Tag: Isaiah 2

PEACE      

Isaiah 2:17-22

¹⁷ Proud men will be humiliated, arrogant men will be brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. ¹⁸ The worthless idols will be completely eliminated. ¹⁹ They will go into caves in the rocky cliffs and into holes in the ground, trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the LORD and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth. ²⁰ At that time men will throw their silver and gold idols, which they made for themselves to worship, into the caves where rodents and bats live, ²¹ so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs and the openings under the rocky overhangs, trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the LORD and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth. ²² Stop trusting in human beings, whose life’s breath is in their nostrils. For why should they be given special consideration?

There is something special about the Christmas season. It occurs at the end of the year for most of the world. It is a time of great excitement and activity. But the fact that the Advent season falls at the end of the year makes it a moment for reflection. Even amid the busyness of events, we seem to find time to pause and consider what truly matters in life. For many of us, Christmas is a time spent with family. It’s an opportunity to strengthen our relationships. For many, it’s also a time to reconnect with our faith. When we think about that baby in the Manger, we are reminded that we are part of a story unfolding before us, where God is actively involved in our daily lives.

I heard a sermon years ago titled “We Interrupt This Program.” That’s what God is doing at Christmas. He interrupts our lives, making us pause and think about what truly matters. That’s what God did when He sent His only Son to be born in Bethlehem. Life has gone on much the same way for generations, until Jesus came. The Christmas season is a time for us to pause and recognize that we are part of a universe in which God plays an active role.

The themes related to the Advent weeks help us reflect on these ideas. Last week, we focused on the theme of hope. We examined Ecclesiastes 9 and saw very little hope in that passage. Yet, Solomon in Ecclesiastes 9 encourages us to enjoy life. The only reason enjoying life is wise is that there is more to life than what is under the sun. Solomon did not know all the details of what God had planned for us. But he understood that there is more to life than just what is under the sun. We now know more than Solomon did. We know that there is hope beyond the grave because Jesus came and promised eternal life at the resurrection. Therefore, we have even greater cause to hope in our God.

This week’s Advent theme is peace. The passage we are looking at says very little about peace. But there is an essential reason for that, which I think will become more evident as we study this text. So let’s look at what the prophet Isaiah says in today’s text.

Isaiah describes the terrible Day of the LORD.

The day of the Lord is a common topic among the Old Testament prophets. The typical prediction they make is that God will come to judge the world. Malachi predicted a day when the world would burn like a furnace. He said that “all the arrogant evildoers will be chaff. The coming day will burn them up. It will not leave even a root or branch” (Malachi 4:1).

It is the same day of the Lord that Malachi mentioned, which Isaiah also refers to in today’s passage. He is describing a time of great fear for those living on the earth because God’s wrath has arrived. He depicts those trying to hide from the coming destruction and all the proud individuals caught in the web of God’s wrath, humiliated.

This message is a warning to everyone. The final verse tells us to stop trusting in human beings, whose life breath is in their nostrils. It questions why they should receive special treatment. Of course, in our world, people often get special consideration. We depend on many to tell us what life is and what truly matters. Many of these individuals are proud, arrogant, and even reject God and the Bible. Still, we are tempted to trust them because they are prominent, wealthy, and influential.

But Isaiah’s message is clear: those who are proud, arrogant, influential, and rich will be targets of God’s wrath on the day of the Lord. We are warned not to favor such people. All proud individuals will be humbled; their pride will not save them. Their rebellion against God will be remembered, and they will face the punishment of eternal death in the lake of fire.

Isaiah says that the day will reveal what people have trusted in.

He talks about how people of the world trust in the proud, the rich, the arrogant, and the influential. They have placed their trust in the wrong people. They should have trusted the humble, the meek, the righteous, and the pious. But these people they chose to reject. Instead, they selected those who would rule over them, exercising power because of their strength. But Isaiah states that on the day of the LORD, everyone will realize that that strength was actually a weakness. Everyone will see that they backed the wrong side. They trusted those who deceived them. They trusted those who boasted in their unrighteousness. But the day of the LORD will reveal the righteousness of Christ and shame all the unrighteous. Isaiah explains that those proud men will be humiliated. He says that those arrogant men will be brought low. He affirms that the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.

A second thing that people have trusted in is idols. In Isaiah’s day, idols were everywhere. The entire culture was fascinated by idol worship. Today, we don’t build personal idols or have family idols. But that doesn’t mean we don’t trust in idols. Anything that replaces God in your life is an idol. In that way, idolatry is still alive and well in every culture on Earth. On the day of the Lord, our idols will be exposed for what they truly are.

Isaiah says that the idols will be thrown away that day. He describes people hiding in caves and holes in the ground, trying to escape the terrible judgment of the Lord and His majestic splendor when He rises up to terrify the earth. What will happen to those idols? He says that people will toss their silver and gold idols—crafted for worship—into caves where rodents and bats live. They will be discarded because people will finally realize those idols are worthless.

For our generation and country, we will also find that many idols in our lives did not live up to their promises. Those without Christ might cling to their idols, but these idols cannot protect them from God’s coming judgment.

There is a warning for us in this message today. It reminds us to trust in the right things. Many people are demanding that we trust them, and many things seek to take up our lives and time. But only God and His word are genuinely deserving of our trust.

The consistent view of the Day of the LORD in the Old Testament was one where God would come to judge. But it also taught true believers that the day of the Lord would be a day of deliverance for them. God was very concerned that people would be caught off guard on judgment day. He wanted to ensure that everyone had a chance to repent and come to Christ before the Day of the LORD. That is why the Old Testament also spoke of another day. This day would be when God sent a special message to everyone, telling them how to prepare for the day of the LORD. That day was Christmas Day.

Before the day of the lord, God sent a message of peace.

The biblical God is a God of judgment, but He is also a God of compassion. He does not want anyone to perish but desires all to come to repentance. Therefore, it makes sense that God would make every effort to reach as many people as possible with the message of peace, preventing them from suffering His judgment. God’s plan included a message designed to capture people’s attention and help them avoid trusting in the wrong things. The message needed to be strong enough for the world to notice and clear enough for people to see the difference between following God and following idols.

God’s message of peace was not written in a book. It was not carved into a sculpture. It was not an audible recording. God’s message of peace was a person. The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son. Jesus himself was the message that God sent to prevent people from facing his wrath on the day of the Lord. Those who put their trust in Christ protect themselves from that terrible day of the Lord.

The angel told the shepherds not to be afraid because a Savior is born in Bethlehem. The angel choir sang “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!”

Paul taught that Christ is our peace because he has united us all as children of God. He said that Christ came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near, so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

So, we have bad news and good news today. The bad news is that a terrible day of war and destruction will come in the future of this planet. The good news is Jesus, because he makes it possible for us to have peace with God now and to avoid that coming destruction.

We sing of the baby Jesus sleeping in heavenly peace. The truth is, he is our heavenly peace. He is the Prince of Peace. He will finally bring peace to this world at war.