Chapters like these are why I want to study Isaiah. And chapters like these are why I haven’t. Isaiah opens with what he says is a vision of Judah and Jerusalem, it’s capitol city. Then there are 3 parts.
1) Vision of the the last days (2-5)
2) Call to repentance from the evil Judah has done (v. 5-9)
3) Judgment (v. 11-22).
The problem is in how to understand these texts. So much of it is based off your millennial perspective.
1) Vision of the Last Days
Verse 2 opens with this:
“In the last days…” (v. 2) and the continues to describe how all peoples will come to the mountain of the Lord to learn His ways. Next it is this (v. 4):
He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
The “He” here is the Lord or the Messiah depending on how you read it. Some take this section to mean the time of the Messiah and the church age. Others take it to mean a time when Jesus will come during the millennium to reign and rule.
2) Call to repentance from the evil Judah has done (v. 5-9)
The next is a little more straight forward. Judah is being called to repent and return to the ways of the LORD, the ways they have abandon. It is then detailed the crimes that have brought and will bring about judgment–their idolatry, their divination and more.
3) Judgment (v. 11-22)
This again is a long text of how the successes and glories of man will come to nothing when God comes to humble them. It says man will flee from the terror of the Lord, hiding in mountains and caves to hide from him.
Again, how this is interpreted depends on a person’s millennial view. Is this God’s great judgment? Is it a judgment just against the Jewish people of the time? Is it the tribulation?
How do we understand this? Here are some key verses:
- “last days” which in the NT is the time of the Messiah
- We do not yet see how there is peace where nations have stopped warring and no longer have need to train for war (Is 2:4)
- There is a “day” that is addressed. “The LORD alone will be exalted on that day” (v. 11). “For a day belonging to the LORD of HOSTS is coming” (v. 12).
So is this the Messiah?
Or is this a time when, Jesus as some believe, when he will literally and actually reign on the earth for 1000 years?
More to come.
