Isaiah
60
When S. Driver came to this chapter he
said that Isaiah imagined a beautiful utopia called Zion, a restored city to
which nations in future stream. The reality is that Isaiah did not dream it. It
was a message of the Lord to Isaiah about the resurrection event and its impact
and implications. When God says: “Arise and shine for your light has come” (v.
1a), it means that resurrection morning has arrived. The dead arise and they
perceive light. The glory of the Lord came in terms explained fuller in
Habakkuk 3 and here in Isaiah 60 “for the glory of the Lord is upon you” (v.
1b). Just before the Second Coming, the final time of death or darkness upon
the earth will approach “darkness will cover the earth” (v. 2a). It does not
mean all in the remnant will die. “Deep darkness the peoples” (v. 2b) but in
the world’s darkest hour, since it is the Time
of Trouble, “the Lord will rise upon you” (v. 2c). “His glory will appear
upon you [remnant]” (v. 2d) again similar as Habakkuk 3. Resurrected the
remnant is full of the Light of the Lord and “nations will come to your light”
(v. 3a) and “kings to the brightness of your rising/sprouting [zarhek which is the same as zaraḫu in Akkadian]”
(v. 3b). Nations and kings that will come to the remnant are probably the
unfallen worlds’s nations and kings? “Lift up your eyes around about and see,
they all gather together, they come to you” (v. 3-4). Christ comes with all His
mighty angels at the Second Coming but is there a possibility that also the
unfallen worlds come with him? “Your sons [who died later and buried elsewhere]
will come from afar and your daughters [resurrected now] will be carried in the
arms [of angels]” (v. 4c-d). “Then you will see and be radiant and your heart
will thrill and rejoice” (v. 5a-b). Parents will be very happy to see their
children on resurrection day. Then Isaiah opened a panel of what is the utopia
of his day in the mental–lexicon of those days. It is a picture of affluency in
ancient times. Many camels, gold and frankincense, flocks, rams and the
countries where they use to come from in those days of Isaiah are mentioned:
Midian, Ephah, Sheba, Kedar, Nebaioth (v. 6-7). The Lord will glorify His
glorious house in heaven with the remnant and their gifts they received (v.
7d). The picture is one of happy worshippers and a happy Lord. The scene of the
resurrection continues. After the resurrection of Daniel 12:1-2 Isaiah asks “who
are these who fly like a cloud, and like the doves to their lattices?” (v. 8).
Then in verse 9 Isaiah mentions the Lord, probably Christ Himself talking about
Himself as victorious Messiah to Isaiah for He says: “For to Me the coastlands
will wait” meaning that they will accept the gospel and wait for the Second
Coming of the Messiah (v. 9a). “The ships of Tarshish first to bring your sons
from afar” (v. 9b-c) may refer to the mission work of Paul and others spreading
the gospel and faithful ones will be brought to the Light of Christ’s
salvation. They will contribute to the gospel as Paul in 2 Corinthians thanked
them for (v. 9d). “For the name of the Lord your God and for the Holy One of
Israel because He has glorified you [remnant]” (v. 9e-f). After the
resurrection and after 1000 years and after the extermination of all evil in
the Hell the new earth is created and and where their tumbling walls use to
stand, on the new earth, foreigners from unfallen worlds outside our universe
will come and build the remnant’s walls (v. 10a) and their kings will minister
to you (v. 10b). It is not a shame for kings in heaven to stoop down and wash
their subjects feet for heavenly service is selfemptying service, a concept
that is not part of this world’s evil history. Although the remnant was
punished in history God’s favor made Him to have compassion over them (v. 10d).
Their gates will be open “continually” (v. 11a) for the wealth of nations of
unfallen worlds to bring it to the heavenly newcomers, the remnant (v. 11c).
Kings of other unfallen worlds will come in procession to them (v. 11d). All
the nations on earth that have afflicted the remnant “will perish” (v. 12). The
time of Isaiah utopic concept of wonderful wood and wood objects like juniper,
box tree, cypress from Lebanon “will come to you” (v. 13a). They will beautify
the place of His sanctuary in Heaven in the new world (v. 13d). On the new
earth the sons of those who afflicted them on earth, but who became also
converted, probably in the Latter Rain event, “will come bowing to you” (v.
14a). “And all those who despised you will bow themselves at the soles of your
feet and they will call you the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of
Israel” (v. 14d). It is heavenly Zion, the New Jerusalem in heaven and the
remnant in heaven that is in mind here. Whereas in history on earth, the
remnant “have been forsaken and hated” the Lord will make in \heaven the
remnant “an everlasting pride” (v. 15c). They will be a joy from generation to
generation (v. 15d). Then there is a verse that the translators had problems
with because the root meaning is from Late Egyptian and not from Akkadian or
Aramaic or Arabic. “You [remnant] will enclose
[Egyptian ínḳ
meaning
enclose or enwrap] the heart
[different vocalization] of nations and the terror/raid
[see a few verses down where the New Babylonian word sadu means raid] of kings
you will enclose [again the Egyptian
loanword above]” (v. 16). It means that they will be finally in the eschaton
circumstance successful over nations on earth that afflicted them and over
kings on earth who raided them. “Then you will know that I the Lord am your
Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob” (v. 16d). The remnant will
experience on the new earth improvement over earthly conditions. They imagine
bronze but it will be gold, they imagine iron but it will like silver, wood but
it will be like bronze, stones but it will be like iron (v. 17). “I will make
peace your administrators and [Christ’s] righteousness your overseers” (v.
17e-f). It is definitely heaven and the new earth since Isaiah says “violence
will not be heard again in your land” (v. 18a). There will not be devastation,
destruction, and the remnant on the newly created earth by God will call their
walls “salvation” and their gates “praise” (v. 18c). On the new earth created
for the faithful remnant of God, there will no longer be a sun or moon “but you
will have the Lord for an everlasting light” (v. 19a-c). “Your sun will set no
more, neither will your moon wane for you will have the Lord for an everlasting
light” (v. 20a-c). It forms an envelope in a chiastic structure of ABC C’B’A’.
In the center between C and C’ is the phrase: “[and you will have] your God for
your glory” (19d). “And the days of your mourning will be finished” which
refers to the 1000 years or millennium in heaven when the saints cry over their
loved ones who did not make it to heaven (v. 20d). In heaven, on the new earth “all
your people [are] righteous, they will possess the [new] earth forever” (v.
21a-b). They will be called “branch of My planting, the work of My hands that I
may be glorified” (v. 21c-e). The remnant will glorify the Lord in heaven by
their existence. They will increase and become many (v. 22). The Lord promised
to Isaiah that after the Door of Mercy closes and His work of Investigative
Judgment is over, that “I the Lord, will hasten it in its time” meaning that
the Lord will be in a hurry after He received the kingship from His Father, to
come at the Second Coming.
Dear God
It is not only
in the New Testament and not only in the Book of Revelation that we learn of the
New Earth, heavenly Zion and heavenly New Jerusalem. With such a beautiful
prospect for the happy remnant on the new earth, help us to be part of this
whole event. Amen.