Glorious peace and prosperity for Israel
60
📚“Arise, shine! For your light 📖 has come,
and the glory 📖 of the LORD has risen
on you.
2 📚For, see,
the darkness will cover the earth,
and deep darkness the people,
but the LORD will rise upon you 📖,
and his glory will be seen over you.
60:2 Darkness speaks of the spiritual blindness that results from sin – Isa 9:2; 59:9; Eph 4:17-18.⚜
3 📚And the Gentiles will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 📚“Lift up your eyes all around and look.
They all assemble,
they come to you.
Your sons will come from afar,
and your daughters will be nursed
at your side.
5 📚Then you will see,
and be radiant 📖,
and your heart will thrill and swell
with joy. 📖
For the abundance of the sea will be
turned to you,
the riches 📖 of the Gentiles will come
to you.
6 📚A multitude of camels will cover
your land, the dromedaries
of Midian 📖 and Ephah,
all those from Sheba 📖 will come.
They will bring gold and incense,
and they will declare the praises 📖 of the LORD.
7 📚All the flocks of Kedar 📖 will be
gathered together to you,
the rams of Nebaioth 📖 will serve you.
They will come up on my altar
and be accepted,
and I will glorify the house of my glory.
8 📚Who are these who
fly like a cloud,
and like doves to their windows?
9 📚Surely the islands will wait for me;
and at first will come the ships
of Tarshish 📖 bringing your sons
from afar,
their silver and their gold
with them,
to the name of the LORD your God,
and to the Holy One of Israel,
because he has glorified you.
60:9 The answer to the question of v 8. See Isa 11:11-12. The day is coming when all nations will honor the true God. See Rev 21:24, 26.⚜
10 📚“And the sons of strangers
will build up your walls,
and their kings will minister to you.
For in my anger I struck you 📖,
but in my favour I have had mercy 📖
on you.
60:10 It is true that believers of many nations now are builders of some sort in the New Testament Church (1 Cor 3:10-13), and that the Church is now being built (Eph 2:22). And even kings have had their part in it. But the words which follow obviously refer to Jerusalem representing the nation of Israel.⚜
11 📚Therefore your gates will be
open continually;
they will not be shut day or night,
so that people may bring
to you the riches of the Gentiles,
and their kings led in procession.
60:11 The language is very similar to Rev 21:24-26. This does not mean there can be no fulfillment for the literal city of Jerusalem. The city of Rev 21:9-27 was never struck and abandoned by God, as the literal city of Jerusalem was (Isa 54:7). Nor was the true Church ever abandoned by God.⚜
12 📚For the nation and kingdom
that will not serve you will perish;
yes, those nations will be
utterly ruined.
60:12 Does this not speak again of the political supremacy of the nation Israel in the future? See Isa 14:2; 49:23; Zech 14:16-19.⚜
13 📚“The glory of Lebanon 📖 will come
to you,
the fir tree, the pine tree,
and the box tree together,
to beautify the place of my sanctuary;
and I will make the place
of my feet glorious.
14 📚The sons of those who afflicted
you will also come bending down
to you,
and all those who despised
you will bow down at the soles
of your feet;
and they will call you,
‘The City of the LORD 📖’,
‘The Zion of the Holy One of Israel’.
15 📚“Although you have been forsaken
and hated,
so that no man went through you, 📖
I will make you an eternal excellence 📖,
a joy for many generations.
16 📚You will also suck the milk
of the Gentiles,
and be nursed at the breast 📖 of kings.
And you will know 📖 that I,
the LORD,
am your Savior and your Redeemer,
the mighty One of Jacob.
17 📚Instead of bronze I will bring gold 📖,
and instead of iron I will bring silver,
and instead of wood bronze,
and instead of stones iron.
I will also make peace your officials,
and righteousness 📖 your lords.
18 📚Violence 📖 will be heard
in your land no more,
nor ruin or destruction within your borders;
but you will call your walls ‘Salvation’,
and your gates ‘Praise 📖’.
19 📚By day the sun will be your light
no more,
and the brightness of the moon will not
give light to you;
but the LORD will be an everlasting
light for you,
and your God your glory.
20 📚Your sun will go down no more,
and your moon will not withdraw itself;
for the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and the days of your mourning
will be ended 📖.
21 📚And all your people will be righteous 📖.
They will inherit the land 📖 forever,
the branch 📖 of my planting,
the work of my hands,
that I may be glorified 📖.
22 📚A little one will become
a thousand 📖,
and a small one a strong nation.
I the LORD will hasten it 📖 in its time”.