Isaiah 2:1-5 LOOKING FORWARD to CHRIST’S COMING Rev

Isaiah 2:1-5 LOOKING FORWARD TO CHRIST’S COMING Rev. John E. Warmuth

Isaiah 2:1-5 New International Version (NIV) The Mountain of the LORD

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

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

3 Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple 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. 4 He 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.

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

My Fellow Redeemed,

To what are you looking forward? I’m sure there are a wide variety of answers to that question among us. Christmas is just over three weeks away and the children are looking forward to that. Many adults may be looking forward to visits at Christmas time with people they have not seen for a while- especially family living far away. Maybe you are looking forward to a holiday or winter vacation. Maybe you have a wedding coming up in the New Year or a graduation to which you are looking forward. There are many things to which we may be looking forward.

As Christians there is one special thing to which we always look forward- it is Christ’s coming! In fact we even set aside the first four Sundays of the church year to reflect on Christ’s coming. We call this time “Advent,” which is a Latin word which means “coming.” During these four weeks we reflect on Christ’s first coming at Bethlehem and his second coming at the end of the world.

Our text from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah refers to both of those comings or Advents. Isaiah was LOOKING FORWARD TO CHRIST’S COMING, the first one and the second one. He even runs the two of them together because each coming has much to do with the other. Let’s reflect on both of those comings ourselves.

I Isaiah lived in a world very much like ours. It was quite evil. The people were not God-fearing. Oh, like today, they were very religious people, but their devotion was not to the one true God. They had many false gods. The once vibrant, joyful and almost non-stop flow of worshipers to the temple in Jerusalem had become lethargic, infrequent and a bother to many people. It was like Christian churches which are emptier each passing year. It hurt Isaiah to see the Lord God of heaven and earth treated like that.

That’s why he so looked forward to Christ’s coming. For when the Christ would come, then “the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills.”

In Isaiah’s time the worship of the true God at the temple on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem was by far a minority religion. It was obscure and virtually unknown in the world. It was confined to one little 40 by 80 mile tract of land on the far eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. But that would all change when the Christ would come. God had Isaiah say that worship of the true God would then become so firmly established that “all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.’” This would happen because, as God had Isaiah say, “The Law will go out from Zion, the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

We know from history and Scripture that after the Christ came, Christianity was established as a world religion and still is. People from every continent, every race, nation and language of people know and worship the true God. Christianity rose above all the other religions and toppled many of them.

When Christ came the first time he saved the world from its sin and the eternal damnation we all deserve for sin. He saved us by living a perfect life of love according to God’s holy law. He also suffered the punishment for all sin on the cross. There he was made to be sin for us. There the Father forsook him in our place. There he died for us. But he rose again because God forgave all our sins for Jesus’ sake. He ascended to heaven where he rules over all things with his almighty power as the God-Man.

This good news quickly spread from Jerusalem out into the world. As we read in the Book of Acts in the Bible, practically wherever it was preached people flocked to hear it, and countless numbers believed it, forsook their old religions and became heirs of eternal life.

No wonder Isaiah was so LOOKING FORWARD TO CHRIST’S COMING. No wonder we look forward to celebrating Christ’s first coming every Christmas. His first coming enabled us to be part of “the Lord’s temple. . . established as chief” among all the religions of the world. We are among those from “all nations (who) stream” to worship, praise and thank God that he has saved us from sin and damnation. We are part of the fulfillment of this prophecy.

II As Isaiah looked forward to Christ’s first coming he also looked forward to Christ’s second coming. Notice that while speaking of the coming of the New Testament church on earth he glided right into talking about the world to come. He described it this way: “He (the Christ) 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.”

Many people think these verses refer to a special time of peace that will prevail on earth when Jesus Christ himself will rule from Jerusalem. It is certainly a wonderful idea. But Jesus never taught such a thing. It is not taught anywhere in Scripture. In fact, Jesus himself said, as we heard in the gospel lesson (Matthew 24:37-44), that right up to the end of the world things will go on as they have all along. Elsewhere he says that wars, famines, earthquakes and so on will go on right up until he comes back as Judge of all. When he does come back, it won’t be to establish an earthly kingdom but to take all his believers to the new heaven and new earth he will create for them. In the new heaven and earth, our eternal home, there will be no more disputes between nations or races of people. Then there will be no more instruments of war and no more wars. Then we will truly walk in the light of the Lord. That means we will not have any sin in us any more. We, too, will be perfect in a perfect world forever.

Aren’t you LOOKING FORWARD TO CHRIST’S COMING? I am. Sometimes the world scares me. It scares me more for what my grandchildren will have to face than what I will. We live in a world in which you and I, who know and worship the true God, are increasingly becoming a minority, a world in which people are becoming more and more hostile to those who worship the true God. Muslim mosques and Hindu temples are springing up all over the country, several in the Madison and Milwaukee areas. We are becoming a nation of people who are turning away from the true God. Isaiah knew the feeling. That’s why he kept LOOKING FORWARD TO CHRIST’S COMING.

It usually shows when we are looking forward to something. We talk enthusiastically about it. We do things to prepare for it. It showed in Isaiah’s words and actions that he was LOOKING FORWARD TO CHRIST’S COMING. He preached, taught and wrote about it. He was not ashamed to continue to worship the true God while more and more people turned to false gods. He continued to walk in the light of the Lord, following God’s will, believing the promises.

How does it show in our lives that we are LOOKING FORWARD TO CHRIST’S COMING? Hopefully it shows in our joyful worship of Jesus week after week and the offerings we gladly bring before him. Hopefully it shows in the joyful words we speak about our confidence in the forgiveness of sins and eternal life we have in Jesus so that others will know what really makes us who we are AND so that they may want to learn more from us about Jesus.

Of all the things to which we look forward in our lives, Christ’s coming at the end of the world is the one we can fully count on happening. It’s possible that the wedding, the graduation, the vacation and others things we look forward to will not happen. Christ’s coming at the end of the world will happen. And it will affect us more positively than anything else to which we look forward, for it will be then that he will fill us with eternal peace and joy as he takes us home to heaven. Amen.