Isaiah 59:21-Isaiah 60:22 - The Nations Will Come

Sacred Bible in your book of Isaiah, the book of Isaiah and chapter 60, chapter 60.

You don't have a Bible, there's Bibles in the pew in front of you, and you can take one of those.

And if you don't have a Bible, you can have one of those and take it with you home as our gift.

But in those pew Bibles, around page 650, you'll get close to Isaiah chapter 60.

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

I don't have the exact page in front of me, but right around page 650, you'll get there.

In the 16th century, reformers in Geneva adopted a motto that summed up their hope and their conviction.

And that motto in Latin, post tenebrus lux, means after darkness, light.

And they carved those words on church walls and they carried those words about in their heart.

Because they believed that after centuries of darkness, God had brought the dawn of the light of the gospel once again.

After darkness, light.

That he had once again pierced the world's darkness with the light of the gospel.

But post-tenebris looks is not just a symbol for a past day, it's emblematic of what God does.

The world might seem dark, but God always breaks through with light.

And this is the story that we've just celebrated by way of Christmas.

After centuries of waiting, after generations of longing, after the silence of exile and the shadow of sin, Christmas tells us that the light is broken in, that the word has become flesh, that Christ has been born, that the dawn has come.

And the Christmas tells us that that light is not just a feeling, a religious sentiment.

It's a person.

That light is Christ, that eternal Son who stepped into our darkness and who took on our flesh, and that entered into our world, and that bore our night, so that the dawn of his light might shine in our soul.

John put it this way in John chapter 1: In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John is telling us that the light that Isaiah promised is not a distant glow, but a present reality, the very light of God Himself wrapped in human flesh.

And so Christmas.

Christmas is not just a story of a baby in a manger, it's a story of God breaking into our world, invading it, and doing something wonderful, astounding, miraculous.

The incarnation.

But the world still feels like it's in darkness.

The headings that we read every day, they haven't changed.

The griefs that we carried into December still lay heavily on our heart.

They haven't magically lifted.

The ache of our waiting, of our longings, of our wondering.

They're still with us.

So what does it mean to us now that the light has come?

Well, Isaiah helps us answer that question.

In Isaiah chapter 60, he speaks to a people who know darkness, who have felt the weight of sin and exile.

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

And he tells them that God is a God who keeps his promises.

And we'll look at this in chapter 59 and verse 21.

Isaiah spoke these words to Israel, a people in exile, a people who were, well, covenantly faithless and unfaithful and were bearing covenant judgment.

But he lifts up their eyes and shows them something new that they are to arise because their light has come.

And so Isaiah chapter 60, and we'll begin in verse 21 of Isaiah 59, so I mean that verse also.

Isaiah 60 · chapter mention

But Isaiah takes us on a journey.

He takes us on a journey from the whispers of light into the dawning of the day, into the recognition that that sun that rose will never set.

It'll be an eternal day, forever.

Because Christmas is not the end of the story.

It's actually just the beginning.

The incarnation is the dawn of God's light, the beginning of the fulfillment of promises He made long ago, and the opening up of a new horizon that will never see the sun set on it.

So let's follow this journey as we go through this passage.

Let's see this never-ending light as it moves from promise to fulfillment.

And let's understand what it means for us after Christmas.

The first point I want us to understand is that God's promises, God's covenant-keeping promises, secure his people.

And Isaiah lifts our eyes toward the dawning horizon of Isaiah 59, verse 21.

Isaiah 59:21

And let's look at it with this question: Where does God begin this hope?

What is the first truth that God wants his people to understand when he does bring in the fact that the light is going to break through?

Verse 21 of Isaiah 59.

As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord, my spirit who is upon you, and my words that I've put in your mouth, they will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children's children from now on and forever, says the Lord.

Now, as we've noticed over the past two weeks, Isaiah 59 is a heavy chapter.

It's heavy with darkness.

The truth is stumbled, justice is turned back, sin has separated people from God, and even those who stand from for righteousness are oppressed.

Prophet in Isaiah 59 paints a picture of moral collapse.

He paints a picture of spiritual helplessness.

The people here are not just merely in darkness, they've caused the darkness.

They've contributed more and more to that darkness.

Their covenant breaking has brought them to this very point.

And it feels hopeless.

But right at the end of this chapter, right at the smack end of it, God speaks and he says, As for me, my covenant is with them.

Isaiah doesn't start with us.

He doesn't start with our response.

He doesn't start with our repentance.

He doesn't start with our faith.

He doesn't start with us at all.

He starts with God.

And before he ever says, like we'll see in verse 1 of chapter 60, arise and shine, before he even gets to those words, he wants to anchor our hearts in God's faithfulness to his promises that makes rising possible.

You see, the approaching dawn that we'll look at in verse 1 of chapter 60 is the result of chapter 59 and verse 21.

God is faithful.

Israel may be faithless, but God is here putting the stamp of his person on this verse, and he's saying, You may be faithless, but I am not.

I am not.

Their covenant breaking is not going to cancel God's covenant-keeping ability.

His spirit, as he says here in verse 59 or 21, his spirit will remain, his word will endure, because his promises stand forever.

And so he's telling us that this dawn that we're about to discover doesn't begin with human repentance and God's response to that, but with divine initiative and resolve.

This light breaks in because God wants to bring light to undeserving people.

Now Paul picks up this verse in Romans chapter 11, interestingly.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

This will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

He says it in chapter 11 and verse 27.

And Paul here is reading Isaiah's promise with a Christ lens, with a focus on the gospel, that through Jesus and Jesus alone will their sins be removed.

And it's no wonder then that we read in the book of Acts, chapter 2, that the Spirit is poured out, because his spirit will not depart, as it says here in Isaiah 59.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Because the promise is not dependent on human performance, but on God's initiative.

This promise keeping God is going to secure his people.

So swimming was a 12 months out-of-the-year thing that we did.

But I didn't just toss them into the water and say, you're on your own, start paddling.

I held them, taught them how to move, and they were secure in that water, not because they were able, but because their dad held on to them.

And here God is telling us that we are held by God's promise-keeping character.

What is the significance of what Isaiah is whispering to us here?

Well, when you feel the weight of your inconsistencies, when your spiritual strength seems all withered, when your grip on God feels like it's nothing more than trembling weak hands, we know what that's like, right?

Your security doesn't rest on how strong you can grip God.

It rests on God who keeps his promises.

Because he says, As for me, my covenant will be with you.

His spirit remains, his word is here, and his promises endure.

And before he wants us to know these words of command, arise, shine, he wants us to have imprinted in our soul those words of his promise.

So let's move to the second point.

Because Isaiah wants us to see the light rising out of this verse.

This light that's breaking the darkness, that's anchored in the God who keeps his promises.

And that brings us to the second point.

Not only does God's covenant-keeping promise secure his people, but God's light breaks the darkness.

And if the first word of this dawn is, as for me, then the second word is light is come.

And God will not only secure his people, but here we find that he awakens us, that he not only promises to act, but it that he breaks into the darkness with glory.

Look at verses one and two.

Arise, shine, why?

For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord shines over you.

For look, darkness will cover the earth, and total darkness the peoples, but the Lord will shine over you, and his glory will appear over you.

Now Israel had been living under the heavy shadow of sin and judgment.

They knew the darkness of injustice and the darkness of idolatry and the darkness of exile.

They knew because it was the darkness of their own sin.

But Isaiah is now telling them arise and shine.

Why?

Because God Himself is breaking in with His light and His glory.

The command to Israel here is not to generate light, but to reflect it.

Because it's God's light and God's glory.

Because this is the dawn of God's activity.

Now, what is he talking about here?

Well, the New Testament makes it unmistakable what he's talking about.

We looked at a passage uh just a few days ago, Christmas Eve service, Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

And there Micah helped us understand that there was this motif of baby, the anticipations of babies being born, until there was one baby born and no longer any more anticipations.

Well, there's an older man who goes into the temple.

His name is Simeon.

And Simeon is guided by the Spirit, and in fact, in just a few short verses, three different times the Spirit is mentioned.

Now, to me, that's whispers of Isaiah 59, 21 all over it.

But he's told to go to the temple.

Why?

So that he might see the Lord's salvation before he dies.

Not knowing what to expect, other than he knew that God had promised him by the Spirit that before he expired and left this earth, he was going to see God's salvation.

And so the Spirit says, Today's the day.

Go to the temple.

So he goes to the temple and he's look looking around.

What is he going to see there?

Is he looking at the movement of the priest as they go about their priestly duties?

Does he look at the altar with the burning sacrifices?

Does he wonder what might be moving behind the curtain?

What is he going to see when he goes to the temple?

He sees a baby.

And in Luke chapter 2 and verse 28, it says that Simeon took up the baby Jesus in his arms.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

And he says, Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace.

As you promised.

For my eyes have seen your salvation.

And to make it an explicit connection to this passage, you have prepared it before the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory over your people Israel.

Do you hear the light and glory statement there?

That's Isaiah 60.

No wonder it said right after that that Jesus' father and mother were amazed at what he said about the child.

Yeah.

Yeah, they would be amazed.

Matthew, that's Luke.

Matthew quotes Isaiah when he says, The people who live in darkness have seen a great light.

And he tells us exactly where that light shines.

In Galilee, in the ministry of Jesus, in the true light of the world.

And if two of the apostles who wrote the gospels isn't enough, let's offer a third.

John says, the true light that gives light to everyone coming into the world.

And the word became flesh, and the flesh and dwelt among us, and we observed his glory, the glory as of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Light and glory.

Light and glory.

Light and glory.

Matthew and Luke and John.

And Paul in Ephesians chapter five pulls this passage into the discussion of the church in Ephesus and says, Get up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you.

This light that Isaiah is prophesying, it's not just a metaphor.

It's not just a mood.

It's not just a spiritual feeling.

I was lying in bed Christmas morning, and Royal put on this speech.

And it, you know, and it talked about, oh, the wonder of Christmas togetherness.

And oh, the delight of expressing giving and kindness.

And I said, what kind of drivel are you listening to?

Well, it was a speech from one of the royal royal members in the UK.

And I said, turn that thing off.

That was horrible.

Christmas is about Christ.

Because the incarnation is the dawning.

And the ministry of Jesus is the spreading of that dawn.

And the resurrection is the blazing light of that dawn.

And that light is covering his people right now.

Arise, sleeper, and Christ will shine on you.

Isaiah's vision begins with Israel, yes, but it doesn't end there.

It moves toward the one who is himself the hope of Israel, Jesus.

And then it extends into all of those within Jerusalem and Judea who would believe, and into Samaria, and then to the uttermost ends of the earth.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The believing people in Israel are the remnant and radiant people, and that remnant and radiant people become a global people.

This is Isaiah's picture.

Breaking the power of sin's darkness, dispelling despair, awakening people to new life.

And this is why he tells us arise and shine.

Now let me say that again strongly.

This is not because you feel strong.

This is not because you've got it all together.

This is not because the world around you has somehow just gotten brighter.

It's because your light has come.

It's come to you.

The command that Isaiah states and that Paul repeats in Ephesians is not a burden.

Arise, shine, like the drill sergeant used to yell at me.

He didn't say arise.

My dad used to say, get up, sunshine.

Yeah, well, the drill instructors never said sunshine.

They just.

And the sun was still an hour away before he told me to get up, too.

Matter of fact.

This is not a command that's barked out to us.

It's an invitation.

It's an invitation for us to actually step out of our old patterns of darkness.

To step out of those things into the light of the presence of Christ Himself.

To reflect His glory in a world that is still dark.

To offer hope when the headlines don't have any.

And to be joyful even when the circumstances are heavy.

This is not shining because we have to try harder and do better.

We shine because the one who is light is shining on us.

And we're mirrors of that light.

And that leads us to point three.

And like I said, I was getting ahead of myself a little bit, but this passage is full.

Not only is God's covenant-keeping promise secure his people, and not only does God's light break the darkness, but God's light draws the nations.

And we'll see this in verses three to five.

You see, the light that shines here, that shined in the temple, and Simeon saw it, it doesn't stop there.

It spreads.

And when it spreads, it draws and it gathers people.

And the glory that is awakening Israel, that has come to them from God Himself, is going to be a magnet that draws the nations also.

Now let me just pull out some of the phraseology of this term.

Nations will come to your light, kings to your shining brightness.

Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and rejoice, because the riches of the sea will become yours, and the wealth of the nations will come to you.

Let me just move through the chapter a little bit.

Caravans of camels will cover you.

They will carry gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the Lord.

Your city gates will always be open.

They'll never be shut day or night, so that the wealth of the nations might be brought into you.

Wow.

What a magnificent scene that is.

A picture of Zion radiant and bright, beaming the light of the glory of God, with nations streaming toward it.

Isaiah sees kings and caravans and treasure and worship all moving from every corner of the globe into this place.

And it's not because Israel's won a political victory.

This is about God's missional triumph.

Because the nations aren't here being conquered, they're being drawn.

And they're not being subjugated, they're being summoned.

And they're not bringing tribute to a king in just weakness.

They're offering the praises of God in worship.

This is the global horizon of this promise.

Now, because it's Christmas, there's a verse in here that should sound very, very familiar to us.

Take a look at verse six.

Caravans of camels will cover your land.

Young camels of Midian and Epha.

All of them will come from Sheba.

They will carry gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the Lord.

Matthew picks up this thread and tells us of something that did happen.

And he uses this verse with deliberate care.

He tells us of the Magi, of these Gentiles from the east who arrive in Jerusalem.

And they ask a very poignant question.

Where is he who is born king of the Jews?

We saw his star at its rising, and we've come to worship him.

Matthew's telling us that even at the birth of Jesus, the nations are starting to be drawn to a light.

And Matthew describes their arrival, and he says, they opened up their treasures.

And what did they give this child?

Frankincense and gold and myrrh.

Myrrh, an ointment on dead bodies, as a whisper of what was going to happen to this child.

But Isaiah 60 and verse 6.

Gold and frankincense carried by the Gentiles, offered in worship to the praises of the Lord.

And when they don't go to the temple in Jerusalem, they go to Jesus, still held in the arms of his mother.

And they say, This is where I need to worship, right here.

I need to worship him.

You see, Isaiah's vision is cosmic, and Matthew is just offering to us the first fruits of that.

That the Magi are the down payment of the global worship that Isaiah foresees here.

And the New Testament picks this up in vibrant ways.

Isaiah seeing the stream, Matthew showing the first Gentiles kneeling before the child, the book of Acts showing us through the Spirit the formula of a multi-ethnic people of God brought to Christ through the gospel.

The book of Revelation showing us that the nations are bringing their glory into the new Jerusalem.

Now, with Isaiah 60 ringing in your our ears together, hear these words from Revelation chapter 21, verse 24.

Revelation 21:24

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never close, and they will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.

He does all but scream out, pay attention to Isaiah 60, when you look at the new Jerusalem.

Because Isaiah's vision doesn't fade, it intensifies.

And what began in Bethlehem is culminated in the eternal city.

And it's not just a place, it's a people.

The radiant Zion is the redeemed community of the people of God.

And that's why in Revelation 21 and 22 it talks about the twelve foundations, which are the twelve tribes, and it talks about the twelve gates, which are the twelve apostles.

Why?

Because the New Jerusalem is an emblem of the gathered people of God, Old and New Testament together.

And they don't merely visit this place, their home there.

And they don't merely bring their tribute, they are placed in as jewels in the temple itself.

The vision speaks directly to us as much as it did to the people in exile who are being prophesied to by Isaiah.

That the light that draws the nations is the light we reflect.

That the glory that attracts the world is the glory of Christ, come for his people and all peoples.

And that the mission of God is not an add-on, it is God's purposeful design to bring the radiance of the light and glory of God to all people.

And what does that mean for us?

It means our witness matters.

It means that our unity in Christ matters.

It means our hospitality to undeserving people matters.

It means how we work to the glory of God matters.

It means our submissiveness in the midst of an oppressive society matters.

Because it is those things that God uses to bring, wait, what's happening here to people who don't know the light of Christ?

Why do people work like that?

Why do people love like that?

Why are people so welcoming like that?

Why are people so generous like that?

Why are they so submissive like that?

Why?

Why?

Because the light of the glory of God has shined on us.

That's why.

And he means for that light to be global.

Let's go to the fourth point.

God's covenant-keeping promises secure his people.

God's light breaks the darkness.

God's light draws the nations, but God's light also vindicates his people.

Verse 14.

The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you.

Let me repeat that phrase because I'm going to pick it up again.

The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you.

All who revile you will fall face down at your feet.

They will call you the city of the Lord, Zion, the Holy One of Israel.

Instead of your being deserted and hated with no one passing through, I will make you an object of eternal pride, a joy from age to age.

These are the very ones who, because of their sin, mind you, were mocked, opposed, and oppressed.

But the Lord is saying there's coming a day when people will rec bow before you in recognition that God loves you.

And it's not a picture of revenge, it's a picture of recognition.

And Isaiah is not describing Israel that overcomes their enemies by way of force.

He's describing God vindicating his people because it will be evident to everyone that God loves them.

The vindication here is not about humiliation of others, it's about unveiling in the public God's verdict of these people.

Now, this phrase I repeated because I wanted you to hear it and to hear it well, because it's used also in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 9.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

And Jesus speaks to the church at Philadelphia, a small, weak, marginalized church that's filled with opposers and opposition, who is facing the onslaught of false doctrine.

And in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 9, Jesus speaks to the church of Philadelphia, and he says to them, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

Isaiah is speaking to people in exile, a people who will be vindicated, a people who will be honored, a people in which it will be very apparent that God's favor and love rests on them.

And Jesus speaks to a small but faithful church and tells them, I will make them come and bow down before you, and they will know that I love you.

This is crucial for us because vindication is not about our achievement, it's about the gift of God.

And it's not a result of us pressing forward on cultural influences, it's a result of God of us submitting ourselves to the Lord and of his faithfulness to us through the gospel.

And let me say this: this is not even necessarily a historical statement of vindication.

It has in its ultimate view an eschatological and eternal expression.

Paul uses it in 2 Thessalonians when he says that when the Lord comes, he will come to be glorified in his saints.

You see, the world doesn't see the church's honor right at the moment.

In fact, anything but.

They can't tell me anything, but I know you can.

The church, marginalized, opposed, misunderstood, destined for glory.

The patterns all over the place.

Suffering now, glory later, rejection now, honor later, misunderstanding now, God's vindication later.

And Jesus in Revelation 3:9 confirms it.

Revelation 3:9

I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.

Now, this is significant for us because we're right in the middle of that suffering phase of this.

We're right in the middle of those quiet places of discouragement.

We're right in the middle of those places where we're misunderstood for our belief in Christ.

We're right in the middle of those places where we're overlooked and we're dismissed and perhaps even mocked because we say Jesus is Lord.

I spent some time with brothers in Russia.

A lot of them didn't know their fathers because their fathers had been exiled to Siberia because of their faith in Christ.

Men who were brilliant minds, unable to go to college because they wouldn't say communism is Lord.

And so they had to suffer with menial work when they could have been some of the brightest lights of engineering or medicine or what have you.

Some of us still feel the weight of that.

We feel the weight of living faithfully in a world that doesn't regard belief in Christ at all.

That doesn't applaud faithfulness, but rather mocks it and scorns it and holds it in derision.

And Isaiah's promise is not that you're going to win every argument.

It's not that the culture is finally going to go, oh, we understand now.

Boy, that was really supposed to be helpful to us.

It's not that your faithfulness will be recognized now, but it will be.

And they will know, as Christ said, that he has loved us.

They will know.

And that verdict, that verdict comes from God Himself.

He comes from the resurrected Christ Himself.

That comes from the Lord of glory himself.

So why would you pander to get your boss's approval when Jesus has put his stamp of approval on you?

Right?

Why would you think I need to look better in the eyes of my neighbor when God Himself says they will know that I've loved you?

You see, you don't need to go clamoring for identity and acceptance and significance because God says it's all found in Him.

Every bit of it.

The world will not see the beauty of God's people until that day in which it's revealed.

But that day's coming.

One last point.

This passage gripped my heart and it melted my soul as I spent all week, last week and this week, with it.

God's covenant securing his people, God's light breaking the darkness, God dawning that light upon the nations, and God vindicating his people has brought one more place.

God's light is everlasting.

God's light is everlasting.

Look at verse 19 to the end.

The sun will no longer be your light by day, and the brightness of the moon will not shine on you.

The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor.

Your sun will no longer set and your moon will not fade, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will be over, and all your people will be righteous, and you will possess the land forever.

Wow.

Isaiah is lifting our eyes to the furthest horizon that human ability can take in.

He is reaching us beyond our day upon the close mountains in the foreground to the very edges of our ability to capture.

And he's saying that the light that began in Bethlehem doesn't fade.

It will never end.

It grows brighter and brighter.

And so Isaiah wants us to see not only what God has done at Christmas, what God is doing and is bringing the light to the nations, but where God is headed with all of this.

And he closes the vision with words that go beyond time.

This is the crescendo of Isaiah's vision.

Isaiah has spoken of covenant, of dawn, of nations, of vindication.

But now he says, look beyond yourself to the furthest horizons that you can capture.

And when you look there, what will you see?

No more sun, no more moon, no more morning, no more night.

Because God Himself will be your everlasting light.

And Isaiah's vision is cosmic, it's eternal, and it is unshakable in its truth.

And this isn't poetic exaggeration, because it is the true and certain future of God's people.

Again, the New Testament seizes this language and uses it to describe the final hope of God's people.

Now, with your mind very firmly set in verse 19 and 20, I want to read to you Revelation 21 and verse 23.

Keep looking at Isaiah 16, verses 19 and 20.

But let me read to you some verses out of Revelation.

The sun does not, the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illumines it, and its lamp is the lamb.

Night will be no more.

People will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light and they will reign forever and ever.

Because boy does he use it.

Because he's deliberately echoing Isaiah 60 here.

Because the everlasting light that Isaiah foresaw, he is saying is fulfilled in the Lamb.

The Lamb.

He's the lamp, he's the source of that light.

The glory that shone in Bethlehem is going to shine forever in the eternal day, in God's people.

The dawn of Christmas is the everlasting light of the new creation.

It's not just about illumination, it's about righteousness.

All your people will be righteous.

It's no wonder, John said, there will be no one who lies, no one who is fearful who will be able to enter in.

Why?

Because all of the people inside of that city are going to be righteous people.

Every one of them.

Sunsets, the moons wane, electricity flickers.

No matter how hard you're tied, Bob, it still flickers.

Batteries drain, bulbs burn out, candles sputter.

The list goes on.

Every light we know is temporary.

But Isaiah says there's a light.

There's a light that never fails.

There's a glory that never fades.

There's a splendor that never diminishes here.

And that light is God Himself.

And He is going to shine that light forever in the presence of His people.

You will never be in darkness again.

Ever.

And so Isaiah's vision meets us in our deepest, deepest longings.

Those longings for community, those longings for significance, those longings for transcendence, those longings for vindication, those longings to be home, away from the troubles of all that we bear.

He is preaching to every one of those things.

Some of us still carry grief.

Grief that feels never-ending.

Some of us walk through seasons of hardships that feel like never-ending nightmares.

Some of us are so discouraged we wonder if joy will ever be a word we could use about ourselves.

And Isaiah says in verse twenty, the days of your mourning will be over.

Not minimized, not ignored, not pushed aside.

Over.

Over.

This is not temporary relief.

This is not passing dawn.

This is this is forever.

God says at the very end of this, I will accomplish this quickly, in its time.

Born of a woman, born under the law.

In its time, the dawning began.

And in its time, the final day will emerge.

Because these words, I will accomplish it quickly, in its time.

Come to us out of Revelation.

Come to us in Revelation 22.

Night will be no more, he says.

People will not need the light of a lamp as the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light and they will reign forever and ever.

And he says, He said to me, These words are faithful and true.

The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.

Look, I am coming soon.

Blessed is the one who keeps the prophecy of this book.

Did Isaiah understand how far he had cast his words when he spoke into the future of some people that were about to go to Babylon and be in exile?

No.

Did he know that he was speaking to them?

I think he did.

Did he know he was speaking beyond them?

Oh, I think he did.

Did he think he was speaking of a time beyond them?

Oh, yes, he did.

He was speaking of that dawning of the coming of Christ.

But did he fully understand how far that would go?

To the very end of time itself, into the entrance of eternity, where the Lord says, This will come?

Oh Isaiah.

Isaiah.

You searched and looked with eagerness and intent of what this hope was, Peter says.

And Peter says, We know what that is.

We know that it's Christ.

We know that it's coming because it's already come.

That light has shone and it's shining more.

And the day is coming when there'll be no more night and no more morning and no more darkness and no more tears and pain and death and agony.

Ever.

Because it'll be over.

It'll be over.

Isaiah has brought us on a journey, hasn't he?

A journey from the depths of covenantal darkness through the disobedience of these people to the heights of everlasting light.

He's shown us what God was doing, what God is doing, and what God's going to do.

He's talked to us about God being faithful to his promise.

He's talked about God bringing his light and glory into this worth.

He's talked about nations streaming toward that light.

And the magi just simply a whisper of what's about to happen.

He's talked about God vindicating his people.

They will know that I've loved you.

And here he finishes with light everlasting.

No more night, no more morning.

The Lord will be your everlasting light, and the God will be your splendor.

So now let's ask the question again.

What does this mean for us here, now, today?

These few days past Christmas.

The headlines are the same.

The griefs that we carry are the same.

The hardships we'll face the next time we get up will be the same.

But there's something completely different too, right?

Because we're people secured in God's promise.

We're people awakened to light and glory.

We are part of the people that have been gathered among the nations.

We are those who wait the day of vindication when it will be revealed to all that God has loved us.

And we are the people who are destined for the eternal day of light.

Because Christmas is the dawn, not the end.

The manger leads us to an everlasting city.

And the child who came as a lamb is going to shine over us forever.

So now we can understand what Paul means when he says, Rise, rise, and Christ will shine upon you.

Live your life and the light of the truth of what God is accomplishing.

Carry out your days as you relate to one another and as you enter into society as bearers of that glorious light.

And as you do, the light of Christ will shine over you.

And if you're here this morning without Christ, this is an invitation to you as well.

Because the light that is dawned in Jesus Christ is a light that's also dawned for undeserving, sinful people.

This God who keeps his promises, this God who is broken into our darkness and draws people to himself from all nations, this God who promises everlasting joy, this is the God who's beckoning you, beckoning you to come to him out of the night of your sin and the darkness of despair, who's calling you to come to his marvelous light, in which you'll receive forgiveness and his presence and the stamp of his approval and all of his promises and eternal hope.

And he's calling you to himself.

And he's saying, just as John at the very end of it in Revelation said, Come, come.

And the bride said, Come, come to him who is the light, and find in him no more darkness and no more night.

Come to him.

Let's pray.

Father, glorious things of thee are spoken, we sing.

And glorious things of thee are spoken here.

Father, what wonder these words are.

There's not a wicked man on earth who could write these things.

And there's not a good man who could lift himself to the very places that this passage went.

These are words that come from you, that speak about you, that talk about Christ who is coming, Christ who has come already, and about what is about to transpire when that day arrives when you say, It's time.

It's time.

Father, we pray that you secure us as your people in these truths.

May it bring our end of this year to rest in hope and arise with joy as we say, Happy New Year.

May it be stamped upon our hearts in good and troubling times.

May it be the marker of all your people that we are truly a blessed people.

For your light has come and your glory is shining.

And we pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.