Isaiah 60:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

This transformation occurs because the descendants of those who once dishonored her—the rulers of the earth who inherit their thrones—now approach the Church with awe and reverence, embodying a fear of God within their hearts. It shall be acknowledged as the city of the Lord, the Zion of the holy Israel; for the Church represents the dwelling place of God, as the divine David expresses it: “Glorious things have been spoken of thee, O city of God” (Psalm 86:3). And the Lord Himself, through the Psalmist’s lyre, proclaims: “I will dwell here, as I have willed. I will bless his harvest, I will enrich his needy with sustenance; I will clothe his priests with salvation” (Ps. 131:14, 15). If one were to recount the lineage of the kings who once tormented the Church—descendants who now approach her with respect and honor, valuing her as the house of God—this would not be a fruitless endeavor, for it is evident that circumstances have indeed culminated in this reality.

Lebanon, a mountainous region in Phoenicia, is renowned for its towering trees. The Psalmist expresses this by saying: I have seen the wicked exalted and hanging like the cedars of Lebanon (Psalms 36:33) and notes, the Lord strips the cedars of Lebanon (Psalms 28:5). In earlier times, King Hiram of Tyre sent trees to King Solomon in Joppa for the construction of God’s temple (1 Kings 3). The Scripture now promises that spruce, beech, or according to the Seventy, cypress, pine, and cedar, or as noted by Aquila, pine, taadaor, and taassur, or according to Theodotion, vrais, or vrati, taadaor, and theassur, will together be felled for the building of Zion’s temple.

If that is the case, where then is Jerusalem adorned with gold and precious stones? Where is the Bride of the Lamb? Where are the twelve gates embellished with various gems? Except perhaps for the walls and foundations will be made of precious materials, while the temple, which ought to be even more magnificent, will be constructed of wood? Thus, we must interpret all this in a spiritual sense—the fir, cypress, pine, and cedar, once great trees in Lebanon, will bring glory to the temple of God and the place of His presence. To clarify this without overly lengthy explanation, consider the holy man and eloquent martyr Cyprian, as well as our confessor Hilary, who were once prominent figures in the world; do they not appear to have built the Church of God?

Furthermore, the descendants of those who persecuted you will return to you in humility, and all who once troubled you will bow before you, which signifies those who have become Christians not out of desire but from necessity, bending low in dread of those in power. Alternatively, we might also understand this as referring to former oppressors who later came to faith. Such was the case with the Apostle Paul, who persecuted the churches of God and was later called a chosen vessel (Acts 9; 1 Tim. 1). Once the full number of the Gentiles has joined, then all Israel will be saved. She will be known as the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel—she who is exalted and gathered from among the nations.

The descendants of past persecutors, alarmed at the prospect of inciting divine wrath by continuing to oppose the Gospel, acknowledged their guilt before the Christians. They sought forgiveness with humility and requested to be accepted into the Church through baptism. Consequently, the Church of Christ earned the honor of being referred to as the city of the Lord, a sacred dwelling place, akin to His capital, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. In this way, the New Testament Church embraced the same profound significance that Mount Zion held in the Old Testament, as the sacred residence of the Holy One of Israel, the true God, revered by the Israelites.