When reading the biblical prophets we often seek to establish when a biblical prophecy has or will be fulfilled. This is an understandable and, I guess, it’s a necessary question to ask. But it’s ridiculous to think that prophetic words can only relate to one event. Prophetic imagery gets used and reused throughout Scripture, and more importantly, the triune God exists outside of time. With respect to time, what in the world does fulfillment mean for the words of Yahweh? I’m going to unpack this with some thoughts about Isaiah 60.

Isaiah 60 & Jesus’s Birth

The first six verses of Isaiah 60 are replete with imagery that the Gospel authors used to tell Jesus’s birth story. Isaiah 59:9 longs for brightness (נְגֹהוֹת) in place of gloom, and that very brightness (נֹגַהּ) arrives in Isaiah 60:1–3:

Isaiah 60:3 — Nations will come to your light, and kings will come to the brightness of your rising.

The rising light of Yahweh’s glory in Isaiah 60:1 recalls Matthew’s star and Luke’s heavenly army appearing to the shepherds. Isaiah 60:6 has at least three other images that play a major role in how Matthew and Luke narrate Jesus’s birth:

1. Isaiah talks about the wealth of the nations streaming in on camels to God’s people, which sounds like Matthew’s story of the magi.
2. Isaiah talks about gold and frankincense being brought when Yahweh’s light comes, and this too sounds like Matthew’s magi story.
3. In Isaiah 60:6, Isaiah talks about the proclamation of good news (בשׂר / εὐαγγελίζω) concerning Yahweh’s praise, imagery that is no doubt behind Luke’s story of the heavenly army appearing to the shepherds.
   

Isaiah 60 & New Creation

Now, notice how the New Testament authors also use Isaiah 60 to describe future new creation. Notice the way Isaiah 60:11 and Revelation 21:25–26 both envision the future city of God in terms of (a) perpetually open gates that (b) allow the wealth of the nations to enter in:

Isaiah 60:11 — Your gates will be open continually, day and night. They will not be closed so that he might bring to you the strength of the nations and their kings might be led in.

Revelation 21:25–26 — And her gates will never by shut during the day, for there will be no night. And they will bring the glory and honor of the nations into her.

So Isaiah 60 contains one, coherent vision of Israel’s restoration, yet the New Testament authors see part of it as rich with imagery that is relevant to Jesus’s birth and part as relevant for describing ultimate new creation.

A Hint

One thing that is clear to anyone who has thought deeply the Old Testament: Events and imagery in the Old Testament get used and reused to describe later events throughout Scripture. In Isaiah 60:15, I see a hint that points to this idea — the idea that the vision of Isaiah 60 is relevant to multiple points, even multiple generations.

Isaiah 60:15 — Instead of being forsaken and hated and having no one pass through your land, I will make you exalted forever, a joy throughout the generations.

That last phrase, “throughout the generations,” is דּוֹר וָדוֹר, “generation and generation.” In the mind of the prophet, the fulfillment of this vision stretches into the future, throughout generations. This hints at the idea that the first part of Isaiah 60 about the dawning of Yahweh’s light will initiate a fulfillment that stretches throughout the generations. The vision isn’t punctiliar. It’s the dawn of an era. Because Isaiah 60 envisions an era of fulfillment, it should not be surprising that the images that come later in Isaiah 60 relate to the future while images in the beginning of the chapter relate to the past.

The Ridiculous When

But is that all there is to this? Is it that simple? No. We shouldn’t seek to segment Isaiah 60 into discrete time periods of fulfillment. The first six verses of Isaiah 60 are not just relevant to Jesus’s birth. Revelation 21:23–24 pull from from those same verses to describe the new creation.¹

Isaiah 60:1–3 — Rise, shine for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh has risen upon you. For behold the darkness will cover the land, and thick darkness the people. And upon you Yahweh will rise and his glory will appear over you. And nations will travel to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Revelation 21:23–24 — And there will be no temple in her, for the Lord God almighty is her temple, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of the sun nor the moon to shine in her, for the glory of God enlightens her, and her lamp is the Lamb.

Our God, the triune God of basic Christian belief, is the creator God. If he exists outside of creation, then he exists outside of whatever in the world we mean by time. Of course the prophetic words God speaks into time can have fulfillments at multiple points throughout time. His words don’t always have to refer to multiple points in time, but why couldn’t they? We should not be surprised to read Isaiah 60 and other prophetic texts and see glimpses of past, present, and future overlapped and intertwined within the same image.

1. The NA28 editors seem to agree that Isaiah 60:1–5 is relevant to Revelation 21:23–24. In the margin of Revelation 21:23–24 and in their appendix (loci citati vel allegati), they list Isaiah 60:1–5 in connection with Revelation 21:23–24. ↩