The Glory of Zion

Isaiah 60:10-18

The glory of Zion keeps increasing as the chapter unfolds. Foreigners will take an active role in rebuilding this eternal city, and kings will humble themselves to serve her. The image of gates standing open day and night to receive the streaming of wealth from the nations far exceeds any assistance Cyrus or Artaxerxes gave to the Jews. These open gates are a picture of total security and of overwhelming prosperity, “the wealth of nations” being brought into Zion, even with their kings led in procession (v. 11). The continual success of the gospel will make Zion more and more prosperous, more and more glorious. God promises that the “glory of Lebanon” will come to beautify the place of God’s sanctuary. In Solomon’s day King Hiram of Tyre had his skillful woodsmen hew down the cedars of Lebanon and float them to port cities in Israel for the building of God’s house (1 Kgs 5:8-10). Now God is interested in human beings—Lebanese souls, won to Christ by courageous witnesses.

In the center of this chapter, however, is a stern warning to all nations on the face of the earth concerning Zion. In verse 12 God warns that any nation that will not serve Zion will eternally perish; those nations will be annihilated. During this present age of gospel advance, many rulers and nations use their temporal power to resist the church of Jesus Christ and the spread of his gospel. But just as in Psalm 2, those kings and nations are warned that they must repent and serve the Son, lest his anger ignite in a moment and they be destroyed in their rebellion (vv. 10-12). In the final state of Zion, the new Jerusalem will have no enemies left, for all who refused to serve Christ will be in everlasting torment in the lake of fire (Rev 21:8). Thus will her gates always stand open, and the redeemed will continually bring the glory of the nations into the eternal city (Rev 21:25).

In the end Zion will be infinitely better than anything this earth has ever seen. Solomon’s Jerusalem was stunningly beautiful, adorned with the best materials money could buy. He made golden shields to hang in the royal palace. But when his foolish son, Rehoboam, took his place, God raised up an Egyptian army who carried off the treasures of the city, including the golden shields. So Rehoboam made bronze ones to replace them (1 Kgs 14:25-27). But in Isaiah 60:17 the process is eternally reversed. Everything will be immeasurably improved in the new Jerusalem: gold instead of bronze, silver instead of iron, bronze instead of wood, iron instead of stones. That is to say, words can’t describe how glorious the eternal city will be. The walls of the city will be named “Salvation,” and her gates will be called “Praise” (v. 18).

Isaiah 60:19-22

The chapter ends with a foretaste of the heavenly Jerusalem not at all different from the vision the apostle John had on the island of Patmos. Revelation 21–22 concludes the Bible with a stunning depiction of the new Jerusalem, adorned like a bride for her husband, radiant with the glory of God: “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21:23). The same prediction is made here in Isaiah 60. In this present age the sun sets, bringing darkness; the moon wanes, depriving the earth of its gentle beams. But the glory of God will never set or wane, and the new Jerusalem will be radiant with God’s glory at every moment. This is the eternal destiny of Zion, for verses 19-20 speak of the glory of the Lord as her “everlasting light,” and verse 21 speaks of perfect righteousness and eternal possession of the land.

God means for his suffering people to renew their hope every single day by meditating intently on the present and coming glory of Zion. We should read Isaiah 60 and Revelation 21–22 again and again and remind ourselves of how magnificent that city is now (in the heavenly realms) and how glorious it will be (in the future new earth). Only faith can see either glory, so we must be regularly in the Word, drinking in the promises of God. As we are radiant in hope, we will be magnetically attractive to lost people who are walking in satanic darkness (v. 2) and who are without hope and without God in the world (Eph 2:12). If we shine with hope while suffering afflictions (like disease) or persecutions or deprivations, unbelievers will be strongly motivated to ask us to give a reason for the hope that is in us (1 Pet 3:15). But if we grow weak in faith through neglect of the Word, we will live much the same as they do.

We should also embrace the missionary thrust of this chapter. The wealth of the nations streaming through the gates of Zion represents the astonishing diversity of cultures worshiping Christ by faith. We should delight in that and move out for the sake of unreached people groups. We should meditate on the significance of Ishmael’s sons (Kedar and Nebaoith) giving offerings acceptable to God. We should expect God to save many Arab Muslims, despite the overwhelming obstacles. And when it comes to the diverse nonmoral aspects of their worship, we should allow it to push us out of our own arrogant cultural superiority when it comes to patterns of worship. Too many local churches have “worship wars,” and people assert that this or that pattern of music is the only way to worship. Isaiah 60 should cause us to be more expansive, for God delights in far more forms of worship than you or I do.