Isaiah 60: The Kingdom of Light: Chapter 21: Light and Glory

In Isaiah 59:21 the prophet describes the New Covenant, telling us of God’s vow to put His words into the mouths of all people. This implies that they will all become Amen people, speaking only what they hear their heavenly Father say. This is a promise to restore all things so that all will fulfill the purpose for which they were created.

In that light, Isaiah goes further in chapter 60, telling us of the glory of God that is our inheritance. Although His glory was lost through Adam’s sin, it is restored through the righteousness of Christ, the Last Adam.

The Extent of God’s Glory

Isaiah 60:1-3 says,

¹ “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. ² For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. ³ Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

This promise has often been applied to physical Israelites or to Jews only. But the New Covenant applies to “every living creature of all flesh on the earth” (Gen. 9:16). This is the promise of the New Covenant, as the prophet of universal salvation has already stated in Isaiah 11:9,

⁹ … For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Recall that the prophet was referring to the promise given to Moses when the Israelites had refused to enter the Promised Land. Moses had informed God that if He destroyed the rebellious Israelites, the neighboring nations would say that God was unable to fulfill His New Covenant vows, because the will of the people was too powerful.

God responded by informing Moses that He would not only fulfill the promise to Israel but also to the whole earth. Num. 14:21 says,

²¹ but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.

No doubt the prophet had studied and prayed over that promise many times, for he referenced it twice in his writings: Isaiah 6:3 and with an expansion in Isaiah 11:9, “as the waters cover the sea.” The waters cover about 100% of the sea; hence, the glory of the Lord will cover 100% of the habitable earth.

Isaiah 60:2 says that “darkness will cover the earth… (but) His glory will appear upon you.” God’s overall plan is to call the few to bless the many. Hence, the purpose of His glory appearing over a few is designed to draw all the nations to their light in verse 3. This is the equivalent of the Abrahamic covenant, where we read that “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3).

The New Covenant has many aspects to it, each revealed in a different setting. We must piece them together to get a full picture. With the covenant to Noah in Genesis 9, we see the scope of salvation promised to the entire earth. With the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12, we see that God will use those who have faith as ambassadors with the word of reconciliation to bring repentance to the nations. With the Davidic covenant in Psalm 89, we see the prophecy that Jesus Christ, the King of the earth will be specifically of the seed of David.

Though Jer. 31:33 tells us that this New Covenant was to be made with the house of Israel, its effects were to be seen universally. The prophet’s intent was to show the contrast between the first covenant and the second, for it was “not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke” (Jer. 31:32).

In what way was it different? The Old Covenant was man’s vow to God, which they broke. The New Covenant is God’s vow to man, which He cannot break, for He is fully capable of fulfilling it in spite of man’s will. The will of God will prevail, because whatever God speaks comes into existence immediately, and in time it is manifested in the earth for all to see.

This is the extent of God’s glory. The light of His glory will not be limited to the few, except at the beginning. At first it will be seen upon the seed of Abraham—not His physical seed, but those who have the faith of their spiritual father, Abraham, as Paul tells us in Gal. 3:6, 7. This faith is seen when men actually believe that God is able to fulfill His New Covenant promise to save the whole earth (Rom. 4:21, 22).

Darkness and Light

This promise of light and glory does not come upon all men at the same time. In the present age He calls the few, speaks His word to them, and thereby gives them a quality of faith necessary to equip them as ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20). Most Christians who think of themselves as ambassadors of Christ have come with the bad news message of doom—“turn or burn.” But Paul made it clear that the message was the good news (gospel), “namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.”

The “gospel” means good news, not bad news. The bad news gospel cannot fulfill the promise of God, for it lacks Abrahamic faith and does not truly bless the nations with full light and truth. Acts 3:25, 26 define the Abrahamic blessing as “turning every one of you from your wicked ways.” That is God’s promise to all families of the earth. They will be turned. The light of Christ that is seen in His faithful ambassadors will attract the nations by the good news of the gospel.

This gospel light began with Jesus Christ, whose light was seen “in the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali” (Isaiah 9:1). Isaiah 9:2 and 6 says,

² The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them… ⁶ For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Over time, this great light spread throughout the world, and although that light seems to have grown dim in later centuries, the second coming of Christ will rekindle the light and spread the gospel in a new and greater outpouring of the Spirit than was seen at Pentecost.

The Light of the World

The fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles will bring a greater anointing and greater light to the earth, for Jesus Christ is the light of the world (John 9:5). In other words, the light that began to shine in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali was not just a local light. Its purpose was to spread throughout the entire world. Then Isaiah 2:2, 3 will be fulfilled. “Many peoples” will come to learn of His ways.

This appears to be a reversal of sorts. The first coming of Christ brought about the time of His ambassadors reaching out to the nations. But the second coming of Christ will reverse this, as the nations come to the ambassadors.

The main cause appears to be the manifestation of the sons of God, where the dead overcomers are raised in “the first resurrection” (Rev. 20:6) on the feast of Trumpets. These will then join with the living overcomers, who will be transformed on the first day of Tabernacles, forming a single body, upon which the Head will come in the middle of Tabernacles to make that body complete. The complete body will then be presented to the Father on the eighth day of Tabernacles and then be manifested to the people on earth as they begin their new ministry.

Having received their true inheritance (the glorified body), the nations will be drawn to them, hoping to learn how they too may become manifested sons of God. Then they will learn the good news that God has promised to them as well, and this will ignite a new age of evangelism that will eclipse all earlier evangelistic efforts.

Such will be the result of the light and glory that is seen in the first wave of overcomers. Their ministry during the great Sabbath Millennium will culminate at the Great White Throne judgment, where the dead from all past ages will be raised and summoned to the throne. There every knee will bow and every tongue swear allegiance to Christ (Isaiah 45:23). A new era will supersede the previous, wherein these new believers will learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9).

This is the great “lake of fire,” that is, the “fiery law” (Deut. 33:2, KJV), that great baptism of fire that is designed to cleanse and purify all mankind (Matt. 3:11, 12). This is the good news of the gospel—the truth that God is able to fulfill His New Covenant vow to save the whole earth through the faith and ministry of the seed of Abraham.

Though the darkness has ruled the earth for thousands of years, the light will win in the end. John 1:4, 5 says,

⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it [i.e., could not extinguish it].

Those who have the faith to believe the promise of God are the seed of Abraham, the first fruits of those called as ambassadors to the nations. Such faith is rewarded with imputed righteousness until the day when the feast of Tabernacles is fulfilled in them, giving them actual righteousness.