Isaiah 60-61
Notes
Transcript
Isaiah 60-61
Isaiah 60-61
Good evening Church! So glad to be with you guys tonight and so glad that you are here with me. I think for us today it is difficult at times to understand the difficulty that the Jews have in recognizing Jesus as their Messiah. Looking back for us at the Old Testament prophecies the picture is clear that it could be no other, than Jesus. But even when we consider His own disciples, wondering who was going to be the greatest when He established His kingdom…and then He didn’t, or at least not yet. Even in this book, we see in places like, I think chapter 53, 53ish, about the suffering Savior, and then we read things like we will tonight, and can understand their difficulty as they were looking for this fulfillment in Jesus when He came. As we will see tonight, there was no connection with the second coming just in the reading of the prophecy.
Pray with me and then we will begin in chapter 60. Hopefully, I got that part right tonight.
1 Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.
This is quite a transition from where we were last week. Remember the Lord was looking for one who would tell the truth to His people. The Jews were deceived about their own goodness, they blamed God for their problems, for not hearing their prayers.
God sent the prophet to tell them, what you are doing is all for show. On the outside, you are showing up. In the view of others you are religious people, but your hearts are messed up!
They get the message, they acknowledge the message, and they ultimately own their condition, or at least take responsibility for it. So we have this transition here to tremendous blessing. The prophet is so sure of this promise of God he speaks of it as if it is the present day, arise and shine, for your light has come. But we need to go back a couple of verses to see when God is actually talking about.
20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the Lord.
21 “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”
So, all of this blessing comes when the promised Redeemer comes to Zion! Back in verse 2 it says...
2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.
We see this now here in the statement in Isaiah, and it is affirmed in the book of Revelation when we read.
23 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.
So different than today, when many of the Gentile nations are repulsed by Isreal, in this day the Gentiles will be attracted by it and to it.
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 nursed at your side.
5 Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you.
6 The multitude of camels shall cover your land, The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba shall come; They shall bring gold and incense, And they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord.
7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, The rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; They shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, And I will glorify the house of My glory.
8 “Who are these who fly like a cloud, And like doves to their roosts?
9 Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; And the ships of Tarshish will come first, To bring your sons from afar, Their silver and their gold with them, To the name of the Lord your God, And to the Holy One of Israel, Because He has glorified you.
10 “The sons of 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 Therefore your gates shall be open continually; They shall not be shut day or night, That men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, And their kings in procession.
12 For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be utterly ruined.
13 “The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, The cypress, the pine, and the box tree together, To beautify the place of My sanctuary; And I will make the place of My feet glorious.
You guys might remember that as the Hebrews left Egypt after their captivity, they weren’t just released but they were given riches by the Egyptians, back wages really for their slavery, we might call them reparations today. We in that day, this is speaking of the Millennial Reign of Christ by the way, it will be the same, only the riches will come from all of the world.
So understand all of the Jews will be regathered from across the world. I know we talk about the miraculous return of the Jews today. But there are still twice as many Jews living in New York than their are in Jerusalem. Depending upon what records you look at there are nearly as many Jews living in the United States as there is in all of Isreal.
Sacrifices will be reinstituted in the Millennial Temple. That is confusing to some people.
14 Also the sons of those who afflicted you Shall come bowing to you, And all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; And they shall call you The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, So that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, A joy of many generations.
16 You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, And milk the breast of kings; 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, Instead of iron I will bring silver, Instead of wood, bronze, And instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, And your magistrates righteousness.
18 Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; But you shall call your walls Salvation, And your gates Praise.
This bowing down happens from everyone. In Matt 25 Jesus tells the story of the sheep and the goats. This great separation. Following the tribulation period what will determine who is allowed to go into the Millennium and who is cast into darkness depends upon how they treated Isreal. Antichrist will turn many against Isreal during that time.
Imagine a time when there is no more violence.
19 “The sun shall no longer be your light by day, Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory.
20 Your sun shall no longer go down, Nor shall your moon withdraw itself; For the Lord will be your everlasting light, And the days of your mourning shall be ended.
21 Also your people shall all be righteous; They shall inherit the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified.
22 A little one shall become a thousand, And a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”
Chapter 61 is awesome!
1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
This is how it reads in Isaiah. And this is why the expectation was that Jesus would establish His Kingdom when He came 2,000 years ago. BUT when Jesus came 2,000 years ago He quoted this, actually part of this. Check it out with me.
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
So in this Jesus was speaking of His first coming, and the rest of the passage in Isaiah
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
Speaks of His second coming, that is why Jesus stopped mid-sentence.
3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, And the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But you shall be named the priests of the Lord, They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, And in their glory you shall boast.
Not yet fulled because of their sin, but will be fulfilled in the Millennium.
7 Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs.
No more shame. But then all will be as if a firstborn, double honor.
8 “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
Offering with wrong heart is like robbery. Ever lasting covenant is Jesus.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed.”
All the Gentiles will see and be unable to deny. In a couple of weeks we will see this promise spoken of in the book of Hebrews
20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Closing with 10 and 11.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
Grace and Peace