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“Although you have been forsaken and hated,
    with no one traveling through,
I will make you the everlasting pride
    and the joy of all generations.
¹⁶ You will drink the milk of nations
    and be nursed at royal breasts.
Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Saviour,
    your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
¹⁷ Instead of bronze I will bring you gold,
    and silver in place of iron.
Instead of wood I will bring you bronze,
    and iron in place of stones.
I will make peace your governor
    and well-being your ruler.
¹⁸ No longer will violence be heard in your land,
    nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
    and your gates Praise.
¹⁹ The sun will no more be your light by day,
    nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your God will be your glory.
²⁰ Your sun will never set again,
    and your moon will wane no more;
the Lord will be your everlasting light,
    and your days of sorrow will end.
²¹ Then all your people will be righteous
    and they will possess the land forever.
They are the shoot I have planted,
    the work of my hands,
    for the display of my splendor.
²² The least of you will become a thousand,
    the smallest a mighty nation.
I am the Lord;
    in its time I will do this swiftly.”

I will make a general comment about this section of chapter 60, before coming back to look at certain parts of it in the coming days. It is just to say that there is much here that awaits fulfillment in the future Kingdom of God (see Rev.21:4,23,27;22:5).

‘Isaiah bombards us in the final part of this chapter with expressions such as everlasting, never…again, no longer, and no more. He is telling us that the confusing flux of history will issue at last in a state of permanent peace, righteousness and praise (17-18)…God’s rule, fully realised, will be as perfect and permanent as God himself (19).’ Barry Webb: ‘Isaiah’, p.233.

For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish;
    it will be utterly ruined.

¹³ “The glory of Lebanon will come to you,
    the juniper, the fir and the cypress together,
to adorn my sanctuary;
    and I will glorify the place for my feet.
¹⁴ The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you;
    all who despise you will bow down at your feet
and will call you the City of the Lord,
    Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

In being wide open to all who will come, the Kingdom of God has nothing to fear. It will ultimately be victorious.

Barry Webb says the first thing the vision in chapter 60 affirms ‘…is that the kingdom of God will conquer all other kingdoms. Nations and kings will come to Zion, not to conquer it, but to acknowledge that the God who has chosen to reveal himself there is the only God, and to submit to him (3,14). Those who refuse to do so will perish (12)…The power of human kingdoms will fail, and the kings of the earth will amass their wealth only to lay it down one day at the feet of the king of kings (5).’ ‘Isaiah’, p.232.

Note the image of conquest in (12b): ”…kings led in triumphal procession”.

‘The apparent imperialism of the passage only expresses the sober truth that to reject God’s sway is suicide (12), and that the meek will inherit the earth.’ Derek Kidner: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.667.

What a vision Paul paints of this ultimate triumph in Philippians 2:9-11:

”Therefore God exalted him to the highest place    and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In spite of all appearances to the contrary, at times, God is in control, Jesus is the King of the whole universe, and we in the church are on the winning team.

“Foreigners will rebuild your walls,
    and their kings will serve you.
Though in anger I struck you,
    in favour I will show you compassion.
¹¹ Your gates will always stand open,
    they will never be shut, day or night,
so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations—
    their kings led in triumphal procession.

No ancient city would keep its gates open all the time. It would then be vulnerable to attack. But the doors of the church are open to all who genuinely want to come in, and be under God’s rule. Here there is a wide and warm welcome extended to everyone: to gentiles as well as Jews. In ultimate terms, the church has nothing to fear in its openness. As we will see next time, it is a victorious church.

The book of Revelation 21: 2, 24,25 describes the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy in the new heavenly Jerusalem.

Just recently, my wife and I had reason to visit the city of Manchester. We managed to get into the art gallery for about half an hour before it closed. We were surprised, and delighted, to see a few paintings by Holman Hunt. His famous, ‘the Light of the world’ was there. This picture depicts Jesus standing outside the heart’s door, wanting, waiting to be let in. That is one side of the gospel coin. It comes with the challenge, ‘Will you open your door to Him? The other side of the coin (in terms of Isaiah’s picture) is, ‘Will you go through the door God has opened for you?’

Jesus said,

”I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” (John 10:9: King James Version)

‘Lift up your eyes and look about you:
    all assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
    and your daughters are carried on the hip.
⁵ Then you will look and be radiant,
    your heart will throb and swell with joy;
the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,
    to you the riches of the nations will come.
⁶ Herds of camels will cover your land,
    young camels of Midian and Ephah.
And all from Sheba will come,
    bearing gold and incense
    and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.
⁷ All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you,
    the rams of Nebaioth will serve you;
they will be accepted as offerings on my altar,
    and I will adorn my glorious temple.

⁸ ‘Who are these that fly along like clouds,
    like doves to their nests?
⁹ Surely the islands look to me;
    in the lead are the ships of Tarshish,^[a]
bringing your children from afar,
    with their silver and gold,
to the honour of the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has endowed you with splendour.

This chapter is about the return of God’s people to Jerusalem and the wealth that will be brought to the city from all over the world.

But it also speaks, at least in part, of the influx of the nations (and resources) into the church. Every conversion is for the glory of God (9b) who, in turn, makes His people glorious. The last line takes us back to verses 1-3: ”for he has endowed you with splendour.”

I don’t know about you, but verse 5a comes close to describing how I feel when I see someone to turn to Christ. There is nothing quite like it.

Living in the British Isles, I want to say how thankful I am that the good news of the gospel reached these ”islands” (9a).

The prophecy about ”flocks” and ”rams” being gathered to Jerusalem to serve as ”offerings” (verse 7) was partly fulfilled during the reign of Darius king of Persia (see Ezra 6:9). Don’t forget this is a multi-layered prophecy, and although this was true of the restored city of Jerusalem in Old Testament times; after Jesus came into the world, animal sacrifices were no longer necessary (see Hebrews 10:1-5, 10-14).

Derek Kidner comments that ‘The gold and incense (6) remind the Christian reader of the harbingers of this migration in Mt.2, whose homage then, however, was perilous and whose gifts included the enigmatic myrrh (cf. Mk.15:23; Jn.19:39) – pointers to the struggle that still lay ahead.’ New Bible Commentary, pp.666/667.