Tuesday, 22 October 2013

2013_1016 Church in the home Wednesday evenings Isaiah 2: 1-4, 2013_1016

2013_1016 Church in the home Wednesday evenings Isaiah 2: 1-4, 2013_1016



Moving on to Chapter 2 of Isaiah…
Isaiah Chapter 2
Lexham English Bible
The Mountain of Yahweh

 V.1 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

This is a repeat of Chapter 1 verse 1.  Chapter 1 can then be seen as a summary chapter.


2 And it shall happen in the future of the days the mountain of the house of Yahweh shall be established; it will be among the highest of the mountains, and it shall be raised from the hills. All of the nations shall travel to him;
3 Many peoples shall come. And they shall say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob, and may he teach us part of his ways,  and let us walk in his paths.”  for instruction shall go out from Zion, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations and he shall arbitrate for many peoples. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. A nation shall not lift up a sword against a nation, and they shall not learn war again.

WE cannot fail to see similarities between these three verses (Isaiah 2:2-4) and those in Micah 4:1-3

Micah 4:1-3
King James Version (KJV)
4 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.


Micah 4:1-3
The Mountain of Yahweh
Lexham English Bible
4 And it will be that at the end of those days, the mountain of Yahweh will be established as the highest of the mountains, and it will be lifted up above the hills, and people will stream to it.
2 And many nations will come and say, “Come! Let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
    and to the temple of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths,” for the law will go out from Zion, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
3 And he will judge between many peoples and will arbitrate for strong nations far away;
and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation will not lift up a sword against a nation, and they will no longer learn war
Let us look at these verses which are in stark contrast to those in much of Chapter 1, which proclaim vengeance, and punishment. 

But what are this “mountain of Yahweh”, and “the law going forth out of Zion”, all about?

Lexham English Bible
Zechariah 8:3
Thus says Yahweh: ‘I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem will be called the faithful city, and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts will be called the holy mountain.’
Obadiah 1:21
And those who have been saved will go up on Mount Zion to rule the mountain of Esau. And the kingdom will belong to Yahweh.
Joel 3:17
And you will know that I, Yahweh your God, am dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem will be a place of holiness, and strangers will pass through it no longer.
Joel 2:1
Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh is coming —it is indeed near.
Ezekiel 20:40
“For on my holy mountain, on the mountain of the height of Israel,” declares the Lord Yahweh, “there all of the house of Israel will serve me, all of them, in the land. I will take pleasure in them, and there I will accept your contributions and the best of your portions with all of your holy objects.
Isaiah 37:32
For a remnant shall go out from Jerusalem and survivors from mountain Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.’
Isaiah 27:13
And this shall happen: on that day, a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria will come, and those who were scattered in the land of Egypt, and they will bow down to Yahweh on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Isaiah 11:9
They will not injure and they will not destroy on all of my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 2:2
And it shall happen in the future of the days the mountain of the house of Yahweh shall be established; it will be among the highest of the mountains, and it shall be raised from the hills. All of the nations shall travel to him;
Psalm 133:3
It is like the dew of Hermon that runs down upon the mountains of Zion, because there Yahweh commanded the blessing— life forever.
Psalm 48:1
Yahweh is great and very worthy of praise in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.
Psalm 24:3
Who may ascend the mountain of Yahweh? And who may stand in his holy place?
Psalm 15:1
O Yahweh, who may reside in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy mountain?

As can be seen from the above verses there are many references to The Mountain of Yahweh (mountain of the Lord) in the old testament.

But what is this exactly. We must remember that God promised to set up his kingdom on Earth. In the old testament this revelation was given many times as generic, i.e. not distinguishing between the Millennial (1000 years) Kingdom, and the Eternal Kingdom. Biblically just and righteous man’s destination is an earthly kingdom where Jesus and God rule with justice and truth. The Millennial kingdom comes first as a fulfillment of a promise to Israel. (J. Schoenheit, “The Christians Hope”) and the Body of born again Christians will enter than Kingdom together with just, resurrected believers, Judeans and Gentiles alike, and some mortal survivors, some of who will subsequently die.  This Millennial Kingdom is almost the closest thing to many people’s vague idea of Heaven. However even in this Kingdom there will be poor people, some that die albeit at a ripe old age (100 will seem young) and despite the almost perfect living conditions, many of the “survivors” will gather together in the last days of the 1000 years, and try to destroy the Judeans, Jerusalem, and the reigning King, Jesus Christ. 
The eternal Kingdom will not have any mortal “survivors”, but only raised to new life people will enter.

With the benefit of 20:20 biblical hindsight we now see the distinction between the two kingdoms.

Both Isaiah 2: 2-4 and Micah 4:1-3, are referring to the Millennial Kingdom, and Ezekiel 48:8 in further elaborating, states that
V. 8 And beside the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the offering of land which you shall offer: 25,000 reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the tribal portions from the east side to the west side; and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it.
Sanctuary = temple
And in Ezekiel 48:21 (KJV)
21 And what is left unallotted, on both sides of the holy portion and of that possessed by the city, shall belong to the prince. Reaching eastward from the 25,000 [measures] of the holy portion to the east border, and westward from the 25,000 [measures] to the west border, parallel to the tribal allotments, it belongs to the prince. The holy portion with the sanctuary of the temple in its midst,
Prince = Jesus Christ


Ezekiel 42:15-20, and Ezekiel 45:2, describe a sacred place, a sanctuary, a temple if you would. This is characteristic of the Millennial Kingdom. However in the eternal Kingdom there will be no temple (see Revelation: 21:22) This temple will be the centre piece of the world for 1000 years. Jesus Christ will sit and reign there. That is why Isaiah and Micah say …
Isaiah 2: 3
Many peoples shall come. And they shall say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house[c] of the God of Jacob, and may he teach us part of his ways,  and let us walk in his paths.”  for instruction shall go out from Zion, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
Micah 4:2
2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Jesus Christ will be physically there, and he will, with the help of the 12 apostles, rulers, & judges drawn from all of the righteous peoples of the world, rule the world in righteousness for 1000 years. The bible does say that Jesus Christ will rule with a rod of iron. This stern approach will be necessary because for one, there will be mortal survivors present, and Jesus Christ knows from prophecy and we now do, that those people will increase greatly in number, living as they will be under ideal conditions. At the end of the 1000 years these will gather together as an enemy army against Jesus Christ and the Judeans.
(The Letter to the Church in Thyatira
Revelation 2: 26 & 27, And the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him authority over the nations, 27 and “he will shepherd them with an iron rod; he will break them in pieces like jars made of clay, 
Revelation 14:1
Lexham English Bible (LEB)
V. 1 And I looked, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him one hundred forty-four thousand who had his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.
(In Isaiah 2: 3, it states, “the word of Yehweh” would go out from Jerusalem, but here in Revelation we see that the Lamb, Jesus Christ, was standing on mount Zion. We should remember the words of the psalm,
Psalm 110:1 “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
“The Lord” is Yehweh, and “my Lord” is Jesus Christ. In Revelation 14:1  we see the fulfillment of this.
&

1 Corinthians 6:2 (KJV)
Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?


How wonderful to think and hope for a day as described in Isaiah 2: 4…

4 He shall judge between the nations and he shall arbitrate for many peoples. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. A nation shall not lift up a sword against a nation, and they shall not learn war again.

&

Micah 4: 3
3 And he will judge between many peoples and will arbitrate for strong nations far away;
and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation will not lift up a sword against a nation, and they will no longer learn war

&

Amos 9:13
“Look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when the one who plows will overtake the one who reaps, the one who treads grapes will catch up with the one who sows the seed. And the mountains will drip sweet wine and all of the hills will flow with it.

…meaning that the earth will be so productive that there will be little time between harvesting and sowing / planting.










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