What the Light of Glory Reveals
From Isaiah 2:5
O house of Jacob, come and let us walk
In the light of the Lord.
6
For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled with eastern ways;
They are soothsayers like the Philistines,
And they [b]are pleased with the children of foreigners.
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders," suggests Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. "Instead," he contrasts, "teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
Prophetically, the second chapter of Isaiah takes a similar approach. After a largely negative, justly confrontational first chapter, the opening of Isaiah 2 is visionary and inspiring. Wherever the ultimate fulfillment of its picture of eager, contagious fellowship of the nations at the throne of God lies on the eschatological timeline, the glimpse gives Isaiah's audience something to yearn for. This rapturous motivation bigger than ourselves and our present draws us toward the light of God's glory which will one day be fully revealed.
Now that he has reveled in the light of God's glory, Isaiah follows those beams where they may lead. In verse five, he issues a conjoined invitation and challenge that we do the same. Light and worship? Still present. Community? Still evident, as Isaiah disciples, let "us" walk in the light of the Lord. Even if, Gentile believers, we aren't genetically part of the house of Jacob, God's Word says we have been grafted in. We will readily claim that in reference to God's eternal promises, but perhaps we join in a little warily with Isaiah 2:5 because we know ourselves well enough to begin to realize what walking in the light of the Lord with Isaiah and with other fellow covenant believers might reveal in the dark corners of our lives.
Nevertheless, we persevere into the uncertain territory of our own verse six because we yearn for the sea, because, under inspiration, Isaiah has reminded us what we move toward. This dominates our mind's eye and heart's desire more than anything we must move against.
Of course, any sense of foreboding we had is well-founded, even if we hadn't read ahead to verse six or its equivalent elsewhere in the Bible. A glance at the true north of God's perfect glory reminds us that we are off course, and Isaiah is explicit. With the house of Jacob, we have reveled in epiphanies before. We have savored words like those which began the prophecy's second chapter. We have heard powerful sermons. We have interwoven sweet praise choruses with the language of our hearts. We have been in fellowship with brothers and sisters of biblical covenant as close to us as any physical brothers or sisters. We have been drawn in by God's grace in these many ways, and, we have fallen away.
We have, as the digression of Isaiah 2:6 continues, found the common culture around us more compelling. Isaiah needs offer now more distinct rationale than location, location, location, and that implied. Because it is eastern, or Philistine, or exotic and foreign, the wayward house of Jacob was drawn away to it. Besieged long enough by the combination of that which is different from what we have heretofore believed and that which now seems to offer itself at every turn, but for the grace of God, we will also fall away.
We will, much to our grief, give our hearts to ways of thinking that are unbiblical simply because they are different. Once satisfied in God, we fill up instead on alternatives. The kind of God-centered future Isaiah opened with in his second chapter isn't mysterious enough, doesn't rely enough on our spiritual acumen. We will listen to the soothsayers of the culture instead.
In grace that seems cyclical, we will be drawn back into worship experiences that at once expose our idols, and expose them as inadequate compared to our soul's true needs and God's true Nature. As we spend time in His Word, the promises are sweeter, even as the just rebukes sting more. "The Holy Spirit," as offers Jerry Bridges in The Pursuit of Holiness, opens the inner recesses of our heart and enables us to see the moral cesspools hidden there." God's same persistent glory which shames imitations offers again to bring light to darkness, health to sin sickness, and satisfaction of our thirst which can be found only in Him.
O house of Jacob, come and let us walk
In the light of the Lord.
6
For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled with eastern ways;
They are soothsayers like the Philistines,
And they [b]are pleased with the children of foreigners.
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders," suggests Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. "Instead," he contrasts, "teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
Prophetically, the second chapter of Isaiah takes a similar approach. After a largely negative, justly confrontational first chapter, the opening of Isaiah 2 is visionary and inspiring. Wherever the ultimate fulfillment of its picture of eager, contagious fellowship of the nations at the throne of God lies on the eschatological timeline, the glimpse gives Isaiah's audience something to yearn for. This rapturous motivation bigger than ourselves and our present draws us toward the light of God's glory which will one day be fully revealed.
Now that he has reveled in the light of God's glory, Isaiah follows those beams where they may lead. In verse five, he issues a conjoined invitation and challenge that we do the same. Light and worship? Still present. Community? Still evident, as Isaiah disciples, let "us" walk in the light of the Lord. Even if, Gentile believers, we aren't genetically part of the house of Jacob, God's Word says we have been grafted in. We will readily claim that in reference to God's eternal promises, but perhaps we join in a little warily with Isaiah 2:5 because we know ourselves well enough to begin to realize what walking in the light of the Lord with Isaiah and with other fellow covenant believers might reveal in the dark corners of our lives.
Nevertheless, we persevere into the uncertain territory of our own verse six because we yearn for the sea, because, under inspiration, Isaiah has reminded us what we move toward. This dominates our mind's eye and heart's desire more than anything we must move against.
Of course, any sense of foreboding we had is well-founded, even if we hadn't read ahead to verse six or its equivalent elsewhere in the Bible. A glance at the true north of God's perfect glory reminds us that we are off course, and Isaiah is explicit. With the house of Jacob, we have reveled in epiphanies before. We have savored words like those which began the prophecy's second chapter. We have heard powerful sermons. We have interwoven sweet praise choruses with the language of our hearts. We have been in fellowship with brothers and sisters of biblical covenant as close to us as any physical brothers or sisters. We have been drawn in by God's grace in these many ways, and, we have fallen away.
We have, as the digression of Isaiah 2:6 continues, found the common culture around us more compelling. Isaiah needs offer now more distinct rationale than location, location, location, and that implied. Because it is eastern, or Philistine, or exotic and foreign, the wayward house of Jacob was drawn away to it. Besieged long enough by the combination of that which is different from what we have heretofore believed and that which now seems to offer itself at every turn, but for the grace of God, we will also fall away.
We will, much to our grief, give our hearts to ways of thinking that are unbiblical simply because they are different. Once satisfied in God, we fill up instead on alternatives. The kind of God-centered future Isaiah opened with in his second chapter isn't mysterious enough, doesn't rely enough on our spiritual acumen. We will listen to the soothsayers of the culture instead.
In grace that seems cyclical, we will be drawn back into worship experiences that at once expose our idols, and expose them as inadequate compared to our soul's true needs and God's true Nature. As we spend time in His Word, the promises are sweeter, even as the just rebukes sting more. "The Holy Spirit," as offers Jerry Bridges in The Pursuit of Holiness, opens the inner recesses of our heart and enables us to see the moral cesspools hidden there." God's same persistent glory which shames imitations offers again to bring light to darkness, health to sin sickness, and satisfaction of our thirst which can be found only in Him.
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