today i was reading Isaiah chapter two and i cant even begin to describe my thoughts. i was overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings about pride. i already had ideas about pride and what it is, i know very well the struggles of pride and the downfalls of it. Isaiah says in verse two and three, "in the last days the mountain of the Lords temple will be established as cheif among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, "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."" he clearly states here that people will have a desire to know God and learn his statutes and his law, he proceeds on to talk about the people making war weapons into instruments for farming and there no longer being war. verse 5 "Come, oh house of Jacob," let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Isaiah tells people that things will be better and their oppression and wars will end, he is urging them to turn to God in verse 5. He knows that the people are far from God and need to turn back, in verse 6 he starts to rebuke them, he tells them that they have abandoned their people and have taken up superstitions from the east. he accuses them of "clasping hands" with pagans. He talks about them bowing down to idols and worshiping the work of their hands. That is where the pride comes into play. When the people are worshiping the work of their hands they are denying God his Lordship in their lives and elevating themselves up to a higher level that they are unworthy of. They are elevating their own things up to a status only God is worthy of. Isaiah says in verse 9,"So man will be brought low and mankind humbled-do not forgive them." this is so heavy. DO NOT FORGIVE THEM??? That is unfathomable, not being able to attain forgiveness. This would be the ultimate humbling, can you imagine having to live in your shame and sorrow never having a chance for redemption? Isaiah says "go into the rocks, hide in the ground from dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty!" its frightening to think about having nothing but fear of God, can you imagine never feeling his fatherly love or his joy, the feeling of his peace? All of this came because of Israels pride. The Lord hates pride, rightfully so. What do we have to be proud of? is anything from our own hands? the very breath we breathe is a gift, all things come from the Father, and nothing is from our hands. Isaiah says in verse 11, "The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the Pride of men will be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day." notice he says "in that day" not on. The day will be entirely filled with God and God alone, it wont be a segment of the day or a period of time, he is referring to the day of judgement, the day we meet our maker. The day that we will see HIM face to face and worship ADONAI alone. Eternity. When faced with the Glory of God we will finally realize our fault and flaws, we will be overwhelmed by our unrepentant sin and false pride. Isaiah says "the Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled)" that is so heavy, God WILL humble us and show us our faults, God will make us be accountable for our shortcomings. we have forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ but we should aspire to live a life above reproach so when we face God we will have less to lament and mourn over. We should be holy because he is holy and calls us to be holy. we should give thanks to him and give him credit for his works instead of being filled with pride and accrediting ourselves for Gods working. That is twisted pride. In verse 17 Isaiah says " the arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, and idols will totally disappear." when we struggle with idolatry and taking our focus off of God all we need to do is exalt him and remember who really is, was, and is to come. Its a nice reminder that we fail when we are trying to be self righteous, we dont make ourselves holy by our own means. Isaiah 64:6 "We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind." when he says filthy rags, he is using a term that is the literal equivalent to a tampon. God is bigger. He is greater than even our best deeds infinitely. It is Christ and his love alone that make us holy. Its a nice reminder that we need to be humble and meek because God is our everything and without him we are nothing.
Isaiah 2:22 "Stop trusting in man, who has put breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?"
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