Isaiah 2

Isaiah 2:1-5

With this chapter begins a new sermon, which is continued in the two following ones. The subject of it is Judah and Jerusalem, ver. 1. The prophet foretells, 1. The glory of the gospel-church in the latter days, ver. 2, 3. and the great power of should introduce into the world, ver. 4. whence he infers the duty of the house of Jacob, ver. 5. 2. The rejection of the Jesus for their sins, ver. 6-9. 3. That God by his judgments would humble them, ver. 10-17. 4. That they should themselves be ashamed of their confidence in their idols, and in an arm of faith, ver. 18-22.

1. THE word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw, concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2. And ‘it shall come to pass in the last days, 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 unto it. 3. And many people shall go and say, ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, and ‘he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for ‘out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem, a. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall ’re-buke many people: and ’they shall beat their swords into plow-liners, and their spears into pruning-books: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5. O house of Jacob, come ye, and ’let us walk in the light of the LORD.

We have here a glorious prophecy of the establishment of the kingdom and church of Christ in the last days, the days of the Messiah. The gospel is the last dispensation, nothing now remains but the great consummation of all things at the second appearing of the great God and Saviour.

1. The mountain of the Lord’s house, his church, firm and immovable, shall be established in the top of the mountains, in Christ, who is the head of all principalities and powers, and, with a superiority over all the kingdoms of the earth, shall be coached above the hills, the antichristian powers, whether papal, pagan, or Mahometan, being subdued before it. Note, Whatever oppositions the church for a time may groan under, in this end the will see all her enemies at her feet.

2. All nations shall flow unto it; many out of all lands shall be incorporated into it, and, having tailed the blessedness of Christ’s service, shall be zealously solicitous to propagate his holy religion, and engage others to go with them. Many people shall go and say, Come ye along with us, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, his church, and to the house of the God of Jacob, the place he hath chosen for his blest abode. And, as an argument to enforce their exhortation, they urge, and he will teach us of his ways, his holy, happy ways of grace, mercy,

and peace; and we will walk in his paths, instructed by his word, and strengthened by his Spirit. Note, (1.) The gospel shall have a more glorious and universal spread than ever yet it hath had. (2.) They who are Christ’s people, are not only made willing to follow him themselves, but are zealous to engage others to come and partake of the same blessing. (3.) None can teach us effectually, but God himself. Though the best means may be employed, unless he gives the increasers, Paul plants and Apollos waters in vain. (4.) They who would go to the mount of God, must go up, in opposition to corrupt nature, and expect many difficulties in the absent from the world and Satan; but every pain will be amply repulsed, when we shall reach the summit. (5.) They who are taught of God are made obedient to his holy will; their knowledge hath a sanctifying influence, engaging them to walk and please God.

3. The means God will employ for this purpose. Out of Zion shall go forth the law, or doctrine; the gospel, the law of the Spirit of life; and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, where the incarnate word appeared, and from whence he sent forth his apostles to preach the gospel unto every creature; which hath been done in a measure, continues still to be spread, and will more eminently be propagated than ever, before the second coming of Christ.

4. The blessing of Christ’s government is declared. He shall judge among the nations, holding the wages of universal dominion, and ruling with the most consummate equity; and shall rebuke many people, convince and convert them from the error of their ways by his word and Spirit. Peace then will bless the earth, such as hath never yet been known: They shall beat their swords into plow-liners, and their spears into pruning-books: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. In part we see this fulfilled; so far as the gospel obtains power and influence on the heart, it leads us to follow peace with all men; but the state of perfect harmony here described remains yet to come, when Christ shall reign over his saints gloriously.

5. The Gentile church addresses the Jewish people, solicitous for their conversion: O house of Jacob, come ye, and join us in the worship and ordinances of the gospel; and let us walk in the light of the Lord, in the light of the Sun of Righteousness, the divine Redeemer, whose word is our bright guide through time unto eternity; and whilst by faith and love we cleanse to him, and look up in prayer for continued support, he will lead us by his counsel, till he shall bring us to his glory.

6. Therefore ’thou hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the earth, and ‘are hamblesers like the Philistines, and ’they please themselves in the children of strangers. 7. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures: their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. 8. Their land also is full of idols: they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. 9. And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: ’therefore forgive them not.

Isaiah 2:6-9

These words contain a reason for the divine conduct in the rejection of the Jews, and vocation of the Gentiles.

1. Their fine were great: they introduced the magic and foreries of the earth; imitated, in their arts of divination, the Philistines; and preferred the children of strangers to native Israelites, v. 6. Though God had forbidden them to multiply riches, and chariots, and horses, to appear formidable to their neighbours, yet they anxiously laboured to procure these as their confidence, instead of God’s promise and care, v. 7. Though he had so awfully warned them against idols, they had filled their land with them, v. 8. and high and low joined in the idolatrous service, v. 9. This description suits the times in which the prophet spoke, better than their flats after their return from Babylon; and every preceding generation, as well as that which immediately rejected Christ, contributed to fill up the measure of their nation’s guilt. Some refer this to Antichrist and his followers, who call themselves the people of God, but shew the marks of an apostle church. The juggles, tricks, and frauds of Romish priests are well known; their convents filled with children of strangers; or they please themselves in unnatural lusts with such, whence Rome is called spiritually Sodom, Rev. xi. 8. They enrich themselves by masses, indulgence, life, and, attended with great pains of chariots and horses, their ecclesiastics appear in all the magnificence of worldly splendor. Full of idols; worshiping images of pretended saints, and of many who never existed; and all sunk in the same hateful idolatry: like priest, like people.

2. Their doom was heavy: God had forsaken them, given them up to a reprobate mind; they would never be forgiven, either in this world or that which is to come, but all such practices be punished with eternal vengeance. This was verified in the amazing defoliation the Roman brought upon the Jewish people, when the body of the nation was so terribly destroyed;

II Baton Chord Proved, and shall be more fully accomplished in the eternal ruin of all the impenitently wicked in the day of God. 1 Ver. 10. 2. Rev. 3. 1. 4 Ver. 10. Chap. v. 13. de corr. 11. 1 Cor. 1. 31. 1 Emb. and 1—2. 2 Ann. 6. 3 Emb. in 6. 4 1 Cor. 6. 5 Pf. abid. 1 Hab. Pallons of adva. 2 Ver. 11. Chap. sub. 11. a Ver. 10. Had. c. 8. Luke 1:10. 30. Rev. 4. 18. & 9. 6. 6 a Thal. 4 Chap. 1:10. 11. & corr. 7. 6 Ver. 2:19. a Pf. rebid. 3. Jer. 1:10. 5. 7 Jn. 1:10. 3. 10. ¶ Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the duft, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty. 11. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 12. For the day of the LORD of hofts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low; 13. And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashar. 14. And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, 15. And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, 16. And upon all the ships of Tarhih, and upon all pleasant pictures. 17. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 18. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. 19. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 20. In that day a man shall call his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made, each one for himself to worship, to the moles, and to the bars: 21. To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 22. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

Isaiah 2:9-16

The following: but this will abide upchanging the time. When all created nature links in mind, the name of God therein an agent, shall appear complete before the throne of judgment, and plead this rightowards, as their only title to eternal glory, v. 6.

(6.) They need not fear the reproaches and reviling of men, who have an interest in this rightowards and salvation: they are to expect their crisis, but it is their glory, not their shame.

(7.) Christ will silence and destroy shortly all their enemies; and when, through the ages of eternity, those who have made his rightowards their trust, shall be rejoicing in glory, they who have rejected it must lie down in tsunami, where their worm doth not, and their fire is not quenched, v. 8.

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9. ¶ 9. Awake, awake, ¶ put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. ¶ Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? 10. Art thou not it which hath defied the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ranfomed to pass over? 11. Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. 12. ¶ I, ever I am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grafs? 13. And forgeteth the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth? and hath feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? 14. The captive exile hailmeth, that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the air, nor that his bread should fail. 15. But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roved: the LORD of hofts is his name. 16. And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and lay unto Zion, Thou art my people.

God had promised to bring near his salvation; the church immediately in prayer cries to him to hasten it in his time.

1. His people pray that he would awake, and put forth his mighty power for their salvation: not that he ever fleeps or flumbers; but, when the faithful are diminished and brought love, he seems to forget their distresses. Confident of his power, they plead their former experience of it, when in the plagues of Egypt he made him his arm, and, in the deliverance of Israel from that house of their prison, wrought such miracles on their behalf. Confident of his love, they promise themselves a family sailor; that he will bring them to Zion with songs, banish their sorrows, and crown them with everlasting joy, v. 9—11. This may refer to the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, or to the church of Christ, when Babylon mythical is fallen. And it is applicable to every believer, who here, better with morners, is driven to God in continual prayer for help and succour, through grace is enabled to triumph over all difficulties, and in death gone to the heavenly Zion, where all his tears will be for ever wiped away, his sorrows be eternally banished, and joy unfeasible and full of glory given in his bosom; whilst amidst the erraptur’d hofts of saints and angels he joins in the everlasting lungs of a Redeemer’s praise.

2. God, whose ears are ever open to the prayers of his people, answers them to their utmost satisfaction: I, roam I am he that unpleasant you; and when he, who is the fountain of mercy, and the God of all confessions, gives such an assurance, what can we need more?

(1.) He comforts them under their fears. Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die, &c. However the oppressors threatened, the greatest before God were but dying worms, and frail as the withering grafs; and therefore their continual fears were groundless and unenforceable, v. 12. Now, they were dishonourable to God, and shewed a forgetfulness and dismay of his almighty power and grace, who hath established his church more firmly than the pillars of heaven, or the foundations of the earth, and in an instant could fly the oppressors, as in the case of Pharaoh and Sennacherot, v. 13. Now, (1.) A sense of the vanity of man will greatly tend to deliver as from the fear of offending in the way of our duty; for what is the wrath of a dying worm, compared with the favour of the living God? (2.) We often create ourselves needless disquiet, and tremble at consequences and events which never come to pass. (3.) The cause of all commenting that is our unbelief. One thought of God, with fixed dependance upon him, would bear an above all fortress and threatening.

(2.) He will know them from their hands. The captive exile deploreth that he may be ‘depot’: it is a natural desire, and he is disastrous for the time to come; and that he should not die in the air, the battle of his prison; nor that his bread should fail, and he be banished. And such might be the fear of sinks of the Jews in Babylon, and is the case of the faithful at times, when under temptation they are ready to despair of themselves, but God will not suffer about to perish. I am, the Lord thy God, and therefore will never leave nor forsake thee, that divided the sea, which moves roared; as when he once opened a way for his ranfomed to escape out of Egypt, he will be from Babylon; and thus shall all his captive exiles be set free, whatever spiritual bondage for a time they may endure: the Lord of help is his name, and therefore able to accomplish all his promises.

(3.) He will fulfil his word to the uttermost in the establishment of his church. I have put my words in thy mouth; Christ, the great prophet, being authorised and sent of the Father to publish the gospel: and have entered this in the shadow of my hand; protected him, and his ministers commissioned by him to preach his word, with whom God is to the end of the world, maintaining them against all opposition; that I may point the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth; the gospel church, bright as the heavens in purity of deliques and worthy, and fixed and strong as the foundations of the earth, against which the gates of hell can never prevail: and joy unto Zion, Thou art my people; the Spiritual Zion, where Jews and Gentiles, incorporated together, become one fold under one shepherd.

17. ¶ 9. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hath drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrong them out. 18. ¶ There is none to guide her among all the sons whom the hath brought forth: neither is there any that taketh her by the hand, of all the sons that the hath brought up. 19. ¶ There two things are come unto thee: who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? 20. ¶ They long have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rabules of thy God. 21. ¶ Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken; but not with wine. 22. Thou faith thy Lord, the LORD, and thy God: that pleadeth the cause of his people, behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, from the dregs of the cup of my fury, thou shalt no more drink it again. 23. But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee: which have said to thy soul, how down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over.

Isaiah 2:10-22

When God does not forgive, he will destroy. We have here the defoliations denounced, either upon the Jewish people, or upon the antichristian foes, to both which the words are applicable. 1. He bids them enter into the rock, as deriding their vain confidence, and shewing them how unable they will be to stopen; when for fear of the Lord, and the glory of his majesty, they should fork to hide their guilty heads. Nite, (1.) At God’s bar, the flouted! beared finner will tremble. (2.) Vain will be every refuge in the day of judgment; no rock, no mountain can cover the guilty, when God ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 2. The pride of sinners shall then be laid low, the lofty looks shall sink into depiction and despair, and the haughtiness of the insolent lick the duft; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, in his judgments executed upon his enemies, and in his kingdom, which then shall be established for ever, and never more be disturbed by any antichristian foe. Nite, Pride must come down; if we now fall not on our knees in humiliation, we must fall deep into hell under our sins. 3. The particulars of God’s judgments upon the proud and lofty are mentioned. Though firm as mountains, and tall as cedars, they will be overturned; though guarded by the strongest fortunes, they cannot stand, all their confidence will fall them, and their glory vanish; their ships be destroyed, their pleasant pictures defaced, their idols abolished. The kings of the earth, and great men, and chief captains, who supported the beaft, and the false prophet, and committed fornication with the great whom, will be ruined with her; their armades fitted out to war against the faints of God, will be dispersed and defrayed; their curious paintings of madonas, faints, crucifixes, and the like idolatrous ornaments of their churches, will perish together, and their images, at which they paid their blind deviations, be for ever abolished. 4. The worshippers, convinced of the vanity of their idols, will renounce them, or despairing of relief, in anger call them to the moles and the bits, frightened with God’s judgments, and flying to the clefts of the rocks for shelter. Nite, (1.) Sooner or later the vanity of idols will appear; whether the grosser idolatory of images, or the more refined, yet equally abominable idolary of inordinate affection, placed on gold and silver, or any other creature; none of which will profit in a day of wrath. (2.) Many are driven from their sins who never repent of them; either are so terrified, that conscience deters them, or the inconveniences and sufferings they sustain, without them; or opportunity is wanting to commit them, but still the unmerished love of them remains in their hearts. 5. The prophet concludes with an exhortation to cross from man; either directed to the Jews, who trusted on Egypt for help against the Babylonians, or to the followers of antichrist, who put such trust in the blasphemous pardons and indulgencies ished from the papal chair; or in general to all, not to trust in man, even the greatest, for salvation, because he is a worm; for wherein is he to be accounted of? the Egyptians would help in vain, the great vaunts of the man that calls himself Christ’s vicar, and God upon earth, are empty boasts of arrogance, and all human excellence nothing, and less than nothing, and vanity. Nite, We cannot put too little trust in man, nor too great confidence in God. They who cease from the one, to live wholly upon the other, will find a rock instead of a reed.

Isaiah 2:17-23

Jerusalem here appears funk under her calamities into the flupper of despair; or, like Ezekiel’s dry bones, in a state of death.

1. God sails aloud, Awake, awake! and his voice can raise the dead, and rouse the soul from the depths of despair. Deplorable indeed was her case; for previous provocations she had been made to drink the cup of fury and trembling to the dregs. Most awful judgments had been poured upon her, and, like one intoxicated with wine, weak and feeble, she became an easy prey to the invader, v. 17. None of all her sons was able to help or support her; king, priest, and prophet had failed, v. 18. Two things had come upon her, a state of abject misery, and not a friend to comfort her. Famine, desolation, destruction, and the sword, had cut off all ranks, v. 19. and the few who were left, though despairing, were furious; though fainting with hunger, impatient under God’s rebukes, and quarreling with his providences, instead of meekly humbling themselves for their sins, v. 20. Now, (1.) If judgment thus begin at the house of God, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? (2.) When we have been unfaithful to God, let it not be thought strange, if our nearest relatives prove unfaithful to us. (3.) None can comfort the soul, against whom God rises up in disfeasance. (4.) Too many under God’s visitations, instead of being abated by them, madly quarrel with his providences. (5.) They but entangle themselves the more, and add to their plagues, who struggle to his net.

2. God’s compulsion towards them fail not: though they deserve wrath to the uttermost, in the midst of judgment he remembers mercy. Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine; stupified with the weight of calamities, and an object of God’s pity. Thou faith thy Lord, the Lord thy God, who, notwithstanding all provocations, hath not utterly cast off his people, nor will renounce his relation to them; that pleadeth the supply of his people, to the confusion of their enemies; Thou, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling.

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trunking, must the drugs of the cup of my fury; the punishment inflicted is enough: then flesh no more drink it again; the fin forgiven, there shall be no more curse: and I will put it into the hand of these that afflict thee; of the Babylonian, and, in future time, of Babylon mystical; which have said to thy soul, lives down, that no may go ever; not only enslaving their bodies, but tyrannizing over the souls of men, the distinguishing mark of the antichristian church, who set up an infallible hand, and require implicit obedience: and then heft said thy body as the ground, and as the forest to them that went ever; reduced to the most abjects these of dithrels, See Rev. xi. 2. but now the time is come to vindicate their quarrel, and execute judgment on their oppressors. Note, (1.) It is often the case of God’s people to be in exbulation, and greater afflictions seem yet to await the church, than any she hath yet experienced. (2.) It is the support of the faithful in all times of suffering, that they cannot be separated from the love of God. (3.) However the cause of pestilence may be oppressed, it will appear triumphant at the halt. (4.) They who have been perfectors of God’s people, will find him the avenger of their wrongs.