The lofty eyes of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.
Isaiah 2 opens with the mountain of the Lord's house lifted above the hills, and the nations streaming to it. The prophet then turns to the road that leads there. Verse 11 sets two things side by side: the proud look of man brought down, and one Name left standing high "in that day."
The verse does not stand alone. It answers what the prophet has just described. Wealth and worship had gone together in the worst way.
If their land was full of silver and gold, and endless treasures; if it was full of horses and chariots, it was also full of idols! What sin and shame! "So man is humbled, and each one is brought low—do not forgive them!" (v. 9), cries the angry prophet.
Some read this humbling as something already done — by ancient conquerors, or by the spread of the gospel. One writer denies both, and points to a reversal: God will bow down those who bow to idols.
Read this passage in a believing spirit, and any fair mind will be convinced. Neither Nebuchadnezzar nor Titus on one side, nor the gospel on the other, has anything to do with the Lord's coming to carry out the judgment of all mankind pictured here. The true God would break down those who bowed down to idols. The hand of the Highest would be on all that is high and lifted up. It will all come true when Christ appears, and not before.
Scripture speaks of a "day" belonging to man and a "day" belonging to the Lord. This passage is where the second one is first named, and the two are exact opposites.
"Man's Day" (1 Cor. 4:3, margin) is that long period of human pride and self-will. It began when sin entered the world, and God's judgment will end it at the revelation of Jesus Christ. During Man's Day God is nothing, and man is all. The Day of the Lord will reverse the conditions. Isaiah 2:10-22 is the first passage of Scripture that names that Day. It vividly describes the complete overthrow of everything man has boasted in, so that Jehovah alone may be exalted. Terror will fill men's minds when this happens. All human schemes and achievements will fall to pieces, never to be patched up again.
The list that follows in the chapter — cedars, towers, walls, ships — shows how wide the sweep is. Open wickedness is not the only thing that goes. Some hope that man's progress will carry straight over into the age to come. One writer answers that hope.
The list of things on which the day of the Lord will fall in judgment is very impressive. It is clear: it will make a clean sweep of all the things in which fallen man boasts, even things pleasant and artistic. Some have imagined that this day will accept and even expand what man's inventive skill has produced, as the way into the millennial age. Instead it will remove those things, along with the idols and the idol-worshipping ideas that gave them birth.
The bringing low is not the end of the story. It clears ground, and what follows matches the scale of the clearing.
It is the day of the Lord on all the pride of man, to bring it low. It is the day when every refuge of lies will be swept away, and every empty thought of his laid bare. He will completely abolish the idols. Yes, those who were their slaves will throw them to the moles and the bats. "And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day." Then the way is open for blessing, as wide as the judgment that has brought it in.
Every proud look will come down in the end. What differs is how: the bowing can be a terror or a joy.
Grace bows our hearts now, and with joy we confess His name! Judgment will in that day break the proud spirit of the enemy.
- Cause. A land full of silver, gold and horses was also full of idols. The pride that bows to what it made is what God will bow down.
- Contrast. Two days stand against each other. In man's day God is nothing and man is all; the Lord's day reverses that.
- Reach. The sweep takes in more than obvious evil. Even what is pleasant and artistic goes, along with the ideas that produced it.
- Timing. Past conquerors did not carry out this judgment, and neither has the gospel. It waits for the Lord's coming.
- Result. Blessing follows, as wide as the judgment that opened the way. One Name stands exalted alone.
For there shall be a day of Jehovah of hosts upon everything proud and lofty, and upon everything lifted up, and it shall be brought low;
The LORD of hosts has set a day. Its target is not one nation or one crime, but everything high in the world of men. Isaiah puts pride itself in the path of judgment. When does that day come, what falls, and what stands afterwards?
One writer sets this day against the whole stretch of history running now.
The solemn winding up of Man's Day, and the ushering in of the Day of the Lord. "Man's Day" is that long period of human pride and self-will which began when sin entered the world, and divine judgment will end it at the revelation of Jesus Christ. During Man's Day God is nothing, and man is everything. The Day of the Lord will reverse the conditions. Isaiah 2:10-22 is the first passage of Scripture that names that Day. It describes in vivid detail the complete overthrow of everything man has boasted in, so that Jehovah alone may be exalted.
The difference comes down to who holds the upper hand.
From these and similar passages, we learn that "the day of the Lord" carries the deeply solemn thought of judgment on the world — on apostate Israel — on man and his ways — on everything the human heart prizes and longs after… Man has the upper hand now, the Lord will have the upper hand then.
The verse does not single out violence or theft. It singles out height. One writer traces this back to what pride actually does with God's gifts.
It is man, whom God has exalted in Christ, in His own gracious and wonderful way, but who, on the other hand, by self-exaltation debases himself to his own ruin… "Man's day" is a day of human aggrandisement with what he has robbed from God, and of self-exaltation by the very things God's mercy has enriched him with. And therefore the day of the Lord must fall "against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up."
Some say ancient conquerors already fulfilled this chapter. Others say the spread of Christian preaching does. One writer rejects both.
You only need to read this passage in a believing spirit, and it will convince any fair mind. Neither Nebuchadnezzar nor Titus, nor the gospel, has anything to do with the Lord's coming to carry out the all-embracing judgment of man pictured here… All of it will come true when Christ appears, not before.
This day falls on more than proud people. It falls on everything they built to shut God out.
The day of the Lord will come upon everything that has served the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. It will come upon everything men have delighted in, so as to shut out God and exclude Christ from their hearts. It will come upon everything that has fed man's self-exaltation. That self-exaltation has marked him all along. It marks him more and more now, and it marks this day we live in to a frightening degree.
The verse ends with everything high brought low. That is not where it stops.
How good to know, in all that day of terror, that God is supreme above and within all the schemes of His enemies!… It is the day of the Lord upon all the pride of man, to bring it low. It is the day when every refuge of lies will be swept away and all the emptiness of his thoughts exposed. "The idols He shall utterly abolish." Yes, those who were their slaves will fling them to the moles and the bats. "And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." Then the way is prepared for blessing, as wide as the judgment that introduced it.
Pride is the target of that day. So the verse works as a mirror now, even on the effort to look humble.
Man delights in display. The testimony is simply to be lowly in heart. This is not natural to the mind. In trying to avoid display one may easily make an idol out of apparent humility. There is a humility of the flesh as well as a pride of the flesh, and both fall under the heading of pride. To work at appearing humble is to be proud… "The pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world." The world is passing away. So the pride of life must be passing too, because it is part of the world. It will meet its end in the day of the Lord.
- Man's day — the long stretch where man is everything and God counts for nothing. Isaiah 2 announces its close.
- Man's pride — the day is aimed at height itself: self-exaltation built out of the very gifts God gave.
- Man's props — it falls not only on proud people but on everything they delighted in to keep God out.
- Man's day still running — no past conqueror and no spread of preaching has ended it; it waits for Christ's appearing.
- God alone exalted — everything high comes down, and the Lord stands alone. Then blessing follows, as wide as the judgment that made room for it.