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ISAIAH 60:1-3: AN EXEGETICAL EXPOSITION WITH APPLICATION ON THE THEME

'ARISE AND SHINE.'
MONDAY HONESTY OKE
BIBLICAL STUDIES/NEW TESTAMENT, UNIZIK

Background
Prophet Isaiah lived during the trouble time in the history of Judah. He also
witnessed, from Judah, the destruction of Israel and their captivity by the Assyrians
(McCain 299). Isaiah’s prophecy was primarily directed to Judah and Jerusalem,
though there were prophecies to many of the surrounding nations as well. He
prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jothan, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. During the
reigns of these kings, there was wealth and prosperity in the kingdom, resulting a
corresponding wickedness, apostasy and moral corruption; hence, Isaiah’s prophecy
was made to denounce all these evils in his days (McCain 300).

Isaiah prophesied to let them know that Yahweh’s judgment is certain to come but
Yahweh will spare a remnant for himself (VanGemeren 471). It was the remnant who
were latter charged to arise and Shine (Isaiah 60:1) (Nyoyoko 116). Around 600 B.C,
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, conquered Jerusalem, burnt it, and destroyed the
temple (Ngele 3). He captured King Jehoiakim and took some Judah’s brightest
young men to Babylon to serve Babylonians (Hardin 523). In Babylon, the Jews faced
shrewd foreign policy which made the Jews totally dependent on their conquerors.
The policy assured that conquered people would be too loyal and too weak to revolt.
Besides, they practiced cultural assimilation which made the exiles to change their
names, language, food, faith and culture (Bible Study Guide 2). In fact, the Jews in
the exile became homeless, fatherless, persecuted, mocked, hungry, hopeless,
molested, maltreated, and subjected to slave labor (Daily Guide 181). These were the
manifestations of God’s judgment against Jerusalem.

However, God did not punish them to destroy them, but to redeem them. He (God)
showed his redemptive plan and comfort toward the exiles through Cyrus, a Persian
King, who conquered Babylon and issued his decree around 538 B.C allowing the
Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple (Yoilah 1104). But at return, people
of Jerusalem were faced with the problem of poverty and disorganized religion;

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showing that they suffered through the darkness of a lengthy exile, hunger when they
returned and neighbors’ opposition to the rebuilding of the city and the temple. It was
this uttermost gloom both in exile and back home that Jerusalem was charged by
Isaiah’s prophecy to arise and shine, for the time of her redemption has come (Myers
420).

EXEGESIS AND APPLICATIONS

Our Old text (Isaiah 60:1-3) begins with “Arise” (Verse 1a). The Hebrew word
rendered “Arise” here literally means to rise up or get up (Young 48). Not just to get
up from ordinary place but where there is danger. It is better explained to mean, “Get
up from a prone or poisonous position” (The New International Webster’s
Comprehensive Dictionary 78). Figuratively, “Arise” means to wake from a state of
sin and stupidity and move on to the place of righteousness and establishment
(Strong, n.p). Invariably, God was telling Jerusalem through Isaiah, get up, leave your
sins, leave your worries, forget about your exile experiences; never mind the
oppositions facing you at your return and that of hunger; just get up! If God was to
talk with them face to face, he would have reminded them how he fed their
forefathers in the wilderness with manna and quail for forty good years (Exodus
16:15). He would have asked them as he asked Abraham, “Is there anything two hard
for me to do?” (Genesis 18:14). So, it was no longer about the desolate nature of
Jerusalem now or the challenges the people were facing, but it was about God, his
wiliness, ability and capability to change their stories. Hence, he charged them to
make God smile on them (Iduma 151)

Children of God, if we look critically into what is happening in Nigeria today, what we
hear about churches, what the so called children of God are doing, including some of
us pastors; we will have no other option than to accept that those sins prevalent in
the antique Jerusalem have replicated themselves in our time. Nigeria is a country
with wealth and prosperity but the wickedness of our despotic leaders had sent our
country into economic, political, religious and social darkness and exile. We are like
slaves in the hands of our heartless leaders and untold hardship and hunger holding
virtually all of us captive. The story is not different in our various churches and
parishes; Christians commit a lot of atrocities, church leaders are not only deep-
rooted in moral corruption but also in looting of church money. Many of them use
strange powers to do miracles in the church, while others are praise singers to

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corrupt politicians (Orji 106). Worse still, God has used various medium and prophets
to warn us as he used Isaiah to warn the people of Jerusalem but many of us
paid/still paying deaf ears to the warnings. He has allowed us to undergo different
punishments and whipping, and thereafter expected us to leave that our place of sin
and stupidity. But we keep sleeping, we refuse to let go our former experiences, we
refuse to burst forth and get out of our prone position. Hear this, God has sent me as
his servant and prophet to this generation to charge us to arise and again I say
“arise!”

His redemptive power has been shown to us through Jesus Christ. We therefore
need to leave the place we are and what we are just as Zacchaeus in our New
Testament text (Luke 19: 1-10) did. Although he was a Jew (son of Abraham), a chief
tax collector and a wealthy man (Verse 1 and 9), he needed to arise from the spiritual
dwarfism orchestrated by his sinful act of defrauding people. He did not mind that it
was a taboo in the Ancient Near East for a wealthy man to run (Wiersbe, n.p), he
broke the protocol and ran to open his house for Jesus. This means that for one to
arise, one must forget what one is and run ahead of others. We must leave the crowd
of people in the church and society and desire one-on-one encounter with Jesus, to
know who he is, just as Zacchaeus did (Verse 3). Mind you, all it takes to arise does
not depend on our background, the nature of our environment cannot stop it, our
academic qualifications are not the criteria, wealth and godfatherism have nothing to
contribute; it rather depends solely on the grace of God made available through
Jesus, the one through whom, God has given us everything we need for life and
godliness (2 Peter 1:3, NIV). My prayer for us is that after today’s message, all of us
will arise from every slumber in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Our text furthered with another imperative one word sentence, “Shine” (Verse 1a).
The word is preceded by a comma. One should be bothered to ask, why not “and” as
it appeared in our topic. The comma here is very purposeful other than being a
semantic or linguistic error. Generally, a comma is used to demarcate two words or
group of words that have a relationship (Chukwuma and Otagburuagu 132). Also, in
Hebrews, when a comma is used to join two imperatives, the latter of the two is a
future, resulting from the former (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, n.p). So, when the
writer used the word Arise, Shine, he is probably saying that shining is an offshoot of
arising. In other words, it may be impossible for one to shine if the person is yet to

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arise.

The Hebrew word rendered “shine” means to become bright, without darkness
(Young 880). Darkness in this context stands for sinfulness, chaos and opposition
(Church 390). This means, when Jerusalem was asked to shine, she was asked to
stop sinning and opposing God, but begin to show forth righteousness. It is true one
cannot give out what one does not have. Jerusalem cannot become bright on her
own; she was not to give out her light through the sun or manufacture the light by
herself, but Jehovah would be her luminary (Nicoll ed., 430). Little wonder the word
“Shine” is also translated in some versions to read “Be enlightened” (Zodhiates, ed.
913). “Be enlightened” presupposes that one had the responsibility of making them
to shine. And who is that person? He is Jesus Christ because “shine” is figuratively
used of Christ (Vine, Unger and White 571).

Child of God, we have stayed long in darkness; darkness of evil communication,

darkness of hatred, jealousy, gossip and backbiting. Presbyterian Church of Nigeria
has dwelled more than expected in the darkness of “No money Syndrome.” Even
here in Goldie, the school is still in the darkness of underdevelopment and decayed
infrastructure; for some of us students, we have dwelled much in the darkness of not
understanding our area of ministry. Indeed, some have stayed too long in the
darkness of mediocrity, darkened mentality and undue familiarities with the divine
things (Gibbs 126). We do not care that all these are in opposition with what God
required of us. And he has asked me to charge us to withdraw from darkness, to
embrace righteousness which would make us bright. It does not matter how far we
may have stayed in darkness or even in the negative nomenclature our fellow
Christians and colleagues might have given us; but what matters most is that today
is another opportunity for us to return to Christ. The Jews summarized Zacchaeus in
our New Testament text as a sinner who is unworthy to host Jesus. But as soon as
Zacchaeus forsook the darkness of defrauding people and gave positive confession
and restitution before the Lord Jesus, hear the Good news: Jesus told him, “Today
salvation has come into this house” (Luke 19:8). Brethren, if we can decide to shine
today, definitely, Jesus will pay us an august visit. May the Lord see us through in
Jesus’ name. Amen!

Considering the ugly situation of Jerusalem and this imperative prophecy from

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Isaiah, one can ask how possible it would happen. But one thing we should know
about God is that he does not ask one to perform a task without a corresponding
provision and grace that would sustain the person. Let us take our Bible and read
together verse 1b of our text: “…for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord
has risen upon you” (RSV). The place we just read now left us with two clauses
which showed how possible it was for them to arise and shine. Those possibilities
are:

a. Your Light Has Come: One might ask why the sentence didn’t read, “Your light has
appeared or has begun to shine.” But what the Bible says is: “Your light has come.” It
shows that the light is personified. What/who then is the light? Light is the opposite
of darkness. Darkness stands for sinfulness, chaos and opposition (Church 390). But
the light stands for righteousness. Light and darkness are not simply opposites;
darkness is nothing other than the absence of light (Carson119). Then, if the light
which is here personified stands for righteousness; it means we should look for who
is this righteousness. The scripture says that the Lord is our righteousness
(Jeremiah 23:6). So, when the scripture says “your light has come,” it is simply
saying the LORD Jesus has come. No wonder, Jesus says, “I am the light of the
world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life"
(John 8:12, RSV). Jesus is the light, the one that darkness saw and took its flight
(John 1:5). The light in Jesus is not an ordinary light; it is a marvelous light (1 Peter
2:9). And in Jesus’ light has no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).

Brethren, it is impossible to have Jesus and we are not able to arise and shine. Mind
you, the noun light has the same root in Hebrew with shine (Vine, Unger and White
592). Which means, when we have the light we must shine. Therefore, for that
person that is in a precarious situation; for that person that have been rejected,
dejected and oppressed by the world; for that person who live hopelessly and
confusedly, asking when it would be his/her own time. I want to announce to you,
Jesus is the answer. If we can receive him this moment, definitely, we shall arise and
shine, but if we reject him, we will perpetually remain in darkness, not just in this
world but in the world to come. God forbid!

Brethren, one good thing about this light is that it is never far from us and no
opposition is powerful enough to stop it ( Oyinlola 31). He is not like the foreign

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materials that we struggle to ship into Nigeria which takes months or even years
before arriving. He is not like Nigerian politicians or even this day pastors, whom we
book and negotiate when it would be convenient to have an appointment with them.
The light is not tribalistic; he makes himself available, anywhere anytime. And the
statement is “your light has come.” It was not the people of Jerusalem that invited
the light; the light came on its own accord because of his graciousness. And even
this moment, that light is saying to us: “'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if
anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with
him, and he with Me (Rev 3:20-21, NASU). Let us begin to see why the curiosity of
Zacchaeus in our New Testament text when he heard about Jesus (Henry 1509). As
soon as he heard Jesus was passing, he didn’t want to waste time because wasting
time might mean missing the light, and missing the light is tantamount to
abandonment in darkness. My prayer is that we begin from henceforth to be curious
to have an encounter with Jesus that would make us to arise and shine in Jesus’
name. Amen!

b. The Glory of the Lord Has Risen Upon You: When we talk about “Glory” we are
talking about beauty, power, or honor; a quality of God's character that emphasizes
his greatness and authority (Youngblood 499). When God’s glory is risen upon
someone, it leads to spiritual rebirth; for a man who is not born again has no
capacity to fit a spiritual exercise (Akanni 165). So when the Bible says that the glory
of the Lord has risen upon you, it means that the power of God has come upon
Jerusalem. Not all, it also means, God has given them the authority and favor to arise
and shine (Henry 950). When the glory of God is risen upon someone, the person is
honored with wealth and favor (Zodhiates 2034). So, when God was telling
Jerusalem to arise and shine, he had made it possible by providing them with
corresponding attractions and wealth which would be evidence of their arising and
shining. Indeed, the invitation was for Jerusalem to apprehend the available Glory of
God (Bruce 760). This glory was capable of averting their (Jerusalem) misery caused
by an invasion of their captors (Nsiku 874). The word “glory” is an evidence of God’s
presence and this kind of glory is what only God can give (Songer and Clendenen
650). So, for Jerusalem to arise and shine God gave them what the gods of Assyria
and Babylon could not give them.

Child of God, our heavily father is presently present for us, for his glory has risen

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upon us. He has given us the gift that no man on earth can offer to us, the gift of his
glory. He has given us his glory which is also his power and authority. What this
means is that even if there is anything that would have frightened us not to arise and
shine, by seeing the glory of God, such authority must bow to God’s presence and
authority. Are we here contemplating on how we can arise and shine? Are we among
those whose situations seem dreadful and insurmountable? Hear me, God’s glory is
available for us this moment. He is available to us for his glory has risen upon us; he
is available with honor and wealth. In fact, as we will embrace his glory, soonest, our
contemporaries would begin to see the evidence of our arising; they will see the
evidence of our shining in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Benefits of Arising and Shining

Before we wrap this sermon up, it would be good to consider what should be the
benefits (purposes and results) when we arise and shine. When we look critically at
verse 2 and 3 of our text we will discover three of those benefits thus:
i. To be Distinguished from Others: This implies to be what others are not (Ezeani
199). Verse 2 of our text says: "For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep
darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon
you” (NASU). Darkness, which we have explained to be a metaphor of sin, opposition
and worldliness, can never be the characteristics of God’s people. It is when we arise
and shine that we can distinguish between those who worship God and those who
do not (Malachi 3:18). So, that everybody is wallowing in darkness is not a license or
guarantee for us to join them. For the scripture says, “So leave the corruption and
compromise; leave it for good," says God."Don't link up with those who will pollute
you. I want you all for myself” (2 Corinthians 6:17, THE MESSAGE). Hear me brethren,
it is only when we arise and shine, that the difference shall be clear. Joseph did it and
he became a governor in Egypt and also received extra ordinary blessings from his
father which most of his brothers could not (Genesis 41:43; 49: 26). John the Baptist
as well distinguished himself in his own time and the multitude was rushing after
him, a man who distinguished himself in the wilderness (Akanni 317).

I am still surprise at what happens to Christians and pastors today. We have little or
no difference with unbelievers. We still link up with those who pollute us. The worse
of it all is that we always desire to be like one pastor or the other and as such copy
verbatim even to the person’s mistakes and errors. All these things are evidences

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that we are yet to arise and shine. But hear the good news, the devil (darkness) has
been defeated by Jesus Christ, and as such has given us power to distinguish
ourselves from anything that pertains to darkness (Hagin 224). Therefore, let us go
ahead and distinguish ourselves in Jesus name. Amen!

ii. To Be Relevant: Verse 3a of our text reads, “And nations shall come to your light”
(RSV). One thing we know is that only those who are relevant (important) and have
something to impart to others that peoples (nations) look for. I have never seen
anyone who met a mad man or woman and tell the person I want to partner with you;
or be your friend. In fact, people are always afraid of darkness. And Rev. Jones once
told us last year that darkness has no friend but light has. Therefore, if we must be
relevant to our church and society as ministers of the gospel, we must arise and
shine. If we are among those who embodies global mission as their vision, we must
arise and shine, so that people will come to our brightness; for until we arise and
shine, we cannot be relevant and we will end up making little or no impart to the
society wherein we live. May God help us in Jesus’ name. Amen!

iii. To be Repositioned for Dominion: As soon as one lives in sin, one loses his
position to dominate, every other thing will begin to take dominion over the person.
Take for instance, when the first man on earth sinned, he lost the dominion given to
him in Genesis 1:26, 28, and also lost his original righteousness he inherited from
God (Berkhof 209). Even Zacchaeus in our New Testament text lost his identity and
blessings as the son of Abraham because of the corrupt means through which he
acquired his wealth. He was not only ruled by his enemies, he also faced rejection
and humiliation by the general public so much so that people refused accepting his
gift (Jackson 5). The same thing happened to Jerusalem. When she sinned against
God, her position was taken by her enemies and as such was subdued. But hear
what verse 3b says, “And kings to the brightness of your rising” (RSV). I want to
believe that kings that would come to the light of Jerusalem’s rising were those who
had lost their own light or those who had never had light at all. What this means in
earnest is that those who laughed at them would rejoice with them. The kings were
not coming to Jerusalem to rule them again but to be under her authority. What God
is saying in essence is that he has repositioned Jerusalem, and she would not be
ruled by her enemies again.

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People of God hearing my voice, as we take decision to begin to arise and shine from
henceforth, I see God repositioning someone from nobody to somebody; I see God
lifting someone from grass to grace. Hear me, those who humiliated, oppressed and
suppressed us in the recent past will begin to seek the light of our rising. From today,
by the mandate of this message, people who matter in the society will begin to look
for us. They will not look for us because we merited it, but they will look for us
because God has repositioned us. Let us note it that, all dominions belong to our
God; he will give us dominion in the name of Jesus. Amen!

Conclusion: As we conclude this sermon, I want us to bear it in mind that our topic
“Arise and Shine” is never a request but it is a divine command. One thing with God’s
command is that when we obey it, we will receive the blessings accrued to it, but if
we reject it, curse will follow us. If we must arise and shine, we must make Jesus our
Lord and Savior. Only him (Jesus) has the light and glory that would enable us to
arise and shine. And as we begin to shine from today, may darkness take its flight
and ugly situations, powers and dominions bow before us in Jesus name. Amen!

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