Isaiah 2:1-22
1the word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In spite of their glaring ruin and misery, Jerusalem and Judah were puffed up with pride and conceit. But when the day comes of which vv. 12-21 speak, "the lofty looks of man shall be humbled . . . and the LORD alone shall be exalted" (vv. 11, 17). God will show publicly what He thinks about man’s glory and creative power (with all his attractive works of art – v. 16). Yet v. 22 goes much farther. "Cease ye from man": that is not only the conclusion of our two chapters but also of the whole of the Old Testament, God’s irrevocable judgment upon the human race of which Israel is only a sample. Soon the cross will put an end to this test of Adam’s race. Henceforth God will no longer take account of him, and in agreement with God, we have the privilege of reckoning ourselves "to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11).
This book of Isaiah begins like the epistle to the Romans whose first three chapters establish absolutely the guilt of man and as a result his need of justification. The salvation of the Lord (the meaning of Isaiah’s name) can then be revealed in the person of Christ the Saviour (from ch. 40 onwards).