10. Swords to Plowshares

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Hymns: RHC 539 Beyond the Sunset 229 Thy Kingdom Come, O God 231 Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove

Isaiah 2:1-10

1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. 6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. 7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: 8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not. 

Swords to Plowshares

OUTLINE

(1) When God Rules – Peace (v1-4)

(2) When Man Rules – War (v5-9)

INTRODUCTION

Andrew Murray observed, “When God created heaven and earth, He meant heaven to be the divine pattern to which earth was to be conformed. “As in heaven, so in earth” was to be the law of its existence.

He further asked, “What constitutes the glory of heaven? God is there. Everything lives for His glory. When we think of what this earth has become, with all its sin and misery, with the great majority without any knowledge of the true God, we feel that a miracle is needed if the Word is to be fulfilled: “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth”.

This can become true through the prayers of God’s children. Intercession is to be the great link between heaven and earth. The intercession of the Son, begun upon earth, continued in heaven, and carried on by His people, will bring about the change. As Christ prayed, “Thy will be done,” so His redeemed ones make His prayer their own and unceasingly ask. “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.”

When we, God’s children, learn to pray not only for our immediate interests but enlarge our hearts to take the whole Church and the whole world, then our united supplication will have the power with God. Intercession will hasten the day when it will indeed be “as in heaven, so in earth” – the whole earth filled with the glory of God.”

When the Spirit of God moves in to answer the prayer of His people, there were times of restitution and revival, when men repent and turn to God as in the time of Jonah when he preached, yet 40 days and God’s judgment will come, all the city of Nineveh repented in sackcloth and ashes. Peace came, bars and nightclubs closed shop, and men and women flock to church to worship the living and true God.

The Holy Spirit after Christ’s ascension to impede and retard sin and decay.

John 16:7-11 (KJV) Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient (necessary) for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

The Lord will send the Holy Spirit Comforter to His people when He departs. John 16:8 gives the function of the Holy Spirit when He comes – When He comes, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment.

The three things that the Holy Spirit will do is given here. 

Firstly, He will reprove the world of sin. The Holy Spirit will bring conviction of sin in the hearts of men and a realization to come back to God. To realize that we cannot handle our lives and that sin has made us miserable. Jesus tells us of sin, because they believe not on Me. It is to bring men to turn from their sins in repentance.

Secondly, and of righteousness. When we point out sin, the remedy is now needed. The Holy Spirit will also bring to our understanding the solution to the sin problem, and show us what is the cure! It is none other than in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God’s appointed vessel to take away the sins of the world. This comes with the finished work of Christ. Of righteousness, because I go to the Father and ye see me no more. For all who will believe the truth of the gospel, they shall be saved.

Romans 10:9-10 (KJV) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Thirdly, and of judgment. Why judgment? Because this world will go on in its corruption and depravity as if there is no recourse. The Lord provides the Holy Spirit as a restraint so that evil cannot perpetuate itself without recourse. The final judgment is coming with absolute certainty where Satan, the prince of this world will be judged (v11).

Revelation 20:10 (KJV) And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Our text in Isaiah 2:1-4:6 gives the second sample sermon of Isaiah, that begins and concludes with the fulfilment of the prayer “as in heaven, so in earth” when the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of God from Isaiah 2:1-4 and Isaiah 5:2-6, when Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ will rule on earth in His Millienia Kingdom reign. Sandwiched in between the scene of God’s glory is the dismal scene of the fallenness of the world and even amongst the people of God (Isa. 1:1-4; 4:2-6).

Isaiah 4:2-6 (KJV) In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall beexcellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

(1) When God Rules – Peace (v1-4)

1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah saw in a vision the future glory of Israel and Jerusalem when Christ rules from Jerusalem during the Millennium.

At this time, Satan shall be bound and there was true peace on earth. The raptured saints rule with Christ in the Millennium.

Revelation 20:1-6 (KJV) And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

At that time, Jerusalem will be the capital of the world, and regenerated Israel the foremost nation. When the last saint shall be saved – the fullness of the Gentiles and all Israel shall be saved, the Antichrist shall be defeated by the returning Christ at the Battle of Armageddon.

Romans 11:25-27 (KJV) For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

The remnant of the nations after the 7-year Great Tribulation on earth shall come to Jerusalem for worship.

2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

Zechariah 8:3-8 (KJV) Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the LORD of hosts. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

Zechariah 14:9 (KJV) And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

The laws of God, the way of the LORD, will be taught out of Jerusalem. 

Zechariah 8:20-23 (KJV) Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

There will be no rejection of the truth, for Jesus reigns and the truth is meted out.

Zechariah 14:16-21 (KJV) And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that haveno rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Only when Christ rules, there is true peace on earth.

Daniel 7:27 (KJV) And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Isaiah was given the future of Israel, a glorious time, to help us to see that God never forsake Israel, when though Israel has been unfaithful.

He may chastise His wayward people so that they may be sanctified and turn to Him. God does not forsake His people – Philippians 1:6 (KJV) Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

What comfort and encouragement we see in God’s faithful dealing with His people!