Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Terry Ball and Nathan Will: Isaiah 2 is a Prophecy of the Millennial Temple in Jerusalem

  

Isaiah 2 records two contrasting prophecies. The chapter opens with the prophet’s wonderful vision of the last days, a time when a temple, the mountain of the Lord’s house, would be established in the tops of the mountains. He sees that all nations are drawn to the temple to worship and be taught (2:2-3). He further describes the great millennial theocracy of peace that will ensue when the Messiah judges the nations and they forsake violence and war (2:4).

 

Isaiah then contrasts that wonderful vision of a future of peace, hope, and righteousness with the people’s current spiritual state and practices. He condemns them for looking for guidance, instruction, and happiness in the teachings and ways of foreign nations (2:6). He laments their infatuation with wealth and weapons (2:7) and decries their pride and idolatry (2:8-9). With vivid language and imagery he describes the panic, fear, and embarrassment that will befall such wicked people in the “day of the Lord” (2:12). (Terry Ball and Nathan Will, Making Sense of Isaiah: Insights and Modern Applications [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2009], 14, emphasis in bold added)