Isaiah 7.4, 58-59 (3)

Prayer Requests

Isaiah 60:1–9 ESV

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 Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has made you beautiful.

Remember where we left off, the nations are coming to the Light of God’s people because He is upon them. That is why they’re coming, they come to the light of God, but see what they bring:

God encourages the people, lift your eyes, look up, see what is happening. Israel is so used to being the underdog nation, the little guy, the butt of other nations aggression and provocation. It’s almost this condition that she has to think of herself as small, unimportant, weak, diminutive. But the impossible is happening, the nations are coming to her, not to attack her, but to bless her!

And see what they bring” they bring with them Israel’s sons and daughters and great wealth and blessing. The wealth of the Lord is coming to the people of God as a way to glorify God.

Now there’s three senses we can read the into this verse about the sons and daughters being carried back. Remember, we’ve talked about the mutliple fulfillments of prophetic words. Isaiah in one sense sees this as a prophecy of Jerusalem’s restoration after Babylonian exile, fulfilled in part when Israel returns to Jerusalem from their scattered exile.

BUT this also is fulfilled in the church of Jesus Christ, in our age, as believers from all over the earth are brought into the Kingdom, into the City of God from afar—that’s a phrase used to talk about Gentiles—into the light of God. And the third sense is a yet-to-be fulfilled promise of Christ’s return in which all of God’s people will be brought into the new creation, the Holy City we read about in Revelation.

Then there’s this promise of great wealth, riches coming with the people, the wealth of nations come to God’s holy city. What is this about? But notice what is the purpose of the riches that are coming? The movement is that these riches head to the “praises of the Lord,” to the altar as expressions of extravagent worship of the Lord! This is not a some promise that Israel will get rich, but that the Lord will be richly blessed in the worship that people will give to him.

Now again, this is partially fulfilled, and has still fulfillment yet to come. What is this an echo of, do you think? What does this sound like? The nations coming in with their wealth?

Now the image is of the nations bringing wealth to Israel! Now, are we ok taking a bit of a detour today? Because I think this is amazing. The movement of God’s people with the wealth of the nations is a repeated motif, a repeated image and theme throughout scripture.

Think back to Genesis 12-13, Abraham and Sarai leave their land and go to Egypt because there was a famine. Abraham pretends that Sarah is his wife, Pharaoh’s not happy and sends them away because he is being troubled for by affliction, by plagues. This Pharaoh seems now repentant and sends Abraham and Sarah away with great wealth. Genesis 13:2 “2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.”

So there, the image is of God’s chosen people in a foreign nation and leaving that nation, returning to the promised land with great wealth!

The pattern is repeated in Exodus, though inverted. First of all, we already said last week that there is Exodus language here, the language of darkness and light, like the plague of darkness. It’s an interesting reversal of the Exodus. There, it was the Israelites having light in the midst of darkness settling on the land, and they are rejected by Pharaoh and Egypt, BUT as they are leaving Egypt after the Passover, God allows them to plunder Egypt, to take the silver and gold of their oppressors with them! Exodus 12:35-36

Exodus 12:35–36 ESV

35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

In Egypt, Israel’s light provoked hardening and rejection, yet as they return to their homeland, the people will bring the wealth of the nations, just as their father Abraham returned from his sojourn in Egypt with increased wealth.

NOW, in Isaiah, this people in exile are still a people who bear a great light, the hope of coming redemption and restoration. For King Cyrus, his heart is not hardened like Pharaoh’s and decrees that the Israelites, sending those of the priesthood, return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. This is found in the book of Ezra 1:4-11

Ezra 1:4–11 ESV

4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.” 5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

Cyrus sees the light of this people, restores it, in some part, to Jerusalem and sends incredible wealth with them to restore!

Where Egypt’s darkness separated oppressor from oppressed, and Israel departed enriched but rejected, the eschatological vision shows the nations voluntarily approaching Zion’s light and willingly surrendering their wealth. The nations bringing not merely literal treasures to Israel but also bringing themselves as worshipers of God, saying they will “bear good news of the praises of the LORD.”4 The plunder becomes worship; the tribute becomes testimony. What began as Israel’s defensive enrichment in Egypt culminates in the nations’ joyful submission in the age to come.

So it’s God’s chosen people, the light receiving the wealth of the nations and worshipping God. It’s God’s people being sent with plunder, from Egypt, from Egypt, from Babylon.

And then this finds it’s fulfillment again in…the Christmas story! Matthew 2:1-12

Matthew 2:1–12 ESV

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 6 “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” 7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

This typology, this motif, we’ve been tracing finds reaches its culmination in Christ. No longer is it God’s people being sent out with gold from the nations back to Jerusalem or the promised land, but it’s been reversed. It is not the nations themselves volutnarily journeying to the light of the world—that is Christ!—and bringing treasures and wealth. For what purpose? As an expression of worship!

Psalm 72:10–11 ESV

10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! 11 May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!

Isaiah 60:1–9 ESV

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 Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has made you beautiful.

By the way, I know we’ve been all over the Bible already, but Tarshish—does this sound familiar to anyone?

Yes, this is from Jonah. Tarshish is the coastal city to which Jonah goes as a way to get away from the Lord, to escape his command, to hide from him. Tarshish was a place of commerce and wealth and comfort. Jonah hides in Tarshish then gets on a ship in Tarshish to get even further from the Lord. Tarshish in Jonah represents as far as he could get away from God. Now in Isaiah it is those very same ships of Tarshish are now bringing to God wealth and gold and treasure to worship him. What was an instrument of distance from God (Jonah fleeing) now is redeemed into worship of God!

Sorry, we’ve made it through five verses. Here’s the headline for us today: God will take all the things of this world and redeem them for his glory and his purposes.

This is the heart of God’s redemptive design: nothing escapes his purposes. Jonah’s ships of Tarshish, Egypt’s plunder, Babylon’s captivity, the magi’s gifts—all become instruments through which the nations ultimately recognize and glorify the one true God.

Isaiah 60:10–14 ESV

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.