January 4, 2011
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Isaiah 60 by Pastor Don
Notes from December 10, 2010
Isaiah 60 is the announcement and decree of the coming King, the beginning of the process of the blessing and favor of God to the world.
From Isaiah to now, the Day of the Lord.
Isaiah 59:20 The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the LORD.
Because darkness is here, the light has come. The work of the enemy is to convince us that darkness is so encompassing that there is no hope. But it is always darker before the dawn. Dawn is inherent in the darkness.
The first sign of getting well is the purging of sickness. When marriage is in crisis it is a happy time. You can’t get fixed until you realize something is broken.
Isaiah 60:1-4 Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles 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 nursed at your side.
Arise and shine!!! This is how things will play out. God has a heart to forgive us.
Isaiah 60:5-7 Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. The multitude of camels shall cover your land, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory.
I’m looking towards radiance. In Chapter 60 the order of dominance shifts back to Jerusalem and the Messiah. He will reign on David’s throne, and nothing can prevent Jesus’s reign.
Isaiah 60:8-11 Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts? Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you. The sons of 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. Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, and their kings in procession.
After satan, all will be restored.
Isaiah 60:12 For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined.
The judgment of God.
Abraham plead for Sodom and Gomorrah. Those towns had sexual immorality affecting infants, children, and women. These were signs of the Nephalim back in earth, for it was supernatural immorality. When angels came to Lot’s village the people were not normal village people. they were perverted, the seed of satan. They plotted to forcibly take the angels and have sex with them. The angels blinded the villagers and removed Lot and his family. God said all of them were to be destroyed. Abraham debated with God, asking God if there were 50 righteous, would God destroy them? God said that he wouldn’t for the sake of the fifty. Lot argued God down to the promise that if there were 10 righteous, God would not destroy the place. There were not even 10 righteous. God’s vision is that there weren’t enough righteous people to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, and the unrighteous would be punished.
But in God’s righteousness, those who were righteous in God’s sight were raptured out. The angels took Lot, his wife and children out of Sodom and Gomorrah before raining down destruction.
We are now in the same situation. There is no nation to cry out for the saving of the earth and the earth is full of unrighteousness. There are not 2/3 to cry out, but only 1/3 will be saved according to the book of Revelation. The rest will reap destruction. God will save as many righteous as possible. Revelation speaks of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and an angelic host to cover the globe to reach those we’ve failed to reach.
America is the number one purveyor of pornography globally.
There were not enough people of prayer to prevent 9/11.
If there were enough people of prayer God would temper judgment.
Within the context of Isaiah 60, verse 12 is the standard by which God judges. It is based on a willingness to serve the Lord. God is merciful for the remnant.
We recently had a fire in Israel caused by an accident. During a drought the fire was spreading, but in a season where there is not a lot of rain, God caused rain to come down and help put out the fire. Enough people put forth prayer. Faith is necessary. Mt. Carmel was where the fire was located and it is prominent in the history of Israel.
In our trips to Israel, we went to Mt. Carmel and saw the valley and went into the woods to seek the Lord. It is the place where Elijah challenged the priests of baal. Elijah poured water on his offering and prayed a simple prayer to God. Fire reigned down and consumed the offering, the altar, and everthing.
This fire in Israel was in the same place and the only way to stop it is God’s mercy for it was beyond man’s control. With this fire darkness was announcing the light. God showed himself so that every Jew could see that He is still the God of Israel. God put out the fire with rain.
We need to make a distinction about where we belong. As believers we are a nation that is not a nation. We are not idol worshippers. We are citizens of America, but that is not our true nationality. As believers we are part of the Kingdom of God, and that knows no boundaries.
Isaiah 60:13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious.
Rebuild and sanctify a holy mount.
Isaiah 60:14 Also the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you, and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Jerusalem the city of the Lord. Zion the mountain of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. When we are resurrected with spiritual bodies we will live in the City of the Lord.
Revelation 21:12-13 Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
We then looked at previous verses to get a better picture.
Revelation 21:1-3 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
No more sea. The earth we are on has more sea than land. John saw the city, the New Jerusalem. It is described as the Bride of Christ,
Revelation 21:9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
One of the angels who poured out the plague showed John the Bride – the Lamb’s wife
Revelation 21:10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
Jerusalem
The Heaven above is a place so vast, deep, and powerful that we call it the Third Heaven. We will be up there with Him when tribulation is occurring on earth. In Revelation Chapter 6 six seals are broken and in Chapter 7 the 144,000 are marked and we see the multitude from the Great Tribulation in Heaven.
There is going to be a great earthquake, and mountains are going to be moved. Then there will be a place for the New Heaven and the New Earth.
Ezekiel 39 it speaks of great destruction. The people are going to bury dead for a long time, special details will be sent out to do this, and the weapons will be burned for fuel. Someone mentioned that the new Russian guns are made out of a material that will burn – lignite. God fulfills His Word in mysterious ways.
Revelation 21:10-13 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
Anyone who thinks Israel is not part of the End Times needs to rethink their opinion.
Someone commented: If you are pulling someone down so you can be elevated, you’re pretty low. Watch what you say about righteous people who fall and mess up, they are still God’s anointed. Be kind.
Isaiah 21:14-21 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the citywas pure gold, like transparent glass.
Huge city,
Isaiah 21:22-23 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.
The Temple, Bride of Christ, is made of living stones, and we are the living stones.
1 Peter 2:4-5 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Living stones
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
Ephesians 2:19-22 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Hebrews 3:1-6 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
We are living stones that the Father owns, not a physical Temple. He is the Temple.
A person who died and came back to life told people that when you are in Heaven, no matter what direction you are looking, you look at the Throne of God.
There is no light from the Sun because the Sun has passed away.
Unlike the childhood version of Heaven that we have of angels on clouds playing harps and praising God, there is so much going on in Heave, that it is beyond our comprehension. Go is not stagnant and boring.
Revelation 21:23-25 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).
If Jesus tarries.
Revelation 21:26-27 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
There is still right and wrong, good and evil. There are those born in the Millennium Reign that have not made their choice, they are outside the gates.
Revelation 22:15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
Our work is not over when the Lord and our Father come.
We have the history up until the 6th day (6000 years) but all history of what will happen in the 7th day is not told to us. There is much we will discover.
We are in another aeon, and an extension of time.
There are false teachers today that teach that everyone will be forgiven and even the devil will be forgiven. False teachers, Jesus tells us will abound in the end days. They are either teaching in error or they know the truth and deliberately alter it.
Isaiah 60. We are already facing tribulation – tribulation began 2000 year ago, but t is escalating. As it gets worse we are told to not worry. Buid our faith and interconnections with people of faith.
Some are believing the lie that there is no rapture. Others think that if they aren’t raptured no problem for they will be able to stand in faith. We don’t know that for sure because we don’t know how we will react under torture and oppression.
We have been given a progressive revelation. And we have the free will to accept or reject God. God is consistent with what He does from generation to generation. He has given the Jews signs and the Gentiles knowledge of His truth, and both Jew and Gentile must take what they have learned and either accept or reject Him.
God does not change and He will do as he did with Moses, Lot, etc. People need to get a revelation that there will be judgment before it is too late.
God is equipping us so we can help others when things fall apart. We are to be there and say, “This is what thus says the Lord.”
We look and see rioting, such as in London. That begins with me.
Isaiah 60:15 Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations.
Eternal excellence.
Isaiah 60:16-18 You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, and milk the breast of kings; you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Instead of bronze I will bring gold, instead of iron I will bring silver, instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, and your magistrates righteousness. Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
Call the walls Salvation, gates Praise – people
Isaiah 60:19 The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.
This verse is Parallel to Revelation 21:22-23 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.
Isaiah 60:20 Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.
God will restore us from our hurts. We don’t have to hold on to the hurts now, we can let it go. Don’t wait until Revelation 22 to let go of the pain that binds you. Let it go now. You can decide where you turn your head. You can focus on your problem or you can focus on God.
Isaiah 60:21 Also your people shall all be righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified.
All, not some.
Isaiah 60:22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.
God will hasten its time. The only way things change is that we decide who we are and what we are doing. You can’t let other people’s opinion rule our world or our decisions. We need to be a child in the world, child-like faith. When the hurts of life hit us we can run from the lion and into the jaws of the bear.
We can have a peace of God no matter the circumstances. God is not daunted by our circumstances. The enemy sees the fear in us and attacks us in that area of weakness. When things trouble us, we want God to take the pain away or we focus our eyes on the circumstance. Far better we place our eyes on God and rise above the immediate circumstances.
I pray this blesses you.
Heather
