Isaiah 60:1
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
Arise
The Hebrew word for "arise" is "קוּם" (qum), which conveys a sense of standing up or being established. In the context of Isaiah, this is a call to action and awakening. Historically, this call would resonate with the Israelites who were in a period of darkness and despair, likely during or after the Babylonian exile. The command to "arise" is not just physical but spiritual, urging the people to awaken to a new reality that God is bringing forth. It is a call to readiness and anticipation of God's deliverance and blessing.

Shine
The Hebrew word "אוֹר" (or) means to be or become light, to illuminate. This is not merely a physical shining but a spiritual radiance that reflects the presence and favor of God. In the biblical context, light often symbolizes purity, truth, and divine revelation. The command to "shine" suggests that the people of God are to reflect His glory and truth to the world, becoming beacons of hope and righteousness in a darkened world.

For your light has come
The phrase "your light has come" indicates the arrival of something transformative and divine. The "light" here is often interpreted as the coming of the Messiah, who is the ultimate light of the world. In the Hebrew context, light is associated with life, joy, and salvation. This phrase assures the people that the long-awaited promise of God's intervention and redemption is now being fulfilled. It is a message of hope and fulfillment, encouraging believers to recognize and embrace the new era of divine presence and guidance.

And the glory of the LORD
The "glory of the LORD" refers to the manifest presence and majesty of God. The Hebrew word for glory, "כָּבוֹד" (kavod), implies weightiness, honor, and splendor. In the Old Testament, God's glory is often associated with His presence in the tabernacle or temple, signifying His holiness and power. This phrase reassures the people that God's presence is not distant but actively rising upon them, bringing transformation and blessing. It is a reminder of God's covenant faithfulness and His desire to dwell among His people.

Rises upon you
The imagery of rising suggests a new dawn or beginning. The Hebrew verb "זָרַח" (zarach) means to rise or shine forth, often used to describe the sun's rising. This conveys the idea of a new day breaking forth, dispelling darkness and bringing warmth and life. In the context of Isaiah, it signifies the renewal and restoration of God's people, as His presence brings about a new era of peace and prosperity. It is an invitation to embrace the new reality that God is establishing, filled with His light and glory.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Isaiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, Isaiah is traditionally credited with writing the Book of Isaiah. His prophecies often focus on the themes of judgment and redemption.

2. Jerusalem
The city is often the focal point of Isaiah's prophecies, symbolizing the people of Israel and their spiritual state. In Isaiah 60, Jerusalem is depicted as a city that will rise and shine with God's glory.

3. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant God of Israel, whose glory is described as rising upon His people, signifying His presence and favor.

4. The Light
Symbolic of God's presence, truth, and salvation. In the context of Isaiah 60, it represents the coming of God's glory and the fulfillment of His promises.

5. The Nations
While not explicitly mentioned in verse 1, the surrounding context of Isaiah 60 speaks of nations coming to the light of God's people, indicating a future time of global recognition of God's glory.
Teaching Points
The Call to Action
"Arise, shine" is an imperative, calling believers to actively reflect God's light in their lives. It is a call to spiritual awakening and readiness.

The Source of Light
The light is not self-generated; it comes from the LORD. Believers are reminded that their ability to shine comes from God's presence and glory in their lives.

The Glory of the LORD
God's glory is transformative. When it rises upon His people, it changes them and their circumstances, bringing hope and restoration.

Impact on the World
As God's people shine with His light, they become a beacon to the nations, drawing others to the truth and salvation found in God.

Living in Expectation
Isaiah 60:1 encourages believers to live with the expectation of God's promises being fulfilled, both in their personal lives and in the world.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does it mean for you personally to "arise and shine" in your current circumstances?

2. How can you ensure that the light you reflect is truly from the LORD and not from your own efforts?

3. In what ways can the church today act as a light to the nations, as described in Isaiah 60?

4. How does the promise of God's glory rising upon His people give you hope in times of darkness?

5. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's transformative glory in your life. How did it impact you and those around you?
Connections to Other Scriptures
John 1:4-5
The light of Christ is described as life and the light of men, which shines in the darkness. This connects to the theme of God's light coming to His people in Isaiah 60:1.

Matthew 5:14-16
Jesus calls His followers the light of the world, encouraging them to let their light shine before others. This echoes the call to "arise, shine" in Isaiah 60:1.

Revelation 21:23-24
The New Jerusalem is described as having no need for the sun or moon because the glory of God illuminates it. This reflects the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.
Sermon for EpiphanySusannah Winkworth Isaiah 60:1
The Blessed DawnW.M. Statham Isaiah 60:1
The Call to Shine If We have LightR. Tuck Isaiah 60:1
The Morning LightJohn Newton Isaiah 60:1
The Sunlit ChurchAlexander MaclarenIsaiah 60:1
An Arousing CallIsaiah 60:1-12
An Imperial MinistryJ. H. Jowett, M. A.Isaiah 60:1-12
Arise, ShineC. G. Scott.Isaiah 60:1-12
Christ Our LightA. Maclaren, D. D.Isaiah 60:1-12
Christ the Light of the WorldJ. B. Sumner, M. A.Isaiah 60:1-12
Isaiah 60Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.Isaiah 60:1-12
Light Breaking on the MountainsA. H. Bradford, D. D.Isaiah 60:1-12
Shining ChristiansIsaiah 60:1-12
Sunrise in the EastIbid.Isaiah 60:1-12
The Church: Her Functions and Her BlessednessA. Smellie, M. A.Isaiah 60:1-12
The Dawning of God's Light and its Awakening CallE. L. Hull, B. A.Isaiah 60:1-12
The Epiphany: Christ ManifestedG. Huntington, M. A.Isaiah 60:1-12
The Everlasting LightA. H. Bradford, D. D.Isaiah 60:1-12
The Glory of Spiritual IsraelJ. A. Alexander.Isaiah 60:1-12
The God-Lit ChurchA. Maclaren, D. D.Isaiah 60:1-12
The Gospel EraHomilistIsaiah 60:1-12
The Privilege and Prerogative of the Christian ChurchJ. S. Spilsbury.Isaiah 60:1-12
The Shining of the Common PlaceLife of FaithIsaiah 60:1-12
The True Light OfHomilistIsaiah 60:1-12
Thy Light is ComeProf. J. Skinner, D,D.Isaiah 60:1-12
The Rebuilding of the TempleE. Johnson Isaiah 60:1-14
The Church TriumphantW. Clarkson Isaiah 60:1-22
People
Ephah, Isaiah, Jacob, Kedar, Nebaioth, Tarshish
Places
City of the Lord, Ephah, Kedar, Lebanon, Midian, Nebaioth, Sheba, Tarshish, Zion
Topics
Arise, Bright, Face, Glory, Honour, Risen, Rises, Shine, Shining
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 60:1

     5534   sleep, spiritual
     8419   enlightenment

Isaiah 60:1-2

     1193   glory, revelation of
     4846   shadow

Isaiah 60:1-3

     4918   dawn
     7511   Gentiles, in OT
     7949   mission, of Israel
     9145   Messianic age

Isaiah 60:1-5

     4811   darkness, symbol of sin
     4836   light, and people of God

Library
October 16. "Whereas Thou Hast Been Forsaken and Hated, I Will Make Thee a Joy" (Isa. Lx. 15).
"Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, I will make thee a joy" (Isa. lx. 15). God loves to take the most lost of men, and make them the most magnificent memorials of His redeeming love and power. He loves to take the victims of Satan's hate, and the lives that have been the most fearful examples of his power to destroy, and to use them to illustrate and illuminate the possibilities of Divine mercy and the new creations of the Holy Spirit. He loves to take the things in our own lives that have
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Walls and Gates
'Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise'--ISAIAH lx. 18. The prophet reaches the height of eloquence in his magnificent picture of the restored Jerusalem, 'the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.' To him the city stands for the embodiment of the nation, and his vision of the future is moulded by his knowledge of the past. Israel and Jerusalem were to him the embodiments of the divine idea of God's dwelling with men, and of a society founded on the presence of
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Sunlit Church
'Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. 2. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. 3. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.'--ISAIAH lx. 1-3. The personation of Israel as a woman runs through the whole of this second portion of Isaiah's prophecy. We see her thrown on the earth a mourning mother,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Morning Light
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. O ne strong internal proof that the Bible is a divine revelation, may be drawn from the subject matter; and particularly that it is the book, and the only book, that teaches us to
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Marvellous Increase of the Church
The church, when she uttered these words, appears to have been the subject of three kinds of feeling. First, wonder: secondly, pleasure: thirdly, anxiety. These three feelings you have felt; you are not strangers to them; and you will understand, while I speak to you as the children of God, how it is that we can feel at the same time, wonder, pleasure, and yet anxiety. I. First, the church of old, and our church now, appears to have been the subject of WONDER when she saw so many come to know the
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

22D DAY. An End of Weeping.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "The days of thy mourning shall be ended."--ISAIAH lx. 20. An End of Weeping. Christ's people are a weeping band, though there be much in this lovely world to make them joyous and happy. Yet when they think of sin--their own sin, and the unblushing sins of a world in which their God is dishonoured--need we wonder at their tears?--that they should be called "Mourners," and their pilgrimage-home a "Valley of Tears?" Bereavement, and sickness, and poverty, and death,
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

Second Sermon for Epiphany
Showeth on what wise a man shall arise from himself and from all creatures, to the end that God may find the ground of his soul prepared, and may begin and perfect his work therein. Isaiah lx. 1.--"Arise, O Jerusalem, and be enlightened." [45] IN all this world God covets and requires but one thing only, and that He desires so exceeding greatly that He gives His whole might and energy thereto. This one thing is, that He may find that good ground which He has laid in the noble mind of man made fit
Susannah Winkworth—The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler

Rev. Mr. Nichols's Address.
The Rev. W. F. Nichols, Rector of Christ Church, Hartford, and chaplain to Bishop Williams in his recent visit abroad, spoke of the first day of the commemoration at Aberdeen: He said it would be useless to deny that there was an individual pleasure in having this welcome to round out the happiness of getting back to one's home and one's work, as there was an individual pleasure at the honor the diocese had put upon those whom it had sent with the bishop to Aberdeen, and an individual appreciation
Various—The Sermons And Addresses At The Seabury Centenary

The Birth of England's Foreign Missions
1785-1792 Moulton the Mission's birthplace--Carey's fever and poverty--His Moulton school--Fired with the missionary idea--His very large missionary map--Fuller's confession of the aged and respectable ministers' opposition--Old Mr. Ryland's rebuke--Driven to publish his Enquiry--Its literary character--Carey's survey of the world in 1788--His motives, difficulties, and plans--Projects the first Missionary Society--Contrasted with his predecessors from Erasmus--Prayer concert begun in Scotland in
George Smith—The Life of William Carey

The Last Days of the Old Eastern World
The Median wars--The last native dynasties of Egypt--The Eastern world on the eve of the Macedonian conquest. [Drawn by Boudier, from one of the sarcophagi of Sidon, now in the Museum of St. Irene. The vignette, which is by Faucher-Gudin, represents the sitting cyno-cephalus of Nectanebo I., now in the Egyptian Museum at the Vatican.] Darius appears to have formed this project of conquest immediately after his first victories, when his initial attempts to institute satrapies had taught him not
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 9

No More
Gerhard Ter Steegen Is. lx. 20 O past and gone! How great is God! how small am I! A mote in the illimitable sky, Amidst the glory deep, and wide, and high Of Heaven's unclouded sun. There to forget myself for evermore; Lost, swallowed up in Love's immensity, The sea that knows no sounding and no shore, God only there, not I. More near than I unto myself can be, Art Thou to me; So have I lost myself in finding Thee, Have lost myself for ever, O my Sun! The boundless Heaven of Thine eternal love
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Athanasius under Julian and his Successors; Fourth and Fifth Exiles. Feb. 21, 362, to Feb. 1, 366
(a) The Council of Alexandria in 362. The eight months of undisturbed residence enjoyed by Athanasius under Julian were well employed. One of his first acts was to convoke a Synod at Alexandria to deal with the questions which stood in the way of the peace of the Church. The Synod was one of saints and confessors,' including as it did many of the Egyptian bishops who had suffered under George (p. 483, note 3, again we miss the name of the trusted Serapion), Asterius of Petra and Eusebius of Vercellae,
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

That the Grace of Devotion is Acquired by Humility and Self-Denial
The Voice of the Beloved Thou oughtest to seek earnestly the grace of devotion, to ask it fervently, to wait for it patiently and faithfully, to receive it gratefully, to preserve it humbly, to work with it diligently, and to leave to God the time and manner of heavenly visitation until it come. Chiefly oughtest thou to humble thyself when thou feelest inwardly little or no devotion, yet not to be too much cast down, nor to grieve out of measure. God ofttimes giveth in one short moment what He
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The Restoration of Israel is Only Made Possible by the Second Advent of Christ.
Under this head we shall seek to prove briefly three things--that Israel as a nation will be restored, that Israel's restoration occurs at the Return of Christ, that Israel's restoration will result in great blessing to the whole world. That Israel as a nation will be actually and literally restored is declared again and again in the Word of God. We quote now but two prophecies from among scores of similar ones:--"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch,
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

The General Spread of the Gospel
"The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters covers the sea." Isa. 11:9. 1. In what a condition is the world at present! How does darkness, intellectual darkness, ignorance, with vice and misery attendant upon it, cover the face of the earth! From the accurate inquiry made with indefatigable pains by our ingenious countryman, Mr. Brerewood; (who travelled himself over a great part of the known world, in order to form the more exact judgment;) supposing the world to be divided
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Twentieth Day for God's Spirit on the Heathen
WHAT TO PRAY.--For God's Spirit on the Heathen "Behold, these shall come from far; and these from the land of Sinim."--ISA. xlix. 12. "Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall haste to stretch out her hands to God."--PS. lxviii. 31. "I the Lord will hasten it in His time."--ISA. lx. 22. Pray for the heathen, who are yet without the word. Think of China, with her three hundred millions--a million a month dying without Christ. Think of Dark Africa, with its two hundred millions. Think
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

The Temptation of Jesus
The proclamation and inauguration of the Kingdom of Heaven' at such a time, and under such circumstances, was one of the great antitheses of history. With reverence be it said, it is only God Who would thus begin His Kingdom. A similar, even greater antithesis, was the commencement of the Ministry of Christ. From the Jordan to the wilderness with its wild Beasts; from the devout acknowledgment of the Baptist, the consecration and filial prayer of Jesus, the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the heard
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Order of Thought which Surrounded the Development of Jesus.
As the cooled earth no longer permits us to understand the phenomena of primitive creation, because the fire which penetrated it is extinct, so deliberate explanations have always appeared somewhat insufficient when applying our timid methods of induction to the revolutions of the creative epochs which have decided the fate of humanity. Jesus lived at one of those times when the game of public life is freely played, and when the stake of human activity is increased a hundredfold. Every great part,
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

Brave Encouragements
'In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, 2. Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, 3. Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? 4. Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers.
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Extent of Messiah's Spiritual Kingdom
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever! T he Kingdom of our Lord in the heart, and in the world, is frequently compared to a building or house, of which He Himself is both the Foundation and the Architect (Isaiah 28:16 and 54:11, 12) . A building advances by degrees (I Corinthians 3:9; Ephesians 2:20-22) , and while it is in an unfinished state, a stranger cannot, by viewing its present appearance, form an accurate judgment
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

Links
Isaiah 60:1 NIV
Isaiah 60:1 NLT
Isaiah 60:1 ESV
Isaiah 60:1 NASB
Isaiah 60:1 KJV

Isaiah 60:1 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Isaiah 59:21
Top of Page
Top of Page