Isaiah 60 describes the future glory of Zion. Remember that this is a prophetic book, and what we read so beautifully in this chapter will never happen in the physical Zion. Those things can only be seen in the true Zion city of God. What is the true Zion city? The answer is in Hebrews 12:22-24a: “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.”
Isaiah 60 prophesied about the church age when the Light shall be revealed: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee” (v.1).
Who is this Light Isaiah was referring to? John wrote: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness” (John 1:4, 5a). John was referring to Jesus as the Light that shines on this earth. Our Lord confirms John’s statement by saying He is the Light of the world (John 8:12). Isaiah confirmed that the Light is God: “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” (v.19).
Light has come and so, God tells His people to respond to it, and to arise and shine (v.1). Darkness is for lying down; light is for rising up. When it’s dark, we go to sleep. When the sun shines, we wake up. Jesus, the Light of the world, has come; we must therefore arise and shine!
Once we receive that Light, Christ wants us to shine: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Paul, in like manner, quoting from Isaiah 60:1, exhorts Christians to rise and shine: “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14).
God is never pleased when His children are stagnant and are not making progress. He commands us to rise and shine. Matthew 5:16 is a command to shine: “Let your light so shine before men.” God does not want us to hide our lights (Matthew 5:15). He commands us to shine that we might show forth His glory and attract others to His kingdom.
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We are to arise from our lazy and slothful situation. A man with one talent decided he wasn’t good enough and so he hid his talent. God said he was slothful (Matthew 25:25, 26). Laziness was his sin and not the lack of talents. When we say we are too busy to serve God, perhaps the true reason is we are lazy. We need to rise and shine.
We do not have our own light; we are only reflecting the light of Christ. It’s like the moon. The moon has no light of its own; it merely reflects the light from the sun. And, the result of that reflection lights up the night sky. Christ says those who follow Him shall have the light of life (John 8:12). The Light of Christ shines on us; we are to reflect that light into the world.
Have you observed that the first itinerary for the day in the church camp is “rise and shine”? The expression was first used for soldiers. The “rise” means “rouse yourself” and “shine” derives from the shining of boots that soldiers were expected to do each morning. Well, we don’t have boots to shine, but we wash our face, tidy our hair, and change our clothes. We shine after we have done that!
Our rising and shining is to attract others to Christ (Matthew 5:16). Is the Light of Christ that is in us shining brightly?
Jimmy Lau
