Isaiah 52:11

A DIVINE CALL TO FORSAKE THE WORLDLY LIFE

Isaiah 52:11. Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, &c.

The prophet directly addresses those who were in exile in Babylon, and commands them to “depart” from it, when the opportunity, divinely promised, should occur. The urgency of the command, as indicated by its repetition, implies that there would be some delay on their part. Notwithstanding their early privations and sorrows, many of them seemed to prefer residence there, and were strongly indisposed to return. They knew the land of their fathers only by report. It was distant, involving a long and perilous journey across a pathless desert. Babylon was their native place, as well as their home, and the graves of their parents and kindred were there. Some of them had been advanced to official and illustrious positions, and many had property and friends there. Probably many of them had formed improper connections and attachments in that distant land, and they would be unwilling to relinquish them, to encounter the perils and trials incident to a return to the land of their fathers. Hence, the most urgent commands were addressed to them, and the strongest motives presented to induce them to leave the country of their exile. And after all, it is evident that but comparatively few of them were prevailed on to return to Zion. Apply this generally.

I. God calls men to forsake the worldly life. “Depart ye, … go ye out of the midst of her,” &c. Many who attend our sanctuaries are “men of the world”—careless and indifferent about the claims of God and their immortal souls. Hardened by sin, and overcome by the world, they are deaf to entreaty and disobedient to warning, &c. The great majority of our fellow-countrymen “love the world and the things of the world”—manifest a stolid indifference to spiritual religion. This is the most painful aspect of our times. But God’s call to men is—

1. Urgent.

2. Repeated.

3. Disinterested.

II. Men are reluctant to obey this Divine call. See introduction. Through love of the world they are prejudiced against spiritual religion. This reluctance springs from many causes.

1. Unbelief leads them to disregard all such calls. “The Jews might doubt the power of God, the sincerity of the proclamation, and the benefits of returning to Jerusalem.” To indolent and wicked men the commands of God seem unreasonable, the calls to duty prejudicial to selfish interests. Others may go to the celestial city, but they remain in the city of destruction.

2. “Continuance in sin obliterates remembrance of spiritual good. The Jews forgot their own land, and preferred the wealth of Babylon to Jerusalem, their chief joy. Worldly men are concerned for nothing beyond present enjoyments.”

3. “Present possessions are thought more certain than future good. The present world to them is real Power, position, and riches are seen and felt. But they disbelieve in future blessings.” They walk by “sight,” and for the sake of seen advantages, honours, and pleasures, they pursue courses of folly, sin, and shame, regardless of the consequences.

III. Sufficient motives to comply with this Divine call are presented to men. “God deals with them as reasonable and intelligent creatures. He does not constrain or force men out of the world.”

1. “Though God has punished, yet He loves men.” The Jews had been dispersed far and wide; they had been punished with violence; yet God recalled them, and had mercy on them. God hates your sin, but loves you; and though He punishes your sin, still He loves you. His love to you is manifested in manifold ways.

2. “Though men have disobeyed the call, they are not forsaken.” God had called the Jews again and again, and though they had been ungrateful and disobedient, still God invites them tenderly and urgently. How often has God called you! How ungrateful and disobedient have you been! Still God invites you! But His longsuffering will have an end. Beware! Hear and obey!

3. “Though invitations are given to men, yet disobedience will endanger their souls” (Isaiah 65:12; Luke 12:47; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 1 Peter 4:17). The danger is,

1. Real.

2. Imminent, Therefore (Genesis 19:17; Jeremiah 51:45).—Alfred Tucker.

This is a direct address to the exiled Jews in their captivity. They were to separate themselves wholly from an idolatrous nation and keep themselves pure. The command pertains particularly to the priests and Levites, whose office it was to carry the vessels of the Lord (Numbers 1:50; Numbers 4:15). They were required to feel the importance of their office, and to be separate from all evil. But all Christians are spiritual priests (1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:5). “They are to bear the vessels of the Lord, are intrusted to keep the ordinances of God pure and entire; it is a good thing committed to them, and they ought to be clean, and so carry God’s vessels, and keep themselves pure.”—M. Henry.

I. God’s people will have to do with the world as long as they are in it. The separation enjoined does not refer to civil affairs—buying, selling, &c., neither to existing relationships, &c. While in the world, the godly must live, &c.; and they are commanded not to be “slothful in business,” &c. They are compelled to have intercourse with those whose ungodly deeds are grievous to them, like Lot (2 Peter 2:8). The believing wife must not leave her husband, &c. (H. E. I. 1035–1041, 5026–5043).

II. God’s people should regard the world as the sphere of their influence and usefulness.—They are to be blessings to the world. They are its instructors, examples, ornaments, bulwarks, &c. Hence they must live and labour among worldly people, that they may be their benefactors, &c., and the instruments of their salvation. They are to shine in the world—to reprove its sinfulness by their holiness—to attract it by the beauty of their lives, &c.

III. God’s people must be spiritually separated from the world. [1593] Why? Because,

1. The world is Satan’s kingdom, and sinners are his subjects (2 Corinthians 6:15; Ephesians 2:2; John 14:30). Saints must not needlessly associate with sinners, but show that Christ is their Master. “What concord (harmony) hath Christ with Belial?” None. “So is there none betwixt those who are Christ’s disciples and Satan’s servants. Discord arises from their fellowship, which is so painful that the believer is often tempted to lower his note in order to produce apparent harmony.”

[1593] “Touch no unclean thing”—connected with the idolatries and defilements of Babylon; “go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean”—by separating yourselves wholly from Babylonian idolatries, “that bear the vessels of the LORD.” “The Apostle Paul has applied this to Christians, and uses it as expressing the obligation to come out from the world, and to be separate from all its influences (2 Corinthians 6:17). Babylon is regarded by the apostle as not an inapt emblem of the world, and the command to come out from her as not an improper expression of the obligation of the friends of the Redeemer to be separate from all that is evil.”—(Barnes.) “Go ye out of the midst of her.” Practically, this means “come out from the world—not the material world, of course, nor the philosophic world, nor the commercial world; but come out from the spirit, the principles, the motives that govern worldly men.” “Touch no unclean thing” belonging to them—have nothing to do with sin in any of its forms or manifestations. “Let your intercourse with them be like that of angels, who, when sent from heaven, had no sooner discharged their errand than they flew back again with rapid wing to the pure heavens.”

2. The world is spiritually dark (John 3:19; Ephesians 5:8; Ephesians 5:11). “What communion hath light with darkness?” None. “If there be communion betwixt light and darkness, it is to the detriment of the light. How has the brightness of many a Christian life been dimmed by intimacy with the ungodly.”

3. The world is unbelieving (Numbers 14:11). Worldly men trust in themselves and despise Christ. Sometimes their unbelief assumes the form of scepticism, which is not the result of careful inquiry, &c., but the slow result of indifference and prejudice, &c. (H. E. I. 369). “What part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

4. The world is idolatrous. They worship their pleasures, possessions, honours, &c. (Colossians 3:5; 1 John 5:2). “What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” Wherefore, come “ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean,” &c. The separation is not to be comprised in a single act, but must be the habit of the life. It must be a complete withdrawal from all that is inimical to our spiritual interests, and contrary to the will of God.

IV. God’s people have many motives urging them to this course of conduct.

1. The requirement of God (2 Corinthians 6:17; Romans 12:2, &c.) Remember who it is that speaks. His eye is full upon you. What will you answer Him?

2. The grand object and aim of the Gospel economy (Galatians 1:4, &c.)

3. The nature of their profession. The vows of God are upon them; their baptismal engagements bind them to “renounce,” &c.

4. The glory of God and the interest of His cause. How can we glorify God fully without entire separation from the world? Does not the worldliness of many professing Christians mar and sully the cause and honour of our Redeemer?

V. God’s people will realise the most blessed results from such a separation.

1. Deliverance from the terrible consequences of worldliness. Many have been ruined by it, as Sampson, Lot, Solomon, Demas, &c. (1 Corinthians 11:32). Worldliness separates us from fellowship with God, and finally plunges us into perdition.

2. The abiding presence of God (2 Corinthians 6:16; Colossians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:14).

3. An interest in God and all that He has promised. “I will be their God”—that is, everything that heart can desire (2 Corinthians 6:16).

4. Ever-increasing usefulness. “Other things being equal, you will be useful in proportion as you are holy.” (H. E. I. 1089–1095.)

5. A more glorious reward in the world to come (P. D. 722, 1752).—Alfred Tucker.

For introductory material, see other outlines on this text.
A summons to a very important duty, which, if more generally regarded, would greatly tend to the purity and prosperity of the Church, &c. One of the greatest evils of our times, with which the Church has to struggle, is conformity to the world, &c. “From worldliness, that mildew of churches, good Lord, deliver us.”

I. There is great danger lest we should damage our Christian life by conformity to the lower life of the world around. Such conformity may be—

1. Involuntary. “We have simply to cease to resist the current, and we shall drift with it. Left to themselves, things tend to equilibrium and assimilation.”

2. Unconscious, because so slow and gradual. “As the ship is moved by the tide without the motion being perceived, as old age creeps on a man before he is aware of it; so silently and stealthily the spirit of the world infuses itself into the unwatchful Christian.”

3. It is easily glided into in times of prosperity. [1596] As you love your souls, beware of the world; it has slain its thousands and ten thousands. What ruined Lot’s wife, Achan, Haman, Judas, Simon Magus, Demas? The world! (Mark 8:36.)

[1596] When the world persecutes the Church, Christians are in less danger of going over to the camp of the enemy than when it flatters and even imitates the Church, and the temptation is to meet compliance with compliance. Thus the very amelioration of the world under Christian influences may make it more dangerous by rendering it less repulsive, and by hiding its grosser evils under a decorous cloak. In Brazil there grows a common plant, which forest-dwellers call the matador, or “murderer.” Its slender stem creeps at first along the ground; but no sooner does it meet a vigorous tree, than, with clinging grasp, it cleaves to it, and climbs it, and as it climbs, keeps at short intervals sending out arm-like tendrils that embrace the tree. As the murderer ascends, these ligatures grow larger and clasp tighter. Up, up it climbs a hundred feet, nay, two hundred if need be, until the last loftiest spire is gained and fettered. Then, as if in triumph, the parasite shoots a large flowery head above the strangled summit, and thence, from the dead tree’s crown, scatters its seed—the work of death. Even thus worldliness has strangled more churches than ever persecution broke.—Coley.

II. Our security against this danger lies in spiritual separation from it (H. E. I. 5026–5061).

1. “It is vain to flee from the world, for we may carry the world in our hearts to the wilderness; and it is wrong, for we have a distinct mission to the world, and in fulfilling this mission must learn how to use the things of the world without abusing them.” If you would overcome the world, be assured that you must remain in it, but not be of it; you must not shrink from its responsibilities to avoid its perils. You must stand where God in His providence has placed you—humble in prosperity, trustful in adversity, Christian in all.

2. “It is equally vain simply to oppose the world. Unless we are ourselves different in spirit from the world, the opposition will be a futile hypocrisy.”

3. It is only by moral separation from it that we can escape this danger. [1599]

[1599] “People ask foolishly, ‘Where shall we draw the line?’ Some draw it at the theatre, some at the concert, some at all amusements. Unworldliness does not consist in the drawing of any line, however strict and vigorous. It consists in the change of our own hearts into an unworldly spiritual condition. And when this change is effected we shall voluntarily loathe and hate all debased things, and they will no longer have any power to allure us. There will then be no need to ‘draw a line,’ for there will be no inclination to approach as near as possible to forbidden ground.” Faith realises Christ’s Kingship, and its subjects transfer their allegiance to Him, acknowledging Him to be their Master and Lord, and disclaiming all others. Faith recognises the rightful authority of the whole current of His commands, which run against the love of the world, and renders a willing obedience as the surest evidence of sincerity. A new world has opened to their view, that by an irresistible attraction draws away their hearts from “this present evil world.” The love of Christ expels the love of the world. Faith conquers it by connecting us with the grace and victory of Christ, and by keeping in view the distinguished and everlasting rewards of the future life.—Tucker.

III. We are commanded thus to separate ourselves from the world. “Go ye out of the midst of her” (2 Corinthians 6:17; Romans 12:2, &c.)

1. The Divine command implies urgency. (See previous outline.)

2. The Divine command implies strenuous effort. (See vol. i. p. 37.)

3. The necessity for such a command is obvious when we consider—

(1.) The constant presence of the world.
(2.) The ties which bind us to the world.
(3.) The tendency of the human heart.

IV. There are many motives which concur in urging obedience to this command.

1. The will of our Heavenly Father (1 Thessalonians 4:3). He requires our “sanctification”—separation from all sin, &c.

2. The example and mission of Christ. “He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” In all His transactions, in all His intercourse with others, He preserved Himself unspotted (1 John 2:6). “He has left us an example,” &c. The design of Christ in dying for us—the one great moral result for which He “gave Himself for us,” was that He might rescue us—select and separate us—“from this present evil world”—the system or course of the present age, as impregnated with spiritual evil, &c. (Galatians 1:4, &c.) The grand moral result contemplated was our deliverance from worldliness.

3. The principles you profess.

4. The duty you owe to the Church and to the world. By nonconformity to the world you strengthen the cause of truth and righteousness, cause the friends of Zion to rejoice, and manifest to the world the sincerity of your profession, &c.

5. The duty you owe to yourself. Self-love prohibits conformity to the world, for thereby you take the most direct steps to plunge yourself into that condemnation which will be the portion of the ungodly. But by obedience to this injunction you promote your own holiness, happiness, usefulness, &c.

CONCLUSION.—Is your separation from the world boldly and clearly defined? If not, in so far as you are concerned, Christ has died in vain. “Come out from the world”! “Go ye out of the midst of her”! Yield yourself to Jesus, that He may accomplish this great work in you. Give Him your heart and He will cleanse you from all unrighteousness in heart and habits and life. Let not the charge of singularity frighten you from duty. Let your nonconformity to the world be manifest and thorough.—Alfred Tucker.

HOLINESS

Isaiah 52:11. Touch no unclean thing, &c.

The great Head of the Church speaks to His people now, in the voice of His word and by the voice of His providence, as He has scarcely ever spoken before. And for good reasons. The world is perishing all around us. The Church in many places is asleep in its worldliness, fashions, and follies, &c. But the fields around us are whitening to the harvest. The doors are opening on every hand, under the providence of God. We have no confidence in the permanent success of any reformatory movements, unless they are under the leadership and influence of a living Christianity and a living Church (Psalms 51; Isaiah 6) It was only when the coronals of fire were on the brow of the early Church that every one of its members became a living witness, testifying of “Jesus and the resurrection.”

I. Holiness furnishes both the disposition and desire to work for the Lord. We cannot be co-workers with God, unless we are one in sympathy, spirit, and purpose with Him. Just in proportion as the spirit of holiness sways the soul will be this disposition and this purpose. The very first entrance of the renewing Spirit into the soul of the believer begets this desire and purpose; and how much more will they control and impel it when He has taken full possession of all its powers! The believer will be willing to do anything for Jesus when he has consecrated all to Him. Sacrifices will be regarded as nothing for the sake of Him who sacrificed all for us.

II. The spirit of holiness also furnishes the help needed for such work. Nothing but this will bear the soul along for weeks, months, and years in this work. There are difficulties, discouragements, and sometimes fearful obstructions in the way of those who undertake these services. No one, unaided by Divine grace, would enter upon such a work, and if he did he would speedily abandon it in either disgust or despair. But the same Spirit who gives the disposition and desire to work for God, also gives the help to do that work (2 Corinthians 12:9). This is heroic; it is sublime. And it is this endowment of power, the power which holiness brings with it to the soul, which the Church, in its ministry and membership, now needs to fit it for its high and holy mission (H. E. I. 2827).

III. Holiness furnishes the very best and the only absolutely necessary qualifications for this work. We do not refer so much to intellectual qualifications; they are to be secured in other ways. But holiness will clarify the intellect, enlarge the heart, and tip and touch the tongue with an unaccountable eloquence, far beyond any natural gifts which the witness for Christ may possess. This is the one indispensable requisite for this work. Learning is, indeed, exceedingly desirable; but all may be possessed, while the one who has it is unfitted for the Master’s service, and powerless for the salvation of immortal beings. If he have this power, this grace, however rude he may be in speech, or inelegant in manners, or unacquainted with the mighty tomes which contain the facts of science or the lore of the ages, however unheralded he may be by name or fame, he will work wonders in the name of the Lord. The instances are multiplied, &c. Certainly, the more holy any one is, the more closely he will endeavour to imitate his Master and Lord, who “went about doing good.” Oh, it is not a negative holiness which the world wants, but a positive, earnest, self-sacrificing, all consuming holiness, which will expend itself in labours for the good of others (2 Corinthians 5:14). If any one should think that he has attained to holiness, or profess to enjoy this grace, and has not this disposition or desire to work for Jesus, it is clearly evident that he is deceived, and all his professions are worse than vain.

IV. The spirit of holiness, dwelling in the human soul, will lead it to work for Christ, without selfishness, false ambition, struggle for honour, position, or emolument: and without envy or jealousy of the good, or the rights and privileges of others. [1602]Lewis R. Dunn: Holiness to the Lord, pp. 77–86.

[1602] There is little time for looking after souls where self is dominant. There is little left for benefactions to the poor, the suffering, the distressed, for the cause of God and of humanity, where the loud and ever-increasing clamours for self-gratification demand all, and often more than all, we may possess. And there is but little satisfaction or comfort in the service of Christ which is so marred and blurred and clouded with false ambitions, envies, and jealousies. But this pure spirit of holiness not only expurgates sin, but also self, with all its train of evils and follies. And where these have held undisputed sway, now Jesus reigns alone. And how easy, how pleasant, to work for Him when His love inspires our breast! Love supreme, love to God, begets in us love for our neighbour, and bears us onward cheerfully, in all toils and sacrifices, to bless and save him. What power cannot accomplish, what wealth cannot buy, love can do. And it is the religion of love which is to conquer this world. Truly did the eloquent Castelar say recently in the Spanish Cortes, “Might is the religion of power; but the religion of love is almighty.”—Dunn.

We have now everything else. In a measure we have this. But we have it not in the degree of fulness and power which is needed to enable us to meet our vast responsibilities and move our ponderous machinery. And this is what is needed to meet the wants of the great beating, surging heart of the world. This is to be its great centre of attraction. All else will be of no avail (H. E. I. 2813–2866).

I. Holiness is wanted in the ministry. The priests of Zion, to be efficient, must be “clothed with righteousness as with a garment.” They must be anointed and endowed with the “spirit of holiness.” It was for them primarily that the Saviour prayed in His intercessory prayer: “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth.” There is nothing ministers need so much as holiness. How great is the need, even now, that the entire ministry of the Church should be clad in the shining vestments of holiness! What a spirit of consecration would they then exhibit! What zeal, what self-sacrifice, what sympathy, what power would they possess! It is true that this might create some opposition from worldly-minded, formal, or backslidden professors of religion; but this would not hinder the progress of the work of God. Such a mighty momentum would be given to the cause of the Redeemer, that all barriers would sooner or later be swept out of the way, and the Gospel would not only “run,” but it would be “glorified.” And what an impulse would this give to our missionary work!

II. Holiness is wanted in the Church. The history of the Church clearly demonstrates the fact that, as spiritual vitality and power have declined, there has been an effort to substitute for them external forms and multiplied machinery. And generally, where there has been the least of these spiritual elements, there has been the greatest amount of the material. Now the same absurd tendencies are developing themselves. Much is said nowadays about the barrenness of Protestant worship; it is the barrenest thing in the world, without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Romanism, the Greek Church, and the High Church of England and America, have a something which seems in a measure to compensate them for their loss or lack of spiritual vitality. As they have not “the beauty of the Lord upon them,” they have invented a sort of beauty which attracts the eye and ravishes the senses. As they have ceased to be spiritual, they have become simply sensuous. But Protestantism has really provided for nothing of this kind. Without holiness, our churches are nothing but a shell. But where this is, there “the tabernacle of God is with men” (Isaiah 4:5). And this is all the glory and defence which we need. There must be a return to vital godliness, with all its blessed and heavenly influences, speedily, or else there will follow on rapidly decline, decay, and death.

III. It is holiness which is wanted to bring in the glories of the millennial era, and which will be universal in that era. The ministry and the Church thus consecrated, bearing on every forehead and every breast, on every heart and every life, “Holiness unto the Lord,” would soon bring in the brightest glories foretold on the glowing pages of Isaiah (H. E. I. 1089–1093, 1169).—Lewis R. Dunn, pp. 109–117.