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 instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
(Isaiah 2:3-4)
Isaiah 2 is a classic Advent/Christmas passage, especially the hope-filled prophecy of “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” This wonderful couplet is already couched within a broader, Kingdom scene of people of all nations streaming into the house of Jacob. Many, many years after Isaiah first utters this prophecy, John the Revelator will strike a similar chord in Revelation.
So, we’re clearly being given a vision of the future that God holds for us. And this passage’s placement during Advent makes sense since traditionally Advent is a season where we train ourselves to look expectantly, even as we wait patiently. Yet what strikes me today, this first Wednesday of Advent, is what comes before this hope-filled, peaceable prophecy of no more swords and spears is what comes before it.
In verse 3 we witness people going to Zion “for out of Zion shall go forth instruction.” They’re going to college! They’re leaving their homes in order to go to a place where they will be instructed in “his ways” and to learn to “walk in his paths.” It isn’t until after there is instruction and until after God is revered as judge and arbiter that we get to peace and the cessation of war.
I don’t mean to imply that the inverse is true (that is, that those who make war are ignorant), but the scriptures are clear that those who have been trained by the Lord and walk in His ways will be so against war and violence that they’ll look at the tools of war – sword and spear – and begin to imagine new, more useful, more creative purposes for them. The entire thing is really about our world view. On the one hand, we have a cultural/worldly philosophy that presumes scarcity and might and on the other hand we have a godly/holy theology that presumes providence and wisdom. It all comes down to those foundational assumptions. All courses of action can trace their roots back to some fundamental belief.
And that’s why it is good that you’re reading the Bible, reading this devotional (and hopefully others), that you’re going to Sunday School or trying to grow in the intellectual maturity of your faith. Because what you believe will automatically translate to how you live. It doesn’t even need to be a conscious process. What you believe will just naturally manifest in how you behave. So, this Advent, let us pray that God grants of His wisdom that we might walk in His paths. Amen.
