Where Is This Salvation You Speak Of? – part 5
Isaiah 59:1-60:22 (60:1-9)
October 13, 2024
I want to jump back in to the reality of God’s faithfulness that we looked at this morning.
I want to solidify in your mind that the promises God made to Israel, He will keep.
And this includes even the promise of them receiving the land.
We remember as God was preparing Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.
Exodus 6:1-8 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.” God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them. “I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. “Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. “Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ‘Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ‘I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD.’”
And even as Israel was faithless in the wilderness and many did not get to enter the land, God still reiterated that rebellion Israel’s part may cause them some discipline, but it will not forfeit His promise.
Deuteronomy 4:25-31 “When you become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. “The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you. “There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. “When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. “For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.”
Deuteronomy 30:1-9 “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you, and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. “If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. “The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. “Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. “The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. “And you shall again obey the LORD, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. “Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers;”
The land is theirs, and even a period of unfaithfulness cannot change that.
God promised Abraham.
Even in the times of the Judges when Israel walked in wild unfaithfulness God reiterated His promise.
Judges 2:1 “Now the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you,”
And in the times of the Kings David had Asaph sing this song:
1 Chronicles 16:15-18 “Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. He also confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan, As the portion of your inheritance.”
And even in Israel’s darkest day, as God was bringing Babylon into the city and God was about to exile His people, even on that day He said:
Jeremiah 29:10-14 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”
He just says it over and over and over and over.
Later when He gave the New Covenant through Jeremiah and promised forgiveness and restoration to Israel He finished that promise with this proof.
Jeremiah 31:35-37 “Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: “If this fixed order departs From before Me,” declares the LORD, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the LORD, “If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done,” declares the LORD.”
We get it don’t we?
God made a promise, and He’s going to keep that promise.
He will save His people and He will settle them in the land.
I realize we have now gone through a lengthy period of rebellion from Israel.
It’s been 2,000 years of suffering for Israel in which they refuse to recognize their Messiah.
But God has promised one day they will, and He will save them and return to avenge them.
Tonight, I want you to see what that day will look like.
We come to our 5th point of the segment.
#5 THE NATIONS RESTORATION
Isaiah 60:1-22
It is obvious when we read this chapter that we are talking about what Peter called “times of refreshing” or the “period of restoration”.
You and I know it as the millennium; the 1,000 year reign of Christ.
It is certainly not the first time Isaiah has spoken about this period on the earth.
Back in chapter 11 we saw it as a time of unbelievable peace on the earth when the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, etc.
In chapter 35 we saw it as a tremendous time of restoration where the desert will become a garden, the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
And there are several other references to this time period throughout the book of Isaiah.
It is shown to Israel as the final fulfillment of the promises which God made to Abraham.
Israel, safely in her land, enjoying the blessings of the presence of God.
And that is no different here.
It is Isaiah, yet again, reminding Israel of the blessing of repentance and salvation.
When God says He has good plans for us, He means it.
When God says that His future for us is one of hope, He means it.
When God says that coming to Him is a wise decision, He means it.
It brings to my mind that interesting moment in the life of the disciples as they watched the Rich Young Ruler choose his riches over Christ and thus walk away sad.
Peter has a bit of a crisis at that moment and asked the Lord if they had made the right decision in leaving their lives behind to follow Christ.
This was Jesus’ answer:
Matthew 19:28-29 “And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”
Jesus answer was that they absolutely made the right decision.
Following Jesus is worth it now, and it will certainly be worth it on that day as well.
Jesus never ruined the life of any of His followers and He never will.
So certainly just as a generic observation we see again that this millennial reign of Christ is a glorious time that is so worth if for His people.
It is a time of peace
It is a time of restoration
It is a time of refreshing
And if we could sort of sum up Isaiah’s focus in this chapter we would add that it is also a time of remarkable glory.
Glory is the theme of chapter 60.
(1) “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.”
(2) “For behold darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples’ But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear on you.”
(7b) “They will go up with acceptance on My altar, And I shall glorify My glorious house.”
(9b) “For the name of the LORD your God, And for the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you.”
(13) “The glory of Lebanon will come to you, The juniper, the box tree and the cypress together, To beautify the place of My sanctuary; And I shall make the place of My feet glorious.”
(19) “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.”
(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 theme is clearly glory.
And it is glory in two different ways.
In verses 1 and 2 the Hebrew word is KA-BODE which speaks of God’s glorious splendor.
You see that again in verse 13.
But the rest of the times you see the word “glorious” or “glorified’ it is a different word PAW-AIR or a word that comes from that root, and it means “beautiful or to beautify”
And the understanding of the chapter then is that when Israel returns to God He will return to them and His glory will beautify them.
In fact, His presence will be their beauty, and His glory will be their chief attraction to the world.
And just for a simple application of spiritual truth for us today. The church has nothing to offer as attractive or glorious to the world as the presence of God.
I think about this often, even with events like Disciple Now where we are going to do a lot of fun stuff with the kids that come.
But if all we have to offer is fun and games we lose. What every one of these kids needs to see and be aware of is the reality of the presence of God in our lives.
I like what Paul said to the Corinthians who were caught up in mystical behavior like speaking in tongues and such. Paul called them to speak the words of God because that is something the world does not have.
1 Corinthians 14:24-25 “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.”
That is the effect of having the presence of God.
Far more powerful than any worldly attraction.
Well that is what the millennium will be for Israel.
And this is huge.
If you remember, this is what they lost during the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
We read not too long ago from Ezekiel 10 and 11 about God’s glory departing from Israel.
Ezekiel 11:22-24 “Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. The glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is east of the city. And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to the exiles in Chaldea. So the vision that I had seen left me.”
Do you understand that God’s glory never entered the temple again until Jesus was 8 days old and was carried there to be circumcised?
But they crucified Him and have thus been without the presence of God since that day.
But on this day the LORD returns.
His glory fills their land.
Ezekiel 43:1-5 “Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing toward the east; and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east. And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the vision which I saw when He came to destroy the city. And the visions were like the vision which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate facing toward the east. And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.”
God returned exactly as He had left.
And when Ezekiel gave that long description of the millennium at the end of his book, one verse really stands out above the rest in importance.
Ezekiel 48:35 “The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about; and the name of the city from that day shall be, ‘The LORD is there.’”
After all the descriptions and all the measurements and all the prescribed activities that are laid out in the final 9 chapters of Ezekiel it really all funnels down to only 1 attraction.
“The LORD is there.”
When you think about planning a vacation and you start talking about various destinations, you begin to weigh them out based on what each location has to offer.
Giant trees outside of Fresno.
Cool temperatures in New Mexico.
A big canyon in Arizona.
An ark in Kentucky.
Well what you’ll see here is that as the world contemplates where to travel there is one destination that clearly rises above them all and it is Jerusalem because “The LORD is there.”
Notice all the references to “come to you” that you’ll see as we read through.
The glory of the LORD returns to Israel and the world will flock to them as a result.
That is what is described here.
(1-2) “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.”
What a great way to start this chapter with the call for Israel to “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.”
We heard Jesus in the New Testament speak sort of sarcastically to the Jews during His sermon on the mount.
Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Israel was supposed to be the light of the world.
Indeed they thought they were the light of the world.
Romans 2:19 “[You] are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,”
They were supposed to shine the light of God’s presence to the world, but the problem was they didn’t actually have any light.
Their light was a false light.
Their light was a hidden light.
Well on this day that all changes.
They receive the light of God’s presence and they are called to shine it.
Just as today we are called to shine the light of God’s presence into a dark and hopeless world.
Philippians 2:14-15 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,”
So you understand the calling here.
God reminds Israel that Christ has returned to them and they are to broadcast it!
They are to shine their light.
(2) “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you.”
What is this darkness?
It is the great tribulation.
It is the wrath of the day of the LORD which is described as a day of darkness and gloom and deep darkness.
And it is during that horrific time of tribulation that Israel will be saved.
It is there that Zechariah 12 (which we read this morning) will be fulfilled.
It is during the tribulation that God will pour out His Spirit on Israel and cause them to weep for Christ and look on Him whom they pierced, and Christ will save them.
And during that dark time, they are to shine the light of Christ to a world in deep darkness.
And we read that “the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you.”
That is His coming.
Even when anticipating His first coming, Zacharias prophesied that John would go before Christ:
Luke 1:77-79 “To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
This is what He will do.
Israel will turn to Him, and He will return for them.
He will avenge them of their enemies.
He will dwell among them in Jerusalem.
He will illumine them with His glory.
And they will become the attraction of the world!
All because Christ is with them.
Now, I do want us to go through the remainder of this chapter.
I really think it is one of those scenes that needs to be seen in its entirety, not just a verse at a time.
So we’re going to move through this chapter rather quickly, but what I want you to grasp as we do is the glory of the presence of Christ and the effect His presence has upon His people.
And while we are certainly talking about an actual millennial reign here, I want you to also begin to appreciate what a difference it makes when the presence of Christ becomes the chief focus of our gathering.
Christ is the light, we’re just the lamp.
If you raise up a lamp without any light in it, you’re not going to draw anyone.
Christ is the living water, we’re just the hose.
If you stretch out a hose without any water, you’re not going to refresh anyone.
Christ is the magnet, we’re just the conduit through which He draws.
All of the benefits that you see taking place here for Israel are only because Christ is among them.
They are physical benefits that Israel will physically enjoy in the millennium, but that is a spiritual benefit that the church should enjoy today.
So let’s walk through these 4 realities that occur when Christ arrives and makes His people beautiful.
1) NATIONS WILL HONOR YOU (3-9)
Hopefully as we read, you picked up on what a massive attraction Israel becomes.
You see the phrases repeatedly:
“come to you” – “come from afar” – “turned to you” – “come to you” – “come” – “gathered together to you” – “come first”
It’s quite clear that when Christ shines His glory through His people the nations start showing up.
(3) “Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.”
That is clear.
The world is on its way.
It’s not the first time Isaiah has mentioned this.
Isaiah 2:1-4 “The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will 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 concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war.”
Isaiah 45:14 “Thus says the LORD, “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush And the Sabeans, men of stature, Will come over to you and will be yours; They will walk behind you, they will come over in chains And will bow down to you; They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely, God is with you, and there is none else, No other God.’”
It’s going to happen.
Zechariah 8:20-23 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. ‘The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also go.” ‘So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.’ “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’”
Well that is what we see happening here.
Their attraction level is off the charts.
They have Jesus in their midst!
And we even see some realities of why they are coming.
TO RETURN THEIR CHILDREN
(4) “Lift up your eyes round about and see; They all gather together, they come to you. Your sons will come from afar, And your daughters will be carried in the arms.”
(9) “Surely the coastlands will wait for Me; And the ships of Tarshish will come first, To bring your sons from afar, Their silver and their gold with them, For the name of the LORD your God, And for the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you.”
This is spoken of a lot throughout Isaiah.
Isaiah 43:5-6 “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth,”
Isaiah 49:22-23 “Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations And set up My standard to the peoples; And they will bring your sons in their bosom, And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. “Kings will be your guardians, And their princesses your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth And lick the dust of your feet; And you will know that I am the LORD; Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame.”
That is the idea here.
If you’ve held captive some of Christ’s children, there is no way you’re going to stand before Him without bringing them back!
And any Jew stranded across the world will be given free passage to go back to Israel.
Their people are going home.
It is their land, it was promised to Abraham, and God will bring them to it.
This is one of the reasons the nations are coming.
TO GIVE OFFERINGS
(5-6) “Then you will see and be radiant, And your heart will thrill and rejoice; Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, The wealth of the nations will come to you. “A multitude of camels will cover you, The young camels of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba will come; They will bring gold and frankincense, And will bear good news of the praises of the LORD.”
You’ve got the ships of the sea and the caravans of camels and they’re all bringing gifts for the Lord and for His people.
Even as we read down in verse 9, when they bring the sons they bring, “their silver and gold with them.”
They are bringing the wealth of the nations into Jerusalem.
Isaiah 23:17-18 “It will come about at the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. Her gain and her harlot’s wages will be set apart to the LORD; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the LORD.”
There you have the nation of Tyre who has always been a picture of commerce and worldliness.
And here God reveals that all of her wealth which she gathered and hoarded was not actually being hoarded for her, but for His people.
In just the same way as the people plundered Egypt on their way out so now the nations freely give up their wealth again.
Proverbs 13:22 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”
So it is here.
TO MAKE SACRIFICES
(7) “All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you, The rams of Nebaioth will minister to you; They will go up with acceptance on My altar, And I shall glorify My glorious house.”
This is the one that gets a little tricky for most, so let me take a second and explain this one to you.
When you read the last 9 chapters of Ezekiel people typically track along pretty good.
In chapters 40-43 Ezekiel measures the city and talks about the people.
In chapters 43-44 Ezekiel measures the altar and talks about the priests.
In chapter 45 Ezekiel measures the land and talks about the princes.
And everything seems clear there until you start seeing the people offering sin offerings and participating again in the Passover.
Ezekiel 45:21-23 “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. “On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering. “During the seven days of the feast he shall provide as a burnt offering to the LORD seven bulls and seven rams without blemish on every day of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering.”
And there are several more references, but we don’t have to read them all.
What you see then is people get really confused about this Millennial kingdom.
Why in the world are they bringing the sacrifices back?
It’s not hard to understand, they are brought back as a memorial.
Not a single sacrifice in the Old Testament ever atoned for sin…correct?
Hebrews 10:4 “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
Those things were effective, they were merely a picture of the coming atonement.
Hebrews 10:1 “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.”
They were “only a shadow of the good things to come”
Those sacrifices looked forward to Christ.
These sacrifices are still not efficacious, but they are a memorial looking back at Christ, similar to when we take the Lord’s Supper.
No man here genuinely believes that eating that store-bought cracker or drinking that concentrated grape juice is actually atoning for your sin.
But we are commanded to do it and you do it.
You eat the cracker and you drink the juice and you worship the sacrifice of Christ.
That is what will happen in the millennium, they will take the Passover and they will give the sin offering, but it will be a memorial to what Christ did.
Even in the book of Acts the apostles, after the ascension of the Lord, still participated in temple worship and there is even a record of Paul participating in the Jewish sacrifices.
Acts 21:26 “Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.”
That is when Paul returned to Jerusalem and James told him that the Jews thought he preached against the Law.
So James told him we’ve got some guys here who have taken a vow and you need to go and purify yourself with them and pay their expenses and show the Jews that you walk orderly.
So Paul went and did it.
He didn’t balk, he didn’t should “Blasphemy!”
He just understood that everything done according to the Law was merely a picture of Christ.
Certainly Paul wasn’t trusting in that.
For him it was a memorial and a way to keep peace with the Jews.
But that will occur in this day.
The whole world will come to Jerusalem to return their children, bring gifts, and sacrifice to honor the sacrifice of Christ.
There will be a massive coming of the nations.
To bring the Jews
To bring their gifts
And to worship the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
And incidentally, this won’t be optional.
We looked this morning at that salvation passage in Zechariah about when Israel mourns over Christ and trusts in Him.
Look at Zechariah’s description of that day.
TURN TO: ZECHARIAH 14:10-21
See not going is not an option.
Everyone goes.
This is the benefit of having the glory of the Lord in your midst.
And this is the consequence of Israel trusting in the Lord.
What a day that will be.
Well, I wanted to cover this whole chapter in one sitting, but we’re going to have to come back next time and get it.
