SERMON TITLE: Joy for the Nations
TEXT: Isaiah 2:1-5 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 11-28-21
You can watch the sermon here.
You can find the sermon notes here.
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I always want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshipping with us for the first time or are joining us at our North Main campus — the one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and that I love you too.
Can you believe it? We’re starting our Christmas series already. Earlier you heard the opening words from the gospel of John. Words that describe the eternality of Christ — in the beginning Christ existed. (John 1:1-2) Words that described the divinity of Christ — the Word was God. (John 1:1) Words that describe Christ as Creator — all things were made through him. (John 1:3) Words that describe the penetrating power of the light of Christ in the darkness of our world. (John 1:5)
And — finally — you heard words describing the birth of Christ. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14) Each week — throughout our Christmas series — we’ll turn to the gospels to remind ourselves of the Christmas story. A story of hope. A story of peace. A story of love. But — for our focus this year — we’re going to remind ourselves that the Christmas season is one of joy.
And the things about Christ — that were just mentioned — his eternality, his divinity, that he is Creator, his light has shown in the darkness, and that he — God — became man — is news of joy for all nations. Christmas isn’t just a reason for us to repeat the sounding joy — Christmas is a reason for people of all nations to repeat the sounding joy. And that’s what we’ll see today as we turn to the Old Testament. We’ll remind ourselves that this season — the season of Christmas — is a reason for people of all nations to be joyful. So let’s turn to our passage for today.
If you have your Bible please turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 2. We’ll be looking at verses 1-5. We’re in Isaiah chapter 2. Beginning in verse 1.
“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” (Isaiah 2:1-5 ESV)
Joy for the nations. As a reminder — or an announcement if you’re new to Gateway — during our Christmas Eve services — at both of our campuses — we collect an offering where all of the money collected is given to some of our missionary partners. This year our Christmas Eve offering will be going to support Water for Ishmael — an organization based out of Toledo that is doing educational and resettlement work among Afghan and Syrian refugees. We’ll also be given a portion of our Christmas Eve offering to the mission’s branch of our denomination — World Outreach. Specifically to the work our denomination is doing among Syrian refugees scattered around the world.
Now — one of the reasons why we collect an offering — only to give all of the money away every year — is because we see — in Scripture — God’s love for all people. His desire for people of all nations to believe in his Son so they find life, and hope, and peace, and joy in Christ. Joy for the nations — that’s our desire and the reason for our Christmas Eve offering.
And our text — in Isaiah chapter 2 — gives us a picture of what the birth of Jesus is bringing about. In our verses we see that — one day — there will be such unity and peace that all nations will flock to the Lord to sit under his teaching so they can walk in his ways. And this will be a time of great joy for all people. Again — our verses show us a future day when there will be such unity and peace on earth — that people from all nations will flock to the Lord to sit under his teaching so they can walk in his ways.
Now — I don’t know about you — but even though I’m neither the oldest or youngest in the room — I still find that I’ve lived long enough to realize that — though people long for peace on earth — for example — most people long for wars and violence to end — we all — Christian or not — imagine a day when wars and violence are over — though we long for peace on earth and the joy that it will bring — what I’m more and more aware of — the older I get — is how we ignore the One who came to earth to make peace possible.
I was recently in Kohl’s and noticed they had record players for sale — so hopefully this illustration will make sense to all of us. Society — including all of us — seems to be like a record that’s scratched and is stuck repeating the same two seconds of music over and over again. Anyone ever owned a scratched record that would get stuck repeating the same part of the song over and over? Well society feels that way to me.
We look back at history with a bit of a snobbishness to us where we think something like, “Oh, those poor souls. If only they were as sophisticated as us. Then we wouldn’t have to clean up their mess — all these problems they helped to create.” Yet we don’t realize that one day future generations will look at us the same way. And — my point here — is that we’re not the first generation to think that we’re going to be the ones to figure out how to make peace on earth. And neither are we the first generation to have a group that’s our scapegoat as to what’s keeping us from actually realizing peace on earth. There’s always the “them” we have to blame for not getting on the same program as the rest of us. If you’re a Republican — it’s the Democrats. If you’re a Democrat — it’s the Republicans. If you’re a Mac person — it’s those PC folks. We’ve got Baptists and Presbyterians. Cat and dog owners. Ohio State and — dare I say it — even Michigan fans among us.
But seriously — we live in a world — today — that’s willing to do anything for peace. With a common tactic these days being canceling out and silencing those who won’t get in line with the program. But what kind of peace is this actually producing? “Oh, since you don’t agree with me, I’m going to get the internet mob to attack you, humiliate you, and cancel you.” What kind of peace on earth are we producing?
Whatever your thoughts on all this, does anyone want to argue that all of this is producing an abundance of joy in our world? Joyful isn’t exactly how I’d describe our world these days, would you? Yet this is what the birth of Christ promises to us all — peace on earth — a peace that produces joy for all nations.
So let’s return to our verses and discover the joy being offered to all of us. Specifically, the place of joy, the people of joy, and the person who is our joy.
Back to verse 1.
“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:1-3 ESV)
The place of joy. The place — here in Isaiah — is a mountain that’s the location of the house of the Lord. Now — this is interesting language — especially for the Old Testament. In the Old Testament — what’s the place of worship for the people of God? You’ve got the Tabernacle — the tent — during the days of Moses up until the Temple is built, right? Then the Temple becomes the permanent place of worship for the people of God.
But — here — in Isaiah — it’s not the Temple — that’s the place of joy — the place the people are going to is the house of the Lord. There’s joy — for the people — in the house of the Lord — the house of the God of Jacob. So why do we find the word house — here — and not Temple? One person writes, “A ‘temple’ is primarily a place for worship; a ‘house’ is primarily where the Lord has come to live among his people.” (Motyer, J. Alec. Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 20. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999.)
The point — for us — is that this is no mere religion being described here. No coldhearted, go through the motions, kind of faith. This is deeply personal — though corporate. Personal — not in the sense of individualistic — but in the sense of changing. You can’t go to the house of the Lord — you can’t come into the presence of Jesus — and not personally be changed. You’re either softened by his favor and mercy towards you — amazed by his love and sacrifice. Or you’re hardened — seeing not a beautiful sacrifice but someone to be mocked and pitied. But no one leaves the presence of Jesus unchanged.
Makes me wonder how being in the presence of Jesus — right now — is affecting you? Are you being softened by his presence or hardened? Is the presence of Christ — as we begin a month-long celebration of his birth — is his presence deeply personal to you?
Which leads us to the people who are joyful. We’re in verse 2.
“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” (Isaiah 2:2-5 ESV)
If you’re a Christian — do you realize that — like never before in our lifetime — we have an amazing opportunity to be peacemakers instead of war participants? We’re seeing people war with one another — we’re used to nations warring with each other — but now people war with one another like never before. It’s going on like crazy in our country.
And — in this warring — other people have become the enemy. Yet — our Christian faith teaches us that our primary enemies are Satan and our flesh — not other people. And — though the Bible does describe some as wolves — the more common description of unbelievers — in Scripture — is not that of our enemy. Not that of wolves. Never that of soldiers in Satan’s army. Unbelievers — no matter how they treat us — are most often described as people who are ensnared and trapped by the schemes of the Devil. Again — not his soldiers — people trapped by him.
And the posture we should have towards them — a posture that would radically change things in the warring going on in our nation — is if we viewed unbelievers as people trapped by the Devil — caught in his trap — fellow image bearers of God who need us to show them the way to freedom in Christ. It doesn’t matter in which trap of the Devil’s they’ve fallen prey to — whether it be a sexual trap, an ideological trap, a political trap, an identity trap, or a false religion trap — do you view them first and foremost as someone created in the image of God who’s been trapped by a common enemy — Satan? And do you see that your role is to help them find freedom in Christ and not wage war against them?
You want to talk about the way to peace on earth — to great joy for all people? How about we get off the “cancel culture — everyone who doesn’t believe like me is my enemy” bandwagon — and instead remember who the real enemy is — and view and treat all people the way Scripture tells us to. Then we’ll be able to say, “Come with me. Let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord.”
But — as someone’s said — before we invite people to come we must be “a church that’s worth joining!” (Motyer, J. Alec. Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 20. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999.) A group of people who walk in the light of the Lord. Which is another way of saying people who obey his commands — who seek to be taught by him so that we can live for him who gives us joy.
Which leads us to the person who is our joy. Back to verse 1.
“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” (Isaiah 2:1-5 ESV)
Something I find interesting — about the Hebrew people — is their view of life. I’m not talking about their perspective of life — but actually which direction they view life. You see, we tend to view things looking ahead — towards the future. The Hebrew people viewed life by looking back to the past. In fact, one scholar has said, “The Hebrews did not face the future as we do. Rather, they faced the past and backed into the future. So the past was before them and the future behind them.” (Oswalt, John N. The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1986.)
And — what we’re witnessing — in our verses — are the results of Christ’s victory on our behalf. Meaning — like the Hebrews — we need to put the past before us — we need to look back — as we move forward. In fact, that’s what the Christmas season does for us every year. We pause from our future oriented view of life and put the past — the birth of Christ — before us. The past where — Christ — God in flesh — the Lord — in our verses — came to live among his people. The Lord who came to bring joy. Who came to accomplish an eternal day of peace on earth. A peace between nations — no need for any more wars — no need to even plan for them. For the Lord has come to inaugurate a time when weapons of destruction are no longer needed. For — where the Lord reigns — nationalism is gone — borders and walls of division are torn down as all of God’s people are part of his one, singular, unified, nation.
We look to the past in order to see the promise of our future. For — the time of peace that we all long for — is promised to come. It will come to pass. But only for those who follow the path of the Lord — who look back to him in order to walk in his light.
His light — which brings us back to the opening words of John’s gospel. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The True light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” (John 1:5-9 ESV) The phrase “in the light” has strong Old Testament overtones. In the Old Testament the phrase is used to mean the Lord’s favor. It can refer to God’s presence and care. “In the light” can mean God’s truth. It’s also used to refer to God’s revealed truth. (Motyer, J. Alec. Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 20. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999.)
But — to walk in the light of the Lord — is to walk in the light of Christ who is the light of the world. Jesus is the light who has come to shine the light of God in our dark world of sin, destruction, death, despair, and division. Jesus has come to bring peace on earth by shining the light of God so that all might experience the peace that he offers. A peace that promises an eternal joy for God’s people for all eternity. A joy that nothing else can ever give you — which means — there’s only one program to get on board with — Christ. He offers peace. His light shines in the darkness. He’s the only eternal source of joy. A joy promised people of all nations.
So — people of people — today — let’s be peacemakers. People who are Good News spreaders. People who are joyful and joy-filled so that the nations — people of all nations — might receive the joy that only Jesus offers. A joy for you and me — a joy for all who turn to him in faith. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the joy-giving news we’ve heard today. News of joy that is for all people.
Spirit of God, help us to be spreaders of this joy-giving news. May we — who’ve believed in Jesus — stop warring with others and instead spread the news that sets captives free, spreads peace on earth, and gives life-changing joy.
And — Jesus — thank you for being our joy. You are the reason why the peace we all long for will be the reality of all who believe in you. You are the reason why the joy we all hope for — is joy that’s not unattainable — but discoverable — but only in you. And what sweet joy it is that you offer to us and to all nations. May the joy you’ve given to us be put on repeat in our lives. If the record is going to skip and repeat and repeat and repeat — may it be joy, joy, joy that people hear from us. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen.
May you go filled with the joy of Christ — spreading the news of the joy he offers to all. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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