Your Light Has Come: Isaiah 60(4)

Pray Psalm 48.1-3.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
In His holy mountain.
Beautiful in elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.
God is in her palaces;
He is known as her refuge.

Read Isaiah 60.13-15.

Reflect.
1. Would you say that God sees His City as having significant influence? Explain.

2. What does God promise to make of His City? What does that mean?

Meditate.
The vision of Gentiles streaming into the City of the LORD, bringing all their wealth with them, continues in these verses. Isaiah is emphatic that the nations of the earth are to be grafted in to the people of God, and to join in the task of building His City. This would be all but impossible for the people of Isaiah’s day to fathom, especially in view of the fact that soon a Gentile nation would come and raze their city and temple.

Perhaps this is why Isaiah keeps mentioning this, to get the people of God to look past their present trials and to drive the image home of a coming salvation that was great enough to embrace all peoples, and that would find all the nations of the earth serving together before the Lord.

The people of Judah and Jerusalem are about to be “forsaken and hated” (v. 15), but this will only be a temporary judgment. They must look past this season to the promised times of glory to come. And we must do the same. We know that the greatest part of our salvation is yet to be, when we see Jesus face to face and are made like Him. That vision must be for us a source of comfort, courage, and hope, just as the vision of God’s coming salvation and City was to serve the people during their time of captivity.

Our hope is not in our circumstances, but in the Lord and His promises. We are called to be a people of excellence, who are a source of joy for “many generations,” and we can’t fulfill that calling unless we hold fast to the promises of God, and seek the vision He has laid out for us of our calling to His Kingdom and glory.

Prepare.
1. What kind of excellence should the Lord’s people demonstrate before the world?

2. How can we fulfill our calling to be a source of joy to the people in our community?  

3. Meditate on Ephesians 4.11-16. What is involved in building the Lords City – His Church – today?

The Prophet has in his eye that intermediate period which was already at hand; for, soon after his death, the people were deprived of their heritage and led into captivity, so that all thought that there was no remaining hope of their safety. Lest this thought should come into the minds of believers, by which they might be reduced to despair, "We are undone, there can be no remedy for affairs so desperate, and we ought not to hope for a better condition," he shows that those grievous calamities cannot prevent God from restoring them; for, although for a time, when the Lord chastised them, they appeared to be forsaken, yet it was easy for him to raise them again to prosperity and to a better condition than before. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Isaiah 60.15

You have called us to joy and excellence, Lord, as a light to all peoples. For me today that means I must…

Pray Psalm 48.
Use this psalm to pray for your church, that it may aspire to the vision of the City of God set forth in this psalm..

Sing to the Lord.
Psalm 48 (Cwm Rhondda: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah)
Great is God, now greatly praise Him in the city of the Lord. 
Holy she, His lovely mountain, great and glorious by His Word! 
God her King is great within her, He, her Stronghold ever sure! 
He, her Stronghold ever sure! 

Earthly kings, amazed and wond’ring, look upon the Church with fear. 
See them flee in dread and anguish, knowing that the Lord is near. 
For the city of the Savior God will keep forevermore! 
God will keep forevermore! 

For Your grace and lovingkindness we proclaim Your matchless worth! 
As Your Name is, great and boundless, let Your praise fill all the earth. 
Let Your people sing rejoicing for the judgment of Your truth; 
for the judgment of Your truth. 

Walk about the blessèd city, see her beauty, see her power. 
Count her ramparts, filled with glory, look on ev’ry mighty tower. 
Tell her glory to the nations: God will guide her evermore; 
God will guide her evermore!

T. M. Moore

Where do the prophets fit with the rest of Scripture? How can I be a better student of God’s Word? Our course, Introduction to Biblical Theology, can help you gain a better approach to and understanding of the Scriptures. Watch this brief preview video, then register at The Ailbe Seminary and enroll in this free online course.

Forward today’s lesson to some friends, and challenge them to study with you through this series on Isaiah. Each week’s lessons will be available as a free PDF download at the end of the week. Get a copy for yourself and send the link for the download to your friends. Plan to meet weekly to study Isaiah’s important message.

If you value Scriptorium as a free resource for your walk with the Lord, please consider supporting our work with your gifts and offerings. You can contribute to The Fellowship by clicking the Contribute button  at the website or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).