LIVING HOPE - Reading With the People of God: Part 18ಮಾದರಿ

The Promise Of Peace

Isaiah 60 is the addendum to Isaiah 59. In Isaiah 59, God is lamenting with Israel that “Justice is far from us and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness” (Isaiah 59:9 ESV).

In Isaiah 60, in contrast, God predicts, ”Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you” (Isaiah 60:1 NASB).

Isaiah 59 described the state of Jerusalem: “Truth has stumbled in the street,” salvation is far from us" (Isaiah 59:14 NIV).

Isaiah 60 describes a whole new state of affairs: “Violence will not be heard again in your land, nor devastation within your borders; but you will call your walls salvation and your gates praise”(Isaiah 60:18 NASB).

To whom are these promises given? “A Redeemer will come to Zion. To those who turn from transgression in Jacob” (Isaiah 59:20 NASB). The promises given to Israel extend beyond the house of Jacob. In Isaiah 60:3 ESV, it says, “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you, and all those who despised you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet, and they will call you the city of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel”(Is 60:14 NASB).

This surprising truth was given to the nation of Israel long before Christ appeared to them. That Gentiles would be included in the restoration of the Holy City, that salvation was given, not to Israel alone, but also to Gentiles, must have been incredible to the Jewish people. The nation that had been set apart, chosen by God as His special people, is now being opened up for others! “Your gates will be open continually; they will not be closed day or night, so that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession”(Isaiah 60:11 NASB). The coming of Gentile kings in humility to the city confirms this, “I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob”(Isaiah 60:16 ESV ).

In Isaiah 59:16 NASB, God says to Israel, “Then, His own arm brought salvation to Him and His own righteousness upheld Him.” Jesus is the righteous one who brought salvation to Israel, and He is the one God promised. “But you will have the LORD for an everlasting light and your God for your glory”(Isaiah 60:19 NASB). “Then all your people will be righteous…” (Isaiah 60:21 NIV). We can rejoice that we, as Gentiles, will be part of the Holy City of the LORD.

In reading God’s Word there are often parts of scripture that leap out at you because they are unexpected or unlike your assumptions about God. In James 4:8 NASB, he tells us to “Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.” Does God really want us to be unhappy and gloomy? Of course not! Unless we are mourning over our sin. The greatest misery in the history of miseries is surely the death of Christ on the cross; James was reminiscent of that pain, even as he writes this to believers. God, the giver of life, wants us to be mournful over our personal sin, the sin that required Jesus to die on the cross. The source of the quarrels and conflict James sees in the church is the sin that leads to jealousy and selfish ambition. In James 3:15 NASB, he calls this sin “...earthly, demonic"…leading to "disorder and every evil thing.” In contrast, we are to bear fruit of righteousness, which is “sown in peace” (James 3:18 NASB).

To keep this peace, you must “humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord” (James 4:10 NASB). In the presence of God, our sin no longer seems justified, petty, or inconsequential. God’s holiness reveals our sinfulness. When we mourn for sin, we don’t have any space left in our souls to judge the sins of others or to speak against others; there are too many of our own shortcomings to lament over! Luckily, God wants us to draw near to him (James 4: 8 NASB). He assures us that “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:5 NASB) and “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4 NASB). We forget, as we go about our days, the weight of our sin. Infrequent are the times we acknowledge and confess it to God. God so loves us that “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”(James 4:5 NASB). In His yearning for relationship with us, He calls us to mourn and weep because in doing so, we are restored to that peace, exalted in the presence of God: "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you" (James 4:10 NASB).

Primer contributed by Donna Beardsley.