ISRAEL IN THE LAST DAYS
(Lesson 3)
TEXT: ISAIAH 2:1-5
INTRODUCTION:
1. We saw back in Isaiah 1:1 that Isaiah’s ministry concerned Judah (the
southern kingdom) and Jerusalem “in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and
Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”
2. Isaiah wrote about the deliverance of Judah from the Assyrian invasion,
and the Babylonian captivity.
3. We also saw that Isaiah’s prophecies often looked beyond his day – all
the way down through the corridors of time to the second coming of
Christ.
4. Isaiah’s name means, “Salvation of the LORD” and salvation is the theme
of his book (cf. 1:16; 53:4-6).
5. Another great theme in the book of Isaiah is the restoration of Israel
“in the last days” (2:2).
6. Isaiah looked ahead to the time when God’s righteous kingdom would be
established and people from all over the world would come to Jerusalem to
worship the true God of the Bible (not Allah).
7. Isaiah chapters 2—5 form Isaiah’s second message.
I. THE LAST DAYS OF ISRAEL (2:1,
2).
1. In continuation of what was said in Isaiah 1:25-27, Isaiah declares that
Israel will one day be restored and exalted.
2. These events shall come to pass “in the last days” (2:2). The last days
of Israel should be distinguished from the last days of the church. Isaiah 2:1 says, “Judah and Jerusalem.”
You do not find the church in Isaiah’s prophecies.
3. The NT refers to the church as a “mystery,” i.e., something not taught in
the OT.
4. Our Lord said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church; and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
5. Some Bible teachers “spiritualize” Scripture, and they confound Israel
with the church, but this is not the proper way to interpret the
Bible.
6. The RCC taught that they were the true Israel. Then later on, the Reformers continued
with the confusion. John Calvin wrote these words about our text, “This concerns
a scene of the restoration of God’s church.” Calvin’s interpretation contradicts
Isaiah 2:1.
7. In this dispensation – “the age of grace” – God is working through the
local church. But some day – maybe
very soon – God is going to remove the church at the rapture.
8. Isaiah’s prophecy here in chapter 2 (and there are many throughout the
book of Isaiah) looks beyond the church days to the last days of Israel.
II. ISAIAH’S PROPHECY CONCERNS ALL NATIONS (2:2b,
3).
1. The “the LORD’S house” is the temple in Jerusalem. Have you ever wondered why there
is so much turmoil in Israel? Why
is this little country such a hot spot?
Why is it such a valuable piece of real estate?
2. Why do the Arabs and Muslims hate Israel so
much?
3. Israel is the most important country in the world because it is the very
spot God has chosen to be the political and religious center of the world
during the millennial kingdom (cf. Micah 4:1-5; Zech. 14:16,
17).
4. The Lord Jesus Christ will sit upon the throne of David (Isa. 9:6,
7).
5. “Many people” (2:3) will flood into Jerusalem to learn about the true God
of the Bible. Contrast that with the chaos, confusion, and unbelief we are
witnessing today.
6. The pope apologizes to the Muslims and they want to cut his head
off. Very few people really want to learn the
Word of God.
III. THERE WILL ONLY BE PEACE WHEN THE PRINCE OF PEACE
RETURNS (2:4, 5).
1. There will never be peace on earth under human governments (cf. Psalm
2). We were reminded of this sad
fact just this past week. Our
president went to the UN and explained what the US is trying to accomplish in
the war against the terrorists.
2. The very next day, Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, went to the
UN and ridiculed President Bush.
3. I am old enough to remember when Nikita Krushchev, the Soviet premier, went to
the UN, took off his shoe, banged his shoe on the desk, and boasted, “We will
bury you!”
4. Communists, dictators, and terrorists will come and go, and there will be
no peace till our Lord returns. He
said we can expect, “wars and rumors of war” (Matthew 24:6).
5. But when our Lord returns, for the first time in the history of the human
race, all the nations in the world will dwell together in
peace.
6. Before the Lord returns to establish His kingdom there will be seven
years of terrible tribulation, culminating at the battle of Armageddon (cf. Joel
3:9, 10).
7. So the message during the tribulation will be: “Beat your plowshares into
swords, and your pruninghooks into spears” (Joel 3:10).
8. But when Christ returns and is sitting upon His throne, the message will
be: “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruninghooks” (Isa. 2:4; Micah 4:3).
THE EXACT OPPOSITE. {Isaiah
& Micah were contemporaries.}
9. Interestingly, back in 1959, the communist Soviet Union donated a statue
to the United Nations in NYC. The
statue is still there. It is bronze
statue of a man with a hammer beating
his sword into a plowshare, symbolizing man’s futile effort to bring in peace
without God.
10. Atheist, communist Russia was
responsible for wars all over the world and the death of millions of
people. And yet they sent
this ridiculous statue to the UN.
11. The UN is responsible for wars
all over the world and they proudly display this statue outside their
headquarters in NYC.
12. We are not ready for
the fulfillment of Isaiah 2:4 because Joel 3:9, 10 must come first. And before the tribulation will be the
rapture.
13. Soon the world will
have their desired leader. The
Bible identifies him as the antichrist. Daniel 8:25 says that “by peace”
he shall destroy many.
14. First Thessalonians 5:3
says, “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not
escape.”
15. But when Christ
returns, there will be genuine peace.
There will be no more nuclear threat from North Korea or China or Iran.
There will be no more military science or
military academies, because “neither shall they learn war any more” (Isa. 2:4b).
CONCLUSION:
1. Isaiah 2:5 refers to Israel – “O House of Jacob” – but certainly
applies to all of us. We are
to walk in the light of the LORD.
2. Ephesians 5:8 says we are to “walk as children of
light.”
3. First John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin.”
4. Psalm 89:15 says, “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they
shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.”
5. Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
life.”
6. And he said in John 12:35, “et a little while is the light with you. Walk
while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in
darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.”
