NOTES for Isa 60:20
Describing the Jerusalem opened to him in a vision, Isaiah speaks of it in such a way that at times it is not easy to understand what city and what reality are meant. A sun that does not set, a moon that does not hide, God's light illuminating what would seem to be an earthly city: what is this? Heaven or earth? The simplest answer would perhaps be: heaven. But would such an answer be right? Does the very division of the world into "heavenly" and "earthly" correspond to God's design?
Let us recall the first day of creation: there is as yet no division into "earthly" and "heavenly." It will appear later, on the second day. On the first day there is only one division: between light and darkness. And there is a world permeated by God's light, the light of His presence. Yes, of course, later this unity, this wholeness of creation was broken. And this happened even before the fall of the human being, already on the second day of creation.
God never considered such a state of affairs the norm. The restoration of the wholeness of creation was part of God's plan from the very moment of its division. And the human being was to play his role in solving this task. Of course, the fall changed much. After the fall, what became urgent for the human being was not so much the restoration of the wholeness of creation as the overcoming of the consequences of the catastrophe that distorted and perverted his own life. But in sending the Messiah into the world, God has both tasks in mind.
The Messiah must bring the Kingdom of God into the world, and at the same time open for the human being the possibility, by partaking of the life of this Kingdom, to restore the wholeness and fullness of his own life. And the Kingdom includes not only "heaven," but also "earth." It does not presuppose a split creation. The world must again become whole, as on the first day of creation. Whole and transfigured. This is how Isaiah sees Jerusalem. It opens to him as part of that Kingdom to which the prophet bore witness, the Kingdom where a new heaven meets a new earth.