Swords Into Plowshares

• I’m hiding in a closet that is in the hallway between the living room and bedrooms in the house of my childhood. I’m about 12 years old, holding a toy gun.

• My two younger brothers are trying to find me. They also are armed with toy guns.

• I played similar games with my uncles except we made war with live firecrackers. Throwing them at each other.

• Ironically, this was something we did at Christmastime for years!

• Then, in my later teen years, I would have fights with bottle-rockets with my friends.

• Once, we were having a bottle-rocket fight and I was hiding on one side of a truck and a friend was hiding on the other side of the truck. Neither knew the other was there. We stood up at almost exactly the same time, and launched a bottle-rocket at each other. His landed in the middle of my chest (I was shirtless) and it just sort of melted the skin on my chest

• As I was recalling these memories this week, I realized that as I grew older, my “games” got more violent.

• Isn’t that the way it is in real war?

This week our key passage is:

• Isaiah 2:1-5 with the message titled “Swords into Plowshares”.

• Isaiah 2:1-5

• Quick overview of Isaiah

o One of the major prophets

o Messianic prophet

o Hosea and Micah were his contemporaries

o His audience were the Jewish people and 4 kings of the land:

? Ahaz(A-hass), Hezekiah(heh-zuh-ki-a), Uzzaih(oo-zai-uh) and Jothan(jo-than)

o Key verse: Isaiah 6:8 “Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “here am I, send me.”

Isaiah 2:1-5(read from my bible) stand with me.

• We’re going to break this passage down into 3 key points:

o Mountain tops

o Swords into plowshares

o Learn war no more

• But first, I’d like to read v.1 again:

o The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz(aa-muhz) saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

o Go back to 6:8 “Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “here am I, send me.””

o Ya know, I don’t think it’s hard to see war in our minds eye. It has permeated our being for thousands of years.

o In fact, the first mention of war is found in first book of OT, in Genesis 14, and found throughout the bible.

o Much more mention of war than of peace.

o We see a glimpse of peace in:

o 1 Kings 4: 24-25 (read from my bible)

o As I read this passage, the first thought that popped into my head was, “but undoubtably there was war going on in other regions”.

o I could not envision peace on the entire earth.

o Seeing peace in our minds eye is much more challenging.

o Isaiah saw this. God gave him this vision of peace.

• Mountain tops-

Learning His ways and walking in His paths

o Yesterday, I pondered why mankind has this obsession with climbing mountains.

o Then I thought “maybe we think we’ll find God there!”

o V2 “now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it.”

o NLT- “In the last days, the mountain of the LORD’s house will be the highest of all-the most important place on earth”. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.

o Typically, when we think of the word streaming, we think of a downward flow.

o People will be streaming up the mountains.

o I began picturing Jesus giving His sermon on the Mount. As He sat on the mountain top, people began to stream upwards to hear Him speak.

• Swords into plowshares:

Turning instruments of war, into tools of peace

o It is very common in books of the prophets to see “word pictures”.

o Isaiah gives us this picture of people from all over the world streaming up the highest mountain in the world.

o He does the same thing in v.4

o He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people, they shall beat (hammer) their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation…

o What a powerful picture, but one hard to vision, nevertheless.

• Learning war

o I thought about the opening scene in the movie “The Princess Bride”

o Nintendo baseball

o Mom comes in “how you feeling”?