Please open your Bible and read Isaiah 2:1-4 and note the following: (1) It shall come to pass in the last days. (2) The Lord’s house shall be established. (3) It will be exalted. (4) Out of Zion shall go forth the law. (5) This shall be done in Jerusalem. All of these give the key as to the time and place of the establishment of the Lord’s church or kingdom.
1. “It shall come to pass in the last days,” Many are of the opinion. that the last days are yet to come in a dispensation different from that in which we now live, at which time the kingdom of Christ will be established. Keep in mind, however, that when God set a particular time in prophecy that such “time prophecy” was never postponed. Now read Acts 2:16-17 and note that Peter said, “This is that. And it shall come to pass in the last days.” So, the last days mentioned by Isaiah and by Joel refer to the same time. Therefore, what came to pass on the day Peter spoke on Pentecost over 1900 years ago pinpointed the time of the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, therefore, the church was established that day.
2. “The Lord’s house shall be established.” Mountain is often used in a figurative sense, referring to power, and here connected with the establishment of the kingdom. In First Timothy 3:15 Paul wrote, “That thou mayest know how to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God” This establishes the fact that the house spoken of in Isaiah is the church revealed in the New Testament.
It may be in order here to note that the church and the kingdom are the same institution. Luke 8:11 states that the word of God is the seed of the kingdom-only one seed However, when Peter and the other apostles preached the gospel on Pentecost (Acts 2), sowed the seed, the church was produced (Verse 47). Jesus said he would give Peter the keys of the kingdom, but, again, when Peter used the keys on Pentecost the door of the church was opened, and obedient souls added thereto (Acts 2:41,47). Keys mean authority, hence, referred to both the church and the kingdom. In Matthew 26:29, Jesus said he would not partake of the fruit of the vine, “until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Read First Corinthians 11:23-30 and see that the church in Corinth ate the bread and drank of the fruit of the vine, therefore, since the Lord’s supper was to be observed in the kingdom, and we find it in the church, there is further evidence that they refer to the same. Be it further observed that Paul wrote the Colossians and affirmed that he and they had been translated, transferred, into the kingdom, which shows definitely that the kingdom then existed (Col. 1:13).
3. The Lord’s house “shall be exalted above the hills.” Since the church is spiritual it could not be compared to literal hills, therefore the word hills must refer to other institutions. Ephesians l:20-23 shows that Christ is exalted above all “principality, power, might and dominion.” These words include everything and everyone in heaven, on earth and the unseen realm, except God the Father. Since the church is the body of Christ it is also exalted above every human institution, regardless its nature.
4. “All nations shall flow unto it.” This refers to Jew and Gentile. All nations were present on Pentecost (Acts 2:5- ll), including some Gentiles who became proselytes. Acts 10 and 11 give further evidence that the Gentiles were brought into the kingdom. “All nations” did not refer to political divisions, but Jew and Gentile. Ezekiel 34:17-24 refers to them as “cattle and cattle,” and the Lord speaks of sheep and sheep (John 10:16).
5. “Out of Zion shall go forth the law…He will teach us his ways.” It has been shown that the old law given through Moses would be abolished, abrogated (Amos 8:5,8; Zech. ll:10-12), and that a new law would be given (Heb 8:8- 13;10:9-10; 9:16-17). The new law referred to the gospel of Christ which should be preached after his resurrection from the dead, as given in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47). In Luke 24:47 and Acts 1:8 clearly show that this was to begin at Jerusalem, as recorded in Acts 2.
CONCLUSION
Over 700 years before Christ came, Isaiah prophesied many things about the Messiah, which must of necessity include his church or kingdom. More of what he prophesied will be considered in subsequent articles, along with other prophecies. But, when one considers what Isaiah wrote and the fulfillment, the only sensible, logical, Scriptural conclusion reached is that the Lord’s church was established (l) by Christ; (2) in Jerusalem; (3) on the first Pentecost after his resurrection.
-Dorrence H. Kirby
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