We are told in Isaiah 2:2-4 that the mountain of the Lord’s House would be established in the last days, and at this time the nations would go up to the Lord’s House to learn his ways, because the word of the Lord will flow out from Zion. It is also a time when the land would be full of idols, when both the poor and the great would worship the work of their hands, and a day in which the Lord would be exalted, because he will not forgive their iniquities but would judge the proud and lofty man (Isaiah 2:8-12). It would be a day when silver and gold wouldn’t buy safety, and men would run to hide in the rocks and caves for fear of the great majesty of the Lord (Isaiah 2:19-22; Revelation 6:15-17).
Consider these scriptures together for a moment in light of postmillennial and amillennial eschatology. If I understand their view correctly, when Christ returns in the future (their view, not mine), “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” the dead shall be raised, and we who are alive will be changed (1Corinthians 15:52), and heaven and earth will pass away (2Peter 3:10). All these things occur in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye! If this is an accurate analysis of their eschatologies, how can Isaiah 2 be a valid description of the Day of the Lord and the last days, as referred to in the scriptures mentioned above?
What we have, according to Isaiah 2 is that the mountain of the Lord’s House (the Kingdom of God) would be established, and all nations would come to the Lords House (the Messianic Temple) seeking to know the Lord. However, at the same time the land is full of idolatry, but the Lord would judge the idolaters, who would flee to hide in the rocks and caves in the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 2:2-4, 8-12, 19-22; Revelation 6:12-17). If the heavens roll up like a scroll (Revelation 6:14) it seems to me to be the same language as 2Peter 3:10-13, which both postmillennialists and amillennialists conclude Jesus will either destroy the universe completely and take the saints to heaven, or he will renovate the earth into an Eden like utopian Kingdom. How can all this occur “in the twinkling of an eye” if the unbeliever has time to run to the mountains to hide in the rocks and caves etc.?
If we are in the Kingdom of God today, as both postmillennialists and amillennialists agree is so, why is it necessary to end this age (cf. Daniel 2:44; 4:3; Ezekiel 37:25; Revelation 11:15)? If the Kingdom of God exists today, is this not the age that the scriptures say will not end (Ephesians 3:21)? Since both amillennialists and postmillennialists agree that the millennium doesn’t have to be a literal 1000 years, why shouldn’t it fit between Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension (or Pentecost) and 70 AD? For what good, scriptural, reason must there be a physical Kingdom, ruled by Jesus in a physical body, and / or why **must** Christ’s Second Coming be visible (physical)? What good purpose in the will of God does a physical fulfillment supply?
In the context of the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 2:12), Isaiah says: in that day the high and the lofty would be bowed down and the Lord alone would be exalted (Isaiah 2:11, 17). In that day men would cast aside their idols and hide in the rocks and caves as the Lord shakes the earth (Isaiah 2:20; cf. Revelation 6:12-17), and in that day there would be famine, poverty, ungodliness and Jerusalem will be in ruin (Isaiah 3:5-8). Moreover, in that day the gold, silver and jewelry of women would be of no help to them, because their men would be slain in war (Isaiah 3:18-26; 4:1). Finally, in that day the Branch of the Lord (Jesus) would be beautiful and **glorious** for he had saved his people (Isaiah 4:2).
This is a description of the great and terrible day of the Lord, a day when the Lord alone is exalted, a day when the Branch—Jesus—is not only vindicated but is seen in his glory, and this was done in 70 AD. He had come in glory, with his angels and had vindicated his disciples by judging their enemies, their persecutors (Matthew 16:27-28). It is the Day of his glory, what need is there for a future coming? If AD 70 is the glorious coming of the Lord (Isaiah 4:2), then postmillennialism and amillennialism stands falsified, because Jesus, at his glorious coming, did not physically renew the earth. He did not visibly, physically, return to the earth. Yet, he kept his promise to return, and has fulfilled all his promises to Israel.
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