For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap [their] hands.
12, 13. The joyful exodus from Babylon; this is the “thing whereto Jehovah has sent” His word.
and be led forth ] by Jehovah in person, ch. Isa 40:10, Isa 52:12. Cf. Mic 2:13.
shall clap their hands ] Psa 98:8; Eze 25:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For ye shall go out with joy – This language is that which is properly applicable to the exiles in Babylon, but there can be no doubt that the prophet looks also to the future happier times of the Messiah (compare the notes at Isa 52:7).
The mountains and the hills – Language like this is common in Isaiah, where all nature is called on to rejoice, or where inanimate objects are represented as expressing their sympathy with the joy of the people of God (see the note at Isa 14:8; Isa 35:1-2, Isa 35:10; Isa 42:10-11; Isa 44:23). Indeed, this imagery is common in all poetry. Thus, Virgil:
Ipsi laetitia voces ad sidera jactant,
Intonsi montes: ipsae jam carmina rupes,
Ipsa sonant arhusta.
Ec. v. 62ff.
The untilld mountains strike the echoing sky;
And rocks and towers the triumph speed abroad.
Wrangham
Such language occurs especially in the poetry of the Orientals. Thus, when the god Ramar was going to the desert, says Roberts, it was said to him, The trees will watch for you; they will say, He is come, he is come; and the white flowers will clap their hands. The leaves as they shake will say, Come, come, and the thorny places will be changed into gardens of flowers.
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands – To clap the hands is expressive of joy and rejoicing (compare 2Ki 11:12; Psa 47:1). Thus, in Psa 98:8, it is said:
Let the floods clap their hands;
Let the hills be joyful together.
Among the Jews the language was sometimes used to express malignant joy at the calamity of others (compare Job 27:3; Job 34:37; Lam 2:15; Eze 25:6). Here it is an expression of the universal rejoicing which would attend the extension of the kingdom of God on the earth.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 55:12-13
For ye shall go out with joy
The reversals of pardoning mercy
The wealth of Gods abundant pardon is here set forth in metaphors which the least imaginative can understand.
Not only were the exiles forgiven, their warfare accomplished, their iniquity pardoned; but they would be restored to the land of their fathers–Ye shall go out . . . ye shall be led forth . . . Not only were they to be restored; but their return was to be one long triumphal march. Nature herself would celebrate it with joyful demonstration; mountains and hills would break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field would clap their hands. But even this was not all. One of the necessary results of the depopulation of the land of Israel was the deterioration of the soil. Vast tracts had passed out of cultivation; the terraces, reared on the slopes of the hills with so much care, had become heaps of stones; where corn had waved in the rustling breeze, or luscious fruits had ripened in the autumn sunshine, there was the sad fulfilment of the prediction, They shall smite upon their breasts for the pleasant fields,,, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of My people shall come up thorns and briars (Isa 32:12-13).But this, too, was to be reversed. Literally and metaphorically, there was to be a complete reversal of the results of former sins and backslidings. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)
Gods dealings with the soul in grace
To the Jew in Isaiahs time this promise doubtless bore reference to three things: the return from the seventy years captivity; their ultimate restoration, first to their own land, and then to Christ; and Gods way of dealing with each individuals own soul. To us it stands only in the last reference; to us the words are simply spiritual.
I. THE GOING GUY appears to relate to that great moral exodus when a man emerges from a state of nature into a state of grace, from bondage to liberty, from darkness to light, from the world to Christ, This is indeed to be with joy.
II. THE BEING LED FORTH denotes the further experiences of the Christian,–Gods conduct of him by the way; his future courses, and especially themanner in which he is brought out at last–out of this life into a better; and all this is to be with peace. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
What is joy?
1. Novelty of perception. It is a wonderfully new feeling when a soul first tastes the promises and grasps its own interest in Christ.
2. Keenness of perception. Keen is the first sense of sin to a penitent, and keen is the first sense of pardon to a believer. In that early dawn the souls atmosphere is so clear that every object stands out in its distinctness.
3. Sweetness of perception. Sweeter are those perceptions than they are keen. Are they not the touches of the Holy Ghost They are all about beautiful things–saints and angels, a holy heaven, and a perfect Jesus. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
And be led forth with peace:
As we go on in the spiritual life the sense of sin grows deeper and deeper; and a deep sense of weakness, nothingness, and guilt, combining with a fuller sense of pardon and love, makes joy peace. To a mind led and taught of God all the changes and chances of life lend themselves to peace. A great affliction is a deep fountain of peace; the very agitation hushes, and it makes all troubles afterwards so very small. Another and another promise fulfilled every day is always enlarging the rock underneath our feet. Another and another answer to prayer is always strengthening the arguments for the future. Another and another new drop of the knowledge of Christ is always swelling the tide, till the peace flows like a river, because we see the righteousness of Christ as the waves of the sea. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The effect produced by the Gospel
I. AN EFFECT THE MOST JOYFUL. Joy to whom?
1. To themselves. The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. Lord Chesterfield said, I hope I shall never be what they call converted, for I should be the most miserable man upon earth; not considering that this change would have produced a change in his taste, and that he would have been able to relish things which he disliked before. He to talk of religion making him miserable! Why, does he not, in one of his letters, tell us that he had always been wretched–that he had always found the world a cheat–and that he was now leaving it, not because he was reconciled to it, but because he was compelled; and that, since time had become his enemy, he was endeavouring to sleep away the remainder of it in a carriage? Bolingbroke, too, said, I now find in my affliction that my philosophy fails me. But the Christians religion does not fail him in the day of trouble.
2. To their fellow-Christians. There is no room for envy here, for there is enough for others as well as for yourselves, and enough for all.
3. To their pious friends, connections and relations. They had given them many a pang before.
4. Joy to ministers. When they observe the success of their labours, they resemble the husbandman, who, after his ploughing, manuring and sowing, goes forth and sees, first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear.
5. Joy to the angels.
6. Joy to the Mediator.
7. Joy to God Himself. The pleasure of the Lord, says Isaiah, shall prosper in his hand. The Lord thy Go-d in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing.
II. AN EFFECT THE MOST TRANSFORMING. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, etc.
III. AN EFFECT THE MOST HONOURABLE TO GOD. It shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign, that shall not be cut off. (W. Jay.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. The mountains and the hills] These are highly poetical images to express a happy state attended with joy and exultation.
Ipsi laetitia voces ad sidera jactant
Intonsi montes: ipsae jam carmina rupes,
Ipsa sonant arbusta.
VIRG. Ecl. v. 61.
“The mountain tops unshorn, the rocks rejoice;
The lowly shrubs partake of human voice.”
DRYDEN.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For; or, Therefore; because God hath promised it, and therefore will effect it.
Ye shall go out; ye shall be released from the place and state of your bondage. He alludes to their going out of Egypt, which was a type of their succeeding deliverances, and especially of their redemption by Christ from the power of sin and of the devil.
Be led forth; or, be led along; be conducted by the gracious and powerful presence of God, as you were in the wilderness. With peace; safely and triumphantly, without fear of being retaken and brought back into slavery by your enemies.
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands; there shall be a great and general rejoicing at your deliverance, so that even the senseless creatures shall seem to rejoice with you and for you.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. go outfrom the variouscountries in which ye (the Jews) are scattered, to your own land (Eze11:17).
ledby Messiah, your”Leader” (Isa 55:4;Isa 52:12; Mic 2:12;Mic 2:13).
mountains . . . trees,c.images justly used to express the seeming sympathy of naturewith the joy of God’s people. For, when sin is removed, the naturalworld shall be delivered from “vanity,” and be renewed, soas to be in unison with the regenerated moral world (Isa 44:23Psa 98:8; Rom 8:19-22).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace,…. Though these words may literally respect the Jews’ return from captivity to their own land, attended with joy and peace; as the preceding verse may respect the word of promise concerning it; as it is interpreted by the Targum,
“for with joy shall ye go out from among the people, and with peace shall ye be brought to your own land;”
yet they may be spiritually applied to the conversion of men, in consequence of the word being made effectual, of which the deliverance from the Babylonish thraldom was a type; when men “go out” of a state of bondage to sin, Satan, and the law; out of a state of darkness and ignorance; out of the pit of nature’s misery and distress; out of themselves and their own righteousness; out of their own sinful ways, and from among the men of the world: and though here is a divine power exerted in all this, yet they go out freely, being led by the Spirit of God; who takes them by the hand as it were, and leads them in ways before unknown to them; he leads them to Christ, his person, fulness, blood, and righteousness; to the house of God, and to the ordinances of it; and from one degree of grace to another, till he brings them to glory: all which is attended with “joy and peace” to themselves; finding themselves released from bondage, in a state of light and comfort, out of the horrible pit, and on a rock; brought to Christ, and clothed with his righteousness; to the angels in heaven, who rejoice over every sinner that repenteth; to the ministers of the Gospel, who are the instruments of their conversion; and to all the saints into whose fellowship they are brought; which joy is further illustrated by the following strong figures:
the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; or the people that dwell upon them: and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands; or clap with their branches; as the Targum, the tops of them, being moved with gentle breezes of wind, bow themselves, and the branches intertwining and clasping each other like hands and arms. Kimchi observes, that “mountains and hills” may signify the kings of the nations; and “the trees of the field” the people rejoicing at the deliverance of the Jews, as they pass along: it may be as well applied to the ministers of the word, and common believers rejoicing at the conversion of sinners, in whom as wonderful a change is wrought, as in the following cases. Vitringa interprets this of the apostles and ministers of the word going forth into the Gentile world, attended with joy in themselves, and among the converts there.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The true point of comparison, however, is the energy with which the word is realized. Assuredly and irresistibly will the word of redemption be fulfilled. “For ye will go out with joy, and be led forth in peace: the mountains and the hills will break out before you into shouting, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn will cypresses shoot up, and instead of the fleabane will myrtles shoot up: and it will be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting memorial that will not be swept away.” “With joy,” i.e., without the hurry of fear (Isa 52:12); “in peace,” i.e., without having to fight their way through or flee. The idea of the sufferer falls back in behind that of a festal procession (Psa 45:15-16). In applying the term kaph (hand) to the trees, the prophet had in his mind their kippoth , or branches. The psalmist in Psa 98:8 transfers the figure created by our prophet to the waves of the streams. Naatsuts (from naats , to sting) is probably no particular kind of thorn, such, for example, as the fuller’s thistle, but, as in Isa 7:19, briers and thorns generally. On sirpad , see Ges. Thes.; we have followed the rendering, , of the lxx. That this transformation of the vegetation of the desert is not to be taken literally, any more than in Isa 41:17-20, is evident from the shouting of the mountains, and the clapping of hands on the part of the trees. On the other hand, however, the prophet says something more than that Israel will return home with such feelings of joy as will cause everything to appear transformed. Such promises as those which we find here and in Isa 41:19 and Isa 35:1-2, and such exhortations as those which we find in Isa 44:23; Isa 49:13, and Isa 52:9, arise from the consciousness, which was common to both prophets and apostles, that the whole creation will one day share in the liberty and glory of the children of God (Rom 8:21). This thought is dressed up sometimes in one for, and sometimes in another. The psalmists after the captivity borrowed the colours in which they painted it from our prophet (see at Psa 96:1-13 and Psa 98:1-9). is construed as a neuter (cf., , Isa 45:8), referring to this festal transformation of the outer world on the festive return of the redeemed. is treated in the attributive clause as a masculine, as if it came from , to make an incision, to crimp, as we have already indicated; but the Arabic ayat , shows that it comes from , to point out, and is contracted from awayat , and therefore was originally a feminine.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Vs. 12-13: TRIUMPH AT LAST
1. The word of the Lord will ultimately triumph in effecting the redemption of the covenant-nation, (vs. 12) – empires, nations, and the whole creation uniting to celebrate her deliverance, and to exult in her Redeemer.
2. Israel is not only to be redeemed, but also EXALTED and HONORED.
3. These last two verses surely look forward to the joy of God’s redeemed people in the age to come – the millennial era – which is vital to His redemptive purpose.
a. The Lord will yet be glorified on earth – the very locale wherein His word has been so universally despised, disobeyed, and rejected.
b. And the Suffering Servant, Who suffered and died on-(and in behalf of) this earth, will yet RULE OVER IT! Luk 1:31-32.
c. The joy of redemption is very real – involving such blessedness as our present language cannot adequately convey, (see Isaiah 12; Psalms 46; Psalms 72; Psalms 98; Rom 8:21. etc.).
4. The greatness, majesty, and joy of the coming kingdom will show forth the glory of God, and will be a constant reminder of the eternal “riches of His grace”!
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. Therefore ye shall go out with joy. The Prophet concludes the subject of this chapter; for, when he spoke of the mercy of God, his object was, to convince the Jews that the Lord would deliver them. He now applies to his purpose what was contained in his discourse concerning the infinite goodness of God, and shows that his thoughts are very unlike the thoughts of men. And the true way of teaching is this, that we should apply general statements for present use. Finally, he treats of the restoration of the people, which depended on the undeserved mercy of God.
The mountains and hills shall break out before you. By “the mountains and hills” he means that everything which they shall meet in the journey, though in other respects it be injurious, shall aid those who shall return to Jerusalem. They are metaphors, by which he shows that all the creatures bow to the will of God, and rejoice and lend their aid to carry on his work. He alludes to the deliverance from Egypt, (Exo 14:22) as is customary with the Prophets; for thus is it described by the Psalmist, “The mountains leaped like rams, and the hills like lambs. What ailed thee, O sea, that thou fleddest, and Jordan, (Jos 3:16) that thou wast driven back? (Psa 114:4) For the restoration of the Church may be regarded as a renovation of the whole world, and in consequence of this, heaven and earth are said to be changed, as if their order were reversed. But all this depended on former predictions, by which they had received a promise of their return.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE CHEERFUL COURSE OF THE GODLY
Isa. 55:12. Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace, &c.
There is resolution and effort on our part, and help and guidance on Gods part. We go out and we are led. We must not forget either side of the truth. The farmer works in harmony with the rains and sunshine; the sailor in harmony with the winds and the sea. These two things, going out and joy, do not naturally agree. Going out is naturally more or less painful. Even although it is to make your position better, there is yet pain in leaving. But God says to the believer: These two incompatible things will meet in your case; nay, the one shall be the occasion of the other. The text also speaks of leading forth, and says of it that it shall be with peace. The Christians course is like a stream bounding forth from its native darkness with joy, and then gradually acquiring the tranquil flow of the broad river in the plain. Some applications
I. In conversion, the soul goes out with joy and is led forth with peace. Conversion is the souls first and great going out. That is the essential idea of conversion. It is not so many prayers and tears and resolutions. It is turning our back on the old life of sin and selfishness, and coming out into the light of God, as really as the emigrant leaves one country and goes to another. This coming out is a joyful thing. The Israelites celebrated their leaving of Egypt by a feast; and surely the coming out of the soul from darkness to light, from condemnation to life, may well be the signal of joy. And in the case of the soul delivered from death there is the peaceful leading, as well as the joyful departure. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, &c.
II. In the varied changes of life, the Christian goes out with joy and is led forth with peace. If we are the people of God, if we meet all changes in a spirit of faith and obedience, we may go forth with joy. Let us meet all our changes clinging to Gods guidance, taking a firmer hold of God as the scenes get stranger and stranger, as a child takes a firmer hold of his father the further he is from home.
III. At death the believer goes out with joy, and is led forth with peace. He may have looked forward to it with misgiving, with something like dismay. But at midnight, when the cry comes, he rejoices greatly because he hears the Bridegrooms voice. Like a tired labourer, he goes thankfully home, like a welcome and expectant guest, he goes rejoicing to the banquet.The Homiletical Library, vol. ii. p. 122.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(12) The mountains and the hills . . .Cheyne aptly compares
Ipsi ltitia voces ad sidera jactant
Intonsi montes. VIRG., clog.
(The very hills, no more despoiled of trees,
Shall to the stars break forth in minstrelsies.)
The waving of the branches of the trees is, in the poets thoughts, what the clapping of hands is with men, a sign of jubilant exultation (Psa. 96:12).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12, 13. The comparison just drawn (Isa 55:10-11) is truly beautiful, but its chief point is the energy with which the divine word is realized. (Delitzsch.) On receiving the word, or Gospel, ye are as those gladdened by a joyful deliverance.
Ye shall go out with joy Possibly the allusion here is to the exodus from Egypt, or more directly from Babylon, though neither can be the primary thought of the passage. The words are used as simply illustrative of the people of God emancipated from under old Mosaic tutelage into gospel privileges under the Messiah, or Christ. They go forth, bounding with “joy,” for conquest of the whole world to Christ; and all nature all mountains, and hills, and trees take on the happy complexion of the buoyant spirit of the Church. The result shall be the world’s renewal. The regenerating effects of the Gospel shall operate on the masses of mankind. Evil shall be eradicated; a blessed civilization shall be built up: for these are what the prophet means in his favourite figure of exchange from the noxious and the forbidding to the beautiful and the useful in the world’s physical aspect. See chap. 35, ff.; Isa 41:18, ff.; Isa 44:23, Isa 49:13; Isa 52:9. See also the Hebrew of the word thorn, , na’tsuts, only once before used, (in Isa 7:19,) and therefore a genuine Isaiahic word.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 55:12. For ye shall go out with joy The prophet, in words and ideas which seem borrowed from the departure of the Jews from Babylon, here represents the first preachers of the Gospel going forth to preach the glad tidings of salvation to the Gentiles together with the good success of their expedition, in the 13th verse. See ch. Isa 41:19. The meaning of the last clause, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, is, “it shall be a striking argument of the divine favour, most honourable to God, and to continue for all ages; so that whoever shall compare the state of the renewed world, under the influence of divine grace, with its former state, shall acknowledge and celebrate the everlasting power and goodness of God.” The memory of excellent men and teachers in the church, says Vitringa, as proofs and monuments of the divine grace, is never abolished: they are palms, cedars, and myrtles, flourishing in perpetual verdure.
REFLECTIONS.We have here,
1. A gracious invitation to sinners in general, to come and partake of the benefits and ordinances of the Gospel. Ho, every one that thirtieth; no exception is made; the invitation is general and universal to sinners of all ranks and degrees: if they thirst for pardon, righteousness, and salvation, as those who see themselves perishing without it, then they may come to Jesus Christ, and find welcome: come ye to the waters, Christ is the fountain of living waters, his spirit is usually represented by this emblem, and his ordinances are the pools; in these the soul maintains communion with the Saviour, and he dispenses out of his fulness to the thirsty: and he that hath no money; free and gracious is the salvation of the Gospel, requiring no meritorious qualifications, nothing of our own to recommend us to the divine favour, for indeed we have nothing worth his acceptance; we are by nature utterly corrupt and sinful, and our spiritual poverty most abject and miserable; yet that is no discouragement: no, it is such, and such alone, whom Christ invites, and who will be persuaded to come to him to buy and eat. As food eaten and digested nourishes the body, so do the promises of the Gospel, when mixed with faith, profit our souls. Christ in his ordinances is to be fed upon, his word is the bread of life; and in his sacraments we eat his flesh and drink his blood, the sweetest and most nourishing food for our souls; called, therefore wine and milk: come, buy wine and milk; the invitation is repeated, because of our stupid backwardness; and Christ urges our acceptance of his mercy, as if it were a favour done to him, instead of an unutterable obligation conferred on us. And lest we should hesitate, because mention is made of a purchase, and we have nothing to pay, the whole is offered without money, and without price; Christ, indeed, hath paid to the full for all the blessings that he bestows; but to us they come free as the light which shines on us, or the air we breathe.
2. Christ expostulates with those who seek righteousness and comfort out of him. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? all the toil and pains of the worldly-minded can never procure them solid satisfaction; corroding cares leaven their gains and corrupt their enjoyments; the pleasures that they seek in present vanities, are found husks instead of bread, and disappointments perpetual bid them seek a better and more enduring portion. And they who, by their doings and duties, would fain establish a righteousness for acceptance before God, labour but in the fires; their bread is poison, their toil their ruin; the more they seek thus to enter into life, the farther they advance in the path of death; for out of Christ there is no justifying righteousness; and all worldly enjoyments, without his love and favour, are but flattering dreams; and death, too late, will awaken the soul to perceive the fatal delusion. Happy they who are led to seek their happiness from Christ alone, and from him to expect righteousness and salvation.
3. He exhorts them to hearken to his word, and embrace the true good, which he offers to bestow upon them. Hearken diligently unto me, with such serious attention as the importance of the salvation of an immortal soul demands, and eat ye that which is good; the good things, which the word of truth in the Gospel proclaims, such good things as pass man’s understanding; and let your soul delight itself in fatness, in the pardon and peace, righteousness and joy in the Holy Ghost, which are provided as the richest feast for the believing soul. Incline your ear, and come unto me, Jesus would kindly, would earnestly court the sinner to taste the riches of his grace: Strange! that we should need intreaty to come to him and be happy! hear, and your soul shall live, or that your soul may live; life spiritual and eternal being derived from the word of Jesus, and they who hear and perseveringly believe in him in the way of holiness can never die: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David; to strengthen our faith, God condescends to bind himself under a covenant with the faithful. The blessings of the covenant are called mercies, because man’s desert is utterly excluded; and mercies of every kind, whether respecting grace or glory; the mercies of David, that is, of Christ his Son, by whom they were obtained, through whom they are dispensed, and in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen. Blessed, for ever blessed be God, for Jesus Christ!
4. Christ is promised for a witness to his people; him hath God the Father sent, to bear witness to the truth, and he is faithful and true. He came in the flesh, to publish to all nations the great salvation of God, and by his works and miracles sufficiently proved his divine mission: him we are commanded to hear and obey, for he is a leader and commander to the people; a leader, as he instructs and guides his people to walk in the ways of truth and righteousness: a commander, the captain of our salvation, who will subdue all our enemies before us, and make his faithful people more than conquerors; who bids us follow him, and leads the way to victory and everlasting triumphs. Note; They, who perseveringly with the heart receive Christ’s word as true, will follow his example as their pattern, and manfully fight under his banners, win through his grace, and wear the crown of righteousness.
5. Vast and numerous shall be the converts who at the invitation of Jesus shall come to him. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, the nations of the Gentile world, that before were not acknowledged as God’s people; and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, denoting the eagerness with which the Gentiles would receive and embrace the Gospel; because of the Lord thy God; because of the demonstration of the Spirit and power accompanying the word, and the grace and love of God in the Gospel, which are mightily constraining; and because they now perceive that there is no approaching a holy God but through a Saviour; and for the Holy One of Israel, trusting on his faithfulness; or to the Holy One of Israel, to Christ the holy Saviour; on whose atonement, merit, and grace, they alone depend; for he hath glorified thee; God the Father hath exalted his Son Jesus, given him to be head over all, committed all power into his hands; and he is glorified when sinners come to him, out of his fulness to receive an abundant supply of all their wants; and this is an encouragement to draw near to him, since our salvation is his glory.
2nd, We have the same subject of the return of sinners to God, farther prosecuted.
1. They are urged to seek God, from the consideration of his rich grace and readiness to receive the miserable that fly to him for mercy. [1.] The persons addressed are the wicked and righteous, for such we all are by nature, and such Christ Jesus came to seek and save; they who know not this to be their natural character, have no part nor lot in his salvation. [2.] The way in which they are directed to proceed. In penitence, prayer, and faith. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near; God will be found of them that seek him; this is his promise: therefore on our knees we must cry for the pardon and mercy which we need and he offers to bestow, and this without delay, before his abused patience cast us off, and say, my Spirit shall no longer strive; or death carry us to the tomb, when it will be too late to knock, because the door is shut. Oh, how should this awful consideration awaken our importunity, while the day of life and mercy lasts! Let the wicked forsake his way, let him turn from the paths of sin with loathing and abhorrence, nor spare one darling lust; and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let not one allowed desire of evil remain; the views of promised grace must constrain the sinner to part with all readily, cheerfully, unreservedly, and to cleanse the temper as well as reform the practice; and let him return unto the Lord, from whom he had so greatly departed; to stand before him as a criminal seeking pardon, as a helpless worm to find grace, and as a redeemed soul now engaged in his service, and desiring to follow him in all his holy ways; whoever thus seeks, will find. For, [3.] God promises that he will have mercy upon him; yea, will abundantly pardon; no guilt so great, no iniquity so aggravated, but that there is with him grace abounding to the chief of sinners. And this is mentioned, not as the condition and reward of our repentance and prayers, but as the argument to engage us thereto; seeing we can neither repent nor pray, till in some sense we see this mercy and grace extended towards us. [4.] He answers an objection which their fears might raise, guilt being ever ready to drive us to despair. They, indeed, who have never known the burden of sin, think it easy to believe in God’s mercy; while they who have once felt it, are soon convinced of the unbelief of their hearts. My thoughts, says God, are not your thoughts, in general with regard to sin, Christ, happiness, &c. and particularly which seems here intended respecting the manner of the sinner’s acceptance: for when we scarcely dare believe he can receive such vile wretches as we are, he knows how to glorify himself in being the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus; neither are your ways my ways; ours are perverse, his pure; ours lead to death and hell, his to life and glory: we never could forgive one who had offended us as we have God, yet he can and doth freely and fully both forgive and forget it. Thus, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so incomparably transcendant are his thoughts and ways of mercy and grace beyond all that we can ask or think.
2. The Lord engages to make his own word effectual to all that believe. For as, in the kingdom of nature, the rain and snow, directed by Divine Providence, water the earth, and cause its fertility, accomplishing God’s purposes of mercy in providing food for men’s bodies; So, says he, shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, the word of the Gospel, of which Christ is the sum and substance; it shall not return unto me void, but, accompanied with divine energy, it shall accomplish that which I please, be effectual to the conversion of numbers that yield to be saved by grace: and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it, producing a plenteous harvest of converted souls, and leaving those inexcusable who reject it. Note; It is a great encouragement to all the faithful ministers of Christ, to be assured that they shall not labour in vain in the Lord: to some they will be a favour of life unto life; to others a favour of death unto death: and in both God will be glorified.
3. The word, being made effectual to the conversion of men’s souls, will produce great joy in the hearts of the faithful; as was the case with the Jews when released from Babylon, to whom this may primarily be applied, and who herein represented the people of God going forth from the slavery of sin, their bands loosed, and they rejoicing in the glorious liberty of the sons of God, while the mountains and hills break forth into singing, as if congratulating their deliverance, and all the trees of the fields clap their hands for joy; which may express the delight of the apostles and ministers of the word, when they saw their labours so abundantly blessed, and so many converted by their preaching, who rejoiced with them at so blessed an event; but more especially and particularly refers to the glory of the latter days. And in consequence of this a wondrous change will take place in men’s tempers and dispositions. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree; and, being thus renewed in the spirit of their minds, it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Such is the infinite mercy and love of God towards all his faithful people!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 987
THE CHANGE WROUGHT BY THE GOSPEL
Isa 55:12-13. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
THE change wrought annually on the face of nature from desolation and barrenness to beauty and fruitfulness, is a lively representation of the change effected by the Gospel of Christ. The vain and the snow descending on the earth nourish the whole vegetable creation, and cause every part of it to spring forth in its appointed season: and, in the same manner, the word of God, dropping as the rain, and distilling as the dew upon the souls of men, infuses life into them, and renders them fruitful in every good word and work. This is the parallel drawn by the prophet himself, who, expatiating on the subject, predicts, under the image of the Jews return from Babylon, the progress of the Gospel in renovating the intellectual and spiritual world. His words will lead us to consider,
I.
The effects of the preached Gospel
The civilizing of the world is a very small part of the work which the Gospel is intended to accomplish. It is sent,
1.
To inspire new feelings
[Man in his natural state is an entire stranger to spiritual joy, or solid peace. The peace that flows from a want of foresight or reflection, and the joy that consists in mere animal gratifications, he may possess: but he is as destitute of spiritual enjoyments, as the brute creation are of intellectual pleasure. His state however is wonderfully changed when he receives the word of God in truth. At first indeed he feels trouble and anguish; but as soon as ever he has obtained a sense of his acceptance with God, his tears are wiped away, and the bones which were broken rejoice. It frequently happens, especially where the preceding sorrows have been deep, that the joy which succeeds them is rapturous and abundant. The surprise of Peter, on the eve of his expected execution, was not unlike that of a new convert: suddenly, a light shone in, upon him, and his chains fell off, and the prison doors flew open, and an angel conducted him out, so that he could not persuade himself that he was awake, but thought he saw a vision: thus when the new convert is first brought forth into light and liberty, and finds the obstacles, which had seemed insurmountable, removed, he is ready to think it must be all a delusion: it is with him as with those of old, when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream: then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing; yea, the very hills break forth before him into singing, and all the trees of the field clap their hands. We must not however suppose, that all are equally elated; or that the joy which any feel will continue with them: it will rather subside into a peaceful tranquillity of mind: they may go out with joy; but they will be led forth with peace. The Saviours joy, which is to be fulfilled in us, consisted rather in peace than exultation; and such is the legacy that he has left to us [Note: Joh 17:13; Joh 14:27.]. At first we are like a stream rippling and murmuring near the fountain head; but in our more advanced state we resemble rather the deepened river flowing with silent majesty.]
2.
To infuse new dispositions
[A thorny bush is unproductive and worthless; as a brier is unseemly and injurious. The one is a just image of the more decent of mankind; the other, of the more profane. All are low and grovelling in their nature, having no desires beyond this present world; and too many, by their influence as well as by their example, would impede the progress of those who are walking in the good way. The fir-tree on the other hand lifts its head on high; while the myrtle diffuses its fragrance all around; and both of them retain their verdure all the year: yet such shall the vilest of mankind become, when once they embrace the Gospel of Christ. They shall soar to heaven with devout affections; they shall spread around them a sweet savour of the knowledge of Christ; they shall be unfading ornaments in the place where they grow; and instead of wounding, like the brier, all that come in contact with them, they shall, like the myrtle, emit the sweeter fragrance the more they are bruised, and perfume, as it were, the very hand that bruises them.]
To impress our minds with a due esteem for the Gospel, let us proceed to consider,
II.
The excellency of those effects
There is an inherent excellence in holy dispositions, which, independent of the consequences flowing from them to ourselves or to society, must render them amiable in our eyes. But, as the text limits our views to the honour which accrues from them to God, we shall content ourselves with observing, that the change effected by the Gospel is to the Lord,
1.
An occasion of praise
[None who are quickened and renewed by the word ever take the honour to themselves: all with one voice cry, He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God; therefore, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the praise! The greater the change that is wrought in any persons heart, the less will he be disposed to arrogate any thing to himself on account of it: and most of all, when the top-stone of the spiritual building shall be brought forth, will he shout, Grace, grace unto it! From his first acquaintance with divine truth will he begin to speak of God with love and gratitude. His own experience will furnish him with an inexhaustible fund of praise and thanksgiving. Nor will his acknowledgments any longer be a dull recital of an established creed, but the lively effusions of a grateful heart.
Now if that be deemed excellent, which causes the name of any human being to be held in estimation, and to be transmitted to posterity with honour, how much more must that be excellent, which makes the name of God to be reverenced and adored!]
2.
A monument of glory
[It is not in this world only that God is glorified by the dispensations of his grace: at the day of judgment every saint will be to him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory. Christ will come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all that believe. How sovereign will the grace of God appear to every one amongst them, when each sees himself as a brand plucked out of the fire! What stupendous wisdom will be discovered in the plan, whereby he has effected their restoration to his favour! What marvellous patience will he appear to have exercised towards them under all their backslidings; and what unbounded mercy in pardoning their multiplied transgressions! Nor will his power be less an object of admiration, when it is seen how wonderfully it has been exerted in converting their souls, and in preserving them unto his heavenly kingdom. Yea, as long as there shall exist one glorified saint in heaven, so long shall the perfections of the Godhead be most eminently displayed in the salvation of sinful man.
How excellent then must that change be, which to all eternity shall be the brightest monument of the Divine perfections! The work of creation is excellent, though it is so soon to pass away: but that, glorious as it is, has no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth in the new creation.]
Infer
1.
What encouragement have men to hear the Gospel!
[As a person who had never seen the face of nature but in the depth of winter, would scarcely conceive it possible that so great an alteration could take place in it as is annually made within the space of a few weeks, so are many ready to imagine, that their hard and barren hearts are incapable of experiencing such a change as God requires. But his word is as powerful as ever: it is still like fire, or like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces: and though it runs not, nor is glorified to the same extent as in former days, yet wherever it is preached in sincerity and truth, there are some to attest its efficacy, and to prove, that it is the power of God to the salvation of men. Let none then despair: for though the treasure be put into an earthen vessel, God will display the excellency of his power by means of it: he will plant the fir-tree and the myrtle where nothing grew but thorns and briers; he will make the wilderness like Eden, and the desert like the garden of the Lord.]
2.
What a sure criterion have we whereby to judge of our state!
[An insensibility with respect to spiritual things characterizes the natural man; and a quickness of perception with respect to them marks the person in whom the word of God has taken due effect. Have we then surrendered up our false peace, and our carnal joy? and have we attained to a scriptural joy and peace in believing? Have the creatures all around us been led, as it were, to sympathize with us, and congratu- late us on the change? Look then next to the tempers and dispositions of the soul: have the low grovelling desires of the carnal mind been made to ascend to heaven; and the natural aversion to holy exercises been exchanged for an unfeigned delight in them? In short, is God now glorified in the whole of our deportment, so that, whosoever beholds our spirit and conduct is constrained to admire the grace of God in us? Doubtless, this change is not perfect in any; nor can we expect it to be so, while we carry about with us this body of sin and death: but is the change begun! and is it carrying on towards perfection! O that on considering these questions we might have the testimony of our consciences that things are so! But if there be no evidence of these things, let us beware, lest, instead of being eternal monuments of Gods love, we be objects of his everlasting displeasure.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Reader! do not fail to observe what a beautiful conclusion is made to this most gracious chapter! Surely, it is but just and right, that what begins in grace should end in thanksgiving! Praise is comely for the righteous. And how can any, and every redeemed soul do otherwise than shout aloud for joy, when Jesus is become his salvation? Such a blessed change is made from darkness to light, and from the power of sin and Satan unto God, that it may well be compared to the removal of briers and thorns, when Jesus hath taken them all away, and planted himself in the heart, as the fir-tree and myrtle-tree of Lebanon. Isa 35 throughout.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 55:12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap [their] hands.
Ver. 12. For ye shall go out with joy, ] sc., Out of your spiritual bondage, worse than that of Babylon.
The mountains and the hills.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
go out = go forth: i.e. from the lands of your wandering.
peace = prosperity.
break forth . . . singing. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia. See note on Isa 14:7.
the field: i.e. the open country beyond the limits of cultivation.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 55:12-13
Isa 55:12-13
“For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing: and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
When the Lord uprooted his vineyard, took away the hedge, broke the wall, and laid it waste, briars and thorns came up (Isa 5:5-6), the Old Israel suffered; but the New Israel under the New Covenant will be abundantly blessed. It should always be remembered that no individual of the old racial Israel is excluded from the New Covenant. Any or all of them may indeed be redeemed unto everlasting life upon exactly the same terms and conditions required of all; but no member of any race whatever, even Jews, shall ever be saved upon the basis of race alone. Race is absolutely irrelevant with regard to salvation today!
Cheyne noted that the passage here is metaphorical, and that, “All such poetic figures are presentiments of the Messiah’s reality.
Isa 55:12-13 REJOICING: The graphic picture of the whole creation rejoicing at Zions redemption in these verses may be hyperbolic description of release from the Babylonian captivity. Contextually, however, it is a figurative description of the rejoicing the whole creation is going to enter into when the whole creation is redeemed through the work of the Servant (cf. Rom 8:18-25). When that redemption which the Servant accomplished is finally consummated at the creation of a new heavens, and new earth there will be cosmic jubilation. Paradise will be restored and the curse which brought thorns and thistles upon the original earth (Gen 3:17-19) will be removed. It is through the work of the Servant that mans dominion over creation has been potentially regained now (cf. Heb 2:5-9). Isaiah, by the Spirit of God. saw all this. No wonder he burst forth into such beautiful hyperbole! All of this shall cause the name of Jehovah to be exalted forever and ever.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
ye shall: Isa 35:10, Isa 48:20, Isa 49:9, Isa 49:10, Isa 51:11, Isa 65:13, Isa 65:14, Psa 105:43, Jer 30:19, Jer 31:12-14, Jer 33:6, Jer 33:11, Zec 2:7-10, Rom 5:1, Rom 5:11, Rom 15:13, Gal 5:22, Col 1:11
the mountains: Isa 14:8, Isa 35:1, Isa 35:2, Isa 42:10, Isa 42:11, Isa 44:23, Isa 49:13, Psa 65:13, Psa 96:11-13, Psa 98:7-9, Psa 148:4-13, Luk 15:10, Rev 19:1-6
clap: 1Ch 16:32, 1Ch 16:33, Psa 47:1
Reciprocal: 2Ki 11:12 – and they clapped Psa 45:15 – With Psa 69:34 – Let Psa 89:12 – rejoice Psa 93:3 – lifted Psa 96:12 – General Psa 98:8 – Let the floods Psa 148:9 – Mountains Son 2:8 – the mountains Son 2:12 – time Isa 9:3 – they joy Isa 32:17 – the work Isa 52:9 – Break Isa 54:1 – break Isa 54:13 – great Eze 17:24 – all the trees Eze 31:9 – all the trees Joe 2:21 – be glad Joe 3:18 – the mountains Hab 3:10 – the deep Mal 4:2 – ye shall Luk 19:40 – General Joh 14:27 – Peace I leave Act 8:39 – and he Act 10:36 – preaching Act 16:34 – and rejoiced Rom 2:10 – and peace Rom 4:17 – calleth Rom 14:17 – peace Phi 4:7 – the peace Rev 12:12 – rejoice
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A HAPPY EXODUS
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.
Isa 55:12
To the Jew in Isaiahs time this promise doubtless bore reference to three things: the return from the seventy years captivity; their ultimate restoration, first to their own land, and then to Christ; and Gods way of dealing with each individuals own soul. To us it stands only in the last reference; to us the words are simply spiritual.
I. The going out appears to relate to that great moral exodus when a man emerges from a state of nature into a state of grace, from bondage to liberty, from darkness to light, from the world to Christ.This is indeed to be with joy. The being led forth denotes the further experiences of the Christian.
II. What is joy?(1) Novelty of perception. (2) Keenness of perception. (3) Sweetness of perception.
III. And be led forth with peace.As we go on in the spiritual life the sense of sin grows deeper and deeper; and a deep sense of weakness, nothingness, and guilt, combining with a fuller sense of pardon and love, makes joy peace.
Rev. James Vaughan.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
55:12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the {n} mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap [their] hands.
(n) Read Isa 44:23; Isa 49:13
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The "For" (Heb. ki) that begins this verse serves to introduce the conclusion to this pericope (Isa 55:6-13), and the entire section dealing with God’s atonement (chs. 40-55). "Surely" (the asseverative use of ki) would be a good translation.
Throughout this section Isaiah was describing another exodus, a redemption from sin, that the Servant would make possible. In view of that redemption, sinners need to seek the Lord, to come to Him for it (Isa 55:6-11). Now the prophet concluded, by describing the redeemed, led forth from their "Egypt," going out on their journey to their "Promised Land." They would do so with joy and peace because of the redemption that the Lamb of God would provide. As they would do so, all creation would rejoice because sin had been dealt with for all eternity. This description also fits the return of God’s people to the Promised Land, in the Millennium, that the prophet spoke of earlier (Isa 51:11).