Now turn with me if you would to the prophet Isaiah. I’ve been in the States now for 27, going on 28 years; I still can’t say “Isaiah” but that’s what I mean when I say, “Isaiah!” We’re going to look at three verses in chapter 60 and let’s read this together.
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”
So far God’s holy and inerrant Word, and may He add His blessing to the reading of it.
Now I want this evening to finish this Missions Conference – I’m delighted and honored, Rosemary and I are blessed to be asked to be back at First Pres Jackson. It’s been 12 years since we left and we left behind some very dear and close friends that will remain dear and close friends for as long as we are here on earth and throughout eternity. But I wanted to end the conference on a more general, wider vision for missions. Some of you will remember that George Frideric Handel wrote The Messiah in London. It was first performed, I think, in Dublin, and he wrote it in 24 hours. And later in the 1780s, John Newton preached a series of some 50 sermons on the texts that Handel employs in The Messiah of which this is one of them. And if you’re into Handel, and I don’t even remember the name of that band he mentioned a few minutes ago, nor do I fully remember the question, “Why?” although as he was telling the story it was coming back to me. But if you sing in the choir, for sure, you’ve probably performed this piece of music at Christmas time or at some other occasion. And I wanted to remind you first of all that this is a text that speaks of glory, that “His glory will be seen upon you.” God’s glory.
And I was reminded of Jonathan Edwards, a little earlier in the 18th century, but towards the end of his life. And you will remember that Jonathan Edwards was taken up with the glory of God. He describes in a book that he wrote towards the end of his life, The End for Which God Created the World. And the end for which God created the world was to glorify Him, to bring Him glory. It’s a Westminster Shorter Catechism question one issue – “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” We’re taken up so much with ourselves and our dreams and our ambitions and our wants and needs and it’s a society that is utterly turned in upon itself. It has no objective status. It doesn’t know why it’s here, what is the purpose of its existence. And Jonathan Edwards, in that almost final book of his, The End for Which God Created the World, makes the point – and he makes it over and over and over – that the end for which God created us was to glorify Him, to bring Him glory. And it’s the purpose that God has in all that He does, not just in creation and not just in providence, but in redemption.
Why did He redeem you and me? I ask that question over and over. A lost soul, 18 years of age, first semester at college, reading John Stott’s book Basic Christianity – this is 1971 – falling down on my knees and asking God to fill my life with meaning and purpose. I really didn’t know what I was asking except that when I got up from my knees I knew that my purpose was to bring Him glory, to bring Him glory. To live one’s life in pursuit of the glory of God. Missionaries, preachers, evangelists can sometimes lose sight of the purpose for which God has called them and gifted them when they don’t see results, when trials and difficulties enter, when obstacles come, when things don’t happen the way you want them to happen or they don’t happen as quickly as you want them to happen. And you forget and you lose sight that it’s not you that’s important. It is God. God and His glory. God in all His unfathomable greatness. Living in pursuit of the glory of God. The glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
Now let’s go back to the 8th century BC, a couple of you can actually go there, I think by the look of you. The prophet Isaiah ministered in Jerusalem, almost exclusively in Jerusalem. He had a 40 year ministry from roughly 740 BC to 701 BC. He had access to the highest people, the kings of Judah. He had that experience right at the beginning of his ministry where he saw the Lord high and lifted up and His glory filled the temple and he heard the sound of words, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts! Heaven and earth is full of Your glory!” His ministry was driven by the vision of the glory of God and of his own sinfulness. And now we’re at the end of his prophecy, his very long prophecy, difficult prophecy. He doesn’t write for simpletons. He spends all his time in the court, in the royal court. And he uses metaphors and maybe you’re not one who likes metaphors. You like straight talk. And I get that. It’s a left brain, right brain thing I think. But he sees something because he’s a seer, he’s a prophet.
And to simplify matters, at the end of his prophecy, he talks to us about four servant songs and the most famous of which is the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. And all of these servant songs speak about Jesus. But he doesn’t end with these servant songs. He ends with four songs that answer the servant songs. They mirror image the servant songs. But these are songs of the anointed conqueror. What does he see? Let’s try and strip away the metaphor. The first thing he talks about is darkness. Darkness. He sees darkness. “Behold, darkness shall cover the earth.” He’s thinking about the future. It’s not absolutely clear just yet how far into the future he is looking. He was a prophet; he was always looking into the future. By the power of the Holy Spirit, he could see things about the future and write things about the future. And he sees a great darkness coming. I don’t think he was specifically speaking about 2023; but perhaps he was. There’s a great darkness covering the land, covering truth, covering the principles of Christianity just now. Perhaps some of you are into Tolkien and Lord of the Rings and you get this metaphor. From the very beginning you are aware as you are making this long journey through three books with hundreds of characters the darkness is coming to Middle Earth, Mordor and Sauron and it’s spreading. And it’s coming towards you. He sees a darkness coming.
What else does he see? Light. Light that is beyond the darkness. Light that conquers the darkness. He sees the dawn of a new day. At first this light is objective, but then it becomes something that is subjective because people are marching towards the light that is in you.
What else does he see? Glory. He sees the glory. What is the glory? It is the power and presence of almighty God made visible in some way. God is invisible. God cannot be seen. He doesn’t have a body but He manifests Himself. He makes Himself known. And when He does that and when you appreciate it, it’s the glory that you see. He’s looking into the future and there’s darkness but then there’s light. And in the midst of that light, there’s glory – the presence and power of almighty God made present, made manifest, so that you can see it and appreciate it and feel it. A new perspective that changes everything. He sees the glory. “The glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”
The 8th century was very dark. There were some bright moments. Isaiah knew the ministry of Josiah. Josiah was a great king. He brought reformation and revival to Judah, but after Josiah it all went down. And it would go further down and further down after Isaiah had died, but Isaiah is a prophet and he can see beyond his day and beyond the decades that lie before him and he sees darkness and then he sees light and then he sees the glory of God. He’s obsessed with the glory of God, as should you and as should I, as should every missionary and evangelist and preacher.
And then he sees a covenant mediator. Go back to the final verse of chapter 59. I hope you have your Bibles open. Go back to the last verse of chapter 59. “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord: ‘My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,’ says the Lord, from this time forth and forevermore.’” Go back another verse to verse 20. “And a Redeemer will come to Zion.” Oh, now your eyes are opening. You’re beginning to understand what Isaiah is talking about. There’s a Redeemer involved, there’s a covenant mediator involved that is going to fulfill a covenant that God has made that is going to bring words of life and power and change and revolution into the hearts and mouths of those who hear it and it will never depart.
It’s about faithfulness. God has made a promise. He’s been making promises ever since man fell. And we can speak of them in the plural, but at the end of the day it’s just one promise – a promise to redeem, a promise to rescue, a promise to send a Redeemer. A covenant mediator. He’s described, this covenant mediator, in the four servant songs. They’re not pretty. Something terrible will happen to the servant who comes. He will be despised and rejected and hated. Men will pierce Him and kill Him. This mediator will bring triumph. He will bring glory. He will see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. He will come to Zion, verse 20 of the previous chapter, “The Redeemer will come to Zion,” to the mountain of God, “to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.”
And what will be the result? Well let’s get back to our text. “And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” Something glorious is being talked about here. Yes it’s being talked about in metaphor. He sees darkness and he sees light and he sees glory and he sees a covenant mediator, the result of which will be the nations coming. So let’s ask, “What does this mean?” What’s he talking about? This 8th century prophet. What does it have to do with me, something that was written down 2,800 years ago? What in the world does this have to do with me? What’s he talking about? Is he talking about Babylon, 200 years into the prophet’s future? Well first of all, there will be Assyria. Assyria will be the threat. Assyria will conquer the northern kingdom of Israel and make its way down into Judah and threaten Jerusalem itself, but it will not be victorious. God will come in a mighty show of power and destroy the armies of Assyria. But then Babylon will come, another great empire, and Babylon will be successful. Babylon will destroy Jerusalem and destroy the very symbol of the presence of God among His people, the temple. And God’s people, like Daniel, probably a teenager, and Ezekiel, will be taken into captivity 1,000 miles away to speak another language so that the people of God will forget how to speak Hebrew. Two generations will pass. Is that what he’s talking about? And then a deliverer. A pagan king will issue a decree that the people of God can return.
Is that what he’s talking about? Perhaps. It fits, but it’s not ultimately what he’s talking about. It’s a shadow of what he’s talking about. Or perhaps a ray of light of what he’s talking about, but he’s talking about something much bigger and much greater and much more beautiful and much more impactful. He’s talking about Jesus. He’s talking about the coming of the covenant mediator. People who are dwelling in darkness shall see a great light. Isn’t that what the Gospel writers record when they’re talking about the birth of Jesus and the growth of Jesus and the life of Jesus? Don’t they talk about a star shining in the sky and men from the East coming to worship Him in Bethlehem at the moment of His birth, or perhaps a few months later? Nations of the world, astrologers, strange and weird people who read the night sky and see signs, but they’re coming from afar and they’re not Jews. And they’re following a light. Do you remember John, the author of the Gospel, in his prologue when he talks about John the Baptist and he says, “He was not that light but came to bear witness of that light”? The one who said, “I am the light of the world, and whoever follows Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.” “In Him in whom there is no darkness.” In Him who dispels the darkness and brings light.
And when the covenant mediator is killed and raised again, what happens? You remember on the day of Pentecost when Luke describes it? Pentecost was one of the great Jewish festivals so people came from diaspora, traveled hundreds, in some cases, 1,000 miles, taking weeks and weeks to get to Jerusalem to celebrate. And on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured forth as a testimony, that the Father had approved the work of His Son and had raised Him. Who came to Jerusalem? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and dwellers of Mesopotamia and Judea and Cappadocia and Pontus and Asia and Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, even Rome. Luke is giving you a little hors d’oeuvres that in Jesus, in the covenant mediator, the darkness of the nations is being dispelled and they’re coming to Zion. It’s a little picture. It’s what happens when we come to Christ, isn’t it? I mean on an individual basis. What did Wesley say? “Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature’s night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon filled with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.” I saw the light, the light that shines in the face of the Lord Jesus, and it is a thing of glory.
But Isaiah is thinking of more than that. He’s thinking of the triumph of the covenant mediator, a day that is coming when all the nations of the world will bow down and worship Him. There’s a wonderful hymn. It’s one of my favorite hymns by William Walsham How. “But lo there breaks, a yet more glorious day. The saints triumphant, rise in bright array. The King of glory, passes on His way. Hallelujah! From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coasts, through gates of pearl, stream in the countless host, and singing, ‘Father, Son and Holy Ghost,’ Hallelujah!” Now there’s a vision. At the end of the ages, when King Jesus, triumphant and glorious, has His people from every tribe and tongue and nation come to Him and bow before Him and it’s a vision of splendor and magnificence. “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” Not one of them will be lost. And they will come from Greece. They’ll come from Athens, lives pitifully broken and torn apart, the dregs of humanity, but they will see the light that shines in the face of Jesus Christ and they will be there, marching alongside countless hosts through gates of pearl and singing “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”
What does this mean for tomorrow? Isn’t that what Gabe kept asking? What does this mean for tomorrow? Faith. For those who are on the field – faith. For those of you whose task it is to pray and give – faith. Optimism. Biblical optimism. Holy Ghost optimism. Covenant promise optimism. But the gates of hell will never prevail. However dark it may seem, however difficult it may seem, however many times you read in the newspapers that Christianity is retreating, and when some silly politician stands up or a school board officer stands up and says we should ban Christianity from schools and we get all head up and our pulse is racing and temperatures rising – you need to calm down. God has this in the palms of His hands. He has made such a glorious promise and it cost the blood of His Son. He’s not about to give up on it. So you must have faith. Strong faith to stand against the opposition of the world and the devil.
And secondly, you must go. The nations are waiting. And if you can’t go, then you must pray for those who will go. Maybe there’s somebody here and you’re thinking about missions. Well it’s time to stop thinking. There is such a great need. The fields are white unto harvest. They’re ready to be reaped. All that needs to be done is for somebody to go and tell them about Jesus and His love and His mercy and His willingness to forgive. If you think that’s you, talk to one of the ministers here. Talk to the person, whoever he is, who is going to stand down here at the end of the service and tell them, “I want to go. I don’t know where I want to go and I don’t know how it’s going to happen. He’ll help you. It may take a while. There will be things to rearrange and priorities to reprioritize, but the call is urgent and the hour is urgent. But it’s not a gamble. You’re not going to Las Vegas. Well you can go there as a missionary, but you can go there with the absolute confidence and assurance that you’re going with the promises of God, promises that have been bought and paid for by the blood of Christ.
“The glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Are you taken up with that glory? It’s a thing of magnetism. It’s a thing that gives you purpose and meaning and makes life make sense. May God, by the power of His Holy Spirit, work within your hearts and mine tonight. What a great God we serve. What a great Savior we have.
Father, we thank You for Your Word, this ancient vision of mission, and accomplishment. And we pray that those from First Pres Jackson will be part of the way in which this is fulfilled in its completeness, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.