Isaiah Chapter 60 Verses 1 – 3

· This chapter is very specifically and unmistakenly about Israel as a nation and as a people. First, Israel was without any doubt or controversy the subject of the original text, when Isaiah penned this chapter almost 3,000 years ago. But also, as we make our way through this chapter, Isaiah will blend these comforting promises of God with similar descriptions we find in the Book of Revelation for the state of the world during the Millennial Reign of Christ and we know that reign takes place headquartered out of Jerusalem in Israel. We will even see a few glimpses of the New Jerusalem, Zion, in this chapter.

· AND, there are also wonderful promises, truths, comforts and encouragements that we can take from this chapter as well. There in verse 1, Isaiah says, “Arise, shine!” (I bet you didn’t know that “Rise and shine” was a biblical term!?) “For the light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you!” “The Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you!”

· You may recall a verse I shared on Sunday that I’ll bring your attention to again tonight as it is a partial fulfillment of this promise of God. 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory!” The transformative process of the Holy Spirit in the heart and life of a person…, one of the results, “The Lord will arise over you (which speaks of protection, provision and authority), and His glory will be seen upon you!”

· Definitely a promise for Israel which begins in Revelation 19 as the Lord returns to claim what He rightly has authority over, but also a promise for me and for you who are also Kingdom citizens when God is pressed by our free will to the front of the line in terms of our personal priority and authority.

· Actually, that’s the prerequisite. You ever take a class in college or better said go to register for a class? Some sort of higher learning. Advanced instruction. And that class cannot be selected because you haven’t completed the pre-requisite? Verse 1 is like that. It says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come.” That right there, that’s a response and it is an action. This promise to Israel will come to pass. It is written and no matter what happens with Israel or what they do, Revelation 19 will happen…

· AND, the same does not necessarily go for me in terms of the conditional promises contained in the scriptures. I have an ability to respond to the direction, the instruction, the mandates and rule of the Word of God and if I have the ability to respond then I have the responsibility! So, check this out, verses 2 and 3 come after verse 1. Always have, always will…

· The glory of the Lord is no earthly light. It’s different. It wreaks of the Holy Spirit described for us so clearly by Paul in Galatians 5. Love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, longsuffering, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. This is the flavor of one who is shining for the Kingdom…, and a good shine is always the reflection of a source! It’s not us or about us…, it’s about Him!

· I meet and encounter many, as do you, and right off they (and I have this inclination as well, I just am aware of it and catch and control myself) but you meet people and they love the Lord so much and God is using and has used their lives so much and you talk with them for 2 or 5 or 20 minutes and everything they talk about is them. Their story. Their life. It’s all about them.

· Rarely, but it happens, I will interact with a shiner, man… And they are inquisitive of what the Lord is doing and has done here… Encouraging and strengthening the brethren through a quite appropriate ministering and simple silent service. Next time you see the light shining off a mirror stop and listen to see how loud it is… 0db… I want to shine like that to the world, man. It’s only then they’ll listen when I turn up the volume… “The gentiles shall come to your…., LIGHT, and kings to the brightness of your rising….”

Isaiah Chapter 60 Verses 4 – 9

· All hints and tips that speak of the physical presence of Jesus ruling and reigning from Jerusalem during the Millennial Reign. Revelation 20:1-6, “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”

· Isaiah says the nations bring their gifts for incense (frankincense) and gold, no more Myrrh, the gifts, the spices of burial brought to Jesus at His first coming as now, at Jesus’ second coming He is coming for an entirely different purpose. Not to die for the sins of the world, that has already been accomplished, but to live and to reign for 1,000 years from the place of the name of the Lord your God, verse 9.

· Jerusalem, literally translated, well it is really a combination of two words, “Yireh,” meaning “to provide,” or “provided,” (think Jehovah Yireh, “God my Provider”), and Shalem (meaning peace). And so, the holy city of God, Jerusalem, literally translated means “The Provided Peace,” and Jesus revealed in Isaiah 9:6 is the child born unto us, a Son given and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

· So, all that we have read in this chapter is brought to the place of the name of the Lord AND to the Holy One of Isarel because it is now the time of both of their periods of earthly glorification!

Isaiah Chapter 60 Verses 10 – 12

· The implication here is that they are gone. Isaiah is so sure of these things coming that he is writing about them in the present tense and the past tense. Exactly how we should handle and trust and lean on the entirety of the Word of God! Nations against Jesus are gone. Gates are left open. Front doors left unlocked. Keys left in cars. Why? Because Satan is bound Jesus reigns!

Isaiah Chapter 60 Verse 13

· What is that? That’s a reference to the rebuilt temple…

Isaiah Chapter 60 Verses 14 – 18

· And now we jump even further…, to the next stage or age of creation that is yet ahead…

Isaiah Chapter 60 Verses 19 – 22

· Revelation 21:1-4, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

· Revelation 21:22-26, “But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.”

· Isaiah describes it just as John saw it almost to a “t.” And yet, Israel is thousands of years until these things come to pass…, but/AND, these things WILL come to pass. So, they are comforted. The previous chapter promised the work of the Lord in the provision of His Savior. This chapter is the promise of the work being one day soon completed.