Isaiah 60:1

The *Lord is speaking to ‘*Jerusalem’. ‘*Jerusalem’ refers to both the city and its inhabitants. So, through this whole chapter, ‘you’ means both the city and its inhabitants.

• ‘Rise’ means ‘get up to act’. The action is ‘to shine’. That is, the people are to express bright hope for their future, because of God’s firm promises.

• When dawn comes in the East, it appears very quickly. The sudden sunshine on the white rock of the *Temple is a powerful contrast with the earlier black night. This provides a word picture of the experience of *Jerusalem and its inhabitants. The *Lord will suddenly act. He will free the *exiles from their hopeless darkness (despair) in Babylon. And he will bring them home to *Jerusalem.