'Arise! Shine, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you. 2 Though darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds, the peoples, Upon you the Lord will dawn, and over you his glory will be seen. 3 Nations shall walk by your light, kings by the radiance of your dawning. 4 Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you— Your sons from afar, your daughters in the arms of their nurses. 5 Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall throb and overflow. For the riches of the sea shall be poured out before you, the wealth of nations shall come to you. 6 Caravans of camels shall cover you, dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and heralding the praises of the Lord.'
The prophet Isaiah gave a vision of hope. This vision could be applied to the birth of Jesus Christ who came to free those who believe in him from slavery to sin. Verse 1 could be a foretelling of the Messiah. In Verse 2, God will share his magnificent and powerful Glory which will be seen by all. That could be similar to the glory of God when Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive the commandments from God (Ex. 24:12-18). God’s power and glory were also shown through His Son Jesus Christ by the many miracles and wonders he did during his public ministry. As Jerusalem will be made glorious, so too all who accept Jesus will be made glorious. God’s glory will be attractive to not only the Jews but to foreign nations. The sons and daughters of Jerusalem will come to her from the four corners of the earth because of God’s glory, and the people’s hearts will swell and rejoice, and other nations will bring gifts (cf. Lk. 2:32). Among the gifts will be gold and frankincense similar to the gifts the Magi brought for the Christ child to acknowledge him as the Messiah (Mt. 2:11). In Isaiah, Jerusalem was the central place for gathering together all of God’s people under the Old Covenant. Jerusalem was the central place where the Messiah was crucified to gather all of God’s people together, both Jews and Gentiles, under the New Covenant.
Almighty God, it is with indescribable gratitude that we bow before your only begotten Son who came into the world to set us free from the yoke of sin. Grant, we pray, that we will open our hearts so that they will overflow with the glory you so gratuitously bestow upon us. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Comments