‘Arise, shine, for your light is come
And the glory of Yahweh is risen on you,
For behold darkness will cover the earth (or ‘land'),
And gross darkness the peoples,
But Yahweh will rise on you,
And his glory will be seen on you.'
We find here an echo of Isaiah 8:22 to Isaiah 9:2. Here we have a further description of the coming King. His light will descend on Zion (Isaiah 4:5). He will come like a shining light among His own. And those who are His will respond to His light. They will see the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). The Servant will be a light to them prior to becoming a light to the Gentiles. Thus will Jacob respond to Him, and Israel be gathered to Him (Isaiah 49:6).
Then the people who walk in ‘darkness', who are in gross darkness like the ‘darkness' that covers the earth as described here, will see a great light, and the light will shine on them (Isaiah 9:2). It will be the light revealed by Yahweh's true people resulting from His having shone upon them. It was ever to be the prayer of the priests of Israel, that Yahweh would make the light of His face shine on them (Numbers 6:25), something symbolised by the lampstand in the Temple. This is an awakening call (compare Isaiah 51:9; Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 52:1). It will be similar for the people as it was for Isaiah in the Temple (Isaiah 6:1-7).
And those who are His chosen will respond. To men in darkness there is always the possibility of arising into His light, into spiritual understanding, into truth, into awareness of Him and His glory. The people who would be of Zion must therefore awaken because the light has now come, and that light is ‘the glory of Yahweh' which has risen on them. The world will be in darkness, the peoples in gross darkness (Isaiah 8:22 to Isaiah 9:1), having the understanding darkened (Ephesians 4:18), being in the darkness of ignorance and despair, but on His own true people Yahweh will arise and His glory will be seen on them. And, as Isaiah 9:1-7 reveals, this light will come in the child Who will be born, in the Son Who will be given, who will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. He Himself is the glory of Yahweh arising on His people (compare Mark 9:2-8; John 1:14-18). In Matthew 4:16 the great light of Isaiah is applied to the fact that Jesus has come with the Good News. And constantly in John's Gospel Jesus portrayed Himself in terms of a light having come (John 1:4; John 3:19-21; John 8:12; John 12:35; John 12:46).
Paul amplifies this in the New Testament when he declares, ‘if our good news is hidden, it is hidden to those who are lost, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, shine on them' (2 Corinthians 4:4).
The constant use of ‘light' in this way is typical of Isaiah. It is found but rarely in the other prophets.