Isaiah 2:1–5

¹The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. ²It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, ³and 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 the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. ⁴He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and 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 anymore. ⁵O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Jerusalem was built on a mountain. The mountain of the Lord, the place of God's dwelling, the house of the Lord. Judah and Jerusalem; the mountain of the house of the Lord. But over the years mountains wear down. Wind and rain erode them, rocks crumble and crash down in giant landslides. The rivers carry away the silt, and year after year the mountains wear away and get smaller and smaller.

In the same way, the children of God became apathetic. "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: 'Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.'" These words God speaks to us. For we are the children of God. All the words that God said to the children of Israel he still speaks to us today. Sinful nation, offspring of evildoers, we have rebelled against the God of life and instituted a cult of death in our land; no one is safe. We have embraced the material gods of wealth and power. We have let love and charity languish. We have the mindset of selfishness; all things exist to serve our personal needs and wants. So our lives become hectic and busy with trying to get ahead, get what we want, fill our loneliness with more stuff. We are always on the run, never have enough time to get everything done that we feel will make us happy. The result is that we are overwhelmed by loneliness, depression, stress and worry.

We tolerate every form of evil while oppressing every godly lifestyle just to get along and have peace with others. Ah, sinful nation, offspring of evildoers, we have forsaken the Lord. Do you not see, can you not perceive the culture of corruption you have adopted. Do you not know there is a God in your midst who sees your evil ways? A God who will judge you in the end?

Our worship has become shallow and lifeless. We allow it to become mere ritual. We act religious and do religious things. We who just go through the actions but do not worship from the heart. Our minds wander and our eyes watch the clock yearning for the chance to go back to our business of making ourselves great and earning money. Our lives are wrapped up in ourselves. We think we are good people because we do not do bad things. But we lack doing the good things we should. We lack mercy. We lack compassion. We are wrapped up in ourselves and are stingy with our love, service and help for others.

This is the complaint God raises against us. So hear the word of the Lord, give ear to the teaching of our God: "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? Says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. Bring no more vain offerings. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations I cannot endure. They have become a burden to me. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen."

The mountain of the house of the Lord has become eroded and worn down. The house has crumbled and is falling down. God says, "Go now to that place where I made my name dwell at first and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people. Because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers what I did to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight."

Come now, says the Lord. Let us reason together. Uncover your deeds done in secret, unveil your inmost being and confess and be clean. Repent of your sins, every one of you, and be made holy as the Lord your God is holy. The Lord himself promises; he declares relief from your enemies and freedom from the bondage of sin and death. Turn to the Lord and be saved, for he has delivered his salvation to us. God has delivered his salvation: His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Into the city of our unfaithfulness he has come. Into the midst of a wicked and callous people who sin but see it not. Into the darkness of our corrupt night, the Lord comes and brings forgiveness, life and salvation. He takes on the burden of your sins and the corruption of your deeds. He carries them to the tree and proclaims them paid for, bled for, and died for. He restores the fortunes of the holy city and calls his children out of darkness into light. Do you not know there is a God in our midst? Receive his light and walk in it.

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the chief of the mountains and shall be lifted up above the hills as the greatest, the most important. Yes, the Lord is about to do a wonderful thing. The mountain that we have allowed to wear down, to erode, to deteriorate. Our souls that we have disattended and allowed to become cold and hollow, he is about to restore and bring to life in his Son. The mountain of the house of the Lord is the church, the house of God. And to it all the nations shall flow. And yes, they are flowing. Around the world in continents such as Africa, Asia and Latin America, the peoples are flowing like a river to the church to hear the Word of the Lord. People are saying, "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." They are coming. They seek to be taught that they may walk in the ways of the Lord.

For out of Zion shall go the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Through Abraham shall all the nations of the world be blessed. Now through the Seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ, all the nations are being blessed. The Seed has come to take your sins and crucify them on a cross. He has shed his blood and poured it out on us all. And from out of Jerusalem his word has gone into all the world. "For you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Starting in Jerusalem the word of the Lord will go forth. Through the Apostles the Word will be spread to all nations and will draw them to the house of the Lord; the church; the mountain that is above all others. For it is on this mountain, in the church of God, that God dwells on earth. It is here, in the means of grace, in word and in sacrament that God dwells among his people. It is in word and sacrament that the nations are taught his ways and walk in his paths.

It is here, in the house of the Lord that he shall bring forth peace. For he shall judge the peoples and settle all disputes. He shall right all wrongs, bring an end to all injustice. It is here in word and sacrament that peace shall come, that swords shall be crushed to pieces and beaten into plowshares. It is here as the word is preached and the sacraments administered that wars shall cease and the nations shall not learn of warfare anymore.

Advent is not a mere preparation to celebrate something that happened long ago. Advent is to focus on the great and mighty deliverance from the power of sin and the dungeon of death. It is to fortify in us trust in the salvation won on the cross. Advent is to look forward to the coming of Christ the Lord on the day he comes to judge all peoples. Advent is to anticipate with joy that day when he will gather people from all nations, and tribes and tongues and languages into his eternal kingdom and make them dwell securely in his house.

Come, O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Let the light of his word shine in our paths and make sure our footsteps as we follow the way of the Lord our God. The God of salvation and peace. Amen.