Theme of Isaiah Is Glory

Good morning, brethren. It is great to be here. It's a really an astounding privilege to be here and keep the Feast of the Lord. So if you do, it's so rare, as it was brought out. And it's good to be here with you. All of us together here in the Dells have just been an excellent feast. And I just wanted to say that it's just a real honor. Isaiah is a glorious book.

It's mostly poetry. It's considered the highest and grandest literature in the Old Testament, with soaring broad themes. Thinking big, God's big thinking, to make an understatement, is very inspiring, with an overarching description of God's glory in bringing about to the plan. If you wanted to use one word to summarize the book of Isaiah, it would be glory, the glory of God's plan. Starting out in chapter 7, I noticed Mr. Delisando's comment. He liked several doses, several good doses of Isaiah in a feast. I just thought, man, me too. That's right on. I remember hearing over the years sermons of all parts of Isaiah, starting with when I was a kid and didn't understand it too well, and that builds over the years.

Starting with, for example, chapter 7, the prophecy of Immanuel, God coming to be with us in chapter 9, Christ's birth and His glorious, forever-expanding government. Chapter 11, chapters 11-12, the kingdom of righteousness, justice, faithfulness and peace, the lion, the lamb, the calf, and so on, a little child leading them together without danger, no harm, a world made joyful and peaceful and safe.

And then, another example, chapter 32, Christ the King, the Holy Spirit poured out in the whole world at peace. The desert blossomed as a rose in chapter 35, a highway called the Way of Holiness. Chapter 40, changes in tone, begins with comfort. There are a lot of prophecies that are really worrisome, you know, of serious trouble for the world in there, especially in the first half, really all the way through. But that too, because that's part of it, that's part of God's plan. Chapter 40 begins with the comfort of God to Israel and to the whole world.

And chapter by chapter, from 40 on, it just begins building. First of all, I am God and there is no one like me. Chapter 40, for three or four chapters, and chapter by chapter, it builds toward the conclusion of the absolute and total glory of God. It's the plan of God in a poetic view, stated in poetry. So there is a lot of deep meaning there, besides just saying how great the truth of God's plan is. And God's zeal, for example, 42, the first four verses there, first few verses, Christ says, "...he will not stop until the last far-flung land and island are reached." His zeal will not stop, he's not done, until he reaches absolutely everybody in the whole world.

Then we have the great chapters of 58 and 59 we use for a tonment. 58 about fasting and what we should do, and it's actually preparation for the beast as well as just a regular part of our lives. And 59 about how sins cut us off, and that sets us up for chapter 60. It's such a big book. It took me a long year before I actually thought, I need an overview of this. It's so big. But it kind of reaches a culmination, chapter 60, and Isaiah begins to pull it together under inspiration.

The words came from God. A culmination of the glory describing the world in the millennium, which already done that a few times before chapter 60. But it begins a glorious conclusion to this book of God's glorious plan, Isaiah. Chapters 60, 61, and 62 are considered individual prophecies, but they are a section unto themselves, if you look at the...and we will here. I'm mainly going to emphasize chapter 60 in this message today. But to finish it up, the last four chapters review the Day of God's vengeance.

It goes back to that. And then there's chapter 64, a very profound prayer of the church to God. Prayer for deliverance, just as...before and just as Christ returns. It's just...it's a beautiful and very, very moving chapter 64. And then his reassurance to the first roots is church. And then the church being born in one day, the resurrection, the new heavens and the new earth, and then living forever in God's presence.

That is eternal life. So the scope of the book of Isaiah is just huge. It's just bigger than you can imagine. Well, we have to imagine. It's so big. And it shows...talk about the big thing. It shows the big thinking of God, exponentially big, greater than we can...we can kind of get the idea of the growth God has in mind. Can't imagine it, really, but we get the idea that it's exponential.

It's not just adding one day after another like we're doing now, but an eternity of growing faster and greater than we can even think these days. It's astounding. And as I say, if there's one word that would summarize Isaiah, it would be glory. Chapter 60 is a prophecy. I've said it's...I've been saying it's unsurpassed in describing the glory of God's chosen people, Israel, in their restoration to God's original purpose for Israel.

And the world is reordered with Israel leading the way on the physical level. And the first fruits are spiritual, Israel leading them, leading everything. A world at peace with God and empowered with God's Spirit. And I've been saying it's a chapter unsurpassed. And after reviewing the whole book back and forth several times, getting ready for this, I think I'll back up.

It's just so...the whole thing is so inspiring. But chapter 60 is special. And I'd like to... I'd like to... I'd like to review that chapter today, because it is so specifically about what we are here keeping the feast for. We need several keys to understand this chapter. So, first of all, the first key is that the prophecy here is dual.

The restoration of physical Israel in the millennium, and the great increase of physical Israel's glory, is definitely in here.

It starts out that way, and it reviews that. So that's...it's just part of the chapter. And if you don't have the key of understanding that's dual, then you try to fit everything into just it being a prophecy of physical Israel. And it doesn't really fit, but you try to do that. And for thousands of years, the Jews and really most people who have read Isaiah had thought this was just the restoration of Israel. And they write off some of the statements as just poetry, you know, poetic license.

That's...there may be some poetic license that very little is talking about the first root. So it's dual. It's talking about physical Israel, but it's mainly about spiritual Israel. And that's the first key to understanding this chapter. And secondly, the second key is the language. And I'll just quote a couple of commentaries here. One short quote from the Jamison, Fawcett, and Brown commentary.

He talks about the 60th chapter. He says, This language is too glorious to apply to anything that has already happened.

It's definitely after Christ comes back. It's not just when physical Israel is brought back together. It's much more than that. The new Bible commentary...I like this quote.

It says, In other words, this is beyond what we know.

The Christian era. After Christ comes back, we know about the millennium and so on. That's fairly well known. These chapters are so great and so expansive, it goes beyond what we know.

But the language, and this is actually the third key, is the language that's used.

And the commentaries don't really see it clearly. Here's what...this is the new Bible commentary. The language is that of the old ordinances and of the literal Jerusalem. And it is. That's what it talks about. And that's why people have read it that way. Not understanding the first resurrection, the first fruits, and the glory of the glorifying of the church to assist Christ in leading the world. That's such a fantastic truth. And that's what's not seen.

You know, the schedule of the world, as it were. And what's really happening. We don't just kind of get to the end of the conveyor belt and either drop out and go down into the abyss or, you know, take off and go to heaven. It just doesn't fit. It's a totally different schedule, shown by the Holy Days.

So it says the language is that of the Old Testament ordinances and of the literal Jerusalem.

The language will need to be translated into terms of the Jerusalem above, mentioned in Galatians and so on. And so I thought that quote was worth picking out. It shows that certain really, really, really important things aren't understood. But we understand them, because here we are and we're keeping the feast. We understand the Holy Days due to the grace of God. So the key here really has to do with the firstfruits and the whole schedule of all the Holy Days that they show in God's plan. The leaders in the ruling class who are now glorified Spirit beings, and we've heard message after message on that, they're actually the main subject of the prophecy and spiritual Israel, the Israel of God, who are leading the physical Israelites and the entire world. So let's just start reading through the...oh, well, let's see. One other thing. This may be not as great a key, but it's interesting and useful. And that is the word you in this chapter, uses the word you all the way through the chapter, is in the feminine singular. As you can have you meaning y'all and you meaning you two and you meaning one. In some languages it can be you meaning one male or one female. And this is the feminine singular. This chapter is written to one girl, one woman, and it's pictured. JFB puts it this way. JFB the commentary puts it this way. It's one slave girl kind of sitting in the dirt, looking down in mourning, you know, sitting in dust and ashes, mourning. And that's how Israel is pictured. And then it comes from that. And of course, the church has its trouble. And it tells the slave girl, you don't have to look down now.

You're being saved. Start looking up and see God and see His salvation. So I just, I think that's very powerful. It certainly is a key to understanding at least the way the chapter begins.

Ultimately, of course, this message is to the true church of God now and the future of the church. Talks about our future. Okay, so now let's just start reading in verse one. Arise and shine, for Thy light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. So with the way the way it's presented, it's telling this woman or this girl. And that would be Israel, certainly.

But the New Testament Israel, the church. Arise and shine, for your light has come. Jesus Christ is the light. He's finally coming, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. This doesn't talk just about the Shekinah, that is the glory of the Lord in the pillar of cloud and fire and the burning bush and leading the Israelites out and then coming down and descending to dwell at the temple. Not just that, this is the personal glory of the Lord, as we see as we read down here. This is God being here, Emmanuel, coming, God to be, coming to be with us. So it's even greater than the pillar of cloud and fire in which God dwelt among all the Israelites. But it's God coming to dwell in each one of the Israel of God, each one of the members of His church. So, for behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, the gross darkness, the people.

Well, it's obvious in this world. But the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee, meant individually, as the word upon you. It's talking about on you individually, the church in general, and specifically each one of us. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and came to the brightness of thy rising. And what chapter 60 does is it goes back, and it, starting in chapter 2, and all through it, it continues to review some of the prophecies, all through Isaiah up to that point, and bring it up and put it together. And it'll have time to go back, you know, and review each one of these as we go through here. I'll leave that to you. You've got a good commentary. I think new commentary is very basic. JFB, very good, Parks, some of the older ones, some of the newer ones, too. But they'll be able to say, well, now this verse came from chapter 2. This verse came from chapter 35. This verse came from so on. And so I'll just leave it at that. But this is a review. The Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising. So I guess with the danger of repeating myself, I'll say that Isaiah 60 describes the glory of Israel restored to God's original purpose for them. But it's more than that. And it is the glory of the saints of God, the members of His church, resurrected and glorified the church of the firstborn. Okay, now let's try to go through some of these verses and catch at least some of this powerful and inspiring chapter.

Lift up thine eyes round about. This is verse 4. So this is, again, this girl who is mourning, this woman who is mourning in captivity, physical Israel. And spiritual Israel, too. We have our troubles. Don't look down, look up. Christ is coming.

In verse 4, lift up your eyes round about and see. They all gathered themselves together. They come to thee, thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Well, this definitely is physical Israel. You seem to have a lot of visitors up here that your friend invited. Monster fly just attacked my Bible, but he went away. I'm waiting for the spiders now. So here is a picture, and this is also brought up earlier in Isaiah. Here's a picture of, this actually goes back to chapter 49, that of the nations of the world being directed to bring up the Israelites who have been captive all over the world, and bring them back to Jerusalem. That's their duty. God is here. The first big point. Who is this? Well, this is the true God, and you might have seen the rubber stickers. Jesus is coming, and boy is he mad. Several varieties of that one I've seen. You know, and they're going to realize that Psalm 1 through 2 talks about, and specifically chapter 2, you better kiss the son. Do homage to the son, meaning bend over and kiss the ring on his hand. Do homage to the son of God, because he is here and he really is in charge. And so the whole world begins to get the idea, we've got to get these Israelites back to Jerusalem. It's our duty. And they begin to understand, and more and more desire to, as it shows here. So here we see them coming back, and bringing families and even small children here, and just taking them, carrying them at thy side, and so on. And then you shall see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear. The word is tremble. It means, not translated well, it means just be so excited. The Hebrew word can mean fear, but it's talking about not being in fear, but just being excited. And because of the greatness of this, you shall be enlarged. Other translations talk about being radiant, being happy, and because of what God is doing, because of the abundance. Now it talks about something. It says, the abundance of the sea shall be turned over to you. Converted two or three translations here it means shall be turned over to you. The abundance of the sea. What abundance of the sea? Several amazing, fascinating statements here.

And the explanation here is in the next phrase, the next clause, and the forces of the nation shall come unto you. Now the actual seed of this message started years ago, I think I was a teenager, or maybe 20, and we're at the feast. I can't remember who was speaking, but he was speaking about this verse. I think it may have been Bob Bertucci, if anybody remembers him. Oh, I know some of you will remember him. But he was speaking about this, what was going on here, and I didn't know what forces of the nation. Well, it means the wealth of the nations. So it says, the abundance of the sea, not just what is in the sea, it's referring to the ships, the ships of Tarsus and next verse here.

The wealth of the nations will be brought back to Israel. And I turned over to you, and he talked about gold, he talked about the crown jewels, it's very interesting. And that perked, I don't know why, it just perked up my ears. He talked about all this wealth being brought back from all over the world and brought back to Jerusalem. So then I began to study for a long time, and finally understood it a lot better. And then, the strange verse, and the multitude of camels shall cover thee, and I was thinking, man, that didn't sound very glorious, you know, being under a pile of camels. And that's not what it means. It's talking about, other translations have it better, the drum of your ears of median, it just, your land shall be covered with camels because they're bringing goods back from all over the world, back to present to the king. Well, there are just presents to the king, but also there are tithes and offerings. This is a view of the whole millennium, and this goes into several years, a decade or two, as Israel begins to prosper. God starts it there, and then all the other nations, around close, the ones that hate Israel now, they begin to see, you know, we need, we need to go up to the mountain of the Lord, which we just sang about. And then they begin to prosper, and then more nations farther off, and pretty soon, well, I'll just read it, says, the multitude of camels are just, just, and I don't know if they'll actually use camels, I doubt if we'll have cars right at the beginning of the millennium. And I don't know about that in general, throughout the millennium, but the picture is the people bringing back large amounts of wealth. Why? Because they're now wealthy. It's the millennium, and they're beginning, they have begun, and for a few years, several years, as they, as we get the millennium started, have been, have been producing, and God has blessed them. They're prospering, and so they, they know where it came from. It came from God, so they bring it back to the capital city. They shall bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.

Just a note on gold and incense. This is when, this is after Christ has come back, and the nations are bringing all their wealth in tithes and offerings, and just special offerings, to God and to His temple, and to those who dwell there. And they, so this is, at that time, now, this offering was prefigured. It says they shall bring, bring golden incense, or frankincense, being the main one that's mentioned in the Bible, as far as incense. Very, very costly, sometimes more costly by weight than gold, I have heard. But, um, this was prefigured by another offering that was given when Christ came the first time, when the wise men from up north, Carthia, we understand, from the children of Israel, the tribes of Israel, and apparently 12 wise men, not just three, but they brought gifts. Remember what they brought? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But this is the second coming, and they don't bring any myrrh. Well, what did that stand for? The gold in the frankincense is obvious. It's the, it's the possession of kings. It's the wealth. It's the best and the finest and the most valuable. The myrrh is bitter. It's, it stands for trouble. It stood for all that stands for all the trouble that Christ would go through the first time, and the trouble that his people would go through as the first fruits in this world.

And so now, the myrs dropped from the list. There's no more trouble because Christ is that, and things are good for the first time in history, since the garden, you know, very tiny, a little brief time there. Okay, now we come to chapter verse 7. This is a key verse, so we want to concentrate on this for what it says. And this proves the point. The flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together into you. The rams of Nebioth, that's the Nabataeans, apparently the Arab nation, the Ishmaelite nation that lived around Petra, shall minister unto thee. But today, those close around hate Israel. But look, what they're bringing up now, are they bringing it up under duress? Well, we have to, so we'll take something up there. Look at this. They shall come up with acceptance on mine altered. In other words, these gifts are holy day offerings and other offerings, but this shows that this is the conversion of the nations. The first ones are the close ones around, and then the nations farther out and so on. It mentions a couple of others. But verse 7 is really a key verse because this is acceptance upon God's altar. Yes, there's a physical altar.

There will be one built, apparently, before the end here. It just about has to be according to prophecies. But this is talking about the spiritual altar. They will find acceptance.

This is the conversion of the Gentiles, beginning with the closest relatives of the Israelites, the Arabs surrounding. And you know, it said, Israel would always dwell close to Israel.

Verse 9, Surely the coast shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarsus shall bring thy sons from afar silver and gold with them, and the name of the Lord thy God, and to the holy one of Israel, because he has glorified thee. So it shows not just the nations surrounding, but then across the seas and ships bringing this wealth. The sons of the foreigners shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee. For in my wrath I smote you, but in my favor have I mercy. On the Psalm 30 verse 5 says, you know, I have punished you for a moment, but my blessing is for a lifetime. That's the principle throughout. When God punishes, there's always the reason for it is to bring us back, not just to be mean to somebody that disobeys, but to bring repentance and bring us back and help us to change. That's this whole proof, and we have a whole lot of proof right in this room, because who here is not aware of the tremendous mercy God has had toward us personally? You know, we just aren't worthy. We have the Passover, so we're not worthy, but God has made us worthy in His sight.

And so it talks all through the Bible. In my favor, I have mercy on the physical Israel, spiritual Israel, and the whole world. Therefore the gates shall be opened continually, and the wealth of the nations. I don't know if that's absolutely literal, but it just means the gates are always open, and they have to be, because so much wealth is being brought to the capital of the world, because everyone in the whole world is so wealthy. It just flows in. They have plenty plenty at home. The glory of Labanin, Samore, this is in verse 13, the fir tree and the pine tree. He was talking about the wealth, the finest of the wealth of the world, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious, His temple. Now verse 14 is like verse 7, a very important key verse here. The sons also of those... Now some of this is obviously literally physical, but there's the spiritual meaning that's even more important. The sons also of those who afflicted you shall come bending bending the knee unto thee. That's possible, you know, in the physical realm, I suppose. And all they that despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of the feet. And that means somebody is being worshiped, and that means they are glorified in God's kingdom. This isn't just physical Israel. So verse 14 is important. They're being worshiped. They shall bow themselves down at the soles of the feet, and they shall call you the city of Lord. And that's the last nail in the coffin, you know, the idea of it's just physical. The people themselves are the city of the Lord.

And that's only one group, the firstfruits. They are part of the temple and the city of the Lord. The Zion that is always used as a symbol of the church, Israel a little bit, the spiritual church mainly, the Holy One of Israel. Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through, no man bothered, nobody wanted to visit your place because it was a mess. You know, no tourist season for you, physical Israel. Nobody wanted to bother to visit your services to find out what you know. They weren't interested. It doesn't make sense.

Well, they're nice people that, you know, have strange doctrines and just kind of stay away.

Had a woman say a great thing to them. Exactly. So, whereas you have been forsaken and hated, and the time is coming when the church will be extremely persecuted, we understand that. We do know that's coming. I will make you an eternal excellency, the joy of many generations. How would you like to be excellent? Just excellent. No sin for one solid day. Not a bad thought, not a temptation, nothing. Which is, that is pretty hard to imagine. Not even something flitting through your mind, some negative thing. How about forever? It's just beyond the pale. We can imagine. God says it is true. That's the way He is. And He is going to make those who have been despised, even worshiped because of being in His family. So shall you also suck the milk of the nations, and shall suck the breast of kings. And you shall know that I, the Lord, and the Savior, and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. Now, I gave this in one of the churches down there, this one fellow came up, he says, what does that mean? The breast of kings. Kings are boys. And, well, it's talking about the idea of nursing and breastfeeding a baby. What more beautiful thing could you see? A mother feeding her child. It's a symbol of God feeding the world. And that which is produced, the mother produces this sustenance for a little baby. And God uses that in the Bible, and it's used throughout literature. As, like in the poem, Trees, I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree, a tree whose hungry mouth is pressed against the earth's sweet flowing breast. It's by Sergeant Joyce Comer, a very, very famous poem, and you probably learned about it in high school literature. That's the idea. It's just the produce of the world, the goodness that they have been able to produce through knowing God's way and keeping his laws and changing society, therefore. So we have basically just an upgrade of everything and wealth and produce peace and unity and safety and love all over the world. And this picture is just fantastic. Verse 19, the sun, your sun shall go no more down, neither shall the moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light. We're talking about Revelation 19. God inspired it here, and then he showed it to John, and John wrote it down. So in one sense, Isaiah is just Revelation part one, or Revelation is Isaiah part two, very closely related. Now, thy people shall all be righteous. When is that? And shall that I be glorified? This is just clearly at the end of the chapter, just so that this is the people of God, the first fruits, the church of God, glorified at the head of the nations, living in Jerusalem with Jesus Christ. The picture has his bride, his constant helper, always with him.

And then, this little confusing verse at the end, verse 22, which really caps it off. It says, A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one, a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in his time. He's anxious to do this. He's hastening it, looking forward to it. What does that mean? But what's this? A small one, a little one, a thousand, a small one, a strong nation. Well, how about somebody with gnarled fingers who prays? How about somebody like you, who pray continually for the kingdom and for the work and all involved in it and all that you know, the brethren and the world in general? How about you who pray and are given, let's say, the men of it, just one city to start out. A little one to become a thousand. Your one city becomes a thousand cities. And let's say you have five or ten cities at the beginning to watch over, and that becomes a strong nation. In other words, the glory that God will give us at first is going to expand exponentially. That's what he says all through. Like the universe, you know, the universe is expanding at such a rate that we can't, you know, it's just beyond our grasp. But even the rate is beyond our grasp. It's just expanding and expanding, and that's to show us how God will do this. What he is doing. A little one, one of us, praying and being involved in his work, doing our best to live, keep our covenant with God. And as I say, just keep on with the great and wonderful blessings that we have here being called into his Church. So, eventually, one little person praying, millions of people in their nation.

Amazing.

Amazing.

The world into the spiritual leadership, because we have Christ to make it happen, and we get a part in it, will just expand so that we have great power. You know, you think of one city, that might be a problem to try to keep in hand if you were given a city to rule over now.

But that's just the start of it. And what he's saying is, this is spiritual Israel, the Israel of God, and I'm going to make it really great. That's what God is saying and hiding it. I heard a saying one time, maybe you've heard it too, I really like it. I think of an oak tree where I used to go hunting on the top of a hill. It was a huge tree. Each one of its branches could have been an old ancient tree of itself. You can see this tree for miles. It was landmark. I think of that tree, and I just the saying is, I remember that, or please remember that once, no, get this right here. A great, powerful, spreading oak tree is just one stubborn nut that wouldn't give up.

I like that. Okay, to conclude, we have to go beyond chapter 60, and I'll just read two and a half verses in chapter 2. It's all one section, and we'll just finish up with this. This is all through here. This is a specific place where he gives God's words of love to his bride, his true church. Verse 5, chapter 62, As a young man marries a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee.

As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over you. He looks at his church as his bride. Many, many parallels there. I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem. This is the church. Jerusalem is a picture of the church. He says, I have angels watching over you, and they will never hold their peace day or night. They don't sleep at all. Don't slumber, don't sleep. They're watching you, brethren. They're watching us, God's church, because we have a special, not we're special over ourselves, we have a special calling. Now it says directly to us, you that make mention of the Lord keep not silence. You've been praying. Now is not the time to quit.

Keep on. Keep praying. And give him no rest. Give him no rest. That's Christ. It's a poetic way of saying, Christ will not rest. Give him no rest until he establishes, until he makes Jerusalem his church a praise on the earth. Pretty inspiring, I think. I love this book. It's the book for the Feast of Tabernacles for sure. And I love this chapter. And so, who can add to that? I think it just tells us, brethren, keep praying, keep studying, keep on keeping on. Glory is in our future.