Isaiah

Isaiah 2: The LORD alone will be exalted

Begin in prayer

Before we hear of nations coming to God and proud people hiding from Him, please pray together. Ask the Lord to humble us beneath His majesty and teach our family through His Son.

Ascribe to Yahweh, you families of nations, ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.

Psalm 96:7

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Help us see the majesty of Christ and the folly of pride. Teach us to receive Your Word with humble hearts. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Isaiah sees nations streaming to the mountain of the LORD’s house to learn His ways. God will settle their disputes, and weapons of war will become tools for growing food. Yet Judah is filled with divination, treasures, chariots and idols made by human fingers. These things fall on the day when the LORD rises to shake the earth. Proud people will hide in rocks and throw away their silver and gold idols. Isaiah calls the house of Jacob to walk in God’s light and stop trusting in mortal people.

As you read Isaiah 2, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The LORD brings proud people low and gathers nations to learn His ways.

People stream toward God’s mountain because they want Him to teach them. The nations’ peace grows from His rule and His judgment between them. Swords become plowshares, the blades used to turn soil for planting. That promised future exposes the foolishness of Judah’s present life. The land is full of things people trust, wealth, military power and idols. Human hands made these gods, and human breath itself depends on the living God. When His majesty appears, every proud height and human boast must fall. The lasting hope is to hear the Lord and walk in His light.

How does Isaiah 2 show us that the LORD brings proud people low and gathers nations to learn His ways?

God will teach the nations and bring peace.

The peoples invite one another to hear God’s Word from Jerusalem. His judgment settles what their weapons cannot. The tools once used to kill become tools that help families eat.

God exposes the things proud people trust.

Judah’s silver, gold, horses and chariots fill the land alongside its idols. Divination seeks hidden knowledge apart from God. Those idols are the work of human fingers. People have bowed before what they made and forgotten the One who gives them breath.

God alone will remain exalted.

No cave hides anyone from the glory of God’s majesty. The precious idols become things to throw among moles and bats. The command to stop trusting man follows from the helplessness of every human refuge.

Memorise

The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.

Isaiah 2:17

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what am I trusting to make me secure before the Lord Jesus?

People will throw away the idols they once treasured when God rises to shake the earth. Isaiah says, “Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.” Our pride falls before His holy presence.

Jesus humbled Himself to save proud sinners. Jesus took His people’s guilt upon Himself and died in their place under God’s judgment. The crucified Savior rose victorious, and His completed obedience and sacrifice supply everything needed for forgiveness. The nations’ hope rests in this living King.

Turn from your proud self trust and believe in Jesus Christ. Receive His teaching, and give up the idols your heart defends. Those who seek mercy in Him receive pardon and peace with God. Bow before the King whose kingdom will endure.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God’s majesty exposes the weakness of every idol. Jesus humbled Himself, died under judgment for His people and rose victorious. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that He will humble pride and teach the nations, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Matthew 23:12

Lord, thank You that Your majesty will outlast every human boast. Please turn us from pride and give us faith in Jesus. Let Your Word shape our speech and choices. During the coming week, teach us to listen before defending our own way. Amen.