Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon you, and his glory shall be seen upon you.
The above is Isaiah 60:1 & 2 and is describing the LORD (Jehovah) coming near as light in the dark world, which we know is speaking of understanding coming into confusion: ordered thought into agitation and chaos. Understanding comes near us as light in the LORD’s preaching His word, which is in us the anointing: Christ in the preacher. When the LORD’s presence is revealed: realized by those upon whom the light has shined, they as a result rise to life by the same anointing. As we see above, those who “Arise” are called to themselves shine, showing God’s glory through their understanding, as light into the same darkness.
Isaiah 60:1 & 2 are a continuation of the thought and ideas the LORD illuminates in the prior chapter. In it, He explains why there is darkness, and ends describe the remedy as His anointing, first in one and then exponentially, pouring it out through the many who are called to “Arise” and “shine.”
Isaiah 59
1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood [what drains life and causes the shadow of death to cover the earth], and your fingers with iniquity [injustice and untruth]; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness [twisted judgment].
4 None call for justice, nor any pleads for truth: they trust in vanity [they trust in what has no value], and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eats of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper [the venomous beast of confusion].
6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goes therein shall not know peace.
9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither does justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves [they speak their own words and think they will produce their expected conclusion]: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us [disappointment becomes apparent when their promises aren’t realized – as if waking from a dream and realizing it was just as dream: products of the stupefied mind that were never going to become reality – See Isaiah 29:8].
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense [a deserved response] to his enemies; to the islands [the dry places – risen out of the sea – meaning those who are without the word of God and have control over the masses] he will repay recompense.
19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west [where the sun set and there is no light – where understanding has departed], and his glory from the rising of the sun [when His light comes, Arising and Shinning into the darkness]. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob [those who were ignorantly wrestling with God and His words, shall turn to Him when they see the standard – the light], says the LORD.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD; My spirit that is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed, says the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.
Friends, as discussed in the previous post, the LORD has given us this understanding, exhaled His life-giving words into us, so we would then exhale them; as the last verse above says. The LORD then calls and sends us, saying, “Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon you, and his glory shall be seen upon you.”
This call comes to those who “turn” to the LORD from transgression, which we know is what Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 3:16 when he says it is what removes the veil keeping people from understanding the word of God. As we have many times seen, he goes on to further describe it as the gospel hidden from those who have been blinded by following the gods of this world. These gods are the mighty men of this age: the unreasonable and wicked men who refuse the love of God’s truth and instead choose what is causing them and their followers to perish. We are told they and their ideas are what hold God’s people down [from “Arising” to meet Him when He comes as the light], and will hold them down [in the darkness] until they are taken out of the way.
2 Corinthians 3
12 Seeing then that we have such hope [of God glory in us], we use great plainness of speech:
13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end [God’s glory in man] of that which is abolished [the veil]:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ [the anointing sent to us and which is then in us when we receive it].
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart [their reasoning mind].
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the LORD [see Him in those preaching this His true gospel], the vail shall be taken away.
17 Now the LORD is that Spirit [who comes to us and is then in us]: and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD, are changed into the same image from [seeing His] glory to [it producing our] glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.
2 Corinthians 4
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. [His gospel reproduces in His image, not in the image of the preacher.]
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the LORD; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face [presence] of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
Here following is the deep that has become hidden by the slothful lacking curiosity, who have neglected their call and become ignorant, who “have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.”
The “standard” mentioned in Isaiah 59:19 above, which the Spirit of the LORD lifts up, is from (actually written in the original text) the Hebrew word nacac, meaning to gleam, as in to become conspicuous as a signal. (It is the sign the LORD speaks of in Matthew 24:27 and 30, as the light {understanding} seen in heaven, after verse 29 tell us all the lights there are darkened {become without understanding}.)
For some reason the translators incorrectly identified this “standard” as from the word nuwc, which means to flee away, and could therefore possibly be referring to the false lights fleeing away into darkness, so the light of the Spirit of the LORD becomes conspicuous. Nacac seems to better fit the context by its meaning in its only other appearance in the word of God. It is the “ensign” in Zechariah 9:16, which tells of God’s elect (you) as the Jewels in his crown, lifted as lights conspicuously shining as a signal of His presence (glory). This is what Isaiah 60: 1 & 2 are describing: when His elect become the Jewels He has made up (see Malachi 3:17 below), and as the LORD says in Job 38:7, “When the mourning stars sang together, and all the sons [children] of God shouted for joy.”
Here is the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary definition: Strong’s #5264: nacac (pronounced naw-sas’) a primitive root; to gleam from afar, i.e. to be conspicuous as a signal; or rather perhaps a denominative from 5251 (and identical with 5263, through the idea of a flag as fluttering in the wind); to raise a beacon:–lift up as an ensign.
Zechariah 9
3 And Tyrus [the false rock] did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets [which clouded the waters, God’s word, and blinded her from seeing His way].
4 Behold, the LORD will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea [by the masses]; and she shall be devoured with fire.
5 Ashkelon [those tried in the fires] shall see it, and fear; Gaza [the powerful – the mighty men of the age] also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron [as Saul shall be replaced]; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza [as did Saul, they shall lose their power], and Ashkelon [the place of this trial – confusion] shall not be inhabited.
6 And the illegitimate children shall dwell in Ashdod [without power], and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines [those who by choice remain in their own mire they have stirred].
7 And I will take away his blood [the words that drain life] out of his mouth, and his abominations [idols – ideas created by men] from between his teeth [as when David fought the lion and the bear]: but he that remains [comes through this purification], even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite [will be as those cast out of Jebus so God’s people could enter and it could become Jerusalem – taught and founded on God’s ways of peace].
8 And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passes by, and because of him that returns: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King comes unto you: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon a donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey [those released from those who have ruled over them with oppression – referring to Genesis 49:7 thru 12, and 22 thru 26]
10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, by the blood of your covenant I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
12 Turn you to the strong hold, you prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto you;
13 When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim [referring to Genesis 49:24 and the bowman who shoots the longshot arrow, as a stone slung by David], and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece [the mired and intoxicated], and made you as the sword of a mighty man.
14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the LORD God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.
15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones [as David]; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar.
16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones [Jewels] of a crown, lifted up as an ensign [nacac] upon his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! [the feast He has provided] corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.
Malachi 3
1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom you seek, shall suddenly [the sudden event discussed in the prior post – when God’s people speak up – see Isaiah 29:5 & 6, when the LORD visits and His people make a great noise] come to his temple [to dwell in His people], even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: behold, he shall come, says the LORD of hosts.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers [those using their words to manipulate and control others], and against the adulterers [those who have left God and joined with idols – the ideas of the corrupted age], and against false swearers [dissemblers], and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages [who steal by taxation – toward a communist end], the widow, and the fatherless [those who have no man to protect and provide for them – in need of true religion], and that turn aside the stranger from his right [those who apply the law unjustly – with respect to the person], and fear not me [and fear not that the LORD is the avenger of these injustices], says the LORD of hosts.
6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 Even from the days of your fathers you are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, says the LORD of hosts. But you said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, says the LORD of hosts.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightsome land, says the LORD of hosts.
13 Your words have been stout against me, says the LORD. Yet you say, What have we spoken so much against you?
14 You have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they that feared the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17 And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my Jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him.
18 Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not.
Malachi 4
1 For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the LORD of hosts.
4 Remember you the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
When asked for a sign, the LORD said the only sign that would be given is the sign of the prophet Jonah, meaning his telling of the moment as God defines it through him. What has been lost in these words of Matthew 12 is that what follows is speaking of the sign, as coinciding with what Jonah says in Jonah 2, which end with him doing what is describe in ending Matthew 12.
Matthews 12
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah:
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth [in Sheol as was Jonah – see Jonah 2:2 below].
41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places [see Isaiah 59:18 above], seeking rest, and finds none.
44 Then he says, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished.
45 Then goes he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation [who are among the dead in Sheol].
46 While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.
47 Then one said unto him, Behold, your mother and your brethren stand without, desiring to speak with you.
48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father [as did Jonah – see Jonah 2:9] which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
Jonah 2
1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,
2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of Sheol cried I, and you heard my voice.
3 For you had cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all your billows and your waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, I am cast out of your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.
5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet have you brought up my life from corruption [out of the house mentioned in Matthew 12:45], O LORD my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto you, into your holy temple.
8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice unto you with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
10 And the LORD spoke unto the fish [the confusion that was agitating the sea – the masses], and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land [see Isaiah 59:19 and Matthew 12:43 thru 45, which tell of where we are sent in the name {as the presence} of the LORD, with His call to repentance, purification, and glory].
Psalms 97
1 The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.
2 Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
3 A fire goes before him, and burns up his enemies round about.
4 His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.
5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the LORD of the whole earth.
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.
7 Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all you gods [mighty men of the earth].
8 Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of your judgments, O LORD.
9 For you, LORD, are high above all the earth: you are exalted far above all gods.
10 You that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserves the souls of his saints; he delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
Isaiah 60
1 Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.
2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon you, and his glory shall be seen upon you.
3 And the Gentiles [those who don’t know the LORD our God] shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to you: your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side.
5 Then you shall see, and flow together, and your heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto you, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto you.
6 The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian [those in strife] and Ephah [those in gloom]; all they from Sheba [those in the house of the seven wicked spirits – see Matthew 12:45] shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD.
7 All the flocks of Kedar [in darkness – those who are held down in confusion] shall be gathered together unto you, the rams of Nebaioth [the leaders the LORD raises on high] shall minister unto you: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.
8 Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish [those who {as Jonah} have fled from the LORD’s commandments and will] first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister unto you: for in my wrath I smote you, but in my favour have I had mercy on you.
11 Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto you the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
13 The glory of Lebanon [purity seen in the high places] shall come unto you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together [His upright leaders as His trees planted by these rivers of living water], to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
14 The sons also of them that afflicted you shall come bending unto you; and all they that despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you; The city of the LORD [see Hebrews 12:22 – this is heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God], The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
16 You shall also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shall suck the breast of kings: and you shall know that I the LORD am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
17 For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make your officers peace, and your exactors righteousness.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land, wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
19 The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto you: but the LORD shall be unto you an everlasting light [understanding], and your God your glory.
20 Your sun shall no more go down; neither shall your moon withdraw itself [these lights are speaking of church and state governments never again falling into darkness]: for the LORD shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.
21 Your people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.
