Miraculous Magnetism

If God builds it, will they come?

In Isaiah’s time, Jerusalem was an impressive city on a hill: stone walls, sturdy gates, great buildings—even the LORD’s holy temple. But look closer for the truth. The city was home to ugly injustice. Inside the temple was the hypocrisy of empty worship.

So Isaiah speaks of what will happen. Enemies will besiege the city and fire will purge her evil. Jerusalem would be like “a booth in a vineyard” (1:8), just a crumbling shelter. Yet there is hope. Jerusalem will rise again in peace and righteousness. God will do something incredible, says verse 2:

It shall come to pass…that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established.

Hearing those words, the people let their eyes wander up to that golden temple, built on Zion’s mount. This was their pride and joy. It was already firm, but even mountains quake and crumble. So God will make Zion permanent, build it up into an eternal home for himself, “established as the highest of the mountains.” Jerusalem was on a hill, but it wasn’t the highest hill in the area—even the nearby Mount of Olives was taller. But one day God’s hill will surpass all others.

What’s this prophecy about? God’s city will enter a time of total supremacy above all her competitors. In ancient times, mountains were often holy places where heaven and earth came close. Many gods had sacred mountains as the home to their shrines: Baal was said to live on a mountain up in Syria, the Greek god Zeus dwelled on Mount Olympus. Israel herself had often gone up to the high places to seek other gods.

But one day Zion will be exalted above all high places. She will be the Mount Everest of holiness, the pinnacle of beauty. One day, the house of the LORD—the church of Christ—will be the exclusive home of true worship.

As Isaiah looks into the future, there’s something else remarkable. God’s city will attract people from everywhere: “In the latter days…all the nations shall flow to it” (v. 2). It was bad news usually if the nations were flowing into Zion, because they were coming to plunder and to burn. But this time it’s different.

For what attracts the nations to God’s exalted mountain? “Many nations 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’” (v. 3). They’re looking for God, not for gold. They’re bent on learning, not looting.

To Jerusalem’s citizens, this vision of the future probably seemed laughable. Can you imagine the brutal Assyrians wanting to sit down for a lesson in the law of Moses? Can you imagine a pagan Egyptian wanting to present a sacrifice to God? It was beyond belief, that the Lord’s covenant people should be an international people.

This is one of those striking Old Testament prophecies about who is going to be saved, the surprising message that God’s grace will not be reserved for Israel but will embrace many tribes and tongues. For long centuries, God’s truth was kept in Israel’s vault, password-protected. But now many will come from east and west, north and south, to enter the kingdom of God.

In God’s plan, his holy Zion—the church—becomes a centre of world pilgrimage. Everyone will recognize that God alone is the true God, that his Son is the Saviour, and that it’s through his church they can hear this gospel.

God’s plan is startling and his promises stretch our ideas of what is reasonable. Think of the most unchristian person you know, the person most unlikely to be receptive to the gospel. Now imagine that godless coworker wanting Catechism lessons. Picture the average citizen of your town lining up to get into church at 9:30 on Sunday morning because they’re hungry for good preaching. Hard to think of it. Then we remember that this is God’s revelation: the nations will come to learn God’s ways.

After Isaiah 2 the gospel did spread. Already on Pentecost the message leaped beyond borders and barriers, and it continued to do so. Since then, many millions have sought the true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Today, there’s still so many who haven’t come to Christ in faith. The fact is, not many of our neighbours are rushing into church. Some will always refuse. But Isaiah teaches us not to give up on the unbelievers in our country, the non-religious folks on our street, or the Gentiles among the nations.

Keep believing that Christ is the only true hope in our time.

Keep praying that many more will stream into Zion.

Keep believing in the miraculous magnetism of the gospel.

In this work, God gives you and me a role. The one great need of the world is for the true preaching of the gospel, and God uses the church to bring this gospel to the nations and to our neighbours.

What really attracts people is simple. Isaiah says the nations will want to learn God’s ways and to walk in his paths. That’s our message, that we get to speak about God in all his greatness, and we get to tell about Christ in all his beauty.

For He has built his church as a city on a hill to reflect the glories of his name.