Chapter 60

In Isaiah chapter 60 we have an introduction which is pertinent to the rest of the book. Most of the six chapters we have left in the prophecy of Isaiah deal with the subject of the Millennium or some subject related to it. This is one of the most concentrated areas regarding the Millennial reign of Christ in the Bible.

Last time we examined Isaiah chapter 55 and in that particular passage we noted the mechanics of salvation in the Old Testament. In chapters 56-59 we have repetition of judgments and things pertaining to that particular subject. If one has a thorough understanding of Isaiah 55, then chapters 56-59 are very simple. Now we move to the final subject of this great prophecy.

The subject of chapter 60: Israel and the Millennium

First of all we have four civilisations in existence:

1. The prediluvian civilisation — the times before the flood. It starts with believers only.

2. The post-diluvian civilisation — starting with Noah and his family — believers only.

3. The Millennial civilisation — starting with believers only.

4. The eternal civilisation — the one which starts with believers, continues with believers and never has an end.

The Millennium is one of the great civilisations, so certain things which we will study in the last part of Isaiah deal with the Millennium as a civilisation. Even in Isaiah chapter 60 there are several things to be examined which have to do with the civilisation aspects of the Millennium.

The second point to note is the four dispensations: Gentiles, Jews, Church, and the Age of Christ. The fourth and last dispensation is the Millennium. It is both a civilisation and a dispensation. What is the difference? In a civilisation you have this characteristic: you begin with believers only. And then from believers only you have a population explosion and the development of the human race with the result that you finally have believers and unbelievers on the earth. That was the case with Adam and his wife; that was the case with Noah and his family; that is the case with believers at the beginning of the Millennium after the second advent. And that will be the case in the eternal state except that you will always have believers only.

But in a dispensation, of course, you have a slightly different situation. You have a period of history from God’s viewpoint. That means that there is a difference between the civilisations and the dispensations.

There are four unconditional covenants which were given in the Jewish Age — the Abrahamic, the Palestinian, the Davidic, and the New Covenants to Israel. These are all unconditional covenants; all have an eternal life paragraph, which indicates the fact that those who are included in these covenants are the possessors of eternal life. These covenants are fulfilled in the Millennium.

Out line of chapter 60: Israel’s glory after her discipline

1. Israel enlightened in the Millennium — verses 1-2.

2. Israel and enlarged in the Millennium — verses 3-13.

3. Israel exalted in the Millennium — verses 14-22.

This chapter is an ode of congratulation to the restored Israel as well as an ode to the grace of God. This is God the Holy Spirit congratulating the Jews on coming out of the “woodshed,” i.e. discipline.

In the Age of the Gentiles there was one race, one language; in the Age of Israel there were two races [Jew and Gentile], many languages. Israel was responsible for missionary activity and because they were they were given the Old Testament canon, God’s Word in writing. But Israel also failed in missionary activity. Although there were some brilliant exceptions, the general, overall evaluation is failure culminating in the death, burial, resurrection, ascension and session of Jesus Christ. So that we now have the Church Age and the Church is responsible for missionary activity, and therefore has God’s Word in writing — the New Testament scriptures plus the Old Testament. Then we have the ascension which is the completion of the Age of Israel in which they do a much better job, and then the second advent followed by the Millennial reign of Christ.

Now during the Church Age and during the Tribulation Israel is under discipline and all Jews are dispersed throughout the world. This is the discipline of Israel. It is the third time they have been so disciplined. There was the discipline of the Judges when they were made the slaves of three or four nations, a time of discipline but without taking them out of the land. Then you have the Babylonian captivity, a period of seventy years when they were under divine judgment. [The four hundred years before the Exodus under Egypt was not a judgment as such. God told them to go to Egypt; this was the means of developing the race. It cannot be counted as a discipline] And now we have, since 70 AD when the armies of Rome broke through the walls of Jerusalem, the discipline of national Israel. National Israel is not recognised during the Church Age. The Jews are scattered throughout the earth and even though they are scattered, strangely enough they still retain their identification. You have German Jews, French Jews, Italian Jews, American Jews, and so on. They retain identification. There are movements afoot to get the Jews back in Palestine but they are of Satan and are attempts of the energy of the flesh to fulfil the covenants to Israel apart from God. None of them will succeed in spite of all such efforts. The Jews will remain scattered, the nation in Palestine is not recognised by God. There is no Jewish nation recognised by Christ until the second advent when He Himself will regather the Jews. The Jews today are still under this discipline and the only way that their cursing can be turned to blessing is an individual, personal way — regeneration. When that happens that Jew becomes a member of the body of Christ, he is no longer a Jew, he is a member of Church and will not come under the four unconditional covenants but he shares the eternal future of the body of Christ.

The sixtieth chapter opens with congratulations and the basis of them is the fact that God the Son, Jesus Christ, has returned to the earth and He has delivered the Jews. He has, in addition to that, regathered them and this chapter is a congratulatory letter to the Jews of the future day. So we have the congratulations of God the Holy Spirit extended to Israel in that day.

Verses 1-2, Israel enlightened in the Millennium

Verse 1 — the second advent of Christ tells the Jews it is time to come back. “Arise,” qal imperative. The command is given to the Jews. This is Israel under discipline in the Church Age and in the Tribulation. The word “arise” means that they are sitting in dust. Arise out of the dust would be a better translation. The dust is their discipline which is now over.

“shine” — the second qal imperative, a command to the Jews to fulfil as never before the principle of witnessing and being a spiritual blessing to others. And as a result of their shining, as we will see in Isaiah 65, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters that cover the sea.

“for thy light” — this is a Messianic title. It is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Light of Israel — “thy light.” Light is the perfect illustration of the essence box and the light shining is a reference to God. And yet there are many characteristics in the essence box even as there are many colours in the spectrum, and when the light does not shine then you have no colours. And when God, as it were, does not shine on us then everything is truly black.

“is come” — second advent of Jesus Christ.

Notice that light, as a title for Christ, is actually a picture of His divine essence, for He is also called “the glory” .This is also a reference to Jesus Christ and whenever you find “glory” in the scriptures it is a reference to the essence box. All of the essence box together is called glory — cf Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned [In Adam] and come short of the glory of God.” The glory of God is the doctrine of divine essence. The issue in sin is never personal sin, it is always imputed and inherent sin. We sin personally as a result of having an old sin nature.

“shine” — this is the testimony of the born again Jew in the Millennium; “the glory” — the doctrine of divine essence — “of the Lord [Jesus Christ, the manifest Person of the Godhead] is risen [is shining, literally] upon thee” — the Jews who are told to get out of the dust.

Verse 2 — the Tribulation retrospectively. The Jews take one backward look at the Tribulation.

“For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples: but the Lord shall arise upon thee.” The first half of the verse is a backward look at the Tribulation from whence they came. The darkness is a reference to the Tribulation, a period when anti-Semitism reaches its peak — Revelation chapter 12; “shall cover” means cover intensively — “shall” because it is still future. From the standpoint of the Jews who have arrived we could say the darkness had covered.

“gross darkness” — simply means the absence of light. There are two reason you have darkness. The first is because there is no light and the second is because the light is shining but it is all absorbed. When the light shines on something and the light is absorbed, what is the colour? Black, darkness. If there is no light you have exactly the same effect. During the Tribulation there is no light, Christ is not personally on the earth, He is in heaven. Gross darkness means the absence of light; “the people” are the Jews in the Tribulation. Jesus Christ is not here personally to deliver them, He will deliver them from their various places of dispersion at the second advent at the end of the Tribulation.

“but the Lord shall rise upon thee” — “rise” is a word used for the rising of the sun and when the sun rises you get light. So we have a picture again of the second advent of Jesus Christ. “upon thee” is Israel. Israel is to be restored.

“and his glory shall be seen” Jesus Christ is God. He has all of the characteristics of the essence box. When Jesus Christ as God walks upon earth the essence box will be seen; “upon thee” — upon regathered Israel.

Verses 3-13, Israel enlarged in the Millennium

Understand that when we talk about Jews going into the Millennium we mean born again Jews, the Jews of the Tribulation who will enter the Millennium in their physical bodies. Other Jews will also be in the Millennium in resurrection bodies but the responsibility of disseminating the truth is going to fall into the hands of those Jews who have physical bodies. And they will evangelise the Gentiles in the Millennium.

Verse 3 — “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light.” What light? Cf verse 1 — “thy light” is Jesus Christ. Gentiles will come to Jesus Christ. These are Gentiles who are the result of the population explosion in the Millennium and who were born of believing Gentiles but they were born spiritually dead. They will be evangelised by Jews in the Millennium. Principle: Just because a person has Christian parents it does not guarantee his salvation. Every person must accept Christ for himself. And here are Gentiles coming into the Millennium and they have children but their children are not saved. And the Jews will evangelise them.

“the Gentiles shall come” — the perfect tense in the Hebrew means that salvation is completed when they come to the light; “thy light” refers to Jesus Christ.

“and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” The kings are ruler of nations and during the Millennium Jesus Christ will respect national entities and national boundaries. Nationalism will continue to exist even though Jesus Christ will personally rule the world. It does not set aside divine institution number four; “thy rising” is a reference to shining, not rising. That is, kings or rulers of national entities will respond to the gospel. Which means it is never beyond the realm of possibility that those who are the heads of state will receive Christ as saviour.

Verses 4-5, the basis for congratulations. In this passage, the regathering of the Jews.

Verse 4 — “Lift up thine eyes round about, and see.” This is addressed to Jews in despondency. One of the signs of defeat and despondency is the dropping of the eyes. “Lift up thine eyes” is especially a command to the female of the species; “and look” — look because Christ has now come.

“they all” — literally, all of them. Reference to the born again Jews scattered throughout the earth. “gather themselves together” — the Jews are coming back to the land under Jesus Christ, their first bona fide regathering; “gather themselves” is niphel stem — they received gathering. They don’t earn it or deserve it. They regather under divine power, only God the Son can regather the Jews.

The key to the beginning of the Millennium is twofold: 1. The binding of Satan and getting him out of the way; 2. The regathering of Israel.

“they come to thee” — Christ. “thy sons shall come from far” — “thy sons,” the Jews again; “and thy daughters shall be nursed at their side” — [not “thy side"]. In the ancient world women carried children on the hip. Daughters in the nursing stage will be carried by the side. The children are carried back in this manner, and this is one of those references that tell us that children who have not reached accountability will enter the Millennium.

Verse 5 — “Then” refers to after the second advent; “thou shalt see” — the Jews will recognise that God is fulfilling before their eyes the four unconditional covenants, that God is faithful, that God keeps His word, that it is impossible for Him not to, and they will have a tremendous realisation of the grace of God. In spite of every failure of national Israel, in spite of everything that they have done that is negative and wrong and evil over many centuries. They are still regathered. Two things are emphasised here: the grace of God and the faithfulness of God.

“and flow together” — to shine or to be radiant. “Thou shalt see and become radiant", literally.

“and thine heart shall fear” — literally, “thy mind shall believe.” But this word means more than just believe — “thy mind will be stimulated”; “and be enlarged” — the brain capacity is enlarged. What does that tell us? If you are going to know all doctrine as they will in the Millennium you will need capacity. This means that the perceptive ability will be enlarged.

Notice: First of all they see their own deliverance. Secondly, as a result of seeing it they are radiant. Thirdly, their minds suddenly have the ability to understand all of these doctrines. Their perceptive abilities become very sensitive to divine truth and when they see these things all the doctrine that they should know comes right into their frontal lobes. They understand the grace of God; they understand the details of the future of Israel; they understand and see and watch the fulfilment of the four unconditional covenants. That is the enlarging of the mind.

Then something else: they are suddenly made very wealthy — “because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee” — this would be the Dead Sea which has one of the greatest areas of wealth known in the world [chemical resources] — “shall be turned unto thee” .It will become theirs. In other words, immediately upon their restoration they will have a restored economy.

“and the wealth [riches] of the Gentiles shall come unto thee” .Why? Because of their economy. They have a successful economy because: 1. The Lord establishes it; 2. No interference from the Government. It is free enterprise all the way.

Characteristics of the regathering of Israel

Verse 6 — the operation of private enterprise. “The multitude of camels shall cover thee, and the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense, and shall proclaim the praises of the Lord.”

The multitude of camels refers to the transfer of merchandise into the land. Camels worked in the ancient world what the trucking system is to the modern world. The camels which are mentioned here and the synonym, dromedaries, are mentioned from three specific points — Midian, which is a part of the Arabic peninsular; Ephah, which is the eldest son of Midian and another Arab tribe; and Sheba which is in the southern part of the Arabic peninsula. These three areas where great transportation industries brought many valuable commodities from various parts of the ancient world. So the picture that this passage is portraying is a picture of a transportation industry moving commodities back and forth. As they do so, we read, they shall bring gold and incense. Gold, of course, refers to capital. It is brought in to develop the land of Israel at the time of their restoration. It represents the principle of capitalism.

“shall cover” means to be a centre of trade, and it is a term for private enterprise. “Incense,” of course a luxury item of trade, emphasises the principle of trade and business. And as these people come with their commodities they will also show forth the praises of the Lord. Literally, they will “celebrate with praises to the Lord.” They are celebrating the regathering of Israel. They are celebrating the faithfulness of God in providing all that He had promised in the four unconditional covenants.

So one of the characteristics which is brought out by this picture of the regathering of Israel is the operation of free enterprise. Capital is used to stimulate business, the only bona fide basis for doing so and, of course, those things that are operational in the Millennium are obviously things of which God approves.

Verse 7 — worship. “All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee” — this refers to activity under an agricultural economy. Flocks would be both food and clothing. Kedar refers to the famous Arabic tribes who had flocks and is one of the areas from which they came, along with “the rams of Nebaioth” .Nebaioth was the eldest son of Ishmael and actually the name is a reference to one of the Arabic tribes which kept sheep; “shall minister unto thee” — the piel means an intensive type of ministry and it should be “serve”; “the rams of Nabaioth shall serve thee in worship” — by being utilised for animal sacrifice. There will be animal sacrifices in the Millennium and these animal sacrifices are comparable to our communion table today. They are used as a remembrance of the cross, a memorial to the grace of God and a memorial to the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, which cleanses from all sin.

“they shall come up with acceptance” — come up means to be put on the altar and slain; acceptance refers to the doctrine of propitiation. God the Father will be satisfied with these offerings; “on mine altar” — the altar refers to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Wherever you find an altar in the Old Testament it always refers to what Christ did on the cross. Blood is shed on the altar but that is only a part of it. The altar was made of brass, sometimes of stone. Whenever stones were designated it emphasises what Christ has done for the human race; the brass emphasises and points attention to the work of Christ. On one side of the barrier is man and on the other side is God. And the work of Christ is the removal of the barrier — the penalty of sin, the problem of man’s physical birth [physically alive and spiritually dead], the problem of man’s relative righteousness, the problem of the character of God, the problem of position in Adam. The work of Christ removes these problems — atonement and redemption, expiation, regeneration, imputation and justification, propitiation, and position in Christ. The work of Christ has removed the barrier and wherever you have an altar in the Old Testament is pointed toward the cross. It was the shadow and always referred specifically to each item in the work of Jesus Christ. God the Father is satisfied with the work of God the Son and therefore “with acceptance” means that God the Father has accepted the work of God the Son and anyone who will be acceptable to God the Father for all eternity must come by way of Jesus Christ.

“and I will glorify the house of my glory.” The word “glorify” means to renovate or to beautify. In other words, the temple will be rebuilt in the Millennium. The “house of my glory” is a reference to the Millennial temple which is described in detail, beginning in Ezekiel chapter 41.

Verse 8 — a population explosion. The earth will be quickly repopulated. “Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?” Here we have two illustrations of population explosion; “flying as a cloud” — this is a picture of clouds covering the sky, and just as the sky can be clear one moment and then be covered with cloud, so the earth will be depopulated and then shortly after the Millennium begins through procreation the earth will be repopulated.

“as the doves to the dovecotes” — this is a picture of the sky filled with doves. Suddenly there is nothing and then you have the doves returning to the dovecotes [not windows].

Verse 9 — world-wide evangelism. This starts right after the Millennium because there are going to be children coming up, and children’s children, and so on. Population explosion means there will also be evangelism. Surely [truly] the isles [the continents, literally] shall wait for me.” The word “wait” means to trust or to believe. The people in many continents will believe or depend upon me, Christ; “and the ships of Tarshish” — an ancient port in Spain. When the Jews return there is not only their impact through evangelism throughout the world but there is also a business impact here with the ships of Tarshish first; “to bring thy sons from afar” — the ships were, first of all, helpful in bringing the Jews back to the land under Jesus Christ. The next time they came back with their gold; “their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified thee.” Because the Jews have been glorified these people now come, not only to worship, but also to do business.

Verses 10-11 — freedom and blessing in Jerusalem as a result of the regathering of the Jews under Christ

Verse 10 — And the sons of strangers [Gentiles] shall build up thy walls.” There is a problem here because Zechariah 2:4,5 makes it clear that there are no walls in the Millennial Jerusalem. There are walls in the eternal Jerusalem, that is, the Jerusalem that is suspended above the earth — Revelation 21:7. In fact the walls are twelve thousand miles high! But these are not the walls referred to here.

Zechariah 2:4,5 clearly declares there are no walls around Jerusalem in the Millennium. So what does it mean here when it says “the sons of the Gentiles shall build thy walls.” This is obviously also a Millennial passage. The answer actually goes back to the use of the word “building walls” in the ancient world. There is the literal building of walls but there is also an idiomatic expression. Building walls became a term for safety and it also became a status symbol for freedom. A city which built walls in the ancient world was free to do so, it was one of the expressions of freedom. And when a city was conquered by another nation the first thing they did was to remove their walls, meaning the freedom was taken away. So the system of building walls was a status symbol for freedom. And eventually the phrase “building the wall” could be one of two things: a literal phrase describing the actual building of walls or an idiomatic expression describing freedom. The latter is the meaning here. In other words, they have great freedom.

This emphasises again that any government which is honouring to God must be a government where individuals have freedom of action and thought — provided , of course, that it does not violate established law such as criminal law and so on. Perfect environment means the operation of human freedom, the operation of nationalism, the operation of free enterprise without government coercion.

“their kings shall minister unto thee” — the kings refer to national entities, and even though Jesus Christ rules the world nationalism is the order of the day, and He rules through national entities; “minister” means to serve. They will serve Israel in that day; “for in my wrath I smote thee” — a reference to the present discipline of the Jews. Hiphil stem: “I caused thee to be smitten.” It was God Himself who dispersed the Jews. In the reference “I caused to smite” we have a reference to the discipline of national Israel as a national entity. Even though the Jews are scattered throughout the world they retain their national identity even though they are not an entity. Israel is under discipline as a nation until Christ returns to the earth.

“but in my favour [grace] have I had mercy on thee” — the Jews do not earn or deserve regathering; “have I had mercy” is a reference to the regathering of Israel because of who and what Christ is, not because of who and what they are.

Verse 11 — “Therefore thy gates also shall be open continually” — the open gate means a friendly city. This is the extension of spiritual blessing to the entire world. “they shall not be shut day nor night; that men [they] may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles [lit. the riches of the Gentiles], and their kings may be led.” To be led here is a technical term which means to be led in a triumphal procession. The triumphal procession of that day will be not be warfare but it will be the trophies of grace. In other words, kings will be saved and therefore will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 12 — national discipline in the Millennium. Since nations exist they will be disciplined for certain things. “For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee [the Lord Jesus Christ] shall perish.” In other words, nations will rise and fall in that day even as nations today. However, there will no longer be the principle of warfare in the rise and fall of nations. So the principle of the rise and fall of nations is attitude toward Christ.

“ye, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” Being wasted is just simply two verbs: being wasted thou shall be wasted. In other words, they will be totally ruined, destroyed.

Verse 13 — the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. “The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee” — Lebanon is the great forested area of Palestine and the glory of Lebanon refers to its beautiful woods — “the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together; to beautify the place of my sanctuary” — “the place of my sanctuary” is not the temple, it is the city of Jerusalem. In other words, Jerusalem is the place where the sanctuary is located. Notice: There are no sanctuaries today. A church is not a sanctuary, it is an auditorium. In the Church Age the sanctuary is the body of the individual believer, and the body of the believer is the temple or the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit — 1 Corinthians 6:19. But there are not sanctuaries as far as church buildings are concerned. But, notice, there will be a sanctuary in the Millennium — the temple. The last sanctuary that existed historically was the temple in Jerusalem which was destroyed in 70 AD. There will be no sanctuary again recognised by God until Jesus Christ returns, and the temple in Jerusalem at that time will be the sanctuary.

“and I will make the place of my feet glorious” — Jesus is speaking. “The place of my feet” is the place where He makes His headquarters. The feet are His literal feet and He walks through the streets of Jerusalem, as it were.

Verses 14-21, Israel is exalted in the Millennium

Israel is not exalted today but they will be in the Millennium. They will take their rightful place among the nations and the covenants will be fulfilled.

Verses 14-15, the termination of anti-Semitism.

Verse 14 — “And the sons of them that afflicted thee” — the sons of them that afflicted are the children of unbelievers who were anti-Semitic. Remember, the children who have not reached the age of accountability will go into the Millennium, and here we have the children of anti-Semitic peoples. Remember that the greatest anti-Semitism period in human history is yet to come — the Tribulation. When Satan is cast out of heaven in the middle of the Tribulation — Revelation 12 — he begins a great movement to annihilate the Jew. And the children of many of these people who have gathered to destroy Israel “shall come bending unto thee” — they are evangelised. The word “bending” means to bend low in submission. “and all they that despised thee” — those who were in the Tribulation in their unbelieving status as anti-Semitic but were saved before the return of Christ. They shall “bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee the city of the Lord [their testimony in that day].” Very interesting. We have no holy cities today. The last holy city was destroyed with the sanctuary in 70 AD. “The Zion of the Holy One [Jesus Christ] of Israel” — Zion is a synonym for Jerusalem.

Verse 15 — the contrast of the Jewish status quo between the Tribulation and the Millennium. “whereas thou hast been forsaken [utterly] and hated” — the status of Israel today and even more so in the Tribulation — “so that [result clause] no man passed through thee” — in the Tribulation people are going to avoid Israel in that day because so many wars are being fought there. There is the constant movement of armies and people are going to avoid it.

By way of contrast, “I will make thee an eternal excellency [eternally splendid], a joy [delight] to many generations.” The principle is: In the Tribulation the Jews had a desolate land; in the Millennium the Jews will have a beautiful land. Therefore .…

Verses 16-17, the curse of Israel is turned to blessing.

Verse 16 — “Thou shalt also suck the milk [wealth] of the Gentiles” — sucking the wealth of the Gentiles is an idiom which simply means they will have prosperous industry, because they operate on the basis of free enterprise; “and shalt suck the breast of kings” — an idiom for economic success; “and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy saviour, and thy redeemer” — these people are rightly related to the Lord and because they are they are rightly related to each other in the operation of their industry, and therefore their industry operates on the principle of free enterprise on a capitalistic system, and it goes ahead in a tremendous way; “the Mighty One of Jacob” — a reference to Christ in connection with Israel. He is the One who has always provided salvation for individual Jews. So cursing is turned to blessing through regeneration.

Verse 17 — “For brass I will make gold” — this goes from an inferior type of material to a superior type. It refers, of course, to the construction and the furnishing. Wherever you would have brass in the construction of the tabernacle or the temple there is going to be gold. The temple in the Millennium will be constructed of the most expensive materials; “for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass , and for stones iron” — in other words, every place where you have the inferior material you now have the superior material — “I will also make thy officers peace.” Now, first of all you have the beautiful material out of which the temple is constructed. The officers refer to the temple custodians; those who minister in the temple. Peace it literally “prosperous”; “and thine exactors righteous” — “exactors” is an interesting word. It is a tax collector. In other words, “I will make all tax collectors righteous” — they will all be honest.

Verse 18 — the security of Israel. “Violence shall no longer be heard in the land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders” — violence refers to warfare; destruction means being killed in battle; wasting means property destroyed by warfare. So people and property will be protected. Principle: In the Millennium private property will be respected. The principle that all property belongs to the state is not a biblical principle. The right of ownership of property is a part of divine institution number one; “but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation” — in other words, Your walls will be salvation. That is the point here. They don’t have literal walls, their walls are salvation. Their protection is the saviour. They are saved; they belong to Christ; and, in that sense Christ is their Wall; “and thy gates Praise” — praise unto the Lord” .The gates are open all of the time.

Verse 19-20, the glory of Israel.

Verse 19 — “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.” The presence of Christ on the earth will be a better light than the sun. The entire earth will be lighted by the presence of the Lord.

Verse 20 — “The sun shall no more go down, neither shall the moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.” The Jews will no longer be under discipline.

Verse 21 — the fulfilment of the Palestinian covenant. “Thy people also shall be all righteous [the Millennium is started with those who are born again — imputed righteousness], they shall inherit the land forever; [fulfilment of the Palestinian covenant]” — and who makes this possible? — “the branch [a title for the Lord Jesus Christ] of my planting, the work of my hands [this means the cross is the way for the Jews to come to the Palestinian covenant], that I may be glorified” — Christ will be glorified through this.

Verse 22, the fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant. “The little one” — literally, “even one person” — “shall become a thousand” — population explosion. But it is more than that. The Jews are going to see the fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant where God promises Abraham “Some day you will have a nation like the sand of the sea and like the stars in the heavens.”

“and the small one a strong nation” — in other words, a small nation will become a strong nation. “I the Lord will hasten it” — I will cause it to occur — “in his time” — God’s perfect time. In other words, when Christ returns.

Principle: God is faithful; God keeps His word. Even though their will be the elapse of many centuries God keeps His word to Abraham, to David, to Israel. And just as He keeps His word to Israel so God keeps His word to us. He promises to provide our needs; He promises to take our cares when we cast them on Him; He promises to give us peace and joy and strength and blessing now; He promises us a resurrection body in the future; He promises us an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled; He promises us no more sorrow, no more tears, no more death, the old things are passed away. God keeps His word.