After years of wandering they were finally coming home, and found rubble: the walls of Jerusalem torn down, the temple destroyed, the city sinking into darkness every night. That image opens a reflection on Isaiah 60, where God promises to bring light into the life of his people and to open the city gates to every nation. The sermon carries it further, to the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21, painted in the same colours, only greater still. Listen if you sometimes feel homeless in this world and long for a place that will truly be yours.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- Isaiah 60 was spoken to people who had returned from exile in Babylon to a ruined Jerusalem sitting in darkness. What might they have felt when they heard the words "Arise, shine"?
- Why was the vision of the nations, Israel's former enemies, coming to Jerusalem with gold and incense to give glory to God so surprising for its first hearers?
- The speaker compared us to a child in a shop begging "buy me this," when what the child really needs is a parent's presence. What do you tend to reach for in hard times instead of God's presence?
- In the text it is hard to tell who is shining: God, the city, or God's people. What does this say about how God's light in your life can become visible to others?
- In Revelation, John paints the new Jerusalem with the same images Isaiah used, yet God prepared more than people expected, like the story of the typewriter and the laptop. How does this hope change the way you see a world where you often feel homeless?
- If home is wherever the Father is, what is one concrete way you want to learn to enjoy God's presence in everyday life this week?
