Text: Isaiah 2:1-5
Are you ready? I suppose if I don’t clarify that question a little bit, it could be about almost anything. Maybe I am asking if you are ready for the Christmas season. Did you go out this last Friday and get all the deals so that you saved a lot of money on Christmas presents? Are you ready to go and visit your relatives or perhaps to have them come visit you? Are you ready for all the Christmas treats that we’ll have over the next month? Certainly Christmas is on our minds since we just started the season of Advent. But the question I am asking is this: Are you ready for the Lord Jesus to return so that he can judge the world? This first Sunday in Advent is about being ready for that day. As we prepare for that coming, we are reminded to walk in the light of the Lord. We walk in his light because he will judge all nations and he will teach us his ways.
He will judge all nations
The scene that Isaiah gives us in chapter 2 is very peaceful. It is a picture of God’s kingdom. True believers look forward to this kingdom. The picture in chapter 2 is quite different than what we see in chapter 1 of Isaiah. There we see a God who is angry over sin. Isaiah describes the sinfully rebellious people in verse 4. He says, “Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.” God has every right to be angry when sinful human beings completely forsake the Lord and turn their backs on him.
We do not want to be on the receiving end of the Lord’s anger when he returns. We want to be prepared. A little bit later in chapter 1 we hear this, “‘Come now let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword’” (Isaiah 1:18-20). God provides the way for us to be prepared for the coming judgment. God has provided us with Christ. Through our Lord Jesus our sins are taken away. We are pure like snow. If we are live in this gospel we have eternal life. If we reject this gift and live in sin, we have eternal damnation.
Chapter 2 gives us the picture of what we as believers can look forward to as we get ready for heaven. Speaking about what our Lord will do, verse 4 says, “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” In heaven there will be no more war. The weapons that are in this world will no longer be necessary. All disputes will be settled. This is the kind of peace that there will be among believers.
And yet there is another side to eternity. There is another judgment. Believers will be judged righteous because of Christ and they will inherit heaven. Unbelievers will be judged unrighteous because of their wickedness and unbelief. They will be condemned to eternal punishment in hell. In hell they will be tormented forever. There will be no water to quench their terrible thirst. It is a horrible fate that awaits those who do not believe in Jesus. The devil, the world and our own sinful flesh want us to go to this damnation. They are working every day to try to destroy our faith.
One of the tactics of the devil is that he wants us to be caught off guard when Judgment Day comes. He wants us to think that we can live any way we want right now and just repent of those sins some time later before the Lord returns. The problem is that the Lord can return at any moment. And when he does, there will be no chance to repent. Jesus spoke about how he will return unexpectedly in our gospel lesson today. Jesus says that no one except the Father knows when he will return. The angels don’t know. The Son doesn’t even know but only the Father.
Jesus describes the people in Noah’s day. Those people were enjoying all the pleasures of this life. They were completely caught off guard when the day of the flood came. Noah had been preparing for a long time. He built that Ark for many years. Noah was like the man who was prepared for the thief. Noah knew what was coming and he was ready. Everyone else was unprepared. In our world today, many people are unprepared for the coming of our Lord for judgment. Even we who know the truths of Scripture, can sometimes fall back into that sinful attitude of living like our Lord’s return is a far way off.
Because Jesus return can come at any moment we always need to be prepared. This means that we are to live a life of repentance. We acknowledge that we are sinful and we want to live according to God’s will. The world around us tries every day to get us to live contrary to God’s commands. Look at all the common sins – lust, sexual immorality, greed, materialism, jealousy, coveting, and putting our own wants and desires ahead of what God wants. We can see many of these sins in our own lives. How can we be ready for the coming judgment if we still live in so many sins? How can we be certain that we will be saved when we have so many evil desires?
In order for us to be certain, we can’t look to ourselves. Some churches tell people to look to their own feelings to tell if they are saved. These churches teach that a person needs to pray fervently that Jesus come into their heart and when that person feels like they are saved then they are saved. This kind of thinking doesn’t give us certainty. What about those sins that are still in the heart? My feelings don’t equal my salvation. I have to look outside of myself. I have to look to Jesus and what he has done. Jesus won my salvation. He died for me on the cross. Because of Jesus I am saved. Because our eternal life depends on Jesus, we can be certain of our heavenly home.
We are ready for the coming judgment because Jesus has worked in our hearts. Because of the faith in our hearts, we want to walk in the light of the Lord. We let Jesus teach us his ways.
He teaches us his ways
The attitude of faith that we have is displayed in verse 3. These are the words of the believer, “‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’” Believers want to be near the Lord so that we can learn more about his will. We want to follow his Word out of thankfulness for the forgiveness that he has given us in Christ. We come to the Lord and sit at his feet when we worship, when we have Bible Study, and when we spend time reading the Scriptures. As we spend time in the Word we learn his ways.
Jesus himself said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (John 8:31). We want to hold to all of Jesus’ teachings. We want to learn more and more because we are his disciples. This means that we honor his Word as the ultimate authority on all spiritual matters. At times this means that we are going to say and do things that the sinful world and even some churches do not understand. The sinful world and some churches do not understand the message of God’s Law. The sinful world and some churches do not know what true sin actually is and therefore they do not know about true forgiveness. The sinful world and some churches disregard those teachings of scripture that they do not like. Believers on the other hand submit themselves to God’s Word.
First and foremost, the Bible teaches the message of God’s grace through Jesus. Every other teaching of scripture comes from that message of forgiveness. A wonderful example of the grace of God is seen in the story of the Jailer at Philippi. This story begins when Paul and Silas are put in prison for preaching the gospel. While they are in prison they are singing hymns and declaring the praises of God. During the night an earthquake caused their chains to fall off. When this happened the jailer ran in and was ready to kill himself because he thought that all of the prisoners had escaped. A guard back then would have been put to death for letting prisoners escape so he wanted to end his own life before he was executed.
Paul stopped the man from killing himself. Paul assured him that all the prisoners were still there. This event led the Jailer to seek spiritual advice from these religious men. He asked, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” Paul didn’t tell him to carry out acts of penance. Paul didn’t tell him to look inside himself for a feeling of salvation. He merely told him to believe in Jesus. Because of his new faith, the jailer wanted to learn more about Jesus. That very night, the jailer and his entire family were baptized. Through the proclamation of the gospel that family was saved. Paul and Silas had a knowledge of the Lord’s ways and they shared the gospel at every opportunity.
We too, after we have learned from our Lord Jesus, can share the message at every opportunity. We need to share the gospel as often as possible because our Lord’s Return is near; it can happen at any moment. We are moved by Christ’s great love for us. Paul tells us, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died” (2 Corinthians 5:14). Christ died for us and this love motivates us to tell everyone that Christ died for them. They need this message because without Christ there is only eternal death.
As we remain in our Lord Jesus’ teachings, we remain confident of our salvation. We don’t want to lose this salvation so we cling to our Savior’s cross. Hebrews 10 says this, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what he has promised” (Hebrews 10:35-36). We are ready for Jesus’ return when we do the will of God. This means that we have a heart of repentance and we want to tell others about their forgiveness in Christ. We want many to join us in heaven.
Conclusion
I suppose it is true that we are not yet ready for Christmas. We still have those last minute presents to buy. We still have to make plans for our family visits and we still have plenty of preparations to make. As we continue to prepare for the wonderful holiday that celebrates the birth of our Savior, let’s make sure that we are prepared for our Lord’s second coming. When he comes he will certainly judge all people. This will be terrifying for those who are not prepared. We are prepared because the Lord has taught us his ways. Let’s continue to learn from our Savior so that we are ready for that day when he welcomes us into heaven. Let’s walk in the light of the Lord.