Nations Converge Upon Jerusalem

Using illustrations familiar to Isaiah's contemporaries, Jehovah describes  the expansion.  The "woman," looking from her vantage point on Mount Zion, first scans the eastern horizon.  What does she see?  "The heaving mass of camels itself will cover you, the young male camels of Midian and Ephah.  All those from Sheba-they will come. Gold and frankincense they will carry. And the praises of Jehovah they will announce."  (Isaiah 60:6)  Camel caravans used by traveling merchants of various tribes wend their way along the roads leading to Jerusalem.  (Genesis 37:25, 28; Judges 6:1, 5; 1 Kings 10:1, 2)  Camels are everywhere, like a flood covering the land!  The caravans bring valuable gifts, showing that the traders come with peaceful intentions.  They want to worship Jehovah and give him the best they can offer. 

These merchants are not the only ones on the march. "All the flocks of Kedar-they will be collected together to you.  The rams of Nebaioth-they will minister to you."   Yes, pastoral tribes are also traveling to Jerusalem.  They come with gifts of their most valuable possessions-flocks of sheep-and offer themselves as ministers.  How will Jehovah receive them?  He says:   "With approval they will come up upon my altar, and I shall beautify my own house of beauty."  (Isaiah 60:7)  Jehovah accepts their gifts, which will be used in pure worship. -Isaiah 56:7; Jeremiah 49:28, 29.

Jehovah directs the "woman" to look to the western horizon, and he asks:  "Who are these that come flying just like a cloud, and like doves to their birdhouse holes?"  Jehovah himself answers:  "In me the islands themselves will keep hoping, the ships of Tarshish also as at the first, in order to bring your sons from far away, their silver and their gold being with them, to the name of Jehovah you God and to the Holy One of Israel, for he will have beautified you." -Isaiah 60:8, 9.

Imagine that you are standing with the "woman," gazing westward across the Great Sea. What do you see? A distant cloud of white dots skimming the surface of the water.  They look like birds, but as they come closer, you see that they are ships with their sails unfurled.  They have come "from far away."  (Isaiah 49:12)  so many vessels are speeding toward Zion that they resemble a flock of homeward-bound doves.  why is the fleet in such a hurry?  It is eager to deliver its cargo of worshipers of Jehovah coming from far away ports.   Indeed, all the new arrivals-both Israelites and foreigners, from the east or the west and from nearby or faraway lands-are hurrying to Jerusalem to dedicated their all to the name of Jehovah, their God. -Isaiah 55:5.

What a vivid picture Isaiah 60:4-9 paints of the worldwide expansion that has taken place since Jehovah's "woman" began shedding forth light amid the darkness  of this world!  First came the "sons" and "daughters"  of heavenly Zion, those who became anointed Christians.  In 1931 these publicly identified themselves as Jehovah's  Witnesses .  Then a cloud of meek ones, "the very resources of the nations" and "the wealthiness of the sea,"  hurried to join the remaining ones of Christ's brothers.  Today all these servants  of Jehovah coming from the four corners of the globe and from all walks of life join the Israel of God in praising their Sovereign Lord, Jehovah and in exalting his name as the grandest name in all the universe. 

What does it mean, though, that these new arrival from the nations "come up  upon  [God's] altar"?  A sacrifice is place upon an altar. The apostle Paul uses and expression  involving sacrifice when he wrote:  " I entreat you . . .to present your bodies a sacrifice  living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service with your power of reason."  (Romans 6:13)  In doing so, they offer acceptable  sacrifices of praise to God.  (Hebrews 13:15)  How heartwarming it is that millions of worshipers of Jehovah today, both young and old, have put their personal desires  in a position secondary to the interests of God's Kingdom!  They display a genuine spirit of self-sacrifice. -Matthew 6:33; 2 Corinthians 5:15.

Next time: New Arrivals Share in the Expansion

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, Volume II, 2001