READ: Is. 2:1-5
Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord … For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. – Is. 2:3
The first revelation that God gives to Isaiah ends with an unprecedented promise (1:27): the Zion (Jerusalem) of Isaiah’s time, despite corruption, injustice, and adultery, will still look forward to salvation from the LORD. In the new Zion, there will be restoration of justice and righteousness.
Now comes the second revelation concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It begins with a prophecy about “the last days.” This is the time that begins with Pentecost and leads to the Second Coming with the final judgment (Acts 2:17). After Ascension and Pentecost, Christ gathers His church from all nations on the way to the consummation. Isaiah says of this: then the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains.
The church is the most important place on earth during that time, where the LORD Himself dwells. Outside of it, there is no salvation. There, the truth of God is held, ministered, and proclaimed (1 Tim. 3:15). The Gospel goes out to all nations. Believers join the church (Gen. 17:4; Mat. 28:19; Art. 27 and 28 BC). They go up to the house of the God of Jacob and invite others to do the same (v.3).
Art. 28 BC says: They maintain the unity of the church and submit to its teaching and discipline, and they desire to bend their necks under the yoke of Christ. It is God Himself who instructs us there with His Word about His ways (v.3; Art. 29 BC).
Therefore, preachers must be reliable and preach God’s Word without distortion and in its entirety. God’s ways encompass not only God’s teaching of complete redemption in Christ but also the life of faith flowing from it. The instruction about this is found throughout God’s Word. Nothing should be subtracted from it or added to it.
This Gospel brings true peace, first within God’s house and then outside it as well. This will only be perfected at the Second Coming of Christ.
Do we call on others to come to church with us?
Singing: Ps. 122:1