Our scripture reading this morning, as you see in the bulletin, is Isaiah chapter 60. We turn again to the text from the Messiah by Handel. Isaiah 60 in our text will be Isaiah 61 through 3. Isaiah 60, starting at verse 1. May the Lord bless His Word as it is both read and proclaimed to us this morning. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people. But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around and see. They all gather together. They come to you. Your sons shall come from afar and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant and your heart shall swell with joy because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you. The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. The multitude of camels shall cover your land the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you. The rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you. They shall ascend with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. Who are those who fly like a cloud and like doves to their roosts? Surely the coastlands shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish will come first to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord your God and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you. The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you. For in my wrath I struck you But in my favor I have had mercy on you. Therefore, your gates shall be open continually. They shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles and their kings in procession. For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined. The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the pine, and the box tree together. to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious. Also the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you, and all those who despise you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet, and they shall call you the city of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. whereas you have been forsaken and hated so that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations. You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles and milk the breast of kings. You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Instead of bronze, I will bring gold. Instead of iron, I will bring silver. Instead of wood, bronze. And instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace and your magistrates righteousness. Violence shall no longer be heard in your land. Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders. But you shall call your walls salvation and your gates praise. The sun shall no longer be your light by day. Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you. But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself. For the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. Also your people shall all be righteous. They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time." May the Lord bless His Word to us. Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ's beloved congregation, while this part of the Messiah, the oratorio, it is one of my favorites. I guess because the music is so closely tied to the message. I obviously won't sing it to you. If you've heard the Messiah or you listen to it, you know what I'm talking about. When it says, darkness has covered the earth and gross darkness the people, the music kind of draws you in. And then with this indescribable music, to hear, but the Lord shall arise. And so, it really mirrors what you see in the entire book of Isaiah. And also as it leads up to our text. As we saw before in the sermon dealing with Isaiah 7.14, the entire book of Isaiah shows this kind of continual interweaving of God's judgment because of sin and apostasy. And in the midst of that judgment, there's a ray of hope. There's a message of salvation, of grace. And the theme from our text is, the Lord of Glory brings His light into the gross darkness that covers the earth. And our first point is, we see the darkness which covers the earth. May we truly see this darkness, because only then will we see how glorious is the light. Darkness, of course, is not a literal darkness. It is used figuratively. In the Bible, darkness speaks about a whole lot of things. It speaks of distress, of blindness. Darkness speaks of dread and mourning. Darkness is about confusion and ignorance and, of course, evil. And when in the New King James, which we read this morning, when it says, shall cover the earth. And the old King James, I think, also says that. Well, it sounds like it's a future thing. It shall cover the earth. But it's really written to be showing something that is a continual reality. And in fact, the NIV has a better translation when it says, darkness covers the earth. And that phrase, deep darkness, the people, It's the idea of a thick cloud covering the people. And the people is all people. There's no way that you can narrow this to just being Israel, as some commentators do. This is all the nations. And in fact, in Isaiah chapters 57-59, You see this darkness. You read of a deep degeneration, if you will. A turning from God. There is injustice. There is idolatry. There is a desecration of the Sabbath, and on and on. Well, you read those chapters and you see how it leads to our text in verse 2, For behold, darkness has covered the earth, and deep darkness the people. Just some quick examples. In chapter 57, in verse 13, It says, when you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry them all away. A breath will take them away. See, that shows the darkness of trusting in idols instead of in God. And that's not just as we've seen many times in Scripture. You know, back then when they fashioned to themselves some kind of an idol, a physical figure. You think of today how sadly many Look to government as to an idol. Government is to solve all problems and the people are crying out to their idol. And to that God says, let your collection of idols deliver you. But they are helpless. A breath will take them away. At the end of chapter 57 and verse 20, it says, the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. And then verse 21, it says, there is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. That's darkness. Just in Isaiah itself, maybe one of the greatest explanations of this darkness is in chapter 59. I'm going to read a bit from it. If you want to, you can turn to it. Look at verse 1. It says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. And then verse 2, But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. See, that's darkness. Verse 3, For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue has muttered perversity. For no one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies. They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. That's the deep darkness that covers the nations. Verse 7, their feet run to evil. They make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and destruction are in their paths. Look at verse 8, the way of peace they have not known and there is no justice in their ways. They have made themselves crooked paths and whoever takes that way shall not know peace. You see how in this darkness there is a crying out for Jesus as the Prince of Peace. And in verse 9, it says, Therefore, justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us. We look for light, but there is darkness. Verse 10 talks of groping for the wall like the blind. It says, we grow up as if we have no eyes. End of verse 10. We are as dead men in desolate places. And then in chapter 59 and verses 12 and 13, on behalf of Israel, Isaiah says to God, our transgressions are multiplied before you. And our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us in transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing from our God. That's the essence of darkness. Departing from our God. History is full of the record of nations who have known the light, and as they turned from it, they went into darkness. Brothers and sisters, we also see that kind of darkness. It's not just in the Old Testament. It's explained in the New Testament too. You think of, as Isaiah wrote about being like the blind, And then you think of how Jesus in Matthew 15, for example, He said, they are blind leaders of the blind. In Matthew 23, Jesus talks about fools and blind. In other words, they are walking in darkness. In 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, we read, whose minds the God of this age has blinded. See, all of that describes the darkness that covers the earth. Men are blind. It's like they're groping around in the darkness. There is dead man in desolate places. But there is hope. There is hope in the midst of the darkness. Those chapters, 57 to 59, that describe the darkness, as you read them in detail, you repeatedly also see here and there a ray of hope, a ray of light in the darkness. See, the darkness of those chapters, it kind of comes into a climax in our text when it says, darkness covers the earth and goes darkness to people. But then also, those little rays of light, They also come into a kind of a climax in our text in the words, Arise, shine, for your light has come. And let us see that in our second point. We see the glorious call because of the glorious light. It's the only way I could summarize all that is in this. Our text in verse 1 says, Arise, shine, for your light has come. And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. Well, in verse 2, as we heard, there is gloom, there is judgment, there is darkness that covers the earth. But look at the rest of verse 2. But the Lord shall arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you. You see, over against the darkness, the Lord arises over you. And here too, when it says, will arise, in the New King James, It is written in the same way, in a continuing action. So, it's literally, the Lord rises over you, as the NIV translates it. Also, brothers and sisters, we should see that really, verses 2 and 3 of our text, they are the behold. That is, they give the reason for this call to arise. It's like this, arise, shine, For look at this, the Lord rises upon you. That word, arise, is a call. And it's something that's used after sickness and mourning, after the darkness that we've heard about. And the word to shine is a call. To become light out of the darkness. You know, earlier Isaiah had given the same call and in the very same context. I'll just refer to it briefly. In Isaiah 51, in verse 17 and following. In 51, 17 and following, it says, Awake! Awake! Stand up! That's the same as, Arise! O Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury. See? Arise! Having received of God's judgment. In Isaiah 52, in verses 1 and 2, it says, Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. Shake yourself from the dust. Arise. You know in the Bible, dust, that's to be under God's judgment. That's part of the curse. The serpent is to eat the dust. And here is the call to shake yourself from the dust. Arise. So you see this call to arise and shine, now it comes to fuller expression in our text. And it is a glorious call. Think of it. Think of it. Here is a call to arise when you're in bonds, when you're in slavery. To arise when you have been brought low and you're under God's judgment. Here is a call to shine When you are in darkness and you're blind, as we've heard. It's very clear. Arise and shine are both commands to do what is impossible. It's like giving the command to repent and believe to dead people. If you think of it. How is it possible? Well, it's possible, brothers and sisters. It's possible because in the command, God Himself gives what He commands. That's how it's possible. That's why the Gospel is good news. And that's why our point says the glorious call is because of the glorious light. When it says, for your light has come, that word for is the idea of because your light has come. And also because the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. That's how it's possible. It's clear earlier in Isaiah 50 verse 10, it says, Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. And brothers and sisters, this call to arise and shine, this is given to Zion, to Jerusalem. It's a rather important point here. You know, in Hebrew, and I'm sorry to go back to another language, but in Hebrew, the words arise and shine, they have endings that are, you know, feminine endings. And also, when it says you and your, in English, they aren't designated whether they're masculine or feminine and so on. But in verse one there, you and you are, they're feminine. The point is, it's given to Jerusalem, which is pictured as a woman that is lying in shame and in weakness and in misery. That's the that's the image there. In fact, we should see that this call to arise and shine is a radical contrast. It's a counterpart to the command to the daughter of Babylon. She never receives the glory of the Lord. You see it in Isaiah 47. And remember, Babylon, biblically, is the world in unbelief. In Isaiah 47, just the first five verses, It says, come down and sit in the dust. See, here's no arise from the dust. Sit in it, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind meal. See, you're going to become a slave. Remove your veil. Take off the skirt. Uncover the thigh. Pass through the rivers. Your nakedness shall be uncovered. Yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance." And so on. Verse 4, As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit in silence and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called the Lady of Kingdoms. Well, you see, You see how glorious it is to be called to arise and shine because of the light upon you. Because there is a world and unbelief that is shut in darkness and under God's judgment. There's a phrase there in verse 20 of Isaiah 60 that shows how glorious this is. It says, the Lord will be your everlasting light and the days of your mourning shall be ended. Mourning is turned to joy as the Lord is your everlasting light. Well, of course, we need to be clear, and I think it's rather obvious, that when it says your light has come, and when it says the glory of the Lord has risen upon you, that's about the arrival of the Messiah. That is about salvation in Jesus. By God's great compassion in sending the Messiah, the misery and darkness of the past is turned to joy and rejoicing. And you see that shown. You know, it's fulfilled. Yes, it's shown to be fulfilled. But it's a proof to us that this is about Jesus. For example, in Matthew 4, when Jesus went to live in Capernaum and Galilee, you know, He made almost like a second home there in Capernaum. It says in verse 16 of Matthew 4, when He came there, the people who sat in darkness had seen a great light. That's what it says. And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned. Because Jesus came there. Remember the Gospel of John in John 1 by the Holy Spirit. John writes about Jesus and he says in verse 4, in Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness. John 1.9 says, that was the true light which gives light to every man who comes into the world. There is no light possible apart from Jesus. In John 8, Jesus declares, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." So, Jesus is that light. And Jesus is that glory that our text speaks about. In John 1.14, Jesus is the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. And it says, the glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Back in our first point when we thought about the darkness, I mentioned 2 Corinthians 4. In verse 4 it says, "...whose minds the God of this age has blinded." Well, a few verses later in verse 6 it says, "...for it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." That's glorious, isn't it? The light and the glory. It's the gracious gift of Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ. Lord willing, next Sunday we'll hear from Isaiah 9.6. And we'll see more of that gift when Isaiah declares, that those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. You remember how Simeon, he saw this in Luke 2.32. He declared when Jesus was born that Jesus was a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. That's why it's a glorious light. It is Jesus Christ. And that is how we arise and shine in Jesus Christ. But yeah, Simeon already there said, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles. And we see that also in our text. Let's look at that in our last point, in the third point. This light draws in the nations and their might. Our text in verse 3 says, and remember this is to the saved remnant, the Gentiles shall come to your light. The Gentiles that are also in darkness. And under that cloud of deep darkness, they will come, it says, to your light. Well, obviously they do not have that light in themselves. It is your light in the sense that it is the glory of the Lord that is upon them. It is because of the Lord Jesus Christ that the Gentiles will come. Will come to Him. Because He's their light. The light. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, will draw in the nations. That is, people of all nations. Jesus said in John 12, 32, And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, talking about His crucifixion, I will draw all peoples to Myself. And in the Old Testament, and it's amazing, especially in Isaiah, you read so many references that show so clearly that God's covenant of grace, that His plan of salvation is for men of all nations. Just a few kind of quick examples. In Isaiah 11.10, it speaks of Jesus as a root of Jesse. And it says, the Gentiles shall seek Him. In Isaiah 19, from 24 and following, It says, in that day, this one we've seen many times already, in that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, blessed is Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, my inheritance. In Isaiah 49, the Lord speaks of His servant as a light to the Gentiles. And remember, His servant is Jesus Christ, the Messiah. He's a light to the Gentiles. He says, you shall be my salvation to the ends of the earth. He says that to his servant. To the ends of the earth. Isaiah 56, 7 says, my house shall be called the house of prayer for all nations. Well, you hear these few examples. And I'm sure like me, you wonder, how is it that the Israel, you know, in Jesus' day and in the time of the apostles, how is it that they could not imagine that salvation would be granted to non-Jews? They themselves despised the idea that Jesus was the way of salvation. But they also detested it when they saw Gentiles turn to Jesus and follow Him. And that's seen so clearly. We've already seen some of it in Acts, and we'll see more of it later, God willing. It's seen in Acts. Because you see, it's the unbelieving Jews, as they see that Gentiles are saved, they attack the Apostles, even to death. So, given the Old Testament Scriptures, and how this was in the Scriptures told to them so often, and given how they cling to hold to those Scriptures, How could they not see and know that the Messiah was to give light to the Gentiles? How is that possible? Well, the answer is that the light came into the world, but the darkness did not comprehend it. Men love darkness rather than light. See, as long as man, and this is even those in the covenant, in the church, if they remain in darkness, in the darkness of unbelief, they don't want the light. They don't welcome the light. They hate it. And so it takes, and I know we say this all the time, But it takes a sovereign, it takes an electing, and it takes a gracious work of God to break through the darkness and give light. Give the Lord Jesus Christ. You think of that piercing bright light that came upon Saul, the persecutor. He wasn't seeking it in the least. He was opposing it and persecuting it. But that light, which was brighter than the noonday sun, it so radically changed Saul, so that he was made a chosen vassal to the light, to bear the name of Jesus to Gentiles and even kings. And yeah, that's why our text in verse 3, it says, "...and kings to the brightness of your rising." So, this is for the Gentiles. It's for the nations. But the kings will come to the brightness of your rising. What is that? Well, as light. the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. He brings salvation to His own. And as that happens, kings and rulers, they see that glory. And it has an effect. They see here is a rising from the dust, if you will. From the darkness. Here is a radiance of holiness and righteousness. And it has an effect. And you know several places explain that effect. Even here in chapter 60. Look at verse 10. The sons of foreigners shall build your walls, and their kings shall minister to you. The Lord will turn kings, rulers, into the service of God's people. The church. In verse 11, it says, your gates shall be opened continually. In other words, there's no need to close the gates because there'll be no fear of enemies. If you look later in chapter 60, in verse 16, we read it, you shall drink the milk of the Gentiles and milk the breast of kings. You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer. You see how radical this is? Instead of being hostile and being an enmity against the church and the people of God, Gentiles and kings will give their sustenance to the church, like a child nursing at the mother's breast. That's what it's talking about. Describes the wealth of the nations that are used in service to Christ and to His kingdom. And repeatedly it keeps saying, they will proclaim praise of the Lord. In Isaiah 60 and 18 and following, I decided not to go into detail there, but you read of wealth, you read of treasures of the nations. Everything that is great in the world is made to serve the King of Kings. And repeatedly, as I said, it's for His glory to proclaim His praise and so on. This isn't, you know, we're coming here and look how great we are. No, this is gladness. And you know what, brothers and sisters, in history even, we see now and again little foretastes of this. Well, obviously we see the nations, people of all nations, we see them coming to Jesus Christ as Savior. We see that throughout history. And we also see how kings and rulers give help to the church even. In fact, that was seen right after the captivity there in Isaiah's time. Kings. Three different kings made edicts to help rebuild Jerusalem. Cyrus did it. Darius did it. And Artaxerxes did it. To rebuild Jerusalem. That's why Psalm 68, 29 says, Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring presents to you. But as I said, these are all foretastes. Their foretaste in the sense that they lead to the time when, as we read on Revelation 11, 15, it says, the seventh angel cries out along with loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever. The point is, Christ rules as the light of the nations. And in conclusion, you notice at the end of chapter 60, in verse 22, it says, I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time. The it there refers to it all. All the way from verse 1. The Lord will bring this to fulfillment in its time. And it's a time known only to Him. And we see some of its unfolding in time and history. But it is a time known only to Him. And when we think of that, it's important to see. This prophetic good news. This was given to the Old Testament believers. As we confess from the Westminster Confession. The merits of Christ. His work of salvation. It was efficacious. It had a working power also for them. So they were given this prophetic good news that the Lord would restore Jerusalem from the present time that they were living in of calamity and misery. And it was given to them so that the godly would not give up their love for Zion. Their love for the kingdom of God. And yeah, at that time Jerusalem was the center of that kingdom. So, as it were, everything hinged on the rebuilding of Jerusalem. But you see, this prophetic good news, it also has an ongoing fulfillment. And that is, as we've seen, in the person of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. He was and He is the light shining into this world of darkness and misery. The darkness, we used an example that we have from scripture about idols and crying out to idols. But all the other darkness is just as much alive today and real and tangible as back then. And that darkness is only broken by Jesus Christ as the light. But also the prophetic good news, it has a further fulfillment yet. We don't have it all yet. And that's even anticipated in Isaiah 60. If you look at verses 19 and 20, it says, The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you. But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light and your God, your glory. Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself, for the Lord will be your everlasting light. How that goes beyond anything this earth has seen. It is the glory of the New Jerusalem. And by faith we come to it. Remember Hebrews 12, I think it's verse 22. You have come to Zion, the city of the Living God, the New Jerusalem. That's where we come to by faith. And the glory of that New Jerusalem is shown in Revelation 21. We read there how John saw the city that had no need of the sun. The Lamb, sorry, is its light. Revelation 21, 24 says, The nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor to it. That's the fulfillment of what we heard in our text. Verse 25 of Revelation 21 says, there shall be no more night there. See, here is a total and complete and eternal triumph of light over darkness. The corruption of sin. The state of God's wrath is overcome for Zion. See, the church has nothing but a holy and glorious joy forever. And so, you see, we today, we have that light. And we are also called to not give up our love for Zion, the Kingdom of God. And brothers and sisters, we show that love. by living as children of light. That's why Ephesians 5, 8 declares, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Brothers and sisters, arise, shine, for your light has come. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for the glory of Jesus Christ. It is only by your Spirit that that word of darkness really makes an impression upon us and causes us, O Lord, to see what it is to be delivered from the kingdom of darkness, that we could not do it ourselves. We cannot arise and shine unless Jesus Christ is our light. That only happens by your sovereign electing grace. As we know the light, give us joy in it. And may our rising be used of you to cause Gentiles and even kings to come to that rising, to see our light, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for your Word. May it refresh us and nourish us and dwell in us richly, also in this coming week. May it accomplish the purposes for which you have sent it forth to us this morning, we pray in Jesus' name.