Isaiah 60:1-22--The Future Glory of Israel

Isaiah 60
English Standard Version

The Future Glory of Israel
60 Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
    and thick darkness the peoples;
but the LORD will arise upon you,
    and his glory will be seen upon you.
3 And nations shall come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your rising.

4 Lift up your eyes all around, and see;
    they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from afar,
    and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
5 Then you shall see and be radiant;
    your heart shall thrill and exult,
because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
    the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you,
    the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
    all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
    and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.
7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;
    the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
    and I will beautify my beautiful house.

8 Who are these that fly like a cloud,
    and like doves to their windows?
9 For the coastlands shall hope for me,
    the ships of Tarshish first,
to bring your children from afar,
    their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the LORDd your God,
    and for the Holy One of Israel,
    because he has made you beautiful.

10 Foreigners shall build up your walls,
    and their kings shall minister to you;
for in my wrath I struck you,
    but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
11 Your gates shall be open continually;
    day and night they shall not be shut,
that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
    with their kings led in procession.
12 For the nation and kingdom
    that will not serve you shall perish;
    those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
    the cypress, the plane, and the pine,
to beautify the place of my sanctuary,
    and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
14 The sons of those who afflicted you
    shall come bending low to you,
and all who despised you
    shall bow down at your feet;
they shall call you the City of the LORD,
    the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

15 Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
    with no one passing through,
I will make you majestic forever,
    a joy from age to age.
16 You shall suck the milk of nations;
    you shall nurse at the breast of kings;
and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior
    and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
    and instead of iron I will bring silver;
instead of wood, bronze,
    instead of stones, iron.
I will make your overseers peace
    and your taskmasters righteousness.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
    devastation or destruction within your borders;
you shall call your walls Salvation,
    and your gates Praise.

19 The sun shall be no more
    your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
    give you light;
but the LORD will be your everlasting light,
    and your God will be your glory.
20 Your sun shall no more go down,
    nor your moon withdraw itself;
for the LORD will be your everlasting light,
    and your days of mourning shall be ended.
21 Your people shall all be righteous;
    they shall possess the land forever,
the branch of my planting, the work of my hands,
    that I might be glorified.
22 The least one shall become a clan,
    and the smallest one a mighty nation;
I am the LORD;
    in its time I will hasten it.

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Isn't the message of hope in the book of Isaiah so amazing?  Can you see why some people call it "The Fifth Gospel" now?  This is specifically a promise to the people of God, Israel, and how the LORD will take away not only their sin, but their shame.  Remember the Aaronic blessing of Numbers 6:24-26.  "May the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the LORD life up His countenance upon you and give you peace.  This is promise that that blessing will come to pass for the people of Israel (and all the people of God).

No longer will they live in darkness, but His light will shine upon them.  They will see His glory, the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  They will be a light to the Gentile nations as they were intended to be.  Through them, all the nations of the world would be blessed as they would take the gospel to the entire world.  Though we are but reflectors of the glory of the LORD, we will have a kind of glory of our own as the LORD lives in and through us--like the glory of the moon is different than the glory of the sun.  The moon gives light in the darkness and does not damage our eyes to look at it, yet it only reflects the light of the sun--it has no light of its own.

We will be transformed to be truly made in the image of God, even having a glory that will radiate from us (not because of who we are and what we have done, but because of what Christ has made us, and what He has done.  "To God be the glory; great things He hath done."  It would once again be like in the days of Solomon when people from all over the world would come to the Mountain of the LORD to pay tribute to Him and His people, Israel.  They would come to learn of His wisdom and truth, and they would bring gifts and sacrifices fit for a king and a royal priesthood.  They will come by land, sky, and sea, if I'm reading the text correctly (Isaiah talks about them being like a cloud or like doves that fly and land on the window).

The other peoples of the world will work to build up the walls and defenses of Jerusalem (though they will not be needed, for it will be a time of perfect peace when the Prince of Peace rules from His throne).  The kings of the earth will come of their thrones to minister to the people of God and serve them.  Though the people of God may have experienced a taste of the LORD's wrath now, it was for their correction so that they may experience the fullness of His blessing later, but the fullness of His wrath is reserved for the unrepentant nations of the world, and Romans tells us that, in the coming days, all Israel (all true Israel) will be saved.

We see that the gates of the city will always be open because there is no threat from without or within.  All the wealth of the nations will be lavished on the LORD and His people, though silver and gold will mean nothing anymore.  The nations that will not serve the LORD and rebel against Him will perish.  No one will be left to be an enemy to the LORD's people.  Those that truly love the LORD will also love His people, Israel.  You cannot love God and hate the people that He loves, the first one to be called His Bride.  The Church is only grafted into the Vine or adopted into the family, but we have not replaced them.  The passage goes on and on to talk about how enemies will become friends, and the nations will give the fullness of all their riches that they have to offer to the people that they once hated, yet they now love because the gospel has changed them.  

The LORD says that His people will know Him as Savior and Redeemer and the Mighty One of Jacob (the one who saves His people with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm).  The LORD will bring all the blessings of the covenant with His coming Kingdom, including perfect peace and rest for His people.  There will be no more violence, no more destruction or disease or death or corruption or any other thing that is the result of the Curse.  No more will they need to have the sun nor any light or lamp, for the LORD Himself will be the light of that city, and we will radiate with the glory of God.  There will be no more keeping track of time with "there was evening and there was morning" (no more sunset and sunrise).  There will be no more stars to see to keep trace of seasons.  Time will not matter to us as will never grow old and will never die.  We will live perfectly in the state of our new creation with the LORD forever and ever.

The LORD will declare us all to be righteous because of the righteousness of Christ that has been imparted to us.  The Land will be an eternal dwelling place for His people just as He promised to His people that it would eternally belong to them.  There will be no more mourning--we will forget everything from the past that will make us sad.  We will only have the joy of living in the presence of the LORD forever and ever.  We will not be able to make this happen or hasten its coming--it will be the zeal of the LORD that will accomplish this for the sake of His Name because He will keep His covenant promises to His people and He will restore things to "very good" that were corrupted by sin.  The devil will not win, nor will the angels or men that have allied themselves with the devil.  They will likewise all be cast out from this Kingdom--there is no place for them there.  Then, everything will be restored to the way that it was meant to be in the beginning, only with one big difference--there will be no Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil--no ability to sin, no desire to sin, and no one to tempt us to sin.  We will perfectly be in that glorified state and will eat from the Tree of Life that locks us into that state that we are in permanently (it was a danger to us once we had fallen, but it will be a source of healing for the nations once we are glorified).