Isaiah 60:1-11
Isa 60:1
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the
LORD is risen upon thee.
The word arise is in the Qal stem in the Hebrew and
carries with it the meaning of “to rise up and go against.”
The nation of Judah was to rise up against the false gods of Babylon and
they were to shine as the beginning of a new day.
Their new day came when they finally were released from Babylon by the
power of God who would guide them back to the land where they would once again
fill the land along with the building of the temple.
This verse also has a great gospel meaning in that a
person who is saved shall have the spiritual strength to rise up against the
enemies of Christ and defend the faith.
They will be to society like the sun shining at noon, they will be bright
spots. The light which came is the
light of the gospel and the glory of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is with them
and every true believer. The glory
of God will be seen when he saves sinners and turns them into Saints.
The change in lifestyle will be obvious as they eschew evil like Job did.
Isa 60:2
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and
gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory
shall be seen upon thee.
The earth will be filled with false gospels and will be
filled with evil acts because the majority of the people will be unsaved and
therefore walk in darkness. Then a
difference is pronounced upon the true people of God that the LORD will arise on
them in salvation and the glory of God will be seen in these people.
Many times the people of God were subject to persecution but now the
tables have turned and the people of Satan will be the ones who will be
persecuted, many times they persecute each other.
Isa 60:3
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to
the brightness of thy rising.
Then the gospel will go out throughout the entire earth
and those whom God has called to be saved will come to the true gospel and will
become saved. Then even those
people who are of renown will see the difference and will make inquiry as to
what makes these people different.
They will be informed that the LORD is the one who saved and changed these
people. They will not come for the
purpose of conquering them but will come for the purpose of seeking the LORD
while he may be found. If God is
calling, they will come.
Isa 60:4
Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather
themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy
daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
Then true believers in the body of Christ will see that
many more will be coming into the kingdom of God by means of salvation.
Those whom the LORD has called will have the responsibility of removing
their grave clothes which is the teachings that the new Christian had amassed
while being out in the world. Just
as the Lord Jesus Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, he gave the command to
the people to loose him and let him go.
As a corpse he would have been bound for burial and that is symbolic of
the people of the world in false religions, they are bound to that religion as a
spiritual corpse until the Lord raises them and the true Christians strip him of
his grave clothes or the false teachings of religion and then he could walk in
newness of life.
And he that was dead came forth, bound
hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin.
Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. (John 11:44)
The body of Christ will be made up many from different countries and the
sons would be the seed of Abraham named before the foundation of the world.
The daughters shall be nursed at thy side which was a method of carrying
a child on the hip of the mother and their arms were over the mother’s shoulder.
It is commonly seen in the Middle East.
They will be spiritually nourished as those who come directly to the true
believers and will be nourished with the word of God as anyone who has been
drawn by the true gospel.
Isa 60:5
Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart
shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted
unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
Then the existing body of believers will see the
abundance of the people coming into the kingdom of God and they will flow
together which gives the essence that the body of Christ will be in harmony as
they follow the LORD. The heart
fearing is not because many are coming in but there might be some who are not
the true body of Christ and will only want to cause trouble.
And that because of false brethren
unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in
Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: (Galatians 2:4)
Yet, no human can know the heart of another and even though there is much
caution the heart will be enlarged which means they will come in and the Lord
knows who the true Christians are.
Then we have the seas which will bring great abundance to the body of Christ by
bringing the fishes and the pearls into them which are just metaphors for true
believers.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man,
seeking goodly pearls: (Matthew 13:45)
Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of
great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many,
yet was not the net broken. (John 21:11)
Notice that after the 153 fish were caught the net was
not broken which means there was still room for more or the 153 represents the
fullness of all the believers down through time.
Then the forces of the Gentiles would be like the army of unbelievers
who would come against the true body of believers yet many being saved out of
them would still constitute a major army.
Isa 60:6
The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries
of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and
incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD.
The camels and dromedaries shall cover thee.
The dromedaries had only one hump whereas others had two.
Notice they will be coming from Midian which was also a child of Abraham
and Keturah.
And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher,
and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these
were the children of Keturah.
(Genesis 25:4) The ones being
called will be the children of Abraham, Ephah was part of Midian east of the
Dead Sea and was known for having a multitude of camels.
For they came up with their cattle
and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude;
for both they and their camels
were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. (Judges 6:5)
Then those of Sheba would come and if you remember that the Queen of
Sheba came to hear the wisdom of Solomon and as a result many came to be true
believers. Sheba was also known for
its Gold and Frankincense and those were two of the three gifts brought to the
Lord Jesus Christ as a young child.
All these people shall praise the LORD when they are brought into the kingdom of
God by Christ. They will no longer
prostrate themselves before false idols as they will know the truth.
Isa 60:7
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto
thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with
acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.
Then those sons of Ishmael who were Kedar and Nebaioth
shall gather unto the house of Jacob who was the son of Abraham by Hagar.
This means that the sons of Ishmael will have many believers among them
and will come to Christ.
And these
are the names of the sons of
Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of
Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, (Genesis 25:13) Here
the rams are spoken of as sacrifices which were used in the temple sacrifices
and even though they were brought by the Gentiles, they would be accepted by
God. A spiritual aspect to this
portion of the verse is that the Lord Jesus Christ is our altar and the Gentiles
will come to Christ and would be accepted by him as the Elect of God and as a
result the house of God will receive the glory of God for the many who are
continuing to be saved.
We have an altar, whereof they have no
right to eat which serve the tabernacle. (Hebrews 13:10)
Isa 60:8
Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as
the doves to their windows?
Then there will be so many coming into the kingdom of
God, they will be like a cloud which covers the sunlight.
In the Middle East, doves are a very welcome bird and many people build
places for them to live and nest.
Many times doves will go out and return in a cloud as there would be many coming
back to roost for the evening. This
is what the multitude of believers are being likened to.
The dove also describes the redeemed personality of the true believer.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
(Matthew 10:16)
Isa 60:9
Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of
Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with
them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because
he hath glorified thee.
The isles are once again mentioned as some of the places
where true gospel will be sent and the ships of Tarshish are symbolic of the
sending forth of the gospel as ships were used to carry people and cargo
especially around the Mediterranean.
There may be an allusion to the fact that many true believers in Israel
will be returning to Jerusalem and they will bring their gold and silver with
them which are both symbols of the true gospel.
They are to be living sacrifices unto the name of the LORD who is also
called the Holy One of Israel. God
had glorified his children in that he has given them eternal life and someday
they will be seen in their glorified bodies in glory.
Isa 60:10
And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and
their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my
favour have I had mercy on thee.
Here God speaks about the strangers building up the
walls. These would be the strangers
who had joined themselves to the LORD.
Neither let the son of the
stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath
utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I
am a dry tree. (Isaiah 56:3)
Kings like Cyrus although he didn’t do any of the physical labor, his
people had ministered to Judah by guiding them back to the land.
Seventy years prior God had smote them because of their idolatry but once
their sentence was complete, they now garnered the favor of God through his
mercy.
Isa 60:11
Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall
not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the
Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.