Christ's Coming Produces Peace

CHRIST’S COMING PRODUCES PEACE

Isaiah 2:1-5 - November 30, 2003

ISAIAH 2:1-5

21This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

3Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

5Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

The Prophet Isaiah invites us as the house of Jacob to walk in the light of the Lord. May our Lord guide us in that light which comes only as the light of the knowledge of Christ our Prince of Peace.

As we look at the Scriptures before us, we realize that the Lord is talking about a peace that the world does not understand. Last Sunday was the last Sunday of the church year known as Christ the King. In many churches they looked at the fact that Christ was and still is King, but His Kingdom was not of this world. Because of that, the world sometimes misunderstood that Christ is the King. It is very much the same this morning. We are told in the Prophet Isaiah about the peace that comes from Christ. In a sense His peace is not of this world. At times this peace is misunderstood, as the world understands peace. This misunderstanding began already when the angels announced to the shepherds in the Gospel of Luke: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests"(LUKE 2:14). The world around us often takes that angelic announcement and tries to make it into a worldly peace. Our Lord reminds us that it is a spiritual peace. This spiritual peace the world cannot and does not provide.

We will concentrate on this diving peace of God this morning. Today when Isaiah speaks to us, he speaks to us very much in spiritual terms not the physical, worldly idea of peace.

Our theme this morning—CHRIST’S COMING PRODUCES PEACE

I. It is a peace not necessarily for the world.

II. It is a peace that always belongs to every believer.

I. A peace not necessarily for the world

Isaiah begins in the second chapter by including all of those who are important in this message of salvation. Verse l: 21This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. He mentions these two places. We might not think much about them. Judah, of course, was the tribe of Judah, the kingdom of Judah. From the kingdom and tribe of Judah would come the Savior. So Isaiah includes them in this message. Then he says "Jerusalem." We probably remember Jerusalem a bit more by the fact that Jerusalem became the center of worship. This is where the temple was and where the people went to worship the Lord. This included all of God’s people. Isaiah says, "Here is the message for all of God’s people," those who are chosen to believe.

As we look at the last days we look at them in two ways: First of all in the last days for the children of Israel they were looking ahead to when the Savior would come. They looked at this as the last days. Actually, there was another time, wasn’t there? It was the last days before Jerusalem was destroyed. We heard in our lessons (JEREMIAH 33:14-16; 1 THESSALONIANS 3:9-13; LUKE 21:25-36) the meaning of the last days. These are the last days, which are the very last days--the end of time. As we look at these words in our text of Isaiah, they are very fitting. They apply to both cases of the last days, especially for us as we look beyond to the very last days. 2In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. The children of Israel worshiped in Jerusalem. They also worshiped on Mount Moriah. In the last days, as he says, that mountain will be raised above the hills. As we look at that, we are reminded that this is in a spiritual sense, isn’t it? The Lord is not going to magically make Mount Moriah taller than the mountains around it. He isn’t magically or miraculously going to make Jerusalem rise higher than the rest of the cities. They are going to stay at the same elevation. But the importance in Jerusalem is going to become spiritually much greater. Isaiah says, all the nations will flow to it. We are reminded of Pentecost. We are reminded of the time before Jesus was born. We are reminded of all different times in the history of the children of Israel. Even still today many make pilgrimages to Jerusalem.