Isaiah 60 has two main themes throughout it;
1) gathering, and
2) creating eternal families in temples.
These two themes are closely related.
Why does God ask His people to gather together? It is
because when they are gathered together, they have greater strength than if
they were separated. And this is true of financial strength as well. When the
Lord’s people gather to Zion, they have the financial strength necessary to
build temples. And once temples are built in Zion, or any of her stakes which
are organized, then the Lord’s people can create eternal families in those temples.
In order to help the peoples of the earth to gather, the
Lord encourages Israel to arise and shine, so that their light can draw people in.
“1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon
thee… 2...And his glory shall be seen upon thee. 3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of
thy rising.” Again, note the element of gathering. The Gentiles shall gather to
Israel’s light. “4 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.” And again note the second element of
families: thy sons and thy daughters. And note how the two elements of
gathering and eternal families are interconnected.
The last part of this verse (“thy sons shall come from far,
and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side”) is very similar to other
writings of Isaiah. In a previous blog post about Isaiah 49, I commented on
verses 19-23: The Gentiles “shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy
daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing
fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers;” 'I will not forget thy lost
children, O house of Israel. For the land of thy lost family’ “shall even now
be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants.” So much so that “the children whom
thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the first, shall again in thine ears say:
The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt
thou say in thine heart: Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my
children” ‘because I did not have eternal temple covenants?’ “And who hath
brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where have they been?”
The Lord then answers: When the Gentiles gather to thy
light, they shall bring thy lost children home. “Thy sons shall come from far,
and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.” Thy lost children shall be reunited
with thee in the latter-day temples.
No blessings are more joyful and healing than
the blessings of eternal families.
The chapter continues with the theme of gathering: ‘5 Then
thou shalt see the nations flow together, and thine heart shall rejoice, and be
enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be gathered unto thee, and the
wealth of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.’
Again note that one of the reasons we gather is so that we
have the combined financial strength to build temples. ‘The wealth of the
Gentiles shall come unto thee.’
Isaiah continues to describe the gathering process: “6 All they from Sheba shall come: they
shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the
Lord. 7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of
Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine
altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. 8 Who are these that fly as a
cloud, and as the doves to their windows?”
The people gather to Israel like “doves to their windows”. The
nations, with their wealth, shall gather to the light of Israel to help build
temples. And when they gather, they shall bring the records of their past
families, so that they can create their own eternal families in the temples of
Israel. And because of this "a little one shall become a thousand, and a
small one a strong nation." (v. 22) They shall have their family tied to them.
The apostasy shall bring darkness, and "the darkness
shall cover the earth, and gross darkness shall cover the people." Without
the gospel, eternal families could no longer be created. But “the Lord shall arise”
and restore the gospel light, “and his glory"—the glory found in temples—"shall be seen upon [Israel].” (v. 2). Who
would not want to gather to that light to have their eternal family restored?
And note in the previous verses that it is not just the
wealth of nations that gather, but a very specific wealth. What exactly is
gathered? Flocks, rams, doves, incense, etc. These are all things that in
Israel’s day were sacrificed on the altars of the temple! “They shall come up
with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.” The house
of my glory, the temple! Again note the two themes, and how interconnected they
are. 1) gathering, and 2) creating eternal families in temples. The wealth of
nations (symbolized by rams, incense, etc,) is gathered to provide the ability
for Israel to offer on the altars of the house of the Lord an acceptable
offering (the offering of tying all the families of the earth together).
The Lord is gathering these blessings of the Gentiles to
Israel to glorify His temple. He is preparing His people and temple to be able
to have sufficient means to perform the temple work for all the nations and
generations of the earth. This is at the very heart and core of this chapter. We
gather together to have the financial means "to beautify the place of my
sanctuary." And with these blessings "I will make the place of my
feet"—the temple—"glorious." (v. 13).
Also note that the things that are being gathered together are
things that will be used to build and beautify the temple. Gold, silver, “the
fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my
sanctuary.” (v. 13).
Isaiah continues his discussion of gathering and families: “9 Surely
the isles shall [gather to] me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to 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. 10 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.”
Not to repeat myself, but note the two interconnected themes
yet again. Gathering and families. "Because he hath glorified [Israel]", people want to gather to them. And the Lord promises that all those who
gather “shall inherit the land for ever, [and shall become] the branch
of my planting, the work of my hands.” They shall become part of a family tree,
“the branch of my planting”.
It is amazing the many powerful symbols this chapter holds.
Light juxtaposed against darkness, day and night, the sun and the moon, glory
and brightness, etc (v. 19-20). The earth with its nations and lands, its borders and
gates, the walls of the city and the temple sanctuary, etc (v. 10-12). The materials for
building, the gold and the silver, the brass and the iron, the stones and the
wood, the fir tree and the pine tree, etc (v. 13, 17).
And all these spiritual and literary symbols flow together beautifully to become completely and perfectly centered in the temple. For example, the gates
and the walls of the temple flow together with the stones and the trees from
which the walls are made, which in turn flow together with the branch of the
Lord's planting, the genealogical work, which is done in the temple. Etc.
Much more could be written about this chapter (and maybe I’ll
write another post about the last half of the chapter) but hopefully this will
inspire you to study more of Isaiah’s amazing writings. Thanks for reading.
Comments
Post a Comment