Isaiah 2:4-6 - You have abandoned your people

2:4,5

The Lord will judge between nations, bringing peace instead of war. Again, we see a partial fulfilment of this. The gospel has influenced societies in the West more than we care to admit. Sadly, Western societies are seeking to divest themselves of all Christian influence as quickly as they can. They do not realise that in doing so they are sweeping away the foundations on which they are built, and it will lead to a collapse in society. Indeed, we already see this happening.

Given these great promises, Isaiah urges “descendants of Jacob” to walk in the light of the Lord. We might say the same to the church. We should walk in the light of the Lord, not the darkness of the world. For it is God’s ways that will prevail, it is His ways that will bring true peace and prosperity.

2:6

Isaiah now declares that God has abandoned His people. This is something that we need to face up to, and if we don’t we have a skewed knowledge of God that will lead us down dangerous roads. We think that God will not abandon His people. Israel thought that God would not abandon them. The religious leaders in the time of Jesus could not see that they, not the Roman occupiers, were the major problem. If a people refuse to truly worship God, if a people persistently refuse to walk in His ways, if they ignore His word, then such a people should expect to be rejected by God. But what about His mercy, what about His forgiveness? We need to understand the path, the process, that God’s mercy follows. It leads us to become aware of our own sinfulness, our own need to repent. It leads us to see that God’s ways are right and that He is faithful. God’s mercy does not allow us to continue in our sinful (and therefore harmful) ways.

Isaiah then goes on to explain why God has abandoned them, for His abandonment was not without reason. The people had become full of superstition from the East, and they practised divination like the Philistines. They were adopting the ways of the world, they embraced pagan customs. Sadly the church today is still all too ready to do the very same thing.