God’s Word for You
Isaiah 2:4-5 Swords into plowshares
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, December 8, 2024
4 He will judge between the nations, and he will mediate for many peoples. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up the sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
The Savior comes. Isaiah has already made this point, and in this verse he shows the actions of the Lord and the response of the Lord’s people. First: He will judge (Psalm 9:8, 72:2, 96:10,13, 98:9, 110:6). This is the work of the law, both in men’s hearts in this lifetime, but also on the last day. But at his first coming, Christ judged the world through the preaching of the word. We see this in the Sermon on Mount (Matthew 5-7), and in many things the Lord said, especially in response to those who questioned his authority (Mark 11:27-33) or who thought they were already righteous (Matthew 19:16-22). He also judges, that is, he convicts, many people everywhere in the world. “He will convict them,” says Luther, “so that they acknowledge that they are sinners and are condemned before God because they do not know God, do not fear him, and do not believe him” (LW 23:32).
When we are condemned through the law and the judgment of Christ, what is left for us? We cannot pit our works against the wrath and judgment of God. All we can do is hold up the only final defense we have, which is the shield of Christ: “He will mediate for many peoples.”
There is a story that is told in The Hobbit about Thorin the dwarf prince. Fighting in a battle against a goblin, he had nothing left to defend himself with, and he picked up the broken branch of an oak tree to ward off the blows of the enemy. After this he became known as Oakenshield. This is a little hidden picture of the Christian’s use of the cross as our last and only real defense against the attacks of the enemy. Our shield is Christ and the cross. For the whole gospel stands on the Second Article of the Creed. Apart from Christ we have no defense against the wrath of God nor against the accusations of the devil, but with Christ we have everything we need; for even the gates of hell will not prevail against our holy Captain and his church confessing our faith in Christ (Matthew 16:18).
When we have been led to repentance, there will naturally be fruits of that repentance that will follow. Isaiah describes this by showing that the nations will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. An eth (sounds like “ate”) is a metal blade attached to a yoke, generally pulled by one or two animals with a man behind to steer. It was not quite like the modern wedge-shaped plow blade, but it did the job well enough. The beating this verse describes involved turning the blade, which was straight for a sword, into a curve or angle to get from the wooden apparatus to just the right angle to slice through the soil.
In a similar way, a mazmerah was a blade on a handle. A spear could be converted into such a device with even more ease than the plowshare. Hooks for pruning are especially mentioned in connection with grapevines in the Bible (Leviticus 25:3-4). Pruning trees and vines was a sign of civilization and prosperity every bit as much as tilled fields were (Isaiah 5:6). The promise here is not necessarily that we will work in the fields in Paradise, but that there will be no more need for weapons or implements of war, since God surrounds his people like the mountains that surround Jerusalem (Psalm 125:2). In fact, if there are any disagreements at all, a sword would be as useless as a plow, for Christ himself will always be the final and only word. My righteousness, my wisdom, my holiness, my life and my excuses are nothing before God; only the robe of Christ’s righteousness is worth anything at all. This is not only true of eternity, but this is how it must be here in this lifetime for Christians, now that Christ has come. We submit to the will of God. We bow to one another out of love; this is true submission. We submit to God—about this there can be no dispute at all (James 4:7). We also submit to our leaders and those in authority over us (Hebrews 13:17). But we also submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21). This is the wisdom that comes from heaven (James 3:17).
5 O house of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
The true house of Jacob is not the modern nation of Israel, but rather those who truly put their trust in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. The peace that is spoken of in the verses here (and from the beginning of the chapter) describe the spiritual condition of the New Testament Church from the first coming of Christ to the end of the world. This is the New Testament age; the “thousand years” (Revelation 20:2-7). Church bodies that teach a millennial reign of Christ, in whatever form, misunderstand this and do not take the words of the visions in Revelation as visions at all. Christ has come, and when we look forward to his coming again, it is on the day of judgment and not before, when, just as we confess with the whole Christian church in the Creed: “He will come again, to judge the living and the dead.” Until then, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Behold, he comes.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.