Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 2. Isaiah chapter 2, we're going to read the entire chapter. Isaiah chapter 1 is the prologue, it's the outline to the entire book. We looked at that last week. Isaiah is Yahweh's covenant prosecutor. He's bringing charges against God's people for their rebellion, their legalism, for their injustice. and yet as we saw last week and we're going to see this week there's a glimmer of hope in the midst of this darkness in the midst of judgment we see the covenant love of God to his people let's read together Isaiah chapter 2 and we'll read the entire chapter this is God's holy word the word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 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. Many people shall come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with Eastern ways. They are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they are pleased with the children of foreigners. Their land is also full of silver and gold, and there's no end to their treasures. Their land is also full of horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is also full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. People bow down and each man humbles himself, therefore do not forgive them. Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up, and it shall be brought low. Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall, upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the beautiful sloops. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day, but the idols he shall utterly abolish. They shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty when he arises to shake the earth mightily. In that day, a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made each for himself to worship, to the moles and bats to go into the clefts of the rocks and into the crags of the rugged rocks from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily. Sever yourselves from such a man whose breath is in his nostrils, for of what account is he? Amen. This is God's holy word. May he bless the reading and the preaching of it. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. These are the famous opening words from Dickens' book, A Tale of Two Cities. You may also be familiar with Pilgrim's Progress, this classic work by John Bunyan where he juxtaposes the celestial city and the city of destruction and that's what we're going to be looking at in our text today we see a similar contrast between the city of God and the city of man and both are related to God the Lord Jesus Christ coming in glory so let's begin Christ coming in his glory, number one, to establish the city of God. And this is going to be verses two through five. The city of God is about the glorious exaltation of Christ. The scripture tells us that when he returns, he will judge both the living and the dead. It's called the Great White Throne Judgment, and we read about it this morning in our text from Revelation chapter 20. Immediately following, the world is renewed. It's not, he doesn't start over, he remakes the heavens and the earth. He calls them the new heavens and the new earth, and we will reign with him in glory forever and ever. So we have judgment and renewal. We have that theme throughout this book of prophecy. Yet in our text, it's interesting. It's reversed. We begin with renewal. We begin with glory, with restoration, and then judgment. It's almost as if Isaiah asked, do you want the good news or the bad news first? And God, in his grace, comes to them with these comforting words. Chapter 2 begins with a superscription. I don't know if you noticed that or not. Just like chapter 1. And we won't see this again until we get to chapter 13. The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Did you notice those words? What he saw. Not like Moses. Moses heard from God, and he writes down, no, Isaiah sees. This is a vision. We spoke of that last week. This is very similar to the vision that God gives to the Apostle John in the revelation. Why do I mention that? Why is this important? Well, when we see something, there's an interpretive process to that. It's not explained for me. So when I see an image, I have to use some language in order to describe that image for you. We call this, in terms of genre, apocalyptic. And that's what the book of Isaiah is. And it's important that we understand that genre in order to know how to interpret what we're reading. So when we read about a mountain coming down upon a mountain, well, we're not going to take that literally. Or when we read about a river flowing up, we're not going to take that literally. So just keep that in mind. Isaiah begins the prophecy in verse 2. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days. Boy, our ears go up, don't they? We hear latter days. Oh, yes, eschatology. We love eschatology, right? The study of last things. Why? Because we know who wins. We're ready for the Lord Jesus to come back. Let's go, Lord. So latter days. Well, I want us to consider latter days, the eschaton, in several contexts. So what we don't want to do is just jump right to 21st century. That's what a lot of evangelicals do today. I want us to apply it to the text, the church under age in Isaiah. What would they have heard when they were in Babylon and they read these or hear these words, latter days, what would they have heard? Well, future, and maybe we call this near future, those who had heard or received this prophecy just a little over a hundred years later, there would be a period of restoration after the exile. So that's the immediate context. They would return to the land, they would rebuild the temple, and look at verse 3, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob." So you're in exile for 40 plus years, you're cut off from all worship, so we would have someone come to our door, lock up this building, this facility, put us in chains, and we're not able to worship in this place for 40 years. And yet the prophet When they would have heard this as they're in exile, would have heard these words, we will go back up to the mountain of the Lord. This would have brought hope and encouragement. Jesus is the center of our universe. What happens when we're cut off from corporate worship? That's, that's significant. Well, what about the distant future? How do we see this fulfilled as we might call the near future, now distant future? Well, we have the glory of the gospel manifested in the flesh. This is the incarnation. This would have been a fulfillment here of Isaiah's prophecy. the law word prophesied in the latter part of verse 3 he's personified the logos the Lord Jesus Christ look at verse 3 he will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the living word, the Logos. He is the fulfillment of this gospel hope, this gospel message that Isaiah brings to his people. And of course we know from history that this good news was indeed spread to all nations. We have the destruction of the temple in AD 70. the diaspora and the Jews are scattered so Jesus is getting the salt out of the salt shaker that's what he's doing and he's sending forth his people into all the world and I want you to think about that this mountain that we have in our text which is Christianity has grown exponentially in the last 2,000 years. We lose hope, I think, at times. We look at maybe a microcosm in the 21st century in October, and we think, things look really bad. But Christ is building His church, and it's becoming a glorious mountain that will fill all of the earth. So we might call that the distant future. The phrase shall be established helps to further explain what latter days means in the New Testament. Beginning of verse 2, now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established. Well, commentators argue that this describes a condition that will already be in existence when the latter days begin. It shall come to pass. So the million-dollar question is, so when is it? That's what we want to know. When will these latter days be fulfilled, finally? We've seen partial fulfillment up to this point. Well, the apostles seem to think they were living in the last days. You remember Peter's sermon at Pentecost? Luke records it for us in Acts 2. He's quoting from the prophet Joel. This is Peter. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. Did that happen in the first century? Indeed it did. Well, what about the Apostle John? He's another example. He writes in his first epistle, 1 John 2 verse 18, Dear children, this is the last hour. And as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. We're seeing this being fulfilled as we look back in history. We have the vantage point of being on this side of the cross. We can look back and see what God has been doing, what he is doing. And then let's think and consider the far distant future. How might this be fulfilled? Well Derek Thomas in his commentary writes, as often happens with prophetic pictures, the image of the future runs on into eternity. And that's what I want us to see. That's our hope. Of course we have hope, right? In seeing God, we look back and see God's faithfulness to his people. He didn't leave them in exile. They came back to that mountain. We look back and we see the glorious incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ that gives us hope. But what about future? What is future for us, the church today? Well, in our chapter, we have a vision of the earthly city of God becoming the heavenly city of God. This heavenly city comes down. Look at verse two, and I want you to think about, we have echoes from our reading this morning in Isaiah 25, this mountain that comes down, and here in our text, it that mountain, or we could say Christianity, shall be established on top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it." Isn't this identical to what we read in Revelation? We've got same song, different verses, reinforcing the same promise This is a glorious picture of God's salvation. He comes down to us. We don't go up to Him. That's what makes Christianity unique of all the world religions. Man is not seeking after God. God is seeking after man, and He will dwell with His people. The glory of this new city is Christ himself. Listen to these words from Revelation 21.3, And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with man, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. Did you hear that? The tabernacle of God. This is not a place This is a person, and we will dwell with the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever. Well, what should our response be to this prophetic vision of glory, Christ coming in glory to establish His kingdom? Well, we're not left to figure that out. The prophet tells us in verse 5, look at verse 5, O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Are you prepared for Jesus if he were to come back right now? Take some inventory of your life. Would you be found faithful? And I pray that he would, that he would come right now. But he's giving you an opportunity, as he did his people 2,700 years ago. He's bringing you a word, a glorious word, But a word of warning, I am coming. Be found faithful. Get your house in order. Are you ready for Christ's glorious return? Well, let's look at our second heading. Christ will come in glory, number two, to demolish the city of man. And we're gonna be looking at verses six through 22 in this section. The depiction we have of the city of man is also related to Christ's glory. How so? Well, Christ coming in judgment. God will be glorified even in the destruction of the wicked. That's hard for us to understand. Malachi 4 verse 5 calls it the great and terrible day of the Lord. Have your eye fall down to verse 10. Enter into the rock and hide in the dust for the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty. So Christ coming in glory in judgment upon the city of man. The section begins in verse 6 with the sad state of contemporary Jerusalem. Verse 6 has to be one of the saddest verses in all of Scripture. For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob. This is something that we would never wish on anyone, that God would leave you alone. But yet here in our passage, their sins are so great that he departs from them for a time. The Hebrew word for, or the root for forsaken can also mean to permit. The Israelites persisted in their rebellion and God said, okay, if that's what you want, I'll give it, I'll give you over. And he had done this before with his rebellious teenage son in the wilderness. And David writes of this in Psalm 106, but they, the Israelites, lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tested God in the desert. And listen to this, and he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. May that never be of us. that we continue to persist so long in our sin that God just says, go ahead, and turns you over. That's the worst thing that could possibly happen, and we have coveted children in this context, in our congregation today, who are not walking with the Lord, and we pray and plead with the Lord, oh God, do not leave them alone. Thankfully, God, in His grace and His mercy, doesn't abandon His people. completely. He gives them over to their sin for a time. But how gracious is our Lord, even in this, and this is dark, but even in this, this is mercy, this is grace, this is the gospel. He's warning his people of his judgment to come. a good father who disciplines his child. But don't we often have this image of God, that grumpy old man in the Old Testament? He's so angry. What's the deal? But then we have the loving, the hippie God in the New Testament, right? Peace and love. But we hear, we have a demonstration here in our text of God's great love and grace and mercy to his people. Why? He's telling them. don't continue to persist in your sin. Why has he forsaken them? Well, the following verses tell us, and it begins in verse 6, because they are filled with eastern ways. Filled has the idea of something that's complete, that touches everything. Think about worship. And in fact, that's exactly what they were doing. They had fully adopted the practices of their idolatrous neighbors to the east. In the next part of the verse, there's a reference to the pagan nation on the other side, on the west. It's all comprehensive, east to west. They are soothsayers like the Philistines. The Philistines, as you recall, are or were the sworn enemy of Israel. And yet the Israelites just fully embrace their culture. They were actually worshiping demons through their divination. That's what soothsayer means. It's witchcraft. Israel had become like a filthy sponge. They were just soaking up all of the garbage from all around them. They had become a stench And if that wasn't enough, I want you to think about an adulterous relationship. You have one union, a covenant between a man and a woman, and one of those parties decides to have an emotional affair. That's bad enough. But then they go and consummate it. And they actually sleep with this person. But then it gets worse. While they're still married to their spouse, they go and get remarried. And that's exactly the picture we have. of the Israelites in our text. They had made a covenant with the enemies of God. Look at the last part of verse 6, and they are pleased with the children of foreigners. What does that mean in the Hebrew? It means to clap hands. Let's shake on it. That's what they had done. This is the imagery of covenant. Israel is in covenant with Yahweh, and yet they break that covenant and go off with their lover. They clap hands with the enemy, the sworn enemy of God. The prophet uses the phrase, their land, three times in this section. We're going to see this repeated. There's a lot of triplets, and I want you to get this. And whenever you see repetition in the scripture, it's like me texting my wife in all caps. Don't ever do that, by the way, guys. But it's, it's, I want you to pay attention to this. Notice twice in verse seven and then once in verse eight. Verse seven, their land is also full of silver and gold. Latter part of seven, their land is also full of horses and there is no end to their chariots. And then verse eight, their land is also full of idols. They worship the work of their hands. Do you notice, did you catch it? In each of those three, he uses the word full, this descriptor. Same word, Hebrew word, that we looked at earlier for filled in verse six. Because they are filled with Eastern ways. The word can also be translated satisfied. They're not satisfied. with Yahweh. They're satisfied with their lover. And you know this, I'm just going to remind you, but to pursue, and don't miss the irony here, but to pursue or to seek satisfaction from something that doesn't satisfy. Maybe that should be the definition of insanity. What are you doing? It won't fulfill you. It won't satisfy. It will be like gravel in your mouth. Oh, but there's a little pleasure just for a little time. And they're so myopic. They cannot see. Again, they have gone whoring after other gods. Money, power, pleasure. And this isn't just figurative. And we kind of mock, don't we? We're a little condescending of people in other countries that actually get down before an idol. Oh, but we have idols, don't we? We bow down before our idols. We just don't do it literally. But if that weren't enough, the indictment again from God is you're literally making, and he emphasizes with your own hands, something that you're worshiping. You made it. How foolish, how silly, how ludicrous is this? They are so blinded by their sin. The word humbles means to become low. I love it, I'm in my office and I'm getting into word study and it's like It's like watching something in Technicolor. Now kids, I'm sorry, Technicolor, that's an old term. But back in the day, you had movies and you had TV shows that were in black and white. I know, it's hard to believe. But when you get into the language, it's like color. And this same word here, to become low, or the word humble means to become low, it's used of a mountain. We're contrasting that with the city of God. And yet it's the inverse. Their mountain had cratered. They had become low. How far they have fallen. This reminds us of the same judgment that God brings to the church at Ephesus. Listen to these words from Revelation 2 verse 4 and 5. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent how far have they fallen well this brings us to the final section of our chapter verses 10 through 22 and this really involves the when and the what So when will Christ come in judgment, and what will that look like? There is a day that the Lord has appointed, and He will come in judgment. Even Jesus in His humanity, and this is hard for us to understand, but even Jesus in His humanity doesn't know when this day is. Jesus has a divine mind, and Jesus has a human mind, and they are separate. There's no confusion. There's no conflation in the persons of Christ. Christ being one person, there is no confusion. And so the Holy Spirit hasn't even revealed to Christ when that day is. But Jesus states in Matthew 24, but of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. What is Jesus saying? Eating, drinking, partying, like it's 1999, although it's 2024. Isaiah uses the word day Three times. Again, we're having this triplet. I love this. More repetition. Verses 11, 12, and 17. We're seeing a pattern. The fuller expression is in verse 12. The day of the Lord of hosts. And remember I mentioned before we get excited, we hear about eschatology, well this goes back to 800 BC. People were excited about last things, about the end of time, even way, way, way back when. Because the people of God have always been looking for the Messiah to return. But, they had a false understanding. They thought it was going to be just this glorious day, and yet It's a day of judgment. Hear this from the words of Amos. Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord, for what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion and a bear met him, or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light? Is it not very dark with no brightness in it? It's a terrible day of judgment, and it really depends on where you are with the Lord. And Isaiah starts to tell us, what's this day going to look like? Isaiah warns that in that day, sinners will flee for the hills. They will flee to the rocks. And we have another triplet, three times this warning is given, verses 10, 19, and 21. Verse 10, enter into the rock and hide in the dust. Verse 19, they shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth. verse 21, to go into the clefts of the rocks and into the crags of the rugged rocks. Is it, is this counterintuitive? Where are you going to head when judgment hits? I'm, I'm heading for the rocks. I mean, think about the Afghans. I'm a little bit older, so there was an Afghan-Russian war, right, before we got involved in Afghanistan. We should have learned something. But here we are, you know, history tells us the Afghans used the mountains and these little cubby holes and they defeated the powerful Soviet military. That's where I'm going. I'm headed to the rocks. And what is Isaiah telling us in this text? Nothing will save you. Nothing. Not even hundreds of feet of rock will spare you from the great and terrible day of judgment. I want us to notice this and not miss this. They're running because of the terror of the Lord. Guess what? This is also used three times in our text. Verses 10, 19, and 21. This is the response of the wicked in the day of judgment. And the parallel phrase also repeated three times, and the glory of his majesty. So let's put this together. from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty, emphasizes the pandemonium, the panic of the wicked in that day. I think that it's important to understand, and this is God's call to you this morning, where are you with the Lord Jesus Christ? Because if he is not your rock, then you will be crushed by the rock. He is that city of refuge. You should be fleeing to the Lord Jesus Christ. I think there's a misconception in the church today that the reason that hell will be so horrific is because God won't be there. That's not true. The reason that hell is so horrific is because you are in the presence of holy God. for all eternity. I don't know about you, when I would displease my dad, he's the last person I wanted to be around. I want you to hear this from Revelation 14. If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, that mark is just accepting and embracing the city of man, okay? He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ is terrifying if you are not in Him. All we know, even today, all we know is grace. Even the wicked have grace. We call it common grace. The sun, the moon, the stars, the weather, the fact that the Holy Spirit is still on the earth is a common grace. It restrains evil. We have God's law. There is no grace in judgment. And that's the question this morning. Where are you with the Lord Jesus Christ? We have an inclusio beginning with verse 11 and 17. That's just a fancy word that means bookends, okay? So if you go look in my library, I have a beginning divider and an end divider. And that's what we have here in verse 11. It begins with, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Okay, that's the first bookend. Now look to 17. The loftiness of man shall be brought low. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day." Okay, so what we're to focus on now is what's in the middle. So I want you to see this. This is verses 12 through 16. Everything proud and lofty. Everything lifted up. upon all cedars of Lebanon, upon all the oaks of Bashan, upon all the high mountains, upon all the hills that are lifted up, upon every high tower, upon every fortified wall, upon all the ships of Tarshish, upon all the beautiful sloops. It's all coming down. This is the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in His judgment. and he will be glorified, even in the destruction of the wicked. What should be our response? Well, the prophet gives it to us, look at verse 22, sever yourselves from such a man, or we could insert there, sever yourselves from such a city of man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for what account is he? Who gave him his breath? The Lord Jesus, He can't even sustain His whole life. You shouldn't be hanging around with Him. Run from Him. Run to Christ. We have a dire warning in our text. Destruction is coming upon all those who will refuse to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because there will be a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. So God is calling you through His prophet today. Let this be today. If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, run to Him, flee to Him, and ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Let's pray.