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Well congregation, whose truth?
We just sang it, thy truth? Giving testimony again to that
which we are about to see, that is in the Word of God, that His
Word is faithful and true. I would invite us this morning
then to open our Bible to the book of Isaiah in chapter 2,
noted here to be on page 722. Now, were we going through a
series in Isaiah, which is common for me to do, you would have
had in the first sermon or so a good deal of background information
about the setting and the context. Perhaps we'll remember that Isaiah,
one of those great prophets of the Lord, is prophesying 739
to 686. And children, we count that way. like the countdown to a great
launch. That is, we count down in the
Old Testament era, and that's a remarkable thing in and of
itself. He's counting backwards like
that. He began in 739 and ended in 686. Reminds us of what is
zero day and the hope and the promise that was for the arrival
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So as we think about that, Isaiah
is prophesying in those years just before serious and significant
dilemmas would befall the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the covenant people of those days. And yet, as we're about
to see, great hope and great delight in what the Lord's work
will bring about in terms of His promises. So this morning,
then, in the second chapter of Isaiah, and we have before us
the first five verses, the living, true, and errant and faithful
word of God. The word that Isaiah the son
of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come
to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the house of
the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills, and all the nations
shall flow to it. And many peoples shall come and
say, Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways, and that we
may walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth
the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall
judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many
peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift
up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us
walk in the light of the Lord. As far, dearly beloved, the rich
and living Word of God, I would encourage you to keep your Bible
near to you as we'll pay very careful attention to the text
of the Word of God. But let's ask His blessing as
we continue this morning in prayer. Our Father, now how thankful
and grateful we are for the Word of God. We praise You for the
truth of Scripture. That wondrous Word applied to
the lives of your people, of benefit to your church. Thus,
Lord, we also believe it will be of help to us this morning.
We pray now that you grant to us ears to hear, that you give
to us minds able to understand, but especially that it would
soften our heart, that your Word would be planted there, and it
would bear rich and good fruit. Strengthen us by Your Spirit
for these things, we pray in confidence, in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, dear congregation of the
Lord Jesus Christ, this tremendous text given to Isaiah is exceedingly
visual. What is revealed to us here of
a great and glorious truth is set as a scene Even in verse
1, we are told that what is shown to us in these five verses was
first, verse 1, notice it, shown to Isaiah. This revelation was
to the prophet of God given as a vision to his mind's eye so
that he might be able to feast on it. Because the scene was,
given what was about to transpire, so improbable so sweeping the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ in those days, about to be in great travail, as it were. In these verses is revealed something
of God's plan for His church, but not in Isaiah's day. But
really, beloved, as we understand these words, Something of God's plan for His
church really in our day. If we don't see something of
this text in our churches, we have hard questions to ask, needing
honest answers. Beloved, the Lord will use His
worshiping church to draw in the nations. Now that and the
points I'm about to mention are included in the back of your
bulletin This theme of the text, the Lord will use his worshiping
church to draw in the nations. We'll see that in the following
four ways. First, the prophet sees a time ahead of great glory
for Christ's church. Second, in that time, there will
be mutual encouragement to be taught by God. That's very significant,
children, taught by God. His Word will grant peace with
Him and also allow peace between peoples forth. To see that day,
His people need to live in His glorious light. Beloved, again
this morning, the Word of God does teach us this, that the
Lord will use His worshiping church to draw in the nations. And so in this second chapter
of Isaiah, the prophet sees a time ahead. It really is very important
for us and significant to be able to grasp something of the
key terms of this revelatory vision. There are several of
those key terms that show to us, again in a visual form, something
of the promises of God being brought about here. We notice
words like mountains and flowing water. Rivers and paths and people. Later we're going to have to
consider things like farm tools and weapons. These all serve
as brilliant images meant to teach us concrete truths about
God's ways. All of the things revealed in
these images of this vision will be happening, as we've said,
not in Isaiah's day, but verse 2 says the text, in quote, latter
days. Now these are the days following
the advent of the promised Messiah. The days to come in terms of
Isaiah's day, the promises and the certainties of the Messiah's
arrival and the significance of those latter days. In terms
of all of the various mountains of religions that existed in
Isaiah's day being represented here by mountains, one will be
exalted to the highest place. One mountain will rise high above
all of the others. And beloved, we don't have to
work very hard to make some of those connections today. As we
send our young people off to certain colleges, they have to
engage, as some of us did, in a so-called class of comparative
religions. And we hear about those other
religions in the day in which we are called to live, the day
where there's one overarching rule in society, that rule being
tolerance above all else. of comparative religions. Dearly
beloved, the Word of God tells us about one glorious truth which
rises above all others. It will continue to be the desired
destination for God's covenant people. And across all the sweep
of human history and in the context of comparative religions, there
is no comparison and no competition In this day, Isaiah's day, when
so very few across the globe knew anything of Israel and his
people, oh dearly beloved, there's a different day coming. The day
in which we live. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ rises high. Yet we have today particular
challenges when it comes to a prophetic passage like this one. Where
God is giving a certain and clear and true and unbreakable revelatory
promise of the future. Our particular challenge is that
of assessment. Of assessment. We're going to
do a little bit of that this morning. The truths of this text
are no longer mainly future. Only certain aspects of what
is promised here wait yet to be fulfilled and come to their
sweeping conclusion. In terms of the flow of human
history, many of these things have been and are coming to fulfillment,
aren't they beloved? The central figure of all human
history has come, hasn't he? The Lord Jesus Christ. We just
talked in terms of counting backward, a countdown timer to that zero
day, and now we begin, as we've just entered a new year, in counting
forward in respect to what event? To that central mountainous event
of the sweep of human history. It's interesting that the notes
of the original Geneva Bible of 1560, the original Geneva
Bible notes of 1560 say about this text that what is being
set forth here is that image of something of the restoration
of the church. Calvin and his fellow co-workers
there in Geneva were thinking about this text. They were saying
that what this represents is something of the restoration
of the church. In Isaiah's forward-looking latter-day
vision, the church of Christ would be the mountain to which
all the nations would flood in. What this means needs assessment
as we move along this morning secondly now. Secondly, to consider
that in that time there will be mutual encouragement to be
taught by God. Verse 3, And many people shall
come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways,
and that we may walk in His paths. For out of Zion will go the Law,
and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. When the Bible here uses this
word, peoples, it means a broad term. We might understand nations. We might understand the peoples
of the world. Those various nations, it's shown
here to be of significance that they will come to the mountain
of the Lord. Beloved, what we're beginning
to see here is the reversal already of that event of Babel, aren't
we? Where the nations were sent away.
The promise of the latter days of the arrival of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who then as He ascends will send His Holy Spirit, will
be then the in-gathering of the nations. The reversal of the
languages so that we might have one gospel language again. These things being promised to
Isaiah here. But a people gathering in, note
it well, not to sacrifice. It's not what the text says.
But rather it says to be taught. We might have a bit of trouble
this morning in our context and in our setting getting that,
understanding the weightiness of that. Isaiah still lives in
that day where if a person comes to the temple of the Lord, comes
to worship God, he does so, the covenant head does, bringing
that sacrificial animal for himself or his family. So that in seeing
that blood spilled and that blood applied, they are pointed to
and reminded of the promises of the Messiah. But here in the
latter days, they will not come bringing those sacrifices. Why?
Because dear ones, that sacrifice will have been made. The one whose blood is perfect,
whose atonement is perfect, who is righteous in all of his ways.
Who is our hope? Those people when they then flood
to the mountain house of the Lord will come to be taught of
God. It's interesting also that this
same, almost exact same revelatory vision is given to another prophet
of the Lord, Micah. Check that out in Micah 4 verses
1 to 3. Of such great weightiness and
significance is this hope and this promise that it is given
to two prophets. The day when those sacrifices
would be fulfilled and put behind them, and instead of that bloody
system, people would want to be taught. Notice this before we get a little
bit later to verse five, where we'll need to do even more significant
assessment, but notice it, that in verse three, the peoples of
the nations say one to the other, Come, let us go and be taught. There was in this day, in Isaiah's
day, almost an overwhelming, significant majority of the people
who would worship the Lord being of one stock, yes? One bloodline,
right? But the promise would be sort
of like having airplane load full of Christians from China
land at the airport and come in here and worship with us this
morning. Another plane load from Iceland, some from the South
Pacific Isles, some from the Middle East of Christians coming
in to worship here this morning with us. We wouldn't think it
too odd, would we? We wouldn't really be surprised
by that, that there are believers in China, there are believers
in the Middle East, there are believers in every country speaking
every language. We say, well, that's not surprising.
But, oh beloved, do we see why they would come? And how? And through whom? The nations, where there are Christians
even today on the Lord's Day of this particular week, gathering
in China before we were awake perhaps, Some of them in secret,
as we know. And what were those Chinese Christians
saying this morning when they got up? They were saying to one
another, come, let us go to the house of the Lord. Let us go
and worship. Those promises are glorious and
fulfilled, even that we would see it likewise in Ezekiel chapter
47. Of water flowing out from under
the altar and then growing deeper and wider as it goes. That water
of the gospel of the healing mercies of Jesus Christ flowing
out to make the waters pure. A granted grace of ours living
in these latter days. So that we understand that what
is set forth here to Isaiah is a preview of our day. Better
yet, a preview of the power of God's rich grace in Jesus Christ
when people will flow, as we heard in our call to worship,
from north and south and east and west, wanting, wanting to
know of Jesus Christ. Wanting to learn law and gospel. To the God who saves us from
our sins. Isaiah sees a world coming where the Word will go
forth from the mountain house of the Lord. So that we begin to realize this
morning that we are this day at the mountain. So that we begin
to realize this morning, if we can think of it in these terms,
that we are the mountain. Calvin says here about this text,
quote, the doctrine of the gospel by which God has gathered to
himself a church indiscriminately out of all nations preceded from
Mount Zion. And that is key. A people preceded
from Mount Zion going out, as we'll see in a few moments, from
Mount Zion And as we begin to realize this morning that Jesus
Christ makes His church to be the mountain to which He draws
the nations, so also must the assessment continue. Do a study sometime of how many
times the word mountain occurs both in the Old and the New Testament,
and how significant is that term mountain or hill. Where was it
that Jesus gathered his disciples after his resurrection, just
before his ascension? Do you know? To the mountain. It's interesting that in Matthew
5 verse 14, the Lord himself calls his church and the proclamation
of the gospel here a what? City on a hill where light cannot
be hid. What does the Christian want?
What does this text tell us, even in verse 3, about what the
believer wants? He, she, we want two things. First, the believer, and by way
of assessment, ask yourself the question in terms of these two,
if this is true of you. The believer wants to come to
the house of the Lord. All other things aside, all of
our significant trials and difficulties and challenges and busyness of
life, we look forward to the Lord's Day. We say, yes, I get
to go back to the house of the Lord. I get to worship Him. That's
the first thing. I want to go there. It's where I belong. But secondly,
and is this also true of us, the believer wants to grab his
neighbor by the arm if he must and say, you come with me. We say it to our coworkers and
how we carry ourselves on the job site. We say it in the way we use our
monies in terms of our shopping practices. We say it in terms
of the significance of what we watch and choose to not watch,
of how we behave in public, how we behave in private. We say
to our neighbor, grabbing them as it were lovingly, firmly,
come with me, this is where you need to be. In the house of the Lord. The language
here in verse 3 is plain, and thus powerful. It says, if we're
using both arms to those around us, come, let's go! Come on! You and I will go again, because
God's Word only comes forth from the place we are going. Do you
believe that, beloved? Notice the significance of the
weightiness of the text. From out of Zion shall go forth
the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, from his place
of corporate worship. As we heard this morning, we
can say it to our neighbors, and we ought to say it to our
neighbors, come with me, leave your life of sin, and come and
hear of the reconciliation of Jesus Christ, but it first needs
to be that truth ringing in our own ears. Thirdly then, third, His Word will grant peace
with Him, also allowing peace between peoples. And verse 4,
He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for
many peoples. And they shall beat their swords
into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore. The verse within the context
of these five, which may challenge us this morning the most. It is indeed the most forward-looking
of this revelatory vision given to Isaiah. Especially in days
like ours, where there are wars and rumors of wars. And if you
lived on the island of Hawaii, you were a little scared this
week about wars and rumors of wars. And we look at the text
and we say, where's the fulfillment? Where's the promise? Where's
the filling out of these things? As people rise up and battle
one against the other, whether it's on Division Street in Grand
Rapids or in some place in Kansas City, we had the highest number
of murders in our city there in Missouri ever this year again. And you begin to ask questions. We think in terms of the many
cultural and societal evils that we're still fighting and battling
against. We think of the growing, we might
even think of it this way, the significantly growing approach
of worldliness and its desire to control all things, the approach
of it into the church. We think of wars and battles. We say, well, it seems quite
distant. And true, true in certain aspects it is, yet not that distant
when we begin to think about the church. Not that distant when we begin
to think about the work of the gospel and the preaching of the
gospel in the church. formerly warring family members,
even husbands and wives brought unto the preaching of the gospel,
who then eventually do, by God's grace, bring words of repentance
and seeking of forgiveness. The truth, you see, beloved,
and let's never forget this, we see it several times in the
word of God in repeating cycles. We know it best from Acts, don't
we? That the word goes from Jerusalem
first to Judea and Samaria, and then finally where? To the ends
of the earth. And yet we ask the question,
is this peace to be seen in the church? Is this where your disputes are
settled? So that you never consider taking brother to court, family
member before another earthly judge. So that we ask the question,
are my disputes settled? Is my war finalized in the preaching
of the word of God in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? Peace
with God first, which then flows outward in a horizontal making
of all things well and right between brother and sister. such that the assessment continues. Now it is true, on the other
hand, that we look forward to a final conclusion, a fulfillment
of these things, in a day which is not yet our day, in the new
heavens and the new earth, when there will be no kinds of wars
and no battles to be had. But beloved, if we're going to
say such words to those on the outside, ought it be the case
that first they can see the reality of that on the inside? We need to allow for the Spirit's
work of assessment in terms of the Word of God and our lives,
don't we? It must already begin in the
church among covenant families, one with the other. Of all the people in the sanctuary
this morning, Now we're going to hear more of this in a particular
way this evening, which we need to be listening to tonight, but
the basic question is before us this morning. Have you come
to the mountain of the Lord expecting, beloved, expecting to have the
righteous judge settle all of your disputes? To settle all of your disputes. Are you willing to have your
interpersonal squabbles settled by the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the preaching of the gospel, to be taught law and gospel? Are you a willing kingdom subject? How often do we bear grudges?
Sometimes for generations in the church. What needs to be the reality,
beloved, and this is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in his
gospel proclamation to have those wicked swords in the church beat
into garden tools. And I think it's significant
that that's the language used here in the text, because then
when we think of garden tools, aren't we drawn back to the promises,
the glories witnessed in the first garden? and the certainty of that joyful,
fruitful life about which the Lord Jesus Christ speaks in John
10 and John 15 and prays for beginning in John 16 and John
17 and saying to His Father, oh, bring that glorious truth
to bear. Sanctify them, us, in the truth
in terms of what? Fruitful living. I'll give you a little assignment
for this afternoon if you like. Read Isaiah chapter 5. Read Isaiah chapter 5 where we
see the reality of that hope for in terms of the coming bad
fruit of the divided kingdom Israel and Judah. and the coming
fruitfulness that we ought to be looking for in the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ today. Yes, there will be war with this
fallen world. Yes, we must not give up fighting
as soldiers for Christ in terms of all of the battles that we
see going on outside. But dearly beloved, what about
inside? As the apostle would put it, we
must not bite and devour one another. The kingdom of Christ
is a building. That is to say, it is a glorious
structure of His grace to which we want to bring, invite others
that they might say, why are you the way you are? Why so different? Peace and joy inside this mountain
house of the Lord is what we are praying for and seeking in
these days. And then now fourthly, Fourthly, to see that day, His
people need to live in His glorious light. Our text concludes, beloved,
at verse 5, O house of Jacob, come let us walk in the light
of the Lord. It ends, this text does there
at verse 5, with an impassioned, vibrant command. It's the connection in the Hebrew
grammar of an imperative and a cohortative. That is simply
to say, a command followed by an impassioned appeal. The command
is, come to the covenant community. Come, and the impassioned appeal
is, let us walk. Oh come, let us walk. There is for God's own covenant
people the responsibility of leadership. You've been catching
that all along this morning, haven't you? It's been kind of flowing under
the text all along, but now in verse 5 it comes to the surface
and we're given this shout of a command, come! Let us. Isaiah saw this, the meaning,
of the sweep of God's work in covenant history, so that he uses here by the Spirit's
direction in the text the sweet covenant name of Jacob, the favored
covenant child, to reflect the call to the leadership the church
is to evidence, the church favored by the Father, to lead. A covenant of people
favored by God called to lead. The church beloved by Jesus Christ
that He gave Himself for us to lead. The church the Father and
the Son in glorious Trinitarian agreement sent the Spirit that
we might by Him lead the nations. The covenant people seeing the
need, the Gentiles, the nations have our friends and our neighbors
have and leading the way as the text says in walking in the light
of the Lord. Notice again, beloved, our theme
statement of the text. The Lord will use his worshiping
church. To draw in the nations, what
are we doing here this morning? We're worshiping God, aren't
we? To what glorious ends can we begin to enumerate the ends
for which God has designed this time of corporate covenant worship?
Which purposes of God include us drawing in the nations? To this end, we pray for rich
grace, don't we? Because this leadership which
the text is speaking of falls to us, Ephesians 5 verse 8. To quote Ephesians 5 verse 8,
walk as children of the light. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 8, to quote,
walk soberly since we belong to the day. Romans 13, 12, to cast off the
works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk
properly as in the daytime. Beloved, we need not play blame
shift games about why so many people are running to the stores
this morning as we're sitting here this little brief amount
of time they're running there. Let's not play blame games about
why people so frequently dishonor the Lord's day. The responsibility, the calling
rests squarely on our shoulders, doesn't it? This verse five, come let us
walk in the light of the Lord, means let us live what we believe,
practice what we preach. Young people, is that what your
friends see from you? Is that the example that you
set for them, covenant fathers? Is that what your children see
from you in terms of your commitment of time? Is that what your coworkers
see from you on the job site? And beloved, we say in terms
of all of these things, oh Lord. Have mercy on me. Which brings
us right back in the text to the beginning of it, doesn't
it? Of coming to be taught. By the
Lord. When we pray in terms of how
this text ends with a command to the covenant people, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord. We are ending with an appeal
to the glorious truth presented to us in the text. Lord. Teach
me. Which is beloved what he's been
doing this morning. Teach me that what marks me and
that what all people see of me, around me, and know me by, is
the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that then when we
say to them, verse three, come walk with us to the house of
the Lord, it will be because, verse five, we were here by grace
first. To then lead. Amen. Our Father and our God, this
morning how we praise You and thank You for grace abounding
to the chief of sinners. And Lord, we know that means
each one of us. That we believe because You first worked in our
heart. That we are Yours because You
first made us Yours. And then now send us to speak
to others about the glories of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Those glories about which we are beginning to know better
and better. O Heavenly Father, help Your
church. Strengthen us. All these things now we do ask.
It is our petition and our request. We ask, believingly, in Jesus'
name, Amen.
Come To The Mountain For Truth
| Sermon ID | 115181646518 |
| Duration | 36:56 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Isaiah 2:1-5 |
| Language | English |
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