ISAIAH 60:19-22
WHEN GOD IS YOUR GLORY
[Revelation 21:23-24; 22:5]
What a glorious God of splendor we serve! The city which God establishes will not be darkened by human failure or natural inadequacy. The presence of God in Zion will create external and internal light. Every inhabitant will be righteous so that God’s splendor will be seen and experienced. The promise of God’s presence and the impact of His presence will be realized. What light! What glory! What splendor! What righteousness and peace! God is the eternal light and glory for His people and He will establish peace and righteousness for them, for us (CIM).
Isaiah closes chapter 60 by returning to the thoughts that began it. Yet now the culminating results of shining the light of salvation to the world are included. Jesus’ first tabernacling on earth initiated the fulfillment of this prophecy and the return of His presence will begin its full glorious realization.
"When God is your glory" you have everlasting light, and become a work of everlasting glory.
I. HAVE EVERLASTING LIGHT, 19-20.
II. [ARE] A WORK OF EVERLASTING GLORY, 21-22.
Verse 19 promises that God’s presence will dispel sin and darkness. "No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light; But you will have the Lord for an everlasting light, and your God for your glory.
The city of Zion will experience the light and glory of God’s presence. What comparison can the lights of this existence have with the light of God who is light Himself (1 Jn. 1:5). The light of God’s presence gives greater guidance, insight, and protection than the sun or moon can provide for us. His light gives us wisdom, understanding, and counsel.
Even now God’s people, when they walk in the light of His will, have a light that is far more useful that the other lights of this world. In the reign of Jesus on earth no longer will the redeemed need earth’s light, even of sun and moon, nor will they need to be enlightened by the power of reason out of this present creation. The Lord Himself will guide Zion, will uplift her and will protect her as Zion’s Light and Glory.
We presently experience the light of God in a small degree, then it will shine in the soul, mind and spirit of redeemed man gloriously. So take courage. The Lord is your light, both day and night. He shines in the night of adversity as well as in the day of prosperity. Those that make God their true light shall have Him as their all-sufficient source and supply. Let God shine in your life and dispel the darkness. He will shine no matter what occurs in this natural world.
God is the glory of those whose glorify God and He will be prove Himself so throughout all eternity. It is our glory that we have the Lord as our God, and we should glory in Him; who is true splendor and beauty.
In this prelude to heaven the redeemed will not need to rely on the sun or moon, for the light of God is the inheritance of the saints of light. This eternal light will swallow up the light of the sun as easily as the sun does that of a candle. [Matthew Henry’s Commentary. electronic ed. Peabody : Hendrickson, 1996, c1991, S. Is 60:15]
The thought of everlasting light continues in verse 20. "Your sun will no longer set, nor will your moon wane. For you will have the Lord for an everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be over.
Jesus is call the Sun of Righteousness whose coming will be with healing (Mal. 3:19; Lk. 1:76-79; 2:32). We who reflect His glory today often wane. But here that day is over. There will be constant consistent light that does not wane or decrease. For the Lord Himself will be our everlasting light—a light which never can ever be extinguished.
The realization of having the everlasting light of the Lord brings the dawning of a new day. "Weeping may last for a night but joy comes in the morning" (Ps. 30:6). What a day that new dawning, that new morning will be. The everlasting radiance of the Lord will dispel sadness and drive away all sin and mourning. The reign of darkness has ended and the long night of sin is over. For those who long for the reign of Jesus in their life, joy unimaginable and full of glory will come with this new dawn.
II. [ARE] A WORK OF EVERLASTING GLORY, 21-22.
This next section discusses the condition of the people who inhabit this city. Four provisions are given. Three are in verse 21. "Then all your people will be righteous. They will possess the land forever. The branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified.
The presence of God with His people brings to fruition their covenant relationship. The first condition fulfilled is that all Zion’s people will be righteous. Righteousness (and justice) characterize the Messiah’s kingdom (9:7; 11:4,5; 32:1, 16, 17) . God’s coming brings right behavior and thinking to His people. This righteousness that we taste and long for will one day become a living reality.
A second inheritance is that they will possess the land forever. The possession of the land is a deeper promise than simply a place of residence. It is a guarantee of eternal survival, provision, and protection.
A third inheritance is that who they become will be the personal work of God. God planted His new covenant people into Christ (Jn. 15) and they have grown and become fruitful because of their relationship with Christ. God has nourished and nurtured them in Christ. He has pruned the useless things out of their life carefully and provide a weeded garden or church for them.
They have been and will be the work of God’s hands. We are and will become the creation of God. As God said in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for Good works that we may walk in them." And in Philippians 1:6, "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."
For what purpose has God undertaken this in-depth work on His people? God’s act of craftsmanship in our eternal life is that He may be glorified. His amazing creative skill in our life will demonstrate His great glory. In other words, He works so faithfully on us so that we will be a glorious recreation in Christ Jesus. His very life of glory will flow through our life (Jn. 15:5) [Oswalt, Isaiah 40-66, 560]. God’s people made righteous will display God’s splendor or beauty.
Verse 22 contains a fourth inheritance of God’s people. "The smallest one will become a clan, and the least one a mighty nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time."
Like a clan or a thousand strong will the least of God’s transformed people become because of God’s glorious work. Imagine what it would be like to have your present self multiplied a thousand times. What would you be like? That is what the least of the redeemed will be like. The mighty spiritual warriors of God will be multiplied by God to be like a mighty nation is today.
This theme of the weak, dismissed, and despised of God triumphing out of the power of God runs deep throughout Scripture (1 Cor. 1:26-31; 2 Cor. 12:9-10). The kingdom of God is not built with human strength and wisdom, but by those who cast themselves upon God to serve Him in His power (Mt. 21:42-44; Lk. 20:17-18).
In that day those who became the least because they lost this life to serve the Lord of Life will be first in the accounting, care and craftsmanship of YAHWEH (Mk. 10:42-45; Mt. 18:1-4; 23:11).
[The Millennium will be a utopia for which many people have longed. Walvoord, John; Zuck, Roy; The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 1115]
"I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time" is the last promise in this section. The covenant making and keeping God is the One who made these promises. He will suddenly bring it about though it seems far off.
"Any promise is only worth as much as the integrity and capacity of the one making it. Can we believe these promises about the city of God? Of course we can! He is the Lord!" [Oswalt, Isaiah 40-66, 561].
CONCLUSION
With the benefit of hindsight we understand that the promises made here were initiated at the first coming of Jesus & that God will suddenly bring them to pass at His second coming.
Apparently Jesus’ reign on earth is the initiation of His reign in eternity. Much of what is promised in heaven begins here. What wonder; what splendor; what glory belongs to our God!
Yes, one day the sun will peak over the horizon only to be out-shined by the glorious return of the Light of the World. Til that day comes we need to shine His light so that a world trap in darkness can know there is a way out, and find the way out, the way to God in Christ.
