Reflection on Isaiah 2

Here we see Isaiah prophesying about something that even we are still waiting for; the reign of Christ, when God will restore righteous rule to the world. We see where the HQ will be, “The Mountain of the Lord” in the city of peace, “Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3). Isaiah’s people will see the fulfillment of the promise that God made specifically to them, but so will every nation to which Christ has grafted into Israel.

The first time Christ presented himself to the Jews they rejected him. They said, “We have no king but Cesar!” (John 9:15). Yet God promised David that his Son would rule on his throne forever, and Jesus is that Son of David, so we await the day when he finally returns to take that throne in the city of peace.

While Isaiah wrote these words, Judah was in such a negative spiritual condition that he said that God had forsaken them. In Isaiah 2:6 in Hebrew we find the words “mala qedem” which mean “filled with ways of the East.” So we see the reason God had forsaken Judah was because they adopted the idolatry of the Philistine nation that was east of them. In a sense we can understand that God did not truly leave Judah, it was Judah who left God.

How have you brought God into your home while church doors are closed?

Judah was practicing idolatry, and it angered Isaiah. We see that he cries out to God, “Do not forgive them!” (Isaiah 2:9). And from verse 10-22, Isaiah brings a message from God of judgement to Judah. This was not about the devastation that Judah would soon experience as we will read about later, but it was of the final judgement. He says,”Go into the rocks and hide from his majestic splendor.” And again he says in verse 19, “Enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.” And again in verse 21, “to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts in the crags, from the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.”

What a unique position we find ourselves in as we approach this prophecy, hiding away from the coronavirus. It is a devastating time, but don’t be mistaken, the current pandemic is not God’s final judgement. It is a time for us to examine our own spiritual condition and to repent. 

+How do we know this is not God’s Final Judgment?

This is not the final judgement because social distancing cannot save us in that day, neither will there be any need for essential workers because God will be at work judging the earth. But while we have been given more time as an extension of God’s mercy toward us, what idols in our lives can use this time to destroy today?

During this pandemic, how have you taken intentional steps to remove unwanted things or behaviors from your way of living or thinking?

An idol (pesel) is a man made image that stands in the place of God in that it is worshiped and given credit for blessings. Judah knew that worshipping idols was wrong according to the law of Moses, but they probably thought that their prosperity was the fruit of their idolatry. They acquired a great amount of gold and silver, and rather than give thanks to God for it, they instead worshiped the actual silver and gold itself. They molded images out of their possessions and worshipped the creation rather than the creator.

When have you been blessed and found yourself delighting more in the blessing than you did the blesser?

Many people who have not contracted the coronavirus live in perpetual fear that they might, without pausing to give God praise for the protection that covers them. Yet God’s hand is also at work in the fact that in the 3,199,277 cases globally 992,959 people have recovered. This means that though we have never seen this much death at one time (226,790 people globally), neither have we ever seen 992,959 people healed from any sickness at one time. 

Have you ever seen God’s healing power? Record those moments and talk about them often during this season as a way to encourage yourself during this pandemic.

This is a time of great morning indeed, but it should also be a time of great praise! We should take our sorrows and our need for comfort from so much loss to God with tears, but we should also give God thanks with tears of joy, for he has shown us a shadow of his power in that close to 1,000,000 people have been healed in just a few weeks. God is still in the healing and protecting business, and more and more people are recovering and being left untouched by the coronavirus each day.

But even as we praise God for his healing and protection, let us not forget that God deserves all the praise. Let us not make idols of our leaders who are working diligently to combat COVID19. Neither let us allow our grief and misery to become an idol by forgetting God’s promise of eternal life.

Happiness and Grief are normal reactions, how do you find balance between the two when you experience great loss or change?

Death has lost its victory over us over 2,000 years ago when God came to us in the form of Jesus Christ and died on his cross only to rise again! “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you” (Romans 8:11). This means that when God’s righteous government that Isaiah prophesied about is finally established, all who are in Christ will reign with Him, so there will be no need for us to run and hide in our homes.

As we reflect on the prophecy of Isaiah detailing the fulfillment of God’s glory and God’s final judgement, doesn’t it make all of our idols fall away. No mass amount of wealth or possession, nor any new age philosophy or religion can stand in our hearts when we confront the reality of God. Although we might feel separated from God at times, nothing can truly separate us from Him.

How do you embrace God’s eternal presents in your life?

All things come from God and are allowed to happen by God, and as real as those things may be, whether suffering or blessings, whether mass healings or mass sickness, none of them are worth being compared to the glory that will be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).

You are welcomed to pray this prayer with me:

Heavenly Father,

You know all and see all. I thank you for showing me my own idolatry and giving me another day to repent from it. Idolatry is so easy to get caught up in because I delight in your blessings. Help me to remember that you are the source of all things, and that you are a jealous God. Help me to learn from the mistake that Judah made in the days of Isaiah. Help me to learn that if it feels like you are distant from me it is only because I have distanced myself from you. But draw me nearer, blessed Lord, steal my attention away from earthly things and cause my heart to worship you and you only. In Jesus Name, Amen!