Today we will be concluding Chapter 60. The Lord has been promising a glorious future for Isaiah's people. Some of these things have been fulfilled in part but the complete fulfillment of them will be during the everlasting kingdom of Christ.
The Lord speaks of how the people will have the very best. "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." (Isaiah 60:17a) These "upgrades" are probably more figural than literal. These upgrades in materials symbolize the Lord replacing waywardness with righteousness. They symbolize the Lord making people into something better than they used to be. In our own times, prior to the eternal kingdom of Christ, we who have placed our trust in Him have been made something better than we used to be, although we cannot be completely perfect in these mortal bodies. How much more will we glorify Him when we are in our immortal bodies that are free of sin?
What do we think is more difficult for the Lord to do: to turn bronze into gold or to save the degenerate souls of mankind? Certainly it must be the changing of ourselves into new creatures! Certainly it must be making a way for us to be at peace with Him! Therefore the Lord goes on to say: "I will make peace your governor and well-being your ruler." (Isaiah 60:17b)
We cannot be at peace with God or with our fellow man as long as we resist His calling to be saved, as long as we choose to remain in our unredeemed state. In our current lives we are able to better love God and our fellow man by submitting our hearts and souls to Him. In the eternal kingdom this will be even more the case, when no violence will ever occur again, when no one will rebel against the Lord, when no one will hate or do harm to anyone else. "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." (Isaiah 60:18) Walls will not be used anymore for protection and security; there will be nothing we need to be protected from. Instead they will symbolize the way the Lord is our source of eternal security and believers will praise Him for that.
This next portion may be literal or figural or both. "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. 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." (Isaiah 60:19-20)
We often refer to bad times as being "dark". When our circumstances change for the better, it feels like the sun came out again, so to speak. In that sense the verses above are symbolic of how we will never again have days of sadness or fear. Our eternal existence with the Lord will day after day of sunshine and happiness.
These verses may also be literal, for they correspond with a passage from the book of Revelation which many scholars take literally. They believe that the remade heavens and earth will not contain a sun and a moon because those things will not be necessary to sustain life or keep the world in orbit. I cannot say whether the passage from Revelation is to be taken literally or whether it simply symbolizes the happiness and peace of the eternal kingdom of the Lord, but this is what the Apostle John said he saw in the New Jerusalem when the Lord gave him the prophecy of Revelation: "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp." (Revelation 21:23)
In the prophecy the Lord is giving to the prophet Isaiah, He says: "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. 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." (Isaiah 60:21-22) The prophecy is primarily spoken about the people of Israel but we know that the eternal kingdom includes Gentile believers too. Time and time again the Lord has spoken about how the "light" will shine on Gentiles too.
This light began to shine on the Gentiles when they began turning away from idolatry and coming to faith after the advent of Christ. In our next chapter we will look at a verse from the book of Isaiah that Jesus Christ said was spoken about Himself. He stated, as He began His ministry, that the passage was being fulfilled that very day.
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