INTRODUCTION:

1.     The key word in Isaiah 60 is “glory” (60:1, 2, 7, 9, 13, 19, 21).  The glory of God is the manifestation of His divine attributes and perfections.

2.     The word “glory” is found hundreds of times in the Bible – all the way from Genesis through the book of Revelation.

3.     Referring to the new Jerusalem, John says in Revelation 21:22, 23: “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.  And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” 

4.     In the Bible God’s glory is linked with His holiness.  Isaiah 6:3 says, “And one (seraphim) cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.”

5.     Isaiah 40:5 says, “And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”  When will this take place?  When Christ returns to set up His kingdom (cf. Isa. 59:20).

6.     Our Lord said in Matthew 6:13 (at the conclusion of “the Lord’s prayer”), “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

7.     Millions of professing Christians repeat these words every day, but how many really understand what these words mean?

8.     God’s Shekinah glory had dwelt in the tabernacle but departed because of Israel’s sin and apostasy.  You may recall that in I Samuel 4:21  Phinehas’ wife named her child Ichabod, and said, “The glory is departed from Israel.”

9.     In preparing to build the temple in Jerusalem, David said, “the house that is to be builded for the LORD must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory” (I Chron. 22:5).

10. The temple was to be exceedingly magnificent and glorious because it was the house of God.  Later we read in I Kings 8:11, “the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.”

11. But because of sin, the glory departed again.  We this in the book of Ezekiel.  

12. The glory returned to Israel at the birth of Christ.  John 1:14 says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

13. But Israel rejected their Messiah, and once again the glory left Israel.

14. When a person receives Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour, he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  First Corinthians 6:20 says, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

15. Today, God’s glory dwells in His church, but the church needs revival.  Apostasy is growing and the clouds of darkness are starting to move in.   “The glory is departed...”

16. The prophecies described here by Isaiah could be fulfilled very soon.  Jesus is coming soon (cf. Isa. 59:20).

I. DARKNESS SHALL COVER THE EARTH (60:1, 2; cf. 59:9).

1.     “Darkness” in the Bible represents sin and unbelief.  Those without Christ are said to be in spiritual darkness.

·        Our Lord said in Matthew 6:23, “But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”

·        Our Lord said in Luke 11:35, “Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.”

·        In Luke 22:53, our Lord said to the Jewish religious leaders, “When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

·        John 3:19 says, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

·        Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

·        And Jesus said in John 12:35, “Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.”

·        Our Lord said in John 12:46, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”

·        Acts 26:18 says, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.”

·        Romans 13:12 says, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”

·        Second Corinthians 6:14 says, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”

·        Ephesians 5:8 says, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.”

·        Ephesians 5:11 says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”

·        Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

·        Colossians 1:13 says God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.”

·        First Thessalonians 5:4, 5 says, “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”

·        First Peter 2:9 says God “hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”

·        First John 1:6 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.”

·        First John 2:11 says, “But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.”

2.     In spite of nearly 2,000 years of Gospel preaching, this world is still in great darkness. Darkness is covering the entire continent of Europe.  That darkness is moving in with great force here in America and Canada.

3.     Islam boasts of a billion and a half adherents.   Today there are nearly one billion RC’s and one billion Hindus.

4.     There are hundreds of millions of Buddhists and other pagans.  There are hundreds of millions of communists and atheists.  Soon all of these diverse heathen and unbelievers will bow down and worship the antichrist.

5.     The prophet Isaiah looked ahead to the great tribulation, a time when this world will be plunged into darkness – “gross darkness” (60:2; cf. Rev. 16:10-16). 

6.     There are many, many Scriptures which describe the tribulation period as a time of terrible darkness. Amos 5:18 says, “the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.”

7.     In the midst of that terrible darkness, the Lord shall return and His glorious light shall replace the darkness (59:20—60:3).

II. LIGHT SHALL REPLACE THE DARKNESS (60:1-3).

1.     PP Bliss wrote a song called, “The Light of the World is Jesus.”

The whole world was lost
In the darkness of sin,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Like sunshine at noonday,
His glory shone in.
The Light of the world is Jesus!

Come to the light, ’tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the light has dawned upon me.
Once I was blind, but now I can see:
The Light of the world is Jesus!           

2.     “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee” (Isa. 60:1).

3.     Everything will be different when King Jesus returns (59:20).  Today the world despises the Word of God. Even here in so-called “Christian America,” the Lord Jesus is hated.

4.     From Friday’s New York Sun: Certain federal judges in various states are forbidding certain things to be said in prayer, with one even issuing an injunction against the Indiana House of Representatives to not allow any preachers to utter the name “Jesus” in their prayers.

5.     The Supreme Court upheld legislative prayer in the 1983 case of Marsh vs. Chambers. In this case, the Court held that such prayers were constitutional. Nevertheless, in recent years, various leftwing groups have sued, claiming that when a Christian names Jesus Christ in his prayer it advances Christianity in a way that violates the Marsh ruling.

6.     This world hates God. But things will be much different when our Lord returns.  Habakkuk 2:14 says, “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

7.     Jews that have been scattered all over the world will return to Israel (Isaiah 60:4).

8.     Not only will they return to the land of Israel – they will return to the God of Israel.  They will return in obedience (60:8, 9).

9.     Furthermore, the Gentiles will turn to the LORD and be saved (60:3, 5-7, 10-18).

10. Notice in Isaiah 60:6 these pilgrims “shall bring gold and incense.”  This reminds us of the wise men who brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:11).

11. But during the millennial kingdom they will not bring myrrh.  This is because myrrh symbolized His death on the cross.  At the first advent our Lord came to die.  At His second advent He is coming to rule and reign.  And He will reign from Jerusalem (60:14).

12. However, there will be sacrifices in the millennial temple (60:7).  Whereas the OT sacrifices looked ahead to the cross, these sacrifices will look back to the cross (like the Lord’s Supper).

13. In other words, these sacrifices will be memorials (cf. Ezekiel 40—48).

14. Many Bible teachers see Isaiah 60:8 as a reference to airplanes.  J Vernon McGee says that the “Jews who have come from farther East than Israel thought this prophecy was being fulfilled as they were brought by American airplanes to the land of Israel.” (Thru the Bible).

15. In his very helpful commentary on the book of Isaiah, Harry Bultema wrote, “There can be no doubt that this is a reference to aircraft, which at that time will probably be the means of transportation par excellence.”

16. WE Vine says Isaiah 60:8 “can well be realized in view of the enormous development of passenger aviation in our times.  The transference of the scattered Jews to their own territory could be accomplished in the course of a few days by this means” (Isaiah).

17. Both the OT and the NT predict a coming judgment of the nations.  Those nations that mistreat Israel (and that would include most nations) will be judged by God (60:10-18).

18. This is the proper way to interpret Mathew 25:31—46.

19. We saw this past Wednesday evening that in the millennial kingdom, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:10, 11).

III. THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHALL COVER THE EARTH (60:19-22).

1.     Isaiah 60:19 says, “The LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.”

2.     Malachi 4:2 says, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings.”

3.     The “Sun of righteousness” is the Lord Jesus Christ.  All of these marvelous prophecies will be fulfilled when He returns to set up His glorious kingdom.

4.     “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory” (60:19).  These Scriptures should be compared with John’s description of the new heaven and the new earth in Revelation 21 & 22.

CONCLUSION:

1.     Today Israel is a “little” nation (60:22). It is about the size of New Jersey.  There are about 7 million people in Israel (about three quarter of them are Jews).  Compare this with one and half billion Muslims.  Or two billion “Christians.”

2.     But when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, Israel’s “insignificance will give way to importance” (Merrill Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the OT).

3.     “The LORD will hasten it” (60:22).  The restoration of Israel is denied by many people but the Bible plainly teaches it.

4.     Then the glory of the LORD will cover the whole world.