THE PATH OF LIGHT

THE PATH OF LIGHT

ISAIAH 59:16-60:22

Our Gracious God, grant that by your Word and by your spirit, every one of us may be drawn to you afresh; that we shall see in Jesus Christ  the light shining in the midst of darkness;  and find in Him once again our dawn of hope.  By your grace, may it be that we find ourselves embattled less  in this world, and that we who are often  hopeless might find again the hope of life eternal.  Draw us heavenward that we may behold afresh the glory of our God, and rejoice anew in the provision of your love, in Jesus Christ revealed, for we pray in His name.

INTRODUCTION

As you should already understand, by the time you arrive at chapter 59 or 60 of any book, much has been said already leading up to that point that needs to be understood in order to understand what came after it.  The Bible is no different, although I will admit that it is easier than most books when it comes to jumping in to the middle.  We should never rip any verse out of its proper context and meaning, BUT as long as the teacher or preacher knows that context, it is possible to handle the Scriptures properly and deliver the real truth of the passage to the congregation.

Now, I cannot summarize very well for you the first 58 chapters of Isaiah in the time allowed on a Sunday morning, although I think I have a pretty good understanding of them.  But I also cannot properly deliver anything from ch. 59 or 60 without at least reminding you of a couple of things.

1.    Isaiah prophesied to Israel and Judah prior to the Assyrian Invasion and captivity in a722 BC, and somewhat after that. 

2.    The first 39 chapters are pretty dismal and severe, always calling for humility, repentance, obedience and faith, and threatening severe judgment if it didn’t happen.  They end with a short historical narrative about the actual invasion of Samaria by the armies of Assyria, led by Rabshakeh.

3.    The remaining 29 chapters are much more hopeful, and full of promises and snapshots of a glorious future Kingdom of peace and prosperity, made possible by the coming of the Messiah.

4.    Early in that second main division is the “Book of the Servant of the Lord”, which includes the famous prophecy of Isa. 53.  All of God’s promises and mankind’s hopes are contained in Him and brought to pass by Him.

5.    Our text this morning comes right out of the heart of that second  portion of the book, and immediately after the “Book of the Servant of the Lord.”

A good place to get a handle on the tone in this part of the book is at the start of Ch. 55.

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. (Isaiah 55:1-3)

This is one of the greatest invitations in the Bible, and in it, the prophet essentially sings with joy the Lord’s invitation to His people.  This is altogether different from the courtroom scenes in the first chapters, full of stern denunciations, accusations and charges of covenant-breaking and infidelity.  What changed?

Well, in Ch. 49, the Lord introduced His Suffering Servant - who would be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquities, chastised for our peace, and by having strips beaten into Him, provide for our healing. 

Because of Him – because of what He did, The LORD God Jehovah can offer sinners an invitation to come and drink living water.  The Suffering Servant has done everything necessary to prepare the table for us.  Look again and you’ll see  water, wine, milk, bread and fatness – the sure mercies of David – in other words, Christ Himself. 

I’ve come now to where I see the Lord’s Supper (communion) in more places than I used to – not because I think that the act of taking communion saves anybody, but because it symbolizes the things that God has prepared for us and gives us in His Son Jesus Christ.   Any meal or feast – however lavish, or however meager, that God serves His people is a picture of communion.  So when I see this invitation, especially with the bread and wine, my mind just automatically goes to the Lord’s Table.  This is an invitation to be saved.  And we come to Church, at God's invitation, to receive the things He has to give us - the forgiveness of sins, and Jesus on the table for the nourishment of our souls. 

In chapters 56-59:15, the prophet speaks mostly about man’s inability to satisfy the law or in any other way, actually “get it right”.  We can’t even really understand what it means to do the right thing, let alone actually carry it out.  So much works against us.  Our leaders are irresponsible (56) and bent toward evil, our hearts are inclined away from God and toward idols (57), we even fast for the wrong reasons (58), and so evil and oppression continue everywhere (59:1-15).  We are in a mess.

Now, skipping ahead to chapter 59:16, we begin the final section, which describes the Messiah’s correction of that mess – His conquest of, or reclamation of, all created things.

It begins by summarizing -

I.  MAN’S CONDITION               59:16.

·       It is APPALLING

There was “no man”.   That is, of course, because there is none righteous, no not one.  We have all, like sheep gone astray and turned every one, to our own ways.

There was no intercessor for the same reason.  Even Isaiah could not claim to be righteous in the sight of God.  After denouncing everybody else with woes in Ch. 5, he has his famous vision of God in Ch. 6, and cries “woe is me…”  Nearly all the priests were apostate.  Even good King Uzziah, who did many commendable things, near the end of his life lost his rudder and thrust himself into the priest’s office and attempted to burn incense before the Lord, and wound up a leper because of it – ceremonially unclean, diseased and excommunicated. 

And by now you should know well that even if there was a good king, and a clean priesthood, and a red-hot prophet, and revival taking place, all men are sinners, and in need of a true mediator. 

There was no one qualified to save poor fallen humanity, no one – no prophet, no priest, no King, who could lift a hand or a finger for our rescue.  But man’s extremity was Christ’s opportunity.  And Jesus, the Servant of Jehovah, came down, and fought for us, and bled, and died for us, and conquered sin, death and hell on our behalf.

Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

II.  CHRIST’S CLOTHING          59:17-18

·       It’s AVENGING

The verbal picture is that of a military man – more than an ordinary soldier – a leader, a commander, a mighty conqueror, suiting up for battle.  And we see  also Who the armor of light really belongs to.  We are told to put it on, but who here would claim to always be wearing it?  But yet, we can be in it because we are in Him.  When we put Him on, we are also putting His armor on.

Now we think we have this Advent stuff all worked out.  As we see it, Christ came as lamb to be slain, and He is to come a second time, as a lion to reign.  The first coming was peaceful, the second coming will be militant.  As we see it, we need Him, but only for some things, like overcoming temptation and helping us deal with stress, but not so much that it can’t wait. 

But when things get bad enough, He’ll come back and ease Himself of his adversaries, and win the victory for truth and righteousness, and the whole earth will know what Christ can do, and that we were right about Him, and they were wrong. 

Yeah us!, right?  No.  Yeah him, who cares about whether or not we are vindicated.  He will be, and that will be more than enough.

But have you ever considered that when He came the first time, it was to wage war as much as the second?  That seems to be the picture here.  Even at the First Advent, He takes it to His enemies. 

He brings vengeance – which is rightfully His alone.  And He breaks the power of sin and of the devil, and overthrows death and the grave.  You had better believe that He waged war at the first coming.  It wasn’t the sort that the Jews were looking for.  It wasn’t against Rome or any of the other nations that had been picking on Israel for the last several centuries.  But it was war, to be sure, and it was bloody and violent, and miserable and noisy and ugly and horrifying and there was vengeance and there was death.

But in yet another wonderful paradox, victory was achieved, not by the death of the enemy – not by the death of the antagonist, the villian, but by the death of the protagonist, the hero.  His thoughts are not ours, and His ways are not either.

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.  Ro. 11:33

You see, the only way to kill death is to die and rise again, and stay risen.  And in order to have the power over death to rise again, and not be held by death, or reclaimed by death, one would have to live entirely without sin.  A man that could live without sin could only die if He arranged His own death, and afterward, He could come back from death, because He would not deserve to be dead.  And that’s exactly what Jesus did. 

But death has power over everybody else, and it’s coming after you. 

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)

That all appears to be First Advent.

III.  CHRIST’S COVENANT         59:19-21

·       It’s ABIDING

Now we get to the present age.

God’s promise is that the Church of God shall have both the Spirit of truth and the Word of truth ever abiding in her midst – from Jerusalem, and Judea, to Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the Earth, from the West to the “rising of the Sun”, even to the end of the world, as long as she wants them..

God will not break his covenant by withdrawing his Spirit from his Church.  He does not promise to be with the counterfeit Church, in our day or any other day, although there is surely some kind of spirit there. 

But the Redeemer put on His armor, wrapped Himself in zeal, and come and conquered death from coast to coast, and finished His initial work of redemption in order to give us access to the Father, and to deliver His Spirit to His Church, and that will not be thwarted by human bungling.  The blessed Holy Spirit of God has come, and His work is being performed from day to day.  He comes like a mighty rushing wind, and the Spirit will never be withdrawn while any part of his ministry remains unfulfilled.

It will be working somewhere.  May this be one of those places.

And His Word has been given too.  And we still have it, although they keep trying to replace it. 

And finally, we move in to -

IV.  CHRIST’S COMING             60:1-16

Chapter 60 is full of good news, a prophecy of the bright days that are yet to come to this dark world.  These dull days are not to last for ever. The reign of wickedness will come to an end, and the Earth will enjoy the brightness of Christ’s presence.

These words are addressed to the Church of God – Jew and Gentile alike are all one in Christ, and there is no distinction in the message to both Jews and Gentiles.

One of the things I enjoy about Advent is that for four Sundays we have an opportunity to join with other Christians around the world, in the present, and also in the past and the future, and think of what it means for God to come to us. 

He is with us, and as a consequence, He changes us.  He comes with light.  “The rising sun has come from heaven”.  The Sun is here, shining on those that dwell in darkness.  He comes into our midst to be our light in our darkness, and He even shines out of us sometimes.  By His grace and mercy, may our light increase.

Chapter sixty is a blaze of light in the spiritual darkness that covered the whole earth. Jewish people and Gentiles are sitting in darkness of unbelief. The prophet shouts, "Arise, shine; for your light has come…

Earlier, in the Book of the Servant of the Lord, someone, it isn’t Isaiah, is told,

"I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. " (49:6).

Now we don’t have to wonder Who that may be.  We know Who is this "light" that has visited those dwelling in darkness.  We know Who can penetrate the spiritual darkness that covers the earth.  We know it because we’ve experienced it.  He’s already done it in most of us, I hope in all of us.   His glory has risen upon us and been seen among us.  He is, as He said in Jn. 8:12, “the Light of the world” and whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life.

·       It is AWAKENING                      60:1-2

We have had abundant proof of the darkness, and of the grossness of that darkness, for these many centuries.  We had a terrible example of it out in Connecticut on Friday.  But we can see more than that.  We can behold the arising of the SUN of righteousness, first upon the Church (already), and then upon the whole world (not yet).

·       It is ATTRACTING               3-16

At times the Church has seemed left and forsaken.  There have been dark days throughout its history.  At times it looked as if the Church must even cease to exist, but it did not.  Again and again, God brings them in. 

To-day, the Church of Christ has to go. The message to Christ’s disciples still is, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” The Church must send her heralds far and wide to tell the good news; but in the future Kingdom, a blessed change will be come, and the nations will come to hear the story, flocking in crowds to listen to it, and Christ will be sought by those who never sought him before.

That future time was anticipated by the wise men, in Mt. 2.

“O long-expected day, begin;

Dawn on these realms of woe and sin!”

                                   

Take note here of the word “Kings” in v. 3.   This is no accident that we see Gentile kings coming to something lit, and bright.

60:5  All the abundance of the sea and the wealth of nations— the armies and the navies and all agents of production, shall come and prostrate themselves before the Lord Jesus. Jesus one day will be the supreme power on earth in the midst of his Church.

60:6  This is also interesting.  Gentiles on camels will be attracted by the brightness of His coming. 

Where Mohammed’s crescent has cursed the nations, there shall shine again the Sun of righteousness, with healing in his wings.

60:6,7  Now here are three Gentile nations – Midian, Ephah, Sheba.  Some like to poke fun at the song “We Three Kings”, referencing the fact that Matthew does not mention that they were 3 in number, nor that they were from the Orient.  But here’s this prophecy.

These were all nomadic people — travelers from place to place in the wilderness — shall come to Christ. There shall be no untamed nation, no barbarous people that shall continue to oppose the coming of that glorious kingdom of the blessed God in those happy days. Even wandering tribes of wild men are going to come and bow before Christ, and lay their wealth at his feet.

60:11-17  Now, I need to finish.  But before I do, let me suggest that the

next time somebody turns you to Jeremiah 10, and tries to prove that you shouldn’t celebrate Christmas, take them here, show them the “Three Kings of Orient” bringing gifts of gold and incense, and the evergreen trees with the lights all around.  It is no less applicable than Jer. 10, and frankly, it seems more so considering the Advent context.

·       It is ENDURING

60:17-22   There is no time to point out anything that is there, but you can see enough for yourselves.  Oh, that “his time” were come!  We ought not to be dispirited by the delays, because it will surely come; it will not tarry a moment beyond the time appointed by God.  Blessed be the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever, Amen!