Thy Strong Word - Isaiah 2: Things are Messy, Not Messianic

Rev. Nathan Meador, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 2.

Isaiah’s introductory chapter looks out on the wastes of Judah following Assyria’s siege of Jerusalem. Isaiah chapter 2 takes us back to ‘the good old days’ under Jotham and Ahaz, when Judah was “filled with silver and gold,” but those precious metals were often in the form of idols. Isaiah challenges the people of his day: Judah may look prosperous now, but spiritually speaking, it’s a mess. The Messianic kingdom will know spiritual peace, not just temporal peace.

Isaiah challenges us to see that “the house of the LORD” was lifted up for the nations at the crucifixion of Jesus on Golgotha. The Cross of Jesus offers salvation, grace, forgiveness, and the promise of the true Messianic kingdom, but it also means God has declared war on our pride and our greed. We should know joy and peace, but also true fear, not merely reverence.

Lutheran Heritage Foundation - Underwriter of Thy Strong Word — Underwriter of Thy Strong Word

Thy Strong Word is a daily in-depth study of the books of the Bible with host Rev. AJ Espinosa and guest pastors from across the country. Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation and produced by the LCMS Office of National Mission.

Isaiah 2

The Mountain of the Lord

2 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

²It 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,
³    and many peoples 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 shall go forth the law,^[a]
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴He 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;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war anymore.

⁵O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord.

The Day of the Lord

⁶For you have rejected your people,
    the house of Jacob,
because they are full of things from the east
    and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines,
    and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.
⁷Their land is filled with silver and gold,
    and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is filled with horses,
    and there is no end to their chariots.
⁸Their land is filled with idols;
    they bow down to the work of their hands,
    to what their own fingers have made.
⁹So man is humbled,
    and each one is brought low—
    do not forgive them!
¹⁰Enter into the rock
    and hide in the dust
from before the terror of the Lord,
    and from the splendor of his majesty.
¹¹The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
    and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

¹²For the Lord of hosts has a day
    against all that is proud and lofty,
    against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
¹³against all the cedars of Lebanon,
    lofty and lifted up;
    and against all the oaks of Bashan;
¹⁴against all the lofty mountains,
    and against all the uplifted hills;
¹⁵against every high tower,
    and against every fortified wall;
¹⁶against all the ships of Tarshish,
    and against all the beautiful craft.
¹⁷And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
    and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,
    and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
¹⁸And the idols shall utterly pass away.
¹⁹And people shall enter the caves of the rocks
    and the holes of the ground,^[b]
from before the terror of the Lord,
    and from the splendor of his majesty,
    when he rises to terrify the earth.

²⁰In that day mankind will cast away
    their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
which they made for themselves to worship,
    to the moles and to the bats,
²¹to enter the caverns of the rocks
    and the clefts of the cliffs,
from before the terror of the Lord,
    and from the splendor of his majesty,
    when he rises to terrify the earth.
²²Stop regarding man
    in whose nostrils is breath,
    for of what account is he?

Footnotes:

Isaiah 2:3 Or teaching
Isaiah 2:19 Hebrew dust

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. esv.org

Rev. AJ Espinosa

It’s no coincidence that the favorite hymn for Rev. AJ Espinosa, host of Thy Strong Word, is Thy Strong Word. Working on his PhD from Concordia Seminary St. Louis, Pastor Espinosa takes breaks from his studies by beating the competition in his favorite video and board games, reading “Mere Christianity,” or getting some quality sleep. When he’s not mixing curries or whipping up a fresh flan for dessert, you may find him researching cryptocurrency, watching Star Trek Discovery, or jamming out to the Coco and Moana Spanish-language soundtracks (with his daughter, of course). Pastor Espinosa lives in California, where he enjoys time at the beach with his wife, Gaby, precious little girls Ellie and Natalie, and exceptionally friendly black cat Heike.