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. 

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.

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