For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; and those nations shall be utterly wasted.
Isaiah 60 pictures Jerusalem lit up by the glory of the Lord. The nations and their kings stream toward her with gifts. Verse 12 gives that scene its hard edge: refusing to serve means ruin. So who is the "you" that the nations must serve? And how does such a threat fit the God who now offers mercy to the world?
The chapter keeps speaking to a "you" who receives kings, wealth and rebuilt walls. Many readers assume that "you" is Christ. One writer answers them pronoun by pronoun:
Take Isaiah 60:3 as an example: "Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising." "Oh, but," says one of my readers, "isn't that Christ's light?" Not at all. Look at the context. It is Israel's light... Foreigners are to build up Zion's walls, not Christ's (v. 10). Zion's gates, not Christ's, are to stay open always, so that the wealth and the kings of the nations may be brought there. It is of Zion, not of Christ, that it is said, "The nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste" (v. 12)... The Gentile is shown coming to her light to be blessed, and finding his blessing in serving her.
Some treat this chapter as already fulfilled in the return from exile under Cyrus. One writer measures that return against the prophecy:
It is true that a small remnant was allowed to return to Jerusalem in the reign of Cyrus, mostly from the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Ezra 10:7-9). But this was in no way a national restoration. Nor was it the full accomplishment of God's purposes. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi all prophesied after this period, and they speak of the time of national blessing as still future... From that return until the birth of our Lord they were never an independent nation. They were always under Gentile power. Nothing in that condition answered to the glowing prediction of the prophet... The object of this partial return seems to have been that Christ might be born among them and be presented to them as the Messiah. He was utterly rejected.
This threat sounds out of step with how God deals with the world today. One writer ties it to God's plan for the coming age:
We read that "the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish." Why should such severe judgment fall? Because of God's plan for the coming thousand-year age. Israel is to be the central nation, gathered round His glorious temple as a nation of priests. The other nations are to be grouped around Israel, expressing through her their submission and devotion to the King of kings. Should a nation in that day defy the Divine plan, they will perish. It will be the age of Divine government. We live at present in the age of grace.
Another writer names the penalties for staying away from Jerusalem:
As for the Gentiles, all people will see the glory of Jehovah. But the nation and kingdom that will not serve Israel shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste (Isaiah 60:12). "Whoever among the families of the earth will not come up ['from year to year'] to Jerusalem to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts — on them there will be no rain." "Jehovah will strike the nations that do not come up to keep the feast of tabernacles." This will be the "punishment [or sin] of all the nations that do not come up" (Zech. 14:16-19).
Much of Isaiah 60 comes back in the last chapters of Revelation. One writer shows where the two pictures part:
Many images used here for the glory of the earthly Jerusalem come back in a more glorious way for the new Jerusalem of Revelation 21-22. But the careful reader will also mark the essential differences. Take this one. The nation and kingdom that will not serve the restored earthly Jerusalem shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste (v. 12). The glorified church, the heavenly Jerusalem, is the opposite. She stays true to her mission of grace even in the day of glory... The tree of life is there, on either side of the river of life. No other tree stands there to threaten death... its leaves are for the healing of the nations (Rev. 22:2).
- Whom to serve: The "you" of this verse is Jerusalem herself, not Christ and not the church. The nations come to her light and find their blessing in serving her.
- When: Nothing in history has matched this yet. The small return under Cyrus left the nation under Gentile power.
- Why: In the coming age Israel stands at the centre, around God's temple. The nations bring their devotion to the King through her.
- Or perish: The penalties are concrete. No rain falls on those who stay away from Jerusalem, and God strikes the nations that skip the feast of tabernacles.
- Grace instead: The heavenly Jerusalem shares this chapter's imagery but not its threat. There the leaves of the tree of life heal the nations.
The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the cypress, pine, and box-tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
In this verse Lebanon's finest timber comes to Jerusalem for one purpose: to make God's sanctuary beautiful. It raises three questions — when will this happen, who brings the wood, and why does God call a place on earth "the place of my feet"?
The chapter follows a long section on Israel's failure. What comes next is the bright reverse side, and one commentator notes whose story it is.
Earlier we had Israel's failure and guilt — their idolatry and their rejection of the Messiah — traced down to the last days, when they receive "the king" as well as idols. Now we do not have a pledge or promise of covenanted blessing under the Redeemer King. We have the scene itself: joy and blessing and honour for Zion, when the hour comes for His glory to be shown here below. The church is not in question here.
Lebanon's cedars already had a history with God's house.
The cedar tree is very tall and grand. When Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, most of the trees used were cedars from Lebanon. They seemed the best fit for the magnificent house he was building as God's dwelling place.
Translators are not even sure which trees the verse names.
We do not know which tree the name teashshur means. The ancient versions translate it 'cedar, fir, poplar,' and so on. It is probably a kind of cedar, called sherbin in the East.
The wood does not travel on its own.
The nations will flock to Zion, to see the King in His beauty. And none of them, we may say, will come before the Lord empty-handed. The tributes of all the lands will beautify the place of God's sanctuary… gold and incense from Sheba, the flock of Kedar, the glory of Lebanon, the wealth of all the nations.
Foreigners bring labour as well as materials. One writer finds the pattern in David's preparations for the first temple.
The king gathers the strangers living in the land of Israel and appoints them to work together at building the future temple… The nations beyond the land of Israel were also called to join in this great work, and they gave themselves to it with zeal and complete good will. It will be the same when the millennial temple is built (Isa. 60:10, 13; Zech. 6:15).
The beauty does not stop with imported timber. One writer places the scene beside the heavenly city of Revelation, and warns that like language does not mean like things.
All nature will join in adorning Jehovah's sanctuary. Those who one day represent the nations that once afflicted Israel will bow low in homage when Zion is lifted high. Many images used here for the glory of the earthly Jerusalem are used in a greater way for the new Jerusalem of Revelation 21-22. But the careful reader will also mark the essential differences.
One difference turns on this very verse.
She was the place of Jehovah's feet. His sanctuary would be set up there, and costly woods brought from far away to make it beautiful. He Himself would be her Sun, her everlasting Light… The comparison with Revelation 21:22 is clear at every point, but in that city there is no temple. It is not the place of God's feet — He is the Temple there, and the Lamb.
Calling a place the footstool of God carries two ideas in Scripture.
It is a symbol of 'the place of rest'. David had it on his heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the 'footstool' of God — a place where God could find rest among His people, and where people would worship Him. It is also a symbol of 'subjection to power': the Lord Jesus must reign until all His enemies are made His footstool.
This is what gives the city its standing, and what a devout heart wants for it.
Jerusalem will get all its importance, not so much from being the chosen city of Messiah's kingdom, as from holding God's dwelling place… So the devout heart will long for the whole city to share in the blessing of God's dwelling, and to be fit for its divine Inhabitant.
- Place. God calls Zion the place of His feet. His footstool means two things: His rest among His people, and everything coming under His rule.
- Glory. His presence is what makes the place glorious. The city's importance comes from His dwelling, not from being a capital.
- Gift. Lebanon's costliest timber built Solomon's temple, and now comes back as tribute — though translators still cannot pin down which trees the verse names.
- Reach. The nations bring the gifts, former oppressors among them. They bring willing labour too, as the strangers did for David.
- Result. All nature joins in adorning the sanctuary. This is Israel's earthly scene; do not merge it with the heavenly city, which has no temple at all.
And the children of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee The city of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 60 describes a day when God's light rises on a ruined city. This verse says what the nations who once crushed it will do then, and it raises two questions: is Zion a real place here, and what makes proud nations bow?
The two names at the end of the verse are titles of honour, and one commentary traces where the name Zion gets its weight and where it points.
In Scripture the term Zion always carries a symbolic sense. It represents sovereign grace stepping in through God's chosen king. Israel was helpless then, and the ark had fallen into the hands of the enemy... In these prophecies of Israel's coming exaltation, Zion means the seat of the Messiah's royal power on earth (Isaiah 52:1-8; Isaiah 60:14; Hebrews 12:22). In Scripture Zion never means the church. It always means blessing on earth, tied above all to Israel, since the final blessing of the nations will come through Israel. Even so, Christians now enter into its spiritual meaning, since they live under the reign of grace here on earth.
The verse names the sons of the oppressors, not the oppressors themselves. One writer says who will stand in their place on that day.
In due time God will make the whole world feel this favour to Jerusalem. First He will punish those who think to gain everything by the overthrow of His people. All nature will join to adorn the sanctuary of Jehovah. And when Zion is lifted high, the people who then stand for the nations that once afflicted Israel will bow to the ground in complete submission.
Another writer asks what moves the nations to bow. He links this verse to the prophecy of ten men taking hold of the robe of a Jew.
While they were captive and scattered among the nations, the Jews have always been a despised, even a hated race. But when the Lord brings them back to Zion... the Jew, blessed once more with the favour of Jehovah, becomes an object of admiration to the Gentiles. They want a share in the blessing they have heard about. The ten men here stand for them, taking hold of the robe of the Jew. So they take a place of submission and pleading, and say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."
Today the message of God spreads to the nations while Israel is set aside. This chapter runs the opposite way, and one commentator marks the difference precisely.
Until now the fall of the Jews has been the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles (Romans 11:12). But here everything is in contrast: the Gentiles receive blessing after Israel is restored to Jehovah's favour. So indeed Romans 11:15 teaches us that their reception will be life from the dead for the world. So when Jehovah's glory is seen on Zion, the nations will come to that light and kings to the brightness of its rising.
So who gets the credit for the city's new glory? One writer makes the answer plain.
In the end, Jerusalem will be acknowledged as "the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel." It will have become what God intended it to be — "majestic forever" and "a joy." But again the basis for this is made very plain. All will see that it is not something produced by Israel, but rather by the One who is their Saviour and Redeemer. Jacob, the schemer, and his descendants have nothing to boast in. The Mighty One of Jacob alone has done it, on the basis of redemption.
Why does the honour go this far? One writer answers, then asks whether the church can expect the same.
No doubt the fierce oppressors of God's people in former days will have a place of privilege and blessing during Christ's reign. But the King Himself was once scorned and treated as nothing by the nations who oppressed His people. So it fits His glory that His people should receive the highest honours in front of their former enemies. And will it not be the same for the faithful Church, when those of the synagogue of Satan come to bow down at her feet and acknowledge that Jesus has loved her?
- Zion, the place. These names belong to a real city on earth, the seat of Messiah's royal power. In Scripture Zion never stands for the church.
- Zion, the gift. The honour is not earned. Her Saviour and Redeemer alone produces it, on the basis of redemption. Jacob's descendants have nothing to boast in.
- Zion, the magnet. Those who bow stand for the nations that afflicted and despised her. Some read their bowing as complete submission, others as pleading for a share in the blessing.
- Zion, then the nations. Today Israel's fall enriches the world. Here the order flips: the nations receive blessing only after God restores Israel to His favour.
- Zion, the pattern. One writer asks whether the faithful church will see the same: her enemies bowing at her feet, admitting that Jesus loved her.