Faithful on Fridays Blog

Part Ten

God’s communication often paints a picture for His people to understand not only their past and present, but also their future. He effectively uses ‘light’ in chapter sixty since these ‘sixties’ complete Isaiah’s prophecy including the end of days when Messiah will return and make things right in the world once again. With that in mind He tells us to stand up and shine brightly since the Light has come and His radiant glory, like the sun, has risen upon us. That sets the stage for the final chapters of Isaiah.

Messiah is the Light (John 8:12) not only for Israel, but for the nations who’ll be magnetically drawn to the Light of Life (John 1:4) and God’s house will be beautiful (Is. 60:7b, 9c). Simeon prophesied over the infant Jesus (Luke 2:32) that He’ll be a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Israel; that’s a beautiful house of God for eternity. There’s a foreshadow of the new Jerusalem in verses 19-22 which John saw in his vision (Rev. 21:23-24) where the light of the sun won’t be needed anymore since God will be our everlasting Light. 

Moving on to chapter sixty-one we find Jesus quoting these opening two verses in Luke 4:18-19 declaring that ‘today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’. The Messiah was sent by the Father, by the power of the Spirit, and came to bring justice to the nations; it’ll be a jubilee year. There’s a response in verses 10-11 as God’s people rejoice in their garments of salvation and righteousness, but also using a wedding metaphor ‘like a bridegroom dressed like a priest or a bride adorned with magnificent jewelry’. We expectantly wait for the return of our spiritual Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. 

The ‘light’ described in chapter sixty-two is bright like a burning torch the nations of the world will see as well. God’s royal family, another marriage metaphor of Jesus and His Bride, will experience a new day and we need to be ready in strong faith for it. We are His reward from the Father (vs. 11-12), a holy people, redeemed of the LORD, like a city He’s been searching for since the Garden of Eden. 

His Bride, believers of all time, will be returning with Him to consummate the Kingdom of God for all eternity.

Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses. Revelation 19:7-8, 14 

Don’t miss these chapters as God paints His picture for Jew and Gentile, everyone who will repent and believe in the ‘true light’ (John 1:9-13) that came into the world.