Isaiah chapter 60 and verse 1. Arise, shine, for thy light is
come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people. But the Lord shall arise upon
thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles
shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy
rising. Lift up thine eyes round about
and see, all they gather themselves together, they come to thee.
Thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed
at thy side. Then thou shalt see and flow
together, and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged, because
the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee. The forces
of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels
shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All they
from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and incense,
and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. All the
flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams
of Nabathoth, shall minister unto thee. they shall come up
with acceptance on thine altar, and I will glorify the house
of my glory. Who are these that fly as a cloud,
and as the doves to their windows? Surely the isles shall wait for
me, and the ships of Tarshish first, and bring thy sons from
far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the
Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath
glorified thee. and the sons of strangers shall
build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee,
for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy
on thee. Therefore thy gates shall be
opened continually. They shall not be shut day nor
night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles,
and that their kings may be brought. For the nation and kingdom that
will not serve thee shall perish, yea, those nations shall be utterly
wasted. The glory of Lebanon shall come
unto thee, the fir tree, and the pine tree, and the box together
to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of
my feet glorious. The sons also of them that afflicted
thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despised
thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and
they shall call thee the City of the Lord, the Zion of the
Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken
and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee
an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Thou shalt
also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of
kings, and thou shalt know that I, the Lord, am thy Saviour,
and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. For brass I will
bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass,
and for stones iron. I will also make thy officers
peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard
in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders. But thou
shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise. The sun
shall be no more thy light by day, 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. Thy sun shall
no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for
the Lord shall be thy everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning
shall be ended. 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. A little one shall become a thousand,
and a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in
his time. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us
all the key to interpreting the scriptures. The Lord gave us
all the key to interpreting the scriptures when he told his disciples
that all the scriptures speak of him. We read in Luke chapter
24, verse 27. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things
concerning himself. Lord Jesus Christ did that after
he was risen from the dead. That was to the two on the road
to Emmaus that he taught them and expounded to them that all
the scriptures spoke of things concerning himself. and by that
statement we understand that while much is written in Moses
in the first five books of the Bible and much is written in
all of the prophets concerning individuals and concerning the
circumstances of ancient history and the peoples that lived then
and the events There stands in all the scriptures an enduring
testimony concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. From Genesis to
Malachi, it is our privilege to seek the Lord in the writings
of the prophets. Prophets such as Isaiah. who spoke the word of God and
encouraged God's people of his own age, God's elect from all
the ages, encouraged them by informing them and teaching them
and predicting the coming Messiah. That is what he is doing here
in this chapter. That's what the Lord has given
us the key to understand. And the New Testament confirms
this. The apostles themselves confirm it. Peter tells us concerning
these prophets, such as Isaiah, that they inquired and searched
diligently. Isaiah just didn't sit down with,
I don't know, a feather and a bottle of ink and start writing like
some computer printer printing out all of these notes. Isaiah searched, he searched
the Psalms, he searched the books of Moses, he searched what had
been said before, he waited upon the Spirit. They enquired, they
examined, they wrestled with these things and the Lord revealed
to them by inspiration. the matters of salvation concerning
the person of Christ, the Messiah that was to come. How that salvation
would appear and we're told they prophesied of the grace that
should come unto God's elect. They prophesied of the grace
that should come. This chapter, as with the whole
book, as with the whole of the Old Testament, is a prophecy
concerning the grace that should come by the Lord Jesus Christ. So today what I want to do is
take that statement that we've just re-emphasised and the apostolic statement that
Peter made and apply it to our reading from today. Peter tells
us that Isaiah prophesied of the grace that should come and
it is exactly what he is doing in this chapter today. There
are some blessed pictures of our saviour, the God-man, to
be seen, I believe. When we take these opening words
of this chapter, it was the title of the little introduction that
I gave yesterday in my notes, Arise and Shine, it's the title
of this sermon. When we take these opening imperatives
as being spoken by the father to the son, that it is God who
is speaking when he says to his son, the Messiah, the coming
Christ, arise, shine. and on many occasions within
the covenant of grace and in the great work of salvation,
these words arise and shine may be discerned as initiating the
momentous activities of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in his
work of redemption and salvation. So what I've got today are seven
times, seven times when these words arise and shine, spoken
by the Father to the Son here in this chapter, fulfil Peter's
assertion that Isaiah prophesied of the grace that should come. Here's the first one of our seven
then. In the eternal counsel, in the
eternal counsel of God's free and sovereign grace, God the
Son, the eternal Word, rose and shone when he assumed responsibility
for God's chosen people and undertook as their surety to bring them
to glory. This eternal council took place
before the creation of the world. when God in eternity formed His
plans and decreed His will for the salvation of His people.
In Isaiah 6, we have a little glimpse of what that was. We read there in Isaiah 6 of
a call, a call that was uttered in eternity and answered by one
who stood in the presence of Almighty God. In verse 8 of chapter
6 in Isaiah, we read, the word of the Lord asked this question,
saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send
me. Now we discussed this at the
time and I pointed out that I don't think that this really can be
limited to the prophet Isaiah. This is something much more important
and profound. Remember, Isaiah was prophesying
of the grace that should come. And so when he hears these words,
here am I, send me, this is the Son, the eternal Word who is
speaking. These words I take to be the
words of the Son of God, called the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. That means that the Lord Jesus
Christ was seen from even before the world was formed, even before
the foundation of the world was created. He was seen and considered
in the eternal council as the Lamb slain because the plan of
redemption, the plan of God's sovereign grace and goodness
had already been formed in the purposes of God and in his eternal
decrees. It wasn't an afterthought after
Adam sinned and fell. It was the plan and purpose of
God aforetime. And here the Lord Jesus Christ
rose to fulfil the role of surety, stood forth to shoulder the burden
of redemption, to do what no man ever could do. And here he acquiesced to be
our substitute and to join himself to our flesh that we might be
eternally united to him in glory. We. may well stand in awe of
such a one who possessed all things, who needed nothing, who
enjoyed all things, who dwelt content in the eternal peace
and perfection of holiness with the Father, with the Spirit. There dwelt the Son in the triune
majesty of the eternal God. and yet who undertook to bear
our grief and carry our sorrow to become sin for us that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ it is,
shines as the bright morning star in the covenant of grace. And as he arises there to represent
his people, and as he stoops to bring many sons to glory,
the Father's words to God the Son echo throughout the history
of salvation. Arise and shine. And this also applies to the
beginning of the Saviour's work in time. And this is our second
point. At the incarnation, God the Son
rose from his throne, set aside his glory, took our human flesh,
and entered this world as a baby. In doing so, He shone in his
obedience to his father's will, and in him dwelt all the glory
of the Godhead bodily. Psalm 40 verse 7 and 8 tells
us of Christ's obedience in his coming. He said, Then said I,
Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me,
I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my
heart. Here was the Lord Jesus Christ
willingly subjecting himself as the mediator in this substitutionary,
in this suretyship role that he had assumed and coming to
do the Father's will. Now let me say this, let us never
imagine that the subordination of the Lord Jesus Christ to the
will of the Father implies any denial of the equality of the
Saviour with the Father, or indeed with the Spirit. in the Godhead,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the triune God, God in three
persons. This subordination in his role
as mediator was a willing and assumed subordination for the
purpose of fulfilling the will of God. This does not in any
way diminish the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, our saviour
willingly undertook to do his father's will and was made in
so doing a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death. that he might save his people
from their sins. Christ had to come and join himself
with our flesh that he might be the unique intercessor, the
unique redeemer and deliverer of his people. And in this task,
he was crowned with glory and honour. As Isaiah tells us here
in this chapter, the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. That is, the glory of Jehovah
is risen upon the God-man, Jesus Christ. And again Isaiah says,
the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon
thee. And this glory, this glory that
was seen upon the Lord Jesus Christ, this shining, which is
what I'm applying it to, that the Lord Jesus Christ arose in
the incarnation and shone with the glory of God, this rising
and shining was seen in many ways. It was seen, for example,
in the virgin birth. It was seen in the way that the
Holy Spirit descended as a dove upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It
was seen and heard in the way in which the father declared
himself well pleased with his son. it was revealed implicitly
in the words and in the works of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter
could say, thou hast the words of eternal life. You have the
words of eternal life. Nicodemus. and the other Pharisees
knew, Nicodemus testified, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself
said in John 17 verse 8, I have given unto them the words that
thou gavest me. They have received them and have
known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed
that thou didst send me. The Lord Jesus Christ shone in
glory. And that was even seen explicitly
in the transfiguration. In Matthew 17, the beginning
of that chapter, we read that Jesus brought them up into a
high mountain apart, this is Peter, James and John, and was
transfigured before them. and his face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was white as the light. Christ arose and
shone. By all these examples, we see
that in Christ's coming to earth, in him becoming a man, in him
entering into time, taking our flesh, he fulfilled God's will
to arise and shine. Here's a third way in which these
words of Isaiah can be applied. When God the Son willingly allowed
himself to be lifted up upon the cross, he could be said to
arise and shine. Isaiah promised the Old Testament
saints that in the Messiah's day the Gentiles shall come to
his light and kings to the brightness of his rising. And this is precisely
what the Lord foretold Himself to His disciples, saying in John
12, 32, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all
men unto me. In the raising up of the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross, as His arms were extended, as the
Saviour hung there between heaven and earth, He shone in the glory
the sacrifice for sin and it is that great work which has
drawn the Gentiles and the Jews, all of God's elect, into that
desire after the righteousness which he has provided. The Lord Jesus Christ willingly
went to the cross to save all for whom he stood surety in that
eternal council. All these things work together.
Christ had stood there in the eternal council and taken upon
himself the responsibility of delivering those placed into
his hands by his Father. and now he was coming and fulfilling
that task. Those whose sins are cleansed
in the precious blood of the Lamb shall come to a saving knowledge
of forgiveness and be converted to trust in him. Or as Isaiah
says here in verse 16, thou shalt know that I am the Lord Thou
shalt know that I, the Lord, am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob. You'll know it, you'll know it.
So that in Christ's suffering and death, he was raised up like
the brazen serpent in the wilderness. The brazen serpent shone. It was polished brass. It shone
in the sun. It was bright to look at. Christ
was raised up like the brazen serpent in the wilderness and
he shone as the giver of hope and salvation for guilty sinners
who come to him for life. Christ rose and shone on Calvary's
tree. And here's a fourth example of
Christ arising and shining. When we see God the Son breaking
the bands of death, arising from his tomb, triumphing over the
grave and defeating our greatest foe, we see him both rising and
shining in the clearest terms. Isaiah speaks of the church possessing
eternal life. That is the life that we have
in Christ. Because I live ye shall live
also. I will make thee an eternal excellency,
a joy of many generations. That's what Isaiah said. He was
speaking to people who really, in many ways, knew very little
about the idea of resurrection. And yet here he was speaking
of an eternal excellency that would be made to the people,
to the remnant, to the faithful elect of his day and in the days
that would yet come. This speaks of Christ, our everlasting
light, who shines upon his people, whose death or by his death he
endured and the life that he won for us. People are celebrating
Easter today. They're celebrating Holy Week
and many celebrate it with some understanding of what it means
perhaps. Many without any understanding. But we who are the Lord's dwell
in the light of his countenance. Or as Isaiah says in chapter
2, verse 5, O house of Jacob, come ye. and let us walk in the
light of the Lord. He is shining brightly. He shines
in his resurrection. He shines in the new life that
he gives. We follow the living Christ,
who was dead and is alive, who was buried and is risen again,
and he shines with an everlasting light upon the pathway that leads
his church to glory. Here's the fifth example that
I have. We see God the Son arising in
the gospel in order to shine into the hearts of men and women
for the salvation of their souls. We may rejoice with the ancients
of Isaiah's day, that the promises of the ingathering of the Gentiles,
that they would be brought together into the church, Zion, the picture
of the Jerusalem city, which is foreseen again in the New
Jerusalem which will come. We rejoice with these ancients
to see these promises that they held onto being fulfilled in
our day. It's taking place right now with
power. God is bringing you and He's
bringing me. We are the very Gentiles. We are the very ones of whom
this is spoken. No, we don't travel to Israel.
No, we don't travel to Jerusalem. We're not going to the cities
and taking our bankbooks with us or travelling on camels and
dromedaries to get there. But we are bringing that which
we are into the city of God. and God gives good gifts to his
people. The riches that we have are not
even our tangible riches and our natural wealth, though we
gladly lay these before the Lord in order to serve his kingdom,
but these are the good gifts that God gives to his people,
the graces of his goodness, the good and perfect gifts that come
to us from on high that we gladly give back to him and spend for
his glory and his worship and his praise. This is the in-gathering
of the people of God that is taking place right now. And Isaiah
speaks of sons and daughters being drawn to Christ from amongst
the nations and of a great influx of both people and wealth into
the Church of Christ. He's using this Old Testament
language and its imagery to describe the New Testament blessings of
grace and mercy. and all of God's elect, all of
those that Christ stood for in that eternal council, all of
those that he died for on the cross, all of those that he rose
for from the grave, they will hear this gospel. It will shine
in their hearts. They will hear this gospel and
be converted and God's good and perfect gifts will be given to
them by grace. Indeed, we could well say that
all the promises of God are ours in Christ. They are yea and amen
to us in Him. And the Gospel day, this day
in which we live, brings the fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy. Here, in chapter 60, he says,
darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people.
Nevertheless, to quote him from chapter 9 verse 2, the people
that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that
dwell in the land of shadow, the shadow of death, upon them
hath the light shined. And this is what it does when
the gospel is preached. Sometimes we worry. We worry. We're warriors. We're
warriors. Sometimes we worry that not enough
people are getting converted. That the gospel is somehow failing
and faltering. Somehow it's lost its power and
its efficacy. I'll say it to myself first and
then I'll say it to you. Don't be silly. Don't be silly. The gospel is the power of God. So there's no fear there. Nor
has man's will become mightier than God's will. This gospel,
this gospel is the light of life. It is the glorious gospel of
Christ. It shines into the heart of a
sinner and it illuminates the soul. It is enlightenment. Are you weary of the dark guilt
of your soul? Christ is the light that shines
in a dark place. Does your sin make you sick?
Christ is the son of righteousness that rises with healing in his
wings. We preach Christ's gospel and
when it is preached he has promised he will employ it to save his
elect and condemn the wicked. It will shine. all the way to
that great day when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. Peter
says in 2 Peter 1, verse 19, We have also a more sure word
of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed. as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and
the day star arise in your hearts. This day star is Christ who has
risen and shines in the dark recesses of sinners hearts to
bring light and life and peace with God. Here's my sixth point. In last week's sermon, we spoke
of Christ the intercessor. And with the eye of faith, we
see God the Son in heaven now, rising from his place because
he's seated at the right hand of God. So he's rising up from
that throne of majesty where he is seated at the right hand
of God. He is rising up to advocate and intercede for his people. What a delightful picture that
is of Christ rising and shining. not seated but risen up in an
ongoing concern for his people as he did when Stephen was going
to his death. You remember what it was said
of Stephen that he looked up and he saw the Lord standing
at the right hand of the majesty on high, standing at the right
hand of God. He wasn't sitting, he was standing. The Lord Jesus Christ arose in
heaven because of the need of his child Stephen. Standing,
mediating, speaking with and for those who come to God seeking
help and comfort. Hebrews 7 verse 25 tells us,
Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to maketh intercession
for them. Yes, Christ is alive. Yes, Christ
is risen from the dead. He is in heaven now and he is
standing making intercession for us. This is Christ's priestly
role as mediator and great high priest. In this role, our saviour
is active and engaged on our behalf before the throne of God's
grace from where he sends down good gifts for his people according
to our need. We're a needy people. God knows
we're a needy people. But when we sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. When we are tempted, when we
are tried, when we are sick, when we are sad, we go to Christ
who knows our fears and our pains and is touched with the feeling
of our infirmity. We have many in this little fellowship
right now who are ill. We have many in this little fellowship
who are carrying concerns for loved ones who are facing trying
times. What a comfort to be able to
take our burdens, our needs, our prayers for help to such
a saviour who is active to help and to bless and to care for
all our needs according to his riches. And here's the seventh and final
point. Thank you for your patience and
your persistence as we've made our way through. There's one
more occasion in which the Lord Jesus Christ will rise and shine
in a splendour never yet beheld. In that great day of the Lord,
when we see God the Son rising to return in judgment and bring
his people to glory. When he shall shine in all his
glory and we shall be like him. In fact, we are told we shall
rise and shine just like our Saviour because the dead in Christ
shall rise first and then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. We shall rise and we shall shine
like Him. In Revelation 21, is a beautiful
reprise of this passage or the tail end, the back end of this
chapter 60 in Isaiah. And John there, the Apostle John
in Revelation 21, employs Isaiah's language to describe the church's
blessings in glory. The Apostle draws upon Isaiah's
imagery to show an age of righteousness, blessing and peace. A day when
the true Church, the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ will be adorned
in her purity. her white garments, her shining
garments, revealed and glorified in the presence of her God and
Saviour. And there, God's elect, Christ's
redeemed people will be all righteous. no more sin, no more sickness,
no more sadness will touch us. We shall inherit all that is
ordained according to the eternal decrees of God. As his workmanship,
as the branch of his planting, the work of God's hands, what
was once reckoned by the world to be a small and insignificant
people, will be revealed as the chosen people of God, a numerous
and a mighty nation, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb for
the glory of God himself. I mentioned this yesterday in
the little note that I sent out. Let me just mention it once again.
Isaiah's final message from this chapter tells us that the Lord
himself will hasten Christ's return for his church. We long for the Lord's soon return. We say even so, come quickly.
But the time is according to God's purpose and his saving
decree. That longed for moment will not,
cannot come until the last believer is gathered and the last one
of God's elect has been brought in. The last lost sheep has been
brought into the fold. The last crowning gem is set
amongst the jewels of his grace. And then the glory of God will
be revealed. Then for the final time, the
Father will say to the Son, arise, shine. And then time will be
no more and eternity will be our home. May the Lord bless
these thoughts to us. Amen.