Isaiah 2

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Dave Burnette's Commentary

Isaiah Chapter 2

Written By: God through Inspiration

Penned By: Isaiah

Date Penned: (700-681 BC)

Overview: To Tell of God's Salvation through the Messiah (c 1-66)

Theme: Words of Judgment (c 1-39)

Message: Walk in the Light of the Lord (v 1-22)

Isaiah 2 Commentary

(2:1) A Covenant - God gave Isaiah the prophetic gift of seeing the future. He showed him what would eventually happen to Jerusalem. Revelation 21 depicts the glorious fulfillment of this prophecy in the new Jerusalem, where only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life will be allowed to enter. God made a covenant with his people--a promised commitment to them--and he will never break it. God's faithfulness gives us hope for the future. Ask him to help you spread his word.

(2:2) The Temple - The temple was built on the mountain of the Lord, Mount Moriah, highly visible to all the people of Jerusalem. (For more on the significance of the temple, see the note on 2 Chronicles 5:1-14.) In the last days the temple will attract the nations, not because of its architecture, prominence, or political significance, but because of God's presence and influence. All the eyes of the world will once again be focused on God and everyone will worship him.

(2:4:5) Obeying the Lord This describes a wonderful future of peace when instruments of war will be converted to instruments of farming and when we will be taught God's laws and will obey them. Although we know that eventually God will remove all sin and thus the causes of war, conflicts, and other problems, we should not wait for him to act before we begin to obey him. Light refers to God's revelation of himself, which came to us ultimately in Jesus (John 1:4-5) and allows us to see what is true and right. We should walk in his light now, just as the people of Judah were told to do. Though our eternal reward awaits us, we already can enjoy many benefits of obedience now as we apply God's Word to our lives.

(2:6) Pagan Practices - The people were following practices of the Assyrian Empire, which was located east of them. In these pagan practices, they sought knowledge and control of the future by the power of demons or by interpreting omens. These practices were forbidden by God (see Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:10, 14). The Philistines worshiped Dagon, Ashtoreth, and Baal-zebub. During the more sinful periods of their history, the people of Israel worshiped these pagan gods along with Yahweh and even gave them Hebrew names.

(2:8-9) Idol Worship - Idol worship was serious because it destroyed the people's relationship with God, and it still does so today. Under the reigns of evil kings, idol worship flourished in both Israel and Judah. A few good kings in Judah stopped it during their reigns. Though few people worship carved or molded images today, the worship of people or objects that symbolize power continues. We pay homage to cars, homes, sports stars, celebrities, money, and electronic devices. Idol worship is sinful for these reasons: (1) It insults God to worship something made by humans rather than worshiping him; (2) it keeps us from knowing and serving God when we put our confidence in anything other than him; and (3) it causes us to rely on our own wisdom and efforts rather than on God. (See also Deuteronomy 27:15.) 2:12 The "day of the LORD of hosts" is the Day of Judgment, the time when God will judge both evil and good. It will be a great reversal, in which the proud will be humbled and God will be exalted. Isaiah mentions the Day of Judgment several times (2:11, 17, 20; 3:6-7, 18; 4:1-2; 13:6,9). That day will come, and we will want to have a proper relationship with God when it does. Pride, however, cripples us. God alone must be held in highest esteem (2:11, 17). This is the first step toward developing that kind of relationship with him.

(2:15-17) High Towers - High towers and fortified walls were part of a city's or nation's defenses. These metaphors bring to mind security based on military strength. The ships of Tarshish, great trading ships, picture trade and economic prosperity, and the "pleasant pictures," stately pleasure vessels, were boats used for pleasure and enjoyment. Nothing--power, wealth, nor pleasure-can compare with or should rival the place God must have in our hearts and minds. To place our hope and focus elsewhere is nothing but false pride.

(2:19) Fear - See Revelation 6:15-17 for a description of the dread felt by God's enemies on the day of his wrath. The Bible talks of two kinds of fear. In this verse, fear is the panic and peril unbelievers feel at the judgment of God. The right kind of fear is revering and standing in awe of God. Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the LoRD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." Those who honor and respect God need not fear his wrath.

(2:22) Mortality - "Whose breath is in his nostrils" refers to our human mortality. People are very limited when compared to God. They can be unreliable, selfish, and shortsighted. Yet we trust our lives and futures more readily to mortal human beings than to the all-knowing God. Beware of people who want you to trust them instead of God. Remember that only God is completely reliable. He is perfect, and we can rely on his mercy and enduring love (Psalm 100:5).

Dave Burnette's Life Application
Walk in the Light

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today, we continue in the Book of Isaiah with Chapter 2. Our text today shows that God has given Isaiah the gift of seeing into the future and what would eventually happen to Jerusalem (Revelation 21). In this, Isaiah instructs us to walk in the Light. In making the application, we see that New Jerusalem is closer than ever as we live in the last days before the rapture and judgment of the Lord. Knowing this, we should be encouraged to "walk in the light," being a witness and testimony to those who are lost so they can repent and be saved. How about you? Do you see the urgency of the day? Let us learn from our text today to remember that judgment is coming. We need to Walk in the Light more than ever as we reflect the Light of our Lord and Savior Jesus-Christ to this lost and dying world.

Isaiah 2

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Isaiah 2

¹The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

²And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

³And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us 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 out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

⁴And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

⁵O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

⁶Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.

⁷Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also 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:

⁹And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.

¹⁰Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.

¹¹The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

¹²For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

¹³And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,

¹⁴And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,

¹⁵And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,

¹⁶And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.

¹⁷And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

¹⁸And the idols he shall utterly abolish.

¹⁹And they shall go into 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.

²⁰In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

²¹To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

²²Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of ?

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