The Days of Mourning

The Lord will be your everlasting light,

And the days of your mourning shall be ended.

Also your people shall all be righteous;

They shall inherit the land forever,

the branch of My planting, 

the work of My hands,

To the end that they may share my beauty.

—Isaiah 60:20,21

Did Isaiah know that these predictions would find their ultimate fulfillment in Heaven?  Perhaps he used what he knew—the promises made to Israel—to describe what he saw—Heaven and the hereafter. 

If so, there is a promise here that someday soon our righteousness will be perfected and our salvation and glorification will be complete. Further, the Vinedresser will “plant” us in the place he has prepared for us, to the end that we may share his beauty forever.  

All good, but the phrase that comforts me this morning is this: Very soon, “the days of your mourning will be ended.” 

It’s intolerable to think that sorrow will go on forever. But to know that our mourning shall be ended is to gain fresh hope and strength for the day. When we go to be with Jesus (or when he comes to be with us) our disappointment, grief and pain will be over, “sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.” Someday the last tear will fall and we will enter into joy. Our mourning will be turned into dancing—a hope that keeps us going in this present vale of tears. 

David Roper

2.11.20