Darkness & The Coming Dawn

Celebration

Revelation

Message

We are in full blown Christmas season, and I don’t know about you but it feels like an odd year

Like I know 2020 was crazy but typically, no matter how crazy of a year it is, the holiday season tends to make us forget all of that

But it seems as though this year is slated to be different

It feels as though we are entering the holidays in the midst of a dark and uncertain time

We have COVID still running rampant and causing more things as of this past week to close back down, and we have uncertainty as to when this will all be over

We have an election that brought about major division and strife, so much so that I can’t recall a time in which we have so demonized our family and friends and neighbors over a differing political ideology and we have both sides with this looming uncertainty

One side uncertain because they believe this election was fraudulent and filled with corruption so they wait in silence wondering what will happen next

The other side uncertain because they believe the previous administration caused a decay in the moral fabric of our nation and is so waiting in silence wondering if the next administration will make a positive impact

And all the while, both sides are believing themselves alone to be right while demonizing the other

We live in dark and uncertain times.

So I want to read a passage and talk about how we should view these times, and what our focus should be in these times

Isaiah 62

1. The Hard Part

So here is the first thing we see

And I know that’s vague but that’s the best way to categorize it.

I know you might be thinking like me that “all that seemed positive”

And yes while this is a message of restoration, its a message of restoration for a reason!

Even in the first verse we can actually see some of the hard part buried right in the midst of the positive text

I will not keep silent

Implying a previous/current silence

I will not keep still

Implying a previous/current lack of action

Until her righteousness shines like a bright light

Implying a previous/current darkness

What is happening is Isaiah is bringing a prophetic message to the people of Israel, and part of that message is that judgment is coming upon the nations and discipline is coming upon Israel for their sin.

And that discipline is what lead them into Exile and hence into our series in Ezra/Nehemiah

So this silence, this lack of action, this darkness, is referring to this coming judgment where what will happen to Israel will be viewed through the lens of

“God is not listening or responding to our cries for help, He is doing nothing, and darkness is winning”

And that is not just in the background of verse 1 either

Isaiah 62:4

No longer called deserted, no longer called desolate

Isaiah 62:6-7

they will never be silent until God establishes Jerusalem - implies its “not yet” establishment

Isaiah 62:8

They were previously gathering grain and food that their enemies will take - i.e. Babylon

There was this present darkness over the people, and yes it had aspects to it that were social and that were political by nature

But even those were not the core of the issue

So likewise I would argue to us, that while we are in a dark time, both social and political, that they likewise are not the core issue

2. The Glorious Part

So with the quick understanding of the background

Let’s begin and walk through this text as the Isaiah wrote it

Isaiah begins, not with the social or political solution but rather with the solution to the actual core issue, the spiritual one

Isaiah 62:1

Isaiah 62:1 CSB

1 I will not keep silent because of Zion, and I will not keep still because of Jerusalem, until her righteousness shines like a bright light and her salvation, like a flaming torch.

I want to argue that based on two key words here:

Righteousness - refers to right standing; legal term; here referring to right standing with God

Salvation - Refers to the rescue from sin into relationship with the LORD; as Paul shows in Romans 4 Abraham is justified by faith just as we are; there is not 2 different kinds of salvation

So as a result of these 2 things, both spiritual answers what do we see:

Isaiah 62:2

Isaiah 62:2 CSB

2 Nations will see your righteousness and all kings, your glory. You will be given a new name that the Lord’s mouth will announce.

We see the result of this righteousness and salvation is the nations and kings being witness to their glory

We are seeing this as a confirmation of the work of God…how do we know this is a work of God?

Because notice there is a new name given, similar to how Jesus refers that salvation one must be “born again”

And who is the one announcing it? the LORD is, because new birth and being named is not something you do…it is a work of God

Following this we see another result of this salvation

Isaiah 62:3-5

Isaiah 62:3–5 CSB

3 You will be a glorious crown in the Lord’s hand, and a royal diadem in the palm of your God’s hand. 4 You will no longer be called Deserted, and your land will not be called Desolate; instead, you will be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land will be married. 5 For as a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you; and as a groom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

Now we get this wedding image as well as an outflow of the renaming

So the crown mentioned, the royal diadem is literally referring to the crown of a queen

The king, is clearly seen as to the one holding the crown “in the palm of your God’s hand”

And then we get a renaming of the people of God and the land in which they tread, no longer will it be called deserted or desolate but will be “married” and will be called “my delight is in her”

Are we starting to see why this passage was chosen for such a time as this?

In the midst of darkness and uncertainty, what do we see the LORD delight in? His people!

Is it thus far His people, who He saves who’s salvation shines bright in the midst of darkness, it is His people whom He gives new birth and a new name!

It is His people whom He crowns and weds Himself to

And then catch these two phrases:

- “your land ‘married’ for the LORD delights in you”

- “as a groom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you”

Now notice 2 parts of the language

The delighting the LORD does is in the present tense but in Hebrew (the org. lang.) it is something that occured and was completed in the past and is remaining today.

So the LORD is not delighting in His people only AFTER He restores them. He already and continues to delight in them

But then we get a beautiful promise “He WILL REJOICE” this is a future tense of something that is yet to happen

Not only does the LORD delight in His people in the midst of dark and uncertain times, He is not going to leave them that way.

And I find it no coincidence, that the rejoicing is described in the image of the wedding when we know the Book of Revelation which describes much of the end of things, ends with the wedding of the Lamb, that is Jesus, and the bride, that is His church - His people!

So what then in the mean time?

Isaiah 62:6-7

Isaiah 62:6–7 CSB

6 Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen on your walls; they will never be silent, day or night. There is no rest for you, who remind the Lord. 7 Do not give him rest until he establishes and makes Jerusalem the praise of the earth.

In the mean time, the LORD appoints and send His prophets and their job is to advocate to the LORD day and night, to give the LORD “no rest”

It is not as though God actually rests but this is used to make the point, the prophets and the leaders of His people are to constantly intercede on behalf of the people until that moment of redemption comes

These messengers also are protectors (in the human sense) of the people as they have been appointed “on your walls”

That is to overlook the people, to see what is outside them and what is coming, and to warn and proclaim!

The LORD then returns to give a glorious promise in

Isaiah 62:8-10

Saying that there will come a time when the people will no longer work only to have someone else take their reward from them

Then we wrap up here in the best part.

Isaiah 62:10-12

Isaiah 62:10–12 CSB

10 Go out, go out through the city gates; prepare a way for the people! Build it up, build up the highway; clear away the stones! Raise a banner for the peoples. 11 Look, the Lord has proclaimed to the ends of the earth, “Say to Daughter Zion: Look, your salvation is coming, his wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him.” 12 And they will be called the Holy People, the Lord’s Redeemed; and you will be called Cared For, A City Not Deserted.

If you were wondering, okay Cody I get where you are going but what am I supposed to do?

Look at the list of command verbs used here:

Go out

That is not to stay within, go out and tell the peoples!

Prepare a way

Make the peoples ready for the return of their King of Kings!

Built it up

Build up the pathway, make easy access to the King!

Clear away

Clear away all that obstructs from the King!

Raise a banner

Make obvious and known whom you belong to!

And then....

Look

Look at what God has done

Look at His work in all of the earth

Look at your salvation come

There was a part in the first verse that I intentionally didn’t explain

I didn’t want to explain it until the prophet himself did

In Verse 1 he says the people will have a righteousness that shines and a salvation bright like a torch

The question is…what is that righteousness? How do I know this is the gospel, that this is a work of God?

“Look, your salvation is coming, His wages are with Him, and His reward accompanies Him”

Listen, this is the Gospel

If you think you can earn your way to heaven with good deeds, your dead wrong

If you think coming to church or praying or giving money is going to be your salvation you will find yourself....not saved.

In order to be saved one must be right according to God’s standards - that is His law.

His law which we have all broken

So, did God leave us?

No. He sent His Son, Jesus, fully God in the flesh, who lived rightly, who lived perfectly according the the law

who did then our death and rose again 3 days later.

What does that mean?

that means, Jesus’ wages, to those who would repent and believe, to those His people, Jesus gives to you His wages (i.e. His perfect life) as your own

And His rewards (i.e. His new life) as your own.

And get this, to anyone who would repent and believe this message, what will they be called

“you will be called ‘cared for’

The people of God are named so as to represent God’s care in His salvation of them.

What is your focus in this season?

If you don’t know Jesus, this is your invitation

If you do, your job is those action verbs.

Go out

Prepare a way

Built it up

clear away

Raise a banner

and Look and see what God does

Preparation

here’s how you can do those very things.