Chapters 2 and 3

In chapters two through four we have the story of the Millennium. Isaiah was a preacher with a message of warning to the people of his own generation. When you study the book of Isaiah you always have to keep in mind the generation to whom these messages were addressed. The population of the kingdom of Judah had turned to apostasy, idolatry, heathen religionism and so on. The majority of the people in the land no longer received Christ as saviour, there was a majority of unbelievers in the land at this time. And as a result there was spiritual declension which led to political, economic and social degeneration. Isaiah not only warned the people of the conditions of his own time but of the coming judgment to the southern kingdom, Judah.

Chapters two, three and four should be outlined. Subject: Millennial mementoes.

Chapter 2:1-5 — The kingdom blessing prophesied; 2:6-3:26 — Discipline for religion; Chapter 4:1-6 — The coming of the King.

There is another great principle that runs through this passage. Even though the nation Israel is to be judged with the apparent annihilation of the nation, God keeps His word and Israel will survive it all. It is a principle that comes down to us in eschatology which says that Israel has a future. God has promised the regenerate of Israel certain things under four unconditional and eternal covenants — the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New Covenants to Israel. And under these covenants they have a future.

There is another principle that we should notice: Israel is often a picture of the individual believer’s soul. We fail the Lord many times and the Lord disciplines us many times but we do not lose our salvation. Even when we are faithless God is faithful to us, even as He was to Israel. Just as the born again of Israel have a future, so do we who are members of the body of Christ. Another very important application: no nation can survive a saturation of religion — the condition which led to the inevitable destruction and divine discipline of Jerusalem.

The kingdom blessing prophesied, 2:1-5

Verse 1 — “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” Now, first of all we should always remember that interpretation should come before application. We should notice very carefully that the subject of the next few chapters is declared very clearly in this verse — “concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” Please notice it does not say, “concerning the Church.” We are dealing with conditions which existed in the city of Jerusalem which is the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah, and these conditions exist between 758-698 BC. Out of these apostate conditions — a saturation of religion — comes the inevitable judgment. The word “word” means message. These are actually sermons which Isaiah gave, sermons which include prophecy. We also must remember that at this time Judah and Jerusalem were the custodians of divine truth and responsible for its dissemination, and whenever religion begins to take over in a nation there is a decline of missionary activity. As a result of very few missionaries going out we have another reason for divine judgment on this nation. As far as we know only about one missionary went out from the entire area during this particular period and that was Jonah. He was sent to the capital of the empire which dominated that part of the world at that time, Nineveh the capital of Assyria.

How does a country get to this situation? Recipients of divine revelation, custodians of divine truth, responsible for the dissemination of the good news, and yet completely failing in missionary activity — i.e. the believers fail, unbelievers are not responsible for missionary activity. All of this condition is brought on by a lack in the realm of teaching of the truth.

Verse 2 — “And it shall come to pass in the last days.” This phrase has a double meaning. The last days of the kingdom of Judah will be the days of the Chaldean invasion, but it also has a far fulfilment and it refers at this point to the return of Jesus Christ to the earth and the establishing of His Millennial reign.

“that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it.” Now the mountain here refers to government. In fact the word “mountain” is so used again in Revelation 17:9-11, where we have the passage of the seven mountains, the seven great empires — beginning with Egypt, Assyria, then Media-Persia, Graeco-Macedonia, Rome, and then the revived Rome. So the word “mountain” is often used for government or a national entity.

“the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established” — this is a pure theocracy which will control the earth after the return of Christ to the earth. Notice that it is established “in the top of the mountains” which means that this rule of our Lord will have ascendancy over all the nations. Then we have an explanation of the hills — “for all nations shall flow into it.” “All nations” is a reference to all of the kingdoms of the earth. So the last days is a reference to the return of Christ to the earth and the mountain of the house of the Lord refers to Jesus Christ ruling from headquarters in Jerusalem, ruling in this very southern kingdom which will very shortly be removed by the Chaldean invasion. There is another interesting point here. Isaiah is actually quoting from scripture which was already in existence — Micah 4:1-4.

So we have here a description of some of the things which will take place in the Millennium. And the reason we have it first is because what follows in the message of Isaiah is going to be very discouraging. Now when you have something very discouraging to say to people there are one or two things that you can do. If you are chewing them out for something you can take some of the sting out by complimenting them on something first. The second thing you can do is you have nothing nice you can say about them and it is just strictly “chew them out.” Then you have to hold something out, some hope for the future. Otherwise their spirits might be broken and the purpose is ruined. Both of these are true here, there are one or two complimentary things that Isaiah will have to say later on. But the real punch in this message — Israel is at an all-time low. But, Israel has a future. However, the future is a part of the plan of God and the only thing the Jews can do right now is to get into the plan of God by regeneration. So Isaiah holds out something for them in the future and before he begins this passage of describing the terrible conditions which exist he wants to remind them that there is a glorious future. When Jesus Christ returns to the earth He will establish His Millennial reign on the earth and then things will be rectified and be wonderful. But in the meantime, stand by for difficulties.

Verse 3 — the believer in the Millennium. “And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord [headquarters, Jerusalem], the house of the God of Jacob [worship in the Millennial temple. Described in Ezekiel 40-48.]” There will be a bona fide temple worship in that day in contrast to the apostasy to the religious activity in Isaiah’s day. Please notice, when you go to the temple, even in the Millennium where they will have sacrifices which will have exactly the same action, the same purpose as the Lord’s table today, there will be sacrifices in the Millennium, not in anticipation of the cross but as a memorial to the cross — sacrifices of retrospection.

Again a principle: Whenever you have any kind of ritual the ritual is absolutely useless without doctrine. Ritual in the Millennium will exist but it is ritual with doctrine.

“and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths” — two phrases which should be underlined. First of all you must know God’s way before you can walk in God’s way. Knowing comes before walking. You cannot walk without knowing. Doctrine comes first.

“he will teach us” — in the Millennium there will be tremendous Bible teaching and as a result “we will walk in his way” .

“for out of Zion shall go forth the law” — the law refers to the entire Word of God, to the sum total of divine viewpoint — “and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The characteristic of the Millennium: maximum teaching of the Word of God. Remember the principles: You cannot have ritual which is bona fide or meaningful apart from doctrine; you cannot do the will of God until you know the will of God. You cannot fulfil the way of life for the believer unless you know what it is.

Verse 4 — “And he shall judge among the nations.” This is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. He will be the judge. Notice: When Christ rules the world national entities retain their national boundaries. In the Millennium when you have international reign — Christ will rule the world — nations are still nations. This fact alone once again indicates the importance of nationalism and how internationalism is always anti-Christian and anti-God. Any organisation which seeks to break down nationalistic barriers is a satanic organisation or is one of the great objectives of Satan to destroy nations. And when Christ rules the world He does so with national barriers and national organisations recognised and in operation.

“and shall rebuke many people” — a reference to the judgments which take place at the second advent of Christ.

“and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” This is referring to the Millennial reign of Christ — see verse 2 for context, “the latter days.” This is not anything the United Nations can bring about!

Verse 5 — “O house of Jacob” .Here is an appeal to the Jews in Isaiah’s day. After telling them of a glorious future — for Jews who are born-again — here is his appeal; “come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord” Isaiah’s day the gospel was clearly declared, as always in the past, and here is an exhortation.

Verse 6 — Now because they will not and because there was an infiltration of religion: “For thou hast forsaken thy people” — the judgment which is about to fall upon them, the judgment of the invasion of the Chaldeans. This foreshadows a greater judgment, the judgment of the pressure on Israel in the Tribulation. “because they be replenished [filled] from the east” — this is east of Palestine where you have the Tigris-Euphrates valley where there were the Chaldeans. In the northern part of that valley were the Assyrians and to the north of Palestine were the Aramaans. Also to the east were Arabic peoples and pockets of the remnants of the Canaanitish peoples, the Hittite peoples. What do all these people have in common? Religion, idolatry, different kinds of religious organisations. The phrase, “because they are filled with things from the east” means that Israel as a nation is judged because they have become saturated with religion. Principle: When a nation is saturated with religion that nation will be judged by God.

“and soothsayers like the Philistines.” A soothsayer is a person using demonism.

“and they pleased themselves in the children of strangers” — please themselves means they make alliances with foreign countries. As if alliances were going to save their neck. They kept trying to save themselves by getting help from someone else. Later on Isaiah is going to say, “Woe to you who lean on the broken staff of Egypt.” Many of the messages in Isaiah come right out of this phrase, “they make alliances with strangers.” What Judah needs and the only thing Judah needs is the Lord. They do not need all of these alliances. And do you know how they make all these alliances? By money. They give money to Assyria, they give money to Egypt, etc.

Discipline for religion, 2:6-3:36

Everything from here through the third chapter are the results of religion taking over a national entity. Religion is satanic.

Verse 7 — they are wealthy and prosperous. “Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures.” The Jews were very wealthy; “their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end to their chariots.” They even have a big army.

Verse 8 — Here is the contrast. “Their land is full of idols.” They have all this prosperity and at the same time they have all this religion; “they worship the work of their own hands.” You can’t call a person stupid in more subtle language than that. Here is something you make with your own hands and you fall down and worship it! This is exactly what they were doing.

Verse 9 — “And the mean man [the man with rank].” The word “mean” used to mean a person who was prominent; “boweth down, and the great man [wealthy, prominent] humbleth himself: therefore, forgive them not.” Isaiah is condemning religion.

Verse 10 — “Enter into the rock, hide thee in the dust [there is trouble coming], for the fear of the Lord, for the glory of his majesty.” Isaiah is being sarcastic. Hey you great men get in those shelters and close the doors the judgment is coming! — not that it will do you any good.

Verse 11 — “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled.” Here is the pride of human achievement; “and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” Reference back to his introduction. When Christ reigns on the earth He will be exalted. Why not now?

Verse 12 — “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty.” He launches out now into his prophecy; “and upon everyone that is lifted up, he shall be brought low.” This is a reference to what will happen at the second advent.

Verse 13 — “And upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan.” The cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan are used to described the beauties which existed at that time on both sides of the Jordan. Trees were often used for prosperity as well as for beauty and for stability.

Verse 14 — “Upon all the high mountains and upon all the hills that are lifted up;

Verse 15 — “And upon every high tower and upon every fenced wall;

Verse 16 — “Upon all the ships of Tarshish” At this time Judah had one of the largest merchant fleets in the ancient world. They got it from Tyre. The king of Tyre in the days of Solomon and the days that followed the kings of Tyre, were great ship builders. They built many ships for Judah, Israel. Israel’s fleet was called the fleet of Tarshish because Tarshish was Spain and its Atlantic coast. Israel actually owned mines in Spain which they worked and they shipped all of this ore back to Judah. And this is one reason why we have the description of verse seven, they were prosperous. But all of these great things are going to be taken away from them. They are going to lose the things that they count important. What is the point? They had all of these things because of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the God of Israel. They are going to lose all of these things because they turned their back on the Lord Jesus Christ for religion. And all of the things that God in His grace gave them from the time of David down to this time they are going to lose. Religion takes them away.

And there is a way in which you get into religion. You don’t just simply jump into religion. The prosperity which the Jews gained meant “things,” and instead of getting their eyes on the Lord they got their eyes on the gifts, the things they were given. Eventually they turned their back on the Lord and they forgot the Lord and they just had their eyes on things. From things they dropped into religion. Once you start to worship the things that are given rather than the Giver, then the next thing with you is that you are a sucker for religion. Today people have learned to worship the dollar and other materialistic things. They have learned to worship ease and luxury. These things are inevitably given to us by God in His grace; now we no longer have our eyes on the Lord, we have our eyes on the things. And it is a very simple thing to go from things material to things ritual — idols, and so on. This is the action of degeneration. Religion reconciles worshipping things as “god” and says you are justified in worshipping things.

Verse 17 — “The loftiness of man shall be bowed down [all of this leads to a pride], and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day [reference again to the second advent of Christ].” “That day” will come up time after time.

Verse 18 — “The idols shall he utterly abolish” .When Christ returns He shall destroy idolatry and the source of idolatry. He imprisons Satan for a thousand years.

What about about the wealthy people, the prosperous people, the people who are unbelievers and are enjoying the things in religion. Verse 19 — “And they shall go into the holes and the rocks, and into the caves [the Hebrew word is a word for natural caves] of the earth, for fear of the Lord [described in Revelation chapter six verses 15-17 to show once again that this has a far fulfilment in the Tribulation, as well as in the days of Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion] and for the glory of his majesty [second advent] when he arises to shake terribly the earth” .

Verse 20 — “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold which they made, each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats.” When they run to the caves to hide, what do they take? They take what they consider most valuable. What is most valuable to them under religion? Idols. And what do they do when they get into these caves? The idols do not help them. And so these idols which they have been worshipping, what are they good for now? To toss to the moles and the bats! And when you have an image which represents something, and in a crisis it is no use to you yet you carry it all of the way to the cave, and in a crisis you throw it out of the way, it adds up to the fallacy of religion. The principle is quite obvious: religion does not sustain in the crisis of divine judgment.

Chapter three

Verse 1 — “For, behold the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff.” He is going to take away their cane, their crutch, the things they are leaning on. Here now is how the judgment will take place when the Chaldeans come.

“the stay and the staff [the crutch and the cane, something you lean on],” used here to indicate the things on which the nation in Isaiah’s day were depending on instead of the Lord. The principle is obvious: When any nation comes to the place where they depend on these things it has had it.

The crutch is described, beginning at the end of verse one and through the rest of the chapter on and off. We start with basic things such as bread and water. Water and bread are the basic necessities of life for survival. It is possible to survive without shelter; it is possible to survive without clothing; but it is not possible to survive without food. The people of Isaiah’s day are depending upon the bread they eat instead of spiritual food, instead of the Bread of Life.

What does this add up to? The food that you and I eat today, the things that God has provided for us, these are details from the Provider. And what we need to do is to, trust the Provider. The issue isn’t food and water, the issue is the faithfulness of God. And when we get our eyes on the food and water instead of the faithfulness of God then we have gone astray. We can only enjoy the provision when we enjoy the Provider. It doesn’t matter how much we have or do not have, if we are not occupied with the Provider then we can never enjoy His provision, be it little or be it great.

Verse 2 — the leadership. “The mighty man, the man of war; the judge, and the prophet, the prudent, and the ancient.” Notice: a prudent man is a wise man who is capable of making correct decisions in leadership capacity. The word “ancient” refers to the man who is well trained in rulership.

Verse 3 — “The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, the cunning artificer [skilful scientist], and the eloquent orator’ .These are all leadership designations. Now the nation is going to lose these men. When a nation becomes corrupt how are they ruled? By the men

who know how to rule? No.

Verse 4 — “I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.” The word “children” connotes imbeciles. Morons will have control over them. These are not literal children!

Verse 5 — “The people shall be oppressed.” What happens when you are ruled by people who do not have rulership ability. The people are enslaved. Slavery which even goes down to saying how much you can charge for a pound of butter! “every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly [literally, the child shall break out violently against the ancient].” The ancient is a ruler, a man who has good sense. The younger set revolt against those who have the knowledge and ability; “and the base against the honourable”.

Verse 6 — “When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing.” This is the way they are going to make their rulers on the basis of how they dress! That is no way to determine leadership.

“be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be in thy hand” — you take the responsibility for this ruin.

Verse 7 — “In that day he shall swear, saying, I will not be an healer [I can’t perform miracles]; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people [don’t put me in charge of this mess].”

Verse 8 — “For Jerusalem is ruined [586 BC, the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar], and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord.” The sins of the tongue are put before overt sins. Their tongue is against the Lord. You can sin by what you say as fast as by what you do.

Verse 9 — “To shew their countenance [the look of their faces] doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.” What was wrong with Sodom? It had got into religion, it was prosperous, and Sodom was judged. “Woe unto their soul! for they have brought evil on themselves.” They have actually rewarded themselves with evil.

Verse 10 — In the midst of all of this a word for the believer. “Say to the righteous, it shall be well with him [because the Lord will personally sustain him in the time of crisis]: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.” The fruit of their doings means their activity will produce something by which they can live.

Verse 11 — “Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” He is going to reap what he sows.

Verse 12 — “As for my people, children [imbeciles] are their oppressors, women rule over them.” This doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with women. But when women start running the country there is something wrong with the men. And when there is something wrong with the men in the country there is something wrong with the country. “O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” The leadership is leading them astray.

Verse 13 — “The Lord standeth up to judge, and standeth to judge the peoples.” “Plead",as translated in the KJ version actually means to judge.

Verse 14 — “The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of the people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyards and the spoil of the poor is in your houses.” This is a reference to the wealthy people who have oppressed the poor.

Verse 15 — “What mean ye that ye beat my people, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.”

Verse 16 — “Moreover, the Lord said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty [proud], and walk with stretched forth necks [they walk with elevated necks. Snooty posture!] and wanton eyes, walking and mincing.” The Hebrew definition of mincing is “short sexy steps”; “and make a tinkling with their feet.” They have anklets with bells on them. And the short sexy steps plus these little anklets with bells on them was apparently quite a combination! The point is that the public have their minds on women all right — sex — to the exclusion of things that are important.

Verse 17 — “Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion [He is going to take their beauty away from them], and the Lord will discover their secret parts [He will expose their rottenness].” There is a great emphasis on exterior beauty to the exclusion of inner beauty. That is the criticism of these ladies.

Verse 18 — “In that day [the day of the Chaldeans] the Lord will take away the bravery [glamour] of their tinkling ornaments about their ankles, and their cauls [an ornamental hair net], their round tyres [their beautiful necklaces].”

Verse 19 — “The pendants, and the chains [ear rings], and mufflers [veils];”

Verse 20 — “Bonnets [tiaras, the female crown], and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands [an ornate type of ribbon with jewels in it], and the perfume boxes, and amulets [which carried sweet-smelling powders]”

Verse 21 — “The rings, and nose jewels;”

Verse 22 — “The changeable suits of apparel [many dresses], and mantles [coats], and handbags, and the crispen pins [small bag]”

Verse 23 — “The hand mirrors, and the fine linen, and the crowns, and the veils.”

Verse 24 — “And it shall come to pass that instead of a sweet smell [this is emphasis on the fact that perfumes had been developed to a great peak at this time in the ancient world] there shall be a stink; “ The principle is that a corpse with all the perfume in the world is still a corpse. “instead of a girdle [an ornate belt] a rope; instead of a well set hair baldness; instead of a stomacher [a dress cloak instead of a dress coat. It was an evening cloak, a cape] a girding of sackcloth: burning [odour] instead of beauty” .

Verse 25 — “Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in war”.

Verse 26 — “And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit on the ground” .A sign of utter defeat.

All of that terrible information depicts a similar situation which will exist at the end of the Tribulation and the second advent of Christ.

Chapter 4:1-6. “In that day [close of the Tribulation, just as in Isaiah’s day] seven women shall take hold of one man.” When seven women grab one man it means what? There is a shortage of males. What happened to them. Previous chapter, v25, they are killed, they are decimated by warfare. “ … saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name [marry us]; take thou away our reproach [it was a reproach in Israel not to have children]” .The verse of desperate women.

Now ladies always think that it is nice to live high and have all these beautiful clothes, and that is all right. There is nothing wrong with wearing beautiful things — except this: there was an emphasis on beautiful clothes. The emphasis was on the exterior to the exclusion of the inner life, to the exclusion of the Lord. And when you start to emphasise the exterior to the exclusion of the Lord then you go to religion because religion emphasises the exterior, the ritual, the superficial, to the exclusion of the truth. And when women get into that situation where all they can think about is what they wear on their backs to the exclusion of everything else — there is nothing wrong with wearing nice clothes — then the ladies are asking for it — no men to see all that, they are going to be killed in war.

Verse 2 — “In that day [that very day when things are absolutely desperate in the southern kingdom. And at the end of the Tribulation] shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious” .The branch is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ — Isaiah 1:11; Jeremiah 23:5,6; 33:15,16; Zecharaiah 3:8; 6:12 — returning to the earth to fulfil the Davidic covenant. At the present time Israel is pictured as a stump, but out of this stump will come a beautiful branch, the Lord Jesus Christ. “in that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel” .The escaped of Israel are those who are born again at the end of the Tribulation and escape that judgment of the second advent.

Verse 3 — “And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion , and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy [they are born again. These are the wheat in contrast to the tares], even everyone that is written [registered in the book of life] among the living in Jerusalem.”

Verse 4 — “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood [the guiltiness] of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.” The burning is the baptism of fire. The tares are cast into the fire.

Verse 5 — “And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.” This is a reference to the Millennial Jerusalem and to Judah in that future day.

Verse 6 — “And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow [shade] in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge and for a cover from storm and from rain” .In other words, God will meet and provide every need that the Jews have in that future day. The booth, of course, is a part of the Feast of Tabernacles and therefore the Jews understood this very clearly.