Isaiah Lesson 77

It is by absolutely no quirk of coincidence that where Pastor Jeff has been, specifically where he was this past Sunday, 2

Thessalonians 2 .8. What was the main thrust of what you were saying?

The thrust of... The one thing. The one thing, oh you got me on the spot here.

What was it? Go ahead. The Parisian.

Yeah, it was the one in the second coming. The second coming. Yeah. The glorious appearing.

The glorious appearing, which ushers in our hope at the glorious appearing, ushering in the millennial kingdom.

I find myself various times pondering what life was like in the garden before the fall, how awesome that was.

But then transitioning that reality into what will be at a time of the

Lord's design, of His decision. Here we are in Isaiah 60 and the thrust is happening now towards the end of this book is this future hope that we have.

Things that are upside down will be made right. And I don't think it's a coincidence that God has us emphasizing this over and over and over again, perhaps in the age that we're living in.

But let's take God's word as an encouragement for our future hope. Would you open us with a prayer?

Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this opportunity to gather and open your word.

Even as we wait the coming of Jesus Christ, the glorious appearing. Lord, we pray for John as he teaches today, that he would be used of your

Holy Spirit. And that you would inspire hope in us, that we would look for the coming of Christ and long for the millennium.

Yes, and we know that it is coming soon. Lord, so turn our eyes to the to the clouds that we would be looking for the sun.

And we pray that as we look into the scripture, that you would speak to our hearts and train us and equip us for love and for good deeds.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen. A couple of background thoughts. One is, remember this is a book written by Isaiah.

Written at a time where the nation hasn't even yet gone into captivity.

But definitely are struggling with falseness, idolatry.

Things that are displeasing to God and that God judges them. Eventually they will go into captivity.

Eventually they'll come out under the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. The Messiah comes.

But this is written to the Jewish people living in Jerusalem and experiencing what they have.

What was God's design? What was God's intent for the nation of Israel?

Well, they were to be a light to the world. That they were to be the ones that God worked through to show the rest of the world what

God was like. So he just chose that one nation to start with. And they were to spread the light.

How did they do? Oh, no. No, no, no.

They had their ups and downs. That's cute.

Ups and downs. They had their ups and downs as far as their relationship with faith. But quite frankly, there are very few ups when it comes to intentionally being a light to the world.

Which is all the more reason to be awed by the fact that God would use these people.

Use the line of David, the priesthood of Melchizedek, the Messiah coming to fulfill some of those prophecies.

We believe strongly that as we study the end times, as we study the seven years of tribulation, we do not believe that the church has replaced

Israel. Right. How would you rate how the Jews are doing today, shining light to the world?

Carol's going like this. I would agree that there are, as a people, they're not really doing it.

I would say that there are individuals in God's providence and in his mercy. There are

Messianic Jews who have an incredible outreach into where they can be.

So as we get into the book of Revelation, eventually we find out what, 144 ,000 are going to be called and sealed.

12 ,000 from every tribe. Which, by the way, includes what we now call the

Lost Ten Tribes. They're going to be gathered together. This book, this chapter,

Isaiah, takes us after the tribulation period, after this second coming, the glorious return, and into the millennial kingdom where things are going to be set right.

Now, what is true, and Jeff brought this out on Sunday, those who enter into the millennial kingdom are believers.

But for a thousand years there will be procreation and there will be new generations. There will actually be people groups that don't stand in direct worship of Christ, even though he's reigning on the throne.

But as we'll see in this chapter, even those who don't follow, who choose not to be subjected to God, are under his reign.

And that in all ways throughout the millennial kingdom, truth prevails.

It's another amazing chapter. We've had some of these after Isaiah 53, that great

Messianic chapter. We've had some of these, the curtain pulled back and we get to look into the millennial kingdom.

That's some of this. Some of the highlights that we've seen and that Jeff brought out to us, 2

Thessalonians 2 .8. We know that several things have to happen before the second coming.

What are the three things that have to happen? The abomination of desolation. Which is? That's when the

Antichrist proclaims himself to be God in the temple. In the temple, yes. I feel like I'm getting them right now after I failed the first time.

So you have the apostasy, the Antichrist, and the abomination. And all of these things occur.

And at the end of that, Ephesians 2 .8 peels back the curtain and he says, and then he's going to come.

As bad as things could get, this is already foretold.

All the way back in the time of Isaiah and Paul writing to the church at Thessalonica.

If we opened up Revelations 21 -6, we would read so much beauty about that kingdom.

I wanted to read a couple of passages, Zechariah 14. Chris, if you would get

Zechariah 14, 9 -11. And John, if you would get Isaiah 11, 10 -12.

If we're going to be talking about the millennial kingdom, let's just get our picture wrapped again around so that our frame of reference is the millennial kingdom.

That's actually going to be an important reality as we get deeper into this chapter.

But go ahead, Chris, if you've got it. Zechariah what? I'm sorry. Zechariah 14, 9 -11.

And the Lord will be king over all the earth on that day. The Lord will be one and his name one.

The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Raman south of Jerusalem.

But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate to the corner gate and from the tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses.

And it shall be inhabited for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction.

Jerusalem shall dwell in security. It is a beautiful picture of Jerusalem being physically lifted high, high above where Lord Jesus will reign as king.

Isaiah 11, John. In that day the root of Jesse who shall stand as a signal for the peoples of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious.

In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathos, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hanukkah, and from the coastlands of the sea.

God is proclaiming two things. One is that the nations...

I do believe that there's enough teaching and understanding about the Millennial Kingdom because it's going to last so long and there will be so many people, that there are going to be not just one totally homogenous gathering under Christ, although he's going to be

Lord over all the earth, there will be nations that are going to set themselves up, even in opposition, in attempting.

They're never going to succeed. But there will be this intent,

I should say this feeling, for even the nations that they need to go to Jerusalem, they need to worship him just because of who he is.

Good job. Satan is bound. At this point in time Satan is bound, which is amazing.

People are not answering the call, do you accept Christ? Just because that's the nature.

Even without Satan pulling them, I don't believe that the nature is deleted at this point in time.

And we know that because at the end, when Satan is released, he's going to deceive men.

So that nature is there. But people are still going to have to intentionally, on their own, personally, accept.

Not all will. Now, we started out by saying the purpose for the nation of Israel in the

Old Testament was to be a light to shine to a dark world.

We can go into Genesis 12 and that they will be, through them, all nations will be saved.

That this was how God was going to proceed. Give me, Jeff, if you would, Isaiah 60, verses 1 and 2.

John 8, 12. Rich, if you would get that. Lisa, right?

Would you be willing to read for us? If you would get 1 John 1, 5.

It's on the sheet. First John. If you would get that ready for us. Give me 60, verses 1 and 2, please.

Okay. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

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. There is going to be a time where there will be darkness in the land.

We know this. This period of time, these seven brutal years, I think, and again, as Jeff has taught us, if we're in a time of, we're in the church age now, and if you believe

Ephesians, chapter 2, that we are following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit down in our works, and the children of disobedience, that by nature, people follow him.

It is a fallen world right now, but the church is here, but the

Holy Spirit is indwelling believers, so there is light in the world. With the salt of the earth, we are the light of the world.

Eventually, in the time of the tribulation, the church raptures out.

There is darkness, darkness, darkness. Darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.

That's going to happen, but it starts out by saying, Arise, shine, for your light has come.

Yes, and it's a beautiful thing to, again, remember, he's talking to the

Jews living in Israel, who don't have a clue what some of these prophecies, we have the benefit of the whole canon of scripture now, so we can understand these things.

These people, in the years to come, are going to go into captivity. Lots of things are going to happen to them. Eventually, the

Messiah comes, but there is this proclamation that Arise, shine, your light has come.

The glory of the Lord has risen upon you. That's just a great verse to memorize, because it is a promise of things yet to come.

Now, I do believe that as Jesus speaks, on the

Sermon on the Mount, we know him as the Beatitudes, Matthew, I believe it's 5 -8,

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. I know that that is a future promise, but I do also believe it's a promise for the here and now, that walking in the purity of heart allows you to see

God, here and now. Now, these people are eventually going to be able to arise and shine.

These are people that are, today, are pretty much put down. Now, ever since 1948, was it?

The nation is still there, but man, are they the center of attack of everything and everybody.

They really are, yeah. It says, Arise, shine, your light has come. What or who is the light that is going to come?

Jesus. It's a good Sunday school answer.

Yeah. Jesus as the Messiah 2 ,000 years ago, or Jesus the

Parousia? This is in the present tense.

It's a matter of who is he talking to in this letter.

The glory of the Lord. First it says, the glory of the Lord shall shine upon thee,

I think. The time stamp comes at the end of verse 2.

It talks about darkness shall cover, thick darkness will cover the peoples, but, and that's one of those great words.

Singing Messiah in my head, trying to get the words right. He says, but the

Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you. And then the time stamp continues on in verse 3, and nations shall come to your light.

That has not happened yet. Sounds like future tense. It does, it does. So what he's giving them is a promise that their existence is going to be, the true light is going to be upon them.

The glory of the Lord is going to be upon them because after darkness, after darkness comes, the

Lord on you, his glory will be seen. And then eventually the nations respond and come. This is a promise that will be experienced at the millennial, yes.

So literal darkness or is it the darkness of sin? It's both. And if you think about the various bowls that are spilled out, what's called the great wrath, there is clearly total despicable sin in the world.

It just gets more and more intense. What's amazing though is in the midst of that there will be tribulation saints.

And I find that power of God's grace to be so powerful. But there is also times where a third of the sun will be darkened, where a third of the stars will fall out of the sky.

It will be so dark that people will be gnashing of teeth because it is so dark.

So it's both, and. When Judas betrayed Jesus, John makes a comment, and it was night.

So there is a symbolism there, even in the physical dark. And I also see in here the glory of the

Lord is your light, basically, which is what Revelation said. There will be no need of sun or moon because the glory of the

Lord is going to provide the light they need. So we're going to get into that because that's an interesting comment.

It actually comes into this chapter. The presence of the light not requiring the sun really occurs twice in Scripture.

Genesis 1, there was light for the sun. Yes, that's right. In Genesis 1,

God created the light. The darkness. Separated the light from darkness before the sun was created.

But where did that light come from? It was the glory of God. And that's where we're going to be in 1

John 1. Go ahead and read that for me. Yes, go ahead and read that. God is light and there is no darkness at all.

This is an important concept also because we understand light to the extent that we understand light.

But we don't have light, pure light. God has no darkness in Him whatsoever.

I share this every now and then. I don't know how many of you have heard me share this.

In the Navy, back in the 1970s, they changed the lighting systems in their machinery spaces.

Onboard ship. Because they had fluorescent light. Which, if you understand fluorescent light, it is actually the gas within the tube being impacted by alternating current one way to the other.

That's why you can't draw. Which is a strobe. It is actually a strobe.

And they found that if the frequency of the current was some multiplier of the frequency of a piece of machinery, it looked like the machinery was standing still.

Because it was a strobe. Like when you do your timing light. You've got the timing light in your car.

That's exactly right. So they replaced it with incandescent light, which is basically a filament that doesn't strobe.

It's a poor analogy, but what we're going to get when the light shines upon the people, the

Lord arises and His glory will be seen as pure light, because pure light does not hide sin.

We like to hide in the strobes with sin.

But what we're going to have now is rise, shine, the glory of the Lord comes upon you, the Lord will rise upon you, and then eventually all nations will come upon you because what we have is truth and justice.

What horrific news have we heard from Texas this week? And the pundits and the talking heads are trying to solve this by more government regulation.

And there's only one answer to this. Stop teaching that you don't have absolute truth.

That's the only answer to this. This was an 18 -year -old boy who probably, through his entire education, had been taught relative truth.

Stop forcing the Ten Commandments on us. There's no such thing.

And no value of life either. I'm sorry? No value of life. And no value of life. And they're surprised that people will react the way they do.

This says that the true light is going to come and nations will come upon you.

I have a question. John 8, 12. I'm sorry, before you did that. I have a question because in chapter 60 of Isaiah, the part of our reading, it says, and the

Gentiles shall come to the light. Is that the future future or was that when Jesus came first time?

Because that's when the Gentiles got to come to the light. The reality is so many of Isaiah's prophecies have at least three mountain peaks.

The first mountain peak, captivity coming out of captivity. And the second mountain peak, the

Messiah, setting up truth on earth, providing salvation through the bloodshed.

And then as he is leaving, he says, it's good that I go. If I go, I will send another, a comforter who will.

And then it asks, you will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

So much happens. And then we go into what's called the parenthetical church age.

It's between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel, which Daniel couldn't understand, but it's that second mountain peak.

This third mountain peak is the millennial kingdom. By the way, there's a fourth, and that's the New Jerusalem.

Coming down from the heavens? Well, so after the thousand years, after the final battle, after the great right throne judgment,

Satan is thrown into the lake of fire for all eternity. Anyone whose name is not in the book of life is thrown into the lake of fire for eternity.

And the rest of us, we reign forever. What do we do? I mean, is it bad that I'm thinking, like, oh, is that going to be kind of boring?

What are we going to do? That is such a good question. And let me answer it this way.

I didn't hear the question. Hang on just a second. I'm going to answer it this way.

It's a very poor analogy, but my wife and I really liked

Down, Man. Confession is good for the soul. And so the next movie has just come out.

And so we're looking forward to watching, because we own the DVD, watching it again. Can you imagine, can you imagine being in the very presence of the creator of the universe, the sovereign

Yahweh? And there is so much for us to learn and to worship

Him, that it is so undescribable that for eternity we never get tired, and we never get tired of, oh my, wow!

For eternity, that's how awesome it's going to be. That's how awesome it's going to be.

They always describe it as looking really cool in heaven and stuff, like in Revelation, the streets and all that.

Will we ever get to see it, though? Will we all just be like, oh, there's Jesus, bye. We're going to see

God, whatever, about the streets of gold. Right, that's what I'm saying. Will we ever see it?

Because we'll just be too busy. That's what

I'm saying. No, I think we'll see it. I think we'll be doing things in the millennium.

It's not described for us as an ethereal, non -existence -only

God. It's actually described for us in ways that will excite us. So it's true, it's real.

We're going to be in transformed bodies. I hope I'm skinny. You might only get to surf and not be afraid to fall.

Surf? Well, there would be no ocean then, right? Bob, what did you want to ask?

No, I was just shaking my head over Dobbs and Abbey. Have you seen the movie? Not yet. Okay, then, don't nobody tell.

We are on a roll today, aren't we? I want you to realize that in the millennial kingdom the true light comes and it shines through His people.

The Lord will arise upon you and His glory will be seen upon you.

The existence that we're going to have in the millennial kingdom is so far beyond description.

The Shekinah glory, I honestly don't believe that this is Shekinah glory. This is obviously some minor subset of it.

But the Shekinah glory was so intense. When Moses goes up on the mountain and he wants to see the

Lord and he says, you can't see my face, I'll cover you and you can see the backside of me.

That light so impacted his physical appearance that he had to cover it.

Now, there's two ways to look at that. Is he covering it because that light would be too much for people or is he covering it because once he left the mountain it started to diminish and he didn't want to see the people have it diminish.

Either way, just being in the presence of God, that light shining. It says here, the light has come, the glory of the

Lord has risen upon you and after darkness and everything else, the Lord will rise upon you and his glory will be seen through you so much that the nations are going to come.

John, much like the glory of the Lord, the Holy Spirit fell upon Christ, it blew my mind.

He was on a mountain So you're at the Mount of Transfiguration and what happens on the

Mount of Transfiguration is this thing called the Hypostatic Union. It has a name?

It has a name. Hypostatic Union means total God, total man in one package.

So much so that although he was total God, he chose to humble himself to come in the form of man so that Peter, James, and John, and even

Judas and Herod and everybody else could actually look at him visibly because the total

God part was not blinding the eyes because of the glory. On the Mount of Transfiguration, that veil was opened up a little bit so the glory that is him was there to the extent that what happened to James and John when they saw that happen?

Boom, face down. Face down. Isn't that amazing?

Now, let's go on to the impact of the world. Give me 2 -7 and Isaiah 2.

We didn't read the other one so Lisa, I'm going to have you get Isaiah 2 for me and Ezekiel 39.

Did you read it already? Bob, if you would get Ezekiel 39. Give me verses 2 -7.

Isaiah 60, 2 -7. 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. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

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.

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 nation shall come to you. 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. All the flocks of Keter shall be gathered to you. The rams of Nabioth shall minister to you.

They shall come up with acceptance on the altar, and I will beautify my beautiful house."

Oh my goodness. Wow. You know, if you look at the geopolitical power structures in the

Middle East, I mean, Iran is you know, they all of their missiles, they got an

X right there in Jerusalem. And oh by the way, what's on the mount where the temple needs to be rebuilt?

The Dome of the Rock. Things are so awful at this point in time, and this is again, this is now where Jesus is reigning and his people are being blessed with just the very radiance of God.

The nations are going to come and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Instead of calling them the great Satan, instead of believing that they are the epitome of all evil in the world, these nations are going to be drawn to him.

Now the other thing that's going to happen, two things happen. One is that the nations are going to be drawn to him, and if we go to the end of this here, it says that they shall come up with acceptance on my altar.

So the very nations that today would be, that's the last thing that they would do would be to go to the temple.

They're actually going to be coming. They're going to actually be drawn to him.

They shall bring gold and frankincense, and praises to the Lord.

Now, again, we've got to realize some of the things that are going to happen at the end of the tribulation is that the

Dome of the Rock is gone, and in its place is a temple. Now I think the temple gets rebuilt so that the

Antichrist can call himself God in the temple. So much of things have to change for all this to be.

And then it says that your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.

Not all Jews today would profess the name of Yahweh.

They don't. Now give me Isaiah 2 -4 please, 2 -4.

Who's got it? I do. And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the

Lord's house shall be established at the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall go unto it.

And many people shall go and say, Come ye and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the

God of Jacob. And he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.

For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people.

And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into printing hooks. Okay, that's good.

By the way, I'm glad you went on further because there is evidence to me that that even in the millennial kingdom, there will be those who think they can rise up against the

Lord, because it says he's going to judge against many nations. What's the real flip from Psalm 2?

The nations are rising against nations. Why did the whole book of 2 talk about the attempted liquidation of the nation of Israel?

And this is such a wonderful respite from that kind of prophecy that Isaiah indicates that Sue and I say this a lot of times when we deal with Godless people.

We say, well, we know we win. Yeah, absolutely. We know we win. Good word.

There is a phrase here that says, you shall see and be radiant.

There is a double impact here. One is for the people of God, they're actually going to perceive this glory, but you will see it.

There won't be doubts. There won't be you will actually see it, and you will be radiant so that just your very presence, just your very presence, you know, going to Starbucks.

I don't think they're going to have Starbucks in the millennial reign. Maybe they will. They will have a while box.

Yes. The radiance, this is how

God reigns. Jesus sits on the throne of Jerusalem, and his people are given the very glory of God.

Now, how all this is going to be, but what a time of tranquility, what a time of fulfillment.

You know, we're told that what we will be, we don't even know, but he will make us. I've got news for you.

We're going to experience extent, but I'm also going to say that it even gets better from this in the new

Jerusalem for all of eternity. So, you know, that's the fourth mountain peak.

Ezekiel 39, who did I give that to? Yes, me. Please. Starting in verse 25,

Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says, I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name.

They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land, with no one to make them afraid.

When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of many nations.

Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations,

I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my spirit on the people of Israel, declares the

Sovereign Lord. I'm sorry,

I did not turn this off. This is not a fulfilled prophecy yet.

Again, there's going to be time of exile, they're going to come back, but the ten tribes have not been called back yet.

His people have not. They didn't come back in the time of Nehemiah and Ezra.

This is, again, a future prophecy. They're going to know that I'm God.

There is a sense of whether it's perfect knowledge, boy, it's sure going to be close to perfect knowledge of what

God has for them. I love the fact that they are going to come.

The nations that today are opposing are going to be bringing things.

Eventually, it's going to say, later in verse 10, I think it is, that they're actually going to build your walls for you.

There's so much that they're going to be there for you. And eventually, it says, they come with acceptance on my altar.

The world is going to see a change, and the world is going to see, and they're going to worship God. I don't think we're going to get through the whole chapter.

Probably not at this point. I'm sorry?

It's just a lot to it, and I found this to be... Why don't you go ahead and read 8 -14.

We'll start to talk, and probably resume it next week. Okay. Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows?

For the coastlands shall hope for me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children from afar, their silver and gold with them, for the name of the

Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because He has made you beautiful. Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you.

For in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you.

Your gates shall be open continually, day and night they shall not be shut, that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession.

For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish, those nations shall be utterly laid waste.

The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the Cyprus, the plain, and the pine, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet.

They shall call you the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

Alright, I'm going to bring up a couple of points, we'll revisit this again next week, finish the chapter, move into the

Year of the Lord's Favor in chapter 61. There are a couple of important contrasts in this section.

First of all, in my wrath I struck you. In verse 10.

The nation of Israel, if you go to Deuteronomy 1, we have a recounting of the people had an opportunity to move forward, this is a recounting of what happened, had an opportunity to move forward at the time of Kadesh Barnea, but they chose not to except for two of them.

And then in verses 26 and 27, their lack of faith results in curses, so they go out into the wilderness and that entire generation with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, do not get to go into the

Promised Land. There are consequences to disobedience. Deuteronomy 28, starting in the beginning of the chapter, if you listen and obey, these blessings will be upon you, starting in verse 15, but if you do not, these curses will be upon you.

Psalm 2, which you mentioned, talks about the nations taking a stand, but it is he who sits on the throne who will install the king.

For the nation of Israel, listening to this, whether they have historical awareness of what's been transpiring since they got into the

Promised Land, how certain kings followed the Lord and there were times of blessings, and other kings chose not to and set up idol worship, and so they were destroyed in intermarriage with the nations they were supposed to avoid.

They had to have known of the consequences of disobedience. But God is a faithful God who will not break his covenant promises.

As we get eventually through this church age and into the Millennial Kingdom, and through the

Tribulation and into the Millennial Kingdom, in my favor I have had mercy upon you.

Now there's another contrast here. In verse 14, it says the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you.

All who despised you shall bow down at your feet. They shall call you the city of the

Lord, the Zion, of the Holy One of Israel. There's going to be a transformation within the nations from pure opposition to God to seeing that there is a

God. That's a promise. But in verse 12, it says for the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish.

Those nations shall be utterly laid waste. This one needs to be put in context of mountain peaks.

There's not going to be a destruction of nations during the Millennial Kingdom.

God's presence will retain justice in the land. But at the end of the

Millennial Kingdom, the heart of people who won't accept will be exposed because they'll be deceived. And then the final battle, and what happens to those who have opposed

God? There will be the utter destruction of those who will not serve.

That's a future promise. This chapter here is filled with so many multiple mountain peaks.

But I want to leave it with this message, and we'll use it again. Give me verse 22 of Isaiah 60.

The least one shall become a clan, and the

The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation. I am the

Lord. In its time, I will hasten it. I wanted to grab onto that last phrase. I am the

Lord. In its time, I will hasten it. These promises here are coming in His time.

Do you want to close us? Amen. So, Father, thank you for this glimpse that we've seen of the coming

Millennial Kingdom. Lord, we set our hope on things to come, not on the things of this world.

Lord, we're looking for You in hope, and help us, Lord, to continue to anticipate

Your coming for the church and then Your glorious appearing in the Kingdom, of which we'll be a part.

So, thank You, Lord, that You have given us these great and wonderful promises. In Your Word, help us to live by them.