Bible Commentaries

The glorious promises contained in the closing verses of Isaiah 58:1-14, may have sounded idealistic and visionary even in Isaiah's day, and more so in our day, when in spite of every effort the problem of Israel and its land seems insoluble. What has delayed, and still delays, the realization of such promises? The opening verses of Isaiah 59:1-21 give the answer.

Unbelieving men would make Israel's plight a ground of complaint and reproach against God. Either He was indifferent so that His ear never caught their cries, or He was impotent and unable to deliver them. The true state of the case was that their sins had driven a wedge of separation between them and God. They were utterly alienated from Him.

This is a matter that some of us are inclined to overlook. In considering the havoc sin has wrought we are apt to think mainly of the guilt of our sins and the judgment they will incur; perhaps also thinking of the enslaving power exerted by sin in our lives, while giving but little thought to the way in which it has separated us from God. But none of the effects of sin is more disastrous than this — alienation.

If any desire proof of this, let them read Romans 3:10-12. The whole human race having fallen under the power of sin, there is none righteous; and, worse still, sin has darkened the understanding, so that by nature men do not realize the seriousness of their plight. Worst of all, sin has undermined and alienated their beings so that none seek after God. That being so God must seek after man, if ever he is to be blessed: in other words, God must take the initiative. We fall back therefore upon the sovereignty of God. To the recognition of His sovereignty God was leading the people through Isaiah, as we shall see before we reach the end of this chapter.

But before that is reached Isaiah has to speak to the people again in the plainest and most detailed fashion about their manifold sins. This is ever God's way. He never glosses over sin, but exposes it before men's eyes, that they may be brought to repentance. The preacher of the Gospel today had better recognize this fact. The deeper the work of repentance in the soul the more solid the conversion-work that follows.

Verses Isaiah 59:3-8 give in full and terrible detail the sins that had separated them from their God, and we note that the indictments of verses Isaiah 59:7-8 are quoted in Romans 3:1-31, in support of the sweeping statements of man's utter ruin, to which we have already referred. And further, having quoted these verses and others from the Old Testament, the Apostle Paul observes that these things were said, "to them who are under the law," that is, the denunciations are against not Gentiles but Jews, who were the picked sample of the human race. If true of them, true of all.

If in verses Isaiah 59:3-8, the prophet speaks on God's behalf, denouncing the sins of the people, he turns in verses Isaiah 59:9-15 to make confessions on behalf of the people, such as well might be made by those in their midst who feared God. He owns the miseries that existed on every hand: — no justice, obscurity and darkness just as if they had no eyes, desolation and mourning; every kind of oppression, falsehood and injustice rampant. Anything like truth utterly failing. A darker picture can hardly be imagined.

And one further feature of a very grievous sort was to be seen. There were some, however few they might be who walked in the fear of God and hence departed from all these evils and walked in separation from them. Such came under judgment from the mass who went on with the evils; for, "he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey." It was a very unpopular thing to do, since it cast a discredit and rebuke on the mass who indulged in the sins. The same thing may be seen today, though the injunction to depart is far clearer and more definite: — "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ [or, the Lord] depart from iniquity" (2 Timothy 2:19). Such departing is no more popular today than it was then, but it is the clear command of the Lord to the saint of today.

Such being the state of things in the Israel of those days, and more or less so ever since those days, what will God do about it? The answer begins in verse Isaiah 59:16. As we indicated a little earlier, God falls back upon His sovereignty in mercy. He indicates that though there was no hope in man, His mighty "Arm" would act and bring salvation. So here we have prophesied that which the Apostle expounds more fully in the closing verses of Romans 11:1-36. Through the Gospel at the present moment salvation is being brought to Gentiles in the mercy of God, but when "the fulness of the Gentiles be come in," God will revert to His promises to Israel, and they will be saved; but not as the fruit of law-keeping. It will be altogether as the fruit of His sovereign mercy. The contemplation of this wonderful mercy to Israel, as well as to us, moved the Apostle to the magnificent doxology with which he closed that chapter.

In the closing verses of our chapter the "Arm" of verse Isaiah 59:16 is to be identified with the "Redeemer" of verse Isaiah 59:20 and this verse is referred to in Romans 11:26 and the verbal differences we notice between the two passages are instructive. The Redeemer is now referred to as the Deliverer, for the Arm of the Lord will prove to be both. When He came as the humbled Servant of the Lord He accomplished redemption's mighty work. When He comes to Zion in His glory, He will bring the deliverance, made righteously possible by the redemption.

Then, according to Isaiah, He will come "unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob;" whereas in Romans we read that He " hall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." This again is what He will do in His delivering might, while Isaiah shows us rather how He will do it. He will come unto the God-fearing in Jacob, when judgment falls upon the evil-doers.

Verses Isaiah 59:17-18 of our chapter speak of the judgment that must be executed by the Arm of the Lord. There is "no man" who can act and be an intercessor, just as earlier we saw that "none calleth for justice." No man has any merit, and no man is able to act to put things right. This latter fact we meet with again in very striking form in Revelation 5:1-14, where "no man" was found worthy to take the book of judgment and break its seals, save the Lamb that had been slain. What is so plainly shown in the Revelation is indicated in our verses. The Arm of the Lord will be clothed in righteousness and salvation. The salvation will reach His people, but His righteousness will bring fury and recompence to His adversaries, so that from west to east the name of the Lord will be feared and His glory known.

But how does it come to pass, we may ask, that there will be found the God-fearing remnant in Jacob when this tremendous hour is reached?" This is answered for us in verse Isaiah 59:19. The testimony of Scripture is clear that just before the Redeemer comes to Zion, the enemy will have "come in like a flood." This will be the case in a double sense. According to Psalms 2:1-12, the kings of the earth and the rulers will have set themselves against the Lord and His Anointed, and Jerusalem will be the target for antagonistic nations; but also, Satan having been cast down to earth, as related in Revelation 12:1-17, spiritual wickedness will reach its climax. But just then, the enemy coming in like a flood, the Spirit of God will act, to raise up a "standard," or "banner," against him.

The meaning of this is clear. Another scripture says, "Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth" (Psalms 60:4). Just when the enemy's action reaches flood-tide height, there will be the counter-action of the Spirit of God, and true servants of God will be raised up, men who will "turn from transgression," and welcome the delivering might of the Arm of the Lord. Then at last the ungodliness of Jacob will be turned away for ever.

The permanence of this delivering work is stated in the last verse of the chapter, in which the Lord addresses the prophet as the representative of the nation. In that day they will possess two things: — "My Spirit " and "My words." When the sons of poor, failing Jacob shall be dominated by the Spirit of the Lord, so that they walk in obedience to the words of the Lord, their full blessing will have come.

And the same thing in principle stands true for us today, while we wait for the coming of our Lord. We have the Holy Spirit not only "upon" us but actually indwelling us, and we have not merely certain words put in the prophet's mouth, but the completed word of the Lord, bringing us the full revelation of His purpose for us and of His mind and will for our earthly pathway. We may note also that through Haggai the prophet, God encouraged the remnant who had returned to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel in a similar way. In Haggai 2:5 we have, "the word that I covenanted with you," and "My Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. "May similar encouragement be ours today. No matter what disastrous things have transpired in the history of Christendom, the Spirit of God and the word of God still remain.

Isaiah 60:1-22 opens with a note of jubilation and triumph. The Redeemer having come to Zion, according to this prophetic strain, and God's covenant, connected with His Spirit and His words, being established, what else could we expect? Two things will then mark the people of Israel. They will "arise," since they have been sleeping in the dust of spiritual death among the nations. Further they will at last, "shine," as a testimony for God, and their light be seen among the nations. This hitherto has never been the case. And, why not? Because the law of Moses, under which they have always lived, has only proved that they have no light in themselves. They will only shine when the light of God, concentrated as it is in their once-rejected Messiah, shines through them.

At His first advent Jesus came as the dawning of a new day, bringing light to those sitting in darkness, as we see in Luke 1:78, Luke 1:79. But the Jew rejected the light and as far as they were concerned they put it out. Consequently, as we saw in Isaiah 49:1-26, He was given, for "a light to the Gentiles" to be "My salvation unto the end of the earth." His second advent will be in "the day of Thy power" when, "Thy people shall be willing," according to Psalms 110:1-7. Then at last they will come into the full blaze of that light and reflect it, as the moon reflects the light of the sun.

This thought, that of reflected light, is clearly in the verses that open Isaiah 60:1-22. The earth will be filled with darkness of a very gross sort at the time when Christ comes again. This He Himself indicated when He said, "Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). It will be rare and but little in evidence. During His absence there is no light save that connected with faith. When He comes, the glory of the Lord will be manifested, and it will be seen upon Israel, and so reflected on them and in them that the Gentiles shall come to the light that shines through them, and "kings to the brightness of thy rising."

Again we have to say that in principle this applies to us who are of the church while we wait for Him. To Christians of Jewish extraction it is said that they had been brought out of darkness, "into His marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9); and to those who were brought in from among the Gentiles it was said, "ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord" (Ephesians 5:8). To them the word was added, "walk as children of light;" that is, their light was to shine out as a testimony to all around. Spiritual light is to shine forth from the saints of today, who form the church, while we wait for the shining forth of the glory in a fashion that all can see.

In an earlier chapter we have read what God's purpose as to the people of Israel was: "This people have I formed for Myself: they shall show forth My praise (Isaiah 43:21). They have never yet done so in any proper sense, but in this coming day they will, and therefore they will become a centre of attraction upon earth. First of all the attraction will be felt by those who are truly of the Israel of God. Those who can be called, "thy sons" will come to Zion from afar, and those who are "thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side." This will be a re-gathering of the true Israel in the land of God's choice that will altogether eclipse the migration of Jews to Palestine that we see still proceeding today. God will be behind the movement and the revelation of His glory in the once-rejected Servant, but now the mighty delivering Arm, will be the attractive force.

The effect of the revelation of the glory upon redeemed Israel is further shown in verse Isaiah 59:5. True, it will not be essentially a matter of faith as it is with us today, for, says the prophet "then thou shalt see." The thing will be manifest before every eye, and the result will be threefold. They will "flow together;" so the drift will be in the direction of unity, and the old divisions that have marred the nation will disappear. Then they will fear, and experience how true it is that, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10). As a result of this they will "be enlarged."

We venture to think that this enlargement will take place not only in material things but also in mind and heart. It will take place in a material way, as the rest of verse Isaiah 59:5 indicates, but the enlargement is clearly stated to be of the heart. The verse mentions the "abundance of the sea;" and frequently that figure is used to indicate the masses of mankind. The statement does not mean that Israel will be well supplied with fish, but rather that though evil men, far away from God, are like the troubled sea that cannot rest, in the coming age the spared nations will be like a placid sea, yielding its abundant treasures and converting them more especially toward Israel. This is further emphasised by the words that close the verse, which according to the marginal reading would be "the wealth of the Gentiles shall come unto thee."

And all this blessing, both material and spiritual, will be poured upon Israel when the Arm of the Lord is revealed in power and glory, and those who "turn from transgression in Jacob;" that is, the true Israel, born again and in the presence of their Redeemer, stand in the virtue of His work. That work He wrought when He was despised and rejected of their forefathers and being led as a lamb to the slaughter, He was wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities.

As Christians we are today blessed with "all spiritual blessings," and that, "in heavenly places in Christ." When Israel is blessed in this way on earth, we shall be in the fulness of blessing in heaven.

The abundance of things, in the form of earthly blessings, that will be poured into Israel, is given in much detail from verse Isaiah 60:6 of Isaiah 60:1-22. In that verse Sheba is mentioned, the land from which came the Queen, who visited Solomon with much gold and spices. When she arrived, as related in 1 Kings 10:1-29, she showed forth the praises of Solomon. In the day contemplated in our chapter, "they shall show forth the praises of the Lord."

This will come to pass in the way that is intimated in verse Isaiah 60:7. Not only will the altar of God be once more established, but the house of the Lord be in their midst. A century or two after Isaiah, the prophet Haggai predicted that, "the glory of this latter house" (Haggai 2:9), or, "the latter glory of this house" (New Trans.), should be greater than the former in the days of Solomon; and so it will be. It is designated here as "the house of my glory," and even as such the Lord Himself will glorify it. In the glorified house of His glory His praises will be seen and heard.

We pass from the house to the people in verses Isaiah 60:8-9. Today the Jews are returning to their ancestral home in their hundreds and thousands without faith in Christ. When God re-gathers His people it will be a quick and effectual work. They will "fly," — a speedy work. It will be "to their windows" — like a bird returning to its home. And this they will do as "doves" — a bird noted for its meek and quiet spirit. The unconverted Jew of today may still be just as Paul described his own nation in 1 Thessalonians 2:15, but the born-again Israelites, who will fly to their millennial home in the coming day, will be a repentant and meek people. The ships too of Gentile nations will carry them and their riches, acknowledging the name of Jehovah as "the Holy One of Israel." Inasmuch as He has been glorified, He can now glorify Israel.

In result, the nations, instead of being antagonistic, will be the helpers of their fame and prosperity, as we see in verses Isaiah 60:10-12. As things stand today, nothing would seem more unlikely than what is here predicted; but we must remember that not only will there be a work of God in Israel, but among the nations also. In Revelation 7:1-17, we have not only a vision of the "sealed" among the tribes of Israel, but of a great company of the elect, drawn out of all nations; and in Revelation 21:1-27 we read of, "the nations of them which are saved." Those who rebel among the nations will perish.

In result, Jerusalem will be acknowledged as, "the city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel." It will have become what God intended it to be — "an eternal excellency" and "a joy." But again the basis on which this will be accomplished is made very plain. All will see that it is not something produced by Israel but rather by the One who is their Saviour and Redeemer. Jacob, the schemer, and his posterity have nothing in which to boast. The Mighty One of Jacob alone has done it on the basis of redemption.

We read of the Redeemer coming to Zion in verse Isaiah 60:20 of the previous chapter, and noticed how the Apostle referred to this in Romans 11:1-36. We now see that the Redeemer is Jehovah. And in the New Testament it is equally clear that the Redeemer is Jesus. He who is the Arm of Jehovah is Jehovah.

In our chapter this is stated in verse Isaiah 60:16, and it is the fact that explains what otherwise would be a mystery; namely, the wealth and the glory, that will be poured into and upon Israel from the Gentile nations, as we see detailed in the verses that precede and that follow. We read that, "The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish." Why should such severe judgment fall? Because the Divine plan for the coming millennial age is that Israel shall be the central nation, surrounding His glorious temple, as a nation of priests, and that the other nations should be grouped around them, and expressing through them their submission and devotion to the King of kings. Should a nation in that day defy the Divine plan, they will perish. It will be the age of Divine government. We live at present in the age of grace.

In the latter part of Revelation 21:1-27, we have described the new and heavenly Jerusalem, which is "the Lamb's wife" — a symbolic description; of the church in its heavenly position during the millennial age, and if we compare with it the details of our chapter concerning the earthly Jerusalem, we notice certain similarities, and yet striking contrasts. The presence of the Lord is the glory of both cities. The gates of both are open continually to receive the wealth and honour of the nations. Both have an abundance of "gold," and find their everlasting "light" in the Lord.

But the contrasts are more numerous. The gates of the earthly will not be shut day or night of the heavenly not shut by day — but the day is an eternal one, for there is no night there. The glory of the earthly will be the temple, described in verse Isaiah 60:13 as "the place of My feet." Jehovah will have His feet On the earth; but in the heavenly there is no temple, for "the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." It is the place of His presence rather than the place of His feet. The earthly will know a glory brighter than the sun; but the heavenly will have no need of the sun for the Lamb is the light thereof. Gold will be brought plentifully into the earthly; but in the heavenly it forms the street, and they walk on it. We think we may say that the difference is accounted for by the introduction, in Revelation, of THE LAMB.

But we can indeed rejoice in the description given us by Isaiah of millennial blessedness and glory, when righteousness and peace will mark the scene and violence will have disappeared, when the real walls of Jerusalem shall be salvation, and out of its gates shall issue praise. This will only come to pass when, as verse Isaiah 60:2 says, "Thy people also shall be all righteous." That will only come to pass when the new birth, of which Ezekiel 36:1-38 speaks, takes place. Then God will "sprinkle clean water" upon them, and give them "a new heart," and put within them "a new spirit." Then, "born of water and of the Spirit," as the Lord Jesus put it to Nicodemus, they will see and enter into the kingdom of God.

When the children of Israel are thus born again and righteous before their God, through the grace of their Redeemer, they will be multiplied as the last verse of our chapter tells us. At last God is able to make of them "a strong nation." When the time arrives God will do it speedily. It will not be a long drawn-out process, a kind of evolution, such as men love but a swift action, of a sort that manifestly is a work of God.

This attractive description of millennial blessedness is continued in chapter 61, but before it is resumed, the first three verses, forming a paragraph by themselves, instruct us further how all will be brought to pass. Here we have the passage that our Lord found in the synagogue at Nazareth, as recorded in Luke 4:1-44, and which He read, stopping in the middle of verse Isaiah 60:2, because there the prediction of His first advent ends. The fact is, of course, that for Israel, as for us, everything depends on His two advents.

The words that were read by our Lord all indicate grace, without any allusion to the law of Moses. There is a veiled allusion to the three Persons of the Godhead. In our Bibles GOD is printed thus in capitals because it is really the great name, Jehovah. So the opening words mention the Spirit of Jehovah, the Lord Jehovah Himself, and the "Me," who is the Anointed One, or the Christ, who is sent to be the Proclaimer and the Minister of the grace. It is perfectly clear from Exodus 19:1-25 that the words of the law were not "glad tidings." There was, "the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled." The tragedy was that when a voice of exceeding grace was heard in the synagogue at Nazareth the people neither trembled nor rejoiced, but rose up with anger to kill the One who proclaimed "the acceptable year of the Lord."

Hence the necessity of those words which our Lord did not read. The second advent of Christ in power and glory, and in judgment, is foreseen to be a necessity by the prophet here. The glorious state of things predicted will never be established till Christ comes again. He laid the foundations for it in the redemption accomplished at His first advent. He will bring it to pass in power, and with vengeance, at His second advent.

Vengeance is truly a terrible word when it comes from the mouth of God, and if we turn to verse Isaiah 60:4 of Isaiah 63:1-19 we shall find it referred to again. It means retribution exacted for wrongs committed, and all the wrongs that men have committed are primarily against God. A day is coming when God Himself will bring retribution on the heads of sinful men; judging "the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained," as Paul told the Athenians, recorded in Acts 17:1-34. When that comes to pass, it will "comfort all that mourn," because their mourning will be not for their own personal troubles, but rather for the evil and chaos that will fill the earth, the sinfulness of men having then reached its climax. When men have filled the cup of their iniquity to the brim, God will strike by the advent of Christ. And to those who mourn, though few in number, what a comfort that will be!

Verse Isaiah 60:3 shows us what comfort it will bring such. Their previous state is described by the words, "ashes," "mourning," "the spirit of heaviness." All will be changed for them. They will have "beauty," "the oil of joy," and "the garment of praise. "They will be planted as "trees of righteousness," the trees of lawlessness and evil having been cut down, and in all this, and in them, the Lord will be glorified.

From verse Isaiah 60:4 the description of Israel's blessings is resumed. Not only will the land be renovated, the desolate cities be built up afresh, and strangers who formerly despised them be their servants but the crown of all be their spiritual blessing. They will be the "Priests of Jehovah" and "Ministers of God" in the coming age, and as under the law the priests were supported by the offerings of the common people, so it will be for them, and that in abundant measure, for they are going to "eat the riches of the Gentiles." In that day even the Gentiles will have abundance, and out of their riches will flow abundance to the priestly nation.

This is indeed a remarkable prophecy as to the end God is going to reach in His dealings with His earthly people. Verse Isaiah 60:7 speaks of shame and confusion, and these things have been their portion under the strong hand of their God, in holy government because of their manifold sins, but now all is to be reversed. Other passages have shown us how their whole condition spiritually will have been reversed, under "the everlasting covenant," of which verse Isaiah 60:8 speaks. Based on the everlasting covenant will be the everlasting joy, predicted in verse Isaiah 60:7. All will have to acknowledge that now, as a born again people, they are "the seed which the Lord hath blessed."

In the two verses that close this chapter the prophet himself speaks, as voicing the glad response that will spring from the redeemed and restored Israel of the millennial day. At last Jehovah their God will be known and gloried in with joyfulness. At Sinai and under the law, their ancestors feared and trembled before Him, since all depended on what they could do. Now they are joyfully alive to what God has done for them and with them. Notice how at this point the prophetic strain drops down to the personal and individual. It is not, "clothed us," but, "clothed me." Not, "covered us," but, "covered me." The language is figurative, but the meaning is clear. The individual Israelite of that glad day will be clothed with salvation, as the fruit of standing before his God in a robe of righteousness.

Though there is so wide a difference between the character of Israel's earthly blessing and that of the church's heavenly portion, the basis on which both rest is evidently the same. For them salvation is to be founded on righteousness, and so it is for us today, as is made so plain in Romans 1:16, Romans 1:17. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation because in it the righteousness of God is revealed, not acting against us but on our behalf by the sacrificial death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. It is revealed, "on the principle of faith to faith" (New Trans.). It is brought to us, not on the principle of works, which we have to perform, but of faith as opposed to works. And it is revealed, not to our sight, but to faith, where faith exists.

The believer today stands before God in righteousness divinely wrought, and his faith apprehends this, though there may be nothing of an outward sort visible to sight, save the new kind of life he lives as the fruit of his conversion. But in this connection too there is contrast, for outward and visible things will be clearly manifested, as the robe of righteousness and garments of salvation envelop the sons and daughters of Israel in that day. There will not only be the transformation in the land and cities, mentioned in verse Isaiah 60:4, but the righteousness will blossom forth in a way that will be visible to the eyes of all the nations to the praise of the Lord, who has brought it to pass.

So whether it be for the saint of today, called by the Gospel to a heavenly portion, or whether for the renewed Israelites of the future — salvation stands securely based upon righteousness. And because righteousness will be established praise also will "spring forth before all the nations." It will be so obviously the work of God that the glory of it and the praise will be His.

In the first verse of Isaiah 62:1-12, we have the prophet speaking in the name of the Lord; or, perhaps we might say, it was the Spirit of Christ which was in him, speaking through him, in keeping with what we read in 1 Peter 1:11. If the result of God's work in Israel, and on behalf of Zion and Jerusalem, will bring such good to them and such praises to God, then there must be no rest until all is accomplished. Before the eyes of all the nations Israel will stand in a righteous salvation, which God Himself has wrought, and hence they will display His glory, and not their own. The figures used in verse Isaiah 60:3, are very expressive of this. Previously, how different the situation! The Apostle Paul had to write concerning them, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you" (Romans 2:24). Now they will be, "a crown of glory," and "a royal diadem," in God's hand.

We, who today are called for a portion not only spiritual but also heavenly, may well rejoice as we contemplate what God will yet do for and with His earthly people; and at the same time we may yet more rejoice as we think of what is purposed for us. If we scan the first two chapters of Ephesians, what remarkable expressions we find. The blessing purposed for us will be, "to the praise of the glory of His grace," inasmuch as it is bestowed, "according to the riches of His grace." And further we discover that "in the ages to come" God is going to display "the exceeding [or, surpassing] riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."

When Israel is blessed, as Isaiah foretells, it will be a work of grace and bring much glory to God. But when the church shines forth in the heavenly glory of Christ, her Head, there will be a yet brighter display of grace. Those embraced in the church have been gathered out of the nations through the centuries; not a few of them human beings of the most degraded type.

Holy angels have witnessed the whole tragedy of human sin. When a saint is shining in the glory of Christ, that, they recognize, was once a naked, vicious, savage cannibal what will they say? They will surely confess that here is a display of SURPASSING grace.

And we, the saints of today, have the privilege of taking our part in God's present work by the Gospel. Do we realize this? If we do, we shall not fail to take our place, under the Lord's direction — whether to go, or to give, to speak or to pray, — while waiting for the glorious consummation.