OT § 119

The central place they are all coming to is Christ; he is at the center, because he is equally related to all; anything placed in the center is common to all.…Approach the mountain, climb up the mountain, and you that climb it, do not go down it. There you will be safe, there you will be protected; Christ is your mountain of refuge. And where is Christ? At the right hand of the Father, since he has ascended into heaven.

It talks of a mountain, and the mountain is veiled to the party of Donatus. …The holy Daniel saw a vision and wrote down what he saw, and he said that he had seen a stone hewn out of a mountain without hands. It is Christ, coming from the nation of the Jews, which was also a mountain, you see, because it has the kingdom.… What is the mountain over which the heretics stumbled? Listen to Daniel again: "And that stone grew and became a great mountain, such that it filled all the face of the earth." How right the psalm is to say to Christ the Lord as he rises again, "Be exalted over the heavens, O God, and let your glory be over the whole earth." What is your glory over the whole earth? Over the whole earth your church, over the whole earth your bride.

He calls the church a mountain when he says, "In the last days the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established."

One can take the time to learn in what manner the prophecies of the call of the Gentiles should be understood and that they were fulfilled only after the coming of our Savior. The beginning of the prophecy is consistent with the reality that the Lord descended not only for the salvation of the Jewish race but also for that of all people, in announcing to all peoples and all the inhabitants of the earth, "Hear, all peoples, and let the earth and all in it listen."

Who is meant by "mountain of strength" but our Redeemer?

This mountain is in the house of the Lord, for which the prophet sighed when he said, "One thing I asked from the Lord, this I seek, that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life," and about which Paul wrote to Timothy, "If I am late, you should know how to behave in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth." This house was built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, who are mountains themselves as imitators of Christ. About this house of Jerusalem the psalmist cried out: "Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which dwells in Jerusalem; it will not be moved forever. The mountains surround her and the Lord surrounds his people." Hence Christ also founds his church on one of the mountains and says to him, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against her."

(Verse 2) And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains. In the Book of Genesis, we read about the last days, where Jacob called his sons and said to them: Come, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days (Gen. XLIX, 1): later to Judah, from whose lineage Christ was born, he said: The prince shall not fail from Judah, nor the ruler from his thigh, until he comes to whom it is laid up: and he shall be the expectation of the nations. In his last days there will be the final hour, of which the Apostle John speaks: Little children, it is the last hour (2 John 1:18); in which a stone cut without hands grew into a great mountain and filled the whole earth: from which the prince of Tyre is said to be wounded in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 8:16, according to the Septuagint). This mountain is in the house of the Lord, which the Prophet longs for, saying: One thing I have asked of the Lord, this I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life (Psalm 27:4); and of which Paul writes to Timothy: But if I delay, I write so that you may know how it is necessary to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Timothy 3:15). This house has been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, who themselves are also the mountains, as imitators of Christ (Ephesians 2). Of this house, the Psalmist proclaims: Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which will not be moved forever, those who dwell in Jerusalem. Mountains surround it, and the Lord surrounds his people (Psalm 125:1). Therefore, Christ builds the Church upon one of the mountains and says to him: You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). What does it matter to one who longs for his own soul, and eagerly desires to see the house of God, that the saint speaks: Why are you downcast, my soul, and why are you troubled? (Psalm 41:6) And again: I remembered this and poured out my soul within me, for I shall pass over to the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God: in the voice of rejoicing and confession, the sound of those feasting. (Ibid., 5). They have moved, O Lord, your manifest mountain, and the house of God above the heads of the mountains. (Psalm 67:26). Which testimony Micah the prophet also gave in the same words, which I have explained in its place (Micah 1).

And he shall be lifted up upon the hills. He who is shown and prepared on the heads of the mountains, he shall be lifted up upon the hills. Concerning those mountains and hills, in the Song of Songs the bride speaks: The voice of my brother: behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills: my brother is like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Bethel (Song of Songs 2:8-9).

And all nations shall flow unto him: all peoples shall come. For all nations shall serve him, to whom it was said: Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thy inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession (Psalm 2:8); that they may serve him under one yoke, as the same prophet testifies: From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, the children of my dispersed, shall bring me an offering (Zephaniah 3:10). And in the seventy-first psalm we read: In his sight the Ethiopians shall fall down (Psalm 71:9). In the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.

The mountain is Christ, and the house of the God of Jacob is his one church, toward which the concourse of nations and assembly of peoples is moving by this pronouncement.

[Isaiah] announces the wonderful and widespread demonstration of piety everywhere: idolatry will be destroyed, while the house of God will receive its due sign of universal respect.… After our Savior's appearing, idolatry will be shown and the beauty of truth will be unveiled. In this we will see the fulfillment of this announcement. Furthermore, by "last days" he means that time following incarnation.

Here he carries out the intention. And this is divided into three parts: in the first part, he promises the remedy of salvation, lest the weight of the following fault leads to despair; in the second, he shows the guilt of the fault, where it says: "for you have cast off your people" (Isa 2:6); in the third, he threatens the lash of punishment, where it says: "therefore forgive them not" (Isa 2:9).

Concerning the first, three things are set out: first, the preparation of salvation; second, the conversion of the gentiles, where it says, "and all nations shall flow unto it" (Isa 2:2); third, the calling of the Jews in the end, where it says, "O house of Jacob, come" (Isa 2:5).

Concerning the first of these, three things are set out. First, the time of salvation; hence he says, "and it shall be." And he connects this to the preceding prophecy, or to that which he heard from the Lord, as Gregory says about the beginning of Ezekiel. "In the last days," that is, in the time of grace, which is called the last, because the observance of another religion will not succeed it: "behold I am with you even to the consummation of the world" (Matt 28:20); "gather yourselves together, that I may tell you the things that shall befall you in the last days" (Gen 49:1).

But it seems that this salvation which is through the Incarnation of the Son of God ought to have been prepared from the beginning of the human race, because the more quickly a disease is remedied through medicine, the easier it is cured. To this it is to be said that medicine ought to be offered according to the condition of the disease. And because the sin of man occurred through pride, which scorned the precepts of God, it is fitting that the medicine for attaining salvation was prepared through humility, so that man might know the weakness of his powers: for by neither natural law nor written law was he able to provide help to himself; and thus, he would more ardently and humbly seek the medicine, the more he found no help in himself.

Second, he puts forth the power of the savior, when he says, "the mountain of the house of the Lord," on which the house of the Lord was founded: "he set me upon a very high mountain" (Ezek 40:2). Third, the position of the savior: "on the top of mountains," that is, greater princes, "and it shall be exalted above the hills," that is, lesser princes. Below: "behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and extolled, and shall be exceeding high" (Isa 52:13).

"And all nations shall flow unto it." Here he places the conversion of the gentiles. And concerning this, he sets out three things: first, the conversion itself; second, he declares the order of conversion, where it says, "and many people shall go" (Isa 2:3); third, he promises peace to the converted, where it says, "and he shall judge the Gentiles" (Isa 2:4). Therefore as to the first, he says, "and all nations," that is, from all other nations, "shall flow," in which is noted their multitude and haste: "I will bring them through the torrents of waters in a right way, and they shall not stumble in it" (Jer 31:9).

Let us sing a victorious song of praise to the Lord!Who will lead us to such a company of angels? Who, longing for the heavenly feast and the angels' holiday, will say like the prophet, "I will lead them to the house of God: a multitude joyfully praising God and keeping festival"? The saints of old encourage us to be like that, saying, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob."

The first law, the Old Testament, had come out of Mount Sinai by the lips of Moses; but it was foretold of the law Christ came to give: "The law shall come forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." This explains why Christ ordered repentance to be preached in his name among all peoples but beginning in Jerusalem.

Ask a man of circumcision, a Jew after the flesh, which law and which word the prophet is talking about. About the law given through Moses? Let them show how this law comes "out of Zion." For Moses did not enter the land of possession, whereas Zion is in Judea. The Scripture was mistaken then, according to them, using one name instead of another, for it said Zion instead of Sinai or Horeb. But it refers to the holy law. Which one? When was it given? Where was it written? And "the word out of Jerusalem" as well? The Jew after the flesh says that Isaiah means preaching of the prophets. Yet the preaching of the prophets took place everywhere across Judea, not only in Jerusalem and throughout Israel but also in captivity, in Nineveh and throughout the earth. Let them restrain themselves then before the truth and receive the law giving of the Lord that comes from the watchtower, the God-bearing flesh from which he watched over human actions. "And the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem." Having started from there, the preaching of the gospel has been sown around the whole world.

It was opportune that the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins through confession of Christ's name should have started from Jerusalem. Where the splendor of his teaching and virtues, where the triumph of his passion, where the joy of his resurrection and ascension were accomplished, there the first root of faith in him would be brought forth; [there] the first shoot of the burgeoning church, like that of some kind of great vine, would be planted. Just so, by an increase in the spreading of the word, [the church] would extend the branches of her teaching into the whole wide world.… It was opportune that the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins, good news to be proclaimed to idolatrous nations and those defiled by various evil deeds, should take its start from Jerusalem, lest any of those defiled, thoroughly terrified by the magnitude of their offenses, should doubt the possibility of obtaining pardon if they performed fruits worthy of repentance, when it was a fact that pardon had been granted to those at Jerusalem who had blasphemed and crucified the Son of God.

What can this law proceeding from Zion, which is different from what was made law by Moses in the desert at Mount Sinai, be but the word of the gospel through our Savior Jesus Christ which proceeds from Zion through all the nations? For clearly it was in Jerusalem and Mount Zion, where our Savior and Lord lived and taught, that the law of the new covenant originated and from which it proceeded to all people.

(Verse 3.) And they shall say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths. The nations and peoples, not content with their own salvation, will encourage one another and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob. Concerning these, as we have said before, it is the mountain of the Lord that is prepared and the house of the Lord that is established upon the top of the mountains. But the house of the Lord is called the house of the God of Jacob, so that we may receive the Old Testament and not, like the Manicheans, seek another house outside the house of the God of Jacob. But when we are in the house of the God of Jacob, then he will teach us his ways, by which we will walk towards him, and we will walk in his paths, which others have also walked. Finally, Jesus, ascending the mountain, taught his disciples the eight beatitudes, and other things which are included in the Gospel discourse (Luke VI). First, the ways of the Lord must be descended; and afterwards, we must walk in his paths.

For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Many nations and peoples will come together and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and so on. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, not from Sinai, or from the wilderness, or from Mount Horeb, but from Mount Zion, where Jerusalem is built, and from Jerusalem, where the Temple and the worship of God are. We read that often the Lord taught in the Temple (Matthew 13), and that it was not fitting for a prophet to die outside of Jerusalem, and that both the word and the law are named together. The rulers are commanded to hear the word, and the people to perceive the law with their ears. Whoever makes the law first, later comes to the word of God. But also in Jerusalem, the first Church founded scattered the churches of the whole world. And it is to be said that whoever is in the watchtower and in the vision of peace, in this is the law and the word of the Lord established. And beautifully he said: in Zion and in Jerusalem there will be, and the word and law of the Lord will remain; but it will go forth, so that from that fountain all nations may be signified to be irrigated by the teaching of God.

And he shall judge the people, and shall reprove many nations. Therefore, judging must also take place among the nations: not all unbelievers are to be condemned with the same judgment, but they will suffer different things according to the diversity of their merits. But after the nations have been judged, then he shall reprove many peoples, or as the Septuagint translated it, a multitude of people. And note the order: the nations shall be judged, because they will believe. For he who does not believe has already been judged (John 3:18). But the multitude, which is understood as Israel, will by no means be judged, but will be reproved, because it did not receive the Son of God sent to them.

And when the Spirit of prophecy speaks as predicting things that are to come to pass, He speaks in this way: "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." And that it did so come to pass, we can convince you. For from Jerusalem there went out into the world, men, twelve in number, and these illiterate, of no ability in speaking: but by the power of God they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach to all the word of God; and we who formerly used to murder one another do not only now refrain from making war upon our enemies, but also, that we may not lie nor deceive our examiners, willingly die confessing Christ.

I am amazed at the persistence of some to interpret this passage in such a way as to conclude that this is a prediction of the return from Babylonian captivity. Which nations rushed to the temple after its rebuilding? What law was given from there? God gave the ancient law on Sinai, not Zion. Clearly Isaiah is referring to the New Testament, where the law was first given to the apostles and then delivered to all peoples by them. He announces that in addition to the law, the word would come from Zion. The term word is a title given to the message of the gospel. The blessed Luke says, "Those who were from the beginning eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us." He is not talking about God the Word but the message of the divine word. Zion is not where God the Word was from but where he taught the truth.

The order of conversion was that the gentiles were converted through the calling of those who were from the Jews. And therefore he sets out three things: first, those who call, second, the calling, where it says, "come," third, the reason for this order, where it says, "for the law shall come forth from Zion."

Therefore he says, "many," not all, "people," that is, who are from the Jews: in which is noted the small number of Jews who converted in respect to the multitude of gentiles; "shall go," by steps of faith believing, "and say": "we also believe. For which cause we speak also" (2 Cor 4:13).

"Come." Here he places the calling. And they are called to three things. To eminence of faith; hence he says, "come," through consensus, "let us go up," through faith, "to the mountain of the Lord," that is, to Christ, "and to the house of the God of Jacob," that is, to the Church: "arise, and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God. For thus says the Lord: rejoice in the joy of Jacob" (Jer 31:6–7); "ascent to mount Zion" (Heb 12:22). Second, to teaching, when he says, "he will teach us his ways," that is, the precepts by which one goes to him: "there you shall teach me, and I will give you a cup of spiced wine and new wine of my pomegranates" (Song 8:2). Third, to obedience: "and we will walk," after him, "in the paths," of his counsels: "ask for the old paths, which is the good way, and walk in it" (Jer 6:16).

"For the law shall come forth from Zion." Here he places the reason for the order of the calling, saying, "for the law shall come forth," understood spiritually, "from Zion," not from Mount Sinai, "and the word of the Lord," that is, the Gospel, "from Jerusalem," for the contemplation of peace: "for salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22), and below: "when they rush out from Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud" (Isa 27:6).