Isaiah 1:21 – 2:5 God’s Plan Will Overcome Opposition

Beginning in verse 21, it appears God is rehashing His case against Israel by restating her offenses. She was once faithful but now she has prostituted herself; in other words, she previously served God but now she is consumed in her pursuit of wealth and personal comfort – she has sold herself to pleasure. Where justice once reigned supreme, now murderers rule and reign – they may be wealthy, they may have power, they may be popular but they have blood on their hands.

Because of this moral decay, the money has become worthless and her luxuries have become tasteless. Here God absolutely debunks the current conventional wisdom that we need to focus on economic matters and leave moral matters to personal choice. This has been the devil’s lie through the ages to take mans’ eyes off his obligation to honor God by keeping his attention upon material needs. This passage demonstrates how rejection of God’s law first destroys morals and then destroys economies.

Who are these leaders, the ones with blood on their hands? Isaiah says the rulers are rebels, companions of thieves. That is, they are destroying the system of justice and godly government with the intention of enhancing their personal wealth and rewarding their benefactors. These men love bribes and chase after gifts – even to writing the gifts into law. A good example of this is the current trend toward government entitlements, subsidies and bailouts – the leaders buy their votes by distributing other people’s wealth and they have abandoned justice. When the godly are stripped of their assets, who is left to defend the fatherless and the widows?

In Proverbs 24:11,12, Solomon admonishes us to, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?” [NIV] Rescuing the helpless from oppression is the opposite of our natural tendency to pursue personal gain and comfort. If we follow our sin nature, we will seek pleasure to the exclusion, or oppression, of others. Lord Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” So it follows, if our sinful nature tends toward oppression of others for our personal gain, how much more compounded is this evil when we rise to positions of leadership and of power?

Our Founding Fathers understood this principle – the depravity of man and his sin nature. That is why they feared establishing the new nation upon a government of the few. They established, instead, the states and the people as rulers who elected representatives in their place.

In this Isaiah passage and in Solomon’s admonition quoted above, we are admonished to seek justice above our quest for personal wealth and comfort. God knows our heart and He guards our life – He knows when we ignore justice for the sake of personal gain. That is, He knows when we will not take the time to speak or demonstrate His truth and His law because our business or financial interests have taken priority.

After restating Israel’s offenses, He declares He will get relief from His foes and He will avenge Himself upon His enemies (v 24). Then He will restore justice. The rest of the passage (1:24 – 2:5) is a picture of what this will look like.

Before we look at this, let’s backtrack a bit and see how we got here. In the previous passage (Isaiah 1:1-20) God stated his displeasure with Israel and warned them of His coming judgments upon them. He was displeased with their outward exercise of their faith – that is, their observing the religious framework by going to church, to use modern vernacular, and their sacrifices, or tithes and offerings. They observed the form, but their hearts were not set upon following God because they were self-absorbed. So God declared He was not going to listen to their prayers and He implored them to come and reason together – and God’s grace should lead us to repentance. He concludes with a warning: those who obey will be given the best from the land but the rebellious will be devoured by war.

What happened between verse 20 and verse 21? If the people were inclined to repent and obey, this would have been the end of the Book. But, as God declared in Isaiah 1:3, “My people do not understand.” This lack of understanding is not an educational or intellectual matter – it is a hardening of the heart. On the human level, this hardening comes from the people’s self-absorption, or mans’ natural inclination to focus upon personal wealth and comfort. In the sixth chapter of Isaiah, the chapter that tells of God’s commissioning of Isaiah, we are given God’s view of this hardening. God tells Isaiah to preach to a people who will not listen – they will hear but not understand, they will see but not perceive. Why? Because God hardened their hearts so that they would not repent and be healed. Isaiah asked God, “How long?” And God answered the people will remain hardened until the land lies in ruin, as described in chapter one. This is a difficult saying but God has revealed He hardened the hearts of the people to bring about His plan, or His will.

Many Christians have a difficult time understanding how a loving God could destine, or predestine, people to destruction. We will not try to tackle this subject right here but to bring up three points. First) we must understand, God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55) and some things we will never be able to explain or settle in our own minds (Deu 29:29). Second) already, as we studied previously, Isaiah violently tore apart the picture of a loving God, replacing this picture with an image of a just God. We know from Scripture God is both loving and just. We cling to the loving aspect and lose balance – forgetting that God is just. Third) when Christ was on the earth, He told the crowds the same thing God told Isaiah, that their hearts were hardened so they could not understand. He explained this in part to the disciples, who, like us, had a hard time understanding why God would harden people’s hearts (Mat 13:11-17).

The answer to the question about what happened between verse 20 and verse 21 is the people’s hearts were hardened. The nation shrugged off the offer to reason together with Almighty God. This explains the restatement of offenses and God’s declaration of coming judgment.

God’s prophecy of imminent judgment is three-fold, beginning in verse 24: First) God will get relief from His foes; Second) God will purge the nation, specifically the City of Jerusalem, of impurities, and; Third) God will restore a just government and Christ will reign in Jerusalem.

It is hard to imagine a Creator, such as ours, a God of awesome power (and I don’t use that term in the loose, modern sense) – who created the vastness of the universe and the minuteness of subatomic particles – it is hard to imagine an all-powerful being, such as He, putting up for a moment the rebelliousness within the heart of man. I can imagine it would be tiring – not as if God could be worn down as a man, but nonetheless, God says He will get relief from His foes – those who are in rebellion to Him.

Many theologians have interpreted the dispersion of the nation of Israel to be God’s rejection of this people – a cancellation of the covenant with Abraham. Some have interpreted Scripture to say God has now replaced Israel with the Church – that is, the Church now takes the place of Israel in the covenant, or within a new covenant. However, for these men to be correct, we are going to have to disregard the following passage, as well as much more of the Book of Isaiah, more works of the Old Testament prophets, the entire Book of Zechariah and portions of the Book of Revelation.

Paul wrote regarding Israel, “Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” [Rom 9:4-5 NIV] Of all the writings of the Apostle Paul, there is no passage where he declares the covenant revoked. In fact, in chapter ten of Romans, he wrote God would make Israel jealous by extending a covenant to the Gentiles. Continuing this conversation in the next chapter, he declares God has not rejected His people but has left a remnant throughout history.

In the books of Ephesians and Colossians, Paul goes into details about the mystery of the gospel – the salvation of Israel and the Church. In the Book of Romans, he gives us a glimpse of this mystery and he warns us Gentiles not to become conceited in our judgment upon Israel (Rom 11:25-27). He explains Israel will be “ hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” and then God will complete the work of purifying the nation of Israel, just as Isaiah prophesied in this passage.

When God purifies Israel, “rebels and sinners will be broken and those who forsake the LORD will perish.” [1:29-31] Those who worship created things, rather than worshiping the Creator will whither. The mighty man will “become tinder” and all his work a spark. This is hard for us to imagine. We have witnessed godless men build great empires, empires that appear indestructible – some lasting for generations. But God will overcome His opposition; He will have relief from His foes and He will purge and restore the nation of Israel.

In Psalms 37, David admonishes us to be still before the LORD and wait patiently, not fretting the dominions built by wicked, or worldly men, to carry out evil schemes (v 7). Those who hope in, or obey, the LORD will possess the land and the evil will be cut off (v 9). Later in Isaiah, he preaches all the works of evil will be as stubble, or tinder, and will burn up (47:14) and Malachi affirms this (Mal 4:1). So, as we look at the world around us and we see the injustices mounting by the moment, our duty is not to fight God’s battles for Him. Our duty is to wait – this means we live a life of obedience, never wavering to stand up for the truth. Paul, in Ephesians 6:10-18, wrote we should remain strong in the Lord, in God’s strength – not our own, and to put on God’s armor so we can stand and resist evil. He reminds us our battle is not against the people we see, but against the unseen forces – who are in opposition to God and who use the people we see as instruments of their evil. Our duty is to stand, to stand firm for the truth while opposing the evil – to wait upon the LORD.

Micah 4:1-3 quotes Isaiah 2:2-4 word-for-word. Micah and Isaiah were prophets contemporary to each other. If God has given the same message to two different prophets, it can only mean this is an important message. God wants us to know what His Son’s reign will look like and we need to set our hearts upon this. Jesus told us Jerusalem is the City of the Great King (Mat 5:35). David reminds us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psa 122:6) and Isaiah says we are to give God no rest on this matter until “He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.” [Isa 62:6-7 NIV].

When God restores Jerusalem to its full glory – when He returns justice to the throne of Israel God’s temple will be established as the chief among the mountains (v 2). Whatever is “chief among the mountains” is the highest law of the land, or lands – the whole earth. Christ will rule from His temple and His law will be the highest law of the land. Paul declares in Colossians 1:16, Christ created all things, “whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.” God made it – He owns it – He rules it. And it will be so. Notice, Paul did not get into Christ’s ownership of dirt and plants and trees – he struck where it is important, in that, Christ owns the law and all authorities. He owns all that He made and they are subject to Him.

Some people tell us this authority is reserved for Christ only at the end time, or during the millennial reign, but not now. Paul refuted this in 1Corinthians chapter fifteen, where he wrote Christ must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet (v 25) – this means Christ must reign, even now. When Christ ascended to Heaven, He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 8:1, 12:2). Does He sit on a throne to merely observe the affairs of man? And is the throne of God so ineffectual that man owes no allegiance to the One who reigns in power? And if Paul is correct, in that, our battle is with the principalities of the air – and it is not we who fight, we stand while God battles – and He conquers, has that same God laid aside His authority, stepping aside for man to write his own law and become his own authority? The Prophet Ezekiel declared all nations are responsible to follow God’s law (Eze 14:12-23).

Jeremiah tells us God set Jerusalem “in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. Yet in her wickedness she rebelled against My laws and decrees. . .” [Jer 5:5,6 NIV] The mission of the nation of Israel was to be a beacon of God’s law and His grace to the nations. Israel rebelled and was destroyed but Isaiah prophesied they will be restored to their former glory. This time they will accomplish the purpose God established for them. Not only will Christ rule and His law become the highest law, but all nations will stream to it (v 2). They will say, “let’s go to Jerusalem and learn Christ’s ways so we may walk in His paths.” [v 3]

Law systems are promulgated and established by an organized system of learning. As law systems developed during the Middle Ages, nations established universities and centers of learning to promote organized systems of law. In the early days of the Anglican System, which is based upon Scripture and which laid the foundation for American law, great and famous names, such as Coke, Raleigh, Moore and Blackstone, congregated and taught at the Inns of the Court. From these Inns came the judges and attorneys who would represent this law and the system became entrenched so that it resisted the efforts of the proponents of the restored Roman system, which was based upon secular law and was sweeping its way throughout Europe. This explains much of the difference between America and the laws and cultures of Europe.

When Christ comes to reign in a restored Jerusalem, Isaiah tells us the nations will abandon the Romanized system, the Anglican system, the Islamic system, the Chinese, the Hindu and even all tribal systems of law. The nations and the people will flock to Jerusalem to learn Christ’s law and “the law will go out from Jerusalem.” [v 3] There will be a new system of law – a better system – a system of perfect justice, not flawed by human interpretation because the Lawgiver will be on the throne and He will be instructing the nations.

Under God’s perfect and just law, war will be necessary no more. God often talks about war as judgment from God. War is one of the methods whereby God disciplines the nations and brings about His plan and will and this will continue to the end of the age. Daniel’s encounter with God’s messenger, in the Book of Daniel chapter ten, seems to imply that wars on earth are a reflection of the wars in heaven. If wars are ongoing in the heavens, how can we expect to be free of war in a fallen, sinful world, ruled by godless kings?

When God gave the covenants to Adam and Noah, He instructed them to populate the earth and use the resources to be productive (Gen 1:28, 9:1). The Bible tells us God created man in His own image (Gen 1:26). When we are productive, that is, making things from the materials He gave us, we reflect the image of our Creator. He created; we sub-create, or produce from this creation.

In his rebellion, man quickly abandoned this covenant and gathered into the cities (Genesis chapters ten and eleven). Instead of spreading out upon the land, being fully dependent upon God, man chose to congregate and look to human leadership and provision. Cities and states rose up and wars broke out. These wars quickly became a convenient and efficient model for accumulating wealth as opposed to working and producing. War is a symptom of man’s effort to be ruled without God – and we could make this case all throughout history and on to current times.

When the final age has come, when Christ rules and reigns in Jerusalem, He will settle the disputes among nations and war will be necessary no more. Not only will weapons of war be recycled into machinery for production (v 4) but man will no longer train for war. All mankind will serve one God. “Come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.” [v 5 NIV]

Thus far, Isaiah has given us a picture of God’s plan: He chose a nation for Himself. The nation rebelled according to God’s plan. The nation will one day be restored and purified and God will have vengeance upon His enemies according to His plan. Christ will rule and reign in Jerusalem. Man will flock to learn God’s law system. Justice will reign upon the earth and war will be necessary no more. The rebellious will be overthrown. They and their grand dominions will wither and become fuel for the fire. This is what God said through Isaiah and this is how it is going to be.