_Keep silence before Me, O islands_ THE CONVOCATION OF THE NATIONS (whole chapter):--The conception of this passage is superb. Jehovah is represented as summoning the earth, as far as the remote isles of the west, to determine once and for ever who is the true God: whether He, or the idols and ora... [ Continue Reading ]
_The righteous man from the East_ THE RIGHTEOUS MAN FROM THE EAST The question, whose appearance is predicted, has been always a subject of dispute. Eusebius, Theodoret, and Procopius understand it as describing the triumphs of the true religion, or the Gospel, here called “righteousness.” Cyril a... [ Continue Reading ]
_I the Lord, the first, and with the last_ _ I._ LOOK AT GOD IN HIS PRIMARY RELATION TO HIS CREATURE. Understand clearly that everything which is was first an idea in the mind of God. Thence, by a creative act, it came forth and took form and being. So God was first, long before all His works--as... [ Continue Reading ]
_They helped every one his neighbour._ IDOLATRY THE SUBJECT OF SARCASM: The sarcasm consists in making the idolaters dependent upon idols which are themselves dependent upon common workmen and the most trivial mechanical operations for their form and their stability. Hence the particular enumerati... [ Continue Reading ]
_So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith_ THE HARDSHIPS OF WORKING MEN If men in bad work can encourage each other, should not men engaged in honest artisanship and mechanism speak words of good cheer? 1. Men see in their own work hardships and trials, while they recognise no hardships or trials... [ Continue Reading ]
_But thou, Israel, art My servant_ THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH It is reasonable to seek the origin of the idea in the first passage in which the term occurs (Isaiah 41:8). Here there can be no doubt as to what the term denotes. It denotes the Israelitish nation, treated, however, not as the mere aggre... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fear thou not; for I am with thee_ “FEAR THOU NOT!” I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH GOD ADDRESSES HIS PEOPLE. They are poor and needy. It is necessary that God should have room in which to work. Emptiness to receive Him; weakness to be empowered by Him. It is into the empty branch that the vine-sap... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand_ THE CHRISTIAN’S HELP I. IT IS A PERSONAL HELP. “I will help thee.” When the religious element was strongly felt amongst the Jews, they looked to the King eternal for guidance and protection; nothing but His counsel would satisfy them. Man seems to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fear not, thou worm Jacob_ FEAR NOT I. The first qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well, is a SENSE OF OUR OWN WEAKNESS. When God’s warrior marches forth to battle with plumed helmet, and with mail about his loins, strong in his own majesty--when h... [ Continue Reading ]
_A new sharp threshing instrument_ EVIL AND GOOD I. THE FORMS OF GOOD AND EVIL. Evil is a mountain--a big thing occupying immense space, bounding the horizon and darkening the sun. Good often appears as small as a worm. II. THE CONFLICT OF GOOD AND EVIL. The worm shall “thresh the mountain.” Worm... [ Continue Reading ]
_When the poor and needy seek water_ AN IMAGE OF GOD’S CARE The thought of the caravans returning homewards through the thirsty desert suggests to the prophet an effective image symbolising the Divine care which will attend them: the ground at their side bursts into waterpools, and noble trees cas... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will open rivers in high places_ GOD’S “I WILLS” In this verso the Lord twice says, “I will”; and in that respect this verse is in harmony with the rest of the chapter. When we come to the “I wills” of God, then we get among the precious things, the deep things, the things which minister comfo... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will plant in the wilderness_ TREES The “cedar” grew on Mount Lebanon, and was of great height, and had extended branches, which afforded kindly shade. The “shittah” tree is probably, as the R.V. renders it, the acacia. This was “a large tree, growing abundantly in Egypt and Arabia, and is the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Produce your cause_ HEAVEN’S APPEAL TO THE REASON OF THE SINNER The text implies-- I. THAT THE SINNER HAS SOME REASONS FOR THE EVIL COURSE HE PURSUES. II. THAT THESE REASONS HE IS BOUND TO STATE BEFORE HIS MAKER. “Bring forth your reasons.” Why bring them forth? 1. The question of a sinful cou... [ Continue Reading ]
_One that bringeth good tidings_ DIVINE ORDINATION I. MINISTERS ARE DIVINELY ORDAINED. They come from God. “f will give.” The ministry is not one of the literary professions, nor a secular office. Colleges and seminaries do not make them. II. THEY ARE A GIFT OF GOD’S GRACE. Neither the Church’s m... [ Continue Reading ]