WWUTT 2159 Glory Will Come to Zion (Isaiah 60:1-22)

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The church is not just some club or a group that we go to on the weekends. The church is made up of people from all over the world who've been called out from the world to be worshippers and followers of Jesus Christ when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an

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Old Testament book on Thursday, and a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Isaiah, we are up to chapter 60 this week.

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If you've got a Bible, you're welcome to open up and join with me there. Some very glorious promises that we see in this chapter.

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As a matter of fact, the last several chapters of Isaiah, very uplifting, as we're kind of in the homestretch here, verses or chapters 60 to 66 that we have yet to cover.

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So let me begin here by reading verses 1 through 9 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

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Hear the word of the Lord. They all gather together.

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They come to you. Your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will be carried on the nurse's hip.

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Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and be large with joy, because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you.

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The wealth of the nations will come to you. A multitude of camels will cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah.

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All those from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense and will bear good news of the praises of Yahweh.

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All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you. The rams of Nebaioth will minister to you.

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They will go up with acceptance on my altar, and I shall adorn my glorious house with beautiful glory.

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Who are these who fly like a cloud and like the doves to their lattices? Surely the coastlands will hope in me.

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And the ships of Tarshish will come first to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them for the name of Yahweh your

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God and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has adorned you with beautiful glory.

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Now the you that's being referenced here is Zion, even though Zion is not explicitly stated here in the very beginning, like saying you,

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Zion, it doesn't directly address Zion. But we carry that over from the end of chapter 59, verse 20, a redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob declares

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Yahweh. And so this is in reference to Zion. And Zion is that place where God dwells.

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Zion is the mountain of God, which would be where the temple is located, where God dwells with his people.

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So that would be referred to as Mount Zion. Mount Zion being that place where God is dwelling with his people.

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And so wherever Zion is, the people will come. And as we come to understand that God will dwell with his people in the

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Holy Spirit that will be given to everyone who is a follower of Christ. Really, what we're having described here for us in Isaiah 60 is the church in the context in which the

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Jews would understand this. Zion is what is being addressed. But this is foretelling of the church people that come from everywhere to God.

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How is it that they will come to God? It will be in the church, through the church. The people of God that are called out from the world to be a people unto

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Christ. This is in reference to the church. All of this prophesying that nations will come to the

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Lord, not just Jews, but even Gentiles. And Jews and Gentiles are together as one people of God in his church.

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So let's come back up to chapter 60, verse one, arise, shine for your light has come and the glory of Yahweh has risen upon you.

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For behold, darkness will cover the earth and dense gloom the peoples, but Yahweh will rise upon you and his glory will appear upon you.

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And who does that describe in the present? Who has the favor of Yahweh?

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It's not the people in the world. The world will dwell in darkness, in gloom.

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But God's favor will be upon those who are in Christ. Those who have faith in Jesus, who have put their trust in him for the forgiveness of their sins, who dwell in marvelous light.

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Now, as Peter describes it, 1 Peter 2, 9, you are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

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And then we have some other Old Testament references here. 1 Peter 2, 10, for you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God.

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That comes right out of Hosea. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

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And then going on, verses 11 and 12, beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul by keeping your conduct excellent among the

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Gentiles so that in the thing which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good works as they observe them glorify

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God in the day of visitation. And so this reference to the church is dwelling in the light of Yahweh.

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Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. Jesus said, let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.

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Verse four, lift up your eyes round about and see they all gather together.

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They come to you. Your sons will come from afar and your daughters will be carried on the nurse's hip.

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So talking about how there will be new converts, new people who will come to the faith. Remember Jesus saying to Nicodemus that for anyone to see the kingdom of God, he must be born again.

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So this is the description of those who are born again. Infants in the faith brand new, but they have come to Christ as a baby girl would be carried on the nurse's hip.

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So they will come to the church. They will come to be fed and grow and mature, growing up into men and women of God as described in Ephesians four, mature men and women.

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And then in Romans 15, the mature have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and help to build them up.

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And so we see this growth from God that happens in the midst of his congregation. Verse five, then you will see and be radiant and your heart will tremble and be large with joy because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you.

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The wealth of the nations will come to you. Now the abundance of the sea, the sea is often used in the old

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Testament. Well, and in the new to refer to Gentiles referring to the world. So people from all over the world will come to you and the wealth of the nations will come to you.

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That doesn't necessarily mean money from the nations will come into the church. Although you could probably interpret it that way.

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You know, people through their offerings are taking the money that they earn in the world and they're giving it to the work in the service of ministry.

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So you could literally interpret it that way. But most likely it's in reference to the fact that whether a person is a king or rich or poor and a pauper, all people will end up coming to Christ because they've heard the gospel proclaimed through the church, the instrument that Christ is using to preach his truth and defend it as described in first Timothy chapter three, that the church is a pillar and a buttress of the truth.

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We hold it up, we proclaim it, and we also defend it from those that would attempt to malign it.

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So then people from all walks of life, whether they're kings or peasants will come to Christ through this, the wealth of the nations will come to you.

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Verse six, a multitude of camels will cover you. The young camels of Midian and Ephah, which were, you know, the most prized of those animals, all those from Sheba will come.

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They will bring gold and frankincense and will bear good news of the praises of Yahweh.

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Now we see this fulfilled in the wise men, in the Magi that come in Matthew two saying, where is he who has been born king of the

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Jews? For we have come to the east to, we've come from the east to worship him and they bring their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

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So here's described that they'll bring gold and frankincense. They come to Christ, but not just to Christ.

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There are people that will bring their treasures into the people of God to worship the king.

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So even the Magi were foretelling of people that would come from far away from great nations.

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Even those that would be considered the wise and old of those nations will humble themselves before Christ and will come into the kingdom of God through faith in him.

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Verse six. Well, that was what I just read. Verse seven. All the flocks of Keter will be gathered together to you.

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The rams of Nebaioth will minister to you. They will go up with acceptance on my altar and I shall adorn my glorious house with beautiful glory.

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So the rams of Nebaioth will minister to you. This is talking about getting even the prized rams for sacrifice and they will go up with acceptance on my altar.

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And I shall adorn my glorious house with beautiful glory. Of course, we have the greatest glory in the church, the greatest beauty in the church, which is

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Christ, the greatest sacrifice. Verse eight. Who are these who fly like a cloud and like the doves to their lattices?

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Surely the coastlands will hope in me and the ships of Tarshish will come first to bring your sons from afar.

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Tarshish was considered the like the furthest away. And that's why when

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Jonah was trying to flee from the mission that God had given to him, that he was going all the way to Tarshish.

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He wanted to get as far away as he possibly could. So Tarshish was like the considered to be the furthest port city on the

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Mediterranean Sea. You got to Tarshish and then you were out in the Atlantic Ocean. And so the Tarshish was the furthest.

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So that's why it said here, even ships of Tarshish, they will come first from the furthest away.

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They will come to Christ. And again, this depicting that the church will cover the whole world.

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Everywhere there is world, there will be people who will know the Lord Jesus Christ and come to faith in him.

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The rest of verse nine, their silver and their gold with them for the name of Yahweh, your

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God, and for the holy one of Israel, because he has adorned you with beautiful glory.

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They will bring their best. They will bring their entire lives and livelihoods, investing such great distance, giving up everything that they may come to Christ for the holy one of Israel, because he has adorned you with beautiful glory.

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And what is the church adorned in? That's so glorious. The righteousness of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, salvation, which belongs to our

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God. And that's the thing that's going to make the church most attractive to those who are on the outside.

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It's because we have the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, fellowship and relationship with Jesus Christ.

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Next section is verses 10 through 14. Foreigners will build up your walls and the kings will minister to you.

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For in my wrath, I struck you and in my favor, I have had compassion on you.

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So this is talking about, again, as we see this in the context of Judah, that God had punished

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Judah and is delivering them out. And yet people are going to see what it is that God has done with Judah.

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And they're going to see what a great God, what a merciful God. That Judah worships because of everything they did, what they deserved was to be destroyed.

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And yet, look, even our own pagan kings are now on their side and giving them everything they need to return to their land and rebuild their walls and their temple.

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So foreigners will build up your walls and their kings will minister to you. But as this pertains to the church, as it's prophetically looking toward the church, we have even those who are outside the church that look at it as beautiful and glorious, and they will see the favor and the compassion of God upon us.

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Verse 11, your gates will be open continually. They will not be closed day or night.

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And what this demonstrates is that we have nothing to fear of any enemy. No reason to close our gates.

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The enemy can't harm us. And the gates are open because anyone is welcome to come in.

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So that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations with their kings led in procession.

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Verse 12, for the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish, and the nations will surely be laid waste.

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So you remember the covenant that God made with Abraham, whoever blesses you, I will bless and whoever curses you,

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I will curse. Well, that extends to the church that has specifically to do with the church today.

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The people of God are the church. Whoever blesses the church, God will bless. Whoever curses the church comes against it.

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It's as if they attack Christ's body. And God's judgment will be upon them.

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And so it is how people treat the church. That's going to determine whether or not God's blessing would be upon them.

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Verse 13, the glory of Lebanon will come to you, the juniper, the box tree, and the cypress together to adorn the place of my sanctuary with beautiful glory.

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And I shall make the place of my feet glorious. Now, surely the

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Jews were expecting that this is all in reference to what a glorious, beautiful temple that we will receive.

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But the temple that they rebuilt when they returned to their land was not as glorious as the one that Solomon built.

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And so surely looking at that, they were thinking what's being prophesied here through Isaiah has not yet come to fulfillment and will have greater glory in the future.

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And surely it does. The church is more beautiful and more glorious than any temple of God has ever been.

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Verse 14, the sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you. And all those who spurned you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet.

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And they will call you the city of Yahweh, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

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Let me briefly share a story that goes along with this that I think pertains to this.

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So when I was in middle school, I got bullied by this guy named Brian. And part of his bullying me included making fun of me because I was a

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Christian. And about 15 years goes by. I was in my 20s somewhere when

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I was leading worship at this church. This was in Western Kansas. And I had not seen

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Brian in over a decade. But I'm sitting there on the front pew ready for the preacher to say that we're beginning.

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And I'm going to go up to the piano and I'm going to lead worship there from the piano. And as I'm sitting there, I look to my right and there's somebody sitting between us.

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And then on the other side of the person sitting between us is Brian. And he's sitting there actually looking right at me.

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And I don't say a word. I don't even say his name. And he just goes, Gabe. And so then as the service begins, the pastor stands up and he says, hey, before we get started tonight,

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I want to introduce you to this young man. He has been addicted to drugs.

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He nearly committed suicide. And yet he has come to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope that is in Christ Jesus.

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And I want him to come up and share his testimony tonight. And it was Brian. And he stood up and shared his testimony.

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And after he got done speaking, I stood up right there because I'm just a few feet away from him.

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I stood up right there, shook his hand and hugged him. And I never saw him again after that. And we never exchanged another word.

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But it was it was incredible to me to remember how this teenager who used to abuse me and ridicule me because of the faith that I had.

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And now he came into faith in Jesus Christ. What a wonderful testimony. What an incredible witness of the power of God to change a person's life like that.

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And I held no grudge against him whatsoever. And it just goes to show here, Isaiah 60, 14.

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The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you. And all those who spurned you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet.

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That is to say that even those who were once our oppressors will end up coming to faith in Jesus Christ and they will become our brothers.

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Once our enemies, they're now brothers and sisters in the Lord. And what a wonderful grace we can extend to them when we don't hold their wrongs against them.

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Because God doesn't hold their wrongs against them. Neither should we. Praise be the name of Yahweh.

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Let's finish up Isaiah 60 here. Verse 15. Instead of being forsaken and hated with no one passing through,

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I will make you an everlasting pride, a joy from generation to generation.

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You will also suck the milk of nations and suck the breasts of kings. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, am your savior and your redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob.

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Now in 1 Timothy 2, we are told to pray for kings and those who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

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This is good and pleasing in the sight of God, our savior. So just like Jeremiah instructed

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Judah in their exile to pray for the welfare of their captors. That's in Jeremiah 29.

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So we as Christians need to do the same. Pray for the welfare of whatever nations that we are living in. Because if they prosper, we will prosper.

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And we will know that God takes care of us even through wicked nations

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God is providing for us. Verse 17. Instead of bronze, I will bring gold.

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And instead of iron, I will bring silver. And instead of wood, bronze. Instead of stones, iron.

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And I will make peace your overseers and righteousness your taskmasters. This speaking about the permanence of what

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Christ is establishing. It's not wood that's going to rot and fall apart eventually. But he's building it with gold and silver and bronze and iron.

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Strong metals and precious stones. And peace will reign within us.

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And righteousness will be what leads and guides us. What orders us and directs us.

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Verse 18. Violence will not be heard again in your land, nor devastation or destruction within your borders.

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But you will call your walls salvation and your gates praise.

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You know, the church is not perfect. Because the church is made up of sinners. But my friends, what a wonderful place to be.

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I've been a pastor of three churches now. By the providential hand of God guiding me to where I am at the present.

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And in every one of these churches, I have known and met and fellowshiped with such glorious, wonderful people who have been transformed by the grace of Christ.

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And we dwell in peace with one another. Yeah, committee meetings can be what they are. You know, business meetings, so on and so forth.

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There's some things where we can tend to disagree and places where we disagree where we shouldn't. But it's still such a glorious peace that we dwell in.

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Because it's a peace that surpasses all understanding that guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus, among our brothers and sisters that are in the

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Lord. Verse 19, no longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light.

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But you will have Yahweh for an everlasting light and your God for your glory.

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Indeed, we have the light of Yahweh for us within the church even now. But this even points to like what we read in Revelation 22, that we will dwell in a city where there's no sun for the light of God will be our light always.

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Verse 20, your sun will no longer set, nor will your moon wane. For you will have

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Yahweh for an everlasting light. And the days of your mourning will be finished.

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There's an already and a not yet to that. We still suffer and mourn even in the present, even now, though we have hopefulness, as the

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Apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4, we do not grieve without hope. So even our mournfulness in a certain sense has been taken away.

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We'll still grieve this side of heaven, but we don't grieve without hope. And then when we enter into glory,

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Revelation 21, every tear will be wiped away from our eyes and death will be no more.

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Verse 21, then all your people will be righteous. They will possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands that I may show forth my beautiful glory.

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The smallest one will become a clan and the minuscule one, a mighty nation.

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I, Yahweh, will hasten it in its time. Praise God for his church, the bride being sanctified and prepared for that day of glory.

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So understand Colossians 3, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

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Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read here. And we thank you for the work that you are doing within us.

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Philippians 1, 6, he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it at the day of Christ.

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So continue this work. May we be sanctified, holding fast to Christ and being made more in his image.

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Bring the church into your presence. May we be glorified and enter into your dwelling forever to be with you for eternity.

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He who has promised these things will surely do it. It's in Jesus name that we pray.