Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 54:1

ISAIAH – CHAPTER 54

THE RESTORATION OF ZION THROUGH MESSIANIC SUFFERING

INTRODUCTION: This chapter abundantly illustrates a problem that one constantly faces in the interpretation of biblical prophecy that of distinguishing between Israel and Israel. The term is used in six various ways: 1) Of the father of the Hebrew nation; 2) Of the nation itself; 3) Of the northern kingdom, with its capitol in Samaria; 4) Sometimes of the southern kingdom, 5) At other times of a holy remnant within the nation, and 6) Of a spiritual heritage –“the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus” (Rev 12:17) – which appears to be identical with the New Testament “Israel of God” (the church), which is the house and dwelling-place of God (among His people) in the present age, also called the Bride of Jesus Christ, Joh 3:28-29; Rev 19:5-9.

The present writer claims to possess no special formula for clearly distinguishing the various identities of this people. He would submit that, whatever view one holds, it should be held tentatively – with a heart and mind that are open for clearer illumination by the Holy Spirit. Any set of dogmatic rules or regulations are apt to prove such a hindrance as will ultimately undermine the very super-structure of one’s theological house. The attitude of an humble, inquiring student is far more becoming of our present, imperfect humanity than that of a high-minded authoritarian; nor will such an one have nearly so far to fall!

Furthermore, one must ever bear in mind Paul’s allegory. In Galatians 4, which contrasts the bondage of the nation in the flesh with the liberty of those who, through the Spirit, are not regarded as children of Abraham – clearly suggesting the pre-eminence of the New Testament church in God’s present purpose.

This chapter basically sets forth the benefits of the Servant’s sufferings as applied to the covenant nation.

Vs. 1-3: CHILDREN OF THE BARREN WOMAN

1. She who has been “barren” – not travailing with child – is here called to joyful singing and shouting, (vs. 1a)

2. The children of “the desolate” (vs. 1b; 62:4; comp. 1Sa 2:5) will eventually outnumber those of the “married wife” (the church?).

3. Thus, she must enlarge the place of her dwelling – extending her borders (vs. 2; Isa 33:20; Isa 49:19-20); on the right hand, and on the left, shall she break forth, (vs. 3a; Isa 43:5-6; Isa 60:3-11; comp. Gen 28:14).

4. Her seed will “inherit the Gentiles” – so as to rule over them, (Isa 14:1-2; Isa 43:14; Isa 49:22-23).

a. Israel’s restoration is the restoration of A NATION among nations – a nation in the flesh gust as when her rebellion brought the age-long wrath of God upon her).

b. But, restored to divine favor, she will be placed as the chief of nations – ruling over her former oppressors during the millennial era, (Mic 4:1-3; Eze 36:24-38; Mic 4:6-8; Mic 7:15-20; Zep 3:14-20; Isa 49:22-23; Isa 60:11-12; Isa 61:8-11; Isa 66:12; Zec 8:23; Zec 10:6; Zec 14:12-19).

5. So will her desolate cities be filled with inhabitants.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1. Shout. After having spoken of the death of Christ, he passes on with good reason to the Church; that we may feel mere deeply in ourselves what is the value and efficacy of his death. We cannot behold it in Christ, if he be viewed by himself; and therefore we must come to his body, which is the Church; because Christ suffered for the Church, and not for himself. And this is the order in our Confession of Faith (61) for, after having professed that we believe in Christ, who suffered and was crucified for us, we add that we believe in the Church, (62) which flowed, as it were, from his side. Accordingly, after having discoursed concerning the death and resurrection and triumph of Christ, he properly comes down to the Church, which ought never to be separated from her Head, that each individual believer may learn by his own experience that Christ has not suffered in vain. And if he had not mentioned this doctrine, believers could not have so well strengthened their hearts by the hope of restoring the Church. This congratulation plainly shows that, when Christ shall come forth as a conqueror over death, he will not merely conquer for himself as an individual, but will, at the same time, breathe life into his body.

Thou barren, that didst not bear. He calls the Church “barren,” because no offspring could be expected from her, so long as she groaned under wretched bondage; for if any one had judged of her from her outward condition, he would have concluded that she was very near destruction. And even apart from her external wretchedness, there was nothing pure within; everything was corrupted and defiled by superstitions; for they had degenerated into the idolatrous rites of the Gentiles.

The children of the widow. He calls the Church not merely “Barren,” but a “Widow,” though either of them might have taken away the hope of having offspring; but when these two are combined, what else can be looked for than wretched destruction? But against such accumulated distress he bids her be of good courage, because she shall have more children than the married woman.

This passage may be explained in two ways; either as a comparison of the Church with the Gentiles, who flourished like “a married woman,” or as a comparison with that condition in which the Church was before the captivity. Both senses will be perfectly admissible, but I prefer to adopt the more simple view; for I do not think that it is a comparison between two conditions of the Church, but that it is an ordinary form of expression which the Prophet employs in order to denote that this extraordinary fertility of the Church will be at variance with what usually takes place, so that men may not judge of her condition by the ordinary course of nature; because the work of God will be extraordinary and wonderful. And yet I acknowledge that she was at that time in widowhood; for God had long before sent to her by his servants a bill of divorcement, and had actually divorced that nation, by driving it into banishment. But the Prophet declares that this punishment will be temporary, as we shall immediately see more clearly.

(61) “ En nos articles de foy.” “In our articles of faith.”

(62) Our author evidently speaks of what is usually called “The Apostle’s Creed.” ­ Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

THE PROSPECT OF EXPANSION

Isa 54:1-5.

THIS text, and its context, is a strange combination of shadows and light. The one succeeds the other in rapid succession. Barronness vies with bearing; song with anguished cry; enlargement with pinching; lengthened cords and strengthened stakes with abbreviated and weak ones. Extension labors against contraction; just pride against fear and shame, and the whole change is wrought by the word of the Master, the Redeemer of Israel, the God of all the earth.

It is interesting to know what happens when He appears; or, rather, should we say, when His Presence is discovered. Two disciples were on the way to Emmaus, their hearts were heavy, their hopes were well nigh dead; in fact, they rather believed that those hopes had been buried just a few days before. But suddenly a Stranger who sat with them, took up the bread and brake the same. In the very act their eyes were opened, and the face of the Living Lord was revealed. And they rose in a new strength and with brightened spirits made their way to Jerusalem to bear their testimony to the other disciple, The Lord is risen indeed.

It is when we sit at meat, in the study of the Word, that we see Jesus. His feet are in Genesis; His head is in Revelation; His heart is in Isaiah 53; and while it is a wounded heart, and He Himself is a stricken One, the wounds prove to be fountains from which a stream of salvation flows.

So certainly is this true that Isaiah 53, one of the sad strains of Old Testament teaching, suddenly breaks into a note of victory, and the wounded, dying Lord becomes a divider of portions with the great and a sharer of spoils with the strong. That is why this 54th chapter can open with a burst of praise.

Owing to the limits of time we propose to present but five of its instructive verses, under the following suggestions: The Prophetic Prospect, The Plans for Expansion, and the Plentitude of Power.

THE PROPHETIC PROSPECT

Here is anticipated an approaching revival. The text harks back to the promise of Isa 53:11-12:

He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Because foreknowledge is always voicing itself, all is well. Otherwise God Himself would lose courage and consequent joy. He who knows the end from the beginning can sit under the deepest cloud and calmly wait for the sun to shine; or dwell in night itself, patiently abiding the coming day; for to man, who knows natures ways, the certainty of the coming morning, is nothing like so sure as is Gods knowledge of what that morning will bring. We fret our little souls because of spiritual dearth; we debate the question, Will the Church survive? we even feel great anxiety lest civilization perish from the earth and a final catastrophe overtake the favored.

God is not subject to any such moments of despondency; the whole of the future is an open page for Him, or, rather, it is a blank page that He is Himself to fill up according to His own pleasure by the appointment of His sovereign will; and He knows, because He will be there to bring it about, that at the end of the day

It shall come to pass, that the mountain of the House of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the House of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we mil walk in His paths: for the Law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Mic 4:1-2).

Darkness can never disconcert the Father of lights. That is why the Prophet, moved by His Spirit, sits in the midst of darkness and writes confidently of the coming day.

In this approaching revival there is occasion of song.

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord (Isa 54:1).

It is addressed to Israel in anticipation of her final flower and fruit in the Church; or, rather, in Christianity.

John, in his apocalyptic vision, seems to have beheld the day when this anticipation of faith was finally changed to fact, when he presents the Heavenly choir of twenty-four elders, as singing a new song, saying to the Lamb,

Thou art worthy to take the Book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

And then the whole Heavenly choir was seen and John heard the angels join.

The number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

And the four beasts said, Amen (Rev 5:9-14).

Faith is anticipation: that is why it always can sing of the day while it yet sits in the dark. It was midnight, Paul and Silas were in prison, their hands manacled, their feet in stocks, the dank smell of the infamous cell was in their nostrils, and the blood trickled from their bleeding backs; but at midnight the prison rang with their songs of praise unto God.

Strange procedure! you say? Yes, exceeding strange to the ways of unregenerate men; but natural enough; something even to be expected by believers, for it is in keeping with both their faith and their knowledge. And it is also an earnest of that coming harvest of joy of which John again wrote:

I heard a voice from Heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

Would you know the song, then turn to Rev 15:3:

They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.

While He lives His followers will know the impulse of praise.

Yes, this text suggests even a further step:

It sees in the approaching revival the reason for joy. Break forth into singing, and cry aloud. Cry aloud is the language. The thought is akin to that of the modern director of choirs when he says, Shout it out! There are times when ordinary sounds are not adequate. You recall the time when, after defeat upon defeat, at the direction of the elders of Israel, the Ark of the covenant of the Lord was again sent for and brought from Shiloh by the hands of Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli; and the text tells us:

When the Ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.

And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the Ark of the Lord was come into the camp.

And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp (1Sa 4:5-7).

The certainty of the Divine Presence is indeed the occasion of a shout on the part of saints; and equally the ground of fear on the part of sinners. It is my judgment that one reason why the Church is not a more happy, exultant and conquering body rests in the circumstance that it is not constantly conscious of the Divine Presence. The one and most important proof of that consciousness is joy and rejoicing. Turn to Num 23:21 and read: The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. Isaiah, anticipating the day of manifestation on the part of the Divine One, says:

In that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon His Name, declare His doings among the people, make mention that His Name is exalted.

Sing unto the Lord; for He hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.

Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee (Isa 12:4-6).

The Psalmist calls upon the people of God in these words:

O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

For the Lord Most High is terrible; He is a great King over all the earth.

He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.

He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Selah.

God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.

For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding (Psa 47:1-7).

It is quite often true that the choir director is compelled to coax and urge the members of his choir to sing, to plead with them to shout it out. What positive proof of failure to appreciate the Divine Presence! That makes singing spontaneous and the shout the natural expression of a joyful spirit. Back in the Book of Joshua we have the great Captains command:

It shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the rams horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

But continued the captain,

Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout. * *

So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city (Jos 6:5; Jos 6:10; Jos 6:20).

It is our candid conviction that more cities would capitulate, come into possession of our God, be occupied by His people, were the church adequately conscious of His presence and happily responsive to His appeal.

It may seem a superficial observation, but we are fully convinced that it is a sound one, namely, that singing is in a large measure the expression of spiritual life. When one goes into a church and hears them sing he has an instant measure of their spiritual estate. If it is draggy and dead there is no sense of the Divine Presence; if it is brilliant and living, one feels almost immediately, God is in this midst! That is doubtless the reason why singing and shouting are such recurrent sentiments of Old and New Testament teaching; they voice vision; they reach from prophecy to certain history; they enjoy victory by anticipation.

Such a people are sympathetic with and ready for

PLANS FOR EXPANSION

Hence the Prophets words:

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen the cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left hand; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

Isaiah should have been a pastor. In the best sense he was, only his parish was the entire land; and his people all Israel. In fact, that is necessarily so of every true pastor. In proportion as he partakes of his own Masters spirit, he cannot be limited in sympathy or localized in endeavor. The whole cause is upon his heart; and the whole people are the subjects of his interest, the objects of his endeavor.

It is interesting to mark the lines along which Isaiahs thought here runs:

He advises immediate enlargement.

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.

That is the mark of the true minister; that voices the spirit of a genuine ministry. That also is in line with both the plan and custom of God Himself. He begins things but makes them to grow. From the acorn He develops an oak; from the tiny mustard seed He brings a tree large enough to lodge birds in its branches. He never makes one thing develop into another thing; but into everything He puts the spirit of self-development, potentialities of expansion. This also is His program for the Church. When salvation is presented as feast the invitation is to be carried to all classes; when it is presented as a building, men are to construct on until they have gone from foundation to finial. When it is presented as an army they are to march until conquest comes.

The best way to grow the Church of God is to give it ever-increasing tasks and bring it to every enlarging undertakings. Only the growing thing is the truly living one. That church that has less members today than it had ten years ago is in dying condition. As with the tree, so with a church when growth stops, decadence sets in. The annual report, therefore, made to Associations and Conventions by bodies of baptized believers We cannot report progress; but we trust we are holding our own, is the presence of the coffin, the exhibition of a corpse. In a world like this where the overwhelming majority are still in sin and under Divine judgment, the commission of the Church is Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. To fail of that, to fall short of growth, is to fail Him; is to fail God. Aside from those accidents and incidents which merely affect temporarily the life and progress of the Church of God, its increase or decrease tells the story of its existence and announces to the world whether it is dead or alive.

Isaiah inspires by the Divine promise.

Thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited (Isa 54:3).

The Old Testament then always knew the Divine intent. Isaiah was told from the first that God was no respecter of persons; a thousand times over he reminded her of His gracious intent toward the Gentiles and His expectation of expansion thereby. Critics of the Maker sometimes condemn Him for having elected the Jew, and the Jew only to grace, and declare that course of teaching to be a positive proof that God Himself is only a mental concept, created by the Jew for his personal and special use, and hence limited as the God of the Jews.

But, unfortunately, for such criticisms, they are wide of the mark. It was the Jewish Prophet who, under the leadership of the Spirit, declared the day of the Gentiles. It was the inspired prophecy, dripping from the Jewish pen, but indicted by the Holy Ghost, that anticipated the day when the Gentile also should be of the Divine heritage. Peter, then, who was himself a Jew, was introducing no new thought when he said:

Brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the Word of the Gospel, and believe.

And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us;

And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith (Act 15:7-9).

On another occasion the same Apostle declared,

Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as He did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?

When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life (Act 11:17-18).

While Jesus Himself declared, quoting the same from Esaias, In His Name shall the Gentiles trust.

The Church, therefore, has from the day of its birth, held as its objective, born of the Christs commission, the uttermost part of the earthall nations; for it, like its Lord, is no respecter of persons. To the indifferent it may be a discouraging challenge but to the living Church it is an inspiring one.

But there is more here than an inspiring challenge, The Prophet further inspires by the Divine promise. Thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. There are those who might charge God with failure to keep His Word; but history is His sufficient defense. At the time this promise was made, few Gentiles had even become proselytes of the gate. So far has He fulfilled His Word that Israel herself constitutes but an insignificant modicum of the household of faith. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great Light. In the Jews Messiah do the Gentiles trust. The promise of three thousand years ago is the perfected history of the present time. What an inspiration to observing students among true believers! He, who gave the Christ the heathen for (His) inheritance has also promised the uttermost parts of the earth for (His) possession. The inspiration of Christian labors is in the Divine assurance that the day will break when every knee should bow to Christ. Every tongue should confess to His glory, and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Charles Spurgeon, talking upon the Divine faithfulness, had occasion to say: The promises of God are to the believer an inexhaustible mine of wealth. Happy is it for him if he knows how to search out their secret veins, and enrich himself with their hid treasures! They are an armory, containing all manner of offensive and defensive weapons. Blessed is he who has learned to enter into the sacred arsenal, to put on the breastplate and the helmet, and to lay his hand to the spear and to the sword! They are a surgery in which the believer will find all manner of restoratives and blessed elixirs; nor lacks there an ointment for every wound, a cordial for every faintness, a remedy for every disease. Blessed is he who is well skilled in Heavenly pharmacy, and knoweth how to lay hold on the healing virtues of the promises of God! The promises are to the Christian a storehouse of food. They are as the granaries which Joseph built in Egypt, or as the golden pot wherein the manna was preserved. Blessed is he who can take the five barley loaves and fishes of promise, and break them till his five thousand necessities shall all be supplied, and he is able to gather up basketsful of fragments!

He encouraged them by a glorious prospect.

Thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

No man can do his best work without the expectation of progress; and no institution can live a jubilant life without the assurance that it is marking the same. As in the affairs of the individual so in the experiences of the church, the moment one can view endeavors and see that beyond all dispute constant progress characterizing the same, inspirational further endeavor is the instant result. Once in a while I meet some member of this church who is either suffering from indigestion, or has given open ear to a chronic complainer, and he tells me that things are at a standstill, or that we are slipping backward. Well, lets take an honest factual view and find out whether we are gaining progress or not. In the instance of the church, figures and facts are harmonious unless they be juggled with.

When, nearly thirty-three years ago, we began this pastorate, we had a membership of 662, reduced to 595 by revision of the rolls one month later, and a budget of $14,762.19. Five years later our membership had increased to 999 with an expenditure of $85,079.59. At the end of the second five-year period we had reached 1119 in membership notwithstanding the dismissal of 146 to form another church. And the amount of money given in that period was $99,601.61. The end of the third five-year period saw a membership of 1435 and an increase of receipts to $157,484.28. At the end of the fourth five-year period the membership had increased to 2392, and the amount contributed in that time was $220,172.98. At the end of the fifth five-year period, approaching now the crest of endeavors in the church building program, our membership had increased to 2489, and the amount contributed to $441,086.70. The year 1926, the 6th period, the membership had increased to 2990 and the amount contributed in that period to $955,534.89.

We have back of us three years of the seventh five-year period, in which time we have contributed to all causes $646,589.14. If we estimate on the basis of this past three years our membership at the end of two years more (or the seventh five-year period) should be above 3500, it now being 3304, and our contributions would equal $1,072,646.90.

I give you this report that you may receive the enheartenment of the same.

We are not familiar with any church that can make such a report; and yet, God forbid that we should be content with past accomplishments, or even with present standing, but grant us, rather, the expectation of this promise, to break forth on the right hand and on the left. To make the desolate cities to be inhabited. In other words, to put living men where only dead ones are found.

The longer one lives the less he is impressed by spiritual spurts. It is not at all unusual to have some particular church, under some sensational preacher, blaze with a temporary glory. A picture show in place of a sermon, a dramatic scene instead of the deliverance of the Divine Word, a sensational subject, presented in a slightly salacious speech, the conversion of the sanctuary into a physical gymnasium; these things quite often bring popular patronage and excite a popular appeal; but they are not in line with the suggestion of this Scripture. Those who break forth on the right hand and on the left; their seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

Such sentences look altogether in other directions; they look to the enlargement of the borders of Israel; they look to the making of new life to appear in desolate places. A church is not measured, in the judgment of God, by the clothes its members wear; nor yet, by the introduction of sufficient world-attractions to secure the crowd.

To the Angel of the Church in Laodicea the Spirit said:

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth.

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

I counsel thee to buy of Me gold refined in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see (Rev 3:15-18).

The conquering church is not the world-entangled one; but it is the soul-winning one. The church that brings the Gentiles to become believers, that breaks forth on the right hand and on the left; and in Spirit-guided endeavors, makes the spiritually desolate districts to be animated by living believers is Gods Church.

But such expansion demands more than ones own might and the text hints at the possible source of such strength. It points out

THE PLENTITUDE OF POWER

Thy Maker is thine Husband: the Lord of Hosts is His Name. In the Orient an unmarried estate was a shame and widowhood a reproach. Employing that fact as the figure, the Prophet says: Thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine Husband.

Marriage then, is an ever-present illustration of the relationship that the true Church sustains to her Lord; their life is as one; and His power is at her command. The joy of the Church then is in Gods strength; and the glory of her estate is in the circumstance that He calls her His own. As the greatest anxiety of a young woman is to become the wife of the noblest of men, so the Church should forever be sensible of the favor that has made her to be the bride of the Lord.

His Name suggests His sufficiency The Lord of Hosts is His Name. Who shall stand against Him? What enemies need be feared if only we know that He is with us. Even the unbelieving Philistines held a higher conception of our infinite God than His followers sometimes voice, for when the Ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp symbol of His presenceall Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, * * and * * were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. * * Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods? that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.

When did any company of people ever go forth, God with them, to fail? It makes no difference how great a majority is against you if God be with you. Jonathan and his armour-bearer were only two against a thousand, and yet their victory was sudden and complete. Christ in the Garden was One against the mob, but God in Him made His very presence to send them back to the ground.

The Old Testament is replete with illustrations of this faith-increasing fact. Among the followers of David was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, a mighty man, who when the Philistines gathered together to battle, the men of Israel having gone away, arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword; and Jehovah wrought a great victory that day (2Sa 23:9-10).

Certainly! It was not Eleazar by the strength that was in his own arm, but because God was back of him. The Psalmist cries unto Israel to sing unto the Lord a new song, and assigns the reason For He hath done marvellous things! His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory.

Few such captains and leaders, as David, ever lived; and yet, when under his hand the treasury of the Lord was bursting with gold with which to build the House of God, David did not presume that the honors belonged to him but praised the Lord before all the congregation and said, Thine O Lord, is * * the power, and the glory, and the victory.

Paul, describing the last enemy that man shall ever have to face, inspires us with this sentence: O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

John, in his first Epistle (Joh 5:4) states the whole plan: This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Our strength is in His infinite resources. To that the text clearly refers in the sentence: The God of the whole earth shall He be called. Such indeed He is. All the earth is His, the cattle upon a thousand hills, all the silver, all the gold, all beasts, all men. The earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof.

One could almost imagine the George Keith was contemplating this text when he wrote:

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!

What more can He say than to you He hath said,

To you, who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

Fear not; I am with thee; O be not dismayed!

For I am thy God, I will still give thee aid;

Ill strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand

Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;

For I will be with thee, thy trials to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,

I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

Ill never, no, never, no, never forsake.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

THE ASTONISHING INCREASE OF THE CHURCH
(Missionary Sermon)

Isa. 54:1-3. Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear, &c.

Vast accessions to the Church are here predicted. Consider

I. The comparative sterility of the Jewish Church.

The union between God and His people is often compared to that between husband and wife (ch. 5; Isa. 62:5; Rev. 21:2-9; Rev. 22:17). The Church is here represented without inherent strength, apparently forsaken by God her head and husband, and therefore destitute of spiritual children (Gal. 4:22). Comparatively few real believerschildren of God and the Churchhad been raised up within the narrow limits of the nation. And when the Messiah came, formalism, scepticism, and open impiety had become almost universal, which caused the small remnant of the faithful to mourn for Zion. But better times would be introduced by the advent of Christ, and the accomplishment of His redemptive work. St. Paul contrasts the universal Church of the New Testament, with the Church of the Old Testament legal dispensation, quoting this very passage (Gal. 4:27; Eph. 3:5-8).

II. The surprising increase of the Christian Church.

1. Increase surpassing all experience, hope, faith. The Jews, with comparatively few exceptions, despised and rejected the Saviour, and were cast off, but numerous children were born into the Church. The Gentile converts were adopted into her family, and those nations which had been wholly destitute of Church privilegesstrangers to the covenants of promiseproduced a far larger increase of true believers than the nation of Israel, which had been married to the Lord by their national covenant and distinguished advantages. Pentecost and the Acts of the Apostlesthe first missionary record of the Church. How wonderful are these records of evangelistic triumph. Modern Christian missions not a failure, as some have the audacity to say. Their success far exceeds the most sanguine expectations of their founders. There are more conversions in heathen countries in the present day, in proportion to the number of preachers, than there are at home. What hath God wrought!

2. The full accomplishment of this prediction is yet future. The Church is as yet upon the threshold of missionary triumphs, and with but few exceptions is still doing preliminary work. All that has been done is only like a few stepping-stones towards the citadel that remains to be taken. But the accomplishment of the prediction is certain, because it is the revealed purpose of God. All difficulties shall be surmounted (Gal. 3:29, and others). The Gospel shall spread with surprising rapidityshall break forth, as the breaking forth of waters, on the right and on the lefton every side, and into every land, until the now destitute world is replenished with the adopted and rejoicing children of God (Isa. 54:3; Isa. 49:19-20).

3. With such a prospect, necessary preparations must be made (Isa. 54:2; Isa. 49:19-20, &c.). The boundaries of the Church must be greatly enlarged to accommodate the vast accessions, nor need she fear making too large preparations (Isa. 54:3; Zec. 8:20-23; Mal. 1:9-11) [1683]

[1683] This text has an interesting history as the subject of Careys memorable sermon, the preaching of which, at Nottingham, in June 1792, may be affirmed, without extravagance, to have marked an epoch in the history of modern missions. After observing that the Church was, in these words, compared to some poor, desolate widow who lived alone in a small tent, that she who thus lived in a manner forlorn and childless, was told to expect such an increase in her family as would require a much larger dwelling, and this because her Maker was her husband whose name was not only the Lord of Hosts and the Holy one of Israel, but the God of the whole earth, he proceeded to bring out the spirit of the passage in two memorable exhortations1. Expect great things from God. 2. Attempt great things for God. In private conference with his brethren immediately afterwards, Carey formally laid himself on the missionary altar, saying to Pearce and Fuller in those immortal words, I will go down into the pit, if you will hold the ropes; and so was formed the Baptist Missionary Society, and a mightier impulse given to missionary zeal all over the world.W. Guthrie, M.A.

III. The exultant joy at the astonishing increase. Common to Isaiah to interpose a song of praise on the announcement of any great and glorious truth (Isa. 12:5-6; Isa. 42:10-11; Isa. 44:23; Isa. 49:13). The Church is here called on to break out into loud and glad exclamations at the remarkable accession.

1. The joy of individual believers. Nothing so adapted to gladden the heart as the extension of the Redeemers kingdom. For every subject of saving grace is not only blessed in himself, but he is made a blessing to others, and thus Gods glory and the worlds happiness are promoted.

2. The joy of the family. Nothing conduces so much to make our homes and households glad as the salvation of the family circle. It heals their strifes, soothes their sorrows, &c.

3. The joy of the collective Church. Nothing so adapted to make a people happy (Act. 8:8; Act. 15:3). The object of Christs mission, and the Churchs labours and prayers, are realised, &c.

CONCLUSION.

1. The gradual development of Gods purposes may well rebuke our impatience as to missionary success. We are most imperfect judges of what constitutes success.
2. Our own position and duty. Be incited to activity in the Redeemers causeseek in order to save the lost, &c. Let your gifts cease to be patronage, and become sacrifice, &c.

3. Are you children of God, born from above, &c? Accept Christ as your Saviour, and yield yourselves to His blessed service, &c. (Psa. 77:1-2).A. Tucker.

THE AGGRESSIVE POWER OF CHRISTIANITY
(Missionary Sermon.)

Isa. 54:2-3. Enlarge the place of thy tent, &c.

It is pre-eminently by aggressive movements that the Church is to prosperto maintain her spiritual life and cause religion to flourish at home, and extend its triumphs abroad. The truth of this doctrine is suggested by
I. THE FIRST IMPULSES OF THE RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE, THE SPIRIT OF LOVE IN EVERY CHRISTIANS BOSOM. This is strikingly exhibited in young converts. It is illustrated with great beauty in the conduct of Christs earliest disciples. True religion is the spirit of Christ. Its language is, something must be done, &c. It conceives plans, it demands efforts, for the worlds conversion. Every real Christian that lives in the spirit of religion may consult his own consciousness on this subject. In his most favoured hours and nearest approaches to God, he will find his impulses to religious effort strongest.
II. THE FACT THAT TRUTH IS THE GRAND INSTRUMENT WHICH GOD EMPLOYS TO OVERTHROW THE KINGDOM OF SATAN, AND ADVANCE AND ESTABLISH THE KINGDOM OF HIS SON. The Word of God must not only be translated into all the languages of the earth, but it must be carried to every mans door; nay, its great truths must be pressed home upon every mans conscience. What a mighty work here opens for Christians of every name!

III. THE VERY ATTITUDE OF A FALLEN WORLD TOWARD GOD. It is one of hostility to His character and opposition to His truth (Joh. 3:19-20). The world will not come to the Church and crave instruction at her lips. As her Saviour sought her, so He requires her to seek sinners. She must make external and aggressive movementsmust not study so much her own comfort as her enlargement. And this general rule of duty for the Church as a body applies to each member of the Church individually. So Christ teaches.

IV. THE WHOLE CURRENT OF SCRIPTURE PRECEPT AND REPRESENTATION. The Bible never instructs the Church that she is to conquer the world by her passive virtues, nor by any means which aim chiefly at conservation rather than aggression (Mat. 28:18-19, and others).

V. THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE GOSPEL. When has any signal advance been made in the work of human salvation, except by a movement similar to that described in the text? Christs great redeeming enterprisewhat was it but one of aggression? His was a missionary career: He went about doing good. The Mosaic institution was peculiar. It was conservative rather than aggressive. Still, it was true then as now, that religion made no decided progress, even in Israel, except as the servants of the Lord made specific movements for this purpose. If this aspect of things strikes us in the Old Testament dispensation, how much more in that of the New? Mark how faithfully the first preachers of the Gospel carried out their Divine commission. Turn to a still later page in the history of the Church. How was it at the Reformation? When Whitfield and Wesley appeared? Just in proportion as any Church, in the spirit of Christ, attempts spiritual aggression, in the same proportion its interests are smiled upon and prospered.

REMARKS:

1. We see why the Church is organised. Pre-eminently, with a view to united and powerful external action.

2. The grand object of all preaching. The conversion of sinners.

3. This subject throws light upon the providences of God towards the Church. Now, as in former days, He allows heresies, persecutions, schisms, and various forms of affliction, from time to time, to invade the Church, thereby quickening our love for Christ and for souls.J. H. Linsley, D.D.: The Preachers Treasury, part iii., p. 55, &c.

CHEER FOR THE CHURCH

Isa. 54:4-5. Fear not for thy Maker is thine husband, &c.

I. THE ENCOURAGEMENT TO BE DERIVED FROM THE POWER AND GRACE OF THE GREAT HEAD OF THE CHURCH.
Here is the happy union of opposite attributesthe union of Majesty and Mercy, of the utmost grandeur and the utmost tenderness, &c. Here are certain relations specified, thy Maker, &c., and the infinite resources specified by which those relations are sustained: The Lord of Hosts, &c.

1. Thy Makertherefore trust Him. Gods power as a Creator is adequate to all the exigencies in which His people can be placed (Isa. 51:12-13; Isa. 40:27-29; Job. 10:9; Job. 35:10).

2. Thy husbandtherefore trust Him. A title which combines all the charities of all other relationships (Eph. 5:25-27). A relation that cannot be brokenall others may (Isa. 1:1; Hos. 2:17; Hos. 2:20).

3. Thy Redeemertherefore trust Him (Job. 19:25; Gal. 4:4-5). Christ became a member of the human family, and stood forth as our near kinsman, our Gol, to whom the right of inheritance belonged. He did not refuse the office. Whom God redeems He exalts, and restores to all the privileges and immunities of which sin had deprived us. Gods salvation is every way infinite; the extinction of an infinite evil, the bestowment of an infinite good, &c.

4. The Holy One of Israeltherefore trust Him. Every provision is made under the Gospel to uphold the obligations of the law, and to guard the legislative administration of the Blessed and only Potentate. The redeemed family is under most binding obligations to obedience, love, &c.

5. The Lord of Hosts, the God of the whole earththerefore trust Him. Infinite greatness is here combined with infinite goodness; the supremacy of dominion with the divinity of kindness, &c.

II. THE PRACTICAL INFLUENCE OF THESE CONSIDERATIONS.

1. As a dissuasive from fear. If the frequency of this exhortation supposes there is much to fear in the estimation of nature, it also supposes that there is more than enough to raise us above fear in the estimation of Grace. Comfort to every real Christian is richly furnished from the mighty power of God. Goodness is sufficient to make a promise, but Power is necessary to perform a promise. In God there is no limit to His willingness, &c. Trust this power in the performance of duty, in the resistance of temptations, in the endurance of trial, &c.

2. As a persuasive to hope.

3. As an incentive to exertion.

4. As a plea to be constantly urged in prayer.Samuel Thodey.

GOD THE HUSBAND OF THE CHURCH

Isa. 54:5. Thy Maker is thine husband.

In exhibiting His wonderful grace to man, God stoops and assumes the most endearing relationship to him. How surprising that the Monarch of the skies should condescend to represent Himself the husband of His people. Yet He did so to wayward, rebellious Israel, and He does so to all who constitute His Church or people now. Each believer may consider the text as addressed to him.
I. THE UNION SPECIFIED. When rightly formed it is

1. Grounded in love, which is immeasurablesurpassing all created understanding.

2. Most intimate and endearing. There is a community of interests, and the connexion is one of the most close that can be formed. The apostle refers to this in several passages.

3. Most abiding. Believers yield themselves to be His for ever. God engages to be their present salvation, and everlasting portion and reward.

4. Entirely mutual. Personal interest is lost, and the mutual interests of both is the professed end of this union. The husband careth for the things of his wife, and the wife for the things of her husband. Thus God manifests His sympathy, love, and care, for His Church. And the Church professes in all things to show forth the glory of God. She engages to hallow His name, to revere His laws, to maintain His ordinances, and to show forth everywhere His praises, by devout and fervent thanksgiving to His name.

II. THE FORMATION OF THIS UNION.

1. It originated in Gods amazing love. He purposed mans restoration to Himself. He determined to raise him to dignity and bliss, and this through the conjugal union with Himself.

2. It was rendered possible by the work of Jesus Christ (2Co. 5:19).

3. To this union God invites sinners in His blessed Gospel (Mat. 22:1-13). The great end of the Gospel is to bring men to a state of gracious and saving union with God.

4. This union is consummated on the day when the believer yields himself to God.

III. THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS UNION TO BELIEVERS.

1. It is their exaltation. This is rank and elevation above that of angels. Dignity which human language cannot express.

2. It is their unspeakable riches. The blessed God, in all His attributes and glories, is their portion, and present and eternal reward. All are yours, &c. Heirs of God.

3. It is their present blessedness. Brings comfort, peace, &c.

4. It will be their everlasting salvation. The very essence of that glory and happiness which the redeemed will enjoy for ever. This will annihilate all sources of evil.

APPLICATION.

1. From this union various duties and obligations arise. Love, reverence, subjection, obedience, fidelity, confidence, and dependence. Zeal for His glory; jealousy for His honour; activity in His service; and entire devotedness to His cause.

2. Urge upon sinners immediate self-dedication to God. Every possible reason and motive should induce them so to do. This is the basis of all good.J. Burns, LL.D.: Sketches on Types, &c., pp. 122126.

Both Testaments abound with striking metaphors, which exemplify the dear and intimate union which subsists between Christ and those who compose His Church. He calls them friends, children, brethren, &c. But no metaphor shows the tender and peculiar regard which Christ has to His Church, equal to this. How gracious the condescension, how endearing the appellation!
I. THE GLORIOUS DIGNITY OF THE BRIDEGROOM. He is

1. Thy Maker.

2. The Lord of Hosts. And who are these hosts? (Psalms 148)

3. Thy Redeemer. He assumed flesh in order that He might be your near kinsman, that in that nature He might have a right to redeem you. But how did He redeem? He gave Himself.
4. The Holy One of Israel.
5. The God of the whole earth.

II. THE NATURE OF THIS UNION.

1. It is a union which springs entirely from grace. What else can it be on His part? What can charm Him, to unite Himself to thee?
2. It is a union accomplished by Almighty power. One would suppose that it were enough for the Lord of all to present Himself to the heart, for that heart immediately to open. Yet, strange to say, the moment these propositions are made, the human heart is barred against all enjoyments of the kind: it will not receive this heavenly lover. But in some favoured happy day He passes by, and the time is a time of love: He speaks, and the heart opens.

3. It is a spiritual union (Eph. 5:32; 1Co. 6:17).

4. A very blessed union. Think of
(1.) The Dignity of those who are united to Him. Their name; their inheritance; their prospects. To be united with Christ for ever, in holiness, &c.
(2.) Their present privileges, communion, support, protection, &c.

III. THE TERMS OF THE UNION.

1. A total divorce from all other lords. If you are wedded to sin, or to the world, or to the law, until you are divorced there is no union with Christ. Are you ready to break your allegiance to the world and sin? If so, then, on these terms you may come to Christ.
2. The mutual consent of both parties. Christ is willing. His invitations, His appeals, His voluntary death on your behalf are proofs. Sinner, are you willing?

CONCLUSION.Congratulate such as are already united to Him. What a blessed people are you!J. Sherman: The Pulpit, vol. i. pp. 465474.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

VIII. COMMUNION THROUGH GODS COVENANT
CHAPTERS 5459

A. WED TO THE LORD IN COVENANT RELATIONSHIP
CHAPTER 54

1. RECONCILED

TEXT: Isa. 54:1-8

1

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith Jehovah.

2

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.

3

For thou shalt spread abroad on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall possess the nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

4

Fear not;.for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth; and the reproach of thy widowhood shalt thou remember no more.

5

For thy Maker is thy husband; Jehovah of hosts is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is thy Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall he be called.

6

For Jehovah hath called thee as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off, saith thy God.

7

For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

8

In overflowing wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting lovingkindness will I have mercy on thee, saith Jehovah thy Redeemer.

QUERIES

a.

Who is the barren one?

b.

Why enlarge the place of her tent?

c.

When did God forsake her?

PARAPHRASE

When the Suffering Servant of God accomplishes His work, O Zion, My covenant people you will sing and shout for joy. You have not been able to produce spiritual offspring; you have been like a childless woman. You have been cast off by your Husband-God because you sinned against Him, but through the reconciling work of the Messiah you shall have more children than you had when you were married. Prepare yourself to accept the expansion of Gods kingdom beyond your present nation because through the Messiah, God is going to establish a kingdom that stretches to the ends of the earth. The offspring that shall be given you through the Servant will include people from every nation on the earth. The Servant will also take away the humiliation of your present barrenness. You will not suffer the reproach of spiritual barrenness again, because the God who created you is also your Husband. The Faithful Covenant God, Jehovahthe Holy One of IsraelThe Sovereign, Omnipotent God of all creationHe is your Redeemer. This is the God who has promised to betroth you to Himself through the Servant, even though He has forsaken you and cast you off because of your unfaithfulness. I will cast you off into captivity for only a short time, but My mercy extended to you through the Servant will be great. In a flood of wrath I will turn away from protecting you for a short time, but I will love you and be kind to you forever through the Servant.

COMMENTS

Isa. 54:1-4 REPOPULATED: The result of the Suffering Servants redemptive work (Isa. 52:13 to Isa. 53:12) shall be a prolific spiritual offspring. He is to bring many sons to glory (Heb. 2:10-13). That is why Zion (Gods faithful remnant in the O.T. which will become His church in the N.T.) is told to break forth into singing. The physical descendants of Abraham (cf. Gen. 12:1-3; Gen. 17:2-8, etc.) did not produce spiritually as they should have. Most of his offspring turned to idolatry and ungodliness. Jerusalem, the holy city, was barren of spiritual children except for a small remnant of faithful (cf. Isa. 8:16). But when the Servant shall have completed His work Israel shall produce spiritual offspring prolifically (cf. Gal. 3:29). Jerusalem cannot produce because God, her Husband has forsaken her on account of her sins. She will be given over to captivity for a season. But the time will come when she will produce more children than a woman who had never been forsaken (cf. Isa. 49:18-26; Isa. 51:1-3; Zec. 2:1-5; Hos. 1:10-11). She will produce a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues . . . (Rev. 7:9).

Inasmuch as the new Jerusalem (the Messiahs kingdom, the church) is to produce an innumerable offspring, she will need to enlarge her tent. Jehovah instructs the people of Isaiahs day to stretch their faith to accept an expanded concept of the Messiahs kingdom. God is going to extend covenant relationship to more than Jews; He is going to include the nations. Ezekiels vision of the glorified temple, land, city and priesthood (Ezekiel 40-48) is a graphic, figurative prophecy of the immense enlargement which will be necessary for the coming messianic kingdom. Ezekiels temple was never intended to be literally built. It is hyperbole. The terumah (most holy place RSV, Eze. 48:12) measures about 2500 square miles, nearly twice as large as the whole area of geographic Judea! The rebuilt temple (Eze. 40:2) of Ezekiel was 500 reeds (4500 square feet), larger than the literal Jerusalem of Ezekiels day or our day. Ezekiels exaggerated temple, land and city are visionary predictions of the enlargement of the messianic age. Micah predicts, A day for the building of your walls! In that day (the messianic age) the boundary shall be far extended . . . (Mic. 7:11 f).

Jehovahs people are to take comfort in the fact that their redemption draws nigh. The finished work of the Servant is now on the prophetic horizon (Isaiah 53), therefore, Zion need no longer look upon her temporary captivity and indignation with hopelessness. She shall forget all her shame when the Servant comes and takes her, shame upon Himself. The reproach associated with barrennesss will be forgotten when she begins to produce spiritual children through the gospel, She will then be the church of Christ without spot or blemish (Eph. 5:25-27).

Isa. 54:5-8 REUNITED: Through the Servant, Jehovah will reclaim His wife. Jehovah will be reunited, remarried to His people in a new covenant relationship (cf. Isa. 56:6-8; Jer. 31:27-34; Eze. 37:24-28; etc.). The Old covenant will pass away and be remembered no more (cf. Jer. 3:15-18). They must remember that the prophet Isaiah is speaking the promise of Almighty God. They must find their reasons for singing and shouting and for overcoming their shame and hopelessness in the fact that these are promises of Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth! Jehovah will call back His forsaken wife (cf. Eze. 16:53-63; Hos. 1:10-11; Hos. 2:14-23; Hos. 3:1-5), through the messianic covenant. The Lord will forsake Zion for only a short time (during the indignation; see our comments, Daniel, Dan. 8:19; Dan. 11:36, College Press) compared with the time He will show His great mercy to Zion. The indignation will last only 600 years (from the captivities until the Christ). But Jehovah will show everlasting lovingkindness to Zion.

The interesting thing about this passage in which the Lord refers to His reconciliation to His wife is that it is to include the nations (goiym, Gentiles). The Gentiles will be called into the new covenant relationship and be a part of the bride of Christ. Although the prophets predicted it and the Christ taught it, many of the Jews could never accept it. It took even some of the apostles a few years to understand and accept it (cf. Acts 10, 11, 15; Galatians 2, etc.).

QUIZ

1.

What is the basis for Zions singing and shouting?

2.

Where in the Prophets do we have a visionary picture of the enlargement of Zion to receive the messianic multitudes?

3.

What is the basis of Zions being able to forget her shame?

4.

How long did God forsake her?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

LIV.

(1) Sing, O barren . . .The words seem to carry on the jubilant strain of Isaiah 51, Isa. 52:1-12, leaving the section Isa. 52:13 to Isa. 53:12, as a mysterious episode. inserted, it may be, by the prophet to show how it was that the restoration of Israel and the victory of righteousness had become possible. We note, as bearing on Isaiahs studies, the parallelism with 1Sa. 2:5. The children of the desolate are primarily the returning exiles, ultimately all the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1. Sing, O barren, etc. These words seem to be addressed to Jerusalem, the true metropolis of the renewed nation, the ancient seat of the Church of the Old Testament. She is compared to Abraham’s wife, Sarah, for her long-continued barrenness, and subsequent bearing of One through whom Abraham became the father of many nations. The true Israel, long deprived of genuine descendants, has now the ban of barrenness removed. Let her exult, sing in loudest strains, on occasion of the great joy which has come upon her. She has not, indeed, been entirely childless: but the time of her marvelous increase in this regard has now arrived.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Sec. 3. MESSIAH AND THE GOSPEL, Isa 52:11 to Isa 55:13.

Thus far in this chapter is treated the case of an exalted Church passing, step by step, through suffering and deliverances into the purity of the typical holy Zion; from this point the view is turned again to the “Servant” of Jehovah, through whom the prophet has seen the Church to be redeemed. The portrait of a suffering servant is here filled out in detail, as a side-piece (Delitzsch) to the liberation and deliverance of Zion-Jerusalem already just depicted. He has conducted his people through suffering to glory.

This picture is to show, not only that Messiah’s earthly pathway, as our Mediator, is to be through intense, but voluntary, suffering, but also that it is in his heart also to suffer for and instead of, as well as with, his people.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Restoration of God’s Erring Wife ( Isa 54:1-10 ).

In this chapter we have the gradual unfolding of the work of the Servant. God will prosper His true people in the future so that they will multiply and expand. And they must go forward in confidence with God as their Maker, experiencing His everlasting mercy until that final day when they will enjoy being with Him for ever to experience His everlasting mercy to the full.

She Who Was Barren will Become Fruitful And Enjoy His Everlasting Mercy ( Isa 54:1-10 ).

Isa 54:1

‘Sing, O barren, you who did not bear.

Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child,

For more are the children of the desolate

Than the children of the married wife, says Yahweh.’

The work of the Servant will result in singing and rejoicing, for as a result of His work barren Israel will produce many children. The wording ‘sing O barren, you who did not bear’ is reminiscent of Gen 11:30. So just as it was from the barren Sarah that the old Israel came, now from His barren people will come the new Israel. But there is also a great difference, for the new barren one is not a deserving married wife but one desolate because of her past sins. And yet in God’s grace she who is least deserving will bear more children even than Sarah who produced Abraham’s seed through Isaac and his descendants. The new Israel will far outnumber the old. And she who had not undergone the pain of childbirth (another has borne it for her) will produce children so profusely that they will be more than could be borne by a married wife. These will be the seed of the Servant (Isa 53:10). Once again the Servant is linked with Abraham.

For as the Servant’s seed go out from Jerusalem (Isa 2:2-3; Isa 52:11-12), and as they depart with God’s instruction (the Law) to the world, together with what they have heard concerning the Servant, they will find that the nations will respond and they will be fruitful, thus producing many ‘children’. And as they go out they themselves go out as the Servant, in the Servant’s name, to produce His seed, fulfilling God’s promises to ‘Abraham His servant’, of seed like the sand of the seashore.

Isa 54:2

‘Enlarge the place of your tent,

And let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations.

Do not spare.

Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.’

So great will be their seed that they will need a larger tent, and to have a larger tent is an indication of increased status. They must therefore enlarge their tents and spread them wide, sparing no material, lengthening the cords and strengthening the stakes, so that there will be room for all to dwell in. The tent is symbolic of the ideal time in the wilderness (Jer 2:2-3) when they were faithful to Yahweh and did His will. David ideally ruled from His tent (Isa 16:5) and the ideal Jerusalem will be an everlasting tent (Isa 33:20). Furthermore in Amo 9:11-12, as cited in Act 15:15-18, it is the tent of David which has fallen down that has to be re-established, so that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and the Gentiles on whom His name is called. That ideal time is now being reproduced.

Isa 54:3

‘For you will spread abroad on the right hand, and on the left.

And your seed will possess the nations,

And make the desolate cities to be inhabited.’

They themselves will produce a multiplicity of children, for they will ‘spread abroad’ on both sides, having an abundance of children, and they will possess the nations (see Deu 9:1; Deu 11:23) and rebuild their desolate cities, in order to inhabit them. Because her desolation (Isa 54:1) has been removed, her desolate cities can be restored. The picture is one of growth and expansion benefiting both themselves and the world. These cities will not be like Babylon. They will be cities of the redeemed. And they will all be the seed of the Servant as a result of His offering for sin (Isa 53:10).

The main idea behind the producing of children in this section is that of establishing the new Israel through the spreading of the message of the Servant. But parallel with it we may also see a profusion of naturally born children, a sign of God’s blessing on His faithful people. It will be a sign that all is now right between them and God.

The possession of the nations was always seen as an ultimate goal of Israel in their roles as a kingdom of priests and it is to be fulfilled through the Davidic king (Psa 2:8)

Isa 54:4-5

Do not be afraid, for you will not be ashamed,

Nor be confounded, for you will not be put to shame,

For you will forget the shame of your youth,

And the reproach of you widowhood you will remember no more.

For your Maker is your husband,

Yahweh of hosts is his name,

And the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer,

The God of the whole earth will he be called.’

Through the work of the Servant the reconciliation to God of His true people will now be completed. Their Maker will once more be their husband. So they will no longer need to feel confounded or be ashamed, or be treated shamefully because of their status. They will be able to forget the shame of their youth, their first sins; and the reproach of their widowhood, their period of separation from Him. Their whole past will be forgotten (Isa 43:25; Isa 44:21-22). For they will now be fully restored. They will be reunited with Him Who created them, Yahweh of hosts, the Holy One of Israel their Redeemer, Who will now be called the God of the whole earth.

That her ‘Maker is her husband’ removes from the simile of husband any fear of it degrading Yahweh. It is as her Creator that He is her husband, and she is His helpmeet (compare and contrast Hosea 1-2), not through some mystical ceremony.

Note the descriptions. He is the Creator, and especially their Maker, He is Yahweh over the hosts of heaven and earth, He is the unique and holy Holy One of Israel, He is their Redeemer, and He will now be acknowledged as God of the whole earth for the nations are coming under His sway. In a sense history is summarised here. Creator of the world and Maker of man, Lord of heaven and earth, Chooser and unique One of Israel, and now God of the whole earth, so that her children are seen as covering the whole earth. And the restoration is due to the work of the Servant.

Isa 54:6-8

‘For Yahweh has called you as a wife forsaken, and grieved in spirit,

Even a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.

For a small moment have I forsaken you,

But with great mercies will I gather you.

In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment,

But with everlasting kindness (covenant love) will I have mercy on you,

Says Yahweh your redeemer.’

It is now stressed that their period of darkness will be over. They had been like a young wife who had sinned grievously and as a result had been ‘cast off’ and left with her family, who now regrets bitterly what she has done. The picture is vivid for the state of such a wife was unenviable. Her life has been ruined. No one else of worth will want her. She will have no children. She must while away her life in shame and grief.

But then she finds that her Husband, having put aside His anger at her sin, comes for her again and with great compassion and mercy and love, gathers her to Himself and showers kindness on her.

Thus will God do for the repentant of undeserving Israel. After her short period of forsakenness He will gather her with great mercies, revealing His undeserved goodness towards her, and will shower on her everlasting kindness. Her everlasting future will be one of bliss because of His unfailing grace. Once again the everlastingness of His benefits is stressed. This is the eternal kingdom. The word for kindness is chesed, ‘covenant love’. It is the kindness that results from His having set His love on her as confirmed in the covenant.

Note the contrast between the smallness of the moment and the greatness of the mercies, and the hiding of His face ‘for a moment’ compared with His ‘everlasting’ kindness. What has been lost is as nothing compared with what she will receive. But note also that His anger cannot be described as small, for her sins were great. So the overflowing nature of His wrath (it was no small sin of which they were guilty) is also stressed, lest she overlook how guilty she was.

However, that overflowing wrath, which has been borne by the Servant in chapter 53, is now replaced with His everlasting kindness resulting from His mercy. And finally it is stressed that He does this as her Redeemer. He has delivered her from her sad state through the exercise of His power and the willing offering in sacrifice of His Servant. She has been bought with a price, and set free from those who enslaved her.

The word for ‘overflowing’ (shetseph), which is used to produce an assonance with ‘wrath’ (qetseph), appears only here. It is usually connected with sheteph (a flood, overflowing) a term more regularly used by Isaiah, the more unusual word being used to produce the assonance.

Isa 54:9-10

‘For this is as the waters of Noah to me.

For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth,

So have I sworn that I would not be wrath with you or rebuke you.

For the mountains will depart, and the hills be removed,

But my kindness (covenant love) will not depart from you,

Nor will my covenant of peace be removed,

Says Yahweh who has mercy on you.’

His overflowing wrath is now compared with the waters of Noah, which overflowed the world as a result of His anger against sin previously (Gen 6:6-7). And just as He swore then that He would never again flood the earth, so now He swears that He will not be angry with them nor rebuke them again for ever. For though the mountains depart and the hills be removed, His covenant love will never depart from them and His covenant of peace will never be removed from them. The mountains and hills were always looked on as the surest and firmest thing in the world, but they are not as sure and firm as His future kindness and the certainty of His covenant of peace which will last for ever. And this is all due to God’s mercy.

So just as He previously made an everlasting covenant that such a great flood would never happen again (Gen 9:16), now He makes a similar covenant that His wrath and rebuke will never again overflow them. This must refer to the everlasting kingdom where all is perfection. It is the result of the actions of the Servant. Those who are His are bound in a covenant which cannot be broken.

Note the recognition that the earth must finally come to an end so that the mountains and hills will be removed. There is no denial in this passage of God’s final judgment. The earth must finally be destroyed. But the point is that His own will survive all that is coming, sailing through it in the ark of His kindness and in His covenant of peace, knowing that for them His wrath has been removed, in so far as it affects them, for ever (compare Isa 9:7; Isa 26:12; Isa 32:17-18; Isa 52:7; and see 1Pe 3:20-22).

The implications here are enormous. The only reason that God can guarantee no further anger or wrath must lie in His certainty that once finally redeemed, His people will be faithful to His covenant with them and will serve Him faithfully for ever. They will not only be accounted righteous, they will be made righteous (Isa 4:3; Isa 26:2; Isa 27:6; Isa 32:3-4). And the second implication, stated as a fact, is that the world will pass away, to be replaced, as we learn later, by a new heaven and a new earth.

‘Nor will my covenant of peace be removed.’ Now we know why the Servant was earlier called the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6). It is through Him that the covenant of peace has been sealed. He has enabled peace, as the mediator (making atonement and intercession – Isa 53:10-12) between God in His antipathy against sin, and man in His sinfulness. And He has done it through the sacrifice of Himself, by bearing their sin on Himself, where God had ‘made it to meet’ on Him (Isa 53:6), so that they might become guiltless. So, as is always stressed, their salvation is as a result of the direct activity of God. The covenant is God’s covenant, made by His undeserved grace and favour; and the offering up of His Servant is the means by which it was sealed and accomplished. Here is the blood of the new covenant which was shed for us and for many for the remission of sins (Mat 26:28; Mar 14:24) which has resulted in peace from God and peace with God. The chastisement of our peace was on Him (Isa 53:5). And it is all at the word of Yahweh.

Some read ‘as the days of Noah’ rather than ‘as the waters of Noah’, making a slight amendment, but the change is not necessary. The repetition of the phrase ‘waters of Noah’ adds to the power of the statement and lays stress on the instrument of judgment. His wrath and reproach were as the waters of Noah, and like the waters of Noah will in future be restrained. And this is possible because His wrath and reproach has been borne by another.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Isa 54:1  Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.

Isa 54:1 “for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife” Comments – Clement of Rome says, “[He means] that our people seemed to be outcast from God, but now, through believing, have become more numerous than those who are reckoned to possess God.”( The Second Epistle of Clement 2) [76] That is, the Gentile believers are becoming more numerous than Jewish believers.

[76] Clement of Rome, The Second Epistle of Clement, trans. John Keith, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9, ed. Allan Menzies (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1906), 251.

Isa 54:9  For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.

Isa 54:9 Comments – The flood waters of judgment upon the wickedness in Noah’s time, promised never to be used again, is compared here to God’s use of Israel’s enemy nations. These nations were used of God to bring judgment upon Israel (Gen 9:11).

Gen 9:11, “And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Isa 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.

Isa 54:10 Comments – The new covenant will be an everlasting covenant. It will be established through Christ Jesus at His First Coming to usher in the Kingdom of God. The Church will be grafted into the vine of Israel at this time. At His Second Coming, Israel’s redemption will be fulfilled as Jesus Christ rules and reigns from Jerusalem during the thousand-year Millennial Reign. The nation of Israel will be redeemed and God’s peace will never be removed from her midst again.

Isa 54:11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.

Isa 54:12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.

Isa 54:11-12 “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted” Comments – The description of Israel’s affliction in Isa 54:11 refers to God’s judgment of His people.

“behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones” – Comments – The building made of precious stones described in Isa 54:11-12 is reflective of the glorious, heavenly temple, and is figurative of God building a house of righteous here on earth, which means establishing a righteous people. This will be fulfilled initially in the establishment of the Kingdom of God as Christ’s First Coming, and completed at His Second Coming when Israel’s redemption is complete.

Isa 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

Isa 54:13 “And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD” Comments – Jesus quotes Isa 54:13 in Joh 6:45 within the context of His testimony as the bread of life sent from the Father, just as God sent manna to Israel in the wilderness. Jesus told the Jews that those who hear and receive His testimony, and who know the Father, will come to Jesus also and learn of Him by partaking of His blood and body. Note how God gives children to the desolate earlier in this passage in Isa 54:1-3. The desolate would refer to someone who longs for redemption.

Isa 54:13 “and great shall be the peace of thy children” Comments – This peace comes because Israel’s cities are fortified from the enemy. Israel will be walking in dominion and authority, being taught by the Holy Spirit (Joh 6:45). This prophecy is initially fulfilled in the Church, which is grafted into the vine of Israel, and completed in its fulfillment at Christ’s Second Coming to establish His throne in Jerusalem.

Joh 6:45, “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.”

Isa 54:14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

Isa 54:14 “In righteousness shalt thou be established” Comments – That is, by walking in the divine laws of righteousness, which are the divine laws of faith and love, they will be established and dwell in peace. They will also be established by walking in the authority of God’s Word through faith in the name of Jesus.

Isa 54:14 “thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee” Comments – Kenneth Copeland said that terrorism is a planned form of fear that comes against God’s people. [77]

[77] Kenneth Copeland, Believer’s Voice of Victory (Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Fort Worth, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program.

Isa 54:15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.

Isa 54:15 “Behold, they shall surely gather together” Comments – That is, oppression, fear and terror will join forces together and operate in the lives of those who are bound by the laws of sin and death.

“but not by me” – Comments – After the resurrection of Christ Jesus God will be working to redeem mankind under the laws of love. It is the curses that are working in the lives of those who reject the Gospel of Christ Jesus, but not because God wants man cursed; for Jesus, His Beloved Son, has now become the curse for mankind.

Isa 54:16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

Isa 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

Isa 54:17 “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn” Comments – Notice that Isa 54:17 does not say that no weapon will be formed against us; rather, it declares that when this takes place, it will not prosper against us. Therefore, we must learn how to stand against the wiles of the enemy (Eph 6:10-18).

Isa 54:17 “their righteousness is of me” Scripture Reference – See:

Rom 5:1, “ Therefore being justified by faith , we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”

Isa 54:16-17 Comments – The most powerful weapons of this period of ancient history were metallic weapons, made of iron and bronze. Thus, all other weapons of wood and stone were inferior. This passage says that the most powerful weapons of the enemy shall not prosper against God’s children who will stand in righteousness and judge the enemy.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Israel’s Redemption – The chapters that follow the prophecy of Christ’s sufferings in Isa 53:1-12 tell the children of God to rejoice; for Christ has given them the victory over sin, death and the grave. However, these chapters speak of Christ’s redemption from the perspective of the nation of Israel rather than from the perspective of the Gentiles; for the book of Isaiah contains prophecies of the future destiny of Israel. Later in redemptive history, the Church will be grafted into these prophecies as members of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Lord’s Promise to Relieve Zion’s Barrenness

v. 1. Sing, O barren, in joyful shouting, thou that didst not bear, the Jewish Church being for a while forsaken of God and therefore destitute of spiritual children; break forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child, while the affliction of the dispersion was upon her; for more are the children of the desolate, of her who had for a time been forsaken by the Lord, her Husband, than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. During the exile the house of David was rejected by God, the worship of Jehovah in Jerusalem had ceased, and prophecy had been reduced in amount. Therefore the message of salvation was heard by a few only, and no new believers were gained. With the restoration of Israel, however, and especially in the Messianic era, this condition would once more be changed in such a manner that Zion would have a greater number of spiritual children than ever.

v. 2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, to make room for the increased number of spiritual children, and let them, the servants, stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations, the various sections which made up the large tent of the wealthy; spare not, do not hold back; lengthen thy cords, to accommodate the increased area of the tent, and strengthen thy stakes, substituting stronger pins for those used till now;

v. 3. for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, on account of the rapid increase in children of the Gospel; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited, the picture being taken from the former warfare against the heathen and signifying the spiritual conquest of the Gentile world through the preaching of the Gospel.

v. 4. Fear not, in doubt as to the truth and certainty of the promise given, for thou shalt not be ashamed, not experience another rejection at the hand of the Lord; neither be thou confounded, made the object of ridicule and contempt, for thou shalt not be put to shame; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, the time of the bondage in Egypt, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more, the time of the Babylonian captivity.

v. 5. For thy Maker is thine Husband, or “Thy Husband is He who made thee,” the almighty Lord of the universe; the Lord of hosts is His name, the great God of the covenant; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, who in the zeal of His love for His people over-throws the power of the enemies. The God of the whole earth shall He be called, whose absolute power and authority are a guarantee to the Church of its future greatness and glory. God is ever and in all places the Redeemer and Vindicator of His people, a strong Rock of refuge to those that trust in Him.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

SECTION IV.A RENEWAL OF PROMISES TO ISRAEL, COMBINED WITH EXHORTATION (CH. 54-56:8).

EXPOSITION

Isa 54:1-10

A PROMISE TO ISRAEL OF GREAT INCREASE, AND OF GOD‘S PERSISTENT PROTECTION. There is no close connection between this chapter and the last, or even between this section and the preceding. Isa 54:1-5 take up the thought of Isa 49:19-21, and expand it. Israel is assured of a great enlargement of her numbers, and bidden to rejoice thereat. She is then further comforted with a promise that she shall never be forsaken (Isa 49:6-10).

Isa 54:1

Sing, O barren. Israel in captivity is addressed as “barren,” because, in the time of suffering, her numbers rather diminished than increased. Still, she is bidden to “sing” on account of the prospect that is opening upon her. She that is now desolate and solitary will soon have more children than she formerly had, when she was a married wife, enjoying the fellowship of Jehovah, her Husband (Isa 54:5). The “children” spoken of are in part those who gathered themselves together in Jerusalem and the adjacent territory after the issue of the decree of Cyrus (1Ch 9:2-34; Ezr 2:1-65; Ezr 8:1-20; Neh 7:6-72; Neh 11:3-36), but mainly such as flocked in from the Gentiles, both before and after Christ’s coming (see Isa 54:3).

Isa 54:2

Enlarge the place of thy tent (comp. Isa 33:20 and Jer 10:20). The memory of the old nomadic life caused the “tent” to be the symbol and representative of the dwelling-place. Israel will have so many more children that her “tent” will need enlarging. The curtains; i.e. the tent-cloth (comp. Exo 26:1-37 and Exo 36:1-38; where the word used occurs repeatedly). Thy cords thy stakes (comp. Exo 35:18; Exo 39:40, etc.). The ropes and tent-pegs, which kept the tent-cloth in place, are intended. The enlargement of the tent would make longer ropes and larger pegs necessary.

Isa 54:3

For thou shalt break forth; or, thou shalt increase (see Gen 30:30, Gen 30:43; Exo 1:12). An overflow, like that of the bursting out of water, is pointed at. On the right hand and on the left; i.e. “on all sides” (comp. Gen 28:14). Thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles. The Christian Church is viewed as a continuation of the Jewish Church; and the conversion of nation after nation to the gospel is regarded as the extension of Jewish dominion over fresh lands. The cities of these landsdesolate hitherto, i.e. without godly inhabitantswill under these circumstances come to be inhabited; i.e. will be peopled by faithful men.

Isa 54:4

Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth; rather, of thy maidenhood; i.e. of the time when thou wert a maiden, before by the covenant of Sinai Jehowth became thy Husband (Isa 54:5). The “shame” of this period was ‘the Egyptian bondage. Israel’s later condition would be such that the very recollection of this bondage would fade away and cease. The reproach of thy widowhood. Israel became a “widow” when Jehovah withdrew his presence from her, when the Shechinah disappeared from the temple, and the temple itself was destroyed, and Jerusalem was a desolation, and the people captives in a far land. The special “reproach of her widowhood” was the Babylonian captivity, with the sins that had brought it about. This too would be forgotten in the good time to come, amid the glories of the Messianic kingdom.

Isa 54:5

For thy Maker is thine Husband; rather, for thy Husband is thy Maker. The verse is exegetical of the terms, “married with” in Isa 54:1, and “widowhood” in Isa 54:4. “I,” says the prophet, “have called thee married and widowed, thereby yoking thee to a husband, for thou hast a Husband, namely, thy Maker.” (The Hebrew has both words in the plural, to accord with the following Elohim.) This relationship of God to his Church is often asserted by the prophets (Jer 3:14; Jer 31:32; Hos 2:19; So Hos 1:4, etc.), and lies at the root of the oft-recurring metaphor by which idolatry is called “lewdness,” “adultery,” or “playing the whore.” Thy Redeemer the Holy One; rather, thy Redeemer is the Holy One. (On the title itself, see the comment on Isa 1:4.) The God of the whole earth (comp. Psa 24:1; Psa 47:2, Psa 47:7; Psa 133:1-3 :18, etc.). Materially, he was always this. Now, from this time, he will be “God of the whole earth” morally; not God of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles (see Rom 3:29).

Isa 54:6

For the Lord hath called thee; i.e. recalled thee to himselfsummoned thee to return, and once more resume the office of a wife. As a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit; i.e. as one whom her husband has cast off, and whose spirit is grieved by the repudiation. No doubt a large number of the captives had the same spirit of penitence as Daniel (Dan 9:5-19). A wife of youth. One wooed and won in youth, therefore more dearly loved, more regretfully repudiated, more joyfully restored when seen to be penitent. When thou wast refused; rather, when she has been cast off. Jehovah takes back Israel into the old relationship, as a man takes back “the wife of his youth,” when she has been for a long time “cast off.“

Isa 54:7, Isa 54:8

For a small moment have I forsaken thee. The sixty or seventy years of the Captivity were but as a moment of time compared with the long ages during which God had tenderly watched over and protected his Church, and, still more, compared with the eternity during which he was now about to show himself her constant Guardian and Protector. There had been a little wrath; or rather, one burst of wrath; and then Mercy had resumed her sway. The face hid for a moment had been allowed once more to shine upon the afflicted people; and the momentary indignation would be followed by, and swallowed up in, ever-lasting kindness.

Isa 54:9

This is as the waters of Noah unto me. The existing calamityIsrael submerged in the flood of Babylonian captivity-is as it were a repetition of the calamity of the Deluge in God’s eyes. Its object is to purify his Church, as the object of the Flood was to purify the world. A righteous household survived in the one case; a righteous remnant would go forth in the other. And as God bound himself in Noah’s time not to repeat the calamity of the Deluge, so now he binds himself not again to submerge his Church in a captivity like the Babylonian. It has been said that the promise was not kept, since the Jewish Church was, in a.d. 70, carried captive by the Romans. But the prophet views the Jewish Church as continued in the Christian, into which all its better and more spiritual members passed at the first preaching of the gospel; and the promise here made is thus parallel to that of our Lord, “Upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat 16:18). Much as the Christian Church has suffered from the world, it has never been in like cases with the Jewish Church in Babylon, and, as God is faithful, never will be reduced to such extremity. As I have sworn; i.e. “pledged myself.” It does not appear from Gen 8:20-22 or Gen 9:8-17 that God actually bound himself by oath. So have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. That is to say, not to the same extent, not so as to visit her with the same punishment.

Isa 54:10

The mountains shall depart but my kindness shall not depart (comp. Mat 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away”). Everything material may fail, depart, perish; but God‘s promises remain firm and secure for ever. The covenant of my peace; or, my covenant of peaceany promise which God makes to his creatures for their advantage (comp. Num 25:12; Eze 34:25; Eze 37:26; Mal 2:5). Here there is a special allusion to the promise just made and confirmed by oath (Isa 54:9).

Isa 54:11-17

THE GLORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, AND THE HAPPINESS OF ITS INHABITANTS. Hitherto Israel has been addressed; now the direct object of address is Jerusalem. The eye of the prophet passes, however, with a glance, from the actual present to the far-distant future, and sees the Zion of God in her heavenly setting, all bedecked with precious stones, as she was seen by the exile of Patmos more than seven centuries later (Rev 21:16-21). After briefly describing the heavenly city, he passes to her inhabitants, and promises them peace, protection, and righteousness.

Isa 54:11

O thou afflicted (comp. Isa 49:14-17). Jerusalem is seen as she was during the Captivity”afflicted” by God’s hand, vexed with all his storms, and not yet comforted (Comp. Isa 64:10, Isa 64:11). Then a fresh vision obliterates the mournful sight. I will lay thy stones with fair colours; literally, I will lay thy stones in antimony; i.e. I will give them a setting and adornment like that which beautiful women were in the habit of giving to their eyes when they wished to attract admiration (see 2Ki 9:30). Puk, or antimony, was used to stain both the upper and the under eyelid, in order to increase the apparent lustre of the eye, and so impart to it greater beauty. The passage is not to be understood as implying that coloured marbles were ever really set in antimony. And lay thy foundations with sapphires; or, make thy foundations of sapphires. In Revelation the first foundation is “jasper,” the second “sapphire” (Rev 21:19). Sapphire was the foundation on which the throne of God appeared to be set, when it was seen by Moses, Aaron, and the seventy elders (Exo 24:10). The throne itself had the appearance of sapphire, as seen by Ezekiel (Eze 1:26; Eze 10:1). Sapphire is the hue of heaven.

Isa 54:12

I will make thy windows of agates. Most moderns translate, “I will make thy battlements,” or “thy pinnacles of rubies.” The exact meaning is very doubtful. Thy gates of carbuncles. In the Revelation of St. John the gates are each of them composed of one pearl (Rev 21:21)the pearl betokening purity, the carbuncle the glow of devotional feeling. We must not expect consistency in descriptions which are entirely allegorical. All thy borders of pleasant stones; or, all thy boundaries. An enclosing wall seems to be meant (comp. Rev 21:17).

Isa 54:13

All thy children shall be taught of the Lord (comp. Isa 44:3; Jer 31:33, Jer 31:34; Eze 11:19; Joe 2:28; Act 2:17, Act 2:18, etc.). Christians are all of them “taught of God” (Joh 6:45; 1Th 4:9). The “anointing,” which they have from the Holy Ghost, “teaches them, and is truth, and is no lie” (1Jn 2:27), and causes them to “know all things” (1Jn 2:20). And great shall be the peace of thy children. Messiah was to be “the Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6). His birth heralded the coming of “peace on earth” (Luk 2:14). So far forth as men are true Christians, does peace reign in the conscience and show itself in the life. Externally there may be persecution, tumult, wars, fightings; but internally, in each heart, there will be a “peace that passes all understanding” (Php 4:7). God “keeps in perfect peace” those” whose minds are stayed on him” (Isa 26:3).

Isa 54:14

In righteousness shalt thou be established; rather, through righteousness. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isa 48:22); and conversely, where righteousness abounds, peace prevails, and the nation “is established.” Thou shalt be far from oppression; rather, be thou far from anxiety (Delitzsch). Thou shalt not fear; rather, thou needest not fear. There is no dangernothing to be afraid of. “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain” (Isa 11:9). So long as thou art “established through righteousness,” there shall no harm happen unto thee.

Isa 54:15

Behold, they shall surely gather together, etc.; rather, behold, should they gather themselves together; i.e. should enemies collect and threaten thee with harm, be assured that the attack is not by menot my doingand that, therefore, it will come to nought. All those who gather together against thee shall falli.e. stumble and be overthrownthrough striking against thee. The rendering of the Authorized Version, “for thy sake,” is quite indefensible.

Isa 54:16

Behold, I have created, etc. The Church is encouraged to fear no danger by being reminded that all power to do hurt is from God. Whether it be the smith that forges a weapon, or the waster that destroys and lays waste whole countries, or any other worker of woe to man, all are equally brought into being, and sustained in life, by God. None can do a hurt that God does not allow. The smith that bloweth the coals. In ancient times the smith worked his metal into shape by the help of a blow-pipe, which he blew himself (see Rosellini, ‘Monumenti Civili,’ pl. 51, fig 4, and pl. 52, fig. 4). For his work; or, for its work: i.e. destruction. The waster; i.e. the conquering king, such as Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus.

Isa 54:17

No weapon every tongue. Whether weapons are used against Israel, or whether she is attacked, as in Sennacherib’s time, by “the tongue that speaketh proud things” (Isa 36:4-20; Isa 37:10-13), the result will he the same. She will triumph over her enemies, and condemn them or put them to shame. Her security is her righteousness, which she derives from Jehovah (comp. Isa 45:24, Isa 45:25).

HOMILETICS

Isa 54:1-6

The relation of the Church to God that of a wife to her husband.

The analogy set forth by the prophet in the first six verses of this chapter is one to which equal prominence is given in the Old Testament and the New. It forms the basis of one entire book of the Old Scripturesthe Canticles, or Song of Solomon. It pervades the whole teaching of the prophets, which declares apostasy from God to be “adultery” (Isa 57:3-5; Jer 3:9; Jer 5:7; Jer 13:27; Jer 23:10-14; Eze 16:32-36; Eze 23:37; Hos 3:1; Hos 4:12-14, etc.). It is asserted repeatedly with the utmost plainness (verse 5; Jer 3:14; Jer 31:32; Hos 2:16-20). In the New Testament, it is hinted at in the Gospels (Mat 25:1-10), taught plainly in the Epistles (2Co 11:2; Eph 5:23-32), and made part of the imagery of the Revelation of St. John (Joh 21:2, Joh 21:9; 22:17). The only difference is that, in the Old Testament, the “husband” is, vaguely, Jehovah or God; in the New he is, definitely, the Second Person of the Trinity, Christ. The relationship involves, on the part of God:

1. Love. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church” (Eph 5:25).

2. Tender guardianship and care. “The Lord nourisheth and cherisheth the Church” (Eph 5:29).

3. Exertion of a purifying and elevating influence. Christ “loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:25-27).

4. Everlasting kindnesskindness that “shall not depart,” or be withdrawn, for ever (Isa 54:8,Isa 54:10).

On the part of the Church there are involved corresponding duties; as:

1. Love (1Jn 4:16-21).

2. Reverence (Eph 5:33).

3. Subjection. “As the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything“ (Eph 5:24).

4. Never-ending fidelity. The desire of the Church should be towards her Lord, as his is towards her (So Joh 7:10), incessantly.

Isa 54:17

Man’s righteousness is of God.

Whatever there is in man of goodness, virtue, sound or right feeling, high aspiration, spiritual strength, comes to him from the Almighty, from whence descends “every good gift and every perfect gift” (Jas 1:17). Original righteousness was from God (Gen 1:27, Gen 1:31). When man fell, and “corrupted his way,” recovery was impossible, unless God both devised a method by which it should be possible, and also superintended the working of his own method, and at each step made it effectual. The righteousness of the servants of God is a double righteousness, imputed and infused; but both come equally from the perfectly “righteous Servant” (Isa 53:11), who alone “justifies many.”

I. IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OF GOD. Imputed righteousness is the righteousness of God; for it is the righteousness of Christ, who is God. Christ is made to us” wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1Co 1:30). The righteousness which is properly his, and which is a perfect righteousness, is, through our mystic union with him, imputed to us, as if it were ours, and so becomes ours, and justifies us. It is also “of God,” since it is imputed to us by God. God the Father condescends to look upon us as so bound up in his Son that he passes on to us the merits of his Son, and, as it were, makes them ours.

II. INFUSED RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OF GOD. Infused righteousness is the work of the Holy Spirit, who “sanctifies us, and all the elect people of God.” It admits of infinite degrees, and in this life is always imperfect. The true Christian is always making progress in it, adding grace to grace, going on from strength to strength, perfecting holiness in the tear of God. But every step is made by God’s help. Without him man can do nothing. Every virtue that we have is also a gracea grace from the Divine point of view, a virtue from the human; with struggle and effort acquired by man, yet given to him by God. Imputed righteousness is that which justifies us; infused righteousness is that which sanctifies us. The one is a gift to us; the other is a gift in us. But both alike are the gift of God (see Rom 3:21-26; Rom 5:15-19; 1Co 4:7; 1Co 15:10; Gal 5:22, Gal 5:23; Eph 5:9, etc.).

HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON

Isa 54:1-17

The future of the Church.

“The person addressed is the ideal Zion, who is practically identical with the ideal or spiritual Israel.”

I. HER FRUITFULNESS. Nothing to an Israelitish mind can suggest more forcibly the idea of desolation and sorrow in a nation or spiritual community than the childless woman. Historically, the restored exiles may be referred to; physically and to some extent spiritually Israelites, but, while on a foreign soil, and unbaptized with the Spirit, their union was not complete. In a wider spiritual application, the Church of God, in the Old Testament, confined within the narrow limits of the Jewish nation, and still more so in respect to the very small number of true believers, and which seemed sometimes deserted of God her Husband (Lowth). The conversion of the Gentiles is the accession of a vast progeny to the spiritual Israela vast extension of the Church of God (Isa 49:20-22).

II. HER ENLARGEMENT. The figure of a tent is employed. The canopy or coverings of the tent are to be widened, its cords lengthened, and the tent-pins made strong. The wandering is to be exchanged for the permanent habitation (For the image cf. Jer 10:20.) The boundaries of the Church are to be enlarged to accommodate the vast accession from the pagan world. On all hands she is to break forth, even as it had been promised to Jacob (Gen 28:14), to take possession of the nations, and inhabit desolate cities. The period of reproach, figured by maidenhood or widowhood, is to come to an end.

III. HER INTIMATE RELATION TO GOD.

1. He is Maker and Goel, Mediator and Redeemer, of her family rights. (For the Christian application, see Eph 2:19, “Fellow-citizens of the saints, and members of the family of God.”) As the nearest kinsman is bound to interpose for the defence of members of his family, so the Almighty is bound to avenge and succour his chosen. In his Name, Jehovah of hosts, is found a further guarantee of his saving mercy for the future. It means that he is God of the whole earth, that his glory fills the creation. (For the application to the Christian Church, see Rom 3:29, “God of the Gentiles also.”)

2. The relation of marriage in its Divine application points to an indissoluble and eternal union. The Church may appear in times of distress as “an outcast and downcast woman,” divorced from her God. But “even many an earthly husband cannot bear to see the misery of his divorced wife, and therefore at length recalls her: how much more, then, Jehovah!” In a “gush of wrath” it was that his face was hidden from her. In everlasting kindness he will have mercy; the sea being contrasted with the momentary outburst, or “gush” of displeasure. “Never shall this dispensation of wrath be repeated, no more than that of Noah’s floods. Mountains are symbolic of the unchangeableness of the Eternal (cf. Psa 36:6; Psa 65:6). They seem to be the solid pillars and foundations of the earth. They may totter; but the loving-kindness of God must be like himself, eternal. The covenant of peace, which has been ratified between him and his people, will abide amidst all vicissitudes of nature and of history. The love of the Eternal is, then, the first and last secret of all things. At the basis of the universe lies law, and law itself is the expression of love. Law wears to us often a stern face; it is the expression of wrath. But a holy wrath is itself the expression of a loving heart. He who has made the world cannot hate it. He who is the Author of the soul is its affianced Spouse and self-constituted Protector. Language and imagination labour in vain with so immense a conception as that of the Divine love. It must follow from this that the Church, as a spiritual and mystical community, must be safe through all the change of time.

IV. THE FUTURE GLORY OF THE CHURCH. She appears under the figure of a city, the new Jerusalem. Her brilliant stones will be set in a beautifying cement. Her battlements will be of rubies, her gates of carbuncles, her outer walls of precious stones. Yet this will only be the outward manifestation of an inward and spiritual glory. The people will be disciples of Jehovah (cf. Num 11:29; Joe 2:23, Joe 2:29), that is, in effect, prophets, filled with utterance as with inspiration. Her constitution will rest upon a sound, because a moral basison righteousness, on fidelity to her covenant with God. Not being built, like the cities of the heathen, of fraud and rapine, oppression and destruction will be far from her thoughts. She will enjoy security. Should any foe presume to molest her, he will stumblehe will be like a blind traveller who falls headlong over an obstacle. For all the agencies which work either a people’s weal or woe are in the hands of the Eternal. He is the Creator of the smith, and so mediately of the destroying weapon he forges. So the great Oriental kings are his tools. But no weapon turned against Israel shall succeed in its aim; and every abusing tongue shall be pronounced guilty in the day of judgment. Such is the spiritual inheritance of the servants of Jehovah, such their justification at his hands. “It is not gold and the triumph of battle. It is not the laurel won in fields of blood. The inheritance is the protection of God in all times of trouble; his friendship in all periods of activity; complete victory in all the contests with error and false systems of religion; and prevention when foes rise up in any form and seek to destroy the Church, and to blot out its existence and its name.” “God defend the right!” has been an ancient prayer in times of anxiety and conflict. He does defend the right and the righteous at all times, the prophet declares.J.

HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM

Isa 54:10

Perennial kindness.

“My kindness shall not depart from thee.” Much kindness does. It is fervid, but fickle, and is too often conditioned by mood and temper and circumstance. Moreover, it may depart through lack of power and opportunity.

I. THE SAVIOR‘S KINDNESS IS TRUE KINDNESS. He knows what kindness is. We too often mistake favour and indulgence for kindness. God is often kindest when he is most severe.

II. THE SAVIOUR‘S KINDNESS IS MANIFESTED KINDNESS. It costs him something. Much kindness evaporates in sentiment and speech. It does not impinge on the ease and the comfort of our friends. Jesus Christ said, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God!” and, “although he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor.” His kindness was tested:

1. By the treatment he received.

2. By the nature that suffered. So deep in feeling; so infinite in its capacity for enduring sorrow.

3. By the sacrifice he offered.

4. By the permanence of his work, as “Head over all things to the Church.” Then let the faint-hearted rest on the promise, “It shall not depart.”W.M.S.

Isa 54:10

The eternal constancy: a meditation on change.

“My kindness shall not depart from thee.” How much does depart in this world! There are departed sorrows, departed joys, departed friends; and in one sense, concerning life and joy and duty, the world is full of graves. But we have an unchanging Lord, Jesus Christ, “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” “My kindness!” Is there not a comfort in the very emphasis? For much kindness does depart. Fervent, but evanescent, it has its little day, and then vanishes away. “We are such stuff as dreams are made of.” The nobility of our nature fails before the strains of littleness in character of others and distance of place and time. The eternal constancy is beautiful. Mark the connection of thought. The mountains may depart, Galilee’s lake may embosom the surrounding hills, but the great Father’s love is immutable and eternal. To take to heart these words would be to dispel our darkest fears. A faith strong enough to grasp this will light up every forest, and overcome every foe. There are strange mysteries of suffering in this world. Sorrow has many synonyms in human speech answering to the many phases of human experience. There are agonies of endurance, breaches of trust, sighings of solitude, sadnesses of disappointment, wailings of bereavement. To-day there are disciples terrified in the storm, Rachels mourning for their departed, Peters dropping scalding tears over denials of the Lord. Can it be wondered at that in such a world, amid such human trials and such spiritual experiences, kindnessthe Divine kindnessshould be so precious a thing? Let us recall the multitude of God’s mercies; let us remember his hand in the glacier-passes of temptation, and the nights of tribulation. The strings of our human harps must sweep forth the music of love. There has been no change in Christ.

1. THE SURPRISE. Think of what we are! Fickle, irresolute, ungrateful, unfaithful. Our God is a God of insight. He searcheth the heart. He sees not only conduct, but character. No disguise can cloak from him. And what secrets there are in these hearts of ours! There are mirrors there which flash hack, even to ourselves, the hidden things of darkness. Yet he loves us still! The previous chapter says, “All we like sheep have gone astray.” Yet it is the stray lambs the Saviour seeks, and the poor prodigal wanderer the Father loves! The strongest ties we know of are in our human relationships; they are images of the Divine love. Only an artificial theology has made the rectoral character of God override the paternal. Think you that on some wild Christmas, amid home’s most festive scenes, with the children and the children’s children about him, that father, whose hair is whiter than the winter snow, can forget the prodigal? With the ruddy fire-glow around him, and the yule logs piled high, his mind wanders over the bleak and barren moorland of the outside world; and one faint knock at the portal, one weary step, one quivering lip, brings more music to his heart than the tabret and the dance. He knows all about the squandered wealth, the profligate life, the reckless pilgrimage of vanity. But his kindness cannot depart from him, for he is a father still. I claim for God the very amplest application of that analogy. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” “In Christ’s stead!” What words! Many evil things the Church has doneRoman, Anglican, and Puritanwould look strange enough if Christ’s gentle image had been thought upon, and men had inscribed above it, “We are Christ’s!” God gave such tension and tenderness to the human heart to make our fatherhood a parable of his own! “If we knew all!” Thus even we who love him, who have been reconciled to him, say sometimes in our darker moods. Does God know all? Then could he be kind to us still. We have served other gods. We have been faithless stewards. We have been at heart callous and cold. Yet to us comes this message of the eternal constancy: “My kindness shall not depart from thee.”

II. THE CONTRAST. Think of what human nature is. We make retrospect concerning ourselves. We do not depreciate humanity when we say that kindness is an uncertain thing. We do not charge it upon others to the exclusion of ourselves. We are all unstable as water. We find how difficult it is to be unselfish. And no kindness can be perpetual without that. There are occasions when kindness is lacking in us; when a feeble witticism has wounded a friend; when a cruel sarcasm has bruised a brother’s sensibilities; when a personal enjoyment has inflicted deprivation on others. Kindness is easy when its manifestations are costless. Nay, it cannot be dignified with the name; for it ministers to our own pride and satisfaction. But we cannot conceal the fact that courtesy, compassion, and care do fail, and, in one word, “love” is absent. I am not speaking of the false kindness of the deceiver, or the tender mercies of the gay, or the heartless mannerism which feigns affection. This is devils’ work, and fills the sinner’s night of death with spectres worse than the genius of Dante ever described or Dore ever designed. I am speaking of the common fact of instability in human feeling, inconstancy in human love. Explainable, indeed, sometimes by the detection of selfishness, superficiality, or unworthiness, as we think, in others, but manifest, in some measure, in us all. Now, the Divine Saviour is the ideal of all unselfishness. He gave himself. He humbled himself. He became obedient unto deatheven the death of the crossfor us. While we were yet enemies, he died for us. And this was no solitary embodiment of his nature. It was a revelation of what his eternal nature is. Take, then, a review of yourself; take a review of societyand forget not all the revelations you have had of blessed contrast in God, whose kindness has not departed from you.

III. THE REVIEW. Think of what the past time says. Life has been full of mercy to us all. Homes have been revisited, friends have been restored, love has been consummated, new homes have been set up, accident has been averted, health has been restored, deliverance has been vouchsafed, affliction has been sanctified, and religious faith has in some cases been renewed and restored. Most wonderful of all is this. We have lived through seasons in which subtle temptations have had their enchanter’s wand broken, and difficulties in our Christian faith have been removed. True, indeed, it is that to some these words would mean nothingwould, perhaps, raise a smile of condescending pity for those of us who still believe in a God at all. Some there are who wonder at the worship which rises above “the stream of tendency,” or the laws of evolution, to the Fountain of Life and Power which fills the universe with life and joy; and to others the words would sound like the bitter irony of fate. Kindness! when the fig tree has withered, and there is slender produce in the vine? for some have not yet learned that Providence has higher ends than to weave purple robes and to grow costly fruits. What blessedness there is to most of us in the continuous belief in a personal God and Fatherin a hand that rules, a voice that speaks, and a heart that loves! Truly it sufficeth us to show us the Father; for, try as men may, they can never create an impersonal religion. Greece raised her altars to Pity and Fame, and the abstract virtues; but the testimony of history was the total neglect of them all. The human heart can worship a Divine heart onlymust seek after a God, even if he be “the Unknown God.” Certainly, also, we cannot worship, adore, praise, and glorify any embodied idea of humanitythe positivists cannot make a beautiful image of that. No; its shame, its vice, its corruption, its evil, remain; the statue may have gold in it, but it has iron and clay as well. The Lord revealed in the Bible is our God and Father to-day! “My soul thirsteth for God, the living God;” “Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing;” “Great is the Lord, and of great power, and his understanding is infinite.” We retain our prayer, “Our Father which art in heaven.” We retain our pathway of approach. “Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” We retain our altar of love, the one Mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking back, then, and taking a review of life preserved and life sustained, of friends given or restored, of love cemented and consecrated, of faith purified and elevated, must not our seal be set afresh to the truth of the words, “My kindness shall not depart from thee”?

IV. THE PROSPECT. Think what the future will bring. The coming days. These are the most constant theme of our meditation. We project ourselves into life’s to-morrow. We never live wholly for the present time. We are all artists in this wise, colouring our picture by means of our faith or our experience. We are sometimes morbid, and doubt whether good times will come to us again, forgetful of the past seasons of trouble which gave place in time to the brighter morrow. Alas! we too often say, “Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercy?” Kindness departed! That is our earthly and our spiritual dread. But the bow in the cloud is God’s silent prophecy. And there is a bow in every cloud, if we will but gaze upon the heaven of mercy above us. To-morrow is coming, but on its wings mercy and love will also come. God will still show forth his loving-kindness in the morning. The throne of God is not to be covered with the crape of a departed majesty. We believe in “the Eternal. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.” God is the Good! His sceptre is no iron mace of authority, but he is the Father of our spirits, and the God of our salvation. What will to-morrow bring? The seed-time and the harvest. The summer sky and the song of the reaper. The release of the ice-bound fountain and the beauty and fragrance of a thousand fields. To-morrow there is to be more and more departure of ignorance and wrong, of desolation and darkness. The light is to shine more and more unto the perfect day; for Christ must reign. Every season of life will have its kindness. If father and mother forsake us in childhood, the Lord will take us up. If widowhood comes, Christ will be the Husband of the widow. Frosty, but kindly, as Shakespeare says, will old age be itself, when the evening comes, and death too will be kind when it comes, taking down the tabernacle with a quiet hand, and gently hushing us into the calm sleep of the child whose morning is heaven. Let us get rid, then, of the habit of dark foreboding, for thereby we deprive ourselves of the music of to-day. We all sometimes think of Divine mercy as though its meridian had passed, and as though God’s grace was setting over the plains of life. We have an ever-living Saviour, an indwelling Spirit, the blessing of spiritual sonship, the foretaste of the sweet vineyards of Canaan, and a fountain ever open for sin and uncleanness. Let us seek to make God’s kindness in its constancy the image of our own. Love is the law of heaven; the angels are all ministering spirits. When poor Hagar, with haggard eyes and dishevelled hair, was in the wilderness, it was an angel-hand which led her to the well. When Gideon was threshing his wheat, his face pictures forth the great sorrow of his people, and we hear him saying, “O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?” And an angel’s voice then reassures him with the promise, “Surely I will be with thee.“ When the ship is driven helplessly through the storm, an angel-voice says to the apostle, “Fear not, Paul!” Yes; there is a sympathy and a constant kindness in the angelic ministry. And we are to be ministering spirits too. A part of our nature, constituted as it is to live in others, would be shorn of its blessedness if we could not also be ministers of kindness. Onward, then, my brethren, with these words on your banner. The light which falls on the letters of gold will attract the eyes of others, as you show them what a religious faith can do in renewing the life of the world. Faith in God our Saviour will change the countenance, strengthen even the physical nerves, and make us better companions and brighter friends. Like a talisman, these words will keep you from the dread which has darkened man’s earthly life in every age. You will bear them aloft on your banner, not as rejoicing in a God who loves and cares for you alone; but you will say to the world, “Let our people be your people, and our God your God.” Yield your hearts to him. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” You will fear no evil, for the Lord is with you! There. will be manna in the wilderness; the Jordan itself will be dry; the warder will throw wide the open gates at your home-going, and the Saviour will give you the welcome rest. These words are those of the faithful and true. “My kindness shall not depart from thee.”W.M.S.

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON

Isa 54:2

Enlargement and consolidation.

“Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.” Applying these words to the Church of Christ in its attitude of holy expectation, and its sacred duty under all circumstances, but particularly in the time of growth, we learn of it

I. THAT IT SHOULD CONSTANTLY BE ANTICIPATING ENLARGEMENT. The challenge comes from its Lord, “Spare not, lengthen thy cords;” i.e. take the attitude and the action of those who are looking for increase, for the incoming of those who are outside. The Church of Christ is well warranted in doing this; for it has:

1. Ample scope in a vast unredeemed world beyond its borders; souls that are capable of brotherhood, of sonship, of heirship.

2. All the materials it wants for successful enterprise, in authority to work and win, in truth perfectly fitted to the deepest wants of the human heart, in the potency of Christian love and zeal.

3. Divine promise that its labour shall not be in vain.

II. THAT IT SHOULD CONTINUALLY BE ENGAGED IN CONSOLIDATION. AS a multitude of armed men do not make an army, so a number of people with Christian words on their lips and Christian ordinances in their practice do not make a Christian Church after Christ’s ideal. The accession of numbers is not everything; it may prove to be very little; before now, in certain cases, it has proved to be “less than nothing and vanity.” The Church must “strengthen its stakes” as well as “lengthen its cords.” It must not spare its strength in providing for permanence and stability as well as increase. It must aim at, and must pray and labour for:

1. The intelligent acceptance of the truth of Christ in its integrity.

2. Spirituality in worship.

3. Consistency of conduct and consequent illustration of a large part of Christ’s will in its daily life.

4. Order and discipline in its regular action.C.

Isa 54:6-10

Superabounding goodness.

The prevailing thought here is the prevalence of God’s goodness over his severity. For a small moment he had forsaken, but with great mercies he would comfort his people. Against the “little wrath” in which his face was hidden there was to be set the “everlasting kindness” with which he would redeem them. The largely preponderant, completely outweighing, superabounding goodness of the Lord is manifest on every side. We see it

I. IN THE NATURAL WORLD. There is a great deal of misery beneath the sky. How could it be otherwise when there is so much of cruelty and sin? But if we look long at all that happens as the direct result of God’s handiwork, we shall find that “mercy triumphs over wrath,” good over ill. There is a large and blessed preponderance of light over darkness, of pleasure over pain, of joy over sorrow, of hope over despair, of confidence over distrust, of fertility over barrenness, of plenty over poverty, of society over solitude, of life over death. But for the disturbing and destructive element of sin, this would obviously be the case in a very much larger degree than it is now.

II. IN THE CHURCH OF GOD. The Church of God has been represented at different times by different communities. At one time by the suffering community in Egypt; at another, by the Church in the wilderness; at another, by the distracted society under the judges; at another, by the triumphant nation under David and Solomon; at another, by Israel in exile; at another, by the returned and rejoicing people of God who had. come home from captivity. It is now represented by the Churches of Christ scattered over many lands, and forming apparently many distinct religious bodies. Sometimes God has lifted upon his people the light of his countenance, and they have rejoiced in his manifested favour; at other times he has withdrawn his face, and made his people to feel the weight of his chastening hand. But upon the whole it has been found, and in the end it will be found, that his manifestations of mercy and grace have triumphed greatly over those of wrath and penalty. There were times in the history of the Jewish Church when its light nearly went out in the surrounding darkness, but it did not expire; by the Divine hand it was guarded and fed, and has now become, under other conditions, a glorious sun, giving light and heat to all the nations. Mountains and hills, in the shape of kingdoms and powers, have departed and been removed; but God’s kindness to his Church will not depart, nor will his faithfulness fail. With everlasting kindness will God be merciful to the Church which bears the name, and teaches the truth, and extends the kingdom, of his Son.

III. IN THE CAREER OF HIS FAITHFUL SERVANTS. There is no uniform course which the life of piety is found to take; it takes almost every variety of ways. Sometimes it lies much in the sunshine and but little in the shadow; and sometimes it is shaded nearly the whole way through. And how many kinds of shadow fall on the good man’s path! It is the apparent withdrawal of God’s favour from his soul; or it is the false charge which takes away his fair fame; or it is overwhelming loss involving others as well as himself in struggle or even in penury; or it is early separation from those most dearly beloved. There is “the hiding of God’s face;” the hour comes when nothing but the Master’s words will utter the feelings of the heart, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” But all this is temporary; nay, everything being counted, it is but momentary. God has in reserve infinite resources which, afterwards if not now, yonder if not here, will make up a thousandfold for all that he sends of trial and suffering. Let the faithful soul build on the immovable rock of God’s integrity. Mountains may melt and hills may flee away, the foundations of the solid earth may be broken up, but God’s kindness cannot depart, because his Word cannot fail; that is the one absolutely and eternally impossible thing.C.

Isa 54:13

The prize of life, and its pursuit.

“All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” We gather from this text

I. THE TRUE PRIZE OF LIFE. What is that thing which is most worth having, most worth the thought of our minds, the strenuous striving of our soul, the labour of our hands? Nations, communities, individual men, have given different replies. One has said case, another wealth, another pleasure, another power, another glory. The inspired Hebrew said peace. The blessing he invoked on those he loved, and that which he lauded in speech and song, was peace. And he was right. Peace is the indispensable, the immeasurably precious thing.

1. It is a profound blessing. It goes down to the depth of our compound nature; it is the excellent result of complete rightnessrightness of heart with God, rightness of life with man.

2. It is a lasting thing. Other prizes may be snatched away by untoward circumstances, or their worth dims and lessens with the passing years, or even (with some of them) with the fleeting days. But this abides; prosperity does not injure it, adversity does not remove it, age does not diminish its excellency.

3. It is the condition of holy usefulness. We can serve our race in higher and greater things without the other prizes of life, but not without this. Not until our hearts have found rest in God’s truth and in himself can we be and say and do that which will guide the feet of our fellow-men into and along the paths of righteousness and wisdom.

II. THE ONE WAY OF WINNING IT. The children of Zion would have great peace, inasmuch as they would be “taught of the Lord.” :Nothing else will give to the human heart the peace which it craves.

1. Comfortable circumstances will not ensure it. These circumstances cannot be generally commanded, and, if they could, there would still be a craving of the soul which no comforts or successes of any earthly kind would satisfy.

2. Philosophy is not equal to the task. Stoicism tried its hand, and with some of its disciples there was the appearance of success; but it has no power to minister to the necessities of the multitudes of mankind, to the ordinary human heart, to men and women as we meet and know them every day. To the common, questioning, thirsting human heart it is a fountain without water, a name without the power behind it.

3. A Divine Saviour alone can supply the need. He only who brings everlasting truth to our mind, the sympathy and love of an unfailing friendship to the heart, spiritual excellence to the soul, meaning and worth to human life, a hope bright with immortal glory to the closing hour,he only is entitled to say, “Come unto me I will give you rest.” “My peace I give unto you.” Great peacepeace that passeth understanding, and that outliveth mortal life, have they who learn of him and take his yoke upon them.C.

Isa 54:17

The heritage of faithful service.

From the beginning to the end of the Scriptures the service of God is represented as the only wise course for men to take. All paths of disobedience are spoken of as ways of folly as well as of sin. It is godliness that has the promise of all things, here and hereafter. The heritage of the holy is very variously defined, the most remarkable definition being that given by our Lord in reply to Peter. In the text we have it presented to us as a continual victory. No weapon formed against the righteous shall prosper, and every accusation shall be silenced. God will justify them. The faithful service of Christ is marked by victory over

I. SUCCESS IN OUTWARD LIFE. Few weapons are so powerful as this in the hand of the enemy. Many are they who, in their folly, have allowed their prosperity to destroy them (Pro 1:32). The sense of power, the enjoyment of popularity, the command of comforts, the continuance of success in the chosen vocation,these things prove too much for many souls. Under their influence men swerve from the straight line of simplicity of life, humility of spirit, purity of heart, integrity of character.

II. ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES. These are often found to be victorious over men, triumphing over their faith in God, their gratitude, and their submission; leading down to sullenness and moroseness of spirit; in some cases conducting to unbelief and impiety.

III. PRIVATION OF PRIVILEGE. When it is a man’s fortune to be separated from the community and to lead a life of comparative loneliness, he is cast much on his own resources. He misses the encouragement and inspiration which come from social worship and collective piety. Without the aid and influence of these, he is in danger of fainting and falling in his Christian course.

IV. EXPOSURE TO CORRUPT COMPANIONSHIP. This is often a matter of necessity and not of choice. The best may have to submit to it, and the peril of spiritual injury from it is very great.

V. THE FORCE OF A SURROUNDING SCEPTICISM. A force which either vigorously assaults the main fortress of the faith or sedulously and stealthily undermines the wailsa great and growing peril.

It is promised to the servants of the Lord that they shall triumph over these various enemies. “No weapon that is formed,” etc. But while

(1) God’s promise may well cheer his servants, helping them to pursue their troubled path, and to do their difficult or dangerous work with alacrity and hope; it is well that

(2) his conditions should be remembered. There is no absolute, unconditional guarantee; the careless, the disobedient, the negligent servant will be, nay, he is, defeated by the enemy; he yields and falls. But let a man be a faithful servant, studious of Christ’s will and daily seeking his Holy Spirit’s aid, and he will find that his Divine Lord will “always cause him to triumph;” he will know “the exceeding greatness of his power” to uphold and to perfect. Meantime, to those who are observers,

(3) God’s sustaining grace will prove the sign and seal of his Divine favour. “This is their righteousness [justification] of me.”C.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

Isa 54:2

Divine enlargements.

The figure employed is taken from tent-life, and it is used in a similar way by Jeremiah. “My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains ‘ (Jer 10:20). “The Orientals have two kinds of tentsthe one larger, and the other smaller; but both constructed much in the same way. They are sustained by poles, more or fewer in number, according to the size of the tent, but the tallest is always in the midst, while the others suspend the covering round the sides. This covering is made of a stuff woven from wool and camel’s hair; it hangs down like a curtain over the side poles, and is fastened by cords to wooden pegs, which are firmly driven into the ground. Other cords, fastened at one end to the top of the poles, and at the other to pegs or stakes, keep the tent steady, and secure it against the violence of storms. As the family increases, it is proportionally enlarged, and requires the cords to be longer and the stakes to be stronger in proportion. One cause of depression, at the time of the return, was that so few of the Israelites responded to the Divine call, and it seemed hopeless work to attempt to revive the old glories of Jerusalem with such a feeble company. The divinely comforting assurances of the text are designed to revive hope and renew confidence. “The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation.” And the promise was fulfilled. Those that first came out of Babylon were but forty-two thousand (Ezr 2:64), about a fifteenth part of their number when they came out of Egypt; many came dropping to them afterwards, but we may suppose that to be the greatest number that ever came in a body; and yet, above five hundred years after, a little before their destruction by the Romans, a calculation was made by the number of the Paschal lambs, and the lowest computation by that rule (allowing only ten to a lamb, whereas there might be twenty) made the nation to be nearly three millions. Further reference may be found to the enlargement of the Christian Church after Pentecost, and especially after the martyrdom of Stephen, and the scattering of the disciples which followed upon that sad event. The general topic suggested for consideration is the duty of cheerfully following on, when God opens before us wider and larger spheres of influence and usefulness, and the following points may be illustrated.

I. IT IS WRONG TO FORCE OURSELVES INTO ENLARGEMENTS BEFORE GOD CALLS. II. IT IS WRONG TO HOLD BACK WHEN GOD DOES CALL.

III. LARGER SPHERES, AND WIDER INFLUENCE, ARE GOD‘S SIGNS OF ACCEPTANCE AND APPROVAL OF THE WORK WHICH WE HAVE DONE.

IV. THOSE WHO ENTER ON ENLARGED SPHERES NEED TO BE THEMSELVES ENLARGED.R.T.

Isa 54:5

The husband-figure for God.

“For thy Maker is thine Husband” (comp. Hos 2:16), “And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me, Ishi [my Husband], and shalt call me no more, Baali [my Lord]”). The figure Isaiah uses is that of the Goel, or next of kin, and this very suggestive and beautiful illustration may be taken from the story of Ruth and Boaz. Boaz was a “next of kin,” and on him rested the formal duty of recovering Ruth’s property, if the nearest kinsman failed to do his duty. But all formal relations were swallowed up in the tender love that knit Boaz and Ruth together as husband and wife.

I. THE CLAIMS OF GOD EXPRESSED IN THIS HUSBAND–FIGURE. The points to illustrate and enforce are two.

1. Claims come out of the love which brings us into such a relationship. Love-claims are altogether the most searching and the most sacred. The wife is bound with cords of love. In view of this relation we lose all sternness from the commands and requirements of God; love glorifies them.

2. Claims come out of the honour which such a relationship brings us. We must “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called.”

II. THE PROVIDINGS OF GOD ASSURED BY THE HUSBAND–FIGURE. The wife is in the care of her husband, and because of his care she is free from care. He provides for the supply of all need. Apply the figure to the anxieties of the Church in exile, when required to set out on the long journey to Palestine, and enter upon unknown scenes, that would surely be full of toil and worry and danger. Infinite comfort came from the assurance that they were not as lone and friendless women, in view of the perplexities and anxieties of life. They had one who would shield them and keep them. “Their Maker was their Husband.” The two figures for God, Father and Husband, still are for us full of gracious assurances. Helpless children have a Father; lonely women have a Husband”the Lord of hosts is his Name.”

III. THE PERSUADINGS OF GOD MADE THROUGH THE HUSBAND–FIGURE. The relation is a constant impulse to active duty. In the text it is a persuasion to energy in undertaking the journey, and impulse to the work of rebuilding the ruined city. It was persuasion to a bright and joyous acceptance of the Divine will, and a full belief in the largeness of the Divine restorations. Eastern sentiments concerning the protection and honour of having a husband put a keenness and fulness into this figure which we can hardly reach. What is evident to us is that God will put himself into any relation which may call out from us perfect trust in him.R.T.

Isa 54:5

God-worshippers outside Judaism.

“The God of the whole earth shall he be called.” To our fathers the world seemed but small; to us it is great, and its bounds are ever enlarging. In olden times the few travellers came back with marvellous stories of griffins and dragons and mermaids, at which ignorant crowds gaped, but at which we can afford to smile. Now almost every part of the earth is searched again and again, and distant lands have become almost as familiar to us as our own. Men still chafe, indeed, because the vast northern seas will not yield the last mysteries which they conceal, though even the secret of the North Pole seems to be almost reached. How greatly our thoughts about God’s world differ from the thoughts of our fathers! How greatly the thoughts of our own manhood and age differ from the thoughts of our youth! We find it difficult to realize to ourselves some of the opinions of our forefathers, and to fit them into the Word of God, as we read it. This especially refers to their opinions about humanity as a whole, and about the destiny of the race. England, “encompassed by the inviolate sea,” is in danger of being as exclusive as was Palestine, hemmed in by the mountains, the desert, and the sea; and unless we watch ourselves, and resist the evil tendency, there may grow up in us a pride as unlovely as that which marked the privileged Jew, and made him brand all other nations as heathen, who were wholly excluded from Jehovah’s love and care. The later Jewish prophets plead earnestly against that proud exclusiveness that led the people to think themselves the favoured of the Lord, and so to despise others. Prophets taught the people to look abroad, and see that God is working, both by his mercies and by his judgments, in all those nations around them which they called “heathen.” The prophets, in effect, speak thus: “It is quite true that you are set in the midst of the world to be a witness and a blessing to surrounding nations; but it is equally true that those nations are set about you to be example and impulse and warning to you. God is dealing with them for their sakes and for yours, just as truly as he is dealing with you for your sake and for theirs.” That there might be no ground whatever for the exclusive appropriation of God by the Jews, God says, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance” The nature of God’s relation to the entire race is the foundation of religious truth. All our religious ideas are toned by the view we take of this relation. Men but feebly grasp the notion of one only God, supreme in and over all things. They can much more readily grasp the conception of many gods, each one supreme in his own limited department. When God gives a particular revelation to one nation, that nation is tempted to say, “God is specially our God. He belongs to us, and to nobody else.” So St. Paul’s appeal needs to be heard again and again, “Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles?” No doubt we shall all agree that there is but one Creator, and that he who made all provides for all. tie is interested in all humanity; “his tender mercies are over all his works.” But what a singular distinction has grown up in our minds! We have come to think that this one God is interested in the physical well-being of the million heathen, graciously watching over life, and health, and food, and pleasures, and relationships, but not really concerned for their moral and spiritual well-being. We do not find ourselves unutterably distressed, as we should be, with the thought, which is in many of our minds, that the million heathen brothers are outside the pale of God’s revelation, and eternally lost. But surely, if God made men moral beings; if there is, in the wildest savage, the sense of right and wrong;then God bears saving relations to the moral life of man everywhere. He must see and reward the man everywhere who offers him worship, as he apprehends him who struggles for the good as he knows it. He must see and punish the man everywhere who yields to the evil which he knows to be evil. So St. Paul thought, breaking free from the exclusive bondages of his Judaism. And so St. Paul teaches us to think. We must not venture to sweep all the vast mass of humanity, outside Christianity, into some terrible under-world of woe. There is but one God for them and for us. Everywhere he is Light, and he is LoveLight and Love in his response to every poor heathen soul as truly as to us Christians. No matter what may be the name by which the heathen seeker may call the great Spiritbe it Tangaroa, or Morimo, or Tsikuap, or Varuna, or Brahmahe seeks the One, the Living, the Source of all. And he may gain the answering smile of the one God’s acceptance. St. Paul is very plain and very firm in his statement: “When the Gentiles, which have not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, these, having not the Law, are a law unto themselves: which show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and. their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.” We may wisely try to break clown this tendency to limit the operations of God’s grace just to ourselves. Mission work is breaking it down, by wakening our sympathy with seeking souls. The study of comparative religions is breaking it down, by showing us, hidden deep in heathen religions, penitence, confession, humility, love, faith, consecration, prayer, hope, virtue, and submission. Everywhere we find yearning hearts, the sense of sin, the prayer for pardon, the dependence of faith, the cry after God, who is “God of the whole earth.”R.T.

Isa 54:9

Lessons from Noah’s times.

In the ancient time God was wroth with mankind, when he “looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” Then in Divine judgment he swept the earth clean with a flood of great waters. But in wrath he remembered mercy: a restoring-day came, and in that day God was pleased to enter into covenant with the race, and make solemn pledge and promise that never again should “all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, nor should there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.” Isaiah saw a parallel to this in the Divine dealings with the idolatrous kingdom of Israel. It had become so utterly corrupt that ordinary forms of chastisement would not suffice; overwhelming judgments were demanded. The Divine wrath found expression in the destruction of the nation, and the bitterness of the Babylonish captivity. But mercy limited judgment; a restoring-time came, and brought with it new covenant assurances and promises: “My loving-kindness from thee shall not remove, neither shall the covenant of my peace totter, saith he that hath compassion on thee, Jehovah.” In this we are to see exhibited in historyearlier and laterthe methods of Divine dealing which may apply also to us.

I. OUR SINS MAY AROUSE THE DIVINE INDIGNATION. Scripture impresses on us that in God is always responsive feeling towards sin. In this we may find foreshadowings of the fatherly relations of God toward us. He must never be thought of as merely concerned with wrong-doing because of its disturbing Divine order, as a king or a judge would be. Sin always bears a personal relation to God. It is disobedience, it is insult, it is unfaithfulness. He feels it as fathers feel the wrong-doing of their children.

II. DIVINE WRATH MAY STILL FIND EXTREME JUDGMENTS. Such as are represented in the Flood or in the Captivity. Such as are suggested by the stern necessity fathers sometimes know; they must shut the home-door against hardened prodigal sons. In the spiritual life there are times when God must “cover himself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.”

III. DIVINE MERCY ALWAYS WAITS TO PUT LIMIT ON THE JUDGMENT. That “mercy” makes the worst judgments to be but corrections. And that “mercy” watches for the moment when the correcting work is done, and restorings can be granted.

IV. WHEN GOD RESTORES HE DOES IT WITH SUCH ABUNDANT COMFORTING AND ASSURANCE AS DISPELS ALL THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE JUDGMENT–TIME. illustrate from the tender language of the context. See also the warmth of parental feeling when the prodigal son came back home.R.T.

Isa 54:13

Divine favour reaching to the children.

“And all thy children shall be disciples of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” This is probably the passage quoted by our Lord, as recorded in Joh 6:45, “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.” The point on which Isaiah dwells is that the Divine favour shall not be limited to the generation that was actually restored; it would abide from generation to generation, and the guarantee for this would be found in the Divine care and training of the children in preparation for their responsibilities and privileges when their turn of manhood came. It is not precisely known in what ways the religious education of the children of the returned exiles was arranged, but the system of regular synagogue instruction was developed soon after. It is full of suggestion, for those who work among children now, that God should find the hope of stability for the restored nation in discipling its children. And that work is, in part, the work of the home; and, in part, the work of the Church.

I. THE DIVINE FAVOUR REACHES THE CHILDREN THROUGH GOOD HOMES. Through good-charactered parents and wisely ordered family life. Good character has its foundation in faith in God; its superstructure is all virtue, including reverence, obedience, uprightness, patience, and holy persistency in that which is good. Character is the supreme power, but it finds its best expressions through the family rule. Parents must, by due punishments and rewards, repress the evil and encourage the good. No Divine favour resting on our lives should kindle greater thankfulness than that shown in providing for us pious fathers and mothers, and gracious home influence.

II. THE DIVINE FAVOUR REACHES THE CHILDREN THROUGH THE CHURCH. The conditions of modern civilized life put the religious education of thousands of children altogether into the hands of Christ’s Church. Multitudes of parents cannot, or will not, train their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But in all such cases the Church can do a noble supplemental work. We may see the special Divine favour resting on our age, and the best security for the permanence and nobility of our nation, in the wide spreading and vigorous improvement of our Sunday schools. The “peace “‘ assured to the children is a term designed to include all sorts of good. We cannot be wrong in thinking that the better tone of society and family life in our day is the direct result of our increased concern for the moral and religious culture of the nation’s children.R.T.

Isa 54:14

The secret of stability.

“Through righteousness shalt thou be established.” J.A. Alexander paraphrases thus: “When once established by the exercise of righteousness on my part and your own, you may put far off all dread of oppression, for you have no cause to fear it, and of destruction, for it shall not come nigh you” (comp. Isa 32:16, Isa 32:17). It is not assumed that the restored Jerusalem would have no enemies, only that they would have no commission from God to destroy, as the Assyrians and Babylonians had. There are two sides of righteousness regarded as the ground of the Church’s, or the Christian’s, stability and security.

I. RIGHTEOUSNESS AS THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD. This is clearly in the thought of the prophet, for he has been giving large promises from God, and naturally reminds of the righteousness, or faithfulness, of God as the assurance that he will keep his word. The same ground of confidence is presented by the apostle. “Though we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” God’s righteousness is our security, because it guarantees that he never promises

(1) more than he intends to perform;

(2) more than he can perform; and

(3) more than he will perform.

“Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men,” for there is no basis of “righteousness“ in their promises. Trust God utterly, for he is “righteous.”

II. RIGHTEOUSNESS AS THE OBEDIENCE AND HOLINESS OF MAN. We might have preserved the covenant-figure, and said the “faithfulness” of man. Righteous keeping of covenant was the one condition of stability for the Jewish nation; but this was an illustration of the truth that good is, in its nature as arranged by God, of necessity permanent. It has no element of weakness or decay in it. There are no foes that can overcome it. “What can harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” Restored Jerusalem must learn the old lesson, “The reformation of manners, the restoration of purity, the due administration of public justice, and the prevailing of honesty and fair dealing among men, are the strength and stability of any Church or state. The kingdom of God, set up by the gospel of Christ, is not meat and drink, but it is righteousness and peace, holiness and love.” Of the workers of righteousness it may always be said, “They that do such things shall never be moved.“R.T.

Isa 54:16

The Divine control of evil forces.

“I have created the waster to destroy.” This is an assurance which we, with our theological notions of the sphere of Satan, find it very difficult to realize. We cannot associate God directly with the forces that work evil Even if we get so far as to say that God permits evil, and overrules it for good, we cannot see that he actually sends the evil and arranges the evil, which is as truly his angel, his messenger, as any form of good is. Perhaps the conception was less difficult to a Jew than to us, because he had better notions of the Divine unity than we can gain. The “waster” here is a comprehensive term for the great conquering kings of Assyria and Babylonia, at whose hands Israel had so grievously suffered. Isaiah declares that God raised them up; God sent them forth; God gave them their work. He assures the new Jerusalem that it is quite safe, for God does not intend to send against them any such “wasters;” and they may dismiss for ever from their thoughts that any other being exists who can send “wasters” forth. Matthew Arnold says, “Destroyers and destruction are God’s work; they reach those only whom he means to reach, and he does not mean them to reach Israel.”

I. GOD SENDS TO US ALL THE EVIL THAT COMES TO US. We must never rest with second causes, nor talk of circumstances as if they were under no wise control. We must see God in calamity, and enmity, and temptation, and everything to which we can attach the name evil. Evil indeed is, oftentimes, no more than good which we cannot understand. The supreme control of God over all that man calls evil is figured for us in Satan, as the angel of calamity, appearing, to give account of his work, among the sons of God (see Job 1:2.).

II. GOD WARDS OFF ALL THE EVIL THAT MIGHT COME TO US. For there is a sense in which, as free-willed creatures, we are bringing evil upon ourselves; and others, as free-willed creatures, in some limited sense, may contemplate doing evil to us. Therefore have we, in verse 17, the further assurance, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee for the judgment shalt thou show to be guilty.” It is with God, and God alone, to send into our lives, or to withhold from us, both the evil and the good.R.T.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Isa 54:1. Sing, O barren We have often had occasion to observe, that the covenant between God and his people is represented in Scripture under that of marriage. See the notes on Solomon’s Song, and chap. Isa 50:1 of our prophet. If there were any doubt of the application of this chapter to the church of believers under the new oeconomy, according to the analysis, St. Paul’s application in Gal 4:27 would be wholly sufficient to determine it.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

VI.THE SIXTH DISCOURSE

The New Salvation

Isaiah 54

The fifty-third chapter retained its ground color, black, to the end. For the Prophet purposely once again accumulated the dark images of suffering in the twelfth verse, although from Isa 54:8 on he had let the light of the Easter morning dawn. It is as if he designed to paint the edge of his mourning ribbon dark black, so that it might appear in sharp relief. Spite of this, chap. 54 has a close inward connection with what precedes. For was it not said already Isa 53:10, that the Servant will have seed, and in Isa 54:12 that a great crowd shall be given Him as spoil? Have we not read Isa 52:10, that the arm of the Lord shall be revealed before all nations, and that all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God? Is it not represented in Isa 49:12 sqq., that Zion, though a forsaken wife, shall have countless children? And is it not intimated Isa 49:6 that this unaccountable increase of the children of Zion will be because the Servant of God is made the light of the Gentiles? This thought now forms the chief contents of chap. 54 viz.: that Zion, apparently forsaken and repudiated, shall be made happy by a wonderful blessing of children, and that by reason of the righteousness of the Servant being imparted to men far beyond the limits of the natural Israel.

The chapter has two parts: 1) The rich blessing of children a fruit of the eternal grace of Jehovah (Isa 54:1-10); 2) Israels state of salvation is one extending on all sides (Isa 54:11-17).

_______________
1. ZIONS RICH BLESSING OF CHILDREN A FRUIT OF THE ETERNAL GRACE OF JEHOVAH

Isa 54:1-10

1Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear;

Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child:

For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.

2Enlarge the place of thy tent,

And let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations:

1Spare not, lengthen thy cords,

And strengthen thy stakes;

3For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left;

And thy seed shall 2inherit the Gentiles,

And make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

4Fear not: for thou shalt not be ashamed:

Neither be thou 3confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame:

For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth,
And shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.

5For thy Maker is thine husband;

The Lord of hosts is his name;

And thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel;
The God of the whole earth shall he be called.

6For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,

And a wife of youth, when 4thou wast refused, saith thy God,

7For a small moment have I forsaken thee;

But with great mercies will I gather thee.

8In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment;

But with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee,
Saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

9For this is as the waters of Noah unto me;

For as I have sworn

That the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth;
So have I sworn
That I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.

10For the mountains shall depart,

And the hills be removed;
But my kindness shall not depart from thee,
Neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
Saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 54:1. under . Isa 54:4. in Niph. Isa 54:5. . Isa 54:8. ,. Isa 54:10. .

Isa 54:3. causative from the neuter to be inhabited, Isa 13:20; Jer 17:6; Jer 17:25; Jer 30:18.

Isa 54:5. (see Exeget. and Crit.) is subject, is in apposition with it, and is predicate. The plural is to be explained by being used here for , and being inflected and construed accordingly (see Green, 202, 2). But why not simply ? I think for this reason: because after the overthrow of the Old Testament Theocracy a re-marriage, as it were, was necessary, a re-founding of the former relations. The plural, as remarked, draws the plural after it.

Isa 54:6. is a rare form for (comp. Isa 60:9). is still dependent on before .The imperf. is used because, not a definite, solitary fact, but something that often happens is to be thought of.

Isa 54:8. is a genuine Isaianic play on words (comp. Isa 1:4; Isa 1:23; Isa 5:7; Isa 7:9; Isa 8:10; Isa 22:5; Isa 24:3-4; Isa 24:16 sqq.; Isa 25:6; Isa 27:7; Isa 28:7; Isa 28:10 sqq.; Isa 29:2; Isa 32:7; Isa 32:19, etc..).

Isa 54:9. The LXX translates . It seems therefore to have read . But the whole translation of the verse is so confused that one sees the translator knew not what to do with the text. Symm., Theod., Vulg., Targ., Jon., Syr., Saad. read . Also Mat 24:37 (comp. Luk 17:26) seems to favor the reading with its , though the passage is not properly a quotation of our text. Yet most CODD by far read , In Stier and Theiles Polyglott, the reading is not quoted at all. Moreover the following , as also the relation to the foregoing favors the reading . cannot be construed pronominally, for the contorted construction that ensues, and the following forbid it. We therefore take it as an adverb = (Jer 33:22; Ewald, 360, a). is construed as Isa 54:6.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Sing, O barrenbe inhabited.

Isa 54:1-3. Of course the Prophet addresses Jerusalem or Zion, yet not as a local congregation, but as representative of the whole nation. And it is true also, that He has in mind the Israel of the Exile, yet not of the Exile in its temporal limitation, but in the prophetic sense, that is so far as this comprehends in one view the Israel of the Exile with the subsequent time to the downfall of the outward Theocracy. For the Israel to which he speaks here is the desolate, that is no more married, but is forsaken and repudiated by her husband (comp. Isa 54:6; Isa 49:21). The old, outward Theocracy sets, is broken as one shivers an earthen vessel. In so far Israel is despised, repudiated, forsaken by its husband. But from the broken shell issues the kernel that from the beginning was hid, in the shell till the period of ripeness. And this kernel now enters on a new existence, in which it develops to a greatness and glory, in comparison with which the greatness and glory of its former stage of existence almost vanish. For the narrow house becomes a mighty edifice under which all nations of the earth (Isa 54:3), find room. The Apostle Paul uuderstands by this new, grand edifice the Jerusalem from above that is the mother of us all (Gal 4:26-27). And this Jerusalem from above is nothing else than the New Testament Zion, which itself, in turn, in the visible militant Christian Church, has only the first and initial stage of its existence. It is therefore a right meager construction when rationalistic expositors find nothing more said in our passage, than that Jerusalem after the Exile will be more populous than before, and that the people in the land will not have room, and consequently will spread out, and that to the south and to the north, i.e., toward Edom, Syria and Phoenicia (thus Knobel, Seinecke, etc.). What is to be understood by Isa 54:3 we shall see below at that verse.

Rejoice O barren, recalls the words of Hannahs song 1Sa 2:5 : so that the barren hath borne seven, where the additional thought occurs that the one having many children proves to be an , an exhausta viribus. is one that had never hitherto borne children (Jdg 13:2). If Zion be meant here, which we are to regard as the antitype of Sarah (Isa 2:1-3), and we may add also of Hannah, still barren cannot refer to the fact that Jerusalem during the Exile was robbed of her children and during that time bore no more (Delitzsch). According to that we would need to understand the blessing of children to mean the children that should be born in Jerusalem when it would be rebuilt. The is rather the hidden kernel of the spiritual Israel, within the fleshly Israel, that is not yet released from the shell, that has not attained an independent existence. Although the children of the fleshly Israel have felt more or less the influence of the spiritual Israel, yet so far as such is the case, they are only children of an invisible mother, whose existence is latent, and who on this account must be reckoned as not bearing.The same mother that is called barren is afterwards called desolate. Here the word itself () shows Jerusalem when rebuilt cannot be meant. For the rebuilt Jerusalem is no longer desolate and is not less a married wife than she had been before. But the New Testament Zion implies the destruction of the outward Theocracy, and thus the apparent dissolution of the former relation between the latter and God. Just then, the Prophet would say, when Zion in respect to its outward situation will be desolate, a lonely woman forsaken of her husband, just then the new Zion will develop out of it and have a much richer blessing of children than Zion had before in its Old Testament form. is the destroyed, wasted, solitary one (comp. Lam 1:13; Lam 3:11). (comp. Isa 62:4-5), according to the representation of the relation between Jehovah and Zion as a married one, designates Jerusalem as the Theocracy in whose stability appears also the stability of that married relation.

Isa 54:2. As a measure of the greatness of the promised blessing of children, the Prophet calls on Zion to widen the place of her tent, i.e., she must prepare an extended surface for the erection of her tent for dwelling. For it is not probable that designates the interior of the tent. What follows of itself shows that the extent of that interior will be great. here does not mean to stretch or strain (Isa 44:13), but to expand (Isa 40:22; Isa 45:12). The third person plural is used in the sense of the indefinite subject=let them expand. The Prophet implies that Zion may become concerned lest her dwelling be too much extended, and that she would check the expansion.He therefore calls on her not to do so: , do not oppose, hinder it (Isa 58:1). For all the nations of the earth are to find their spiritual dwelling under this tent. Corresponding to the greatness of the tent, the ropes must be lengthened and the pins be set firmly. But it has been justly remarked that strengthening the stakes refers not only to the greater resistance required for a tent of greater dimensions, but also to the fact that this is to be no more a momadic tent, but is to be a tabernacle continuing forever (Isa 33:20).

Isa 54:3. For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left. There appears in these words to be an allusion to Gen 28:14, and thy seed shall be as dust of the earth, and thou shalt break forth () to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. One sees from this passage also, that the Prophet does not merely name the right and left side (north and south) because breaking forth on the west would be hindered by the seas and on the east by the desert. But, spite of the comparison of the fastened stakes, the Prophet entertains the thought of an issuing forth in an appointed way. In such a connection the two lateral directions are ever named (comp. Gen 24:49; Num 20:17; Num 22:26; Deu 2:27; Deu 5:32; Isa 9:19, etc.).When it is further stated: and thy seed shall possess ( as frequently, Deu 2:12; Deu 2:21-22; Deu 9:1, etc.), the nations, we must remember what has been already said by the Prophet, Isa 49:6; Isa 49:12; Isa 49:18, sqq. We learn from these passages that the seed of Israel shall not merely take possession of some nations, but of all nations, and not of lands by expelling the inhabitants, but actually of the inhabitants themselves. For these themselves shall become the seed of Israel. But Zion shall wonder to see herself surrounded by a countless posterity, and how she came by these many children (Isa 49:21 sqq.)The seed of Israel will also make desolate cities to be inhabited. That the Prophet does not mean the desolate cities of Palestine that are to be repeopled, appears from the whole context which has a much loftier aim. Men are not wont to choose desolated places for residences. Colonists prefer to lay out a new city, rather than settle in the ruins of an ancient one. But the seed of Zion penetrates to all nations and seeks out even ruined nations, destroyed and desolated regions. It has in fact the mission of bearing new life everywhere that men are found.

2. Fear notthe Lord thy Redeemer.

Isa 54:4-8. In the name desolate, that is given to Zion, Isa 54:1, there is an intimation of a dreadful catastrophe. There will then come a time when Zion will no more be the married wife as heretofore, but desolate. That will, any way, be a severe and alarming crisis. In reference to just this critical time, Zion is called on not to fear, for, spite of the blow that seems to threaten annihilation, she will not come to shame (comp. Isa 45:16-17). She is further exhorted not to become depressed by the sense of shame, for she will actually have no occasion to blush with shame (comp. Isa 33:9). Yea, she will even forget the shame of her youth, and remember the reproach of her widowhood no more. The Prophet, therefore, distinguishes two periods of that time that precedes the issuing of the new Zion out of its Old Testament shell, viz., the youth and the widowhood, and both are designated as periods of reproach. The youth is the commencement period until David. It is the period when the Theocracy had a miserable existence, distressfully asserted itself in the midst of heathen nations, sometimes, as in the days of Samson and Elijah seeming to be lost in the struggle with its enemies, especially the Philistines. The widowhood denotes the period of exile, not merely the Babylonian, but also the Assyrian and the Roman exiles. For just with the beginning of the last named was coincident the issuing of the New Testament Zion from its Old Testament shell. In what follows is given the reason why Zion need not fear being brought to shame (Isa 54:5-8).

Isa 54:5. Although apparently no longer married, Zion still has an husband, and He is identical with her Maker. Can then the Maker suffer His work to be destroyed? Were that not a reproach to Him? And is it conceivable that Jehovah, who is the Maker here, will let Himself be loaded with this disgrace? Therefore He that is Jehovah, and indeed Jehovah of hosts, the Lord and Commander of all heavenly powers, He is the Maker of Israel and also its husband. What security in these titles? And the same is true of the predicates given to God in what follows. What kind of a redemption must that be, that proceeds from the Holy One of Israel (comp. Isa 41:14; Isa 43:14; Isa 48:17)! Can He be faithless to His word, unmerciful, cruel? And beside all this, this Holy One of Israel is the God of the whole earth (comp. Gen 24:3). He will therefore not have merely the will, but also the power to redeem Israel.But if Jehovah was hitherto Israels Maker, Husband and Redeemer, why is He so no more? When we look exactly, He has not ceased to be.

Isa 54:6. He, in fact, calls Israel back to Him as a woman forsaken (Isa 60:15; Isa 52:4), heart sore (properly, mortified in spirit, comp. Isa 63:10; Gen 6:6); as a man calls back the beloved wife of his youth, after having once scorned her.

Isa 54:7. Only a small moment did the Lord forsake His people. But this moment of giving pain He will make good again by so much greater mercy. The centrifugal shall have a corresponding centripetal (comp. the remark at Isa 43:5.

Isa 54:8, states the occasion of this momentary infliction of pain. It was the welling up of wrath, which, however, only prompted a momentary hiding of the face (comp. Isa 8:17; Isa 59:2; Isa 64:6). has plainly the same meaning as super-abundance, that is often used of a great flood of water and welling up of anger (Pro 27:4; Psa 32:6; Job 38:25; comp. Isa 8:8; Isa 30:28; Isa 66:12). But here, as the antithesis of everlasting kindness, it does not mean a lasting overflow, but only a momentary boiling over, like, say, the boiling over of a kettle. Therefore I allow myself to translate in Gluth der Wuth [an effort to copy the paronomasia of the original. See other attempts quoted in J. A. Alex., in loc.Tr.].

3. For thishath mercy on thee.

Isa 54:9-10. The Prophet supports the foregoing promise of everlasting kindness by giving it equal rank with the promise made to Noah (Gen 8:21 sq.; Isa 9:8 sqq.). Jehovah Himself calls this promise an everlasting covenant (Gen 9:16). And on this covenant, as on an immovable basis, rests the present stability of the earth. Here then the promise that the Lord will no more be wroth with Zion is put on a par with this covenant. If by Zion is to be understood the Israel of the exile, thus the fleshly Israel, then, indeed, as Hendewerk remarks, the Lord did not keep His word. But we have seen above under Isa 54:1, that the spiritual Israel is meant. Thus Isa 54:9 relates to the turn in Israels affairs described in Isa 54:1-8. And as the general abstract refers to that whole stage of the Theocracys development, so also waters of Noah as pars pro toto, represent by metonymy the whole Noachian period. But from what follows, it appears that the Lord makes prominent a central point in the two periods. That is He makes the promise just given to Zion parallel with that given to Noah. He calls both an oath, although the word to swear occurs neither in what precedes, nor in the places in Genesis that have been cited. But when the Lord gives His word, it is always an oath in substance, though it may not be as to form. For whether He expressly says it or not, when the Lord gives His word, He stakes His honor, and so His very divinity, as a man does the highest good he has, his salvation. and are related to one another as the inward sensation and outward manifestation. But here, as often, designates the real divine acts of judgment as a rebuking (comp. Isa 17:13; Psa 9:6; Psa 68:31; Psa 80:17).Finally in Isa 54:10, the Lord gives another image of the immovable fixedness of the covenant He makes with Zion. It shall stand more firmly than mountains and hills. For though these are elsewhere taken as the image of what is firm and immovable (Psa 36:7; Psa 65:7; Psa 104:5; Psa 104:8), still here and in other passages (Isa 24:18-20; Hab 3:6; Job 9:5; Job 14:18; Psa 46:3-4; Psa 114:4; Psa 114:6), the possibility is also recognized of mountains shaking, leaping, and even falling down. But such a possibility is positively denied in respect to the grace of God and His covenant of peace (covenant whose aim and consequence is peace, Num 25:12; Eze 34:25; Eze 37:26). In regard to the formula of assurance in Isa 54:10, it is to be remarked that this sort of thing occurs four times in this section. The first two times it sounds quite simply, saith the Lord, Isa 54:1; saith thy God, Isa 54:6. But toward the end, where the pathos of the Prophet rises, the formula grows to saith the Lord thy Redeemer, Isa 54:8, and saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee, Isa 54:10.

Footnotes:

[1]Hinder it not.

[2]possess.

[3]depressed.

[4]she was scorned.

2. ISRAELS CONDITION OF SALVATION EXTENDS ON ALL SIDES

Isa 54:11-17

11O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted,

Behold, 5I will lay thy stones 6with fair colours,

And 7lay thy foundations with sapphires.

12And I will make thy 8windows of 9agates,

And thy gates of carbuncles,
And all thy borders of pleasant stones.

13And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord;

And great shall be the peace of thy children.

14In righteousness shalt thou be established:

10Thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear:

And from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

15Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me:

Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall 11for thy sake.

16Behold, I have created the smith

That bloweth the coals in the fire,
And that bringeth forth an instrument 12for his work;

And I have created the waster to destroy.

17No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper;

And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,

And their 13righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isa 54:11. see List. is part. Kal from tumultuari, to storm, be moved by tempests, to be hunted (comp. Jon 1:11; Jon 1:13; Hos 13:3). is perf., for as part. it would need to read (comp. on Isa 53:7).before cannot be taken strictly as instrumental, For the stone is not the instrument with which one lays a foundation, but only one of the means. One may therefore only regard as instrumental in the wider sense, unless it may be treated as a species of essentiae. It were, indeed, not Impossible to translate with Gesenius, super saphiros. But there occurs no instance of designating the basis on which something is founded by In this sense everywhere is used (Psa 24:2; 155:5; Amo 9:6; Son 5:15).

Isa 54:12. We may make particular note here of the grammatical construction. According to Hebrew usage, what is made of any stuff is not described as the product of the stuff, but the material is put in apposition with the object to be made, or the object made is put in apposition with the material. Thus 1Ki 18:32, he built the stones an altar. Here the object made is in apposition with the material. But the reverse occurs Exo 38:8, All his vessels he made brass, i.e., brazen. The Hebrew conceives of the thing fabricated as a particular form of appearance of the material of which the artist makes it. This form of expression may be owing t its poverty in respect to adjective forms. In our text, therefore, the construction and is to be understood like the immediately preceding , only that in the two cases first named the Hebrew way of conception appears more pregnantly. For it is in general possible in Heb after. the verbs , ,, to designate that into which something is made not merely by , but also by the simple accusative.

Isa 54:13. This verse may be treated as dependent on or as an independent normal clause., as third pers. perf. masc. Kal from does not occur elsewhere. It must therefore be construed as adjective.

Isa 54:14. is Hithpalel with assimilated . The meaning is to make ready, fast. What follows suits very well this construction of in a subjective sense. First the imperative seems strange, if a promise is given and not an exhortation. Then means the oppresio, violence, in an active sense. The meaning terror is badly supported by Isa 38:14.

Isa 54:15. with almost a hypothetical significance, see Ewald, 103, g. stands here instead of , as in Isa 59:11 for . These are solitary instances of this use that became frequent only later. One may not cite Gen 34:2; Lev 15:18; Lev 15:26 as analogous examples. For in these passages is really nota accusativi, because that precedes the word in all the passages named, involves there the transitive meaning of lying with, sleeping with. But Jos 14:12 can be quoted as an example of this isolated use. before stands here in the sense it has when at the point of transition from an Interrogative to a relative meaning. Comp. Isa 44:10; Isa 50:10.

Isa 54:16. is not=for his use; for the smith forges swords not for his own use. But is here = secundum. Therefore he produces an implement, a weapon according to his workmanship, i.e., such as answers to his manufacture in general and to his individual craft in particular.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. O thou afflictedpleasant stones.

Isa 54:11-12. The foregoing strophe promised Zion a wonderful blessing of children, the benedictio vere theocratica, as the fundamental condition of national well-being in the largest measure. Now the blessing is extended to all. Zion was wretched, hunted, comfortless in her youth and widowhood. Lo–nuhama [not comforted] recalls Lo-ruhama [not having obtained mercy] Hos 1:6. But now Zion shall mount so high in splendor and glory that her walls shall consist of sapphires bedded in stibium, her doors of carbuncles, yea, her border-walls of precious stones. What a contrast between this past and the future which the Prophet has in mind, and which of course has also its stages ! For it is not realized at once, but only by degrees, until it is accomplished in the image of the future that the Apostle John portrays in Rev 21:18 sqq. is a paint made of sulphuret of antimony or grey stibium, Arabic Kohl, hence alchohol; to which is related the Hebrew to paint, Eze 23:40, see Herz. R. Enc. XIII p. 446; IX. p. 607. The stones shall be bedded in stibium. It was a custom to paint around the eyes with a shining black paint, which 2Ki 9:30 is called . So also the stones of the walls shall be set in costly stibium instead of mortar. Their edges therefore shall have its color, and the stones themselves the effect that stibium imparts to the eyes. This explanation may be harmonized with the mention of in the list of materials collected by David for the building of the Temple, 1Ch 29:2, by supposing that there means stones prepared in a peculiar manner unknown to us. But the stones of the foundation shall be blue sapphires (Job 28:6; Job 28:16). The pinnacles of the walls (, plural form occurring only here, properly the sun-beams, hence the projecting points, pinnacles of the wall, ) shall consist of (comp. Ewald 48, c). This word, which only occurs again Eze 27:16, is likely connected with scintilla (Job 41:11), and designates a shining, sparkling stone. The LXX translates ; modern writers understand it to mean the ruby or carbuncle, a stone of red hue. The gates shall consist of (. . from acccendit, exarsit, comp. febris ardens, a precious stone of fiery appearance, thus probably carbunculus, small glowing coal). cannot mean here the boundary line, for the wall itself is such for the city, and it has already been spoken of. And there is no Biblical authority for a boundary wall that enclosed also the territory of the city extra muros, i.e., a sort of Chinese wall. We will therefore need to take in the sense of that which is bounded, i.e., of the city territory that is bounded by the wall, a not unfrequent meaning (comp. Gen 10:19; Exo 10:14; Exo 10:19; 1Sa 11:3; 1Sa 11:7 and the Latin finis). This city territory shall be paved with choice stones ( a general expression found only here). Such is the understanding of our text that the author of the book of Tobit had, for he writes: And the streets () of Jerusalem shall be paved (, laid in mosaic) with beryl and carbuncle and stones of Ophir, Tob 8:17. He had therefore the idea of a tesselated pavement.

2. And all thy childrensaith the Lord.

Isa 54:13-17. After these intimations of an outward glory equally grand and symbolical, the Prophet turns to the inward blessings that relate to the sphere of intelligence, of the life of the soul, of right-living. All thy children, he says, shall be Jehovah learned, i.e., taught by Jehovah. Thus he promises knowledge, and in fact the highest and most infallible, since Jehovah Himself is its source. Kindred expressions occur Isa 44:3; Joe 3:1 sq.; Jer 31:34, while their fulfilment is declared in the New Testament in such passages as Joh 6:45 ( ); 1Th 4:9 (); Act 2:16 sqq.; Heb 8:10 sqq.; 1Jn 2:20. Where the Lord is Himself and alone the teacher, there the result can only be the deepest and most universal satisfaction for spirit and soul. For what the Lord teaches is the true wisdom. But that is not mere theory, but also practice as well, and satisfies the whole man.Israel so taught cannot practice unrighteousness. It must be holy as its Lord is holy. By the exercise of righteousness it shall itself be established; for righteousness exalts a nation (Pro 14:34). Israel must not, as the world does, regard as good everything that furthers its own interest. It must not in impending danger, itself practice unrighteousness and violence. For in fact it has nothing to fear. It must be on its guard both against unrighteousness and alarm. It must be neither insolent nor despondent. is fractio, consternatio, in a subjective or passive sense (comp. Pro 8:3; Pro 14:28). For it (viz., the subject of ) shall not come near (fem. in a neuter sense) thee.

Isa 54:15. In connection with the statement of Isa 54:14, that Israel need not fear, the Prophet now sets forth the reason. First he does not deny that there may be hostile conspiracies against Israel. Behold, they shall surely gather [they band together in bands, Dr. Ns. rendering.Tr.]. has this meaning of banding together in a hostile sense also in Psa 56:7; Psa 59:4; Psa 140:3. But though that may happen it is not from Me, says the Lord. Whoever, then, without Jehovahs approval, bands together at Zion (the neighborhood of conspirators is ever hostile), He will, as it were attracted like birds are said to be by the rattlesnake, fall on thee and so dash to pieces (comp. Luk 20:18).

Isa 54:16. And because God the Lord causes iron to grow and has taught men to make swords of it, and that for the the waster to use for destroying, so also He has the power to compel the creature of His hand not to use his destructive efficiency on Israel.I cannot treat the clause as the apodosis. The sentence rather affirms that the Lord made the weapons not for play, but of course for destruction. But opposed to Israel, the weapons shall fail in their mission, although they have that mission from God. From iron weapons the transition to the fleshly weapon is easy, viz., to the tongue, which is often compared to weapons of iron and is called worse (Psa 55:22; Psa 57:5; Psa 64:4; Jer 9:3; Jer 9:8; Jer 18:18). Every such tongue that shall raise itself in legal strife with Israel shall be proved by the latter to be a , criminal and guilty (Isa 50:9).

A brief word in conclusion finishes the discourse. This () refers back to the rich promise of blessing of the chapter. This is given to the servants of Jehovah. Isaiah intentionally speaks here for the first and only time of servants of Jehovah. Manifestly there is intended an antithesis to the Servant of Jehovah that plays so prominent a part in chap. 53. After that chapter the Prophet has nothing more to say concerning the Servant of Jehovah. But he has still to indicate how the salvation from the Saviour will be conveyed to those that need and are worthy of salvation. The expression servants of Jehovah occurs again 2Ki 9:7; 2Ki 10:23; Psa 118:1; Psa 134:1; Psa 135:1. Now to these servants of Jehovah the promise of this chapter is given, pointing out, as it were, their inheritance and the righteousness acquired for them. Beck (Die Cyrojes. Weiss., p. 161) even recognized that forms an antithesis to . The enemies of Israel shall dash to pieces (Isa 54:15), and if they contend before a judgment bar, shall be condemned. But the servants of the Lord shall, as the seed of the Servant of Jehovah (Isa 53:10; Isa 53:8), inherit the glory that is promised to Him, and obtain the righteousness which He the Righteous One, according to Isa 53:11, shall impart to the many.

Footnotes:

[5]I lay.

[6]in stibium.

[7]will found thee.

[8]pinnacles.

[9]rubies.

[10]Be for from oppression.

[11]on thee, i.e., dash to pieces on thee.

[12]after his craft.

[13]righteousness from me.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Isa 54:2. God dwelt in the Old Testament with His divine service in the Tabernacle, which was fifty ells broad and a hundred ells long. But it is not accomplished with this in the New Testament. For the stakes must be set out much further, because Christ will reign from one sea to the other (Psa 72:8). Cramer.

2. On Isa 54:4-5. We do God no honor when we are so very much afraid of our spiritual enemies. O, how joyful and assured we can be when we have God for a friend! Luk 12:32; Rom 8:31.A believing follower of Jesus cannot perish. He is as a living member united to Christ his Head. Will the head let one of its members be reviled, and not rescue its honor? Luk 18:7-8.The timid and shy ought not to be made more timid and shy, but one ought to comfort and cheer them up. 1Th 5:14.Starke.

3. On Isa 54:5. Habebis maritum non Mosen, non Petrum, non Paulum, non papam, etc., sed Dominum qui fecit te. Luther. In the plurals , the old theologians found an adumbratio mysterii S. S. Trinitatis: sponsi vel sponsoris tui factores tui Jehova. Foerster.

4. On Isa 54:6-8. What is all time in comparison with eternity? Therefore what are especially the exile-periods of Israel, even the longest, the Roman exile, in comparison with the everlasting communion of the nation with its Lord? Therefore what are the tribulations of Christendom compared with the everlasting rest that is promised to the people of God? Heb 4:9. We ought, therefore, in the greatest distress, while sighing: O, Lord, how long! never to forget that with the Lord a thousand years are as one day. We ought to remember that every earthly period of time is for the Lord but a moment. For the prize of everlasting bliss, an earthly moment of tribulation may well be endured.Ratio non potest credere, momentum et punctum esse tentationem, sed putat aeternam et infinitum esse, quia tantum in praesenti sensu haeret, nihil sentit, vidit, audit, cogitat, intelligit quam praesentem dolorem et praesens malum. Quare spiritualis haec est practica, omnia apparentia spectra relinquire et assuefacere cor ad non apparentia, hoc est fide in verbo haerere.Luther.

5. On 54. 9. Nonnunquam pluit, ut sit species aliqua futuri diluvii, non tamen redit diluvium. Quoties homines cernunt unam nubeculam ascendentem, turn putant rediturum diluvium. Hoc est, levis tentatio frangit animum, sed oportet, ut sic ex fide in fidem proficiamus. Nisi nonunquam desperatio incideret, non disceremus vere credere. Luther.

6. [On Isa 54:11-12. In the foregoing chapter we had the humiliation and exaltation of Christ; here we have the humiliation and exaltation of the Church; for if we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him. Isa 54:12. That which the children of the world lay up among their treasures, and too often in their hearts, the children of God make pavements of, and put under their feet, the fittest place of it. M. Henry.]

7. On Isa 54:11-12. The color display of precious stones in which the New Jerusalem shines is more than childish painting. Whence then have the precious stones their charm? The ultimate ground of this charm is this, that in all nature everything stretches up to the light, and that in the mineral world the precious stones represent the highest stage of this ascending process of inward absorption. It is the process of self-unfolding of the divine glory itself, that is reflected typologically in the ascending scale of the play of color and in the transparency of the precious stones. Therefore the high-priest bears a breast-plate with twelve precious stones, and on them the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and therefore Revelation 21. takes the picture of the New Jerusalem, that the Old Testament Prophet here sketches (without distinguishing the last time and the world to come), and paints it in detail, adding to the precious stones, which he names individually, also crystal and pearls. How could that be explained if the stone-world did not absorb in itself a reflection of the eternal lights, from which God is called , and were it not implied that the blessed will some time be able to translate these stony types into the words of God out of which they have their being? Delitzsch.

8. [On Isa 54:13. The churchs children, being born of God, shall be taught of God; being His children by adoption, He will take care of their education. It was promised (Isa 54:1) that the churchs children should be many; but lest we should think that being many, as sometimes it happens in numerous families, they will be neglected, and not have instruction given them so carefully as if they were but few, God here takes that work into His own hand: They shall all be taught of God, that is, they shall be taught by those whom God shall appoint, and whose labors shall be under His direction and blessing. He will ordain the methods of instruction, and by His word and ordinances will diffuse a much greater light than the Old Testament church had. Care should be taken for the teaching of the churchs children, that knowledge may be transmitted from generation to generation, and that all may be enriched with it, from the least even to the greatest. M. Henry.]

9. On Isa 54:16 sq. Verily He is also with our enemies. But not to give them success against us, but to restrain them from us, and precisely not to let them succeed. God says, He is also there when weapons are forged against us; He is also there when they sally forth for our destruction. Thus He will hold them, so that with all their equipping they will do nothing. If our almighty Friend Himself is with our enemies, we may well have no fear of any enemy. God causes the weapons of all the world to be forged so soft that they can do nothing to His children armed with a panoply by His word. So shall it be also with tongues that blaspheme against us. We will convict them, and in that they shall have their judgment. Diedrich.

10. [On Isa 54:17. The idea is, that truth and victory, in every strife of words, would be on the side of the church. To those who have watched the progress of discussions thus far on the subject of true religion, it is needless to say that this has been triumphantly fulfilled. Argument, sophism, ridicule, have all been tried to overthrow the truth of the Christian religion. Appeals have been made to astronomy, geology, antiquities, history, and indeed to almost every department of human science, and with the same want of success. Poetry has lent the charm of its numbers; the grave historian has interwoven with the thread of his narrative covert attacks and sly insinuations against the Bible; the earth has been explored to prove that He who made the earth and revealed its age to Moses was mistaken in its age, and the records of Oriental nations, tracing their history up cycles of ages beyond the Scripture account of the creation of the world, have been appealed to; but thus far, in all these contests, the ultimate victory has declared in favor of the Bible.Those who are desirous of examining the effects of the controversy of Christianity with science, and the results, can find them detailed with great learning and talent in Twelve Lectures on the Connection between Science and Revealed Religion, by Dr. Nicholas Wiseman, Andover, 1837. Barnes.]

HOMILETICAL HINTS

1. On Isa 54:1-3. Thoughts equally applicable in preaching on missions to the Jews and to the heathen. As long as the Old Testament, fleshly Israel had the husband, the spiritual Israel was unfruitful. But when that fleshly Israel had become desolate, then the spiritual Israel became free and began to stir itself, to develop its soarings and activity. And with what results! As soon as it was no longer important where one must worship, but the chief concern was how one must worship, and that one must worship in spirit and in truth, immediately to the true Israel was opened the way to the heathen, and to the heathen the way to Israel. And from that moment Zion became the mother of countless heathen children. And these, who hitherto had been without God and without hope in the world, now suddenly gained a Father, a home and a childs rights that are eternal. In the spiritual Israel, which is one with the Christian church, there is for this reason the uniting centre between Jew and Gentile. The Jews should recognize in the church of the gospel the kernel of their Theocracy long since broken up, and the fulfilment of all the promises and hopes of the Old Covenant. And the Gentiles should see that by means of the Christian church they may become children of Abraham, and thus be grafted into the old holy olive tree (Rom 11:17 sqq.).

2. On Isa 54:2-8. An urgent call to gospel mission work. 1) God wills it. 2) Fear not. 3) God is with thee. Dr. Thiele.

3. On Isa 54:7-14. The great mercy of the Lord. 1) How deep it goes, a. from Gods heart (great mercy, Isa 54:7); b. from an eternal purpose of grace (with everlasting grace, Isa 54:8). 2) How firm it stands, a. on Gods oath (Isa 54:9); b. when everything gives way and falls (Isa 54:10). 3) How it raises up (Isa 54:11-14). Scheerer, Manch. Gaben u. Ein G., 1868, p. 284.

4. On Isa 54:10. It is true, histories give us examples of mountains being displaced and sinking away; but that the Lord Jesus ever forsook or cast out a believing soul, of that no man will find an example. Ah! how should He forsake that which, when it forsakes Him, He seeks, with such great, divine patience and long-suffering, to restore again, and calls to it: Return again, thou backslider, and I will not change my countenance against thee, for I am merciful; I will not keep anger forever (Jer 3:12).Scriver.

5. On Isa 54:11-13. There are names for you! Whoever will judge by them must say that God is ungracious towards the church, and is angry with it and punishes it. For to be wretched, suffer all weathers, be comfortless, as God Himself here confesses of Christians, that is very hard and does not go off without vexation. What becomes then of the assurance: I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee? The comfort is given above, it shall in the first place be the anger of a father, accordingly it shall not endure long, it is but for a moment. With this agrees the Prophet here, and says how God would adorn and embellish the church with sapphire pavements, crystal windows, and gates of rubies. One must not think of this as happening in a physical sense. The Holy Ghost means the spiritual adornments, that all her children, i.e., all true Christians are taught of the Lord. That is, they have the Holy Ghost, and by faith in Christ much peace. For the hearts know God, that He is gracious; they look to Him for all good, call on Him in every distress, experience His gracious deliverance and help. Therefore, let it storm as it may, the heart is still joyful in God. These are the sapphire, crystal, rubies that are found in the church, and with which she is embellished. But note particularly what it means, to be taught of God. For it does not mean what the Anabaptists and other deluded spirits dream, that God converts the people by some particular revelation. But God teaches by the office of the ministry, which He has ordained for men here on earth, that in the name of His Son Christ Jesus they should preach repentance and forgiveness of sins, and baptize. With such preaching and baptism is the Holy Ghost, and He kindles in hearts reliance on the grace of God and impels to obedience. That then is what is meant by being taught of God, and goes on without special revelation.Veit Dietrich.

6. On Isa 54:14-17. The church should in all times remember that it is the house of the holy and righteous God, and should draw from that both warning and comfort. The church of the Lord stands on righteousness. 1) It is itself righteous, a. in that it appropriates the righteousness that the Lord has acquired for it; b. in that it does no wrong itself, but in every thing and toward every one exercises righteousness. 2) It obtains justice from the Lord against those that would do it wrong. For a. those that complot against the church do so without the righteous God; hence they have b. the righteous God against them, and they and their purposes must come to confusion,

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The Lord here comforts the Gentile Church, by showing her the fulness of her riches in Christ, and calling upon her to rejoice in the consciousness of her relationship to her Lord and Husband, her Maker. Many sweet and precious promises are contained in this Chapter.

Isa 54:1

What a sweet thought is it for the believer of the Gentile Church to cherish and keep in view, that they who were aliens, and strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, are not only brought nigh by the blood of Christ, but are more numerous than the original stock. Jesus himself is introduced as being astonished at the vast accession to his fold. Not that this was possible, but is only intended to represent, by a strong figure of speech, the joy of Christ over his re deemed; Isa 49:18-23 . Reader! pause over the precious thought, that Jesus is the husband both of Jew and Gentile; Gal 3:28-29 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Lengthening the Cords and Strengthening the Stakes ( A Sermon to Clergymen )

Isa 54:2

My subject is steadfastness and then extension. We have the same connexion of thought in that pair of parables which ought never to be separated the Parable of the Ten Virgins and the Parable of the Entrusted Talents the connexion between secret faith in the heart and the life of active obedience life in Christ and life for Christ. I shall consider the subject in two aspects:

I. As to our individual inner life.

II. As to our special position as ministers of Christ. I. To ‘strengthen the stakes’ to drive in the tent-pegs is a striking picture of the deepening and establishing of the inner life, and the lengthening the cords is a no less striking image of the gradual extension of our area of usefulness in the Church of God and in the world. As I shall dwell almost entirely on the first figure, let me remind you that the two must go together. The proportion must be complete. If you lengthen your cords, but do not strengthen your stakes, your tent will be liable to be swept away by the blast of temptation and trial. On the other hand, it is in vain to deepen your stakes unless you lengthen your cords, for the end of all religion is consecration of God and His service, to be used for His honour and glory.

There is one more point which must be settled before we proceed. That is the underground upon which we are building. If the foundation be sand, we drive in our tent-pegs in vain. They will not hold. Years ago I had an experience in the Lebanon. A sirocco was expected. My tent was pitched on rocky ground. I drove in my pegs to the hilt in narrow crevices in the rocks. The hurricane came in all its violence. My tent was shaken, but it stood. Let us ask ourselves once again the old, old question, Am I building upon the rock? Am I vitally united to Christ by faith? Is the living Christ the author of my salvation, the object of my faith, the inspiration of my love, the source of my power? If not if some blast of temptation should assail me if I should grievously fall, then should I have to cry in the words of the prophet, ‘My tent is destroyed, and all my tent-pegs are plucked up; my children are gone away from me and are not, and there is none to spread out my tent any more, or to set up my tent curtains’ (Jer 10:20 ).

Let me mention two stakes which need to be strengthened.

1. First, we must rivet our souls more firmly on the Word of God.

2. The second ‘stake’ of which I would speak is prayer. Do we not all feel amid the endless claims upon our time that there is special danger of minimizing our seasons of private devotion? The very distraction of our work demands and necessitates increased carefulness in the habit of prayer. I have often sought refuge from the din and noise of the Strand in the repose and stillness of the Temple Gardens. The very act of prayer is soothing to the mind apart from the blessing we look for in return, just as we are refreshed in the darkness by the fragrance of the garden, even though we cannot see to cull the flowers. St. Paul constantly realized this. He tells us that one of the five conditions upon which the peace of God is to be maintained in the soul amid the distractions of life is this: ‘In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. So the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall fortify your hearts and minds’.

But not only for repose but for safety’s sake wo must pray. If our souls are not strengthened by prayer we shall certainly fall a prey to temptation. We marvel that some mighty tree is broken by the blast, until we discover the inner decay. The great Origen, under fear of death, denied his Lord. The heathen were exultant They did not know that; Origen that morning had left his chamber without his wonted prayer. His last biographer denies the recantation, but his sermon in Jerusalem on Psa 50:16-17 , seems to authenticate the fact. Even if it be not true, the instinctive feeling that it is likely is a proof of our consciousness that all our inconsistencies, every yielding to temptation, each fall, secret it may be, is to be traced up to the neglect of habitual communion with God. Let the old question come back with all its ancient force: ‘Will you be diligent in prayer?’ For our own soul’s sake, for our ministry’s sake, we must be more and more men of prayer. All mighty works for God are done by His saints upon their knees. The man of prayer is the man of power in the Church of God.

II. I must now look at a wider field. The tent, or tabernacle, is an emblem of the Church; and here we will use the command, ‘Spare not; lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes,’ in a more catholic sense.

I would guard myself against three dangers in my pulpit ministrations:

1. The danger of forgetting the only remedy for sin. All reading must be subject to this. When the mind is full of the theme, and your motto is ‘Nihil humani a me alienum puto,’ and you have notes on your desk from theology, history, poetry, fiction, biography, science, and you feel and know that you can interest your people, beware! Is there a remedy for sin amongst it all?

2. Let us guard against the danger of vanity. ‘Why is it, father,’ said one of the friends of St. Francis d’Assisi, ‘that all the world goes after you?’ ‘Why,’ he replied, ‘even for this. The Lord saw no greater sinner in the world than I none less wise, none viler, and so He chose me above all to accomplish a wonderful work on the earth.’ ‘Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints,’ said St. Paul, ‘is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.’

3. Let us not forget our entire dependence upon God the Holy Ghost, that we may not be left to our own barrenness and blindness, but that our faculties for teaching may be directed and perfected. J. W. Bardsley, Many Mansions, p. 89.

Isa 54:2-3

From this text William Carey preached his famous sermon before his fellow-ministers at Nottingham in 1792. He divided the passage under two heads, which as Mr. Eugene Stock says, have been an inspiration to the whole Church of Christ from that day to this. (1) Expect great things from God. (2) Attempt great things for God. The sermon was preached on 30 May, and on 2 October the Baptist Missionary Society was formed. In the following year Carey himself sailed for India as its first missionary.

Lengthening and Strengthening

Isa 54:2

This splendid and glowing chapter is a magnificent example of prophetic faith. The people were exiles in what looked like a hopeless captivity. Yet this chapter throbs and burns with the prophet’s passionate conviction that many years shall not pass before he and his are restored again to their native land. His nation had been overwhelmed with disaster and political extinction, and when the people had been deported beyond the Euphrates, it looked as if the last chapter in the history of Judah had been written, and that its very name had been blotted out for ever from the roll-call of nations. But in this chapter the Prophet dares to predict for that ruined, desolate and wellnigh extinguished kingdom, a future greater even than its heroic past.

I. ‘Lengthen your cords’ is the Divine appeal to the Church. We must enlarge the place of our tent. We must continually be making more room. The danger of the Church is ever to be content with narrow boundaries, to be satisfied with less than God has in store for her. And so, to a Church always ready to sit at ease, God has always to be saying, ‘Lengthen thy cords, stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations’. In many directions we must ‘Lengthen our cords’.

1. We must be ever lengthening our cords in the way of seeking to win new territories and heathen lands for Jesus Christ.

2. We must be ever lengthening our cords in the way of seeking to bring daily life more and more under the sway of religion.

3. There must be a lengthening of the cords in the way of opening our minds to receive the new ideas and the larger truth that God from age to age reveals. For God does, from age to age, reveal new truth. No one can study the history of the centuries without seeing it. The Spirit is from time to time taking of the things of Christ and revealing them unto us.

II. But we must not only lengthen our cords, we must strengthen our stakes. There must be the inward confirmation as well as the outward development. Seek to win heathen countries for Christ; bring more and more of daily life under the sway of religion; keep an open mind for the larger truth; but see to it that the strengthening goes hand in hand and keeps pace with the lengthening; strengthen your hold upon the great Gospel verities, upon foundation truths, upon bottom facts. Strengthen your stakes, the great beliefs of your life; strengthen them, confirm them; in a word, while extending on this side and that, see to it that you are tightening your own grip upon Jesus Christ.

The lengthening without the strengthening can only issue in disaster.

J. D. Jones, Elims of Life, p. 155.

References. LIV. 2, 3. A. T. Pierson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xli. 1892, p. 360. J. Clifford, ibid. vol. xli. 1892, p. 344. J. Thoburn, ibid. vol. li. 1897, p. 267. LIV. 4. Hugh Black, ibid. vol. lx. 1901, p. 138. LIV. 7-10. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii. No. 1306. LIV. 9. Ibid. vol. xxxvi. No. 2176; vol. li. No. 2962.

The Kindness of the Lord

Isa 54:10

There are features of this earth which suggest eternity, voices which mysteriously speak of infinity. The sea is such a feature. Yet we are assured the time shall come when ‘there shall be no more sea’. The mountains are another such feature; we read of the ‘everlasting hills’. Yet, as the text assures us, ‘The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed ‘. They serve to symbolize the Divine nature and attributes. But there is a contrast drawn. These stable things of earth shall pass away; but, saith the Lord, ‘My kindness shall not depart from thee’. The Lord’s loving-kindness towards His people is set forth in three clauses of this verse.

I. His Gracious Disposition is Revealed Very human and very encouraging is the language in which our God speaks of Himself and His feelings towards us. His kindness is not mere indulgence; it is a desire for our holiness as well as our happiness.

II. His Tender Mercy is Recorded. Mercy is not a mere feeling; it is practically displayed. He ‘hath mercy upon’ us. Whilst righteousness alone might condemn, mercy forbears and forgives.

III. The Covenant of Peace is Established. A covenant here is not a bargain, but a faithful declaration of Divine purposes. The former covenant was with Israel; the new covenant is with the race which Christ redeemed, the Church which Christ purchased. The element of the covenant is peace with God, with self, with men.

IV. The Unchangeableness of the Lord’s Love. This is shown by contrast, viz. with earthly objects, as mountains and hills; and implicitly by contrast with earthly possessions and with human friends.

a. It is independent of us, i.e. of our desert, had we any; of our feelings, which are always varying.

b. It cannot be affected by anything outside us. ‘Who, what shall separate us from the love of Christ?’

c. It is part of God’s unchanging nature, whose power cannot fail and whose promises cannot be broken.

d. It is assured to us in Jesus Christ, who by His advent and by His sacrifice reveals and ratifies a love which never changes and a faithfulness which never betrays.

V. Our Response. What shall be our response? Let us think not how we feel towards the Lord, but how He feels towards us. Let us not misinterpret the changes, losses, and sorrows which, so far from being evidences of changes in the Divine heart, are ministrations of His kindness. But in all weakness and discouragement let us rely upon Him Who is independent of all our variableness and inconstancy.

Reference. LIV. 10. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah XLIX.-LXVI. p. 125.

Isa 54:11-13

Ruskin says: ‘How will you evade the conclusion, that there must be joy, and comfort, and instruction in the literal beauty of architecture, when God, descending in His utmost love to the distressed Jerusalem, and addressing to her His most precious and solemn promises, speaks to her in such words as these: “Oh, thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted,” What shall be done to her? What brightest emblem of blessing will God set before her? “Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and thy foundations with sapphires; and I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.” Nor is this merely an emblem of spiritual blessing; for that blessing is added in the concluding words, “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children “.’

References. LIV. 13. T. G. Selby, The Holy Spirit and Christian Privilege, p. 197. Morgan-Dix, Sermons Doctrinal and Practical, p. 169. LIV. 14. S. Barnett, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lix. 1901, p. 110. LIV. 17. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. 1. No. 2918. LV . Ibid. vol. xxxviii. No. 2278. J. H. Jowett, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lv. 1899, p. 282.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

God’s Relation to His People

Isa 54

Think of the prophet making a study of the divine relation to the Church. It will be interesting and profitably exciting to follow him in his definition of that relation. Isaiah sees everything that is spiritual with a poet’s eye, everything that is political with a statesman’s vision. Everything that is future and bearing upon the destiny and development of the Church he sees with that transfiguring glance which makes all common things uncommon, and raises up of the very stones children unto Abraham. Isaiah will have nothing small, contracted, inadequate to the occasion. If he spread a feast it shall be on the mountains, and it shall be such a banquet as never man spread before; if he sing a song it shall be loud as a storm, or soft as a whisper, but such a song as probably never before sought the confidence and fascinated the love of the Church.

According to the prophet the relation of God to his people is a relation that assures enlargement of beneficence on every hand. God and his Church are not locked up together, in some secret place, enjoying spiritual luxuries, whilst all the world is dying of starvation. If we could find such a hint in the Scripture we should burn the book. The Scripture is all for enlargement. The feast cannot be increased; but if it were needful to increase the space within which the guests are to be accommodated God would thrust back the horizon, rather than any man should starve for want of room to sit down in. If any messenger shall return, saying, “Yet there is room,” God would send that messenger out again to compel the hungering and homeless to come that they might enjoy a Father’s gracious bounty. So we find in the opening verses of this chapter enlargement:

“Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited” ( Isa 54:2-3 ).

That is jubilee a great offer of hospitality, a sublime promise of inclusion, the tones of whose hallowed music shall strike the remotest listener and assure him of welcome to the sanctuary and the feast. Any religion that narrows and excludes is a lie. Men should more definitely express themselves about these things that there may be no mistake. God loves the world; Christ tasted death for every man: “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.” If anywhere there is an indication of narrowness it is only an indication of intensity, as that it shall be hottest at the centre; but on account of the very ardour of the heat at the centre shall be the outgoing rays of warmth and light and comfort until the whole circumference shall vibrate as with a palpitation of thankfulness. The Apostle Paul, writing an epistle which has often been supposed to harbour narrowness, was labouring his very utmost with the help of the Triune God to assure men that God loved the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Yet there are sundry Gentiles who have tied themselves into little knots of favouritism, and excluded both the Jews and everybody else but themselves. They are marplots; they are ignoramuses; what little they know of grammar divests them of ability to understand the spirit. Love cannot be caged with iron; it wants the whole heaven to sing in. But how is this wonderful universality to be secured? How is this enlargement of the tent, and stretching forth of the curtains, and the sparing not of the cords, and the strengthening of the stakes how is this breaking forth on the right hand and on the left to be secured and realised and turned to the highest advantage? Appearances are against the whole process. That is partially true. But it shall be done:

“For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called” ( Isa 54:5 ).

That is how it is to be done. All these great miracles of love and light and redemption and education are to be wrought by a divine ministry, and not by human mechanism or contrived instrument starting in ignorance and ending in selfishness. All natural and usual law is to be set aside, and God’s great miracle is to be brought to fruition amid a wondering silence which shall precede a universal outburst and acclaim, signifying surprise, adoration, and thankfulness. What is this “law” which frightens so many people like an undefined and overpowering shape, rather than figure or presence? Men speak about law as if they understood it: what have we seen about law? How old is the oldest man? We speak with a kind of reverential awe when we point to a man who will soon be ninety. What a marvel! Why, he has not begun to live. What can a man know about law in ninety years, or in ninety centuries? Is there not one law above another? Does not the greater include the less? Are there not horizons beyond horizons? Is not progress but another aspect of recession, by which things run back and increase the space within which our observation is conducted? When we speak of law we speak of one law, one aspect of law, of law modified and conditioned so as to suit our faculties and capacities; but when God uses the word law he fills the universe with the thunder of the music. When we have seen all that we can see of revelation and law and order and purpose, we must say with the patriarch, “Lo, these are parts of his way,” rather, Lo, these are the whisperings of his voice, “but the thunder cf his power who can understand?” God’s power is pledged in the fifth verse “thy Maker is thine husband.” We have a hundred fathers, ten thousand times ten thousand fathers. We have limited the word husband, the word father, the word mother, as if they had dictionary meanings alone; we have not seen the overflowing meaning, the over-soul that passes into infinite developments of thought and action and love.

Then the prophet affirms that God’s relation to his people is one which cannot be altered by temporary alienations:

“For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer” ( Isa 54:7-8 ).

The prophet grows in rapture as he enlarges his vision and assures the Church that God’s relation to it may be relied upon to the uttermost:

“For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee” ( Isa 54:10 ).

The prophet assures the Church that she has not yet seen the fulness of her glory:

“O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones” ( Isa 54:11-12 ).

And then finally the prophet assures us that the relation which God sustains to his Church is not affected by human assault:

“Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn” ( Isa 54:16-17 ).

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker