#959 Isaiah 2 Part 2 Day of the Lord

 

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

2 It shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be lifted up above the hills;

and all the nations shall flow to it,

3 and many peoples shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 He shall judge between the nations,

and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

and 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.

5 O house of Jacob,

come, let us walk

in the light of the Lord.

The Day of the Lord

6 For you have rejected your people,

the house of Jacob,

because they are full of things from the east

and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines,

and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

7 Their land is filled with silver and gold,

and there is no end to their treasures;

their land is filled with horses,

and there is no end to their chariots.

8 Their land is filled with idols;

they bow down to the work of their hands,

to what their own fingers have made.

9 So man is humbled,

and each one is brought low—

do not forgive them!

10 Enter into the rock

and hide in the dust

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty.

11 The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,

and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,

and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

12 For the Lord of hosts has a day

against all that is proud and lofty,

against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;

13 against all the cedars of Lebanon,

lofty and lifted up;

and against all the oaks of Bashan;

14 against all the lofty mountains,

and against all the uplifted hills;

15 against every high tower,

and against every fortified wall;

16 against all the ships of Tarshish,

and against all the beautiful craft.

17 And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,

and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,

and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

18 And the idols shall utterly pass away.

19 And people shall enter the caves of the rocks

and the holes of the ground,

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty,

when he rises to terrify the earth.

20 In that day mankind will cast away

their idols of silver and their idols of gold,

which they made for themselves to worship,

to the moles and to the bats,

21 to enter the caverns of the rocks

and the clefts of the cliffs,

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty,

when he rises to terrify the earth.

22 Stop regarding man

in whose nostrils is breath,

for of what account is he? Isaiah 2 ESV

Isaiah 2: 6-22 The Day of the Lord

6-8. For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob - After relaying the promise and great hope of God's plan for Israel (vs. 1-5) in the Millennial reign, the prophet returns to the indictment of the present. Jacob is also called Israel, and he is the father of the 12 tribes. 

Because they are full of things from the East - Though called to be a separate people, in beliefs, life style, and also as a light in this world, they have become more influenced by their neighbors, forsaking the truth for what is en vogue. 

1. They have fortune tellers, casting off that faith which comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, they would rather a crystal ball. Much like the prosperity teachers of our day, the word faith movements, ear ticklers, and those who are so called "spiritual", or healers. Find the ism that most appeals to your sinful nature rather than worship in spirit and truth, showing fruit by obedience. 
   …30 You must keep My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the LORD. 31 You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.32 You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.… Leviticus 19: 30-32
   
2. And they strike hands with the children of foreigners - Instead of trusting in God they made alliances with wicked men. 2 Kings 16
3. Silver and gold, horses and chariots - These were the evidence of alliances formed that God had warned against. Their materialism has made their religion and moral honor diluted like the wine previously discussed.  16 But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’ 17 He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.18 When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.… Deuteronomy 17: 16-18
4. Their land is filled with idols - They are superstitious worshiping what their hands have made.

9-12. For man is humbled - With the accumulation of wealth they see no need for the hand of God, and their worship changes to things they love and to that which even demeans them. You worship inanimate things, things you make with your hands, out of materials which God made by speaking. 

“Man in all matters of religion, and in all his dealings with God, is proud. It is wonderful how apparently humble men will be when they worship false gods. They will cut themselves with knives, and roll themselves in the mire. We have known some votaries to kneel before the representation of the Virgin Mary and lick the very pavement with their tongues by way of penance, and perform the most degrading rites in honor of their false gods. Man seems to be humble enough in his dealings with a false deity, but as soon as ever he comes to deal with the true God, the first things that have to be got out of him are his pride, his high looks, his haughtiness.” (Spurgeon)

Mark the indignant spirit of the prophet, as if he had been an Elias, or had the mind of a John Knox of later days. It seemed as if he could not ask God to forgive such a stupendous folly as the setting up visible objects of worship, and the turning away from the true invisible God. O idolatry, what an accursed sin thou art, and how rampant art thou in this land at this day! - C. H. Spurgeon

Enter into the rock and hide in the dust - From the dust we came, what and who are we to be proud?

…15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. 17 For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”… Revelation 6: 15-17

For the Lord of Hosts has a day - God rejects the proud but gives grace to the humble. We have developed a new religion that we call "Christian" these days, but it is self centered, arrogant, and greedy. It despises the words of Christ, His calling men to deny themselves and take up their cross. It will bear no such thing; it honors itself and not the Lord. We will see this in the life of Nebuchadnezzar, that those who exalt themselves will be brought low. It is a mercy to be made humble, to see oneself as lost, to know the fear of God before the Day of the Lord.

…16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.18 In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.… Psalm 51: 16-18

13-19. Against all the cedars of Lebanon - 

No matter what it is that man sets up, however good or great, if he dares to bring it into competition with God, God’s hand is against him, and he will break it in pieces. Whenever God comes out of his secret place this is always the end of it. He came against Babylon and against Nineveh. Ay, ask the traveler who has wonderingly descended into those vast mounds, “Where are those mighty monarchies now?” Where is the power of Sennacherib and where the might of Nebuchadnezzar? They have gone. The dust is their sole monument. Turn ye, in later days to the great power of Rome, and as one walks through Some, that vast mausoleum of an empire, where one treads, at every step, upon an empire’s dust — what think ye but that God has broken the iron kingdom, and made what seemed to be an omnipotent power to pass away from off the face of the earth?

Woe unto all that is great and all that is high and all that exalts itself above God. Whether a temporal power, or a spiritual, it shall pass away like a dream of the night, or a vision of the air, for the Lord is, and all else is nothing. - C. H. Spurgeon

20-22. Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he? We are always looking for a king, a champion among us, but they are always and only fallen men and women like us. The weak tries to align himself to the strong, even the bully. No one wants to be considered a fool so they align themselves with the "intellectual", but at the cost of their own discernment. "If this man says it's so, says 'science', then it must be, and you must bow the knee." WHAT DOES GOD SAY?