Now let's return tonight to Isaiah chapter 60. Israel of old, the church in the wilderness, the type and picture of the church which was found in the nation of Israel, had a very checkered history. They did not always walk in the light. From time to time God would send a prophet. He would send a preacher and direct their steps in the light of truth and grace and the worship of God. And then Israel would depart and they would be overcome with darkness.

God would raise up a judge and a faithful judge would lead the children of Israel in the worship of God. And then he would die and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. God would raise up a king, a king who sought the Lord and followed him and did the will of God and led Israel in the worship of God. And he'd die and God would raise up another king.

And he'd bring darkness and delusion. And last, the Lord God had spoken to Israel for the last time. And he calls the sun to be turned into darkness. and the moon and the blood. That simply means he took away their light forever. And that which they enjoyed, he shook and destroyed to its very foundation.

But God promised a time, a time when light would come, light that would never set again. He was speaking clearly of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the rising of the Son of Righteousness. Him who would come with healing in his wings And that sun that arose with healing in his wings would never set. Once the Lord Jesus Christ came and began to gather in his elect from around the four corners of the earth, he has never set. The lighting that he's talking about began at the day of Pentecost and the gospel began to go into all the world. And the gospel continues to spread.

And yet, the church of God also, in this gospel age, has had a very checkered, checkered history. The outward professed church, I'm talking about now, those who claim to be the people of God, we've seen times of great, great darkness. Shortly after the times of the apostles, various heresies began to overwhelm the churches and darkness swept over the earth. And for years and years and years, the darkness increased. It seemed as though the witness of God was totally taken out of the world. It seemed as though days had come like the days of Noah when nobody believed God except one man here and there.

But then God raised up men like Martin Luther and John Calvin and John Knox. In that period of time we call the Great Reformation and by the power of God the arms of papacy were broken. Darkness was dispelled and the light of free grace was proclaimed throughout all the world. But soon, the sons and daughters of those men who so mightily were used of God, not their physical sons and daughters, those who spiritually bore their names, became themselves engulfed in darkness.

If you were to look at the churches that bear the names of Luther and of Calvin and of Knox and of others, look at them today. If Martin Luther were in any way identified with what most Lutherans believed, and most Lutherans practiced, he would destroy every building that bears his name. If John Calvin were involved in what most Presbyterians, and most folks who claim to be Presbyterians, practice and preach, John Calvin would again cry for a reformation of the church. I'm telling you that the sons and daughters departed from their fathers, and it has continued in every denomination known to man. And times of great darkness have come again." Oh, what times of darkness.

Times spoken of in the book of Amos. Hold your hands here in Isaiah 60. Look at what Amos said. These things ought not to surprise us. The scriptures so clearly forewarn us. In Amos chapter 8 in verse 9, it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in a clear day. Oh, what darkness, what darkness, what darkness we live in in this day.

I'm not a prophet of doom. I'm not a pessimist. I think you know that. But I face things as they really are. And we live in a world of religious darkness and delusion such as the world has never known. Look here in verse 11 of Amos. Amos 8, verse 11, here's the kind of darkness he's talking about.

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send famine in the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, and they shall run to and fro, and seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." What's that mean? That means folks stand up in churches, preachers stand behind pulpits, just like I am right now, with the Bible in their hand, speaking with the name of Jesus on their lips, a word of deceit, rather than the word of God. and darkness, darkness, darkness, overspreads the earth. Perhaps God will be pleased to send a little revival. It looks like maybe he does, and we rejoice to see it.

But those times of light and darkness that are seen in the experience of the church today, as it was in the experience of Israel in the Old Testament, are also seen in the experience of every believer, every believer. Oh, what a checkered history we make. What checkered lives we live. I think that every child of God can identify with the experiences of David and Peter and Paul and others.

Sometimes, sometimes we just believe God and sometimes we can't believe God at all. Sometimes we Sometimes we just, our hearts are lifted up in love and adoration and praise and sometimes our hearts are so empty and dead and cold and lifeless that it seems it'd be impossible for such a sinner as we are to know God.

Oh, but times of light we enjoy. Sometimes we come in here and God speaks. Oh, what blessed days. And sometimes we come in here and we sing the songs and we read the word and we hear the message, but God doesn't speak. And there's nothing profit, nothing gain, nothing of benefit for our souls. We have times of light and times of darkness.

But here in our text, Isaiah talks about another day. Look in verse 20. Isaiah 60 and verse 20. The Lord God, speaking by his prophet, gives promise of a day, a day coming, soon to come, when the sun shall never set again. And he's not talking about that sun that rises in the east and sets in the west. He's talking about the sun of the light of the gospel and the knowledge of God. Look here. Thy sun, verse 20, shall no more go down. Neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended."

There is a land where there is no violence, no wasting, and no destruction, but only peace, prosperity, and praise for God's elect. In verse 18, the prophet says, violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders, but thou shalt call thy the walls of the city. Zion, the city of the living God. Zion, the new Jerusalem, the church of God's elect.

Thou shalt call thy walls salvation. Here we are in God's presence, in God's kingdom, and nothing shall harm us. This is salvation. This is it. And thy borders, thy gates, thy gates shall be called praise. Oh, there's a man where there's no violence, no destruction, no wasting, no perishing, but only safety, salvation, and praise. That land's awaiting us. There is a land of perpetual day and perpetual brightness, where there is no need of sun nor moon, for the Lord God himself is the light of that land and the glory of his people.

You see it in verse 19? The sun shall be no more thy light by day, for brightness shall be, I'm sorry, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." Hold your hands here and turn over to Revelation 21. If you want to make a comparison, sometimes you read this last part of Isaiah 60 and the whole chapter of Revelation 21, and you'll see it's describing the same thing. But for now, let's get down to verse, let's see, Revelation 21, verse 22. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it. For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

And the nations of them which are saved, that is, God's elect gathered out of all the nations, kindreds, tribes, and tongues of the earth. He's not talking about a time when political nations will become the nations of them that are saved. Not at all. He's talking about God's elect being gathered out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. The nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth who bring their glory and honor unto it.

There is a land before us, a land awaiting us, a land promised us of righteousness into which no sin shall ever enter, no evil shall ever come, nothing that defiles, nothing that corrupts. shall ever corrupt that land. Look what we read in verse 21. Thy people also shall be all righteous. They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. Listen to this, you don't need to turn there, but in Revelation 21, 27, this is what it says. There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defile it, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

In heaven's glory land, the people are all perfectly righteous. They all inherit all the land, all of it. They don't have it divided out to them. Everyone gets a little portion depending on how good he's been. They inherit the land on the basis of righteousness, righteousness imputed to them, righteousness imparted to them. It's the righteousness of Christ which makes them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. And they inherit the whole thing, everything. They are all there by God's plan. They shall be called the branch, planted by God. Planted by God.

Now I plant a lot of things. I heard Ron Wood say concerning Pam, asking her about, Sheva was asking about Pam putting out plants and Ron said she has a brown thumb. That's a lot the way things are with me. I plant a lot of things that die. I plant so many trees out here on this hillside. And most of them died. Most of them were uprooted. Most of them had been long since cut down. Oh, but when God plants a tree beside the rivers of living water, when God plants a branch, when God plants his vine, nothing will uproot it. Nothing will kill it. Nothing will destroy it.

They're branches of my planting. The work of my hands. Listen to what it says. I may be glorified. They exist for God's glory, and they give praise to God. Now, there's a whole lot there to preach on, but tonight I want us to focus our attention on verse 20, and I want to talk to you a little bit about the eternal day that is here described for God's elect in this text There we are told, thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. First, our text promises us unceasing, uninterrupted light. thy son, the Lord your God, Christ the Son of Righteousness, thy son shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself."

Now these are just emblems of life. They are emblems of clearness, emblems of calm. When you see the sun shining brightly, when you see the moon reflecting the light of the sun just shining so brightly on a clear, clear night, everything's clear. No storms around. Everything's calm. That's the emblem here. Light and calm, peace and clarity. So that the scriptures are here giving us an emblem of that which we delight in in the prospect of heaven's eternal glory and of our eternal life with Christ in heaven. It's talking about uninterrupted joy, peace and communion with God.

Imagine that. Why can't you even think about it? Uninterrupted communion. I hear folks talk about hours of prayer and hours of communion. I try to grab seconds and minutes. But here we're talking about uninterrupted, everlasting communion. Without anything, anything ever sitting through your mind to destroy. Just in the little while I've been standing here, no question in my mind, every one of you to acknowledge, while you listen You hear something and boy that'll get a hold of your heart and all of a sudden let's go before something else came in. Just that quick your thoughts are interrupted, your communion and your fellowship. But here the prophet is promising us a time of uninterrupted, unceasing communion with the Son of God. Roll that over a little while.

How can we have this? Why does the believer's joy never fade? Why is it that heaven's light will never dim? Why is it that we will have this uninterrupted joy and peace and communion? Let me give you a few reasons. For one thing, all creature dependence will be ended. The saints in glory will be. Indeed, the saints in glory are, and we shall be, independent of all created things. All created things.

There will be no need for pastors there to teach you the truth. I don't have any question but what's In heaven's glory, we'll recognize one another, recognize our relationships to one another, and perhaps there will be some sense in which there will be a continual function in the body of Christ as we worship God, but there won't be any difference. It won't make any difference. And there will be no need for anyone to teach you anymore.

I'm here tonight trying to open the Scriptures, and sometimes I get done preaching, one of you says, well, boy, I never would have got that out of that text of Scripture, but now I see it. And I'll respond, that's what I'm here for. That's the reason I'm here. I'm here to open the Scriptures to you, to give you understanding of the Word of God by the power of God's Spirit. But in heaven's glory will be in me.

For we shall all know then, even as we are now. We will see all things clearly. All things not I certainly don't think that's so, because we will continue to grow and increase in the knowledge of God, but all things clearly. We won't comprehend things all at once, but we will have continually, through our heaven's glory, the perfect revelation of God's purpose and being, and God's operations and work, and we will understand all things.

There'll be no need for comforters then. No need then. We all need a little comfort down here. I do, don't you? I need, once in a while, I just need somebody to give me a little cheer. Somebody to kind of lift me up. Sometimes your heart's heading to just a word in season.

Oh, how blessed it is. But in heaven's glory, there'll be no need for comfort because there won't be anything to be comforted from. In heaven's glory, nothing shall let her in that can hurt you. while he was on this earth. Oh, what miserable, miserable existence he had, as far as men can see. Poor, sick, covered with boils. The dogs came and licked his sores and the rich man walked out his door every day and looked at Lazarus, I sure wish he'd go away somewhere else. But Lazarus, in Abraham's bosom, doesn't need anything.

Now, I don't know everything that heaven prepares for us. I don't know everything awaiting us in glory land, but I know this. The saints of God in heaven don't need anything. No creature dependence. They don't need anything. They don't need anyone. everything they need, everything they want, they have, and everyone, everyone. How is it that the sun will never set? There will be no clouding elements found to hide the light in glory land.

Here we have some. Everywhere I go preaching, I get questions from folks that display a lot of clouds, a lot of heresies, clouding truth. A lot of confusing errors clouding men's understandings. A lot of schisms dividing the kingdom of God. A lot of false professors within the church of God, but not in heaven's glory.

Nothing, nothing then will cloud things. So we'll see clearly as things are revealed in the scriptures and in the revelation of Christ himself. There'll be no darkness in glory land because there's no darkness in us. The reason we have so much darkness here is because we got so much darkness in us, but not there.

In heaven's glory, we will be perfect and pure. Perfect and pure as God himself is perfect and pure. In heaven's glory, The scales of worldliness will be taken off our eyes. Oh, what a blessing this. Here, we constantly have our vision dimmed with worldliness. We constantly do. With worldly care, worldly ambition, worldly gain, worldly things, we constantly have our vision dimmed. In glory land, there'll be no scales of worldliness left on our eyes, no weighty burdens to load our hearts, no sin to defile and depress our souls, no neglected duty to torment us, no physical weaknesses or infirmities or inabilities to hinder us in the worship and service of God.

Sometimes we get up now on Sunday morning. I know some of you do. I do myself sometimes. You get up and you're just tired and you come to the house of God with a heart that's alive but a body that's about dead. And you drag yourself in here. And you come to worship God because you want to but your body hinders everything. Leave here on Tuesday night and you've had a hard day at work and you folks come in here and sit down I try to prepare a feast for you from the word of God.

But sometimes you're so tired you just can't eat. I understand that. Sometimes I am. Sometimes I am. My wife's a good cook. But sometimes I'll go home and I'll say I'm just too tired to eat. And you wouldn't believe that by looking at me, but it's so. Sometimes I'm just too tired to eat.

But I'm telling you, in heaven's glory land, There'll be no hindrance. No hindrance in the worship of God. No hindrance in the reception of the things of God. Because these bodies will be transformed in immortality. Transformed in immortality. So that we can be accommodated in the flesh. physical flesh, in this body of flesh, resurrected and glorified, will be accommodating rather than a hindrance to our soul and our worship of God. Glory land will be a land of perpetual, unceasing jubilee.

You remember in the year of jubilee, when the jubilee trumpet sounded, every debtor went free. All the land that had been lost was restored to the man who lost All the debts that had been owed were cleared away so that there was no possibility of that man having owed anything again that was owed when the jubilee trumpet sounded. Those who had sold themselves into bondage and slavery every seven years were set free.

But chances were pretty good they'd get back into slavery again. Chances were pretty good they'd get back in debt again. Chances were pretty good they'd lose their property again, because that's just the nature of men. If they're inclined to this kind of irresponsibility, and inclined to this kind of neglect, or inclined to this kind of weakness, that just, it over and over and over and over repeats itself. Oh, how much that's like us with regard to our sin and our corruption.

But here is a jubilee. when all the debts are cleared, and there's no possibility of getting in debt again. And all that has been lost is restored, and there's no possibility of losing it again. And all the fears of bondage have been broken, and there's no possibility of ever being in bondage again. In that day, we will have freedom with no fear of bondage, worship without interruption, An assembly that will never be unassembled. That congregation will never break up and never dismiss.

Sometimes we'll gather here and God gives us some usual day of worship and we'll just kind of hang around. Just kind of hang around. Talk about the message. Talk about the day. Talk about the blessings of God. Visit with one another. There's something in us that just says, I prefer this to what I've got to face tomorrow. I prefer being here with you than being there with them. And I'm telling you, soon we shall be together. I'm talking about together.

Together in heart perpetually. no more breaking up of the assembly of God's saints, no more disruption, no more dismissing, but only communion that will never end. Secondly, our text promises everlasting light, not only unceasing light, everlasting light. You see it?

The light of glory land shall be unceasing. and the light of glory land shall be everlasting, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light." I wonder why the prophet used that word right after telling us that the sun will never go down and the moon will never withdraw itself. I think the reason is that God intends for us to have fixed in our minds those things that are everlasting. The covenant by which heaven is secured, by which heaven was made certain for us, by which heaven was guaranteed for God's elect, was an everlasting covenant.

You see, this thing didn't just happen in time. This is not something that, that somehow or another, God saw that man had fallen, and man became sinful, and God decided, well, I've got to do something to clear up this mess. No, no, no. This whole, this kingdom was prepared for you from the foundation of the world. That's what our Lord said.

It's an everlasting covenant. Secure and fix that everlasting covenant. Secure and fix our everlasting inheritance. And so the sun will be everlasting light. Christ Jesus, the surety of the covenant, we are just told is an everlasting surety. He stood in our place before the world began. And he said, Father, give them to me and I'll bring them to you. And he stands in surety everlasting.

Everlasting, so that there's no possibility that one of God's elect should perish until the surety himself perishes. And try to get hold of this. We shall ourselves be immortal. Immortal. Sometimes we just make statements like that. I realize I'm in water way over my head. Immortal? How can a pygmy of time talk about immortality?

I mean there's a day coming when our Lord shall have made all things new and raised up these bodies, this body that's soul and in corruption. A soul in corruption rather shall be raised in incorruption. This body that's shown a moral body shall be raised in immortality.

Over at the hospital a couple of weeks ago, walk in that intensive care unit and look at half the eggs laying there. Oh, what a frail, frail, frail, frail, frail, frail, frail man he is. How mortal. How mortal. As frail and mortal before God as the smallest insect is before your foot. Frail and mortal.

But one of these days, our brother, I suspect he's listening. I really do. I suspect he hears what I'm saying. Our brother who's watching on now, encouraging us to continue in the way, I'm telling you, one of these days, that body will be raised up in the strength and perfection of immortality. Immortality. So that there's never a weakness. Never a weakness. Never anything that implies a weakness. In those immortal days of the triune God, A clear apprehension of his will and of his ways in all things.

One of our biggest difficulties here, Rex mentioned it in his prayer in the office back there a little bit ago. One of our biggest difficulties here is we judge by sight and sense. That's one of our biggest difficulties. We try to judge God's will, God's ways, God's providence, God's word, by our puny brains. And God just won't fit in here. He just, you can't comprehend the eternal. Somebody comes in there, a lot of times young fellas especially, they'll get hold of some idea concerning theology or doctrine and they'll try to get God all whittled down and fixed up in a shape, they'll mold to their puny brains and I say he's too big, he won't fit in there. God won't fit your mold, he won't do it.

And I'm telling you that when we stand before God in glory, Then we will see clearly God's truth, God's evidence, and God himself. So that we'll look back and say, he's done all things well. God give me faith to believe it right now. But Ron, we're soon going to see it. We're soon going to see it. And then thirdly, our text tells us that our unceasing, everlasting light will also be unmingled light. The days of thy mourning shall be ended. I'll give you another translation of that. It's written twice in Revelation. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. That's what it means.

There's a lot of things that cause us to mourn here that we will never have anything else to do with when we leave here. For in glory land, there'll be no more persecutions and no more abuses, no more trials, sicknesses. pain, troubles, inward troubles and outward troubles, home troubles and world troubles, no more pain. No more bereavement, no more sorrow. There'll be nothing in heaven's glory to bring a tear to these eyes. That's it. There'll be no pain in this heart. No temptations. no inward corruptions, no more evil thoughts, no more lust, no more coldness, no more indifference, no outward sins, no more hiding of God's face from us, no more chastisements, no sad reflections, no painful memories, no more dying.

You see, all of those things might be put under one category, dying, dying. Oh, but girl, soon there'll be no more dying. Now, there are many things that we might imagine would certainly bring tears to our eyes if God did not wipe away all tears from our eyes. There are many things that would cause us to mourn if God had not specifically said there shall be no mourning there. No more mourning, no more sorrow, no more sadness. Well preacher, won't we Has sorrow over the damned in hell? No. No. Our hearts break for you now, you who are without Christ.

And our hearts yearn that God may be pleased to have mercy on your soul. But I'm telling you, what Ron read in Revelation 19, just before I preached, is exactly so. God's saints will shout hallelujah when God destroys the wicked because they'll see his justice in doing so and glorify him. That's right. But won't we weep over our sins on the earth and our failures here? I listened to a fellow preaching one time, claimed to believe grace. He was preaching for me. I wanted to crawl under the pew.

He said, you'll regret every day in eternity, you'll regret every day forever and ever, every sin you committed against God. No, you won't. No, you won't. There'll be no sorrow there. No sorrow. In heaven's glory, Bob, we'll see how God has graciously overruled even our sin to do us good. and give honor to him who by his blood has put away our sin. Your son will never say it in that eternal day. God hastens the day. Amen.