Arise And Shine

(Isaiah 60:1–3, ESV) Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

1. I used to think that revival would come, bringing in a massive harvest, then the end times would come with a great falling away.

2. However, I have come to realize that instead of revival coming first, then chaos, it will be revival thriving in the midst of chaos.

I. Darkness Shall Cover The Earth

A. “Behold”

1. An interjection demanding attention; “look”, “see”

2. Jesus may not tell you what you want to hear, but He will tell you what you need to hear!

B. “Darkness Shall Cover The Earth”

1. “darkness” / “thick darkness”

a. Darkness: ְchôshek (2822) Literally: darkness; figuratively: misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness

b. Thick Darkness: ărāpel (6205) Literally: thick darkness; a thick visible cloud; it is also used to express gloom

2. Cover: kâçâh (3680) to cover; to overwhelm

a. (Psalm 55:5, ESV) Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.

3. While darkness has covered neighborhoods, cities, and at times entire nations, the LORD is warning us that there is a day coming when darkness will cover the earth!

a. (Zephaniah 1:15, ESV) A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

b. (2 Timothy 3:1–5, ESV) But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

C. While This Might Seem To Be Negative; The LORD Is Actually Revealing What The Setting For Revival Is Going To Be!

II. The LORD Will Arise Upon His People

A. The LORD Is Giving Us Reason To Hope When Darkness Covers The Earth!

1. (Isaiah 60:2, ESV) For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.

B. “The LORD Will Arise Upon You”

1. Arise: to rise; usually used for the rising of the sun.

2. We need not fear the darkness that will cover the earth; the LORD is our light!

a. (2 Samuel 22:29, NIV) You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light.

b. (Isaiah 42:16, ESV) And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.

3. However, those who have known the LORD’s light and have refused to walk in it will be engulfed by the darkness!

a. (Jeremiah 13:15–16, ESV) Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the Lord has spoken. 16 Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.

C. “His Glory Will Be Seen Upon You”

1. Glory (kābôd). noun / heaviness; glory, honor, divine presence.

a. Kabod often refers to the physical manifestation of God’s presence; it also refers to God’s character (glorious)

2. The fullness of God’s glory is revealed in and through Jesus!

a. (Hebrews 1:3, NIV) The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, ...

3. Before Jesus the Word became flesh this is how Ezekiel saw Him:

a. (Ezekiel 1:26–28, NIV) ... on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. ...

4. The promise of this prophecy is that the glory of God in Christ is going to be seen on His people!

a. (Isaiah 60:2) “his glory will be seen upon you.”

b. Seen: this Hebrew verb is used in the Bible about 1300 times and refers to seeing with ones eyes, perceiving, examining, and gaining understanding.

5. However, God’s glory is not only going to be seen, it is going to draw nations to you!

a. (Isaiah 60:3, NIV) Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

b. Give them Jesus! Give them Jesus! Give them Jesus!

6. That’s exactly what happened at Pentecost!

a. (Acts 2:2–5, NIV) Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

b. And what did Peter give them? Jesus!

III. Arise And Shine!

A. Don’t Let The Darkness Shut You Up! Arise And Shine!

1. (Job 23:17) “yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.”

2. “Arise, Shine”: Both these speak of action!

a. This should be our response to what God has done; He has shone His light on us, now let it shine through you!

b. The LORD has put you in the darkness to overcome it with the power of His light; don’t hold back: Arise, Shine

B. The Relationship Between God’s Light And His Glory

1. Wherever God’s glory is revealed His light is shining; you can’t enjoy God’s glory (Jesus) and walk-in darkness.

2. God’s people are people of the light!

a. (1 John 1:7, ESV) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

b. We cannot walk in the darkness and be carriers of God’s glory!

C. What Happened When The Early Church Let Their Light Shine?

1. Those who were walking in darkness first tried to defeat the Church with governmental obstacles.

a. (Acts 4:18, ESV) So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

b. But the followers of Jesus rose up all the more and shined! / (Acts 5:42, NIV) Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

2. Then all out persecution erupted against God’s people! (Persecution / Martyrdom / Scattered)

a. (Acts 8:1, ESV) And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

3. That which the enemy meant for evil Jesus turned it into good: the advancement of His Kingdom!

a. Jesus allowed the enemy to persecute and scatter the Church knowing that the Church would thrive!

(1) The Church wasn’t destroyed, it grew!

b. No matter what “darkness” does, continue to let your light shine! / “Arise, shine, for your light has come,”