ISAIAH 2 - THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD
ISAIAH 2 – The Mountain of God
Tuesday Morning Bible Study, June 25, 2013, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
In chapter two, Isaiah is prophesying assuring God’s people that in the last days, God, according to His grace and His promises, would establish His people in peace. In chapter 1, Isaiah described in metaphorical language God’s provision for His Holy Remnant as a cottage in a vineyard and a cabin in a cucumber patch.
In this chapter He prophesies the new order and the New Covenant which will be established in Zion, but first, an operation or judgment shall utterly abolish all of man’s idols.
In Isaiah 2:10, Jesus Christ is seen as the “Rock” and the “Glory of His majesty”. “Enter into the Rock, and hide you in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty”. Jesus is the “light” in Isaiah 2:5.
There will come a day when all nations will flow into the Heavenly Jerusalem, the church. “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”
Heb. 12:22: “You have come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.”
Sion is where the throne of God is eternally established and sure against all attacks of the enemy.
Zion is mentioned 46 times in the Book of Isaiah. We will be spending a lot of time on top of the Mountain of God. Zion is the place of the Temple, sacrifice, burnt offerings, and the Levitical Priesthood. Jesus Christ faced his own Zion on the Cross. He is the once-for-all-time sacrifice as the Lamb of God and the Chief High Priest. The Holy Spirit is the Temple within each of us.
Isa. 2: 1-3: The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 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 to it. Many people shall go and say, ‘Come you, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us 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.’”
In chapter 2, Isaiah “saw” this word. In chapter 1:1, Isaiah described his message as a vision. Both are visions, but I am of the persuasion that since it is written that he saw the word, that he literally saw the words. I have had dreams of words written out.
The going up to the mountain of the Lord describes the supernatural flow uphill of the river of God bringing the nations into the Kingdom of God. Mountains are symbols for Kingdoms. The worship of the Lord will triumph over all other religions. This is reversal of the dispersion at Babel in Genesis 11. These verses are for the gospel church, God’s Zion.
In our study Sunday evening of 2 Cor. 3: 7-11 and in Heb. 2:2, Paul describes the glory of the gospel church in the ministration of the gospel which first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed by them that heard Him; God bearing them witness both with signs, wonders diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost. Paul compares this greater glory spoken by the Lord written on our hearts, to the glory of the law which was written in stone by the mediation of angels. “If that which is done away with was glorious, how much more that which remains is glorious. The veil is removed and we can see God’s glory in the face of Christ. Those who turn to Christ, the veil of the law is taken away.
From the glory of the gospel church directives will go forth for all the nations. The Word of God will proceed like a river. This is the word and ministry of reconciliation. This is the Word of faith, “know you therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham”.
Gal. 3:7-8: “The scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel to Abraham, saying in you shall all nations be blessed. We which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”
“The gospel church shall then be the rendezvous of all the spiritual seed of Abraham….the glory of the brightness of the New Covenant was and is the lighting of a beacon, the setting up of a standard established on the top of the everlasting mountains, built upon a rock.
Isaiah 2: 4: “He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; 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 any more.”
Isaiah prophesies a theocratic form of government which will be restored under Christ during the Kingdom. Christ’s Kingdom was secured at his first coming. We who are born again are now abiding in the Kingdom of God.
However, the chastisement and the judgment of the nations will precede the fulfillment.
The Day of the Lord is here described. The Glory of the Zion of God is in contrast with the judgment of the wicked. Jesus Christ overcame death, hell and the grave at the Cross (His Zion). The Lord will establish His people in peace, causing swords to be turned into plowshares, and spears into pruning-hooks.
The night-vision the Lord gave to me about our church being as a “cottage in a vineyard and a cabin in a cucumber patch” (Isa. 1: 8-9) affirms to me that we as a corporate Body of Christ are under that covenant of peace even in the midst of the turmoil in this nation and the nations of the world.
Isaiah contrasts this place of glory with the present gloom of sin and idolatry, and the pride and haughtiness of men which must be brought down.
We can compare this with Micah, Chapter 4.
Micah 4: “In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established at the top of the mountains and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow to it….They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken it.”
(See sermon notes of Pastor Carolyn Sissom 1/11/2011, The Mountain of the House of the Lord – from Micah)
My fig tree is just beginning to bear its annual crop of fruit. This morning as I was under my fig tree gathering the early figs, I rejoiced in this “state of being” which is the peace of God which passes all understanding. One cannot find that place on a Google map. You can’t get there from here inside the world’s roads and transportation systems. It is a place in God on His Holy Mountain where He dwells and indwells His beloved. It is established by the Lord of Hosts.
Isaiah 2: 5: O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. John 1:4: “In Him (Jesus) was life; and the life was the light of men. This is the gospel light which Paul compares to the Law (2 Cor. 3:7-18). It is the light of the sun as compared to the light of the moon and stars. It is the light of life, prosperity, peace, joy, righteousness, instruction and glory.
“House of Jacob” is used 9 times in Isaiah. We will talk about the blessings and failures of the House of Jacob in other chapters. It is a study unto itself.
(See sermon notes by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom “Jacob” November 11, 2007; The Blessings of the House of Jacob November 25, 2007
Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. Israel means “he will rule as God; he shall be prince of God, prince with God, the prince that prevails with God; contending for God, striving for God. He is an overcomer and a conqueror. A true Israelite:
- Is a prince with power with God
- Is a prince with power with men.
- Is a prince who has prevailed
“This wisdom of God in a mystery shall outshine all the wisdom of this world, all its philosophy and all its politics” (Matthew Henry).
Isaiah 2: 6-9: “You have forsaken your people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east,(Arabia, Persia, Chaldea) and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. Their 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. That land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. The mean man(common Adam) bows down(to these idols) and the great man (ranking ish) humbles himself (to these idols) therefore: forgive them not.”
They have been influenced in their habits and ways of life from the East and traffic with familiar spirits.
Isa. 2:10: “Enter into the rock, and hide you in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty.
The word for Glory here is “hadar”. It means ornament, splendor, honor, majesty glory, holy ornaments. “Only Jehovah is clothed with honor and majesty (Job. 40:10).
Psalm 29:4: “the voice of Jehovah is in majesty.”
Isa. 2: 11-12: “The lofty looks of men shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
“In that day” – The day of the Lord is mentioned 50 times in Isaiah compared to only 35 times by all the other 15 writing prophets. Generally in the prophets, and always in scriptures mentioning the day of the Lord, and the expression, “In that day” and at that day refer to the time in which prophecies will be fulfilled. Anytime the scripture points out “the day of the Lord” or the “great day of His wrath,” it is referencing a scripted time.
The Old Testament prophets foresaw and described more than one day of the Lord. The advent of the Assyrian armies on the Palestinian states was one such “day”.
There is a “Day of the Lord” when Jesus will return with all the armies of Heaven. Men will be so panic stricken that their idols of silver, gold and all other valuables will be thrown away, and they themselves will seek any kind of hiding place.
Isa. 2:12-17: “For 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; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And 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.”
God’s people in every age tend to be swayed by views, achievements and popularity of men. Even the most influential men in society are but mortals, of no special significance in God’s sight.
Since only the Lord will be exalted IN THAT DAY, I plan on exalting Him and Him alone all the days of my life.
In burning words, Isaiah describes these evil conditions. Jehovah will visit His people in judgment. Men of all classes are subdued and bend before Him, and the wholesale destruction of idolatry follows.
2: 18-22: “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 arises to shake terribly the earth. In 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; to 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 arises to shake terribly the earth. Cease you from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of”?
This is also a warning to the church to not put their security in silver and gold. It will be of no value IN THAT DAY. I am not coming against investing in silver and gold. I am warning not to place your hope and security on it.
The very breath of our nostrils is given to us by the Grace and Will of God.
Taught by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Scripture from K.J.V.
See Sermon notes on www.eastgateministries.com: by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom, “Jacob” November 11, 2007; The Blessings of the House of Jacob, 11/25/07; The Mountain of the House of the Lord – Micah 1/11/2011; I entered into the labors of Matthew Henry Bible Commentary and Principles of Present Truth of Isaiah 1-39 by: Kelly Varner.