Isaiah 61:4-11 - Millenium

"They shall ..." It is a clear fact from the Bible that God does most of His work through people. The people who are set free by Jesus will become people who build up ancient ruins and repair the devastation of many generations. We need to look at the world in hope. When God's Spirit moves in us (individually and corporately) all sorts of devastation can be undone.

There will come a time when the church fulfills its mission as the body of Christ, and the world will respect the church and come to the church for counsel. It is difficult to see how this can be given the state of our society at the moment, but that is precisely the point. Our God is a transforming God. The situation of Israel when this was given was desperate, yet sometime later Cyrus did send the exiles home to rebuild the temple. It is possible that the things spoken of here are part of the Millennium that is spoken of in Revelation.

Why will this happen? Because the Lord loves justice. Ultimately it is His zeal which will accomplish this, but the fruits of it spread to His people.

So we should rejoice before the Lord. A time will come when righteousness and praise will sprout up in the world. You may say this is impossible, it is just fantasy. But ask yourself this: who will win God or Satan? The way we see things just now is not the way they will remain. It is God's plans that will be fulfilled.

Isaiah 61:1-3 - Transformation

These are the words read by Jesus about Himself, recorded in Luke's gospel (Luke 4:18,19), and is another of the passages about the servant. He has been anointed to proclaim good news to the poor. He is to bind up the broken-hearted, and proclaim freedom to the captives, and release from darkness, and the year of the Lord's favour. At this point Jesus stopped the quotation, maybe because the next bit will be fulfilled at the second coming. However, I am not sure about this. Vengeance is exercised by God on those forces, spiritual or human, who hold people in captivity. At the moment God is in the business of bringing freedom and release. 

The "year of the Lord's favour" is clearly not a calendar year, but an indeterminate period of time. This should be a word of caution about taking every reference in the Bible to periods of time as literal. 

The work of the servant is to bring transformation. to change ashes to beauty, joy in place of mourning, praise and gladness for despair. We should apply this to ourselves in two ways. First there is no circumstance about ourselves that cannot be changed, and God is in the business of change. Secondly, when we look at the world around us, especially at individuals involved in our lives, we should not lose heart, but look at them through the eyes of Jesus and of His mission.

We will be called mighty oaks and are for the display of His splendour.

Isaiah 60:10-22 - Favour

The foreigners and kings who had ransacked and scorned the nation would rebuild the walls and serve the nation. There would be a complete transformation.

The nation had been struck by God in righteous anger, now He will show them favour in compassion. We need to come to terms with the reality of our sin, and the judgement it deserves, then we can receive the favour of God.

"Your gates will always stand open.." Openness is a sign of the kingdom. The church is to be open to all people. Anyone who turns to God is welcome. We are not to have a defensive attitude. Note also that the decision nations and people make is important. Nations that will not serve the Lord will perish.

Wealth will come to Israel, people will come to serve Israel. This is a complete transformation. For the land was forsaken, but would become the pride of the whole earth. At the moment we see a nation that despises God, but this will change. We will know that the Lord is our Redeemer, then the world will know that He is the Lord.

Our gates will be called salvation and praise. These are the things that will characterise the people of God. We will live in the light of the Lord.. It does not matter what the circumstances are today, we can live in the light of the Lord. And we are talking not about a temporary state of affairs, but an everlasting one.

We have been chosen for the display of the Lord's splendour in our lives.

Isaiah 60:4-9 - All the nations

They needed to look up to see what God was doing. Consider their present position. They were downtrodden, a despised people full of sorrow. When God's glory shines on them they will be attractive to other nations, they will be respected, their hearts will be filled with joy, they will be radiant. The Lord brings a change about in our countenance. Whatever you are feeling like just now, you should look to the Lord and we should expect to be changed.

The nation had been stripped of its wealth, but the nations would bring wealth back to Israel. Part of salvation is a restoration. And this wealth would be an acceptable offering to the Lord. 

Even the furthest lands will look to the Lord and bring wealth to Israel. We need to understand that the Lord's blessing brings honour in the world. Despite all their protestations, people actually know deep down that there is a God, that there is something wrong with us (sin). Deep down they are looking for God. 

Isaiah 60:1-3 - Shining in the Darkness

Once again, we need to ignore chapter divisions. Most of chapter 59 has been a damning description of the state of Israel, and indeed the state of the world, outlining the effects of a world that turns its back on God. It still knows it needs righteousness and justice, yet finds itself unable to obtain them. This is very true of atheism and secularism. The problem is not that they do not want good things, that they do not seek a fair and just society, but that having turned their back on God all attempts to achieve it prove futile. Rebellion against God is the root of the problem.

Then the final verse of chapter 59 refers to the servant, both in terms of Christ, the church and Israel. Chapter 60 is a continuation of this. Thick darkness does indeed cover the earth, but our response must not be one of despair, instead we are to arise and shine, and to let the light of the Lord shine through us. 

The promise is that nations will come to the brightness of our dawn. As Paul says in Philippians 2:15  tells is that we are to shine like stars. This is our purpose, this is our destiny.

Isaiah 59:9-21 - Judgement or repentance

This is a picture of much of the world, including our own country. How many people equate our court system with justice? The human rights legislation seems to do little for human rights, but lots for those of terrorists and criminals. Our public institutions are increasingly losing trust. Even so, we are still far better off than some countries, where bribery is a way of life. We seek to improve things, political leaders promise to improve things, but the result seems to be only more darkness. We have no idea how to make things better.

The reason for all this is that our offences are many. We have turned away from God. We think we are sophisticated in having done this, but in reality it will lead only to trouble. We have truly turned our back on God. The result is that justice, honesty and truthfulness are driven back. Look at your society and ask if this is not a true picture of the world.

This did not please the Lord, so He sent His own salvation. The Lord is not pleased and wants to do something about it. Verses 16 and 17 remind one of the full armour of God in Ephesians 6 that Paul speaks about. 

There are two strands to the Lord's action. One is to bring judgement on the guilty, the other is to forgive those who repent.  We see this in Jesus' teaching. Despite all the popular misconceptions, Jesus spent  lot of time teaching about judgement and hell. This was meant to induce an urgency, to make people realise the need for repentance.

This message will continue to go throughout the earth. It started with Jesus, and has continued to be proclaimed through the Spirit by the church.

Isaiah 59:1-8 - A picture of sin

"Why doesn't God do something", or words like this, are the common cry of many people. "Why doesn't He hear me?". Isaiah answers here quite clearly that the Lord is perfectly able to save, and He is perfectly aware of what is going on in the world, and in our lives. So why is there "no answer"? Because our sins have separated us from God. This is the the blunt truth of the matter. Our sins have separated us from God, so we no longer live in the relationship with God that was supposed to be ours. Sin is your biggest problem, like it or not. Only when we face up to our sin can we possibly hope to find a solution.

The fruits of sin are bloodshed, falsehood, no one calling for justice, relying on empty arguments. Isaiah likens the people to vipers and poisonous spiders.

The people are so lost in sin that they have no idea how to find a solution, how to find peace. Someone might object that all this is too harsh, too extreme, but just look at the world. Look at the thousands of abortions, babies denied life, then listen to all the arguments justifying it. Look at all the poverty in the world, and all the people who die because of our decadent lifestyle in the west. Then listen to all the arguments justifying it. Look at all the lies and platitudes that politicians spout, then look at the voters who make them tell these lies.

We need to look at ourselves and repent.