SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/20/2013
8:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Dawning
of a New Day PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isaiah
60:1-14
Message of the
verses: We begin the last chapter in
Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on the book of Isaiah which he entitles “Be Comforted.” The thirteenth and last chapter he entitles “The
Kingdom and The Glory.” He begins his
commentary on this chapter with these words, and we must remember that in his
introductory comments we see a clue as to how we will approach this chapter, a
chapter that will cover six chapters in the book of Isaiah. “Grace is but glory begun,’ said Jonathan
Edwards, ‘and glory is but grace perfected.’
Whatever begins with God’s grace will lead to God’s glory (1 Peter
5:10), and that includes the nation of Israel.
“Isaiah began his “Book of Consolations’ (chapters 40-66)
by promising that ‘the glory of the Lord shall be revealed’ (40:5). Now he concludes by describing the glory of
us. In these seven chapters, he used the
word ‘glory’ in one form or another at least twenty-three times. When God’s glory is on the scene, everything
becomes new.”
The Dawning of a New Day (Isa. 60:1-22): “1 "Arise, shine; for your light has
come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 “For behold, darkness
will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear
upon you. 3 “Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of
your rising. 4 “Lift up your eyes roundabout and see; They all gather together,
they come to you. Your sons will come from afar, And your daughters will be
carried in the arms. 5 “Then you will see and be radiant, And your heart will
thrill and rejoice; Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, The
wealth of the nations will come to you. 6 “A multitude of camels will cover
you, The young camels of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba will come; They
will bring gold and frankincense, And will bear good news of the praises of the
LORD. 7 “All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you, The rams of
Nebaioth will minister to you; They will go up with acceptance on My altar, And
I shall glorify My
glorious house. 8 “Who are these who fly like a cloud And like the doves
to their lattices?
“9 "Surely the coastlands will wait for Me;
And the ships of Tarshish will come first, To bring your sons from afar, Their
silver and their gold with them, For the name of the LORD your God, And for the
Holy One of Israel because He
has glorified you. 10 “Foreigners will build up your walls, And their
kings will minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, And in My favor I have had compassion on you. 11 "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. 12 “For
the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish, And the
nations will be utterly ruined. 13
"The glory of Lebanon will come to you, The juniper, the box tree
and the cypress together, To beautify the place of My sanctuary; And I shall
make the place of My feet
glorious. 14 "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.”
We will begin by looking at the first fourteen verses of
Isaiah 60. Let us first look at a brief
history of God’s glory and the children of Israel. We begin with Exodus 40:34-38 to see that God’s
glory filled the tabernacle: “34 Then
the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35
Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled
on it, and the glory of
the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36
Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over
the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; 37 but if the cloud was not taken up, then they
did not set out until the day when it was taken up. 38 For throughout all their
journeys, the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and there was
fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.” (These are the last verses in the book of
Exodus.) In 1 Samuel 4:21 we see the
glory of the Lord leave the tabernacle: “And
she called the boy Ichabod,
saying, "The glory has departed from Israel," because the ark of God
was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband.” The word “Ichabod” means no glory, “a son of
Phinehas, so named because of the capture of the Ark by the Philistines.” (English/Hebrew Dictionary) It was David’s idea to build a temple for the
Lord, but God chose his son Solomon to build the temple. When the temple was finished and was
dedicated by Solomon the glory of the Lord filled the temple (1 Kings
8:11). We then see the nation turning to
idols, even with Solomon, and so we read in the book of the prophet Ezekiel
that the glory of the Lord departed out of the temple (Ezekiel 9:3; 10:4, 18;
11:22-23). We next read of the glory of
the Lord in the gospel of John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among
us, and we saw His glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” What did Israel do to this Glory that was
sent by the Father? They nailed Him to a
cross! Where is the glory of the Lord
resting today? Let’s look at Ephesians
2:19-22, “19 So then you are no longer
strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of
God’s household, 20 having been built on
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the
corner stone, 21 in whom the whole
building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built
together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”
We see in these verses that God’s Spirit dwells in the Church, and it is
the believers who make up the Church.
Paul’s writing to the Corinthian Church tells us more about this, “19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not
your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body (1 Cor.
6:19-20).” We believe that when the
rapture of the Church comes that it will come before the tribulation period
which lasts for seven years, so at that time the glory of the Lord in the form that
it is in today, in the believers who make up the Church will be gone, but we
know that the glory of the Lord will be seen in the 1000 year reign of Jesus
Christ upon the earth as He rules and reigns from Jerusalem. There will be a new temple built in Jerusalem
at this time. Dr. Wiersbe writes “but
one day His glory will be revealed to the earth when He answers His people’s
prayer “Thy Kingdom Come.”
We know that the Babylonian Captivity had been the
darkest hour for the Jewish people, but we have to remember that first comes
the darkness, and then the glory will come.
When we look at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and how dark that was
for Him, and then we look at the resurrection and we see the glory. We have been looking at the book of Daniel
earlier this week and we saw and will continue to see that the nation of Israel
will continue to go through dark times all the way up until the Lord Jesus
returns to the earth as described in Revelations chapter nineteen. Moses wrote about this before Israel even
entered into the Promised Land in the 28th chapter of
Deuteronomy.
As we look at chapter 60 we see the words shine and
darkness at the beginning, and I believe that Isaiah is speaking of the time in
the Kingdom age where the nations will come to Jerusalem to receive the light,
for their darkness will then be over and they will do the job that the Lord had
in mind for them to do since He called Abram.
The Kingdom age is promised to the nation of Israel and it will
happen. These fourteen verses speak of
that time, and it will bring glory to the Lord when Israel begins to minister
to those in the world.
At this time I wish to give a few quotes from the
MacArthur Study Bible. The first quote
will have to do with 60:1-2, “Addressing Zion (59:20; 60:14), Isaiah told the
city and thus the nation Israel that her light has come, putting her in
contrast with the rest of the darkened world.
This expressed the glory of Jerusalem during the millennial kingdom.”
Note from verse 60:3, “Jerusalem’s light will attract
other nations seeking relief from their darkness (2:3). Only believing Jews and Gentiles will enter
the earthly kingdom after the Day of the Lord, but as the 1000 years goes along
children will be born and nations will become populated by those who reject
Jesus Christ. The glory of the King in
Jerusalem, and His mighty power will draw those Gentiles to His light.”
Note from 60:10 concerning the building up of their
walls, “The rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls, helped by Persian kings, was
merely a foretaste of the final rebuilding of the city assisted by Gentiles
when Christ returns to earth. In My
wrath…In My favor. God’s past dealings
with Israel have been largely wrath, but His future merciful work will
demonstrate His favor.”
Last note will be from verse 60:14 “Nations which formerly
were oppressed of Israel will acknowledge Zion’s supremacy as the city that
belongs to the Lord.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I can see in
these verses that God is in control and that He always has and will be in
control. I can also see that when times
get difficult that there is coming a day when the glory will be seen, for we
learned at the beginning of this SD ““Grace is but glory begun, and glory is
but grace perfected.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to work out the details of
things that are going on around our home today.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Jesus” (Matthew 13:57).
Today’s Bible
Question: “In Revelations 19:11, the one
called Faithful and true sat upon what?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/20/2013 9:57 AM
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