So our Bible reading, Isaiah
chapter 2 and reading from verse 1. 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. 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. and 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. O house of Jacob, come ye and
let us walk in the light of the Lord, 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 and 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. Their land also is
full of idols, they worship the work of their own hands, that
which their own fingers have made. And the mean man boweth
down, and the great man humbleth himself, therefore forgive them
not. Enter into the rock, and hide
thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of
his majesty. The lofty looks of a man shall
be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 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.
And the idols he shall utterly abolish, 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 that day a man shall cast his
idols of silver and his idols of gold which they have each
one for himself which they have 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 ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Cease ye from man
whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted
of. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Sometimes when we are reading
the Gospel of Matthew, we say that it was written especially
with a Jewish audience or a Jewish readership. in view. And one
of the reasons for this is the frequent references that we find
in the book of Matthew to the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies. The little phrase, and I'm sure
you're familiar with it, the little phrase that it might be
fulfilled is used nine times in scripture and all of them
occur in the book of Matthew. So that indeed Matthew often
specifically says that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by Isaiah or Isaiah the prophet. The significance of that is that
these prophecies that we are reading about last week and this
week and perhaps in the weeks ahead, these prophecies from
Isaiah and the other prophets were held and rightly so by the
Jews to refer to the times of the Messiah, the times of the
coming of Christ. When the Old Testament Jews,
or when the Jews at the time of Christ read the Old Testament
scriptures, they were looking with an anticipation and expectation
for the coming of the Messiah. The one who had been spoken of
who would bruise the serpent's head. The one of whom Moses had
spoken when he said, a prophet will be raised up out of your
own brethren like unto me. To him you will listen. And then as the prophets unfolded,
the way in which this one would come and the way in which he
would be seen and understood, where he would be born, what
he would accomplish, how his kingdom would be established,
whose son he would be, of the line of David, all of these things
started to coalesce around the time of the coming of Christ
and there was an increased anticipation that the days of the Messiah
would soon appear. So that when Matthew says this
is the fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy, he is telling the Jews
that the one that they were looking for was now amongst them. Matthew was showing the Jews
that the promises of God in the Old Testament and the prophecies
that they were looking for were now being fulfilled right before
their eyes. These days were the days that
Isaiah had spoken of. Jesus was the Messiah that the
Jews were waiting for. So that when Isaiah begins this
chapter, chapter two, with, it shall come to pass in the last
days, he is speaking about what is going to happen some 700 years
hence when the Messiah would be revealed, when the Lord Jesus
Christ would come into his ministry. So Isaiah is speaking about the
last days as the time of the coming of Christ. He calls the
time of Christ, or the gospel age, the last days. And the writer to the Hebrews,
who of course was writing to Hebrews or Jews, in the same
sense that Matthew specifically was, and for the same purpose,
to demonstrate that Jesus was the Christ, he says at the beginning
of the letter to the Hebrews, God who at sundry times and in
divers manners spoke in time past unto the father by the prophet,
that is to Isaiah and we've already thought about Jeremiah and we've
thought about Moses and David. So the Lord spoke in times past
to the fathers by the prophets. Hath, says the writer to the
Hebrews, in these last days spoken unto us by his son. So that just
as Isaiah was looking forward seven centuries to the last days,
the writer to the Hebrews tells us that when he wrote his letter
speaking about the coming of Christ, these were the last days. So that the last days in scripture
are the days from the first coming of Christ until his second coming. My point in saying all this is
to show that just as Christ came in the last days, we are still
living in these last days. We are continuing to live in
the last days. So that just as Matthew says
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet,
we may also say the very same when we come to reflect upon
these prophecies. What Isaiah prophesies in this
chapter is still being fulfilled today. We can look at these prophetic
passages and apply them to our own time and understand them
in the context of what we see going on around about us today. These things are still being
fulfilled now. Some people tell us that we are
living in the last days of the last days and they may well be
right. Either way, prophetically speaking,
as far as the Word of God is concerned, these are the last
days. Now just a little bit of context
here. we remind ourselves that Isaiah
lived during perilous times. We read in the beginning of the
chapter last week about the kings or the reigns through which Isaiah
lived. And we know from reading in the
Book of Chronicles and the Book of Kings that these were perilous,
these were dangerous times. Throughout the life of Isaiah,
the Assyrian Empire was a constant threat to the land of Israel
and Judah. And the king that was called
Sennacherib led powerful armies on several different occasions
into Palestine, laying waste to much of the country. King
Hezekiah was reduced to despair during one of these sorties by
Sennacherib and he submitted his land to the Assyrians, paying
big bribes and paying bounty to the king. Actually, later
Hezekiah tried to ally himself, tried to ally Judah with Egypt
and that brought on a second Assyrian invasion. and it appeared
as though the whole nation of Judah was about to be completely
destroyed and completely wiped out. The Assyrians laid waste
to the towns and the cities and the villages, destroyed all the
crops, ate up all the good of the land and besieged the city
of Jerusalem. What would become of the promises
that God had given to Moses and to the other prophets, to David,
concerning the Messiah that would come from the land of Judah if
the Assyrians destroyed the people completely. What would become
of the bruising of the serpent's head? What would become of this
one who would be raised up, a prophet like Moses? You see, as the people,
and remember, we're talking about the elect people of God amongst
the Jews, that remnant people that were always preserved, always
kept. We spoke about the remnant that
the Lord kept, even amongst the land of Israel, those who did
not bow the knee to the idols and perform the idolatry of the
age. These people held these promises
to be sure, just like Simeon in the times of Christ. There
was a people who were preserved and looked forward to the coming
of Christ. But if the nation were destroyed,
what would happen to these promises? And this is what was concerning
the elect of God. And here we see the kindness
of God, the goodness of God in sending Isaiah with a prophecy
that was designed to comfort and reassure the Lord's elect. Indeed we find that that is a
verse which resonates throughout the prophecy of Isaiah. In Isaiah
chapter 40 verse 1 we read these words, And even although we encounter,
as we do in chapter 2, the end of it, periods and times when God's
judgment comes upon, when God will cause the earth to tremble
and he will cast down the idols and the idol worshippers. There
was always this desire on the part of God to comfort his people
through the challenges and the doubts and the anxieties as they
saw the events and providences of their times unfolding around
about them. What if the Lord doesn't come? What if the promises aren't fulfilled? So Isaiah is sent to comfort
the Lord's people. And we might well wonder that
Isaiah could say, with what shall I comfort these people? What
can I say to comfort them when they see Sennacherib coming with
his tens and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and consuming the
land and destroying the cities and slaying the people? What
words could possibly comfort the elect of God amongst the
Jews at a time like this? And here the Lord gives Isaiah
a word to speak to the comfort of his people. The Lord says,
here is a vision. It is a vision about Judah and
Jerusalem. It is a vision for the elect
people amongst, the elect of God amongst the people. And the
Lord is saying to Isaiah, tell them that my word, my promises
will not fail. So he says in verse 2, it shall
come to pass in the last days, in the days of the Messiah, in
the days following the revelation of the Messiah, that the mountain
of the Lord the Lord's house shall be established in the top
of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills. So here was the word of comfort
given by God to Isaiah, by Isaiah to the elect amongst the people. And we may view the spiritual
people of God amongst the Jews as recognizing the words of Isaiah
and meditating upon them and considering them as the very
word and promise of the Lord because their faith enjoyed the
promises of God and they were comforted by the word of God. So I want to take these few verses
specifically at the beginning of this chapter and I want to
just quickly draw five brief lessons from them that we also
might apply as the people of God have always done the comfort
of the Lord from the words that are spoken to the elect through
the prophet Isaiah. And here's the first one from
this little passage at the beginning of chapter two. That there would
be, at the time of Christ, in the last days, a glorious kingdom
established. Christ's kingdom will be established,
says Isaiah, as a mountain in the mountains. a mountain in
the mountains. Well, what does that mean? Isaiah
is emphasising the certainty of Christ's kingdom. He's telling
the Jews, don't be afraid. You see Sennacherib coming? don't
fret and worry. You see the Assyrians and their
vast hordes, don't be concerned. Christ's kingdom that you so
fear for will be established and it will be the greatest kingdom
ever. It will be a mountain above mountains. A kingdom to endure forever. A rule and a reign by a king
whose dominion is over the whole world. Isaiah is here speaking
about the kingdom of God. He is speaking about the kingship
of Christ. He's speaking about the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the kingdom that is established
as a mountain in the mountains. The church, the spiritual people
of God, you and me who are believers are citizens in the kingdom of
God and subjects of Christ the King. As Isaiah looked from a
long way off, he saw the strength and the energy of the Lord Jesus
Christ's work. He saw the redemption of the
saints. He saw the gathering in of God's
people. He saw the establishment of the
church, the union of the people of God with their Saviour. He saw the redeemed of all nations
flowing into Zion. and the elevation of Christ and
his kingdom above all of the kingdoms of this world. He saw
it established in the top of the mountains and exalted above
the hills, showing that Christ's kingdom was superior, enduring,
dominant over the little kingdoms of this world. that like the
Assyrians, or the Babylonians after them, or the Romans, or
the British, or the Americans, or the Russians, or the Chinese,
or any of the world powers that have risen ever since, or might
still arise in the days ahead. Christ's kingdom is dominant
over them all. Isaiah is telling the people
of his day, God has not forgotten his promise, nor is he slow to
accomplish his will. It's all in hand and it's all
in hand for the last days when the Lord Jesus Christ will come,
when the Lord Jesus Christ will redeem his people and Christ's
glorious kingdom will be established. for those who have eyes to see
and to understand these spiritual things by faith. So here's the
first point then that Isaiah is stressing, that the kingdom
of Christ will be established as a mountain in the mountains,
above all the other mountains. Here's the second thing he says,
Those people that the kingdom is populated by will flow into
that kingdom from all the nations of the earth. Point two is, let
us go up. Isaiah says, all nations shall
flow into that kingdom. This is a promise, this is a
prophecy that he is given 700 years before the time of Christ
and it is the promise of the gathering of God's elect out
of the Gentile nations. in the gospel age. What an encouragement
that must have been to the remnant people of Isaiah's day who saw
Sennacherib with his Assyrian hordes all around Jerusalem,
who thought that the nation was coming to an end and the promises
of God were going to be in vain. And Isaiah says, no, the nations
of the world will come into that kingdom. All nations shall flow
into it. Isaiah is saying, when Christ
comes to establish his kingdom, it will not merely be Jews, but
all nations who will be gathered to him. Not every single person
from every single nation, but the people of God, the elect
of God, the redeemed of the Lord, the remnant of the Lord. So that
when John is speaking of the gospel being carried to the ends
of the earth by preachers, he likens those preachers to angels. And he says, I saw another angel
fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach
unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred
and tongue and people. And when John sees the people
of the nations who gather into the kingdom of Christ, he tells
us, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy, for
thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation. This is out
of all nations that the people of the world will go up to the
kingdom of Christ. Now I want to make this personal
to you and me and I want to make it right up to date to us. Because
remember what we said about the last days. When Isaiah speaks
about the last days, when the writer of the Hebrews speaks
about the last days, it's now they're speaking about the time
of Christ come first to the time of Christ come second. These are the last days. This
is the gospel age in which we now live. And so Isaiah and John
are speaking about us. Isaiah is speaking about all
who worship the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth, who trust
in him, who trust in the blood of Jesus Christ that he shed
upon the cross, so that when Isaiah writes, and many people
shall go and say, come ye and let us go up to the mount of
the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, he is speaking
of all who hear the gospel, who believe that gospel, who believe
it to be true, and who through gospel and faith in Christ go
to him in repentance from all the nations of the world. And
hear what they say. They say, let us go up. Notice the people of God long
to go into the kingdom of Christ in company. They like to go with
someone else. not just because we enjoy the
fellowship or we enjoy the company but because we have learned that
in Christ there is a sufficient grace for all who will go to
him, for all who are made willing in the day of God's power and
God's grace to come to Christ and with us to join us in that
union with Christ, in the family and in the kingdom of God. The
Lord's people, they say, let us go up to worship the Lord. Let us go up to learn of Him.
Let us go up because we have a liberal, evangelistic spirit
and we want others to find what we have found. Come, we say to
our friends. Come, we say to our family. Come with us. Come ye and let
us go up to the Mount of the Lord, to the house of the God
of Jacob. Psalm 42 says, I went with them
to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise. That's a lovely thing to think
about. I went with them. We gather together
to worship the Lord. What are we doing? We are entering
into his presence. We are in the kingdom of Christ,
the kingdom of God. We are in that mountain that
has been established above the kingdoms of this world. Friend,
come with us. Let us go up together. Come thou
with us, and we will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken
good concerning Israel. These were the words of Moses
to his father-in-law, but we reiterate them. We say, come
with us, and we will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken
good concerning his people. Here's the third thing, five
I've got, so here's number three. We're told Isaiah tells the people
of his age that in those last days, those that go up out of
all nations to the kingdom of Christ go to be taught of the
Lord. This is another boost that Isaiah
gives to the people of his age. He tells them that when the Gentiles
go up to the house of the Lord, when they go out of all nations,
it is a journey that is inspired by a desire to be taught. We go to be taught the wonderful
things of God's love and God's grace and mercy and truth in
Jesus Christ. That's what we're doing here
today. We are coming to be taught of
the Lord. We want to learn more and more
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and
lead me in a plain path. because of mine enemies. Teach
me thy way, O Lord, I will walk in thy truth, unite my heart
to fear thy name. Teach me, O Lord, the way of
thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. One characteristic,
one distinctive of the Lord's true people is a desire after
spiritual knowledge, is a longing after divine wisdom. We long to know the truth as
it is in Christ. And I hope we come here. I hope we come to our services
each day to worship with a desire after more truth, deeper insights,
greater understanding. Oh, I confess my own limitations,
brothers and sisters. I wish I knew more. I wish I
could teach you more. But we come above all trusting
that Christ himself will teach us, that Christ himself will
send his Holy Spirit. May we never, as Gadsby said
in his hymn, may we never simply look for a form of religion,
but may we always seek the power in our faith to worship God in
spirit and in truth. May he send his Holy Spirit to
lead us into that truth. May he teach us all things concerning
himself. And here's something for us to
mull over. What we do not learn this side of heaven, of the love
and the grace and the goodness of our God, we will spend eternal
ages contemplating and considering and celebrating in the endless
infinity of glory in heaven. Here's the fourth thing. Isaiah
sees the church in those last days walking in the paths of
righteousness, following our Saviour's footsteps. This was
the divinely inspired vision that God gave to Isaiah of the
last days, of our days, the days in which we are now living. God
says that his people will come to his kingdom, they will call
on their friends and their neighbours to come with them out of all
the nations of the world. They will come with a desire
to be taught of the Lord and they will walk in the paths of
righteousness. This is God giving Isaiah a vision
of his elect people. You who trust in him and me We
walk in Christ's paths. We walk after him who is our
good shepherd. Speaking thus of the Gentiles
and the all nations, the Lord says in John chapter 10, verse
16, other sheep I have which are not of this fold, not of
the fold of the Jews, them also I must bring. and they shall
hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. My sheep hear my voice, I know
them and they follow me. We must not be discouraged in
our own day and just as Isaiah spoke to a discouraged people
700 years before the coming of Christ, so we are to be encouraged
because here In this very activity upon which we are engaged today
is the evidence of the fulfilment of the promises of God. My sheep
hear my voice, I know them and they follow me. We walk in the
paths of our Saviour. Christ will teach us. He will
teach us his gospel and we will follow in his way. We will walk
in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the
word of the Lord from Jerusalem. This isn't the law of Moses that's
being talked about. That went out from Sinai. But the law of Christ, the gospel
of grace and truth, whereby our souls are made alive, and our
spirits are quickened and united to Christ's spirit, and his law
is written in our heart, and we walk after his ways, and we
live according to his pattern. We could spend a long time on
each of these points. but we move on finally to our
fifth one. Isaiah speaks of swords being
turned to plowshares. This surely would be a comfort
to the elect in his own day. The elect of Old Testament Judah
and Jerusalem, who were surrounded by their enemies, armies trying
to starve them into submission. What a world it would be if men
studied agriculture instead of war. But sin and greed and lust
and covetousness that we've been hearing about rest deep in men's
hearts and souls. Only a powerful conversion can
change a hard stony heart and bring peace to a soul blinded
and enraged with sin. But there is such a peace. There
is a peace that is instilled in the hearts of those who are
reconciled to God. A peace in the hearts of those
who are dedicated to His service. A peace that exists in the lives
of those who come from all nations into the Kingdom of Christ, who
go seeking Christ, to be taught of Christ and to walk in His
ways. We who serve now in the kingdom of our saviour. We don't fight with the weapons
of this world, but rather we turn, as it were, the weapons
that we once employed to destroy our own souls into tools that
are used for the benefit and the blessing of our fellow men
and our fellow believers. Why is that? Because we've got
new desires. We've got new motivation. The old things have passed away. We minister to one another with
the gifts and graces that are designed no longer to slay and
slaughter, but to build and to bless and to nurture those around. with the gospel of truth and
with spiritual life and insight and understanding. That's why
we're preaching this gospel. That's why we're sharing together
in these holy heavenly truths. Swords into plowshares, spears
into pruning hooks. It is such a beautiful image
of believers laying down their weapons of war and taking up
a message of hope in the service of the King of Peace and for
the good of our fellow man. Isaiah foresaw a time when peace
would reign in the lives of God's people and when the Lord himself
would silence our enemies and suppress the oppressors and bind
the power of Satan. In the end of this chapter Isaiah
speaks of God rising to shake terribly the earth and to humble
his enemies under the title the day of the Lord of hosts. Like the Old Testament people
You and I, in our own day, in these last days, are tempted
to be discouraged and depressed at the rife wickedness that we
see in this world around about us. But may we not see this evil
as God visiting judgment upon his enemies, rather than the
kingdom of Christ being attacked. and us fearing for its well-being. This was what the Old Testament
Jews feared. They were fearing for the well-being
of the promises of God. So many years before the coming
of the Messiah. Are we to have that same fear,
having seen Messiah come and the kingdom being established
and the nations being called into the family of God and the
remnant being taught of the Lord and following in his footsteps.
Every time a sinner is saved, every time a believer is discovered,
every time a brand is plucked from the fire and one of God's
elect is revealed through the preaching of the Gospel, a victory
is won and Christ's Kingdom is further established and exalted. Isaiah comforted God's people
by delivering this prophecy. We have lived to see it fulfilled
in the Church of Jesus Christ. Isaiah comforted the people of
his day and we ought to be comforted and encouraged in it too. May
the Lord bless these thoughts to us and comfort and encourage
our hearts as we see his kingdom established. Amen.