60:1–2  Arise, shine, your light has dawned; the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! Although darkness covers the earth, and a thick mist the peoples, upon you the Lord will shine; over you his glory shall be visible.

Previously, we saw that the wicked were left in gross darkness. Without a glimmer of hope they were walking in gloom, groping like the blind along the wall, the borders. And we also saw in chapter fifty-eight that those who give of their own to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, to them the light will dawn amid darkness, and their twilight will become as the noonday. He’s talking about a very specific group of people, not just anybody. It’s those who share their food with the hungry, who bring home the wretchedly poor, and so forth. To them their light will break through like the dawn, and their healing speedily appear, in chapter fifty-eight, again, verse eight. And so we can’t say to just apply this across the board to everybody. We have to say this is a very specific group of people to whom this happens. It happens to those who live up to that kind of standard, the Lord’s standard, of righteousness.

“Arise, shine, your light has dawned.” It’s the dawning of the new Millennium of peace which is likened to a new dawn, in the book of Isaiah. And the light, here, is paralleled with the glory of the Lord. But the light is also the Lord’s Servant. We saw that in chapter forty-two and forty-nine which we just quoted— that the Servant is appointed as a light to the nations,or as a light to the peoples. We also saw it in chapter nine, where he’s called the light that lights up the darkness of the righteous people. And we also saw in chapter fifty-two that Zion rises from the dust to “sit upon her throne.” So when it says, “arise, shine, your light has dawn,” it has to do with Zion. It’s a word link to that specific group of people, that caliber of people. To them the Millennium of peace will dawn. But not so to the wicked. They will go into chaos, or into darkness, which is chaos motif.

The light dawning is paralleled with the Lord arising upon them. “The glory of the Lord” symbolizes his presence. It is the cloudy pillar, in chapter four, that rests upon the congregations of Zion, and protects them from the storm-- the storm being the day of judgment, the day of destruction of the wicked. The one group is in a safe place, protected there under the cloud of glory. And that is the whole effect of the Servant’s mission. His purpose is to call people to repentance, to raise them up to a higher spiritual level, and then to bring them out in an exodus from among the wicked, that separation we just talked about. They will be taken to places that are safe and protected, like the Israelites were protected under the cloud of glory, from the Egyptians so the Egyptians could not harm them. Or like the Israelites were protected from the hot sun, and other elements of destruction, in the Sinai wilderness.

“The glory of the Lord rising upon them,” means that they come under God’s Divine protection under his Divine intervention. The Lord himself brings the cloud of glory down. The Servant can’t do that. But the Servant can prepare the way so that God may come and protect them in that way. He’s the forerunner of God’s coming. He’s the Moses that prepares the minds and hearts of the people to respond appropriately to the Lord so that the Lord can come and save them.
But, “the glory of the Lord rising upon them” is also a permanent thing, not just a temporary thing, during the destruction. What happened when the temple was built in the Promised Land, anciently? The cloud of glory came and rested upon the temple, signifying the Lord’s presence. The Lord’s presence was with the people in the Sinai wanderings. The cloud of glory rested upon the tabernacle, there, and Moses went into the holy of holies and spoke with the Lord, face to face. And so can the high priest, once the temple is built. It implies a permanent coming of the Lord to his holy house, as well. We’ll see that a little later where it starts talking about the house of the Lord, in chapter sixty-six, about the temple that will be built. In the meantime, the glory of the Lord comes upon those people who respond to the Servant’s mission, to the light that the Lord sends to them. The light is also the light of truth, and the precepts of God. Or the terms of the covenant are also called a light, in the book of Isaiah. We’ve covered that. The light is a two-fold thing. It is both a Servant and also the light of truth, or the precepts of the Lord, in terms of his covenant. The one goes into the light and grows in the light and has all the benefits of the light and all the consequence of responding appropriately—the blessings of the covenant, and the other—the curses.

“Though darkness covers the earth, and a thick mist the peoples.” That’s the lot of the wicked who don’t respond to the light. The darkness does not receive the light, or doesn’t comprehend the light. So we have this horrendous dichotomy of two co-existing groups of people: one responding to the light, who are received into the light, and the others who are left in darkness, or who reject the light and go into greater darkness. The one signifies a new creation, whose light is a creative force, and the other in a situation of chaos and going into destruction, because that is a chaos motif. They go back to their elemental state. “Thickness” is another chaos motif. Dust, chaff, darkness, ashes, fog, clouds—all of those are chaos motif signifying being reduced to an elemental state. They cease to exist, eventually. The wicked become as dust “under the feet of the righteous,” as the prophet Malachi says.

“Although darkness covers the earth, and a thick mist the peoples, upon you the Lord will shine. Over you shall his glory shall be visible.” We have there, a chiasm. Chapter sixty, verse one talks about the light rising upon them, the glory of the Lord. In the middle of it is the darkness covering the earth, and thick mist the peoples, and then goes back to the Lord shining, and over them, his glory being visible. That’s an a, b, a chiasm. That’s going to be a very interesting time when most of the world is going to be in total darkness, spiritually, and maybe also, physically because of the polluting clouds that Isaiah talks about. In the end of chapter nine the wicked are left in darkness, where there is gnashing of teeth, pretty similar to the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins. In chapter eight, verse twenty-two it says, “they will look the land but there shall be a depressing scene of anguish and gloom, and thus they are banished into outer darkness.”
This is mostly a bright chapter, unlike chapter fifty-nine which was mostly about the wicked. Chapter fifty-eight was, again, mostly about the righteous. So he’s going back and forth, here, between what happens to the righteous and what happens to the wicked, showing again the dichotomy, the division, the separation of the two. One exemplifies extreme wickedness and the other extreme righteousness, and the consequences of each. But it’s all the same people. It’s all the covenant people of God who go two ways. One type goes one way, the other goes the other way.
60:3  Nations will come to your light, their rulers to the brightness of your dawn.

Now, the nations and rulers have been mentioned before. We’ve seen, as in chapter two, and chapter sixty-six, that it’s talking about the remnants of Israel who are scattered among the nations coming home. And that’s what it says in the next verse.

60:4  Lift up your eyes and look about you! They have all assembled to come to you: your sons shall arrive from afar; your daughters shall return to your side.

They’re your own kind. They’re members of the covenant people. Those who are out there are going to come back when the glory of the Lord rests upon his people, in a particular place, as it did on the temple in Jerusalem, anciently. That will attract people. That will be the time of the return of Israel from exile. How do they come? They come in an exodus, to a center place. When? At the dawning of the Millennium. “Nations will come to your light, their rulers to the brightness of your dawn.” The Light is also the Servant, so he has something to do with it. He’s the one who is the ensign that rallies the Lord’s people to repent and to return. The Lord’s people, called Zion, who repent of transgression, return to the place Zion. We can assume that this is the place, Zion, or Jerusalem, a place where the Lord’s Servant will be who we will have something to do with.

Nations and rulers, or kings and queens of the Gentiles, minister to the House of Israel. Yet, many of the House of Israel mingled with the Gentiles, or the Gentiles mingled with Israel. So that in the end, all those who become the covenant people will be said to be, whether they come of the ethnic lineages of Israel, or the mingled lineages, they’re all part of one body of people.
“Lift up your eyes and look about you. They’ve all assembled to come to you.” All of them. All of those who have repented come. Not one is left behind. They come from where? Well, from everywhere. Just like we saw a moment ago, “to the isles he will render retribution.” It’s a universal judgment and so it is a universal exodus, or universal salvation. Very much like Jeremiah talks about, “you will no more say the Lord God who brought the Israelites out of Egypt, but the Lord God who brought the Israelites from the four corners of the earth,” from everywhere. “Sons” and “daughters” are also technical terms, implying vassalship to the Lord, people who have covenanted with him, who become his servants and sons. These are people who are responding appropriately. These are the opposite of the rebellious sons we saw in chapter one. These are sons and daughters who are loyal and faithful.

60:5  Then, when you see it, your face will light up, your heart swell with awe: the multitude of the Sea shall resort to you; a host of nations shall enter you.

Here, we have the concept of those at home and those abroad. Those at home welcome those abroad into their midst, and they receive them back. Just like the Prodigal son coming home, or it’s like the structure of Isaiah where he uses “trouble at home, and exile abroad” and a happy homecoming. There’s a happy homecoming, here, for those who have gone through experiences of life and renewed their allegiance to God, and they’re appointed to high position in their homeland, once they return. There are those at home who welcome them back.
In this case it’s likened to a woman, Zion, who welcomes back her children, her sons and daughters who’ve been away. The nations coming and her heart swelling with awe and her face lighting up are terms, here, that link this scenario with chapter two where nations and peoples come up to Zion to be instructed in the law of the covenant. The time frame, given in chapter two, there, is the Last days. “In the latter-days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the head of the nations, or the head of the mountains. And, nations and people return, there, and come from all over, to Zion. There are word links, there, like the word “nations” and the word “flowing to Zion.” In Hebrew, the heart swelling with awe says, “flowing with awe.” It’s word link to chapter two.

“The multitude of the Sea shall resort to you; a host of nations shall enter you.” The “Sea” is associated, in the book of Isaiah, with the king of Assyria. Anciently, the king of Assyria took captive the Ten tribes and they returned from the land of Assyria. So this implies a return from the land of Assyria, of the Ten Tribes who were taken captive, anciently. In modern terms, there’s a modern king of Assyria of which the ancient king of Assyria was a type. So it means that the Ten Tribes, on their return, are released from captivity to the king of Assyria. They are part of the exodus home. “A host of nations shall enter you.” All these, of course, are the nations of Israel, not just one nation. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph were promised that their offspring would become a multitude of nations. And here they are.

60:6–7  A myriad of camels shall cover your land, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and frankincense and heralding the praises of the Lord. All Kedar’s flocks will gather to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they shall be accepted as offerings on my altar, and thus I will make glorious my house of glory.

There, you have the house spoken of—the temple-- the house of glory, because the glory of the Lord will be resting upon it once the scattered people come home. Where does the glory of the Lord go that has been protecting these congregations of Israel that come on the exodus? The glory of the Lord doesn’t just go back up into the air. It stays and rests upon the temple. And these camels and dromedaries could be camels and dromedaries, again, literally, or they could be vehicles of some kind, chariots—cars. The gold and frankincense implies that these are elect people that are being gathered. Remember the precious metals, symbolizing the elect? There’s the semi-precious metals, and the common metals and stones, symbolizing the other two categories of people that Isaiah talks about? This implies the gathering of the elect, the righteous people of God. The gathering of his flocks—flocks and the rams mentioned here implies covenant people of the Lord. Yes, of course, they could be literal flocks and rams, and so forth. But, in the book of Isaiah animals represent peoples, too. Camels and dromedaries are not kosher animals. But the rams and flocks are. So we have both Israelite and Gentile, here, coming back, symbolizing the gathering of Israel. Among the gathering of literal Israel, or ethnic Israel, there are also proselytes, or those from among the Gentiles who are a part of that gathering. We’ve seen that before. In chapter fourteen, for example, “The Lord will have compassion on Jacob, and once again choose Israel. He will settle them in their own land and proselytes will adhere to them and join the House of Jacob.” And we’ve had chapter fifty-six, where the foreigners and eunuchs are given the highest covenantal blessings because of their allegiance to the God of Israel. Kings and queens of the Gentiles are the mingled lineages of Israel; they are also very much a part of this scenario.

When it says, “they shall be accepted as offerings on my altar,” the people, themselves, are the offerings. We discussed that in chapter one where animals are coming to the temple for sacrifice, in an ancient context. But as a metaphor for people, people themselves are the offerings. And we see that, in this case. We see it also in chapter sixty-six where we see something similar; they’re coming on horses and chariots and wagons, on mules, and dromedaries. Just as the Israelites brought offerings of pure vessels to the house of the Lord, they’re bringing back of all their brethren from throughout the nations, to Jerusalem, “my holy mountain, “ in chapter sixty-six, verse twenty. It’s like bringing offerings to the Lord, the bringing of the Israelites back to the temple. It’s all very much allegorical, besides whatever literal meaning it may have. It’s talking about people, basically, and nations and rulers, in verse three, and sons and daughters, in verse four, and then goes into that allegorical imagery of the animals, and then back to the people again. Because he’s been talking about people all along.

60:8–9  Who are these, aloft like clouds, flying as doves to their portals? From the isles they are gathering to me, the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring back your children from afar, and with them their silver and gold, to the Lord Omnipotent, your God, to the Holy One of Israel, who has made you illustrious.

Some of them are not just walking, they’re also flying. And we discussed that camels and dromedaries refer to various kinds of vehicles, perhaps, today. And maybe these others refer to vehicles that fly, also. Or, it may refer to some kind of spiritual transportation. Like the spirit of the Lord taking Phillip, in the New Testament, from place to place. That’s also a possibility, isn’t it? And it could also be talking about more than one event. We’ve seen, for example, “Operation Magic Carpet,” in which Ethiopian Jews and Oriental Jews were flown back to Israel, in airplanes, to their homeland. It was a huge airlift of people, as they were established in Israel. In Isaiah’s scenario those people who are in Israel right now would be some of those at home who would be welcoming those coming from abroad in this latter-day exodus that hasn’t happened yet. The place has been prepared, there, for them to return home. There will be those at home who will be ready to receive them when this mass exodus takes place that Isaiah’s talking about here.

Let’s talk about the ships, also. So we see there is all kinds of transportation: by land, by sea, and by air, “to bring back your children from afar, and with them their silver and gold.” Again, precious metals symbolizing the elect category of God’s people, besides the actual literal silver and gold that they bring. They’ll be bringing their wealth with them “to the Lord Omnipotent, your God,” that is, “your covenant God, to the Holy One of Israel who has made you illustrious.” Holy One of Israel is the exemplar of his people who have become holy. These are the ones who were spared the destruction because they were valiant and they were holy, as we discussed before. And, as a result, they have become illustrious. The Lord has made them illustrious. The cross reference, there, is chapter forty-two, verse twenty-one, which talks about the people becoming illustrious. It says, “it is the will of the Lord, that because of his righteousness they magnify the Law and they become illustrious.” So these people have become illustrious and it is because they have magnified the law, which is the law of the covenant, and have begun to experience all the blessings of the covenant. And the Lord exalts his covenant people, all those who covenant with him by sacrifice.

60:10  Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their rulers will minister to you. Though I struck you in anger, I will gladly show you mercy.

Or their kings will minister to you. So, we’re back in the homeland. They’ve been gathering and now they’re inheriting the Promised Land, and are given lands of inheritance, as we’ve seen before, in chapter forty-nine, for example, where the Servant gives the people lands of inheritance. Their places that are being rebuilt. The ancient land is being rebuilt. And the rulers are the kings of the Gentiles, foreigners will minister to them, and will assist them, in this case.
“ Though I struck you in anger, I will gladly show you mercy.” Now, these people have not always been righteous. In other words, they are people who were subject to the Lord’s wrath and anger for having transgressed, for having been a wicked people at some point. Mercy also implies forgiveness of their sins. The law of mercy comes into operation when people repent. But without repentance they are still under the law of justice, as the wicked are who go to destruction. Here we have a cycle alluded to, of going from wickedness to punishment—being struck in anger-- and then being forgiven and the Lord being merciful to them so much that they’re brought back to a situation of covenant blessing. They come back from exile and are given lands of inheritance. That’s merciful. That defines God’s mercy, as to how merciful he is.
Anger is also a pseudonym describing the king of Assyria. He personifies God’s anger. So they were struck in anger, or rather, the king of Assyria was given power over them, at some point.

60:11  Your gates shall always remain open; they shall not be shut day or night, that a host of nations may be brought to you and their rulers escorted in.

 “Your gates shall always remain open; they shall not be shut day or night.” Meaning, that there will be no more need to defend against the king of Assyria or against the enemy, because they’ll be gone. It means the king of Assyria will do his work. He’ll destroy the wicked, the wicked destroying the wicked, and then he will be made an end of, as we saw in chapter fourteen where he, himself, will be destroyed. Everything that he does to others will be done to him. We’ve discussed that principle. The fact that the gates are open means that he’s gone. There’s no more danger from him. He comes to an end. Also, the gates being open implies that all will be welcome, constantly, to come. There is a tradition of Abraham who was a nomad having four doors to his tent. And he always had them open, one facing north, one facing south, east, and west. So that any stranger that needed help such as needing a cup of water or a meal could come from any direction to Abraham’s tent and receive hospitality. And that was what Abraham was doing when he sent Eleazar to look, at the time of the Sharov, or the hot desert wind that prevails for several days that is so oppressive. He sent Eleazar, his servant, to look for anybody out there who might be wandering in the desert. The visibility is very limited during the times of those storms. And he goes out and finds nobody and so Abraham goes out, himself, to look for anybody out there that might be stranded in that storm. Then the angels of the Lord came to Abraham and he received them. “Your gates shall always remain open; they shall not be shut day or night, that a host of nations may be brought to you, and their rulers [or kings] escorted in.”
These are Israelites returning from among the Gentiles. They may have actually been mingled lineages of Israel, returning from among the Gentiles. And they come in that exodus that Isaiah talks about, in a great exodus of all the peoples of Israel that respond to the Servant’s mission, and that come, to escape destruction.

60:12  And the nation or kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; such nations shall be utterly ruined.

So, once they’re established in the land and the peoples of Israel have gathered, there will also be on-going pilgrimages to Zion, or to the center place, from whatever nation or kingdom is out there in the world, or at least representatives from them, very much along the pattern of an empire, anciently, when the suzerain king put on a feast for all his vassal kings. And they would come, once or twice a year, to pay tribute to the emperor king, the suzerain king, and renew their allegiance to him. That situation will prevail when the Lord comes and dwells among his people and rules there. Then his vassal kings, or his vassals, will come from all over the world, to pay tribute. But if there should be any nation out there that does not come, or send representatives, and does not serve God, under the terms of the covenant, or in this case—serve his people, or those who are his people too, or who bring tribute monies—gold and silver, or whatever it may be—then those nations will be utterly ruined. They will come under a covenant curse for having broken the covenant, so that by the end of the Millennium those nations will have perished or have been ruined, and will no longer be.

60:13  The splendor of Lebanon shall become yours—cypresses, pines, and firs together—to beautify the site of my sanctuary, to make glorious the place of my feet.

There is that idea, again, of the temple that we saw in verse seven: “they shall be offerings on my altar.” It doesn’t indicate there any animal sacrifice as being literal, if you read this metaphorically. If these people returning—these flocks and rams represent people, in a metaphorical sense—then these people, themselves, are the offering. If they are taken literally as flocks and rams then there would be a blood sacrifice, there, for a time, at least. But it’s mainly talking about people. That’s what it is here. People come here. The place turns into paradise, as we saw earlier, the desert blossoms and becomes paradisiacal, and that which was beautiful, the lush places, become a wilderness. We’ve seen that idea. But let’s assume that, here, that which has been desert now becomes beautiful again, or that which was desolate becomes beautiful again. Eventually, that beauty, or that lush environment, spreads over all the earth, and in chapter fifty-one, verse three, “the Lord is comforting Zion, “bringing solace to all her ruins. He’s making her wilderness like Eden, her desert as the garden of the Lord.” But as Zion spreads abroad—we saw that in chapter fifty-four—Zion expands the side of her tent, and the canopies of her dwelling, spreads abroad to the right, to the left, and dispossesses the nations and spreads abroad to all the earth. All the land, in that case, will be beautified and will become paradisiacal. The whole earth will become so, as Zion spreads.

“The splendor of Lebanon shall be yours.” Remember the cedars of Lebanon that were hewn down by the king of Assyria, as well as the Oaks of Bashan? That was the lot of the wicked. Again we see the reversal of circumstances between the righteous and the wicked, here, as the “splendor of Lebanon” becomes as that of those who were oppressed. “ Pines and firs together”-- We also saw that idea on Israel’s return, in chapter forty-one, verses seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen-- where on Israel’s return it says: “I will open up streams in barren hill countries, springs in the midst of plains. I will turn the desert into lakes, parched lands into fountains of water. I will bring cedars and acacias, myrtles and oleasters in the wilderness; I will place cypresses, elms and box trees in the steppes.” As the people return home, accompanied by the Lord’s cloud of glory, wherever the Lord’s presence is, that place blossoms into a paradisiacal state.

60:14  The sons of those who tormented you will come bowing before you; all who reviled you will prostrate themselves at your feet. They will call you The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

This is the place where the Lord dwells, where the Holy One of Israel has his temple. “The sons of those who tormented you” coming and bowing before you-- this bowing implies conversion, as we’ve seen before. It implies, also, that there will be different categories of people. The one on a higher spiritual level than the others, the one serving the others. We’ve seen that in chapter fourteen, verse two: “The nations will take them and bring them to their own place. And the House of Israel will possess them as menservants and maidservants in the land of the Lord. They will take captive their captors and rule over their oppressors.” In this case, we see the sons of the oppressors. The actual oppressors are all destroyed. But, in this case, some of them survive. Some of the offspring, or sons of the oppressors survive. That implies that they’re not, themselves, the oppressors. It also implies conversion, like I’ve said.

“They will call you The city of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.” In the book of Isaiah there are two cities: the wicked city that goes into the dust, and the righteous city that is preserved, as we have seen, which city is Zion. The Holy One of Israel is mentioned, there, because these are ones who emulate that attribute of holiness of God.

60:15  Although you had been forsaken and abhorred, with none passing through your land, yet I will make you an everlasting pride, the joy of generation after generation.

These people who experience this exaltation, in this case, were themselves once humiliated. They had gone through humiliation. These people who are experiencing this salvation had once gone through tremendous suffering. This is a reversal of their circumstances. Also, the Lord’s Servant had been abhorred, once. Remember? In chapter fifty-one, it says that the Lord’s Servant was abhorred by his people, and then rulers worship before him. Chapter forty-nine, verse seven: “To him who is despised as a person, who is abhorred by his nation, a servant, a mere servant to those in authority : Rulers shall rise up when they see you, heads of state shall prostrate themselves, because the Lord keeps faith with you, because the Holy One of Israel has chosen you.” Speaking of the Lord’s Servant, there, what happens to the Lord’s Servant happens to the Lord’s people. As the Lord reverses his circumstances, he turns around and does the same for his people. They were forsaken and abhorred, and now they are worshipped. People prostrate themselves at their feet. They become an everlasting pride, the joy of generation after generation.

60:16  You will suck the milk of the nations, suckling at the breasts of rulers. Then shall you know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, that your Redeemer is the Valiant One of Jacob.

Here we have the second attribute of the Lord that is very prominent in Isaiah. That is valor. The Holy One of Israel, the Valiant One of Israel, or Jacob, who is the Lord himself. Notice all these titles here: I the Lord , the Savior, the Redeemer, the Valiant One of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel, because all of these things have bearing, here. These people experience salvation and he’s a Savior to them because they emulated his attributes of holiness and valor, themselves. They proved loyal to the Lord, under all conditions. They are the elect. They are the gold and silver. And also the fact that he talks that way: “Then shall you know.” The word, to know, is a covenant term. They know him. They know who he is. In other words, they see him face-to-face. They don’t just read about him in books, or they don’t just see the cloud. They actually see him. “And then shall you know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, that your Redeemer is the Valiant One of Jacob.”

60:17  In place of copper I will bring gold, in place of iron, silver; in place of wood I will bring copper, in place of stones, iron. I will make peace your rulers and righteousness your oppressors:

Here we see that all of society upgrades a level. There will be no more stones. “Stones” is metaphor for a common variety. It goes from common to semi-precious. In place of stones, iron. It goes from wood to copper. Copper is semi-precious. Wood is common. In place of iron, silver. It goes from semi-precious to precious. Iron is semi-precious. Silver is precious. Copper is semi-precious. “In place of copper I will bring gold.” Gold is precious. So that which is now semi-precious becomes precious. That which is now common becomes semi-precious. That which is common is left behind. There will be no more common, because the whole earth becomes a paradisiacal earth. In chapter sixty-two, verse ten it says: “ Excavate. Pave a highway cleared of stones,” in preparation of the coming of the Lord there.” There’ll be no more stones left. Only semi-precious stones, or metals. This is like the three degrees of glory that Paul alluded to. One glory likened to the sun, one glory likened to the moon, and one likened to the stars, thus, here, eliminating the lowest category from the earth. It’s no longer going to be there. It’s not going to be an earth like we know it today, it’s going to be a paradisiacal glory like the Garden of Eden, a new Garden of Eden. That also alludes to the idea that there could be an upgrade again, someday, at the end of the Millennium when the new series of events happen. Maybe the intermediate category of the glory like unto the moon, as Paul calls it, will disappear and only the sun, or the highest category, symbolized by the gold and silver, will remain. In this time period, at the dawning of the Millennium, when the wicked are destroyed, only the highest and the intermediate categories remain. The wicked belong to this lower category, and they disappear.

“I will make peace your rulers, and righteousness your oppressors.” That’s a little bit satirical because there’ll be no more oppressors. The oppressors will be gone. It also implies that because of the parallelism of rulers and oppressions that the rulers were the oppressors, before. And such rulers will no longer be. “Peace will be your rulers.” Peace is synonymous with salvation, in the book of Isaiah. Peace is for the righteous. There is no peace for the wicked. Remember? And righteousness will rule, righteousness as a condition, as a virtue, as an attribute. But also the person, Righteousness will remain. Now, we’ve seen, before, that Righteousness and Salvation remain all the way through, here. The Servant, once he has prepared the people for the coming of the Lord and the Lord comes, the Servant doesn’t just go away. He also stays. In the book of Zachariah, he says “they, too, shall sit on one throne, the Lord and his Servant.” The Servant is kind of a deputy for the Lord. It’s kind of like in Egypt they had Pharaoh who was king of all the land, and yet Joseph was ruling under him. That’s a type. This will be the long-awaited peace, the Millennial peace that all the prophets of the Lord have looked forward to.

60:18  tyranny shall no more be heard of in your land, nor dispossession or disaster within your borders; you will regard salvation as your walls and homage as your gates.

The tyranny that was there, before, which preceded this event, or precedes the coming of the Lord, will be gone. No oppression or tyranny will remain. Because of the oppression, because of the tyranny, there was dispossession. People were being dispossessed because of the unjust, wicked business dealings that we talked about in chapter fifty-nine. Extortion, illicit transactions led to that dispossession. Like repossession by the bank, foreclosures, things like that. That will be gone. There’ll be no more disasters, whether individual disasters or national disasters. When one country takes over another, they dispossess the people of their rights. All of that will no longer exist. The idea of Salvation as “walls” appears also in chapter twenty-six, verses one and two, which is cross referenced, there, where it says: “Our city is strong; salvation he has set up as walls and barricades.” Because the Lord, himself, is salvation. So when he’s present in a city you don’t need walls. Besides, there’ll be no more dangers from enemies, so you don’t need walls, anyway. It implies that the Lord is there amidst his people in their saved condition. He comes to save them, through the instrumentality of the Servant and also the king of Assyria. The king of Assyria destroys their enemies, the oppressors. So they’re gone. But then king of Assyria, himself, is destroyed. So he’s gone. The Lord destroys the king of Assyria, through his Servant. So the Servant remains. People remain, in their saved condition, and the Lord, himself, comes to his people in that condition, and dwells among them. He’s there, in their city, the city of the Lord.

60:19  No longer shall the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon your illumination at night: the Lord will be your everlasting light and your God your radiant glory.

Here we see the contrast between the Lord and his Servant. Both are called the Light. In chapter forty-two and forty-nine, the Servant is appointed as a light, as we saw. But he leads to the greater light. He’s the lesser light and the Lord is the greater light. He prepares the way, like the sun beginning to dawn but not yet peaking over the horizon. Now the Lord has come. So he’s like the sun in its full glory, and the Servant gives way to the Lord. He was his forerunner, he was the preparer of the way, just like John the Baptist was before the Lord’s first coming. It also means that the sun that we have light from today, pertaining to this particular glory that we have on this earth, will no longer be necessary. It will no longer be there. There will be a higher light. We see that also, just a little later on, where the light increases seven-fold. The light will be greater at that time than it is now. The Lord’s very presence with his people will be the light that they experience.

60:20  Your sun shall set no more, nor your moon wane: to you the Lord shall be an endless light when your days of mourning are fulfilled.

This, again, reminds us of the reversal of circumstances. The “mourning” is a word link to chapter sixty-one, because the Lord’s Servant, there, comforts all who mourn. He empowers them and endows them, in chapter sixty-one, verse two. Also, in other places, he talks about those who have mourned, like in chapter thirty-five, verse ten: “The ransomed of the Lord shall return; they shall come singing to Zion, their heads crowned with everlasting joy. They shall have won joy and gladness when sorrow and sighing flee away.” They go through a period of mourning or sorrow and sighing, because of their oppression by the wicked, at first, to prove them. And when they remain loyal to the Lord through that kind of adversity, then he turns things around for them. He reverses their circumstances. Also, it implies there is no day and night as we know it, today. “Your sun shall set no more.” It doesn’t go down and it become dark. That pertains to this particular level of existence that we have today. At that time we’ll enter a whole, new sphere of things. There’ll be a whole, new reality when the Lord dwells among his people.

60:21  Your entire people shall be righteous; they shall inherit the earth forever—they are the branch I have planted, the work of my hands, in which I am glorified.

 “Your entire people shall be righteous; [because the wicked cannot dwell there in his presence, or among the righteous] they shall inherit the earth forever—[not just one land, but the whole earth] they are the branch I have planted, the work of my hands, in which I am glorified.” Branch is a metaphor. There will be a righteous branch of the tree, implying that there are other branches that are not righteous that were cut off. They didn’t survive, or they’re dead, dead branches. We saw that idea at the end of chapter ten, where the king of Assyria hews down the trees: “The high in stature shall be hewn down, the lofty ones leveled. The dense forests shall be battered down with the force of iron, and Lebanon fall spectacularly.” And then it mentions a branch in chapter eleven, verse one, the branch that bears good fruit. That’s what these people are; they are a branch that bears good fruit. This is a word link to that other part of Isaiah that mentions the branch. So is “the work of my hands,” which is parallel with the branch. “The work of my hands” is a term describing the Ten Tribes returning from exile, at the end of chapter nineteen. It implies that it includes these people of the Ten Tribes who have returned. He has planted them. In them is he glorified because they honor him. They magnify God in the earth by keeping covenant with him and proving loyal to him through all circumstances. Here, again, we have the inheritance that now extends to the whole earth. They’ve come from exile, the land has blossomed when they settle there. Their whole existence is upgraded. The Lord dwells among them. This situation extends to the whole earth. It’s called the Millennial era, or The Great Millennium of Peace.

60:22  The least of them shall become a clan, the youngest a mighty nation. I the Lord will hasten it in its time.

This implies that there will be a situation that will prevail in which it won’t seem likely that such things could happen. But then, when the Lord comes to intervene, and acts, it will all happen very quickly. And, of course, that kind of thing has been prophesied, elsewhere. In Matthew twenty-four, Jesus said those days would be shortened.