Isaiah 60:1 – Stand and Shine – Bible study

Isaiah 60:1 Stand and Shine The book of Isaiah is often compared to the Bible. The Bible has 66 books and Isaiah has 66 chapters. The first 39 books of the Bible make up the Old Testament, a section of the Bible dealing with law and justice. The last 27 books of the Bible make up the New Testament, dealing with grace and mercy. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah use the law to condemn Israels sins and to judge Israel. The last 27 chapters of Isaiah use grace to console Israel and to build her up. We are in one of the most prophetical books in the Bible. Although given more than 2200 years ago, this book is still a newspaper for todays events and a roadmap for future ones. The chapter that we are about to read is itself a wealth of prophetical information. Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. I. \#1\ A Prophesied Command A. The command is to Israel. 1. They are commanded to stand and shine. 2. Too long the nation of Israel has been a trifling heap of disgrace to the God who created, called, preserved, and cherished them, but God has appointed a timeand it is hastening toward uswhen they will stand in glory of the Lord. 3. While I do not know the exact calendar date when the Jews will stand and shine, I know that it will immediately follow another day, also mentioned in this verse. B. That is the day when their "light will come." 1. Israel has been in darkness for too long, since even before Jesus was born. 2. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, spoke prophetically of his son: Luke 1:76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. 3. And has much good as John the Baptist did for Christ, for Israel, and for the church, he was not strong enough to break the hold of darkness that engulfed that nation for the nation rejected both him and the Messiah that he came to announce. a. Yes, that was the will and the plan of God based on Gods foreknowledge of what Israel would do; but considering the power of God that was unleashed on this earth during that time, it provides a sad testimonial to the power of the devils darkness. (1) What makes the devils darkness so strong? (2) What is this power that has held the nation of Israel so firmly in its grasps for so many millenniums? (3) My best guess would be what John wrote as he began his gospel: John 3:19 and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (a) It is not just that men loved darkness. (b) It is that men loved THEIR darkness because their deeds are evil, and they can be better enjoyed in the darkness of the devils presence. b. Sadly, this darkness has spread around the globe and pulled into its realm a once brighter country and world, our country and our world. (1) Until the day that the light shines upon Israel, and after, I fear that our nation will joyfully enter further into the blackness that obscures the sinner and gives false comfort to him. (2) Indeed, I am confident now that the day will come when Israel stands and shines in the light of Gods glory only to have America stand against her and God. (3) May God keep it from ever being so! II. \#2\ A Prophesied Condemnation Isaiah 60:2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. A. God wrote His view of the worlds present condition when the present was still the future. 1. Gods view is that it is in darkness. 2. And Gods view is fact not fiction. a. It is not based on polls, fads, or the shifting sands of culture. b. God has a degreed right from wrong, good from evil, fact from fiction, and real from imaginary; and no one is going to prosper who thinks he is smarter than God! B. Some foolish Christians are thinking that the things happening today in the political and cultural realms are good and of God As for me, not so much. 1. I dont want to condemn everything that is going on in the world. 2. If we can do something that would please God, lets do it! 3. If we can eliminate racism, lets do it. a. Whites dont have the best record of treating others with compassion but no nation does. (1) Pity the red man at the hands of the white if you like, but the red men attacked one another long before the white man ever set foot on this continent. (2) Pity the black man at the hands of the white if you like, but the black men attacked one another long before the white man ever sailed to Africa to pick up slaves. (3) Pity the Asian man, the Hispanic, the brown, and every other race you wish, but the truth is that all of mankind is sinful and all of mankind has attacked one another since Cain slew Abel on the outskirts of the Garden of Eden. (4) The white did not start all of these. (a) Granted, he found a way to profit from most of them when perhaps he should have worked harder to stop them all together. (b) But if you expect the white man to deliberately quit coming out on top of a fight for his life, Im not going to help you. (c) I dont care who starts a fight, me, you, or him, once its started, I want to come out on top just like everyone else does. b. If we can stop these things, lets do it; but lets not call reverse racism anything other than racism. 4. If we can even slightly reduce the population of the worlds poor, sick, and needy, lets do it. a. But dont be foolish enough to think any governments conscience is strong enough to appoint them to do it. b. After 15 months of shut down, our government has only parted with three (maybe four) nickel and dime checks while scooping up tens of billions of dollars for its own greed. 5. If there is any way to eliminate the injustices of this world, lets do it! a. If we can fix it so that every human gets a fair shake, gets equal breaks, and gets the same opportunities, lets do it. b. But if you think the "woke" movement is going to get us there, you are not just a brick short of a full load, you are a whole wheel barrow short of a load! C. The darkness is not loosening its grip. 1. There is no light in the majority of what is happening today. 2. But as Isaiah wrote would happen, the darkness that covers the earth is becoming a gross darkness over the people. a. The darkness is becoming thicker, more gloomy. b. And while I wish the glory of the Lord would break through the darkness, I see no breaks in it thus far. III. A Prophesied Condition A. These are the glorious conditions that will cover Israel and this earth when the darkness is abolished and the whole world stands in the light of Gods glory! 1. I cannot give you a single Bible reference concerning this future condition for most of the last 39 chapters are filled with the conditions that shall arise on Israel and the whole world when the glory of the Lord finally breaks through the long-standing darkness. 2. Some of the prophecies will be fulfilled in the millennium. 3. Some will be fulfilled in eternity. B. Lets note some of them: 1. Israel shall be loved and served by all nations. Isaiah 60:3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. 4 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. 5 Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. a. The fear spoken of in \#5\ us the a fear that Israel will have when they see how much they are loved and helped by other nations. b. During the millennium, the nations of this world will serve Israel. (1) Some want to condemn God for not abolishing slavery. a. First, God did not start slavery b. Man did. c. Man can also stop it whenever he wants. (2) However, servitude will continue through the millennial reign of Jesus. (1) Every nation that has ever stood against Israel will have to bow before them and serve them. Isaiah 60:14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (b) As of this present hour, America MIGHT be able to enter into the millennium without being a servant; but with each passing day, I have less and less hope that will be case. c. I know some would say, "I wont." Some because they dont want to be a servant and some because they dont believe in servitude, today would boast that they will never participate in servitude. (1) First Id say that a lot of people are going to be very surprised how soon they will be bowing down to another just for the morsel of bread and an ounce of water. (2) However, second Id say, "God will not force you. He will simply destroy you." Isaiah 60:12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. 2. Israel shall be wealthy beyond measure. Isaiah 60:17 For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron. a. If God restores the forests of Israel to the land, it will not be for timber and wood. b. They will build their structures out of brass, iron, and gold. 3. Israel will finally have peace. Isaiah 60:18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. a. The first thing I noticed once we walked out of Israels airport were the guards carrying their rapid-fire guns. (1) They were everywhere. (2) Every teenager in Israel is required to serve in the military. (3) I doubt if there is 12,000 square miles anywhere on this planet where the citizens are better armed and trained than in the land of Israel. (4) No matter how old they are, every adult in that nation would have been trained in combat and weaponry. (5) Why? Because they live in under the constant threat of war. b. But there is better day coming! c. A day when walls wont be needed. d. Sadly, that day is not here yet, and worse days must come before better ones will. IV. Preacher, this is all great and wonderful; but what does it have to do with me? Why preach on a nation that is not ours and about a time for which we will not be here? Three reasons: A. You and I need to know the plan of our God. 1. It is to save the people of Israel in the land of Israel, with the blood of the Messiah of IsraelJesus. 2. God has not changed His people, His Messiah, or the title to the Jewish land. 3. The land has not changed owners. a. It was given to Abraham by God in Genesis 12, and the deed is still theirs. b. Being out of the land for almost 1800 years, did not change the deed. c. Others moving in during that time and claiming it, did not change the deed. (1) I can feel for the people who were evicted and removed from their land in 1948, just like I can feel for the Jews that were completely expelled from their land by Emperor Hadrian in 136 AD. (2) But giving them or anyone the notion that they will ever get that land back for a possession is a fools dream that needs to be extinguished for their own souls sake. 4. America and especially Christians, dont you side with the enemies of Israel! B. You and I need to know Gods Word still stands. 1. I do not understand those who call themselves Christians: a. doubting the Bible. b. slandering the Bible. c. attempting to change the Bible. d. dismissing the Bible. e. disobeying the Bible. 2. How can anyone do that when: a. The Bible is happening! b. The Bible works! 3. The Bible is happening right in front of our eyes. a. Israel is a nationafter a gap of 1800 years. b. The world is in darkness. c. It is getting worse. d. And while the last two are generic prophecies, you can take the Bible apart and study it with a microscope and you will see detailed prophecy after detailed prophecy fulfilled! 4. The Bible works! a. I read an article about a month ago and did not bookmark it. It was an interview with a new mayor in with one the Democratic cities where crime and violence are running away, and she was explaining why she was for defunding the police. Her statement was, "We have to try something. Nothing else we have tried has worked!" b. Lady, you have not tried anything until you have tried the Bible. (1) What do you think took this lawless, seek-your- own-justice, war-torn western and wild frontier of the 1880s and made it into the Norman Rockwell paintings of the 1950s? (2) In just 70 years, we went from strap-on-a-six-gun and hang-em-from-a-tall tree to a nation of idyllic communities of paved roads, kids in school, ladies of etiquette, and men of formal dress. (3) How? They preached, honored, and obeyed the Word of God! (4) That was seventy years with two world wars in them! c. If the Bible worked for that generation, it will work for this one! C. Most importantly, lets understand that the only way to break the hold of darkness that engulfs us is to turn to Jesus Christ, individually, as families, as communities, as places of employment, as local, state and federal governments. 1. It does not matter what darkness holds youdrugs, lusts, meanness, lazinessJesus Christ is the cure. 2. It may sound like a cliche, but it true. God is in control and the book of Isaiah, like all of the Bible, makes that abundantly clear. Let’s stand and shine for Him, not in the future, but right now!