Summary

Since the Most High is at work, it will happen. Verily, nations from north and south and from east to west will set out for Zion. It is especially the prophet Isaiah who is allowed to announce this. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths (Isaiah 2:2–3; also see Micah 4:1–2).

The lines in this verse are drawn broadly through all the nations. It sounds universal here. God’s work will one day be proved to be truly ecumenical, worldwide. In the New Testament we can discover the same breadth. That resounds powerfully in Ephesians 2:11–22. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13). Therefore, in Revelation 21:24, we read: By its light (in the New Jerusalem) will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Hence the church can confess, out of the whole human race, from the beginning of the world to its end, gathers, defends, and preserves for himself, by his Spirit and Word (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 21, q/a 54; cf. Matthew 16:18). The church is allowed to speak thus far and enthusiastically on the basis of, among other things, Psalm 87:5. The Most High will keep his promise.