He is coming

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

In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house 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. 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.

Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD (Isaiah 2:1-5).

The word Advent means "coming." During the season of Advent we focus on the coming of our Lord Jesus into this sinful world. But which coming of Jesus are we talking about? His first coming on Christmas Eve two millennia ago, or His future Second Coming, when He arrives in glory to judge the living and the dead?

The answer, of course, is ‘yes.’ During Advent, we look at both comings. We reflect on what God has done for us in the past and what He promises to do in the future. We are invited to look at our lives in relationship to the Lord and to prepare ourselves for His coming. Advent puts us in the right frame of mind to celebrate the anniversary of His first coming among us and prepares us for His Second Coming, whether that be tomorrow or in the distant future.

Today’s Old Testament lesson is an example of this two-fold look into the future. I selected this text because of our current military actions overseas. When a nation is at war, these words of prophecy are especially meaningful: 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. According to Isaiah, in the last days war will become a thing of the past; it will be unnecessary because God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.

But how can this be? In the Book of Revelation God told John that as the end draws near, conflict and hatred will grow steadily worse. Jesus Himself said, Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). The New Testament gives us little hope that war will cease in our lifetimes.

To correctly understand Isaiah, we must understand what God means by the phrase "the last days." During His ministry, Jesus spoke about the last times. He told His disciples what to look for as evidence that the period of the last times had begun: Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:4-14).

Let us look at these predictions of Jesus. The first one was that people would falsely claim to be God’s Messiah. Such people began showing up already during the disciples’ lifetimes. Wars and rumors of wars have always been a part of humanity’s bloody history, and the Romans were engaged in warfare during the years following Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Famines and earthquakes were also common occurrences. Then Jesus says that His followers would be persecuted and put to death; this happened to James, Paul, Peter, and many others within mere decades of Jesus’ resurrection.

The conclusion is obvious: the last days are upon us; they began when Jesus ascended back into heaven almost 2,000 years ago.

When we understand that the last days started 40 days after our Lord rose from the dead, it puts a new perspective on what Isaiah is saying: In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." Clearly, Isaiah is describing the growth of God’s Church on earth following Jesus’ victory over sin and death. In the Old Testament, God’s people were always a distinct minority on earth. At the time of the flood, only eight people in the entire world believed in the true God, before the hordes of unbelievers were judged and executed by God in the worldwide flood. At the time of Moses, the number of God’s people represented perhaps 2% of the world’s population. On the day of Jesus’ birth, God’s faithful accounted for about 3% of the people living at that time. Before Jesus’ first coming, the mountain of the Lord’s temple could hardly be considered "chief" among the mountains, that is chief among all the world’s religions.

But look at what’s happened in the last days! Knowing that Christ could return at any time, knowing that when He comes again it will be with judgment on His agenda, Jesus’ followers took very seriously His command to go and make disciples of all nations. They went to those 97% who did not know God and they witnessed their faith in spite of persecution and death threats—with the result that, by the working of the Holy Spirit, one third of the world today identifies itself as Christian! No other religious group is nearly as large; truly, the mountain of the LORD's temple has been established as chief among the mountains.

And yet, wars continue. Didn’t Isaiah say that they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks? Was the prophet of God both right and wrong?

War is the result of sin. Sin makes us selfish; sin wants us to put our needs and wants ahead of the needs and wants of others. Sin resists sharing. Sin disapproves of letting another person have the final word. Sin hates the idea of giving anything to anyone without getting something of equal or greater value in return. Sin makes war inevitable. War is a struggle to see who gets their way, no matter the cost in pain or suffering. Because of sin, mankind wars with itself; but even more significantly, because of sin, man wars with God.

God insists that we love each other, build each other up, and give generously from the gifts He has given us. Our sin hates every demand of God’s wonderful Law, and so we rebel against the Almighty. But going to war against God is stupidity itself, because we cannot possibly win. God can end our lives at any time and send us to hell to be punished eternally for our evilness. Thankfully, eternal punishment is not God’s preferred response to our sins. Being the God that wants love to prevail, He instead sent us His Son, the Son who, at the beginning of time, acted as the hands of heaven in shaping the world to His Father’s specifications, as stated in John 1:3--Through him all things were made. This same Son of God lowered Himself to be born a human being through the womb of a woman who was, like all of us, an unworthy sinner. This holy infant was named Jesus, which means "Savior", because saving us is what He came to earth to do. The Son of God who shaped the world at Creation now entered that sin-corrupted world to re-create us as forgiven children, reborn under the Light from heaven. He did this by taking responsibility for all our sins and suffering our sentence of hell for them on the cross of Calvary. By this act, Jesus ended the state of war between us and God.

This is the perspective we need to look at the words of Isaiah. The prophet says, The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 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. Jesus died for our sin in Jerusalem, the city on Mount Zion, and from that sacred place and time the Law of God has gone forth—the Law of love that takes hearts broken by sin and heals them with Jesus’ love and mercy. When we acknowledge Christ as our king, we become subjects in His kingdom. With Him as our king, we receive His wisdom preserved in the Bible, the wisdom from above that settles disputes through the application of forgiveness and love. Jesus said, `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself' (Matthew 22:37-39). When we live this way, there is no room for the selfishness that leads to war. We are brought together by the Lord in peace, and can beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks.

But notice the qualifier Isaiah inserts here: He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. He does not say "all peoples". Peace is God’s gift only to those who belong to Him; notice the words of the angels as they sang before the shepherds on that first Christmas night: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests" (Luke 2:14). Sin still controls two thirds of the world, and that sin results in wars—wars which regrettably drag believers into them as well.

Which shows us that Isaiah was looking at two futures—the end of our war with God that Jesus brokered on the cross the first time that He came among us, and the end of all wars that will only happen when Jesus returns for the second time to judge, reward, and condemn. It is only when all unrepentant sinners have been consigned to hell, and this war-torn earth is remade in new perfection, that we can look forward to an eternal life completely free of war of every kind. It is only after Jesus’ Second Coming that we can truly say: Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

This Advent season it is time to prepare yourself for Christ’s coming. It is a time to recognize that the selfish ways of sin only lead to war among ourselves and war against the Almighty God. It is a time to look at our sins with horror and disgust, and earnestly pray to Jesus to forgive us and give us peace. Advent is the time to reject our sins as we prepare ourselves for the Lord’s coming. Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.