Sermon Manuscript

Isaiah 60; Sunrise Breaks the Darkness ~ 20221211 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

12/11 Isaiah 60; Sunrise Breaks the Darkness Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20221211_advent-darkness-sunrise.mp3

Last time we looked at the prophecy of Zechariah in Luke chapter 1 that his son John would prepare the hearts of people to meet their God; that he would prepare the way for the coming of YHWH. Zechariah rejoiced that, like the Exodus from Egypt, God had taken notice of his people; he had come down to visit them in their need. He had come down to buy them out of the slavery they had sold themselves into – he had come to redeem. God had raised up a horn, a ruler in the lineage of King David, in fulfillment of all the prophecies about Messiah, the Anointed one. God would rescue his people from their enemies; enemies without and within. He would extend tender compassion toward those who have no hope. He would remember his promises, his covenant, his oath that he swore to their ancestors. God was about to keep his word.

Zechariah prophesied over his newborn son:

Luke 1:76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Zechariah’s words echo back to the exodus from Egypt, but they also resonate with Isaiah’s warnings about the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, and the ultimate hope of God’s people in their coming Servant-King. He speaks of a sunrise visiting us from on high, that gives light to those in darkness and death, that guides our feet in the way of peace.

Isaiah 60 reads like this:

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 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. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. 5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. 6 A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD. 7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will beautify my beautiful house.

And down in verse 16:

Isaiah 60:16 ...and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness. 18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. 19 The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20 Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.

Today I want to look at this concept of light breaking in on darkness and death in Isaiah.

Context of Isaiah

Isaiah is writing in the eighth century BC [c.740-680 BC], over 700 years before Christ. He was a contemporary of Micah and Hosea. He lived in Judah during the time of the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel and its capital Samaria [722] and their attempted siege of Judah and Jerusalem in 701 BC, where king Hezekiah cried out to the Lord, and the angel of the Lord defeated the Assyrian army.

Isaiah was called to confront the sins of God’s people that were bringing about God’s judgment. Isaiah starts out this way:

Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” 4 Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. 5 Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. 7 Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.

God is pleading with his disobedient people. Their rebellion leads to misery and destruction. He addresses their corruption, their idolatry, as they go through the motions of worship, but their hearts are far from him.

Isaiah 1:24 Therefore the Lord declares, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes. 25 I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. 26 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”

God is not only against the sinful nations, but he will even turn against his own people, but with the purpose of purifying them by the fires of judgment. Even in the fire there is hope and a good purpose. But he envisions a day;

Isaiah 2:2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

God will bring about a day of peace, when all the nations will worship the God of Israel.

This is the overarching message of Isaiah; God will judge the nations, and God will judge his own people for their sins. But as fire purifies, he will purify his people, and one day they will be righteous and faithful to him, a light to the nations. God himself will bring this about.

A Future Light will Overcome

Isaiah 60 looks far ahead to this future day when God’s glory will be seen; when ‘the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.’

But this light overcomes the darkness. To better appreciate the light, we need to understand what the darkness is. Zechariah says:

Luke 1:78 ...the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death...

Isaiah says:

Our Darkness

What is this darkness and thick darkness that covers earth and peoples? What is this shadow of death? We only need to look back at the context to see.

Isaiah 58 confronts Israel over their meticulous observation of God’s rules. They were doing all the right things, but for the wrong reasons, with the wrong heart. They were seeking to earn points with God by keeping the rules. They were frustrated that God seemed not to notice all their good works and was not answering their prayers.

Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness. 4 No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. 5 They hatch adders' eggs; they weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched. 6 Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways. 8 The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.

God is not limited, unable to answer, unable to hear; but your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Their laundry list of injustice is long, and their good works are like hatching snake eggs, like trying to make clothing out of spider’s webs. Isaiah goes on with a graphic description of the darkness:

Isaiah 59:9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men. 11 We all growl like bears; we moan and moan like doves; we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. 12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: 13 transgressing, and denying the LORD, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words. 14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. 15 Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

Sin is the darkness we manufacture when we turn away from the light of God’s presence, when we ignore the light of his truth.

God Himself Wars Against our Dark

Isaiah 59:15 ...The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. 17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. 18 According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment. 19 So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the LORD drives.

We can’t fix our situation. We are groping in the darkness and can’t find a way out. All we accomplish is digging the hole deeper that we are in. God saw our desperate situation, and he himself took action. He took up his armor and waged war against the darkness in us. He brought us salvation with his own arm.

Isaiah 59:20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD. 21 “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.”

God is the Redeemer. The LORD himself transforms us by his Spirit. He makes promises to us and he himself will keep them.

...16 ...and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

...19 The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20 Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended. 21 Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.

God himself destroys our darkness and becomes to us our everlasting light. This is the hope that Zechariah saw was being fulfilled in Jesus.

Luke 1:76 ... you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

We are those who have openly rebelled, who have turned away from the light, who are sitting content in our own darkness, not even seeking a way out from the shadow of death. And Jesus breaks in to give us light.

But this light in Isaiah 60 is more than metaphorical. It seems to be quite literal. No longer will we need the light of sun or moon, because the glory of the Lord will be seen; he will be our everlasting light. We see this fleshed out in the Revelation of Jesus given to John. In Revelation 21, in the new heaven and the new earth, in the new Jerusalem, where:

Revelation 21:3 ...“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” ...

The holy city Jerusalem came down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel (v.10-11).

Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Revelation 22:3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Jesus died to transfer us out of the kingdom of darkness and into his kingdom in marvelous light. The light has broken in, the darkness is dissipating, but the sun will one day shine in full strength. We celebrate Advent, the coming of Jesus. As sure as Jesus came the first time in fulfillment of all the prophecies, he is coming again. This is the final future hope that Jesus brings. For all of us who are found in him, the sunrise shall visit us from on high, and we will see him face to face. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!

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2022.12.11 3^rd Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 60; The Sunrise Breaks the Darkness

The sunrise shall visit us

Luke 1:76-79; Isaiah 60:1-7; 16-20

Isaiah [c. 740 – 680 BC]

722 BC Samaria falls to Assyria

2 Kings 18:9-10

701 BC Jerusalem protected by Angel of the Lord

Isaiah 36-37

Israel’s rebellion brings their destruction

Isaiah 1:2-8

God will purify his people with the fire of judgment

Isaiah 1:24-26

the nations will come to worship God in peace

Isaiah 2:2-5

Thick darkness of sin separates us from God

Isaiah 59:1-15

When we are unable, God wars against our darkness

Isaiah 59:15-21; Colossians 1:12-14; 1 Peter 2:9

The presence of God will be our source of light forever

Isaiah 60:1-3, 19-21; Revelation 21:3-5, 22-27; 22:3-5

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org