Isaiah 60:1-22.  We are in the final section of Isaiah.  Remember Isaiah wrote this book for people in Jerusalem who were under siege.  They and their leaders had made a lot of mistakes and God was dealing with them.  God was bringing a lot of punishment into their lives be as we was yesterday it’s not just to be mean.  God wanted the trouble they were in to teach them how serious their broken relationship with him was.  But his goal was never just to punish, his goal was to get them to change what they were doing and return to him.  Years ago there was a program that tried to get young people to stop going in a bad direction with their lives.  These were kids who were on a path leading to jail or prison eventually.  So the kids were taken into a prison to see what the place was like and what sort of people they might meet there.  The prisoners didn’t hold back about life in prison and the kids were intimidated, hopefully to the point of changing the way they were living.  The program was called Scared Straight.  I think that is sort of what God is doing here, but remember the facts are still true, God doesn’t give us a “worst case scenario” he tells us the way it will be.

At the end of yesterday’s reading we saw that God’s servant was the solution for our sin problem, at least in part.  He took the penalty and power of sin (disobedience and rebellion) for us.  We also saw that his actions gave us an opportunity for the second part of the solution for our sin problem, how to stop.  For that we need God’s spirit living inside of us guiding us.  And according to Paul in the book of Romans (or Letter to the Roman Church if you prefer) we see that that is just what happens when we believe in who Jesus is and what he has done for us and receive him into our lives.  In yesterday’s reading we saw that the servant would have many “offspring” and that is just what we are “children of God” adopted into his forever family.

In today’s reading the “offspring” of the servant are told to get up and show the world what God has done for them.  Although Isaiah is writing specifically to the Jewish people in these verses we learn from Matthew that we are supposed to do the same thing (Matthew 5:14-16).  According to Isaiah if the people of Jerusalem would follow God truthfully and faithfully they would attract many people around the world to Him.

In verse 4-10 we see that as the Jewish people attract people from all over the world to God that these people will give much wealth to the people of Israel.  In verses 10-14 we see that as the nations come they will also build the city back up.  The gates will not have to be shut in fear of attack because all the nations who did not like the Israelites would be destroyed (v. 12).  Probably most important is that God will be honored by these people (vv. 6,7,9, 14).  Verses 15-18 continue discussing the wealth that the Israelites will receive and add the fact that Jerusalem is the center of peace and salvation and the place to honor God (v. 18).  Verses 18-21 complete the picture of Jerusalem’s (and it’s people) glorious future.  God will actually live among these people, there will be no more sadness and they will have large “families”.  Verse 21 tells us that through all of this God will be honored and verse 22 tells us that God will surely cause all of this to happen.

What a change from their current situation, under siege, taxed and oppressed by foreign governments, in fear of destruction, in a very dark place (v. 2).  But now they will have the “light” of God’s presence, they will be light to a dark work, and will lead many people out of the darkness of an evil existence as enemies of God into a joyful existence as God’s “children”.  That must have been very encouraging to them, but only if they would listen to the prophet, Isaiah, and turn their lives back to God.  We need to return to God too, and we too will have a similar eternity waiting for us.  We also need to “prove” we are for God by living for others.  We need to “love our neighbor as our self” (Matthew 22:39) and we need to let the “light” of the good news about Jesus shine from our lives, guiding all those around us to an eternity with God.

God thank you for loving, thank you for giving, thank you for communicating, thank you for the Holy Spirit, thank you for the opportunity to be a “light”.  Help mw see just what I need to do to make others thirsty for you.  Thank you.