Isaiah 2:2-5

It shall come to pass. Various interpretations have been given to the message of vs. 2-4: (1) that it refers to a millennium, when there will be peace on earth, when the Jews will be restored to their ancestral home and to their former status as God’s chosen people, and rule the earth and accomplish the conversion of the world; (2) that it describes a counterfeit religious revival to take place at the close of earth’s history, sponsored by apostate Christianity and designed to convert the world, such as is alluded to in 1 Thess. 5:1-5; Rev. 13:11-17; etc.; (3) that it describes God’s original plan that literal Israel should become His agency for the salvation of the world, but that, owing to Israel’s failure and rejection, the prediction here made will be fulfilled by God’s chosen people today in the giving of the gospel message to earth’s remotest bounds.

As with every other passage of Scripture, the only way to determine the true meaning of Isa. 2:2-4 and its significance for the church today is to study it in the context of the Scriptures as a whole, in terms of what the Bible itself has to say to on the subject. For a careful survey of the teachings of the Bible relative to the basic problems involved in various fanciful interpretations, to the return of the Jews to Palestine, and to the role of Israel in the divine plan, see pp. 25-38. For Ellen G. White comments on the parallel passage in Micah 4:1-3 as one of many “practical lessons” that contain “great encouragement” for the church today, see CT 455, 456.

It should be noted that Micah 4:1-3 is practically identical, word for word, with Isa. 2:2-4. A study of the context in Micah will be found helpful in clarifying the parallel passage in Isaiah. Isaiah and Micah were contemporary for a number of years.

The last days. Heb. ’acharith hayyamim. Acharith, “last,” generally designates the close of whatever period of time the speaker has in mind, whether the period be short or long. ’Acharith is used of: (1) the close of the 430 years of sojourn (see on Gen. 15:13, 16) when Israel would possess Canaan (Gen. 49:1); (2) the close of the wilderness wanderings (Deut. 8:16); (3) the close of a future period of tribulation and exile (Deut. 4:30; Hosea 3:5); (4) the close of a period of history (Deut. 31:29); (5) the end result of a course of action (Prov. 14:12; 23:32; Isa. 47:7); (6) the end of the year (Deut. 11:12); (7) the close of a period of trial and testing in a man’s life (Job 42:12). In Bible prophecy it is used of: (1) the end of the power of God Greece (Dan. 8:23); (2) the close of the 1260 and 2300 days (Dan. 10:14; 8:19): (3) the ingathering of the Gentiles at the close of the age (Isa. 2:2; Micah 4:1); (4) the battle of Gog and Magog immediately prior to the establishment of the Messianic kingdom (Eze. 38:6, 7, 16); (5) the great day of final judgement (Jer. 23:30; 30:24); (6) the final “end” of the wicked (Ps. 37:38).

’Acharith is commonly translated in the LXX by eschatos, “last,” “end.” It is the opposite of re’shith, “beginning” (see on Gen. 1:1), as is apparent from Isa. 41:22; 46:10, where “former” and “beginning” stand in contrast with “latter end” and “end.”

Biblical usage of ’acharith makes it evident that the context must, in each case, determine how far in the future “last” is. The context of “the last days” in Isa. 2:2 refers to the manifestation of the “majesty” of God (v. 10), to “that day” in which “the Lord alone shall be exalted” (vs. 11, 17), to “the day of the Lord” (v. 12), to the time “when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth” (v. 19). Compare Isa. 2:10-21 with Rev. 6:14-17. The context of the parallel passage in Micah 4:1-4 mentions the time when “the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever” (v. 7), and refers to the time of restoration of the “first dominion” to Zion (v. 8) from Babylonian captivity (v. 10). Hence the “last days” of Isa. 2:2 immediately precede the establishment of the Messianic kingdom.

According to the principles of interpretation set forth on pp. 29, 30, the Messianic age, in God’s original plan for Israel, was to have come as the climax to the period of restoration following Babylonian captivity (see PK 703, 704). But Israel failed to meet the conditions under which God could have fulfilled the many promises of national glory and universal dominion for Israel, and as a result the prediction of Isa. 2:14 was never fulfilled to literal Israel.

The mountain of the Lord’s house. The LXX of Isa. 2:2 reads, “the mountain of the Lord and the house of God.” “The Lord’s house,” or “house of the Lord,” is the usual OT designation for the Temple (1 Kings 8:63; etc.), which was situated on Mt. Moriah (see on 2 Chron. 3:1; cf. Jer. 26:18; Micah 3:12). This, the “place” the Lord chose as a center for His worship (Deut. 12:5, 6, 14; 16:16), became the center and symbol of Judaism (1 Kings 8:29, 30; etc.). The Jewish religious system was so intimately bound up with the Temple and its service that the desolation of the latter in 586 B.C. and again in A.D. 70 rendered the system largely inoperative. When Jeremiah foretold the desolation of the Temple the religious leaders of the nation clamored for his death (see Jer. 26:1-9). The erroneous charge that Jesus had said He would destroy the Temple was the worst accusation the false witnesses could manufacture against Him (Mark 14:58; 15:29; cf. John 2:19). The inner courts of the Temple were the only places in Jerusalem from which Gentiles were excluded on pain of death (see Acts 21:28-31).

Thus, to say that “the mountain of the Lord’s house” would be exalted to “the top of the mountains” was equivalent to saying that the God of Israel would be honored above other religions and gods. For the word “mountain” as a symbol of power, and thus of national power, see Isa. 2:14; Jer. 51:25; Eze. 6:2, 3; 36:1, 4; Zech. 4:7; Rev. 17:9, 10. Daniel refers to the kingdom of God becoming “a great mountain” that “filled the whole earth” (Dan. 2:35). For other illustrations of the Gentiles coming to the “holy mountain” of God, see also Isa. 11:1, 10; 56:6-8.

In the top of the mountains. Heb. bero’sh heharim, which may also be rendered “on the top of the mountains,” “on the chief of the mountains,” or “as the chief of the mountains.” In any case the meaning is the same. If “the mountain of the Lord’s house” is a figurative expression for the religion of Israel, then “the mountains” must be the other religions of earth. Being closely identified with Judaism as a religious faith, Israel as a nation would accordingly be “established” above other nations of earth (see pp. 27, 28; PP 314).

All nations shall flow unto it. According to God’s original plan for Israel as His chosen instrument for accomplishing the salvation of the world, the time was to come when the nations of earth would acknowledge the superiority and leadership of Israel as a nation (pp. 28-30). The glorious picture of the exaltation of Israel as a nation is repeated again and again throughout the writings of the OT prophets, especially in the prophetic messages of Isaiah (PK 367, 368). He speaks of the Gentiles running to Israel because of the Lord their God (ch. 55:5), of the nations coming from afar (chs. 45:14; 49:6-8, 12, 18, 22) to join themselves to Israel (ch. 14:1) and to the Lord (ch. 56:6), of God personally conducting them to His “holy mountain,” which would as a result become “an house of prayer for all people” (ch. 56:7, 8), and of the Gentiles bringing their wealth to Jerusalem (ch. 60:3-11). Jeremiah speaks of all the Gentile nations coming “from the ends of the earth” (Jer. 16:19) and being gathered “to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem” (Jer. 3:17). Zechariah foresaw the time when “many nations” would be “joined to the Lord” and be His people (Zech. 2:11), and “many people and strong nations” would come “to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem” (Zech. 8:21, 22; cf. Zech. 14:16). Thus, eventually, the kingdom of Israel would embrace the entire earth (COL 290; Zech. 9:9, 10). Nations that refused to cooperate with God’s plan and to unite with Israel were to “perish” (Isa. 60:12; cf. 54:3) and to be “dispossessed” (COL 290). This glorious picture of the eventual triumph of truth was never fulfilled to literal Israel, but will be to spiritual Israel. Isa. 2:1-5 thus becomes a picture of the glorious triumph of the gospel through God’s chosen instrument in our own day, His church (see on Rev. 18:1; see also pp. 35, 36).