Isaiah 2:2–4

The meaning seems to be the supremacy that God will give, in the last days, to Mount Moriah. That mountain is the seat and centre of the worship of Jehovah, just as Zion was and will be the seat of royalty, given in the grace of God after man's king had failed. When the mountain of Jehovah's house is lifted above all rivals, great or small, all nations will flow to it. For the city of the great king — the earthly Jerusalem under the Messiah and the New Covenant — is the appointed capital of the world during the millennium. The New Jerusalem of John is another and higher thing, and this passage does not refer to it. What is predicted stands in contrast with what is going on now. Now the house is left desolate, Jerusalem is trampled down by the nations, and nation rises against nation.

The familiar term "the last days" is found in both the Old and New Testaments, but it does not always point to the same time. In 2 Timothy 3:1 we read, "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty." Read on in that passage, and you find many of the features we see around us today. This confirms that the "last days" of 2 Timothy 3:1 are the closing days of the history of the church, just before the rapture. But when the Old Testament uses this expression, it points to the period after the removal of the church.

No doubt we have all often heard this passage quoted at missionary meetings and on other such occasions, quoted in connection with the spread of the gospel. Missions and the spread of the gospel may be very important, and God forbid that I should undervalue them for a moment. But they are not the subject of the passage before us, and they are not connected with its subject in any way… Judah and Jerusalem are the subject, not the Church and its missions. "Out of Zion," not out of the Church, "shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD," not from Britain, but "from Jerusalem."

Some might think that the law goes out of Zion by the gospel. But the gospel does not work by carrying out judgment on the nations, as it is here. God will deal with the nations by public judgment and righteousness on earth. The subject here is not the church but the Lord, and this has clearly never happened yet.

Rivers flow down; that is their natural course. But the peoples will flow up, around the sanctuary of Jehovah — then indeed a house of prayer for all. The change will be supernatural everywhere. Heaven and earth will gladly bear witness to the glory and the power of Jehovah… That day will proclaim the Lord. It will sweep away everything man takes pride in. It will prove that, though man may have done his best, the time has come for God to show a greatness no one can dispute.

The first thing is that the house of Jehovah will be established and exalted. This is always the way, and it must be. God must have His rightful place, and from that place blessing will flow out to men.

What ends the strife and wars that have ruined the earth for so many ages? Not the slow, gradual spread of peaceful principles. It is God stepping in with judgment at the coming of the Lord… Does the Spirit say, "Make every effort — put out all your energy — work with all your might to fill society with principles that will bring in the golden age of peace and harmony"? No, my friends, it is this: "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"

It is a great mistake to think that Isaiah 2:2-4 is yet accomplished.

Some might think that the law goes out of Zion through the gospel. But the gospel does not work by carrying out judgment on the nations, as this passage does. God will deal with the nations by public judgment and righteousness on earth (vv. 1-4). The passage speaks of the Lord, not of the church, and this has clearly never happened yet.

The prophet does not say that the gospel goes out of Zion, as it does now, but that the law shall go out of Zion. It is not the Father's word, which we know, but Jehovah's word from Jerusalem. Even those who turn the passage into a symbol are not bold enough to deny that Jerusalem here means the real Jerusalem. Yet they drop that at once and slip in the gospel and the church... It is "the kingdom"; and the Great King will judge among the nations, and will rebuke many peoples.

Zion was not the place of the temple. It was the place of royalty — but first of all, the place of grace. It was where God was linked, in grace, with the earth before the temple was built, and where David had prepared a place for the ark. It stands in contrast with Sinai, the place of law for the earth. And from Zion, too, the law was to go out in grace, from the city of the great King.

They need no force then, no incentives, and no rivalry. They have seen Jehovah's hand lifted up; they have seen His arm laid bare. His judgments have been in the earth, and the people of the world are now learning righteousness.

In this honoured woman from outside Israel we have a sample, or picture, of the nations later on. She lived in the days of Solomon, the son of David — the days of a glory that was only a picture. She went up to Jerusalem, looking for the wisdom that was in the Lord's anointed one. In the same way, in the age of the real glory, the thousand-year reign of the true Solomon, the nations will wait in that same city, with the same desire and purpose of heart.

The "He" who reigns like this is Jehovah. But having become man, He is also the Messiah, the Son of Man, given universal rights.

Missions and the spread of the gospel may be very important, and God forbid that I should undervalue them for a moment. But they are not the subject of the passage before us, and they are not connected with its subject in any way... "Out of Zion," not out of the Church, "shall go forth the law: and the word of the Lord," not from Britain, but "from Jerusalem." ... Ours is a far higher calling — a heavenly one; a calling above earthly things and earthly scenes altogether.

The "He" who reigns like this is Jehovah. But having become man, He is also the Messiah, and the Son of man, with universal rights given to Him.

His wisdom will settle every problem and put every wrong right. The groaning creation will reach the end of its pain and will rejoice in the power and presence of Emmanuel.

It is a great mistake to think that Isaiah 2:2-4 has already been fulfilled.

However important missions and the spread of the gospel may be — and God forbid that I should undervalue them for a moment — they are not the subject of this passage, and they are not connected with it in any way. This passage records "the word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem." Judah and Jerusalem are the subject, not the Church and its missions. "Out of Zion," not out of the Church, "shall go forth the law: and the word of the Lord," not from Britain, but "from Jerusalem."

Wars have laid the earth waste for age after age. What puts an end to them, and brings in the time of universal peace, is not the slow and gradual progress of peaceful principles. It is God solemnly stepping in with judgment at the coming of the Lord. And what lesson does the Holy Spirit draw from all this? Is it, "Make every effort — put out all your energy — work with all your might to fill society with principles that will bring in the golden age of universal agreement, harmony and peace"? No, it is this: "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

This, according to the Bible, is the reign of peace — then, and not before. Meanwhile all the efforts of peace societies are at best a pleasant illusion, at worst an unbelieving confidence in man, and always ignorance of God's word… Wars certainly have their roots in the passions and lusts of man. To escape the bad fruit you must first make the tree good. But the day of the Lord will deal with man in righteousness and power, and peace will follow according to His mind and glory.

Riots, bloodshed, turmoil, strife and crime continue in the world to this day, despite all its boasted progress. The reason is that men reject the rightful King. They will not own the Prince of Peace. They will not have Jesus as Lord.

Nations will some day no longer turn, as they do now, their plowshares into swords, but change their swords into plowshares. Righteousness and peace will surely kiss each other and creation's curse and travail pains will end.

That age of peace will be an age of farming. Men will go back to the land, and God's original purpose for man on the earth will come into effect (Genesis 2:15). The forge and the anvil will no longer groan and ring out the death of millions. They will ring out their gladness along with the songs of the field and vineyard.

As for the nations, we cannot escape the sorrow and strife they are caught up in, though in spirit we may be apart from it. But God has set us in His field (1 Corinthians 3), which is His assembly. We are not there to use the sword and spear of party strife, but the ploughshare and the pruning hook, as workers together with God in His garden.