It shall come to pass in the latter days
Isaiah 2:2-3 (ESV)
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,
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.
In this passage, Isaiah was looking ahead to the latter (or last) days. The last days were seen as a time when God’s kingdom would be firmly established. When the nations would “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks” (Isa. 2:4), and where “The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox” (Isa. 65:25).
On that day, the mountain of the house of the Lord would be lifted up as the highest of mountains. The temple was built on Mt. Moriah, but Zion, a neighboring hill, came to represent the entire city of Jerusalem. And it is Zion that is referred to here. Zion was not going to become taller than Mt. Everest. However, it would gain prestige to become the most important location in the world.
Gentiles and the Mountain of the Lord
On that day, many people from all nations would flow into Jerusalem, seeking to know the ways of the Lord. The many people from all nations are the Gentiles. People who had been worshipping other gods would be turning to the Lord.
The Gentiles would come to the Lord in response to the word of the Lord going out from Jerusalem. This took place in the years following Pentecost, as described in Acts 2 and following. The gospel message spread from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
The latter days were inaugurated with the death and resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit. We are now in the latter days (Heb. 1:2), but we still look forward to the time when the kingdom of God is firmly established on earth. But even now the word of the Lord is going out into all the world. And people from all nations are coming to the City of God, the New Jerusalem.
