"The Lord alone will be exalted in that day..."

“Enter into the rocks, and hide in the dust, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up, -and it shall be brought low- Upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan; Upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up; Upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall; Upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the beautiful sloops. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;

The Lord alone will be exalted in that day, but the idols He shall utterly abolish. They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily.

In that day a man will cast away his idols of gold, which they made, each for himself to worship, to the moles and the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the crags of the rugged rocks, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily.

Sever yourselves from such a man, whose breath is in his nostrils; For of what account is he?” (Is 2:10-22)

One commentary notes about these verses, “Isaiah predicted that in the day of the Lord, the Lord alone would be exalted. The oracle is in three parts: (1) an introductory command to the proud to hide themselves from the terror of the Lord (vv. 10, 11); (2) a prediction that in the day of the Lord every pretension would be humbled (vv. 12–18); (3) a concluding command to the righteous to separate themselves from the proud (v. 22).” [1]

This commentary notes, “Any rival to God's exaltation will be dwarfed.” This includes the exalted things of creation (Cedars of Lebanon and the high mountains), the exalted things made by humanity (the high tower and the fortified wall), as well as the things that people prize and consider more important than God (ships of Tarshish). It goes on to note that all “will be humbled so that the arrogant can see the greatness of God.” [2]

Throughout these verses, Isaiah refers to “the day of the Lord of hosts” as 'in that day.' This commentary writes that the day of the Lord is any time when the Lord of Hosts is victorious. It states, “The day of the Lord has two sides: (1) the night of God’s judgment and (2) the daylight of His salvation after judgment. Isaiah used the term to describe either or both aspects.”[3]

“In that day” is used throughout the book of Isaiah and many other books to refer to a day that God demonstrated His power in judgment and salvation. Isaiah 12 says,

“And in that day you will say: 'O Lord, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.' Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

And in that day you will say: 'Praise the Lord, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!'”

Sometimes, however, 'in that day' is speaking of a specific time in the future of Christ's coming judgment upon the earth. The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge notes that 'the Day of the Lord' may refer to the period of time from tribulation (or later cosmic disturbances) until the judgment of the Great White Throne. [4]

And Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines it as, “a special day at the end of time when God’s will and purpose for mankind and His world will be fulfilled.” It notes that many believe it will be a period of time rather than a single day and others believe it will be an instantaneous moment when Christ returns. [5]

Isaiah 27:1,12-13 says, “In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; and He will slay the reptile that is in the sea [night of His judgment].... And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will thresh, from the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; And you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. So it shall be in that day; The great trumpet will be blown; They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem [daylight of His salvation following judgment].”

Leviathan is described in Job 41 as an indestructible sea monster who “looks down on all that are haughty” and is the “king over all that are proud” (Job 41:34). According to ancient Near Eastern mythology, he was a seven-headed serpent demonic being. Later Jewish sources mention that Leviathan was a dragon who would “be served up to the righteous at the end of time.” This source notes there was once a female Leviathan whose flesh is reserved “for the banquet that will be given to the righteous on the advent of the Messiah.”[6]

Psalm 74:12-14 says, "For God is my King from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness."[a]

Revelation 12:9 speaks of Satan as a 'great dragon' or 'serpent of old.' It says, “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him... Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Matthew Henry's Commentary notes, “In that day he will punish, his day which is coming, Ps. 37:13. This is applicable to the spiritual victories obtained by our Lord Jesus over the powers of darkness. He not only disarmed, spoiled, and cast out, the prince of this world, but with his strong sword, the virtue of his death and the preaching of his gospel, he does and will destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, that great leviathan, that old serpent, the dragon. He shall be bound, that he may not deceive the nations, and that is a punishment to him (Rev. 20:2, 3); and at length, for deceiving the nations, he shall be cast into the lake of fire, Rev. 20:10.” [7]

It was pride that was Lucifer's original sin and caused him to fall. Isaiah 14: 12-21 says,

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?'

All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house; But you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, like the garment of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse trodden underfoot. You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land and slain your people. The brood of evildoers shall never be named. Prepare slaughter for his children because of the iniquity of their fathers,
lest they rise up and possess the land, and fill the face of the world with cities.”

Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than divide the spoil with the proud.”

In Isaiah 15:5, Isaiah's heart cries out to God because of the impending destruction of Moab. The destruction was as a result of their pride. Isaiah says in Is. 16:6-7, “We have heard of the pride of Moab- he is very proud- of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath; but his lies shall not be so. Therefore Moab shall wail for Moab; Everyone shall wail.”

Luke 1:52 says, “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.”

Thomas a Kempis writes, “It is the humble man whom God protects and liberates; it is the humble whom He loves and consoles. To the humble He turns and upon them bestows great grace, that after their humiliation He may raise them up to glory. He reveals His secrets to the humble, and with kind invitation bids them come to Him. Thus, the humble man enjoys peace in the midst of many vexations, because his trust is in God, not in the world. Hence, you must not think that you have made any progress until you look upon yourself as inferior to all others.” [8]

James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

This weekend after service I spotted a friend of mine that I admire and care about. I came up to her while she was waiting for someone and mentioned that I would love if she would pray with me about something. While we visited, she told me about a difficulty she recently struggled with. As she told me, I thought to myself, 'that is terrible, I am so glad that I don't struggle with that.'

As I started to feel a little self righteous, God reminded me of why I came to sit down to talk to her in the first place -we just heard a sermon about being open and honest and I struggle with this! There are times that I have refused to be open and vulnerable and therefore not been completely honest. I sometimes have found myself pretending and twisting the truth just fit in with everyone else and not appear different. A lot of this goes back to a root fear that I have greatly struggled with in the past that there is something defective or wrong with me that I have needed to hide from others. Standing out and being different is difficult for me.

Thomas a Kempis notes that it is good for us to humble ourselves because of our faults because it teaches us to treat others better. He writes, “It is often good for us to have others know our faults and rebuke them, for it gives us greater humility.” [9]

Job grew in humility when he finally opened his heart to God's rebuke for his self righteousness. Job answered God and said, “Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”

My bible commentary notes about this, “When God confronts Job with His power and majesty, Job responds with absolute humility (Job 40:3-5). The chastened man doesn't try to defend himself or rationalize his feelings. He confesses his humanity, then shuts his mouth. And still God is not finished with His awesome lesson. Even after Job acknowledges his insignificance and presumption, God delivers a second speech, graphically describing His power to control everything.... This time Job responds with deep repentance (42:1-6), clearly marking the difference between his friends and him.”[10]

“In my life be lifted high, in my world be lifted high, in my love, be lifted high” sings in the background.

In the place of humility, Job was finally in position that he could bear genuine fruit in his life. One author writes that we are not called to produce fruit in our lives but we are simply to bear it as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, walking in humility. This author notes that when Jesus came to John the Baptist for His baptism, John proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” After Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended like of Dove upon Him. [11]

This author writes, “The Lamb speaks of meekness and submissiveness and the Dove speaks of peace... Surely this shows us that the heart of Deity is humility.” He writes, “The main lesson of this incident is that the Holy Spirit, as the Dove, could only come upon and remain upon the Lord Jesus because He was the Lamb. Had the Lord Jesus had any other disposition than that of the Lamb -humility, submissiveness, and self surrender -the Dove could never have rested on Him.” [12]

“Show me Your heart, Show me Your ways, Show me Your glory!” sings

Roy Hession notes that it is when we are willing to humble ourselves as the Lord humbled Himself, that the Dove will rest on us, filling us with His Spirit and bearing fruit in our lives. He goes on to write, “The Dove is the emblem of peace, which suggests that if the blood of Jesus has cleansed us and we are walking with the Lamb in humility, the sign of the Spirit's presence and fullness will be peace. This is indeed to be the test of our walk all the way along. 'Let the peace of God rule [arbitrate] in your hearts' Col. 3:15). If the Dove ceases to sing in our hearts at any time, if our peace is broken, then it can only be because of sin. In some matter we have departed from the humility of the Lamb." [13]

Roy Hession notes that when we have been willing to humble ourselves, as the Lord humbled Himself, the Dove will return to us.” He writes that it is brokenness over our sin that breaks our proud hearts and gives us humility. He writes, “For it is only when we have seen these sins of ours in the heart of Jesus, so that we are broken and willing to repent of them and put them right, that the blood of the Lamb cleanses us from them and the Dove returns with peace and blessing to our hearts.” [14]

Roy Hession prays-
“He humbled Himself to the manger,
And even to Calvary's tree;
But I am so proud and unwilling
His humble disciple to be.

He yielded His will to the Father,
And chose to abide in the Light;
But I prefer wrestling to resting,
And try by myself to do right.

Lord, break me, then cleanse me and fill me
And keep me abiding in The;
That fellowship may be unbroken
And Thy Name be hollowed in me.” [15]

The Lord proclaims in Isaiah 1:18, “'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord, 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword.'”

It is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7b). We cannot have fellowship with God and walk with Him while we are also holding onto our sin and rebelling. John 15:10 says, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.”

God is light and in Him there is no darkness. Roy Hession writes, “Quite obviously, then, it is utterly impossible for us to be walking in any degree of darkness and have fellowship with God.. Everything that the light of God shows up as sin we can confess and carry to the Fountain of Blood and it is gone, gone from God's sight and gone from our hearts. By the power of the precious blood we can be made more stainless than the driven snow; and thus continually abiding in the light and cleansed by the blood, we have have fellowship with God.” [16]

1 John 1:7 says, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

“Gonna step out into the light of day, no more hiding in the darkness that holds me back...You are the only one for me!” sings in the background.

It is in this place of unity with the Spirit that we can also have true fellowship with man. Roy Hession writes, But the fellowship promised us here is not only with God, but 'one with another'; and that involves us in walking in the light with our brother too. In any case, we cannot be 'in the open' with God and 'in the dark' with him [our brother]. This means that we must be as willing to know the truth about ourselves from our brother as to know it from God.”[17]

He goes on to write, “We must be prepared for him to hold the light to us (and we must be willing to do the same service for him) and challenge us in love about anything he sees in our lives which is not the highest. We must be willing not only to know, but to be know by him for what we really are. That means we are not going to hide our inner selves from those with whom we ought to be in fellowship; we are not going to window-dress and put on appearances; nor are we going to whitewash and excuse ourselves. We are going to be honest about ourselves with them.” He also notes that this means we are not going to cherish or hold onto any wrong feelings in our hearts about our brother.[18]

The basis for unity with our brothers, just as it is with the Spirit, is brokenness and humility. In Philippians 2:1-4, Paul pleads with the church to have this humility. He says, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also the interests of others.”

“But Heaven sings of deeper things like a humble heart diligently seeking. You are the only, You are the only One for me...” sings

Paul then goes on to describe the Humility of Christ that he would like them to have. He says in Philippians 2:5-11, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance of as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the father.”

Jesus didn't reach down from His place of glory and pat us on the head and try to help us up so we could stand beneath Him. Rather, Jesus came down and identified Himself as one of us. He came as a baby in a manager, the son of a poor carpenter. He then hung out with sinners at the expense of his own reputation. He cast it aside to be known by those who really needed Him.

Jesus was a servant to all, washing our feet and caring for us. He didn't consider us lower than Him. Rather, He came along side man and served out of tremendous love. John the Baptist felt unworthy to untie His sandals, yet Jesus called him friend and asked him to play a role of incredible honor in His life.

Even when we were at our worst and spit in His face, He still acted in our best interests and gave His life away for us. He lifted us up, giving us life by laying His own down. He didn't feel sorry for us, He genuinely loved [and loves] us. His concern was not for His reputation, significance, or life, but for ours.

Romans 10:11 says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” We are not put to shame because He willing chose to be put to shame in our place, being made a curse for us.

Pride really has to do with a sense of significance. It is a feeling of superiority over others that is based upon some measure that we have determined to measure ourselves and others with. The result is that when our measure comes out favorabily for us, we feel good about ourselves. However, when someone else comes along and measures better than us, we feel inadquate – like we don't measure up. In reality what we are doing is getting our significance from something outside of God.

Once when I was sitting listening to a sermon some time ago that was about Lazarus who sat at the gate of the rich man, I felt God speak to me that I was Lazarus at His gate. As He said this to me, tears began to roll down my eyes. In part, because I knew it was true and felt so small. But at the same time, it began to wash away for me so many of those things I was trying to prove or earn significance in His and other's eyes. It opened my eyes that He lavished His love on me not because of all my hard work, performance, gifts, skills or accomplishments, but because of His deep love for me and generosity towards me. I felt incredibly grateful.

In reality, in one way or another, we are all Lazarus at His gate. Roy Hession writes, “Sin is almost the only thing we have in common with everyone else, and so at the feet of Jesus where sin is cleansed is the only place where we can be one.” [19] We all have wounds that are in need of a healer. And we all sin and are in need of a Savior.

He did not wash the sin from our sores, bandage our wounds, and bring us to His table -making room for us at His generous banquet- because of all we had to offer Him. The reality is that He has made room for each of us at His table because of who He is and what He has to give us! We have incredible significance to Him. Our place at His table matters because we matter to Him. He is generous with all of us, not because we are incredibly deserving, but because He delights in each one of us. To believe we earn or deserve our place at the table more than others will steal our gratitude and leave us always comparing and wanting more.

Lord, too often I either put people on a pedistal thinking that they can do no wrong (putting them above me in my mind) or I feel self righteous when I see their sin (putting them below me in my mind). This is because I am getting a sense of significance from my performance. When I sin, I feel inadequate. And when I perform well and get all the actions right, I feel good about myself. All of this is rooted in pride. Forgive me for trying to get my significance from things other than You. I am incredibly undeserving and deeply grateful for all you have given me. Most of all for your friendship and presence in my life.

Sometimes when I talk with someone who struggles with mental illness and they ask me about my own story, I am not sure what if anything I should share. A big part of it is not wanting to take the focus away from the person I am talking with when they are in need. At the same time, I long for them to know that I walk along side them, can identify with them, and in no way look down on them. Really what I long for is to look so much more like You! Would you give me your wisdom and be the Light on my path.

As the song sings, would you be lifted high in our lives, world and love. Give us the gift of greater humility. Help us to meet each other at the cross, being open with our sin and failures and washing and bandaging each other's wounds. Would you teach us to love and serve out of a “lowliness of mind” that esteems others as better than ourselves. Help us to genuinely love and look out for the interests of others.

a. Leviathan is also referred to as Rahab in Isaiah 51:9.

1.3. Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1997). The Nelson study Bible : New King James Version. Includes index. (Is 2:10). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.

4. Smith, J. H. (1992; Published in electronic form, 1996). The new treasury of scripture knowledge : The most complete listing of cross references available anywhere- every verse, every theme, every important word (1504). Nashville TN: Thomas Nelson.

5. Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Nelson's new illustrated Bible dictionary. Rev. ed. of: Nelson's illustrated Bible dictionary.; Includes index. Nashville: T. Nelson.

6.Wikipedia. Leviathan. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan. Last Accessed: 27/11.

7. Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Is 27:1). Peabody: Hendrickson.

8-9. Kempis, Thomas a. The Imitation of Christ. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola, New York. 2003.

10. Maxwell, John. The Maxwell Leadership Bible, Second Edition. NKJV. Lessons in Leadership from the Word of God. Thomas Nelson. Nashville, Tennessee. 2007.

11-19. Hession, Roy. The Calvary Road. Christian Literature Crusade. Fort Washington, PA. 1950.