Isaiah Chapter 2
(Isaiah 2:1-2)The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And 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.
- This is speaking of the millennium
- "In the last days"
And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
(Isaiah 2:2)
(HERE)
And 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.
(Micah 4:1)
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
(Acts 2:17)
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
(2 Timothy 3:1)
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
(2 Peter 3:3)
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
(Micah 4:1)
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
(Jeremiah 31:6)
For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.
(Luke 13:29)
And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
(Isaiah 2:3)
And 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.
- Isaiah has many verses on this time in the future (Isaiah 11:9 , Isaiah 19:24, Isaiah 11:4, Isaiah 11:6, Isaiah 65:20)
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
(Isaiah 2:4)
And 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.
- This is a good verse to use to teach about inductive Bible learning and study-CONTEXT
- The meaning of the verse is the Return of Christ to judge the world before any world peace
- There are no dots in front to indicate that there is more, but there obviously is!
Isaiah 2:4 purposely taken out of context (Isaiah 2:5)
O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
- Israel, in the Millennial Kingdom, will walk with the LORD for a thousand years, most of them.
- This is in addition to the Gentiles at that time
FROM THE EAST
(Genesis 11:2)And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
God Brought them out of the east
(Isaiah 43:5)Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;
(Isaiah 2:6)
Therefore 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.
- Nothing good ever seems to come from the east in Scripture
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:
- They were specifically told not to amass these things,
- They were further warned that, if they rejected God as king and got a king "like the Gentiles", this would happen.
Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
(Isaiah 2:8)
Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
- Accumulating horses and riches leads to a lack of trust in their God, which means they leave Him for....idols
- With the blessings come the curses, because of forgetting the God of the blessing and focusing on the blessing.
- The blessings are from God, the curses are from their sin-idolatry
And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.
- The mean man.............AVERAGE
- The great man.............HIGH STATURE
- Idolatry is universal and is no respecter of persons; so is forgiveness, unforgiveness, sin and repentance
Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
- One cannot hide FROM the LORD, just their fear of Him is abated when we think we can hide from Him
- Just God's Glory and Majesty is fearful enough, for who He is alone
- The word fear means either worship, or just that-fear, and fear torments us, even if it is not a real threat, like God is
- Loving God prevents this; but only God's love is perfect
- God is called "the fear of Isaac"
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
(Psalms 34:11)
Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
(Genesis 31:42)
Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.
FEAR, n. [See the Verb.]
- A painful emotion or passion excited by an expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger. Fear expresses less apprehension than dread, and dread less than terror and fright. The force of this passion, beginning with the most moderate degree, may be thus expressed, fear, dread, terror, fright. Fear is accompanied with a desire to avoid or ward off the expected evil. Fear is an uneasiness of mind, upon the thought of future evil likely to befall us.
Fear is the passion of our nature which excites us to provide for our security, on the approach of evil. - Anxiety; solicitude.
The principal fear was for the holy temple. - The cause of fear.
Thy angel becomes a fear. - The object of fear.
Except the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me. Gen 31. - Something set or hung up to terrify wild animals, by its color or noise. Isa 24. Jer 48.
- In Scripture, fear is used to express a filial or a slavish passion. In good men, the fear of God is a holy awe or reverence of God and his laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading the subjects of it to hate and shun every thing that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience. This is filial fear. I will put my fear in their hearts. Jer 32. Slavish fear is the effect or consequence of guilt; it is the painful apprehension of merited punishment. Rom 8. The love of God casteth out fear. 1 John 4.
- The worship of God.
I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Psa 34. - The law and word of God.The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever. Psa 19.
- . Reverence; respect; due regard. Render to all their dues; fear to whom fear. Rom 13.
- 1. To feel a painful apprehension of some impending evil; to be afraid of; to consider or expect with emotions of alarm or solicitude. We fear the approach of an enemy or of a storm. We have reason to fear the punishment of our sins.
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Psa 23. - 2. To reverence; to have a reverential awe; to venerate. This do, and live: for I fear God. Gen 42.
- 3. To affright; to terrify; to drive away or prevent approach by fear, or by a scarecrow. [This See ms to be the primary meaning, but now obsolete.] We must not make a scarecrow of the law, setting it up to fear the birds of prey.
- But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Cor 11. Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Gen 15.
(Isaiah 2:11)
The 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.
- What is man compared to God?
- Man, in his arrogance, thinks so highly of himself, the creature, and forgets deliberately
- Who it is that made me?", he asks arrogantly implying he came from nothing by accident
WHAT IS MAN?
(Psalms 8:4)What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
(Hebrews 2:6)
But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
(Job 7:17)
What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
(Job 15:14)
What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
(Psalms 144:3)
LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!
- Man is nothing because of his possessions
(Ecclesiastes 6:11)
Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?
(Isaiah 2:12)
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:
- Since there are no exceptions to who is proud and lofty, it will be universal humbling
- The only way to not fall is to stay down so as to not have a place to fall from and to
And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
- God created the oaks and cedars for His Glory and to be used for that purpose
- The misuse of them means they also must be removed, as anything in the way of man seeing God must be
- These trees were groves, and the pride of the people, as today
THE CEDARS OF LEBANON: PRIDE
- Tall
- Traded
- Ship building
- Used by Solomon, et al, to build the temple
- Even today, they grow to a a height of 100 feet and the trunk may grow to up to 6 feet in diameter.
- They grow, unlike most cedars, at 4-6,00 feet elevations
The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
(Psalms 92:12)
The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
(Psalms 104:16)
The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
(Isaiah 14:8)
Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.
THE OAKS OF BASHAN
(Isaiah 2:13)And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
(Ezekiel 27:6)
Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim.
(Zechariah 11:2)
Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.
BASHAN
- This area is today the Golan heights, where Israel fought and won in 1967, taking it from Syria
- 17,000 Druze still live here
- Two things this area was always known for, even until; today: cows and oaks
Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.
(Joshua 20:8)
And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.
(1 Chronicles 6:71)
Unto the sons of Gershom were given out of the family of the half tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, and Ashtaroth with her suburbs:
Amos 4:1-3
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD. (Isaiah 2:14)
And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,
- Mountains and hills represent power in the Bible
- They are taken down together, allegorically and eventually literally, in judgment
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
(Amos 9:13)
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
(Isaiah 2:15)
And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,
- Towers provide observation and protection
- Trusting in something material like a tower is
GOD ALONE IS TO BE OUR HIGH TOWER
(2 Samuel 22:3)The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.
(Psalms 18:2)
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
(Psalms 144:2)
My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
(Isaiah 2:16)
And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
- A "ship of Tarshish" was also used as a nickname for a vessel, fleet or an armada capable of going a long distance, since Tarshish was remote.
- Ships of Tarshish seemed to always carry wealth and probably represented it.
- May also have referred to Carthage
- There is a Tarshish, Lebanon (village)
today - Tarshish was listed under Japeth as a descendant
- Jonah fled from God to there in a ship
TARSHISH THE MAN
(Genesis 10:4)And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
SHIPS OF TARSHISH
Solomon (2 Chronicles 9:21)For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
(1 Kings 22:48)
Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Eziongeber.
JONAH AND A SHIP OF TARSHISH
(Jonah 1:3)But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
(Jonah 4:2)
And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
GOD JUDGES THEM
(Psalms 48:7)Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.
(Isaiah 23:1)
The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
THE MILLENIUM
(Isaiah 60:9)Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
(Ezekiel 27:25)
The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
(Isaiah 2:17)
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.
- Height and pride seem to go together.
LOFTY
(Psalms 131:1)A Song of degrees of David. LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.
(Proverbs 30:13)
There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. (Isaiah 2:11)
The 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.
(Isaiah 2:12)
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:
(Isaiah 5:15)
And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
(Isaiah 26:5)
For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.
(Isaiah 57:7)
Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.
GOD ALONE IS TO BE THE HIGH AND LOFTY ONE
(Isaiah 57:15)For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
(Isaiah 2:18)
And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
- Destroyed, never to be allowed again..........finally
And 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.
- In the Tribulation, men will hide in the rocks and caves to hide from God
- It will be the most esteemed to the least, universal
- "to shake terribly the earth"............not going to be a really pretty thing for mankind.
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
(Isaiah 2:20)
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;
- Once mankind sees that his false gods can do nothing to save him from the REAL GOD, of what use are they?
- No amount of money, might, wit, stature will save anyone from God's wrath
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
(Isaiah 2:21)
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 ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
- In order to lighten the load and fit in those holes, they will leave the idols behind.
- God's Glory and Majesty and Presence is all that is needed
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
(Revelation 12:10)
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
(Isaiah 2:22)
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
- Put you trust and hope in no man, for he is dust, flesh, a cursed sinner
DUST
(Genesis 3:19)In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
FLESH
(Genesis 6:3)And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. (1 Peter 1:24)
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
CURSED
Genesis 3:16-17 (KJV)Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
SINNERS
(James 4:8)Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.