Page 7 - Isaiah Student Worktext

V. 21-23 These verses describe further the sins of Israel, and once again notice this from V. 23: they are
accused of not defending the fatherless and not having the cause of the widow to come before them.

Everyone loves bribes, follows after rewards, they do not defend the fatherless or the widow. I sincerely
believe that when God repeats something as often as this shows up in scripture, it carries particular
weight. All scripture carries weight obviously, but what more could He do to convince us that this is
important to Him?

V. 24-25 tells us that God will rid Himself of His adversaries, but we are also told in V. 25 that He will
then turn His hand against Israel.

Then, once again, a promise of restoration…not necessarily for all the people of Israel, but for Israel
itself. Once He has purged out the ‘dross’, He will restore justice and righteousness.

Chapter 2 - Main idea: God levels all human idols, establishing and exalting His temple,
causing the nations to stream to Him.

People have been predicting the last days almost from the outset. On August 24, 210, Rome fell to the
Visigoths. Roman Christians were certain that the end times were upon them. There have been
hundreds of ‘prophecies’ since that time that tell us that a particular day or time will be the end.

V. 1-2 We have actually been in the last days for 2000 years. We are in the final phases of that plan—
that people from every nation would come to the Lord’s House. In Isaiah’s vision, people were
streaming to the Lord…spiritually, not physically like Muslims to Mecca.

V. 3-4 People coming to the Lord, inviting others to come, teaching others His ways. V. 4 is a longed-for
promise. Nation will no longer rise up against nation. They will beat their swords into plowshares and
their spears into pruning hooks.

Back in WW II, automobile factories converted to making tanks and airplanes for the war effort. Joel 3:
10 advocates the opposite.

Still, there is coming a day when nations will no longer ‘study’ war, and peace will reign. Of course, this
points to Jesus, and peace will not occur until He returns. Man’s efforts at peace are admirable but
won’t result in lasting peace.

V. 5-6 Jesus, the Lord, is the light. But Israel had been influenced by ‘eastern’ ways and had abandoned
the teachings of the Lord. Sounds familiar…?

The ‘easterners’ had it all: treasures, horses and chariots, military might. But they also had idols. God
said not to follow AND not to forgive. We know that God instructs us to forgive ‘70 times 7’, which
indicates infinitely. But there are situations and there are peoples from the past for which He instructed
us to have no mercy. When in doubt, ask God…

Most of the rest of this chapter deals with the terror that is coming to the disobedient nations.

6