Peter Barnes: Isaiah 2:1-5
(5 August 2018)
SERMON NOTES: BLESSINGS FROM NEW ZION (Isaiah 2:1-5)
Isaiah has contrasted old and new Zion (1:21-31), and here he goes on to speak of the new Zion in greater detail. See Micah 4:1-3; Rev. 21:1-2. Isaiah saw the word – 2:1; see 1:1 and Amos 1:1. All the other prophets have the word of God come to them e.g. Jer.1:1..
1. Zion will be the centre of blessing.
– 2:2-3. The ‘latter days’ (ESV) or the ‘last days’ (NIV) refer to when the Messiah has come – Acts 2:17; Heb.1:1-2.
– the Greek gods supposedly lived on Mount Olympus, but Jerusalem is less than 800 metres above sea level. It is a vision, not a geography lesson.
– Isaiah sees a greater king coming and a greater temple, and a greater Zion – John 4:20-24. God came to Jerusalem in a way that He has come to no other place on earth.
2. The peoples will come into God’s kingdom.
– 2:2-3; see Acts 2:9-11. Calvin was adamant that evangelism flowed from salvation: ‘nothing could be more inconsistent with the nature of faith than that deadness which would lead a man to disregard his brethren, and to keep the light of knowledge choked up within his own breast.’ Eph.2:19.
3. Peace will result from the Messiah’s coming to Zion.
– 2:4. This text is inscribed on a wall mounting in the United Nations office in New York. Isaiah is not speaking of the United Nations, but the age of the Messiah – Isa.9:6 (Prince of Peace). Calvin: ‘Would that Christ reigned entirely in us!’
– Col.1:20; Rom.5:1; Eph.2:16-17; John 14:27; note James 4:1-2a.
‘Come’, say verse 3 and verse 5 – read. Come to the Messiah, believe in the Messiah, and walk in the light of what He has done.