The Glory of God in Zion
Isaiah 60:1-7
Bishops Waltham 22.03. 15
I would like to revisit this passage in Isa because I believe it has great significance to believers
across the world today. It clearly has relevance and application to our lives and was given to
promote faith, expectation and prayer for many would call revival or visitation – God visiting his
church with awesome power, astounding holiness, miraculous signs, revealing his unconditional
love, tender mercy and amazing grace. Just to recap briefly, said passage is:
1. Prophetic
This was penned by Isaiah, the Prince of Prophets in the OT, who’s résumé is impressive. His
track record of accuracy is impeccable. There are scores of prophecies that he gave that were
fulfilled in history: Nations like Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, Moab, Cush, ‘the nations’, Israel, Judah;
Cities like Damascus, Jerusalem, Tyre;
People like Sennacherib, Hezekiah, John the Baptist and most of all Jesus. Events of his life and
specifics of his death. His utterances are as trustworthy of any prophet in the OT and these final
chapters of his book speak much of the end-times, the last days, the terminal generation, which is
why many people view chapters 60-66 not just a collection of prophecies but as an intercessors
handbook, given by God to reveal his will which is to be released through the prayers of God’s
people. I think there is some mileage in this view.
2. Awesome
Last week we described the contents of verse 1: Your light has come 2. The glory of the Lord rises
upon you. These two expressions are synonymous terms. They refer to the same thing.
Light refers to revelation – the unveiling of things that were formally hidden – with Jesus 9:2/Mt
4:16 the revelation was great! What God was like, How much he valued people like us, what he
wanted to do for us, how he wanted to be involved with us, the spirit world, angels and demons,
the future life, heaven & hell. Jesus was a manifestation of the Father and was carrying an
anointing to communicate the deepest truths about God, what he wants for and from the lives of
people like us.
No wonder Heb 1:1-3 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many
times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, …The Son is the
radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being,
The glory of God. Psalm 19:1 says, “the heavens declare the glory of God.” This means God’s
majesty, his power, his splendour and his awesome beauty can be seen in the heavens above
which John Piper defines as, “the infinite beauty and greatness of his manifold perfections.” I said
it is the summation of all the infinite virtues of God somehow revealed and made manifest. It’s
awesome! It’s on a scale that is overwhelming! It’s his loving kindness, his tender mercies, his
unconditional love, his consummate perfection and his awesome holiness. When God reveals his
glory men are awestruck and cannot stand in his presence. We might call it “God-consciousness.”
Becoming suddenly aware of God’s presence, His power and his holiness.
Hebrides revival
Two elderly sisters in their cottage near Barvas on the Isle of Lewis, Hebrides, prayed constantly for revival. God
showed one of them in a dream that it was coming and was near. They asked the minister to call the church leaders to
prayer. Three nights a week the leaders prayed together for months. One night, having begun to pray at 10 p.m., a
young deacon read Psalm 24:3-4 and challenged everyone to be clean before God. As they waited on God his
awesome presence swept over them in the barn at 4 a.m.
The minister invited Duncan Campbell to come and lead meeting’s. Initially he refused but God intervened and within
10 days he was on the island of Lewis. On his arrival the weary preacher was invited to join an all night prayer
meeting! Thirty people gathered for prayer in a nearby cottage.
Duncan Campbell described it:
“God was beginning to move, the heavens were opening, we were there on our faces before God.
Three o’clock in the morning came, and GOD SWEPT IN. About a dozen men and women lay prostrate on the floor,
speechless. Something had happened; we knew that the forces of darkness were going to be driven back, and men
were going to be delivered.
We left the cottage at 3 am to discover men and women seeking God. I walked along a country road, and found three
men on their faces, crying to God for mercy. There was a light in every home, no one seemed to think of sleep.”
When Duncan and his friends arrived at the church later that morning it was already crowded. People had gathered
from all over the island, some coming in buses and vans. No one discovered who told them to come. God led them.
Large numbers were converted as God’s Spirit convicted multitudes of sin, many lying prostrate, many weeping. After
that amazing day in the church, Duncan pronounced the benediction, but then a young man began to pray aloud. He
prayed for 45 minutes. Again the church filled with people repenting and the service continued till 4 am the next
morning before Duncan could pronounce the benediction again.
Even then he was unable to go home to bed. As he was leaving the church a messenger told him, “Mr. Campbell,
people are gathered at the police station, from the other end of the parish; they are in great spiritual distress.
Campbell went and what a sight met him. Under the still starlit sky he found men and women on the road, others by
the side of a cottage, and some behind a peat stack — all crying to God for mercy. The revival had come. Duncan
Campbell states:
“That went on for five weeks with services from early morning until late at night — or into the early hours of the
morning. Then it spread to the neighbouring parishes. What had happened in Barvas was repeated over and over
again. His sacred presence was everywhere.” 1953
3. It is for us
No need to underscore this point today except to remind you that this verse is only quoted once
elsewhere in the Bible – By Paul writing to the Ephesians, 5:14. Here Paul is writing to a Gentile
church which had been birthed in the midst of revival Acts 19 and Paul was making a plea for
them to flee impurity and immorality, ungodliness… be very careful how you live! Don’t be
persuaded to go back to that old life when this one is available! Wake up!
4. It is unprecedented
There are very few people in the Pentecostal/charismatic church in the west today who have not
experienced something of a visitation of God. I already recounted Elizabeth’s and my experience
in Malta, how we began to seek the Lord with prayer and fasting - How God met with me and two
others in the daytime when we had designated an evening meeting to pray for the HS to come.
About 3-4 times during the afternoon, for 30-40 minutes at a time God came into the room where
we were and pinned us to the ground. We experienced power going through our bodies like waves
of electricity, buzzing through our limbs as if we were plugged into the mains. I had already been
filled with the Holy Spirit and received the gift of tongues but this was altogether new to me. At
times I was paralyzed, at other times I shook and lots of the time, we all laughed uncontrollably.
That night the small church met, about 25 people present and it happened again – this time with
more people. Then for 9 months to a year we hardly had a meeting when people were not
engaged by the HS, speaking with tongues, gifts of spirit, falling to the floor or gracefully sliding off
their seats. People got saved and transformed, BITS, gifts and revelations, and we saw just a few
healings - God was there! T
The Brethren couple – Supporters - No HS, recvd at conversion – mid-week meeting
Elim Pentecostal church, Kings BW, We saw our greatest times of advance during this time –
because God came!
I know many of you have read about such events and one or two have visited hot-spots of
visitation like Brownsville, USA, Pensacola, Wimber meetings, even some Stoneleigh meetings
saw a measure of visitation. But I believe all these blessed times are just ‘times of refreshing from
the presence of the Lord’ (Acts 3:1). But Isa 60 refers to a much greater outpouring of the HS than
any of us have experienced to date, or has yet happened in history
Derek Prince prophecy
'In 1962 my wife and I returned from missionary activity in East Africa to our home in Denmark. I was free from
meetings for a little while, and used to take walks on the top of a cliff overlooking the sea. During one of these walks,
the Lord challenged me. He spoke to me very clearly about the things in which I might feel some sort of satisfaction or
security. He said "You've been a missionary in two countries; you are the member of a denomination; you have a
pension scheme; you are the principal of a college." And then He said "Are you satisfied or do you want to go
further?" …"No, Lord, I am not satisfied, and if there is anything further I want to go further."
About a year later, God spoke to them through a tongue & interpretation: "I will set you on an eminent place and I will
show you what is going on in all the earth."
By October 1964 I had forgotten about the prophecy and was back in Denmark at the same cliff top overlooking the
same stretch of sea when God showed me what was going on in all the earth. The "eminent place" was the top of the
cliff, and God showed me there that the history of the Church was like the behaviour of the sea. The early Church
was the high tide, but then the tide went out. The waves still came in, but they never came as high as the early waves
of the Church, and gradually the waves lost more and more of that which they had covered and controlled until the
"Dark Ages" - which was low tide.
Then the tide turned and started to come in and the waves began coming higher than before, with each wave
recovering a little more of the territory that had been lost to the Church. God showed me there are some small waves
and there are some great ones, and he gave me a brief outline of segments of church history - Luther, Wesley,
Finney, the Welsh revival, and so on. Then he brought me up to the present time and spoke to me about the
Pentecostal movement. He showed me that when each wave has reached its climax it checks and then recedes; the
same wave never comes back again. God never revives a revival, He never gives us anything warmed over.
The Pentecostal movement had been one of the great waves. It had recovered truth not recovered by previous
waves, and had made an impact all around the earth. But it had reached its climax and was receding.
The same wave never comes back again, but some of the water that was in the previous wave comes back in the next
one". There's a new wave coming; it will not be the Pentecostal movement, it will be different. It will come higher
even than the Pentecostal movement; it will recover truth which Pentecostals as a whole did not recover. It will be the
greatest wave, and it will be the last wave.'
It will be an unprecedented wave! This is what this passage is about - Something bigger is coming!
God is going to deluge the church with his glory!
5. The time will be apparent and obvious v2
Verse two - See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness over the peoples.
In tandem with this outbreak of God’s presence and power Isaiah sees something else. And I
believe that although he mentions this issue very briefly, unlike other places in the Bible (like
Matthew 24 and Revelation which list innumerable and specific international events) he includes
this brief mention to indicate the time when we can expect to happen. Jesus spoke about the signs
of the times in Matthew 16:3. Signs are given to make us aware of the time, to prepare us before
the time and to call us to prayer. Let’s see what Isaiah is referring to.
The word “see” refers to the observable and measurable nature of this darkness. It is something
that will be clearly identifiable, conspicuous. It will not be hidden from anyone. It will be easily
recognised by God’s people as a fulfilment of this prophetic word.
It will be universal. It covers “the earth” and involves “the peoples.” There are international
consequences. No nation is excluded.
It is described as “darkness” and worse, “thick darkness.” Darkness in Scripture is often ignorance,
spiritual ignorance which results in idolatry and false religions. At other times darkness is seen as
bondage or enslavement to spiritual powers. Again “darkness” can refer to moral darkness, when
vices have a higher value than virtues, when sinfulness is preferred to sinlessness.
The question: is this what we are seeing in the world today?
I don’t want to give any more exposure to this than Isa, but there are facts we cannot ignore.
1. The place of Christianity in West - rise of new-age, national attitude against Christianity.
2. The radical restatement of morality - marriage, homosexuality, lesbianism, int. porn ¼ hits!
3. The unprecedented exposure of paedophiles, corruption, deception and dishonesty - not
generally – but in high places, amongst people of influence and power. The very fabric of society
4. The rapid rise of militant Islam. Taliban, Al Qaeda now ISIS. Jihadism is the fastest growing
force for revolution and murder in the world today. World domination is what they want, and
nothing will be allowed to stop them, if they have their way.
5. The global financial crisis – Europe owes €10.2 trillion! UK €117,580 per person – highest debt
pp in world!
6. The looming nuclear threat – Russia has the most nuclear warheads: 8,000. US:7300; France:
300; China:250; UK 225; Israel: 80; India and Pakistan around 100 each, N. Korea:6-8; new boys
on the block, Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes but world powers fear it
has military ambitions.
It’s in the midst of all this God with will reveal his glory to his people! As the world gets darker and
darker the church will get brighter and brighter. This is our day! Our golden hour!
6. It will be evangelistic v3-5
I’m not going to go through these verses in detail – but let’s look at them generally. The prophet is
filled with joy and amazement saying, ‘Hey, lift up your eyes. Take a look at this sight! People are
coming from every which way. There are all sorts, from the islands of the sea, from near and far.
There will be sons and daughters – like prodigals – having once walked with God, now returning.
They will come with gifts and abilities to adorn the temple of God 1 Cor 6:19 to build her up and
restore her glory!
There will be loved ones – those that you have witnessed to, loved and prayed for. Suddenly their
eyes will be opened and they will come and say, “Teach us the ways of the Lord” Is 2. They will be
hungry for God. Family members, workmates, colleagues and associates – they will stream to
Jesus Christ and feel his love, his forgiveness and his new life. The downtrodden, the depressed,
the marginalised, the bruised and hurting – they will stream into the House of God and find
freedom and deliverance and new life in Christ!
V5 You will look and be radiant, you heart will throb and swell with joy!! You will be bursting with
appreciation, thanksgiving and praise at what is clearly God’s hand at work!
Successive waves and one last great wave that will be bigger than all – then the end will come.
This is Isaiah’s word – it is true! Let’s get ready for it. Let’s pray. Let’s begin telling people – for the
end will soon be here, time will be no more, and the opportunity will be past!
6. It requires preparation
That’s why this passage is here! This is what prophecy is for. Isa 59:19-20. God will come like a
pent-up flood – it creates images of the crashing of a sea wall under the incessant barrage of
violent waves, or the sudden bursting of a dam as the weight of water rises to such a level that the
dam can no longer contain it. It speaks of suddenness, and power, driven along by the breath or
wind of God.
I believe it’s raging now. God is gathering his waters and what will cause it to burst the dam? Isa
59:20 "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," declares the
Lord.
Isn’t that the touch paper that had to be lit in every revival – biblical or historical? Isn’t that what
happened in the Hebrides revival, Moravian revival, NT Revival. This visitation?
What does this call us to do? What does God want of us?