Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Isaiah 60:1-3, 15-22; Luke 2:8-20

Theme: Finding God’s radiant joy in His presence.

Date: 12/17/2022 File Name: Chrsit_In_Isaiah_01 Code: OT23-60

This is the Third Sunday of Advent, and the theme is joy.

The candle we light on this day is the pink candle that is symbolic of the birth of a boy-child.

But this boy-child is not just any child — he is God’s promised Anointed One, Israel’s Messiah and the Savior of the World.

On the night of his birth, heaven will break open over the lambing fields of Bethlehem, and an angel will announce to shepherds, “ ... “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

(Luke 2:10–11, ESV)

ILLUS.

They hymn we sang a moment ago reminds us that Joy has dawned upon the world, Promised from creation.

God’s salvation now unfurled, Hope for every nation.

The Prophet Isaiah talked about this coming Messiah and the joy he would bring to his people.

“Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, ... .”

(Isaiah 60:5, ESV).

Christ is everywhere in the pages of Isaiah’s prophecy.

Chapter after chapter speaks of Christ, of redemption and salvation.

His prophecy covers the entirety of Christ’s life — his incarnation, his ministry, his death and resurrection, and his future reign as Lord of all.

In these closing chapters of Isaiah, we catch a glimpse of the day toward which history is moving.

When we reach that goal, we will see and share His glory, as all life’s mysteries find final resolution in joy.

What’s amazing is that the Prophet is speaking of events that are over one hundred years in the future.

Isaiah has repeatedly called Israel to repentance of her idolatry and immorality.

The people have consistently ignored the call.

The result, says the prophet will be a captivity by a foreign power and exile to a foreign land.

Emotionally and spiritually it will be as if darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.

But God will ultimately bring them out of their exile and repatriate them to their land and they will rebuild Jerusalem and its Temple.

In chapter 60, the prophet renews the promise of a new day for the community of faith.

He assures the people that God has not forgotten them and that their mission as a light to the world has not changed.

I. ISRAEL WILL BE A LIGHT TO THE NATIONS

1. in these verses we see that God will glorify Israel by making them a witness of the grace of God

a. the historical background of this prophecy concerns the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah

1) 587 years before the birth of Jesus, Judah will be attacked and defeated by the Babylonian Empire

a) the Hebrew people will be taken captives in Babylon — where they’ll experience a long night of sin, of punishment, of suffering, and of mourning,—a long night of nearly seventy years

2) it will be a difficult captivity and the people will yearn for the hills of Judah and the city of Jerusalem

a) we catch a glimpse of their gloom in the 137th Psalm

“By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. 2 On the willows there we hung up our lyres.

3 For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!

6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!” (Psalm 137:1–6, ESV)

2. but after seventy years, things will begin to change in Israel’s favor as God providentially works out His will in Middle East history

a. Babylon — Israel’s captors — itself will fall to the armies of the Persian King Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C.

ILLUS.

Greek historians epitomized Cyrus as the “perfect ruler.”

Contemporaries describe Cyrus as an ideal, tolerant and brave monarch.

His people are even said to have called him ‘father’.

Today, Cyrus the Great Day is an unofficial holiday in Iran.

b. soon after his capture of Babylon, Cyrus will release the Israelites from their captivity, and several waves of Jews will return to Judah and Jerusalem

1) the Scripture say that “Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus” to issue a proclamation which allowed those Jews who wished to return to their homeland to do so

a) how Yahweh stirred up Cyrus is not stated, but Jewish tradition says that the Jews showed him the prophecies of Isaiah 44–45 which named Cyrus as the one who would liberate the Jews — which he did

c. the first wave of returning Jews is sometimes called the Zerubbabel Return since he was prince of the House of David who led the captives home, and just over 42,000 Jews returned to Judah

1) the first priority after returning was the reconstruction of the altar so they could offer sacrifice to God

2) then immediately materials were gathered for rebuilding the Temple

3) the foundations were laid, but opposition from the non-Jews who were living in the area caused the work to cease for about sixteen years

4) the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the Jews to resume building, and the temple project was completed

a) it is commonly referred to as Zerubbabel’s Temple or the Second Temple

b) the new Temple was dedicated on March 12, 515 BC, and some of the very elderly Jews who were in attendance regarded it as a poor substitute compared the splendor of the original Temple that Solomon had built

5) but the Prophet Haggai predicted far greater glory for it would come

“ ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?

How do you see it now?

Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD.

Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD.

Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt.

My Spirit remains in your midst.

Fear not.

6 For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.

7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.

8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts.

9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts.

And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.’

”” (Haggai 2:3–9, ESV)

d. but before that happens, the returned exiles are still struggling and there is severe opposition from surrounding peoples

3. over one hundred years before any of this happens, the Prophet Isaiah is prophesizing that it will happen

a. but Isaiah also prophecies that, just as things are at their bleakest, God will give them light, and His glory shall rise upon them

A. ISRAEL’S DARKNESS WILL TURN TO LIGHT

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.

Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”

(Isaiah 60:1–3, NIV84)

1. just as divine light overcame primordial night at creation, a day is coming when the glory of the Lord will rise over Israel

a. God’s people will return to their city and attempt to rebuild its walls and the Temple, but things will not go to plan

b. their hopes and dreams will remain frustrated

2. despair and hopelessness began to set in

a. the prophet’s words reassure his people and calls them to rejoice in the light that will come

b.

God was going to act for them on their behalf

3. Isaiah picture a darkness and despair that has settled, not only over Israel, but over the entire earth

ILLUS.

One of mankind’s deepest fears remains scotophobia — the fear of the dark.

It’s not so much fear of the dark, as it is the fear of things that go bump in the night.

Why do you think that a majority of scary movies are set during the nighttime hours?

Darkness causes people to be uneasy.

They’re unsure of what’s around them, and most bad things seem to happen when it’s dark out.

a. Isaiah draws us into an eerie, gloomy, and frightening picture when he writes: “See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples,” (Isa.

60:2a)

b. the Prophet is using the metaphor of darkness to picture sin and the gloom and death that result from it

4. but God would shine his glory upon them so that the light of his glory would attract the nations to Jerusalem

5. the first two words in vs. 1 of Isaiah chapter 60 are imperatives, that is, commands

a. the first imperative is Arise

1) Jerusalem is here personified as a woman sitting in dust and ashes because of her sins

a) it’s a symbol of deep mourning