Waiting For The Glory

The last few chapters of Isaiah have been soul-searching and quite pointed. There needed to be a reminder of the true condition of man without God. Man separate from God. Man behind the brick wall of justice. Man left to his own devices. The picture was bleak, but as we saw, it was not without hope. In fact, the bleakness of the description in itself was cause for glorying, because without the understanding of the bleakness, there is no way to move forward into the hope.

One of my favorite quotes of all time is this by Charles Spurgeon

“I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me up against the Rock of Ages.”

In chapters 57-59 we saw that it is good to be broken. It is good to be cast down. It is good to feel the weight of our soul’s need. It is good to have the depth of our condition as a framework through which we view our lives. Our worldview is greatly benefited when we take proper perspective.

But the Christian life, the walk of faith, is not meant to be a walk of depression. The perspective of our condition is not meant to be a perspective of gloom, but of humility and gratitude. And humility and gratitude come not with sorrow, but with Joy.

You know, sometimes God’s people take on the reputation of being doom and gloom sort of people. Sometimes God’s people put out the vibe that all we focus on is denying ourselves and being lowly and poor in spirit. People think Christians don’t have any happiness or fun. After all, we just live for the rules and regulations and get our enjoyment from knocking over sandcastles and making small children cry and making adults feel guilty, right? Of course we know that is not true. That’s absurd.

I wanted to highlight that absurdity because Isaiah 60 is chapter of incredibly joy! That is much needed after several chapters of repentance. Maybe you’re feeling a little dragged through the ringer after the last few weeks. I think I’m there with you, but a close examination would remind us that its not necessarily guilt we are feeling. After all, even in those difficult chapters we saw glimpses of the Redemption, glimpses of the Redeemer. The heavy feeling doesn’t have to be guilt, rather I hope it is real brokenness. Brokenness over our own sin, brokenness over the human condition, brokenness in humility of the great gift of mercy. But Brokenness doesn’t have to result in a continual downtrodden disposition, or a permanent frown.

In moving into Isaiah 60 we see this principle in action, and that is repentance leads to joy. Brokenness leads to gladness. In chapter 59, God looked at the people to see if there was any hope, and he didn’t find any! But he didn’t just see, right? He did something! And he promised Redemption! Well now in Isaiah 60 He is going to talk about all the beautiful feelings of hope that are wrapped up in that redemption!

I want to encourage you, dear one - it is okay to long for the future bliss that is promised to us as God’s people! I once heard someone really super spiritual say, “well if all I had was this life to live for God and do what is right and then return to dust and cease to exist, then that would be good enough. I take pleasure in serving God now.” Well, we should take great pleasure in living for God’s glory now, but we don’t have to put ourselves in a false dilemma like that! It’s not just the here and now, there is a beautiful future for God’s people! And that beautiful future is pictured in chapter 60 in the city of Zion.

Isaiah 60 is all about the future glory of Zion, Gods holy city. And I would posit to you that God is telling his people this, not so that they would anticipate the future of the city, but so that they could see in that future of the city a great future for themselves.

Rejoice in waiting for the glory. The beautiful future of God’s city is the future of God’s people, and the glory of God’s city is the glory of God Himself!

With that as a framework, I want to make another suggestion. Isaiah 60 is really a chapter about God’s glory. And here’s what I mean by that.

A broad definition glory: The Splendor of God and its consequences for mankind.

i.e. how God is indescribable and full of wonder and what that means for us.

This chapter is about waiting for glory, but what is the glory we are waiting for?

Specific definitions.

Two OT words and a NT word.

OT: Chabod and Tip-re-et

Chabod - describes God - heaviness, distinction, splendor

heaviness like a burden. Something that is noticeably immense, something that cannot be easily ignored.

distinction, like marks of distinction. Like a graduate would graduate with honors.

Splendor, like the awe-inspiring appearance of nature or architecture. A visibly wonderful display.

Tipre-et - describes Zion and God’s people - fame, strength, and adornment.

fame, human perception and notoriety

strength, that is, positive attributes.

adornment - like jewelry or decorations, ornaments or beautification.

NT - doxa - describes God but is displayed in His people.

really combines these two ideas, with a focus on physical splendor and adornment - more along the lines of brightness, radiance, and noticeable renown.

1 - God’s Glory as the Culmination of Promises Made - 1-9

Why do I say this passage speaks of Glory as the culmination of promises made? We can answer that in Isaiah itself.

Verse 1 - the call to Arise, shine, for you light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. This is really the highest call of several that have been made to Zion, God’s city. Consider a few

Isaiah 51:17 ESV

Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.

Isaiah 52:1–2 ESV

Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

Isaiah 54:1 ESV

“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord.

These are just a few examples of God’s call to Zion, his holy city, and His people by implication, to arise from one condition into another. This time, however, the stakes and the description have reached a pinnacle with the glory of God himself being the promise!

There have been promises of hope, of vindication, of rebuilding in the past. There were even promises of light in darkness like there are in verse 2-3, but here that light that will be evident and seen by others is promised to be none other than the Glory of the Lord.

In verse 3 there is a Hebrew Idiom - “nations and kings.” that is an idiom of totality - a figure of speech that is used to indicate an all-inclusive meaning. Think of it this way, everyone from the kings all the way to the people that the kings rule over will come to the light.

Verses 4-7 really go on to describe this idea. God says to Zion, “look around and you will see all the multitudes of people that will come to you because of my glory!” There is a description of people groups, and different parts of the globe.

The abundance of the sea speaks of those nations beyond the Mediterranean to the west.

A multitude of camels speaks of those who would ride in from points south and east.

Kedar and Nebaioth were to the north and northeast.

Some see verse 6 as being fulfilled in the coming of the Magi to the birth of Jesus, as they brought these gifts of gold and frankincense. I think there is undoubtedly an element of fulfilment there, but as we saw during advent season, even the magi themselves were a prophetic image, an image of worshippers coming to glorify the Messiah from everywhere, not just Israel - and that is exactly what is being described here. God’s glory set on Zion in a specific way that draws worshippers of God from all areas of the globe!

Verses 8-9 continue the theme, but they give some beautiful further imagery.

they fly like a cloud like doves to their windows. Flying like clouds is an image of speed. Clouds move swiftly and freely through the sky.

Doves fly to their windows. Another way to translate windows that is nests. Where do doves live? in nests. Why do they fly to their nests? because it is their home. It is their dwelling place.

This is a picture of the nations of the world coming home to Zion! Did you hear that? All these people from far and near. Different nations, different backgrounds, different people groups, coming to see God’s glory in future Zion, and not doing so as a vacation or a holiday, but doing so because they have found a home there!

God’s city would be glorified and it would grow in glory and beauty through the multitudes and nations God will bring to it.

Now, there is an element where these prophecies were fulfilled in part in the rebuilding of the temple and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. You can read the accounts of those things in Ezra and Nehemiah. Interestingly, even in those accounts we see pictures of foreign leaders and kings being taken back by the power of Israel’s God. Even in the book of Ezra, King Darius made a promise to those rebuilding the temple that they could have anything they needed from the royal storehouses to rebuild the temple and worship the true God.

God is a rebuilding God. That is an amazing story of his provision. But it is not the greatest story of his glory rising from rubble.

John 2:19–21 ESV

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

The resurrection of Christ is a true and great realization of this concept, that the Glory of God is the culmination of promises made. There is a sense in which, although the promise to Zion is very much future, that we exist in this spiritual Zion now.

Listen to the Author of Hebrews

Hebrews 12:18–24 ESV

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Listen, dear ones. Although we don’t see the full glory yet, we experience the Glory of God in the Gospel - we have come to the heavenly Jersualem, the highest form of mount Zion, the city of the living God, and we have come there by the blood of the New Covenant. That is why, even though these promises were made to Old Testament saints coming out of captivity, the Glory promised reaches to us and past us to all who will come to Christ, and it reaches into the future as well as we are still waiting the final glory.

2 - God’s Glory as the Vindication of Past Suffering - 10-18

God’s glory - his renown, his splendor, the weight and awesomeness of His being, is the highest fulfillment of all the promises we wait for. And there is a healing aspect of that, because that beauty takes the place of much ugliness. That splendor takes the place of much darkness, as we have already seen.

Verse 10 - God says to Zion, I struck you in my wrath, but i have had mercy on you. This is the great vindication - that those of us who were once counted as guilty and enemies and strangers and under God’s wrath now have the experience of His glory as a prize. There is a vindication, a justification of all the past sorrows and suffering we bore.

For Zion, this looks like homage. It looks like all the ones who once were her enemies and all the ones who once afflicted her coming to her because in her they find God’s glory. That’s what verses 11-14 are describing.

Once they despised Zion, now thew will know her as God’s city. They once saw Zion as something to be plundered and left in ruins, but the Glory of God on Zion now makes them see her as the city of the Holy One - something to be noticed, something to be reckoned with. That’s a vindication.

Verses 11 and 15 both describe this future Zion as a place with immense traffic. There will be a constant flow of people coming, so much so that the Gates can never be closed, and the crowd is like a constant stream. This, of course, is the picture of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21

Revelation 21:25 ESV

and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.

On top of being a picture of high traffic, many people, gates being left open is also a picture of security - there is no need for closed gates when there is no threat of foul entrance.

Verse 16 is a really interesting image - what do you think of when you think of breastfeeding? You think of motherhood, of nourishment, of tender care and love. How is it that these foreign nations, who once were the enemies of Zion, the enemies of God, would now be part of the blessing and the provision for this people? It is because the Lord is the Savior, the Redeemer.

And there is that Redemption, that justification, that vindication of past sufferings. When we compare what we knew before we came to Christ with what we know now, we are blessed with heavenly perspective. Before Christ, ever evil and every heartache is nothing but a nuisance, or at worse, a cause for despair. Without the Redeemer, every suffering moment is a moment without hope and without purpose. Suffering is wasted and brutal apart from the Redeemer. But Having come to the Redeemer, we now see with new eyes. We see our former enemies and we see the Glory of God in his great purposes. We see our sufferings and we see the work of God in bringing us to Him. We see our former heartaches as fences and prods that pointed us to the Savior. We can say, “I kiss the wave that throws me up against the Rock of Ages.”

Romans 8:18 ESV

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

There is that word, Glory. Its that brightness, radiance, and renown that is attributed to God, but that he gifts to us as a sweet benefit of redemption. There is always a promise of better! The full experience of God’s promises is always much more grand than the pictures and the images that we see now. That is why Verses 17-18 are verses of transformation. God’s people can both experience the blessings of His goodness now, and also long for and rejoice in the promises that we are still waiting for!

Do you know, that because of God’s glory, you can look back on the really difficult days of your life and smile? Do you know, that because of God’s glory, you can see the times that you lost that job, or that loved one, or that child, you can look at the times when you were unsure about your future or where your next meal was coming from, and smile, because those things were not wasted or mistakes? Do you know that because of God’s glory, you can look at the life you lived before you came to Christ, you can look at the mistakes you have made, the people you have hurt, the bad decisions and failures and heartache you have both had and caused, and you can cast away the shame, because of God’s glory. The Glory of God is immense and powerful, and when it comes to our salvation, our justification, our vindication, it overshadows and covers all the ugliness that we have to offer. Now, don’t see that as a reason to make more ugliness, but see it as a reason to rejoice and long for the day when all the ugliness will be gone!

Revelation 21:3–4 ESV

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

3 - God as the Glory and Illumination of His People - 19-22

Here in the last section, the theme is still God’s glory. But the use of it changes. The word that Isaiah had been using was that first word I gave you, Chabod. It spoke of God’s glory, the heaviness, distinction, and splendor of God. But now God tells us that God will be the Glory of Zion? What does that mean? How can it be? God doesn’t share his glory. How can he give it away?

Verse 19 - this is a description of a miraculous future reality where the light of the sun will be unnecessary. The light reflected off the moon will be put out of a job. All artificial and created luminaries will be useless. Why? Because The Lord will be the light of Zion, and God will be her glory.

Revelation 21:22–23 ESV

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

So what is that? God will be Zion’s glory?

That word glory, Tipre-et, is fame, strength, and adornment. If I ask the question, what is so and so famous for, you would maybe give a description of someones accomplishments or writings or something they had said or done. If I ask you, what is that persons strengths? You would give a list of positive attributes about an individual and their personality. If I asked you, what is someone known for, you would maybe say something about their appearance and their mannerisms and the things that characterize and identify them.

That is the sense of “glory” in this verse. In other words, what Zion will be famous for, what will be seen as Zion’s strengths, what Zion will be known for, what will beautify and adorn Zion is nothing less than God Himself! And dear ones, what is known of God’s city is known of God’s people.

Do you have character flaws? Do you have mistakes that you wish didn’t accompany you? Do you have skeletons in the closet of your life that haunt you, and that the Devil uses to tempt you to worry and despair? Do you wish that you had a better image, a better reputation and social status?

What if I told you that the promise for God’s people is that everything they are known for, everything they are famous for, everything they can be defined by and described with and characterized by and identified with is not the treacheries and mistakes of their past, but God Himself? What if the Redeemed were known, not for what they were redeemed from, but for their Redeemer Himself? What if the saved were identified not by what they were saved out of, but by their Savior Himself?

Look at how the people of Zion, God’s people, you and me, are described in verse 21!

Known as righteous.

Not known for their sins and mistakes.

Possessing the land forever.

not known as foreigners and strangers but as rightful citizens.

the branch of God’s planting

Not a weed that is to be plucked and cast out, but as a intentional and purposeful feature of God’s garden.

the work of my hands

Not as a mistake, not as a “defect” or a “factory second”, but as the unique and wonderful work of the master craftsman.

Why all this positive? How can this be?

“that I might be glorified.”

Dear one, our sins are real and they are serious - but they are not to be the only dwelling point of our minds. We can be humble and broken while being joyful and encouraged, because God’s Glory is promised to his people!

Rejoice in waiting for the glory. The beautiful future of God’s city is the future of God’s people, and the glory of God’s city is the glory of God Himself!