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Theme Introduction

Shine

Nations will come

Wealth of Nations

City of the Lord

During the interim, January 2004, the Calvin College Community studied Isaiah 60 and centered its worship around themes from that chapter. This culminated in a Re-Gathering Convocation for the spring semester on Tuesday, February 3, at 9:50 am in the Calvin Fieldhouse. Richard Mouw was our guest speaker. For photos and the service order, follow this link: Re-Gathering 2004

The office of the Coordinator of Worship prepared this booklet, "Arise, Shine!" for use in our study of Isaiah 60 and Richard Mouw's book, When the Kings Come Marching In.
Printed copies of Arise, Shine! are available at the Calvin College Chapel.
Copies of Richard Mouw's book When the Kings Come Marching In are available at the Calvin College Bookstore for the discounted rate of $10.

Arise, Shine!
An Isaiah 60 Resource

Introduction

The book of Isaiah, perhaps the best-loved of all the prophetic books of the Bible, is sometimes referred to as the gospel of Isaiah because of its rich Messianic prophecies. It contains powerful and poetic depictions of both God’s judgment and comfort. This book is important to biblical scholars and Bible readers alike, and one of the keynote passages of the book is Isaiah 60, the prophecy of the New Jerusalem.

This booklet, a product of the Chapel Office of Calvin College, came about as a guide to accompany Richard Mouw’s study of Isaiah 60, When the Kings Come Marching In. It is our hope that this resource will be useful in a variety of contexts. It is divided topically, approximately corresponding to the chapters of Mouw’s book. This was done to enable use alongside When the Kings Come Marching In or on its own. The topical sections contain resources useful for individual worship and devotions, corporate worship, individual study, or group study of the text. To make it easier to use in worship, the beginning of each section has a simple order for worship. This is a suggested service; please feel free to substitute and add other songs or texts into it.

While we have broad and diverse goals in mind for this resource, our dream is that it will foster a community-wide conversation that takes place in chapel, classrooms, residence halls, Bible studies, Johnny’s, apartments, departments, in cathedrals or on beaches for off-campus interim groups, and elsewhere. In the spirit of promoting discussion and as a starting point for diving in, we offer this poem by Calvin’s own Professor Otto H. Selles:

4 "Lift up your eyes and look about you:
All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters are carried on the arm.
5 Then you will look and be radiant,
your heart will throb and swell with joy;
the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,
to you the riches of the nations will come.
6 Herds of camels will cover your land,
young camels of Midian and Ephah.
And all from Sheba will come,
bearing gold and incense
and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.
7 All Kedar's flocks will be gathered to you,
the rams of Nebaioth will serve you;
they will be accepted as offerings on my altar,
and I will adorn my glorious temple.

8 "Who are these that fly along like clouds,
like doves to their nests?
9 Surely the islands look to me;
in the lead are the ships of Tarshish,
bringing your sons from afar,
with their silver and gold,
to the honor of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.

10 "Foreigners will rebuild your walls,
and their kings will serve you.
Though in anger I struck you,
in favor I will show you compassion.
11 Your gates will always stand open,
they will never be shut, day or night,
so that men may bring you the wealth
of the nations-
their kings led in triumphal procession.

12 For the nation or kingdom that will not
serve you will perish;
it will be utterly ruined.

13 "The glory of Lebanon will come to you,
the pine, the fir and the cypress together,
to adorn the place of my sanctuary;
and I will glorify the place of my feet.
14 The sons of your oppressors will come
bowing before you;
all who despise you will bow down at your feet
and will call you the City of the LORD,
Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

15 "Although you have been forsaken and hated,
with no one traveling through,
I will make you the everlasting pride
and the joy of all generations.
16 You will drink the milk of nations
and be nursed at royal breasts.
Then you will know that I, the LORD,
am your Savior,
your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring you gold,
and silver in place of iron.
Instead of wood I will bring you bronze,
and iron in place of stones.
I will make peace your governor
and righteousness your ruler.
18 No longer will violence be heard in your land,
nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
19 The sun will no more be your light by day,
nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
20 Your sun will never set again,
and your moon will wane no more;
the LORD will be your everlasting light,
and your days of sorrow will end.
21 Then will all your people be righteous
and they will possess the land forever.
They are the shoot I have planted,
the work of my hands,
for the display of my splendor.
22 The least of you will become a thousand,
the smallest a mighty nation.
I am the LORD;
in its time I will do this swiftly."


Background for the book of Isaiah

To best understand the book of Isaiah it is necessary to know some of the context out of which it was written and some of the major issues that have surrounded its interpretation. The question of authorship is one that is particularly debated. Some scholars understand Isaiah to be the product of two or three authors, citing an apparent change in tone at chapter 40 from a focus on God’s righteous wrath and his actions in history to a focus on his comfort and mercy and his actions in the future. Additionally, Isaiah refers by name to Cyrus of Persia, a figure who did not rule until 150 years after the time of Isaiah, son of Amoz.

On the other hand, scholars who maintain single authorship point to a prophetic vision as the source of the 8th century B.C.E. Isaiah’s knowledge of specific future events. They also point to the stylistic unity of the book as a whole. For example, the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” occurs 26 times in Isaiah (12 times in chapters 1-39 and 14 times in chapters 40-66) and only 4 times in the rest of the Old Testament.1

If the theory of multiple authors is correct, then the passage we are focusing on, chapter 60, was written while Israel and Judah were in exile or even after the return of the remnant. But if the theory is correct that Isaiah, son of Amoz, wrote the entire book, then the writing of Isaiah 60 would have happened sometime after the exile of Israel, but before the exile of Judah. While this is an oversimplification of the argument, what is clear is that this was a book written for a people acquainted with exile, a people sorely in need of hope for their future.

A second interpretive issue which must be taken into consideration is the question of genre. When reading the Bible, we must always ask ourselves: how was this particular style of writing meant to be understood? Since biblical prophecy was used to communicate the very thoughts of God, the prophets often relied on poetic imagery, gripping metaphors and dramatic settings to get their point across. Isaiah especially was a master of words and expressions and possessed a profound poetic imagination. Therefore, one must always be cautious about reading prophetic literature in too literal of a way. Where the author has chosen to use symbolism, it must be allowed to be symbolic. Where the author has spoken in a literalistic and direct way, let us allow that to be spoken literally and directly to us as well.

1 Herbert Wolf. Interpreting Isaiah: The Suffering and Glory of the Messiah. (Grand Rapids: Academie Books, 1985), p. 34.