John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 60:12

"For that nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." — Isaiah 60:12 (ASV)

For the nation and kingdom. The Prophet focuses extensively on confirming the hearts of believers, so that they might not doubt that the restoration will be as he has described. Those events were entirely unbelievable; and we ourselves, though we have received abundant confirmation of them from their actual occurrence (for they have been made evident to all), yet, unless we are guided by the Spirit of the Lord, we could hardly conceive of them.

He shows, therefore, that there is no reason why the Jews should doubt about the restoration of the temple, because the Gentiles will aid them with all their power. But here Isaiah looks at something higher than the building of the visible temple; for he intends to speak of that obedience which kings, nobles, and the common people offer to the Church when they promote, to the extent they are able, pure doctrine.

Shall perish. He goes even further, and further confirms his statement by declaring that “the kingdoms and nations which will not serve the Church shall be destroyed.” And if such a dreadful punishment was pronounced against those who did not aid the Church, what should we say of the tyrants who furiously attack her, and strive with all their might to destroy her? If careless and slothful men are not left unpunished, does not a fearful vengeance await the ungodly, who disturb and overturn the work of the Lord?

The nations, I say, shall be utterly destroyed. What he had said in the singular he immediately repeats in the plural, to show that even the whole world, if it is involved in the same guilt, will likewise perish; for their large numbers will not be able to prevent all who are estranged from God from perishing, and ungodly men will have no excuse for obstructing one another, or for encouraging each other to impiety and wickedness. Kings and nations are said, as we have already seen, to “serve the Church;” not that the Church exercises any dominion over them, but because God has entrusted to her the scepter of His word, by which He rules.