Isaiah 2:12

The day of the Lord. “The day of the Lord” is the day of God’s wrath upon individual nations and upon the world. When a nation goes so far in iniquity that its doom is sealed and final judgment is pronounced against it by the Lord, this is “the day of the Lord” for that particular people. These localized, individual days of the Lord upon Israel (Amos 5:18), Judah and Jerusalem (Lam. 2:22; Eze. 13:5; Zeph. 1:7, 14, 18; 2:2, 3; Zech. 14:1), Babylon (Isa. 13:6, 9), Egypt (Jer. 46:10; Eze. 30:3), and Edom and the heathen in general (Obadiah 15) were types of the greater day of the Lord’s judgment yet to come upon the entire world (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10). See also Isa. 34:8; Joel 1:15; 2:1; 3:14; Zech. 14:1; Mal. 4:5. Prophecies of a local “day of the Lord” are often descriptive also of the universal “day of the Lord” at the end of the world. Similarly, Jesus blended predictions of the fall of Jerusalem with those of His second coming.

Proud and lofty. “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18). Pride turned men against God and led them to oppress their fellow men.

Pride leads men to array themselves against God, forcing Him to become their enemy. Consequently, the might of heaven is arrayed against them. It is only a question of time till they perish, together with all their works. Isaiah saw the professed people of God vaunting themselves and glorying in their own achievements; he also saw them humbled in the dust before the Creator in the great day of the Lord.