(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Verse number one begins with these two words, Arise, shine. So that's the title for the sermon tonight. Arise, shine. For thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. So when we look at these words, I mean, the beautiful words that, you know, we know that our Lord God is the light of the world. And, you know, the reason we sang the song, Stepping in the Lights, is because, you know, we are following the example of Christ. And he is a light of the world and he made us those lights and we're the salt and light of this world as well. But to understand what Isaiah 60, and if you paid attention, you probably have gathered what this is about. Just to backtrack very quickly in Isaiah 59, look at Isaiah 59 and verse number 20, it says, And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob saith the Lord. And I had demonstrated how in this chapter, this is the return of Christ, you know, after the great tribulation, after the rapture, and after God pours out his wrath, Christ comes back on the white horse, he wipes out the armies of the Antichrist, and he sets up his millennial kingdom. Isaiah 60, for the most part, is about the millennial kingdom of Christ. To pretty much the whole thing, to I think it's the last three verses. It's about the millennial reign of Christ. And so as he comes and establishes a kingdom, you know, this light that God brings, or the light that Christ brings, will be shone all across this world. And so as we continue there in Isaiah 60 verse number 2, it says, And behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. All right. So the darkness that was there on the earth, you could say that's the darkness before the Lord. You know, I would liken the darkness, of course, to the great tribulation of the future, God pouring out his wrath, I mean, it's a place of destruction. And after all of that destruction that falls upon the earth, then the light begins to shine upon the earth. And then verse number 3, And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and to kings to the brightness of thy rising. All right. Now, if you keep your finger there, come with me to 1 Peter. Come with me to the book of 1 Peter. When Peter writes the epistles of 1 Peter, he uses the same kind of language to speak of, like he takes, he pretty much takes Isaiah 60 and builds some doctrine in 1 Peter. So come with me to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2, please. 1 Peter chapter 2. So as you turn to 1 Peter chapter 2, we saw that the Gentiles are coming to this light, okay? And the kings to the brightness of thy rising. And in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse number 9, now we know that 1 Peter 2, 9 is about us currently today. We're not waiting for the millennium, but what is happening right now spiritually within us as God's people. And in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse number 9, it says, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. By the way, the word royal there is in association with kings. And we've seen that the kings come to the brightness of his rising. A royal priesthood and holy nation are peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Verse number 10, Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. So when it says in the time past were not a people, that time past that were not a people were the Gentiles, the nations, right? The people that were known as the people of God under the old covenant were of course the Israelites, the Jewish people, all right? The children of Israel. Well, now the Gentiles are the ones that have come into these lights. We are those people, you know, and as that light of Christ has risen upon us, we've been taken out of darkness. You know, we've been taken out of the darkness of our sins of this world and we now shine as lights in this world. And so keep your finger there in 1 Peter chapter 2, please. We're going to come back. I want to show you something else. Another parallel that we see in Isaiah 60. But come with me to Isaiah 60. Keep your finger there in 1 Peter chapter 2. In Isaiah 60 and verse number 4, it says, Lift up thine eyes round about and see, and they gather themselves together. They come to thee. Thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shall see and flow together, and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea be converted unto thee, and forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. Now, I'll explain all that in a moment, but look at verse number 6. The multitude of camels shall cover thee. The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all they from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and incense, look at this, and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. Again, look at that context there. It says, And they shall show... And they shall show... I can't even read it. And they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. Now, I told you to keep your finger there in 2 Peter chapter 2. Let's look at that passage again. Look at verse number 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, look at this, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who have called ye out of darkness into His marvelous light. And so you can see how Peter is using the similar phraseology about from darkness to light, and that we're bringing forth or showing forth the praises of the Lord. Now, the reason why Peter is using much of Isaiah 60 to form his epistle is because the 60th book of the Bible is 1 Peter. Okay, so as we've been going through the chapters of Isaiah, we have seen many times that the chapter numbers, the chapter numbers often correspond with an, always I think so far, have corresponded with a number of books in the Bible. And so 1 Peter, of course, is the 60th book of the Bible. And it seems to line up very well. I want to show you some other passages as well, very clearly with what we see in Isaiah 60. Now, again, Isaiah 60 is about the millennium. Okay, it's about Christ coming. And 1 Peter is not so much about millennium, or chapter 2 at least, it's about our current situation. One thing that's really interesting about the Lord God is that when we think about the ultimate fulfillment, right, when God creates a new heaven, a new earth, and there's a heavenly Jerusalem that descends, and that we live without sin, and, you know, and there's no need for the sun, no need for the moon, because the light is coming from Christ, it's coming from the Lamb. Like, a lot of those, that eternal state that we think about, it's really, the Bible's like this really interesting book. It's like, there are these rhythms or, how do I put it? There are these, what's the word I'm looking for? Sequence, these rhythms that, it's kind of like they're true physically and spiritually, but then the ultimate fulfillment will come in eternal state. You know, like for example, I don't know if you know the book of Revelation, that in the new heaven, new earth, there's going to be the tree of life, and it's going to produce 12 fruits. And so that is something that we get to enjoy and partake of in the eternal state. But we know that in the very beginning, the book of Genesis, the tree of life was available, but then God blocked access to it after Adam and Eve sinned. And so there's no more access to the physical tree of life, but then we understand in the Bible, especially in the book of Proverbs, it says that the tree of life, it has to go again, the righteous are as the tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. And so winning souls, seeing people come to Christ, preaching the gospel, and they get saved. When that happens spiritually, it's as though they're eating of that tree of life. You are bringing forth that fruits and they're eating of that tree. And so there's this spiritual truth, but then there's this like eternal truth that takes place. And so there's a lot of things that are very similar in the different time periods of God's creation that takes place. And so even though Isaiah 60 is about the millennium, marginally, there's still many truths that apply to us today. Okay? And that's what I'm trying to demonstrate to you guys. It's like Peter takes this and uses it as a spiritual lesson for us in our position today. And so what I take out of that many times in the Bible is that even though so many of us are looking forward to being in heaven and being with the Lord and seeing him face to face, and so am I, but God wants us to enjoy our life today. Like we don't need to wait to get to heaven. We can have a slice of heaven now. We don't need to wait to dwell in the light of the Lamb. We can walk in his light and the examples that he's given us today. And so many of those things, like I said, parallels, repetition, deeper levels, physical from spiritual, but many times the same lessons are found throughout the Bible, but in different periods of time. Now come back with me there in Isaiah 60. I think you're already there. What we had seen were the Gentiles coming. It says in verse number 5, the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee. So this is speaking about, and you'll soon see later on, this is speaking about Jerusalem, because when Christ comes back after he pours out his wrath, he's going to rule and reign from Jerusalem. And so when he rules, when his feet are on the earth, the nations that are around him are all going to come and bring their best. They're going to come and bring their resources. And so Jerusalem is going to grow into this massive, you know, beautiful city with lots of riches, a lot of power, a lot of prestige. And so the nations are coming and bringing their best from across the seas and things like that, bringing their abundance to basically humble themselves before Christ, lowering themselves under his authority during that thousand year period of time. If we continue in verse number 7, it says all the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered unto thee. The rams of Nebiath shall minister unto thee. By the way, Kedar and Nebiath are sons of Ishmael. And so, you know, look, I can't prove this without a shadow of a doubt, but it is generally understood that the sons of Ishmael eventually became like the Arab nations. And so even the Arab nations are there bringing their best, bringing their flocks, bringing, you know, their herds, you know, for there to be a feast, I suppose, there in Jerusalem. And so they're all kind of just coming and accepting that Christ is the ultimate ruler over the whole earth. It says they shall come up with acceptance on my altar and I will glorify the house of my glory. And then the verse number 8 says, who are these that fly as a cloud and as the doves to their windows? It's kind of like a saying, like, they're saying, man, look at, like, all these clouds seem to be flying in one direction. All the doves are coming and resting themselves upon the windowsill. And those clouds and the doves represent all these nations that are coming to Jerusalem bringing their best. They come to honor Christ. They come in to praise Christ. That's what the millennium is going to be like. Like, it's hard to think about it. Like, when I think about this world, like, current state, this current state of the world, they don't want Christ, right? They don't love the Lord like we love the Lord. They don't seek and to do things in accordance to God's word. And so it kind of blows my mind that all these nations, all these Gentiles, and even the enemies of Israel, are going to come around and just worship the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, and come and beautify the, you know, the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel at that point in time. You know, one thing I just want to say, and I've been saying this throughout the whole series, millennium Israel is not Israel today. Okay, 1948 Israel of the flesh, all right, that is not the Israel that we're going to see in the millennium. Like, geographically it's probably the same place, okay? But what I'm trying to say is it's going to be completely revamped. And in fact, this chapter kind of explains that to us. It continues in verse number nine. Surely the isles shall wait for me and the ships of Tarshish first to bring thy sons from far. All right, so there are people traveling far, okay? To come and see the Lord Jesus Christ and it says here, they're silver and they're gold with them. So they're bringing not just cattle and sheep and all this, now they're bringing their riches, silver and gold with them, and to the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. All right, now, keep your finger there and come back with me to 1 Peter please. Come back to me to 1 Peter chapter one. 1 Peter chapter one. Now, I don't think this is a problem with us as a church, but there are many people and, you know, sometimes I struggle to even understand if they're truly saved or not. Sometimes I'm not even sure. There are many pastors and even some Baptist churches that seemingly believe that people get saved in all different ways at different points in time throughout history. You know, especially if you accept the doctrine of dispensationalism, if you go so deep into that direction, you might end up concluding that, well, you know, we get saved by grace today, by grace through faith today, but there are other periods of time when people get saved by different methods. And they'll often say that the Old Testament saints, they got saved by keeping the commandments, you know, staying in the covenant, and yet, how could they keep the commandments? How can anyone be saved in the old covenant? That's the whole point that Jesus had to come and die for us. You know, the law is against us. It's Christ who is for us and, you know, live that righteous life. And so it's such stupidity. But one thing I just want to clarify here, just in case anyone gets the wrong idea. In the millennium, people are getting saved the same way. They have to put their faith and trust in Christ. Now, what we see here, we see all these nations, they're bringing their best. What we saw earlier was that they're bringing their silver and their gold. But just a quick reminder here, in 1 Peter 1, verse 18. 1 Peter 1, verse 18. It says, For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot. So 1 Peter, you know, Peter takes this idea of the silver and the gold. Some people think silver and gold will redeem them. You know, my riches, my power, my might, what I've accomplished on this earth, surely Christ is going to receive me in eternity and make me his child because of my riches, because of my silver and gold. Some people have that view in their life. They think, well, surely I've produced enough. But what we see here, of course, silver and gold does not redeem you. The only thing that redeems you is what is incorruptible. And that, of course, is the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot. So when we read in Isaiah 60 that they're bringing their best, they're bringing the silver and gold, that's not what saves the nations, okay? The nations still have to, the people of the nations, they still have to put their faith and trust on the finished work of Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ. And that's what saves them even in the millennium, okay? But we know in the millennium that Christ is going to rule with a rod of iron, all right? If you don't get on Christ's program, and it's going to say later on in this chapter, your nation is going to get destroyed, okay? It's not optional to come and serve Jesus, okay? Salvation is always optional, okay? If you choose to be saved, you have free will to make that decision. But if you want to thrive as a nation in the millennium, you have to submit yourself under the power of Christ, and you're bringing your best that your nation produces for his use, all right? And so, if we continue back in Isaiah 60 in verse number 10, Isaiah 60 in verse number 10, it says, And the sons of strangers, that's foreigners, people from other nations, the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto me, for in my wrath I smelt thee, but in my favor have I had mercy on thee. All right, so who's building up the walls of Jerusalem, you know? It's the strangers, the foreigners. They're bringing their best, and now, all right, Jesus, put us to work, and they start to rebuild Jerusalem at the beginning of that millennium period, okay? And so, you can see that all the nations, they're all there ready to serve and submit themselves under the hand of Christ. And the reason they have to rebuild the walls is because, you know, I'll just read it to you from Luke 21, 24. Christ spoke about this in the future time. He says, And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, but, sorry, it says, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Christ says in the future, and this takes place during the second half of the seven-year period, the three and a half years. In fact, the book of Revelation takes the same idea of Jerusalem, the holy city, being trodden underfoot, and it says there for, well, it mentions the number of days, which I can't remember what it is. Three and a half years, I can't remember what it was, right? But, you know, it's trodden underfoot. So, that last half of the seven-year period, Jerusalem's just been wiped out by the Gentiles, okay? And so, when the millennium begins, you know, Christ comes, and his foot touches the Mount of Olives, and the hill cleaves into two, and all of a sudden this river is running down. Well, it's time to rebuild Jerusalem, all right? It's time to make it a beautiful city for the king, right? That's going to be the capital city that he's going to rule from. And so, you can see from this chapter that all the nations get themselves together. They bring their best, and they bring their workers, and they begin to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Verse number 11. All right, so normally when you set up a wall around a city, especially in these days, you would then have gates, and you would shut those gates, especially during the night, okay? And especially you shut the gates when you'd see an opposing force, an opposing army coming to attack, right? That's their protection. Well, in the millennium, there's no need for those gates to ever be shut, okay? Which tells you what? There's peace. You know, this Jerusalem is not going to be attacked by some foreign nation, or something like that, all right? The doors are open, and the reason they're open is that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. So, anybody can access in and out, right? Like, you know, if you want to come and serve the Lord Jesus, you want to come and bring the best of your nations to subdue it under his feet, gates would always be open, all right? So, basically, there's world peace during this point in time. Now, when it says that they will bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, I don't know what you think of what that means. You might say, well, is that like the armed forces? Is that like military might that are going to come into them? No, that's not going to happen. In fact, during the millennium, there's not going to be weapons of warfare or anything like that, okay? Keep your finger there, and come back with me to Isaiah chapter 2. I don't know if you remember Isaiah chapter 2, you know, over a year ago now, but come back with me to Isaiah chapter 2, please. Isaiah chapter 2, which also speaks about the millennium. Isaiah chapter 2 and verse number 4. Isaiah 2 and verse number 4. Speaking of Jesus ruling in the millennium, it says, And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. All right? So once Christ is ruling, there's no need. Like, you know, most nations have some type of military force, you know, in case of self-defense or in case of attack, all right? Well, there's no need. It's like you'd be too afraid to get an army together because Christ can just wipe you out, right? I mean, Christ, even before he arrives and begins his kingdom, he's wiping out the armies of the Antichrist. He just speaks the word and the two-edged sword that comes out of his mouth just destroys all the armies of the earth. So they're going to take all their military might, whatever remains. You know, you might say, well, Pastor, why are they mentioning the nuclear bombs here, you know, and all the warships? I just think it's all wiped out. Like, you know, I think in the end times when God is just pouring out his wrath and, you know, all kinds of mayhem, I don't think many people are going to have much. They're probably going to go back to just riding on horses and back to just making basic weapons, right? And so they're taking all those basic weapons and they're just turning them into farming, you know, tools, okay? And so people will begin to, you know, labor on the lands and, again, for a thousand years, peace, peace on the earth. And so, you know, I'm not against politicians trying to bring peace on the earth. I think it's fine. But it's never going to be forever. Like, it's not long lasting peace. There's always been wars. At least ever since I've been born, there's always been wars. And even before I was born, apparently the history books tells me there's been worse wars, right, that we missed out on World War I and World War II. There's been lots of bloodshed all throughout history. But finally, for a thousand years, there's going to be peace, all right? So there's no need to have gates in your city. There's no need to have these borders protecting you from some army. It's all going to be peace in the time of Christ. Now, keep a finger there in Isaiah 2. We are going to come back to that. I want to show you a few more things. Look at verse number 12, back in Isaiah 60. Isaiah 60, verse number 12. Actually, before I read verse number 12, verse number 12 solidifies that we're talking about the millennial reign of Christ. Because we also understand that one day God's going to create a new heaven and a new earth. And that the kingdom, the thousand-year kingdom is going to continue for eternity during that time, okay, on the new heaven and new earth. Sometimes you'll notice language that might go, well, is this the millennium or is this the new heavens and new earth? You know, but one thing we notice in verse number 12, we'll just read now, it says, For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish. Yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. I don't know how many times this has to occur at the beginning of the millennium where some nations are going to go, no, we're not going to bow ourselves to Christ. You know, no, we're not going to take our weapons and destroy them where Christ just comes and just wipes them out. You know, it probably doesn't have to happen too many times. One or two times, and I'm pretty sure all the other nations on the earth are going to be like, all right, yes, Lord Jesus, you're in charge, okay, you've got the might, you've got the power. But again, we can see that because there'll be some nations that are going to be rebellious, that this has to be the millennium reign of Christ because there are still sinners walking the earth, okay? Certain politicians, certain powers are still going to be sinners. I believe a lot of people are going to get saved, but even saved people can do wrong things, especially our sinful flesh. But for you and I, we're going to already have our new resurrected bodies at the rapture, and we're going to rule with Jesus Christ over these nations. And so verse number 12 gives that clarification, okay, we're still in the millennium, we're still in a point in time where there are sinners on the earth. Because once we get to the new heavens and new earth, all sinners that have not received Christ as Savior, they're going to be burning in the lake of fire forever and ever. And the new heaven, new earth, the only people that enter into that new heaven, new earth, of course, are the saved. It's going to be made up of only the righteous. Now, let's continue there. Verse number 13. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee. So what is this glory of Lebanon? The fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious. All right, so Lebanon helps out rebuilding Jerusalem. In particular, we're going to build here the sanctuary of Jesus, okay? Now, the sanctuary, you could say this might be the royal palace that Christ rules from, right? His White House, or whatever you want to call it, right? That might be the sanctuary. But many times in the Bible, the word sanctuary also refers to the house of the Lord. And like the temple, for example, was known as the sanctuary, or the tabernacle was known as a sanctuary. But what we see in Lebanon is that they're going to bring their best trees, the best wood to come and, you know, build this sanctuary for Jesus Christ. Now, what I want to do, I told you to keep your finger on Isaiah 2. Come back with me to Isaiah 2. We read verse number 4, but now we're going to read again verses 1, 2, and 3, just to put it all together here for us. Because if this is a reference, and I do believe it is a reference to the house of the Lord, this is a title that you'll find coming up time and time again in the Bible, okay? I'll just summarize it very quickly if you've not caught the teaching so far. But the very first house of the Lord was Bethel, okay? And at Bethel, it was, who was the guy? Jacob. Yeah, Jacob, okay. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob had a dream, or he had a vision, and there was a ladder of angels ascending and descending from heaven, and he calls that place the house of the Lord, known as Bethel. Bethel means house, El is the name for God, the house of the Lord. That's the very start of the house of the Lord in the Bible. Then, when the Israelites, they come out of Egypt, and God instructs them to build a tabernacle, that tabernacle, like a tent, where they had the Ark of the Covenant, and the sacrifice, et cetera, that was known as the house of the Lord. And then King David makes a decision, let's build God a permanent dwelling place, and they build a temple under King Solomon, right? And then that temple replaces the tabernacle, and that's referred to as the house of the Lord. And then when the Babylonians come in, and they wipe out Judah, and they burn down the temple, once the new generation of the Jews come out of Babylon after 70 years, they begin to rebuild the temple, the second temple, that becomes known as the house of the Lord. Even Jesus Christ, when he walked the earth, acknowledged that as the house of the Lord, the rebuilding of that second temple. Well, we know that when Christ came, he came and he died on the cross, and the Bible says that the New Testament began at the death of the testator. When Christ died, that was the beginning of the New Testament. And when Christ died, the veil of the temple was rent in twain. And so that whole idea, the whole priesthood idea of that temple, and the access to the most holy, that's all been done away with in a picture form, and now it's been pictured, the veil represents the body of Christ that was torn for us, that was broken for us. And now we live in the New Testament, and in the New Testament, God refers to as the church, the churches as the house of the Lord. So tonight, right now here, we're gathered together in the house of the Lord. All right? But then, in the millennium, we have this other house of the Lord. All right? And it's located in Jerusalem. It's located where Jesus Christ is going to reign from. And I do believe this is what the sanctuary is supposed to be. So when we look at Isaiah chapter 2, Isaiah chapter 2 and verse number 1, it says, The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And so what we learn here is that the house of God or the house of the Lord is upon this high mountain. You say, Pastor Kevin, what is that high mountain? I don't know. Because if you've followed me so far throughout the book of Isaiah, when Christ comes, the topography of the earth all changes as well. When Christ begins the millennium, the earth is not going to look exactly like we know it today. In fact, when God pulls out his wrath, the Bible says many of those mountains are going to basically be destroyed, and many islands are going to disappear, but then when Christ comes back, I don't know, the continents might all look different, right? There'll be mountains here that you haven't seen before, and different hills, and just the topography is all going to be different. But upon this high mountain, we're going to have a place known as the house of God, the house of the Lord. And guess what's going on there? The nations are all coming in, they're all flowing in, and Jesus himself is teaching the law. Jesus himself is teaching the scriptures. All right, so instead of me, instead of some pastor with weaknesses and, you know, the weakness of the flesh, we're going to have the almighty God, Jesus Christ, teaching us at church during the millennium. And all the nations are going to be excited. Let's go to the house of God, we want to hear the preaching of Jesus. Again, it's hard to even imagine. Can you imagine, like, everybody in Sydney, hey, man, let's go to Jerusalem. We can't wait to go to church and see Jesus. I'm like, what parallel universe did I just enter? Like, that's weird. And so, I don't know, like, when I read Isaiah, I get more and more excited for the millennium. Like, we don't talk, you know, it's strange because I've gone to church pretty much my whole life, to be honest with you. But I've very rarely heard preaching in the millennium. It's like, you know, I was going to rule for a thousand years. Like, normally, we just think about the life today that we have. I don't know if you're like me. We think about the life we have right now, and then we're going to die and go to heaven. Yes, but there's more. But that's kind of like, we kind of get stuck just there, right? Earth and heaven, and we die and go to heaven, yeah, yeah. But then we're coming back to the earth, all right? And we're going to rule for a thousand years. We're going to walk this earth for a thousand years. And, you know, our life truly is a vapor in comparison. It's like, if you live some 70, 100 years, you're going to live for a thousand years with Christ. And everyone's going to love Jesus, right? And it's just, every nation's going to bow themselves to Him. It's like, wow, what a different world. Like, it's like the next step of heaven, right? And then, ultimately, the new heavens and the new earth and God creates all those things. But come back to me to Isaiah 60. Isaiah 60 and verse number 14. So, in summary, just to put all that together, I'm just assuming at the top of the mountain, there's probably some type of structure to house, I don't know how all the nations are going, I don't know. Is the church running just nonstop, 24-7? I don't know, you know, that's left for the imagination. But whatever structure's going to be built, they're going to be taking the trees of Lebanon, taking the wood, the timber, and we're going to construct some sanctuary up there so we can go and hear the preaching of Jesus. Verse number 14. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee. So, this is talking about the people that rule with Christ, okay? The sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despise thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and they shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel, whereas thou has been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Now, as I'm reading that now, I just have a different thought. I'm not sure if this is God speaking to Jesus, his son, and he says the sons of them that afflicted thee, because we know of course when Jesus Christ came, he was hated, and he was afflicted, and he was put to death. So, I'm not sure if this is saying that the generations of those that hated you are now coming and bending themselves and lowering themselves before thee. It could be that, but I think it's also referencing to the people that live in that city at this point in time. And, like, even though the thee is singular, like, the thee might be referenced in the city, in the people of that city. So, one of the things that, if you still have a thing in 1 Peter, come back with me to 1 Peter 3, please. 1 Peter 3. So, people, the sons of those that afflicted you, if this is a reference to all of us, the children, the generations, they're going to bow themselves to us, okay? And, of course, when it comes to living a Christian life, there are people that hate us for that. There are people that want to persecute us. You know, there are people that hate believers, and, you know, sometimes throughout generations and throughout history, believers have been put to death, been hated. Well, in the millennium, they're going to be praised. People are going to bow themselves down, all right? And it says in 1 Peter 3, verse number 13, And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But, and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happier ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. That's easier said than done. But God is saying, who are these that despise you? Who are these that harm you? So what? You know what? And when you're hated, and people do horribly to you, and backstab you, he goes, just be happy. Rejoice over it, right? There are treasures being laid up for us in heaven for those that suffer persecution, but the Bible says we should not be afraid of their terror nor be troubled. And it's hard. It's easier said than done. I understand that. But in the millennium, if this is a reference to all of us, the children of those that hated us, the generations to come, they're not going to hate us any longer, right? They're going to lower themselves. They're going to bow themselves down, all right? And they're going to love the city of the Lord. They're going to love Zion. And again, if you want to take this as a reference to maybe just Jesus, if you want to take it in that view, then of course, the generations that hated him, that crucified him, that falsely accused him, those people are going to bow themselves down and worship Jesus Christ. Verse number 16. Sorry, Isaiah 60, 16. Thou shall also suck the milk of the Gentiles and shall suck the breast of kings. See, this is where the thou and the thee, it's talking about the people of the city. I'll continue a minute. Thou that also sucked the milk of the Gentiles and shall suck the breast of kings, and thou shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. I'll just continue for a moment. I'll actually leave it there for a minute. All right. Now, verse number 16 is interesting, right? Now, I know it's going to sound really funny, but when you read verse number 16, and thou shall suck the milk of the Gentiles and shall suck the breast of kings, do you think that's literal? Or is that like symbolic or a metaphor or something? What do you reckon? Is it? Yeah, of course. It's a metaphor, man. Okay. The reason I bring that up is because a brother who I love very much, just in case he hears this sermon, a brother that I love very much in the Lord, okay, as a— Hey, Pastor, what do you think of this verse? Do you think that men can lactate? You know, because it says here that, you know, you can suck the milk of kings and kings being men, right? Well, if you do a bit of research, apparently men can under really strange conditions. Under, like, hormonal imbalances or something like that, or I don't know, maybe trauma or something. I don't know. You can do your own research in your own time. But this is, of course, when you get to a verse like this, you need to understand, okay, this is definitely not literal. This is like a metaphor, okay? So normally when you're sucking milk as a baby, you're from mom's breast, okay, that's for your best, for, you know, for your growth and your development. Well, again, this is just reinforcing in a metaphorical way that the blessings that are coming into Jerusalem in the millennium are coming from kings. They're coming from the Gent. It's coming from the nations, right? Like I said from the beginning, we're so earlier. They're bringing their best. They're bringing their cattle. They're bringing their gold and silver. They're bringing their timber, right, to build up the city. And so it's like that milk, you know, you're getting sustenance as a city from external factors, okay? And there's external factors here, of course, are the Gentiles and what they can bring to bless the city of Jesus Christ. So yeah, just in case you're like, what is that? Anyway, I don't know. I love my brother that brought it up, but it's a metaphor, okay? And verse number 17. For brass, I will bring gold. So I believe this is the words of God. So whatever you might use brass for in a city, instead of brass, we're going to use gold. And for iron, I will bring silver. So whatever we normally use iron for, whatever we dig up iron for, God's line, you know what? We're going to use silver instead. And for wood, brass, all right? So whatever, I don't know, certain, not foundations, pillars. I'm thinking of the other word. It's pillar, yeah, frame, the frames, right? Whatever frames are used and we normally use maybe wooden frame, no, we're going to use brass instead, right? It's going to be stronger, solidified. So obviously the gold and silver, they're not necessarily strong metals, but it's beautiful. And then when it comes to the brass there, and then it says, look, and for stones, iron. So whatever people use rocks for, we use iron instead. I don't know, what do we use rocks for? Gravel, concrete. So it's going to be, you know, that city's going to be iron instead that we walk on, for example. I will also make thy officers peace and thine exactors righteousness. All right, so there are still going to be officers where people, you know, doing official government business, but they're not going to be taking advantage of the people. This government's going to be serving the people. Okay, what governments are meant to do? Serve the people rather than be oppressors. And so this city that's going to be built, it's going to be built with the highest quality materials. Okay, and it's going to be layered with gold and silver and it's going to be a beautiful looking city, okay? Whatever your idea of what Jerusalem looks like and you think about it today, you know, the way Jerusalem is today, that doesn't compare to the real Jerusalem that's going to be on the earth during the millennium period of time. Okay, it's going to be a marvel. Okay, it's going to be something majestic. Verse number 18. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land. Is violence heard in the land today? Absolutely. Violence shall no more be heard in the land. Wasting nor destruction within thy borders. But thou shall call thy walls salvation and thy gates praise. So the walls have a name, salvation. The gates have a name, praise. Of course, that's representing Jesus Christ. He is our salvation. He is the one that we ought to be giving praise to during this time. I couldn't help but think of verse number 18 as a complete opposite to what we see today. There are walls today in that land, okay? I looked it up, what's the West Bank Barrier. Okay, the West Bank Barrier wall where the Palestinians feel like they're incarcerated. They feel like they're stuck in prison, all right? And what the Jews say is, well, we had to put up the walls because it's safety from their violence, from their attacks, so we set up these walls for our safety. Well, the walls in New Jerusalem will be known as salvation and praise, completely opposite, and violence shall no more be heard in thy land. Okay, so completely different concept of what walls are, okay? Walls in the time of crisis, we, like, strength, all right, signify the strength of the Lord, what he offers us, his salvation, what we offer in return, our praise to him, and so they're going to be, like, enjoying the walls, okay, that surround this city. So in complete contrast to the walls today that are in that land today. Now, I hope that's been interesting so far. I hope it's given you a bit more of an insight of what the millennium is going to look like. I hope you're, like, kind of looking forward to it even more. That's going to be interesting. Like, I've never seen the world like this before. Like, the world's worth coming back to for a thousand years. So I'll just stay in heaven. Nah, come back. I don't know if we get an option. I don't know how it all works out. No, we're all going to come back and rule the brain with Christ. But then we get to verse number 19. And let's read verse number 19. Like, I'll get your thoughts. I'll let someone jump in and share your thoughts. 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. I'll read verse number 20 as well. Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy morning shall be ended. What does that sound like to you? Sorry, what was that? That is when God pours out his wrath. It's not that reference. It's the new heaven and the new earth. So after Christ rules for a thousand years, like I said, he gives the kingdom. All power is subdued under Christ. Satan is loose for a little season and whatever last rebellion there is against Christ, they try to make war against the city, but fire comes down from heaven and destroys them. It's not really a war. It's not really this massive war. They're just wiped out. Then Christ gives the kingdom to the Father. The Father creates the new heaven and the new earth. And that's when the holy Jerusalem, another Jerusalem coming from heaven, descends on the earth. The gates are like pearls. You've probably all read about it in Revelation 21, for example. And then if you come with me to Revelation 21, keep your finger there in Isaiah 60. In Revelation 21 and verse number 23. Revelation 21 and verse number 23. And by the way, when the new heaven and new earth is created, there are no more sinners. I already explained that. They're all sinners that died in their sins without believing in Christ. They're all going to be tormented day and night, forever and ever in the lake of fire. Only the righteous, only the saved, enter into the new heaven and the new earth. And it says in Revelation 21, 23, And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And look at verse number 24. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. I'll read verse number 25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, kind of similar to the millennium, for there shall be no night there. I'll keep reading. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it, and there shall in nowise enter into anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. So only saved people will exist, exist, will be partakers, I should use that word, in the new heaven and the new earth. And so when we look at Revelation 21 and then we look at Isaiah 60, it's the same thing. But it's been clearly about the millennium. But that's what's interesting about the book of Isaiah. That's the challenge. We go from 18 to 19 without even blinking, but the thousand years are over now. And this is where you need to understand the New Testament is kind of like the commentary of the Old Testament. The New Testament shines lights and clarifies with detail the information that is found for us in the Old Testament. So I can understand when I'm reading this, like if I didn't have the New Testament with me, I'd get to verse number 19 and I'd go, okay, well, I guess there's no need for the sun or the moon anymore during the millennium or that rule of Christ. Oh, hold on, no. The New Testament clarifies that period of time is only a thousand years and then we've got a new heaven, new earth. And what we saw earlier in Revelation 21, that there'll be no abomination, there'll be no one that, there'll be no sinners. We're all righteous. We're all saved. Nations of the saved. And that lines up exactly what we see in Isaiah 60, where it says, or look at verse number 21. Thy people also shall be all righteous. All righteous. Everyone is saved. How can that be? Because we saw in the millennium, there were nations that are rebellion and blah, blah, blah, and God's going to wipe them out. Yeah, because now it's changed. But if we didn't have the New Testament to shine light of that, we wouldn't see that, you know? So this is where, you know, the New Testament is such a clarifying factor, we've understand in some of these Old Testament passages. Let's read verse number 21 again. Thy people also shall be all righteous. They shall inherit the land, look at this, forever. Instead of a thousand years, this is eternity. The branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. Now, something else that's interesting, I should go back to verse number 20. It says, thy son shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light. You could say, well, Pastor, maybe even in the millennium, there's no need for the sun and the moon. Maybe, you know, in the same way the new heavens, new earth, and the glory of the light of Jesus shines the whole earth, or whatever it is. But here's the thing we have, verse number 20 ends. And the days of thy morning shall be ended. Which lines up perfectly, if you still have a finger in Revelation 21, you can read it. Otherwise, I'll just read it to you. Revelation 21, verse number 4, it says, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And so, because there'll be no more tears, no more weeping, no more sorrow, no more pain, that's why Isaiah 60, verse number 20 says, and the days of thy morning shall be ended. Okay, Christ is the one that wipes away all those tears. We're gonna forget all the pain and suffering of our former lives. We're all forgotten. Okay, the new heaven, new earth will be a place of joy. A place of joy. All right, we've got one more verse to go. So, I hope that kind of makes sense. So, everything in Isaiah 60, verses 1 to 18, was about the millennial reign of Christ. And then we'll get to verse number 19, to the end of verse number 22, it's all about the new heaven and the new earth, and heavenly Jerusalem, which descends from above. And then we have this interesting, you might want to call that a little parable, or something like that, verse number 22. It says, a little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation, either Lord will hasten it in his time. What do you think that means? A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation, either Lord will hasten it in his time. Well, I just believe this is speaking about Israel, all right? And so, under the Old Testament, Israel started as a small nation. Remember, they were an enslaved people, you know, under the Egyptians, right? That's why Moses had to come and let my people go, right? And they came out of Egypt, and it is estimated, we don't know the exact numbers, but generally speaking, most people agree, somewhere between one and a half to three million, you know, was the population of the children of Israel. You know, a nation of three million, let's say, we'd say, well, that's a small nation. And that was the very beginning, right? And so that physical Old Testament nation was, as it were, a little one, and that little one shall become a thousand, all right? That small one, a strong nation. And of course, the larger context of this was the millennial reign of Christ, and then ultimately the new heaven and the new earth. Because today, you make up that spiritual Israel. We go from a small physical nation to a very large spiritual nation, billions, whatever billions of people throughout all of earth's history that have trusted Christ as their savior, they are part of that spiritual Israel, okay? So what began small has now become large, and we get to experience that strong nation with God as our head during, ultimately at the end of it, at the new heaven and the new earth. So anyway, we saw that this new Jerusalem in the new heaven, new earth is a city that has no need for the sun and no need for the moon. The Lord shall be thine everlasting light. And we started this sermon by saying the title of the sermon, like verse number one, was Arise and Shine, for thy light is come. So Jesus Christ is our light, and from our point of view, Christ did come. I know he's still coming, and he's going to be a light to the Gentiles when he rules for a thousand years. But Christ was also known as the light. John the Baptist referred to him as such. You know, he's the light. And we have walked into that light of Jesus Christ. And so brethren, it says here that, boy, if we're the light of the world and God has enlightened our lives and taken out its darkness, that we need to arise and we need to shine. And look, it's all going to shine in the millennium, but we don't have to wait for the millennium. We don't have to wait for the new heavens and the new earth. Today we ought to shine. Okay, today we can bring people into this spiritual Israel, be added to this nation, this strong nation that is multiplying as we preach the gospel and see people come to Christ as Savior. All right, brethren, Arise, Shine was the title for the sermon tonight.