Isaiah 2

THE LAST DAYS

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days.’

Isaiah 2:2

These words are in themselves of sufficient importance and interest to justify our separating them from their context to concentrate our attention on them. The expression ‘last days’ may be traced from the dying words of Jacob on the coming of the Shiloh (Genesis 49:1) through the words of Balaam the son of Beor (Numbers 24:14; Numbers 24:17) (and its use, with a more limited reference, in some parts of Scripture), right on to the speech of St. Peter on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17), and in one of his letters (1 Peter 1:20). It thus has its meaning authoritatively assigned it, especially in Hebrews 1:2: ‘God, Who spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.’ The ‘last days’ to us are days of mingled mercy and judgment, both which elements are prominent in this chapter, but in the first coming, mercy is predominant above judgment, as in the second, judgment will tower over mercy. In the eyes of the prophets ‘the last days,’ the days in which we now live, were:—

I. Days to which their own were only preparatory.—How long was this time of preparation! There is a sense in which every generation with all its doings is only a preparation for the next, and thus all the ages were but preparations for Christ’s coming.

II. Days in which abundant mercy should be manifested.—(1) The Church should be a conspicuous object, and as such a centre of unity to the world. All nations are to flow to her like the waters of a river. ‘Behold, I will extend peace to Zion as a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream’ (Isaiah 66:12). (2) The Church should be the source of knowledge to mankind. ‘Out of Zion shall go forth the law.’ (3) The God of Jacob should be the teacher of peace to the nations (Isaiah 66:4).

III. Days which shall usher in the consummation of all things.—This is the meaning of ‘last days.’ However long they may be, the period that closes them will bring to an end the final dispensation of mercy. Christ will come to judgment, the dead will be raised, the work of mercy finished, and then, in the judicial rather than the administrative sense of the word, ‘He shall judge among the nations.’

Illustration

‘The prophet foresees a time when the nations of the world will turn from all other forms of religion to that which had been given to the world through the Jews. Many people shall go and say, “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us.” Already this dream of the prophet is being realised, and in every land earnest souls are turning to the God Whom this Book has made known. What an incentive to faithful service! “In due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” ’