Isaiah 2: Formative Reality

​Key Verse
5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. 
 
Meditation
The sure consummation of history must be a formative reality for God’s people.
 
In today’s reading Isaiah shares God’s word (v. 1) by seeing the pinnacle of God’s covenant promises (vv. 1-5) and contrasting them with the bottom of the world’s empty promises (vv. 6-21). The formative reality is astonishingly pointed: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord… (v. 5) Stop regarding man… for what account is he?” (v. 22)
 
The mountain Isaiah saw (vv. 2-4) will one day be a reality for all, “by its light the nations will walk and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it…” (Revelation 21:9-10, 24-26). Our King will rule in justice! From the surety of what we hope for, God’s people must “walk in the light of the Lord” (v. 5).
 
Instead, God’s people were moving towards the nations and welcoming idolatrous practices such as fortune-tellers (v. 6). God’s people worshipped wealth and trusted in horse power (v. 7), worshipped idols (v. 8), and pride was rampant (vv. 9-11). God has ordained a day when darkness (and God’s enemies in darkness) will be exposed (vv. 12-16), judged (vv. 17-19), and removed (vv. 20-21). Wisdom welcomes the light of this truth today while rejecting the dark heart idolatry of people pleasing (v. 22).
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Jesus’ first coming guarantees His second coming. Certain of what we do not see, Christians live in light of this reality by keeping ourselves from idols (1 John 5:21), walking in the light, and awaiting the consummated new world (1 Peter 3:11-13).
 
Today’s Reading
 
The Mountain of the Lord
2 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?
 
Richly Dwelling
-Which pictures stand out most pointedly to you from this chapter: The Sovereign Lord who will have all peoples come to His mountain to worship (vv. 2-5), the rebellion and worship of idols (vv. 6-11), the fear of non-believers hiding from the just judgment of God (12-19), or the casting away of idols (20-21)? Why?
 
-Where do you need to walk in the light? What idols must you cast away to return to the Lord? How do the idols of your heart teach you to fear man more than God?
 
-God’s grace invites you to walk in His light, the way of His word. How, specifically, will you do this today?
 
Key Verse
5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.