p. 697“Arise, shine: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee” (Isa. lx. 1). The voice of reproof is silent; the lamentation over triumphant iniquity is a thing of the past; the Redeemer has come, with his seed, and rejoicing takes the place of mourning.
It is the sunrise upon Zion after a dark and dreadful night. The heading in the Authorised Version tells us that it is “the glory of the church,” which is not amiss if it be understood what “church,” and the interpretation proceed upon New Testament principles. But, alas, this is what is so rare. But if we ask categorically, Who or what is to arise and shine? the answer in the words of inspiration in the context is “Zion” (ch. lix. 20); “the Zion of the Holy One of Israel” (ch. lx. 14); the same Zion that has been “forsaken and hated so that no man went through her” (verse 15). This is the city that is to become “an eternal excellency,” and not an imaginary “Jerusalem above.” The confounding of the literal with the mystical in this prophecy and in the Apocalypse has arisen out of a departure from the first principles of divine truth concerning the nature of man and the place of eternal inheritance.
If we further ask categorically, Who or what is Zion’s “light” that shall “come”? the answer in the words of the Holy Spirit is, “the Lord” (Yahweh) (verses 2, 20); “the Redeemer” (ch. lix. 20). The Father revealed Himself in the city nearly nineteen hundred years ago as “the light of the world” in the person of His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was that “great light” which then broke in upon the almost impenetrable darkness of “Galilee of the nations,” as Isaiah had foretold (ch. ix. 2). He was “the glory of the Lord,” even in the flesh, as p. 698 an apostle emphatically testifies, saying, “The word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John i. 14).
But the “darkness” of this prophecy is a long subsequent manifestation, and of much more extensive overspreading: “the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples” (nations). And not only is the darkness deeper and wider spread, but the light that shall dispel it is more glorious. The light of nineteen hundred years ago was “seen” by comparatively few. The great Roman Empire went on in its darkness, and not for three hundred years and more was even a nominal subjection to the name of Christ revealed in its political heavens. This time it will be altogether different: “his glory shall be seen upon Zion.” “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (ch. xl. 5).
In what way the Lord shall arise to enlighten Zion and the Gentiles is indicated by the concluding references of ch. lix. to the Redeemer and his seed. The Lord Jesus arose from the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea on the third day, according to the Scriptures. Having showed himself alive to his disciples by many infallible proofs, he ascended to the right hand of the Father, and, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, his name was convincingly preached for the taking out of a people from among Jews and Gentiles, upon the belief of the gospel of the kingdom, repentance and baptism into his name. Those who in faith and obedience endure unto the end are “his seed,” the “many sons” who are said to be “brought to glory” by the Father through him (Heb. ii. 10). They are the “sons of Zion” in the highest sense—“the precious sons of Zion comparable to fine gold” (Lam. iv. 2). The natural descendants of Abraham are of altogether inferior rank, as the apostles argue.
The arising of the Lord upon Zion, then, comprehends the arising of those who are his “glory and joy” in that day. As “the Resurrection and the Life,” he calls them forth from the obscurity of the grave, and “glorifies” them with “glory, honour, p. 699 and incorruption.” Unto them that fear his name, he arises as “the Sun of righteousness with healing in his beams” (Mal. iv. 2). And they become “the Kings of the East,” or Kings from the Sun-rising (Rev. xvi. 12). Such is the instrumentality by which the darkness of the land and earth, and the gross darkness overspreading all nations (Isa. xxv. 7; Rev. xviii. 23) is to be so effectively dispelled.
This revelation entirely disposes of the notion that the world is to be converted to Christ before his return from heaven. That idea is based upon a misunderstanding of his promise to the disciples in Matt. xxviii. 20: and of his prophecy in Matt. xxiv. 14. And it is also based upon an entire misconception of the true nature of conversion, and of the purpose of God in causing the Gospel of the Kingdom to be preached. Christ fulfilled his promise, and was with the disciples “unto the end of the age.” And we have the apostle Paul as witness to the fact that the Gospel was preached “to every creature which is under heaven” (Col. i. 23); that is throughout the Roman Empire, before the end came upon the Jewish State by the hands of the Romans. Moreover, the conversion of the world is not to be solely by the preaching of the Gospel (let alone by the preaching of the clergy, which is not “the Gospel”), but by conquest, as is visible in this prophecy of Isaiah. And the expressly declared purpose of the apostolic preaching immediately after the ascension of Jesus, was “to take out . . . a people for his (God’s) name” (Acts xv. 14). In a sentence, the Lord arises upon Zion not because Zion and the world are enlightened, but to enlighten Zion and the world, and to dispel the gloom of ages.
“And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (verse 3). A great change comes over the nations in the day of Christ. At his coming in upon the world as a thief (Rev. xvi. 15), the kings of the earth and of the whole habitable are angry and in battle array, preparatory to being gathered together to Armageddon. They nearly all profess his name, but are in reality gathered together in two great opposing confederacies to seize upon his Land and City, and that p. 700 the Victor may found a Universal Dominion. This is the revelation of the prophets (Ezekiel xxxviii., xxxix.; Mic. iv.; Zech. xiv., &c.). While they are so occupied he steals into the world “as a thief in the night,” gathers his forces, and at length overcomes all the power of the adversary “as in the day of Midian.” He takes possession of his ancient city, and being enthroned therein, summons the world to surrender to his sceptre (Rev. xiv. 7). Whatever measures of obedience founded upon true enlightenment may be found, it is manifest that refusal is the rule, for “the war of the great day of God Almighty” follows, in which the nations and kingdoms that will not serve Zion are utterly wasted (Isa. lx. 12). This is the only alternative where divine argument and proclamation fail. It is a blessed fact that Might is ultimately on the side of Right; and that “there is no power but of God.” There is a certain logic in the Papal struggle after the lost temporal power, on the ground that righteousness itself is of no avail if it be not backed up by force. But, of course, admitting the abstract principle, the question at once arises, Is Romanism righteousness? The answer will be obvious enough when Christendom is taken red-handed in rebellion, and divinely dealt with upon its own professed principle.
But this prophecy does not dwell upon that transient, though dreadful, development; but looks forward to the peace of Jerusalem beyond. Isaiah and his brethren of Hezekiah’s day required such a vision for their encouragement and comfort, and so do we. By the eye of faith we see through the deepening gloom the gladsome vision of subdued and enlightened nations flowing unto Jerusalem, no longer as contending hosts, but as favoured strangers uniting with the restored house of Israel to “show forth the praises of the Lord” (verse 6).
One feature in this “showing forth the praises of the Lord” has always challenged the native incredulity of the natural man. It is that specified in v. 7, “All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee; they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.” This unmistakably p. 701 decrees the restoration of sacrifice. But natural thinkers, among the Jews and “Christians” alike, are exceedingly loth to admit it. Their argument is that bloody sacrifices belonged to the old dark days, and that the world is now considerably in advance of all that.
Against this it has to be retorted: That is fitting which God ordains; and The world, whether Jewish or “Christian,” is not enlightened in God’s ways. The world needs enlightenment on the subject of sacrifice as badly as ever; and God has decreed that it shall be given in the form of slain beasts as of old. There is no doubt about it; the testimony is various—and plain. Here are illustrations:
“The Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation” (Isa. xix. 21). That is in the day of Christ when Assyria and Egypt are blessed with Israel. The righteous “sons of the stranger” and eunuchs, “even them,” saith God, “will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar: for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isa. lvi. 7). It will be remembered that Christ referred to this passage when he cleansed the temple. He also referred to another notable scripture which tells of the restoration of sacrifice, namely Psa. cxviii. Speaking of the day of Christ, in which Israel shall say, as Jesus told them they would, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (verse 26, with Matt. xxiii. 39), the psalm continues, “God is the Lord which hath showed us light; bind the sacrifice with cords even unto the horns of the altar” (verse 27). “David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel. Neither shall the priests, the Levites, want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually” (Jer. xxxiii. 17, 18). That is in the day when “Judah shall be saved.”
How all this is to be brought to pass is very explicitly revealed through Ezekiel, as a man peculiarly representative of p. 702 “the Son of Man,” a title borne by that prophet some ninety times in his book. In his last nine chapters the details of the “house of prayer for all peoples” are very elaborately specified, as also are all the ordinances of the house. Among these is provision for sacrifice, both for the Prince and for the people. Chapter xlvi. provides for the entry of the Prince by the east gate; “and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offering, and he shall worship” (verse 2). His offering on the sabbath “shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish” (verse 4). “Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the Lord of a ram of the first year without blemish. Thou shalt prepare it every morning” (verse 13). In the corner courts are “the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifices of the people” (verse 24). The dual character of the priesthood must not detain us here. The remnant “of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the king the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles” (Zech. xiv. 16). This involves the offering of the sacrifices appointed for that feast, as Ezekiel declares (ch. xlvi. 24). The Messenger of the Covenant “shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years” (Mal. iii. 3-4).
If, against all this testimony, it be argued that Jesus offered one sacrifice of sins for ever (Heb. x.), and that, therefore, there can be no restoration of sacrifice, it must be answered that that cannot be a right division of the word of truth which would exclude any of its appointments. The bread and wine instituted by the Lord Jesus in memorial of “Christ our passover sacrificed for us,” was expressly limited by him in its use as “until he come.” Then, as he declared—and as the prophet Ezekiel, by the Spirit, had foretold—he will keep the passover anew with his disciples in the Kingdom of God (Ezek. xlv. 21-24; Luke p. 703 xxii. 16, 30). The bullocks and rams then sacrificed will point to the Prince as an object of faith on the part of the people, who will be required to believe that he “died unto sin once,” as the basis of acceptable approach to the Father in the worship over which he is the High Priest of that glorious age. Men will then come to understand the true nature of the long Gentile interregnum in which they now so foolishly boast; and they will confess that it was but an age of “lies and vanity, and things wherein there was no profit.” As a matter of fact, one of the foremost elements of the glory of the Father’s house will be the renewed and emphatic exhibition of the ancient divine principle that “without shedding of blood there is no remission.”
“Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows (or cotes)?” (v. 8). The question is unanswered, although the following allusion to the return of Zion’s sons in “the ships of Tarshish first,” gives a clue to one phase of the answer. The answer in brief is, the saints and the Jews. The former are referred to (in their exemplars) as “a great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. xii. 1). They are to be “caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. iv. 17). “Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him” (Rev. i. 7).
The expression “as doves to their cotes” is very beautiful. The “homing instinct” of the pigeon tribe has always challenged the admiration of mankind, and from time immemorial the dove has stood as the symbol of purity and tenderness. The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism in bodily form as a dove. Noah’s dove returned to him in the ark with the olive leaf token of the abating of the flood. In the day when God arises and His enemies are scattered, the redeemed are revealed as with “the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold” (Psa. lxviii. 13). In Solomon’s Song the Bride is frequently referred to under the figure of a dove—the “dove in the clefts of the rock” (ii. 14). All the individual constituents of the Bride from the beginning yearn after Zion. All their “instincts” are Zionwards. God has put it in their hearts by the operation of a higher law than that which causes p. 704 the pigeons to traverse unerringly hundreds of miles of land and sea to the ardently-desired “home.”
And even in the nation of Israel the same “instincts” are only in degree less intense. Poor mourning captives in foreign lands! Like “silly doves” they have lost their way meanwhile, and are taken in God’s net (Hos. vii. 11, 12). But “they shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria, and I will place them in their houses, saith the Lord” (Hos. xi. 11). That is why we see a Zionist movement among the Jews in these latter days.
It is well remarked by Rotherham that the reference to “the isles” and “the ships of Tarshish” necessitates an oversea restoration from the west, and excludes the restriction of the prophecy to the restoration overland from Babylon. Tarshish, as has been abundantly demonstrated in these pages under remarks on the twenty-third chapter of Isaiah, is Britain, and the phrase “ships of Tarshish” stands here for Britain’s mercantile marine. Her naval supremacy has been broken before the condition of things seen in this vision obtains. “Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind” (Psa. xlviii. 7). This takes place before the “bulwarks” and “palaces” arise as the glory of Zion.
The humbled “sons of strangers” are employed to build up Zion’s walls (Isa. lx. 10); and we are enabled even now to appreciate the readiness with which the remnant of “the unemployed” that survives from the chaos of the judgments of the dreadful “day of the Lord,” will respond to the commandment to come and build again Jerusalem. Vast multitudes will be required, as the dimensions of Ezekiel’s specifications assure us.
Those who look at the Land and city now, without regard to the word of God by the prophets, may perhaps be pardoned for uncertainties concerning Paradise. But the word of God is definite. “The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious” (verse 13). The expression, “place of my feet” is found again in Ezek. xliii. 7, “the place of the soles of my feet,” that is, p. 705 in the city which was smitten (ch. xl. 1); where nearly nineteen hundred years ago the “beautiful feet” of the Son of Man trod the courts of the Father’s house that Israel turned into “a den of thieves.”
Isaiah’s prophecy is often confounded with the vision of the symbolic city in Rev. xxi., but a careful reading in the light of the first principles of the truth will deliver anyone from error. John was expressly told by the angel that his vision was a symbol of “the Bride, the Lamb’s wife” (verse 9). Hence this city can only be a divine corporation; while Isaiah includes this in his vision, with added details of literal topography. It is the departure from the first principles of the truth that has obscured the matter. Men are not “immortal souls,” and they do not “go to heaven.” Christ’s people will be like him—“spiritual bodies,” and they will, with him, “inherit the land for ever.” New Jerusalem, topographically, is old Jerusalem restored; and New Jerusalem, symbolically, “coming down from God out of heaven,” is “the Bride,” whose “place” is “the city of the Great King,” but whose dominion extends to “the uttermost parts of the earth.”
Zion’s Sun, no more to go down, is Christ; and her moon, no more to be withdrawn, is her royal priesthood under him, and whose light is derived from him. Both he and they together are the manifestation of the Father, as it is written, “Yahweh shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.”
These are they who, being “all righteous,” shall “inherit the land for ever,” the branch of Yahweh’s planting, the work of His hands that He may be glorified. Under their dominion “the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (xxvi. 9).
“A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in his time.” Such is the final assurance in this glorious vision. The earnest of it is Christ glorified. Once “a little one,” he is now endowed with almighty power to “make all things new.” The kingdom of heaven is indeed, as he declared, like a grain of mustard seed at the first, but at the last it “becomes a great mountain and fills p. 706 the whole earth.” The nation of Israel is “small” indeed, and despised and oppressed, but a full end of all other nations than Israel is decreed. Are we near the “time” decreed? Yes, the signs of the times assure us of it. And foremost among them is that Jewish movement so strikingly harmonising with the spirit of this prophecy. “Arise, shine (O Zion),” says the word of God by the prophet; and lo, in the latter days, a Jewish rising known all over the world as “Zionism”! The sequel is sure.