter days when Jesus would come to the earth. The Branch of the Lord is a reference to Jesus and Jeremiah makes this clearer as He describes the Branch of the Lord in more detail in Jer. 23:5 and 33:15.
This beautiful and glorious branch would make it possible
for the remnant of Jews that come out of the judgment of God to eventually be
considered holy as they become part of the new holy nation made under Christ.
Most consider these last verses figuratively pointing to the Christian age
since Isaiah is talking about Jesus. For example, when it talks about those
living in
As we know, many Jews that were decedents of that remnant
that came out this great judgment of God were taught the gospel and were
converted and became part of the new spiritual
You and I get to enjoy the hope that comes through a risen Savior, so let us learn from the Jews living during Isaiah’s time and not be a rebellious people living like the world and those who claim to be holy who are not. Instead, lets be the righteous people we read about in Scripture who loved God and kept His commandments and rejoiced in the salvation that He brings.
Resources: Huston
Bible Lectureship of Isaiah, Coffman commentary, Hailey’s Bible handbook, WVBS.