“Rise up in splendor and be radiant, for your light has dawned, and Yahweh’s glory now streams from you! 2 Look carefully! Darkness blankets the earth, and thick clouds covers the nations, but Yahweh arises upon you and the brightness of his glory appears over you! 3 Nations will be attracted to your radiant light and kings to the sunrise-glory of your new day. Isaiah 60:1-3

Isaiah launches into His final movement of this beautiful prophetic symphony. He describes the glory of God that radiates to us and through us. God’s glory is His presence on display. We experience God’s glory when we worship to the point of being in awe at the sense of His presence with us. Or, when the peace of God overwhelms us and our focus is solely on Him rather than the noise and distractions of this world.

Isaiah describes this glory or manifest presence of God 23 times in the last six chapters of His book. Even though darkness surrounds us, God’s shekinah or glory penetrates to wherever we are with light. We then reflect His light.

Our Moon has no light source of its own but can only reflect the light of the Sun. In the same way we absorb and reflect God’s glory. Jesus came to reveal the glory of God, He calls us in the same way to display what it means to walk in the light of God’s presence. People are drawn to the light when they see God’s glory reflected in us.

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14 NLT