Isaiah 2:1-5 (NRSV)

1 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 In days to come the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 3 Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; 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 any more.

5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Kgs 18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

2 Kgs 19:32-33 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into [Jerusalem]… By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the LORD.

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Isa 1:7 Your country lies desolate, your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence -1- aliens devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. 8 And daughter Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a shelter in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. 9 If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we would have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.

“It was the end of a period of prosperity and achievement and associated social inequality, the beginning of a period of foreign domination…” —John Goldingay1

Nothing can save us that is possible: We who must die demand a miracle. —from W. H. Auden, “For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio”

Eph 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

“The nations will want to come to Jerusalem because in Jerusalem Yahweh is fully present as the source of all life for the world. In Jerusalem, moreover, is the torah of Yahweh (here rendered as “instruction”) that will make available to the nations Israel’s Yahweh-given secret for peace.” —Walter Brueggemann2

Isaiah 2:2-4 = Micah 4:1-3 e.g., Zech 8:20-23; Isa 60:1-22; Rev 21:22-26

“In the medieval period, the Scripture readings for Advent were well established, and they were oriented only secondarily to the birth (first coming) of Christ; the primary emphasis was his second coming on the final day of the Lord… However, what has been largely lost to us since the eighteenth-century Enlightenment is the primary focus on the second coming of Christ, who will arrive in glory on the last day to consummate the kingdom of God.” —Fleming Rutledge3

Rev. 22:20-21 The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

2 Pet 3:13 But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

1 John Goldingay, Isaiah (Understanding the Bible Commentary Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001): 59. 2 Walter, Brueggemann, Isaiah 1-39 (Westminster Bible Companion. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1998): 57. 3 Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once & Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018): 29-30 (emphasis in original). -2-