Isaiah 2:1-22

The future is always a subject of great interest in the lives of men.  People are always trying to prognosticate about the future.  Whether we are talking of the weather, the stock market or our eternal destiny; we pay very close attention to what we believe the future will hold.  The Bible goes to great lengths to reveal to mankind exactly what God has planned for the future.  God does this in order to adequately prepare us for what He has determined will take place.  The purpose of revealing the future is to transform the way that we live today.  God has already decided what will happen in the future and these realities are unchangeable and unavoidable.  However, we can use the knowledge that God has given us in His Word to adequately prepare for that future reality.

REMEMBER THE PROMISE OF GOD: There is a plan for the future of this world that includes all the people and nations of this world coming to the land of Israel for the purpose of worshiping Christ and knowing the Word of God.  Today the nations that go to Israel have destruction in mind, but God has promised that this will not always be the case.  He promised Abraham many years ago that Israel would live in peace and security and that all the nations of the world would be blessed through his descendants.  Isaiah affirms this promise and we can be certain that it will be fulfilled.  Israel has been a rebellious and ungrateful nation that has caused many to scoff at the name of God.  Because of this, the nation has suffered tremendous hardship and countless captivities.  However, this will not always be the case.  God has a plan to fulfill His promise and at some point in history God will exult the nation of Israel and personally reign in that nation so that all the nations will flock to hear and learn from Jesus.

REJECT THE PATTERN OF THE WORLD: Today the nation of Israel and all the nations live a very different reality that that which has been planned by God.  People trust in their own strength, knowledge and resources to the point that they reject the very idea of God.  The world has set a pattern of worshiping itself or things fashioned by the hands of man as opposed to worshiping the God of the universe.  The land is full of witchcraft, materialism, idolatry and pride.  God calls us to reject this kind of living because it is doomed to fail and because it is an abomination to Him.  Israel and all of mankind lives in this abominable pattern but God will put an end to all of that so we must learn to swim against the current of the present culture in order to prepare for the future reality that God has prepared for us.


REPENT OF THE POLLUTION OF OUR HEART: The Day of the Lord is coming where God will make low all men and all things that pretend to be exalted above Him.  God will not tolerate any competition and will put an end to all idolatry when He returns to this earth to judge the hearts of men.  On that day the proud and powerful that pretended to be gods will scurry like cockroaches to the caves of the world in a futile attempt to hide from the judgment of God.  There will be a day in the history of this world when all men will turn from their idols but they will not turn to God; instead they will flee from His presence to holes in the ground but they will eventually find themselves in the bottomless pit.  The time to repent of idolatry is now so that we might join the throng of worshipers and the throne of God and enjoy that realty of all of eternity.

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