THE LORD’S PEOPLE COMFORTED Isaiah 40:1. _Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God_. I. GOD HAS A PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. In one sense, all whom the Lord designs to create anew by His Holy Spirit, and who, though at present afar off, will at length be brought nigh unto Him, are _His_ people ... [ Continue Reading ]
COMFORT FOR THE SUFFERING Isaiah 40:1. _Comfort ye, &c._ IT is generally agreed that these last twenty-six Chapter s relate to the restoration of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon. They are the Gospel of the Old Testament. This is their value to us. Put into the briefest words, the ideas co... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TRANSIENT AND THE PERMANENT (_Autumn Sermons._) Isaiah 40:6. _All flesh is grass, &c._ [1315] [1315] The very affecting images of Scripture which compare the short-lived existence of man to the decay of the vegetable creation are scarcely understood in this country. The verlure is perpetual in... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PREACHER’S TASK (_Ordination or Missionary Sermon._) Isaiah 40:9. _O Zion, that bringest good tidings! &c._ This chapter commences the second part of Isaiah’s prophecies, in which the local and national is less prominent than in the former, and the visions are carried forward to the time of Mes... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GOOD SHEPHERD Isaiah 40:11. _He shall feed His flock, &c._ The Hebrews were, for the most part, a nation of shepherds. To them especially these declarations must have appeared full of beauty, tenderness, and life. I. THE GOOD SHEPHERD “He shall feed,” &c. 1. _Who is this Shepherd?_ He who was... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD INCOMPARABLE (_For Trinity Sunday._) Isaiah 40:18. _To whom then will ye liken God? &c._ The extreme point which has ever been reached by objectors to the doctrine of the Trinity is the point of incomprehensibleness, not the point of impossibility. The doctrine, though incomprehensible as to t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE UNIVERSE AND MAN Isaiah 40:26. _Lift up your eyes on high, &c._ We find in the text—not obscurely, not ambiguously, but with the clearness and positiveness of knowledge— I. THAT GOD SHOULD NOT BE CONFOUNDED WITH HIS WORKS, BUT APPREHENDED AS THE PERSONAL AND LIVING AUTHOR OF ALL. This faith is... [ Continue Reading ]
CHEER FOR THE DESPONDING Isaiah 40:26. _Lift up your eyes on high, &c._ These encouraging assurances must have been of the highest value to the captive and disconsolate Jews in Babylon. Banished for so long a period from the land of their fathers, they were ready to fear that they were outcasts fr... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD’S POWER THE COMFORT OF HIS PEOPLE Isaiah 40:28. _Hast thou not known? &c._ A softer tone one might think better adapted to the despondent; but this great interrogation seems as if the very thunder had taken in charge God’s defence and man’s elevation. The terms by which God is described are not... [ Continue Reading ]
WAITING ON GOD Isaiah 40:31. _They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength_. I. TWO CONDITIONS ARE NECESSARY TO PHYSICAL LIFE, VIZ., REPOSE AND ACTIVITY. So, also, in the spiritual life, there are two conditions of health, viz., passivity and exercise. The former is expressed by _waitin... [ Continue Reading ]