60 “Arise, shine; for your light has come,
And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 “For behold, darkness will cover the earth
And deep darkness the peoples;
But the Lord will rise upon you
And His glory will appear upon you.
3 “Nations will come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.4 “Lift up your eyes round about and see;
They all gather together, they come to you.
Your sons will come from afar,
And your daughters will be [a]carried in the arms.
5 “Then you will see and be radiant,
And your heart will [b]thrill and rejoice;
Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you,
The wealth of the nations will come to you.
6 “A multitude of camels will cover you,
The young camels of Midian and Ephah;
All those from Sheba will come;
They will bring gold and frankincense,
And will bear good news of the praises of the Lord.
7 “All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you,
The rams of Nebaioth will minister to you;
They will go up with acceptance on My altar,
And I shall [c]glorify My [d]glorious house.
8 “Who are these who fly like a cloud
And like the doves to their [e]lattices?
9 “Surely the coastlands will wait for Me;
And the ships of Tarshish will come first,
To bring your sons from afar,
Their silver and their gold with them,
For the name of the Lord your God,
And for the Holy One of Israel because He has [f]glorified you.
In this passage, we see what might have caused some (or many even) in Israel to believe that the Messiah was coming to restore Israel to glory, and to defeat their enemies. I mean, how could any of this happen otherwise? Yet I don’t think that’s what God wants me to focus on today, and it wasn’t the point of the Messiah–at least not yet (or was it?).
So, there is something else that stands out, that is repeated throughout this passage. In v. 1 we read “…the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” In v. 2, “…His glory will appear upon you.” Then, all the way down in v. 7, “…I shall glorify My glorious house.” And v. 9 ends with “For the name of the Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you.”
In all of this, the point isn’t the glory of God’s people, but the glory of God himself. It is interesting also that God says “His glory will appear upon you.” Just yesterday, our pastor preached about the Spirit of God coming upon Jesus, and how that empowered Him to do miracles, and more. The gospels describe it as coming down like a dove, but it likely wasn’t a literal dove, that’s just how they described it.
At any rate, Jesus then promised His followers that He would sent the Spirit to them also, and it came upon them like “tongues of fire”. Again, probably not actual fire, but it sounds a lot like “His glory will appear upon you.” Whether God was speaking of sending His Spirit in Isaiah 60 or not, one thing is clear. We play much the same role as described in this passage, or we ought to.
That is, “Nations will come to your light…” Is it really our light? In a sense, sure, we have been given the Spirit, but it is really His light that shines through us. Thus nations should be drawn to those who call themselves Christians, even if they don’t understand why. But we should be clear about it, that it is not of our own doing, because we are awesome, and great, and holy.
No, only God is all of that, and the glory He has poured upon us is so that “…all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) Hold on though, we have this glory and light that is supposed to draw men, why did Jesus say it was love that would be the evidence?
Paul told the church at Corinth that love is foremost, but it is not the only evidence, or “fruit” of what God has poured into our lives. When he wrote to the Galatians, Paul said “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”. All these things tell others that God’s Spirit lives in us.
If we struggle with these, we need to ask God to help us, and surrender our wills to His, so that we can be the light of the world. Again, none of this tells others has amazing we are–I’m not, and sorry to burst your bubble, but neither are you. Rather, the light that lives in us, the very Spirit of God, will show others how amazing God is. Thus, they will be drawn to God, when we allow the Spirit to work in and through us.