S. Lewis Johnson on Isaiah 60: The Future Glory of Israel

I’m nearing the end of S. Lewis Johnson’s Isaiah series, originally delivered in 1968 and 1969.  One interesting thing from these audio files is a very early mention of Arnold Fruchtenbaum.  He was then in his mid-twenties, a student at Dallas Theological Seminary, and Johnson mentioned this student a few times –as one of the Jewish remnant in our day — and Fruchtenbaum’s experiences during the 6 day war in 1967.

Isaiah 60 is headed, in the ESV translation, “The Future Glory of Israel,” a very fitting description.  In considering this passage I looked up Isaiah 60 in other Bible translations, and quickly discovered an example of the very thing that J.C. Ryle preached against:

In reading the authorized version of the English Bible, do not put too much confidence in the “headings” of pages and “tables of contents” at the beginning of chapters, which I take leave to consider a most unhappy accompaniment of that admirable translation. Remember that those headings and tables of contents were drawn up by uninspired hands. In reading the Prophets, they are sometimes not helps, but hindrances and less likely to assist a reader than to lead him astray.

— for the King James Bible actually titles this section of scripture as “The glory of the church in the abundant access of the Gentiles.”  Other modern translations give a somewhat ambiguous heading with the word “Zion” instead of “Israel” or “Church” — as in, “The Glory of Zion” (NIV), “A Glorified Zion” (NASB) and “The Gentiles Bless Zion” (NKJV).

Now to some highlights from SLJ’s  Isaiah series.  Isaiah 60 features the following five movements:

1.  Jerusalem Glorified by the Coming Glory of Jehovah:  Isaiah 60:1-3

• Here SLJ speculates that perhaps the “thick darkness” is a reference to the Great tribulation judgments described in Revelation

2.  Jerusalem Glorified by the Coming of Citizens and Gentile Wealth:  Isaiah 60:4-9

• Other Scriptural references for this section include Matthew 24:27 and Haggai 2:6-7 (quoted also in Hebrews 12), concerning the time when the Kingdom is to be received

• Again we note that, even in the future, Israel and the Gentiles are distinguished

3.  Jerusalem Glorified by the Service of the Gentiles:  Isaiah 60:10-14

4.  Jerusalem Glorified by Prosperity and Stability:  Isaiah 60:15-18
5.  Jerusalem Glorified by the Presence of the Holy God Among His Righteous People:  Isaiah 60:19-22

• The words in these verses are similar to Revelation 21-22