Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 62:1
For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp [that] burneth.
1. The speaker here is most naturally to be supposed the prophet, although the words are often explained as those of Jehovah Himself. This, however, is less probable, in spite of the fact that the verb for “hold my peace” is always in these chapters, except here and Isa 62:6, used by or of Jehovah (ch. Isa 42:14, Isa 57:11, Isa 64:12, Isa 65:6); for when Jehovah breaks His silence salvation has come. The thought of the verse is entirely appropriate on the lips of the prophet who wrote ch. Isa 61:1 ff.; he declares that he will persevere in the course of action there described until the year of Jehovah’s favour has actually come.
until the righteousness brightness ] i.e. until her right, at present obscured, becomes brilliantly manifest (Psa 37:6). Comp. ch. Isa 60:2-3, Isa 58:8.
a lamp that burneth ] a burning torch.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For Zions sake – (See the notes at Isa 1:8). On account of Zion; that is, on account of the people of God.
I will not hold my peace – There have been very various opinions in regard to the person referred to here by the word I. Calvin and Gesenius suppose that the speaker here is the prophet, and that the sense is, he would not intermit his labors and prayers until Zion should be restored, and its glory spread through all the earth. The Chaldee Paraphrast supposes that it is God who is the speaker, and this opinion is adopted by Grotius. Vitringa regards it as the declaration of a prophetic choir speaking in the name of the officers of the church, and expressing the duty of making continual intercession for the extension of the Redeemers kingdom. Estius supposes it to be the petition of the Jewish people praying to God for their restoration. Amidst such a variety of interpretation it is not easy to determine the true sense. If it is the language of God, it is a solemn declaration that he was intent on the deliverance of his people, and that he would never cease his endeavors until the work should be accomplished.
If it is the language of the prophet, it implies that he would persevere, notwithstanding all opposition, in rebuking the nation for its sins, and in the general work of the prophetic office, until Zion should arise in its glory. If the former, it is the solemn assurance of Yahweh that the church would be the object of his unceasing watchfulness and care, until its glory should fill the earth. If the latter, it expresses the feelings of earnest and devoted piety; the purpose to persevere in prayer and in active efforts to extend the cause of God until it should triumph. I see nothing in the passage by which it can be determined with certainty which is the meaning; and when this is the case it must be a matter of mere conjecture. The only circumstance which is of weight in the case is, that the language, I will not be silent, is rather that which is adapted to a prophet accustomed to pray and speak in the name of God than to God himself; and if this circumstance be allowed to have any weight, then the opinion will incline to the interpretation which supposes it to refer to the prophet. The same thing is commanded the watchman on the walls of Zion in Isa 62:6-7; and if this be the correct interpretation, then it expresses the appropriate solemn resolution of one engaged in proclaiming the truth of God not to intermit his prayers and his public labors until the true religion should be spread around the world.
I will not rest – While I live, I will give myself to unabated toil in the promotion of this great object (see the notes at Isa 62:7).
Until the righteousness thereof – The word here is equivalent to salvation, and the idea is, that the deliverance of his people would break forth as a shining light.
Go forth as brightness – The word used here is commonly employed to denote the splendor, or the bright shining of the sun, the moon, or of fire (see Isa 60:19; compare Isa 4:5; 2Sa 23:4; Pro 4:18). The meaning is, that the salvation of people would resemble the clear shining light of the morning, spreading over hill and vale, and illuminating all the world.
As a lamp that burneth – A blazing torch – giving light all around and shining afar.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 62:1
For Zions sake will I not hold my peace
The Church blessed and made a blessing
(Isa 62:1-12):–The words of the great Deliverer are continued from the foregoing chapter.
1. He will not rest until the glorious change in the condition of His people is accomplished (Isa 62:1).
2. They shall be recognized by kings and nations as the people of Jehovah (Isa 62:2-3).
3. She who seemed to be forsaken is still His spouse (Isa 62:4-5).
4. The Church is required to watch and pray for the fulfilment of the promise (Isa 62:6-7).
5. God has sworn to protect her and supply her wants (Isa 62:8-9).
6. Instead of a single nation, all the nations of the earth shall flow into her (verse ,10).
7. The good news of salvation shall no longer be confined, but universally diffused (Isa 62:11).
8. The glory of the Church is the redemption of the world (Isa 62:12). (J. A. Alexander.)
The gradual development of the glory of Jerusalem
For Zions sake I shall not be silent, and for Jerusalems sake I shall not rest, until her righteousness breaks forth like morning-splendour, and her salvation like a burning torch. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
The moral illumination of the world
I. THE PRESENT IMPLIED OBSCURITY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. The righteous One and the Saviour (Vulgate). Whenever the righteous One and Saviour are hidden there is obscurity.
II. HER ANTICIPATED GLORY. The burning lamp is a symbol of the presence of Jehovah. Jesus is termed the brightness of His Fathers glory and the express image of His person. Connect both the figures in the text. The Sun of Righteousness shall go forth like the light of the morning.
1. Manifestly. Light maketh manifest.
2. Irresistibly, as the light of the morning.
3. Universally. As all the earth turns to the sun, all are visited by the morning light. Righteousness shall go forth as brightness in all the earth.
III. THE MEANS BY WHICH THE WORK IS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED. For Zions sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest. Some think these are expressions of Jehovah. Correct or not, it is a Scriptural truth; it has long lain near the heart of God! Others, that Jesus is the speaker. The world is His purchased property, but His own world received him not. Yet the Father has pledged Himself to vindicate His right: Ask of me. The most common opinion is that these words are Isaiahs, as a man of God and as a minister of God. It is proper to be used by all who mention the name of the Lord. Human agency, then, is the means employed. In providence God helps man by man. In grace the same. The Word of God is to be carried and held forth as light. The text indicates the manner also.
1. It shall be consistent–prayer and exertion. Not hold my peace, not rest.
2. Affectionate exertions also–from a principle of love. For Zions sake.
3. Persevering. Until the righteousness go forth. (J. Summerfield, M. A.)
The extension of the Gospel
I. THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL AS APPLIED TO YOUR OWN SOULS. Two inclusive blessings, righteousness and salvation.
II. THE EXTENSION OF THIS BLESSING THROUGHOUT THE EARTH. It is evident that it is in the promise of God that it shall be so, because it is made the subject of the persevering intercession of Christ. For Zions sake will I, etc.
III. THE GROUND OF OUR ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE EXTENSION OF THIS BLESSING. What can be stronger? It is the grace of the intercession of the Son of God. (C. Bridges, M. A.)
Divine unrest
(with Isa 62:6-7):–
I. THE CAUSE OF DIVINE UNREST. The needs of the Church, Zion; the condition of the city, Jerusalem. It is in the lack of righteousness, the need of salvation. This is still true of our Churches and cities. The sin is pro found, the sorrow unfathomable. Yet there is not total darkness. There is twilight; but all the Divine yearning is, that the twilight may brighten into noon.
II. THE NATURE OF THIS DIVINE UNREST. It is not chiefly that of indignation at wrong, but it is the unrest of anxiety for others, the unrest of pity. It is–
1. Unselfish.
2. Universal. Even God will share it.
III. THE MANIFESTATION OF THIS DIVINE UNREST.
1. In loud human proclamation of the truth.
2. In prayer to God.
3. In Gods unrest, in which He gives Jesus to save and bless. Christs piercing cry of grief, O Jerusalem, utters the unrest in God. Learn–
(1) The remedy for all the unrest of the universe. Righteousness, Salvation.
(2) The opportunity good men have for communion with God. Be unhappy because of the sin and sorrow in the world. Have fellowship with Christ. Share the Divine unrest. (U. R. Thomas, B. A.)
The heavenly workers and the earthly watchers
(with verses6, 7)–
1. The preceding chapter brings in Christ as proclaiming the great work of deliverance for which He is anointed of God; the following chapter presents Him as treading the wine-press alone, which is a symbol of the future judgment by the glorified Saviour. Between these two prophecies of the earthly life and the still future judicial energy, this chapter lies, referring, as I take it, to the period between these two–i.e to all the ages of the Churchs development on earth. For these Christ here promises His continual activity, and His continual bestowment of grace to His servants who watch the walls of Jerusalem.
2. Notice the remarkable parallelism in the expressions: I will not hold My peace; the watchmen shall never hold their peace. And His command to them is literally, Ye that remind Jehovah–no rest (or silence) to you! and give not rest to Him. So we have here Christ, the Church and God, all represented as unceasingly occupied in the one great work of establishing Zion as the centre of light, salvation and righteousness for the whole world.
I. THE GLORIFIED CHRIST IS CONSTANTLY WORKING FOR HIS CHURCH. We are too apt to regard our. Lords real work as all lying in the past, and, from the very greatness of our estimate of what He has done, to forget the true importance of what He evermore does.. He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. In that session on the throne manifold and mighty truths are expressed. It proclaims the full accomplishment of all the purposes of His earthly ministry; it emphasizes the triumphant completion of His redeeming work by His death; it proclaims the majesty of HIS nature, which returns to the glory which He had with the Father before the world was; it shows to the world, as on some coronation day, their King on His throne, girded with power. But whilst on the one side Christ rests as from a perfected work which needs no addition nor repetition, on the other He rests not day nor night. When the heavens opened to the rapt eyes of John in Patmos, the Lord whom he beheld was not only revealed as glorified in the lustre of the inaccessible light, but as actively sustaining and guiding the human reflectors of it. He holdeth the seven stars in HIS right hand, and walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Not otherwise does my text represent the present relation of Christ to His Church. I will not rest. Through all the ages His power is in exercise. He inspires in good men all their wisdom: and every grace of life and character. Nor is this all. There still remains the wonderful truth of His continuous intercession for us. In its widest meaning that word expresses the whole of the manifold ways by which Christ undertakes and maintains our cause. So we have not only to look back to the cross, but up to the throne. From the cross we hear a voice, It is finished. From the throne a voice, For Zions sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest.
II. CHRISTS SERVANTS ON EARTH DERIVE FROM HIM A LIKE PERPETUAL ACTIVITY FOR THE SAME OBJECT. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. On the promise follows, as ever a command Ye that remind Jehovah, keep not silence. There is distinctly traceable here a reference to a twofold form of occupation devolving on these Christ-sent servants. They are watchmen, and they are also Gods remembrancers. In the one capacity as in the other, their voices are to be always heard. The former metaphor is common in the Old Testament, as a designation of the prophetic office, but, in accordance with the genius of the New Testament, as expressed on Pentecost, when the spirit was poured out on the lowly as well as on the high, on the young as on the old, and all prophesied, may be fairly extended to disignate not some select few, but the whole mass of Christian people. The remembrancers priestly office belongs to every member of Christs priestly kingdom, the lowest and least of whom has the privilege of unrestrained entry into Gods presence-chamber, and the power of blessing the world by faithful prayer.
1. Our voices should ever he heard on earth. A solemn message is committed to us by the very fact of our belief in Jesus Christ and His work.
2. Our voices should ever be heard in heaven. They who trust God remind Him of His promises by their very faith; it is a mute appeal to His faithful love, which He cannot but answer. Beyond that, their prayers come up for a memorial before God and have as real an effect in furthering Christs kingdom on earth as is exercised by their entreaties and proclamations to men.
3. These two forms of action ought to be inseparable. Each, if ,genuine, will drive us to the other, for who could fling himself into the watchmans work, with all its solemn consequences, knowing how weak his voice was, and how deaf the ears that should hear, unless he could bring Gods might to his help? And who could honestly remind God of His promises and forget his own responsibilities?
4. The power for both is derived from Christ. He sets the watchmen; He commands the remembrancers. And, as the Christian power of discharging these twofold duties is drawn from Christ, so our pattern is His manner of discharging them, and the condition of receiving the power is to abide in Him. Christ asks no romantic impossibilities from us, but He does ask a continuous, systematic discharge of the duties which depend on our relation to the world, and on our relation to Him.
III. THE CONSTANT ACTIVITY OF THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST WILL SECURE THE CONSTANT OPERATION OF GODS POWER. Give Him no rest: let there be no cessation to Him. These are bold words. Those who remind God are not to suffer Him to be still. The prophet believes that they can regulate the flow of Divine energy, can stir up the strength of the Lord. It is easy to puzzle ourselves with insoluble questions about the co-operation of Gods power and mans; but practically, is it not true that God reaches His end, of the establishment of Zion, through the Church? The great reservoir, is always., full to the brim; however much may be drawn from it, the water sinks not a hairs breadth; but the bore of the pipe and the power of the pumping-engine determine the rate at which the stream flows from it. He could there do no mighty works because of their unbelief. (A. Maclaren, D. D.
Hindrances to the spread of the Gospel
Our particular inquiry is, What obstacles to the conversion of the world are found among those who, in different ways, are enlisted in the cause of foreign missions?
I. THE DEFECT OF OUR CHRISTIAN CHARACTER, OR THE WANT OF A HIGHER DEGREE OF HOLINESS.
II. THE DIRECT INDULGENCE OF AFFECTIONS WHICH ARE SELFISH AND EARTHLY.
III. DIVISION AND STRIFE AMONG CHRISTS FOLLOWERS.
IV. THE UNNECESSARY EXCITEMENT OF POPULAR PREJUDICE.
V. FALLING SHORT IN OUR DUTY IN REGARD TO THE BENEVOLENT USE OF
PROPERTY.
VI. THE WANT OF A PROPER FEELING AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF OUR
DEPENDENCE ON GOD FOR THE SUCCESS OF OUR EFFORTS. (Leonard Woods, D. D.)
I. ENCOURAGEMENTS.
The encouragements and duties of Christians
1. There are declarations respecting the character and essential attributes of God, as, for example, His sovereignty, His power, His justice, His wisdom, His love; even from which, if we had no express or specific direction, we might justly and safely infer that the Almighty cannot always permit His own world to remain the almost unmitigated form of general apostasy and wretchedness; and that for the sake of His own glory He will cause a vast and mighty change, by which the revolt of the world shall be terminated, and by which it shall be recovered and reclaimed to Himself.,
2. There are declarations with regard to the sufficiency and design of our Saviours sacrifice (Joh 1:29; Joh 12:32; Heb 2:9; 1Jn 2:2). That the sacrifice of Christ, of which such is the declared sufficiency and design has hitherto but very partially and imperfectly accomplished its object is plain; that, so long as the world continues as it is, that partiality and imperfection must still continue is plain also; and we must therefore judge that it never can fulfil the objects for which it was originally offered, except in the final effusion of the Divine Spirit among all the nations of the earth.
3. There are declarations in regard to thee majesty and extent of the Saviours exaltation and royalty. As the reward and the recompense of His sufferings, He has been made the possessor of a wonderful mediatorial kingdom, a kingdom in the gaining and maintaining of the authority of which the Spirit is the agent, and the Word is the instrument–that kingdom in which the Spirit, through the Word, is destined to maintain a universal sway (Psa 2:7-8; Isa 9:6; Psa 62:8, etc.).
4. There are those declarations with regard to the final and renovating change, as we find them expressed throughout the general structure of the prophetical writings. Because He who cannot lie has promised, therefore we believe.
II. OBLIGATIONS.
1. There are peculiar duties pressing upon the ministers and other public officers of the Church of Christ. The ministers are called upon to cultivate peculiar eminence in personal holiness; they ought to cultivate an enlarged and most accurate acquaintance with evangelical truth, an ardent zeal for the glory of God, a tender compassion for the souls of men! They ought to give themselves up wholly to their high vocation. They ought to labour with quenchless ardour and perseverance, while prayer ought to be, as it were, their very food, their very air, and their very being. As to the other public officers of the Church, their special duty appears to be the following–exemplary firmness in the belief of Christian doctrine, in the practice ofChristian precepts, and in the manifestation of a Christian spirit; fervent, brotherly love amongst themselves, towards all their fellow-Christians, and especially towards the poor, whose interest they are invoked to superintend; cheerful assistance to the pastors of the flock, in all measures which may be deemed proper for preserving the purity of the Church, and for the conversion of the ungodly; and an earnest endeavour with regard to all departments of Christian character, that they may shine as lights in the world.
2. But there are general duties which press upon all the members of a Christian Church.
(1) A careful avoidance of all worldly conformity.
(2) The practice of sincere brotherly affection towards all other followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(3) Increased zeal in maintaining and extending that ministry which has been ordained for the conversion of men.
(4) A strong mental confidence in the fact that the change upon which our aspirations have been fixed shall actually be accomplished. There is nothing by which God is so much dishonoured as unbelief.
(5) There must also be the spirit of importunate prayer (Isa 62:1; Isa 62:6). (James Parsons.)
Intercessory prayer and the Divine reapers
The prophet here tells us–
I. WHAT HE WILL DO FOR THE CHURCH (Isa 62:1).
II. WHAT GOD WILL DO FOR THE CHURCH (Isa 62:2-5).
1. The Church shall be greatly admired. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness etc.
2. She shall be truly admirable. Thou shalt be called by a new name, etc. Two names God shall give her.
(1) He shall call her His crown (Isa 62:8).
(2) He shall call her His spouse (Isa 62:4-5). (M. Henry.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER LXII
The prophet opens this chapter with ardent prayers that the
happy period of reconciliation just now promised, and here
again foretold, may be hastened, 1-5.
He then calls upon the faithful, particularly the priests and
Levites, to join him, urging the promises, and even the oath,
of Jehovah, as the foundation of their request, 6-9.
And, relying on this oath, he goes on to speak of the general
restoration promised, as already performing; and calls to the
people to march forth, and to the various nations among whom
they are dispersed to prepare the way for them, as God had
caused the order for their return to be universally proclaimed,
10-12.
NOTES ON CHAP. LXII
Verse 1. For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace] These are the words of JEHOVAH declaring his purpose relative to the events predicted in the preceding chapter.
Thou shalt be called by a new name] Viz., CHRISTIAN-or, as in the fourth verse, chephtsi bah, “my delight is in her”-because she has now received that command, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; HEAR HIM.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For Zions sake, viz. the churchs sake; Zion and Jerusalem being both put for the church, Heb 12:22.
Will I not hold my peace: these seem to be the words of the prophet, strongly resolving, notwithstanding all difficulties, to solicit God for the churchs happiness, and constantly excite to the belief of it by his preaching, though it were long ere it came, for Isaiah lived near two hundred years before this was accomplished; but his prophecy lived, and the tenor of it was continued by other prophets, whom the Lord stirred up to be still establishing his people till this salvation was wrought: his meaning might be, as long as he lived he would never hold his peace; or he might include himself among those who should be then alive, as Paul doth among the other saints, 1Th 4:17, we which are alive. Thus may we also include God speaking these words, as some would have it, viz. by the mouth of Isaiah, and other of his holy prophets, that never held their peace, till they saw this blessed state of the church appear.
Until the righteousness: with reference to the Babylonians, understand it of the righteousness of God, who hath promised his people deliverance, and he must be righteous, and so understand salvation before; or rather the vindicating of his peoples cause in the eyes of the nations by the ruin of the Babylonians; he will show that his people have a righteous cause: or with reference to the church, till Christ, who is her righteousness, shall appear and be manifested in the gospel.
Go forth as brightness; clearing up their miserable and dark estate, which the church might be supposed to be in before Christs coming, with much joy and happiness.
As a lamp that burneth; and to that purpose is set up where it may be seen continually, to signify how eminently conspicuous this prosperous estate of the church should be among the nations, and as it may particularly relate to revealing of Christ unto the world.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Ithe prophet, asrepresentative of all the praying people of God who love andintercede for Zion (compare Isa 62:6;Isa 62:7; Psa 102:13-17),or else Messiah (compare Isa 62:6).So Messiah is represented as unfainting in His efforts for His people(Isa 42:4; Isa 50:7).
righteousness thereofnotits own inherently, but imputed to it, for its restoration to God’sfavor: hence “salvation” answers to it in theparallelism. “Judah” is to be “saved“through “the Lord our (Judah’s and the Church’s)righteousness” (Jer23:6).
as brightnessproperlythe bright shining of the rising sun (Isa 60:19;Isa 4:5; 2Sa 23:4;Pro 4:18).
lampblazing torch.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,…. By Zion and Jerusalem, the church in Gospel times is meant, as it often is in this book, and elsewhere; see
Heb 12:22, for whose glory, prosperity, and safety, a concern is here expressed. Some take them to be the words of God himself, as the Targum and Kimchi; who seems to be silent and at rest, and even as it were asleep, when he does not arise and exert himself on the behalf of his people; but here he declares he would not be as one silent and at rest, nor let the kingdoms and nations of the world be at rest until the deliverer of his people was come, either Cyrus the type, or Christ the antitype: others take them to be the words of Israel in captivity, as Aben Ezra; though he afterwards observes they are the words of God, or of the church of God, soliciting her own restoration, prosperity, and glory: but they are the words of the prophet, expressing his great love and affection for the church, and his importunate desire of her happiness, intimating that he would never leave off praying for it till it was completed; not that he expected to live till the Messiah came, or to see the glory of the latter day, and of the church in it; but the sense is, that he would continue praying for it without ceasing as long as he lived, and he knew his prayers and his prophecies would live after he was dead; and that there would be persons raised up in the church that would succeed him in this work, till all the glorious things promised and prophesied of should be accomplished:
until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness; meaning either till the church’s innocence is made as clear as the brightness of the sun at noonday, and she is vindicated from the calumnies and reproaches cast upon her, and open vengeance is taken on her enemies by the Lord, from whom her righteousness is, and by whom her wrongs will be righted; or until the righteousness of Christ, which is by imputation her righteousness, is wrought out by him and revealed in the Gospel, and she appears to all to be clothed with it, as with the sun, Re 12:1, which will be the case when to her shall be given to be arrayed openly with that fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints, and will be the time of her open marriage to the Lamb,
Re 19:7,
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth; which gives light, and is seen afar off; her open deliverance from all her enemies, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan; and her salvation by Jesus Christ, which will be more clearly published in the Gospel ministry in the latter day, and more openly seen and enjoyed in the effects of it. The Vulgate Latin version of this and the preceding clause is,
“until her righteous one goes forth as brightness, and her Saviour as a lamp that burneth;”
meaning Christ the righteous, and the Saviour of his body the church, who in his first coming was as a burning and shining light, even like the sun, the light of the world; and whose spiritual coming will be in such a glorious manner, that he will destroy antichrist with the brightness of it, and is therefore very desirable, 2Th 2:8. The Targum of the whole is,
“till I work salvation for Zion, I will give no rest to the people; and till consolation comes to Jerusalem, I will not let the kingdoms rest, till her light is revealed as the morning, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Nearly all the more recent commentators regard the prophet himself as speaking here. Having given himself up to praying to Jehovah and preaching to the people, he will not rest or hold his peace till the salvation, which has begun to be realized, has been brought fully out to the light of day. It is, however, really Jehovah who commences thus: “For Zion’s sake I shall not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I shall not rest, till her righteousness breaks forth like morning brightness, and her salvation like a blazing torch. And nations will see they righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and men will call thee by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah will determine. And thou wilt be an adorning coronet in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the lap of thy God.” It is evident that Jehovah is the speaker here, both from Isa 62:6 and also from the expression used; for c hashah is the word commonly employed in such utterances of Jehovah concerning Himself, to denote His leaving things in their existing state without interposing (Isa 65:6; Isa 57:11; Isa 64:11). Moreover, the arguments which may be adduced to prove that the author of chapters 40-66 is not the speaker in Isa 61:1-11, also prove that it is not he who is continuing to speak of himself in Isa 62:1-12 Jehovah, having now begun to speak and move on behalf of Zion, will “for Zion’s sake,” i.e., just because it is Zion, His own church, neither be silent nor give Himself rest, till He has gloriously executed His work of grace. Zion is now in the shade, but the time will come when her righteousness will go forth as nogah , the light which bursts through the night (Isa 60:19; Isa 59:9; here the morning sunlight, Pro 4:18; compare shachar , the morning red, Isa 58:8); or till her salvation is like a torch which blazes. belongs to ( m ercha ) in the form of an attributive clause = , although it might also be assumed that stands by attraction for (cf., Isa 2:11; Ewald, 317, c). The verb , which is generally applied to wrath (e.g., Isa 30:27), is here used in connection with salvation, which has wrath towards the enemies of Zion as its obverse side: Zion’s tsedeq (righteousness) shall become like the morning sunlight, before which even the last twilight has vanished; and Zion’s y e shuah is like a nightly torch, which sets fire to its own material, and everything that comes near it. The force of the conjunction (until) does not extend beyond Isa 62:1. From Isa 62:2 onwards, the condition of things in the object indicated by is more fully described. The eyes of the nations will be directed to the righteousness of Zion, the impress of which is now their common property; the eyes of all kings to her glory, with which the glory of none of them, nor even of all together, can possibly compare. And because this state of Zion is a new one, which has never existed before, her old name is not sufficient to indicate her nature. She is called by a new name; and who could determine this new name? He who makes the church righteous and glorious, He, and He alone, is able to utter a name answering to her new nature, just as it was He who called Abram Abraham, and Jacob Israel. The mouth of Jehovah will determine it ( , to pierce, to mark, to designate in a signal and distinguishing manner, nuncupare ; cf., Amo 6:1; Num 1:17). It is only in imagery that prophecy here sees what Zion will be in the future: she will be “a crown of glory,” “a diadem,” or rather a tiara ( ts e nph ; Chethib ts e nuph = m itsnepheth , the head-dress of the high priest, Exo 28:4; Zec 3:5; and that of the king, Eze 21:31) “of regal dignity,” in the hand of her God (for want of a synonym of “hand,” we have adopted the rendering “in the lap” the second time that it occurs). Meier renders ( ) Jovae sub praesidio , as though it did not form part of the figure. But it is a main feature in the figure, that Jehovah holds the crown in His hand. Zion is not the ancient crown which the Eternal wears upon His head, but the crown wrought out in time, which He holds in His hand, because He is seen in Zion by all creation. The whole history of salvation is the history of the taking of the kingdom, and the perfecting of the kingdom by Jehovah; in other words, the history of the working out of this crown.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Prosperity of the Church. | B. C. 706. |
1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. 2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. 3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. 5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
The prophet here tells us,
I. What he will do for the church. A prophet, as he is a seer, so he is a spokesman. This prophet resolves to perform that office faithfully, v. 1. He will not hold his peace; he will not rest; he will mind his business, will take pains, and never desire to take his ease; and herein he was a type of Christ, who was indefatigable in executing the office of a prophet and made it his meat and drink till he had finished his work. Observe here, 1. What the prophet’s resolution is: He will not hold his peace. He will continue instant in preaching, will not only faithfully deliver, but frequently repeat, the messages he has received from the Lord. If people receive not the precepts and promises at first, he will inculcate them and give them line upon line. And he will continue instant in prayer; he will never hold his peace at the throne of grace till he has prevailed with God for the mercies promised; he will give himself to prayer and to the ministry of the word, as Christ’s ministers must (Acts vi. 4), who must labour frequently in both and never be weary of this well-doing. The business of ministers is to speak from God to his people and to God for his people; and in neither of these must they be silent. 2. What is the principle of this resolution–for Zion’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s, not for the sake of any private interest of his own, but for the church’s sake, because he has an affection and concern for Zion, and it lies near his heart. Whatever becomes of his own house and family, he desires to see the good of Jerusalem and resolves to seek it all the days of his life, Psa 122:8; Psa 118:5. It is God’s Zion and his Jerusalem, and it is therefore dear to him, because it is so to God and because God’s glory is interested in its prosperity. 3. How long he resolves to continue this importunity–till the promise of the church’s righteousness and salvation, given in the foregoing chapter, be accomplished. Isaiah will not himself live to see the release of the captives out of Babylon, much less the bringing in of the gospel, in which grace reigns through righteousness unto life and salvation; yet he will not hold his peace till these be accomplished, even the utmost of them, because his prophecies will continue speaking of these things, and there shall in every age be a remnant that shall continue to pray for them, as successors to him, till the promises be performed, and so the prayers answered that were grounded upon them. Then the church’s righteousness and salvation will go forth as brightness, and as a lamp that burns, so plainly that it will carry its own evidence along with it. It will bring honour and comfort to the church, which will hereupon both look pleasant and appear illustrious; and it will bring instruction and direction to the world, a light not only to the eyes but to the feet, and to the paths of those who before sat in darkness and in the shadow of death.
II. What God will do for the church. The prophet can but pray and preach, but God will confirm the word and answer the prayers. 1. The church shall be greatly admired. When that righteousness which is her salvation, her praise, and her glory, shall be brought forth, the Gentiles shall see it. The tidings of it shall be carried to the Gentiles, and a tender of it made to them; they may so see this righteousness as to share in it if it be not their own fault. “Even kings shall see and be in love with the glory of thy righteousness” (v. 2), shall overlook the glory of their own courts and kingdoms, and look at, and look after, the spiritual glory of the church as that which excels. 2. She shall be truly admirable. Great names make men considerable in the world, and great respect is paid them thereupon; now it is agreed that honor est in honorante–honour derives its value from the dignity of him who confers it. God is the fountain of honour and from him the church’s honour comes: “Thou shalt be called by a new name, a pleasant name, such as thou wast never called by before, no, not in the day of thy greatest prosperity, and the reverse of that which thou wast called by in the day of thy affliction; thou shalt have a new character, be advanced to a new dignity, and those about thee shall have new thoughts of thee.” This seems to be alluded to in that promise (Rev. ii. 17) of the white stone and in the stone a new name, and that (Rev. iii. 12) of the name of the city of my God and my new name. It is a name which the mouth of the Lord shall name, who, we are sure, miscalls nothing, and who will oblige others to call her by the name he has given her; for his judgment is according to truth and all shall concur with it sooner or later. Two names God shall give her:– (1.) He shall call her his crown (v. 3): Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, not on his head (as adding any real honour or power to him, as crowns do to those that are crowned with them), but in his hand. He is pleased to account them, and show them forth, as a glory and beauty to him. When he took them to be his people it was that they might be unto him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory (Jer. xiii. 11): “Thou shalt be a crown of glory and a royal diadem, through the hand, the good hand, of thy God upon thee; he shall make thee so, for he shall be to thee a crown of glory, ch. xxviii. 5. Thou shalt be so in his hand, that is, under his protection; he that shall put glory upon thee shall create a defence upon all that glory, so that the flowers of thy crown shall never wither nor shall its jewels be lost.” (2.) He shall call her his spouse, Isa 62:4; Isa 62:5. This is a yet greater honour, especially considering what a forlorn condition she had been in. [1.] Her case had been very melancholy. She was called forsaken and her land desolate during the captivity, like a woman reproachfully divorced or left a disconsolate widow. Such as the state of religion in the world before the preaching of the gospel–it was in a manner forsaken and desolate, a thing that no man looked after nor had any real concern for. [2.] It should now be very pleasant, for God would return in mercy to her. Instead of those two names of reproach, she shall be called by two honourable names. First, She shall be called Hephzi-bah, which signifies, My delight is in her; it was the name of Hezekiah’s queen, Manasseh’s mother (2 Kings xxi. 1), a proper name for a wife, who ought to be her husband’s delight, Prov. v. 19. And here it is the church’s Maker that is her husband: The Lord delights in thee. God by his grace has wrought that in his church which makes her his delight, she being refined, and reformed, and brought home to him; and then by his providence he does that for her which makes it appear that she is his delight and that he delights to do her good. Secondly, She shall be called Beulah, which signifies married, whereas she had been desolate, a condition opposed to that of the married wife, ch. liv. 1. “Thy land shall be married, that is, it shall become fruitful again, and be replenished.” Though she has long been barren, she shall again be peopled, shall again be made to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children, Ps. cxiii. 9. She shall be married, for, 1. Her sons shall heartily espouse the land of their nativity and its interests, which they had for a long time neglected, as despairing ever to have any comfortable enjoyment of it: Thy sons shall marry thee, that is, they shall live with thee and take delight in thee. When they were in Babylon, they seemed to have espoused that land, for they were appointed to settle, and to seek the peace of it, Jer. xxix. 5-7. But now they shall again marry their own land, as a young man marries a virgin that he takes great delight in, is extremely fond of, and is likely to have many children by. It bodes well to a land when its own natives and inhabitants are pleased with it, prefer it before other lands, when its princes marry their country and resolve to take their lot with it. 2. Her God (which is much better) shall betroth her to himself in righteousness,Hos 2:19; Hos 2:20. He will take pleasure in his church: As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, is pleased with his relation to her and her affection to him, so shall thy God rejoice over thee: he shall rest in his love to thee (Zeph. iii. 17); he shall take pleasure in thee (Ps. cxlvii. 11), and shall delight to do thee good with his whole heart and his whole soul, Jer. xxxii. 41. This is very applicable to the love Christ has for his church and the complacency he takes in it, which appears so brightly in Solomon’s Song, and which will be complete in heaven.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ISAIAH – CHAPTER 62
JERUSALEM, A PRAISE IN THE EARTH
Vs. 1-5: GLORY REVEALED AND A NEW NAME GIVEN
1. The Lord declares Himself pre-occupied with the care and welfare of Jerusalem, (vs. 1).
a. For her sake He will not be silent, or rest, until her righteousness and salvation are clearly revealed, (Isa 46:13; Isa 52:10; Isa 1:26; Isa 58:8).
b. This is quite a contrast to the Sodom-condition set forth in the first chapter!
1. Such a new name will be given her as in keeping her new, exalted character, (vs. 2).
a. The Lord Himself will take great delight in bestowing that new name upon her, (vs. 4, 12; Isa 56:5).
b. By what she has become the nations will recognize her righteousness, and kings will marvel at her glorious exaltation, (Isa 60:3; Jer 33:16).
3. The Lord God will joyfully manifest, by His grace and redeeming power, what this people have become – a royal diadem and crown of glory in His hand, (vs. 3; Isa 28:5; Zec 9:16; comp. 1Th 2:19).
a. From the institution of the Theocracy, at Mt Sinai, God had purposed that Israel should be a nation of king-priests, (Exo 19:6).
b. When the nation was cut off from covenant fellowship with God, because of her unfaithfullness, the Lord raised up such a people in the New Testament church, (1Pe 2:9).
c. But His purpose for the nation will still be fulfilled during the millennium (Isa 61:6) – after she has acknowledged His right to rule over her (contrast: Psa 110:3; Luk 19:14), and willingly yielded herself to His royal authority.
4. When the Lord reigns in Zion her troubles will all be past, (vs. 4-5).
a. Instead of being “forsaken”, the Lord will delight in her rejoicing over her as a bridegroom over his bride, (Isa 54:6-7; Isa 60:15; Isa 60:18; Jer 32:41; Zep 3:17; Isa 65:19).
b. No longer “desolate”, her land will be “married” – her sons being joyfully joined to her as a young man to a virgin, (Jer 3:14; Hos 2:19-20).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. On account of Zion I will not be silent. That sad captivity being at hand, which was almost to blot out the name of the whole nation, it was necessary to confirm and encourage believers by many words, that with strong and assured confidence they might rely on these promises under the burden of the cross. Here, therefore, the Prophet, discharging that office which had been entrusted to him, openly declares that he will not be slack in the performance of his duty, and will not cease to speak, till he encourage the hearts of believers by the hope of future salvation, that they may know and be fully convinced that God will be the deliverer of his Church. He too might have been dismayed by the unbelief of that people, and might have lost courage when he saw that matters were every day growing worse, and when he foresaw that terrible vengeance. But, notwithstanding so great difficulties, he will still persist in his duty, that all may know that neither the massacre of the people nor their unbelief can prevent God from executing his promises at the proper time.
And on account of Jerusalem I will not rest. It was necessary that these things should be frequently repeated, because such is the depravity of our mind that we speedily forget God’s promises. When he says that he will not cease to speak, he likewise reminds others of their duty, that they may take courage, and expect with assured confidence their restoration, though it be long delayed, and even that their unwearied attention may answer to the voice of God which constantly addresses them. We know by experience every day how necessary this is, while Satan endeavors by every method to turn us aside from the right course.
At the same time he shews what ought to be the aim of godly teachers, namely, to spend and devote themselves entirely for the advantage of the Church; for when he says “on account of Zion,” he means that our chief care ought to be that the Church may be preserved, and that none are good and faithful teachers but they who hold the salvation of the Church so dear as to spare no labors. Some explain this as relating to prayer, but I choose rather to refer it to doctrine; and it is more natural to view it as meaning’ that no inconvenience or annoyance shall wear out his patience, and no opposition shall retard him from proceeding in the office of teaching which God has enjoined on him concerning the redemption of the Church. For if he had survived that very sad calamity, the unbelieving multitude would undoubtedly have persecuted him, as well as the other Prophets, by many reproaches; but whatever may happen, he says that he is fortified by unshaken firmness, never to be dumb through shame, but to proceed with unremitting eagerness in his course. Besides, by this form of expression he procures credit to his predictions, and maintains their authority, so that, even when he is dead, they do not cease to resound in the ears of believers.
Till her righteousness go forth as brightness. By “righteousness” he means the rights of the Church; for during the period of calamity, she appeared to be condemned. Her “righteousness,” therefore, “goes forth” when she is perfectly restored, and regains her former condition; for that righteousness lay concealed during the captivity.
And her salvation. To “righteousness” he adds “salvation,” because they whom God justifies, or to whom he re-restores their rights, do likewise regain their “salvation.” Hence we infer that we are wretched and without assistance, so long as God withholds his grace from us on account of our sins; and therefore in other passages he frequently gave the appellation of “the righteousness of God” to that which he here affirms to be the righteousness of the Church. Thus we are undone while we are destitute of the righteousness of God; that is, while we slumber in our sins, and God shews himself to be a severe judge by punishing us for them.
The phrase “go forth” means that the righteousness of the Church was hidden and, as it were, buried for a time: she deserved in the sight of God no favor; but, on the contrary, her unspeakable iniquities prevailed to such an extent that there remained nothing but God’s righteous vengeance. But here the Prophet has his eye on men who already looked upon the afflicted Church as lost, and by their pride and reproaches almost cast her down to hell.
May burn like a lamp. Finally, he compares her to the world, and says, that with respect to the world she shall be righteous, when God shall have purged away her sins and undertaken her cause. By these words the Prophet teaches that we ought always to entertain favorable hopes of the restoration of the Church, though she be plunged under thick darkness and in the grave; for although for a time she is overwhelmed and hidden, yet she has God for her avenger in heaven, who, after having chastised her moderately, will at length shew that she was the object of his care. And indeed his righteousness must be illustrious and manifest, and that for the salvation of those whom he hath chosen to be his people and heritage.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE HEAVENLY WORKERS AND THE EARTHLY WATCHERS
Isa. 62:1; Isa. 62:6-7. For Zions sake will I not hold My peace. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, &c.
Two expository remarks.
1. The speaker is the personal Messiah (Isa. 61:1).
The remarkable parallelism in the expressions selected as the text should be noticed: I will not hold My peace; the watchmen shall never hold their peace. And His command to them is literally: Ye that remind Jehovahno rest (or silence) to you! and give not rest to Him. Christ, the Church, and God are all represented as unceasingly occupied in the one great work of establishing Zion as the centre of light, salvation, and righteousness for the whole world. Consider these three perpetual activities
I. THE GLORIFIED CHRIST IS CONSTANTLY WORKING FOR HIS CHURCH. The greatness of Christs work in the past may lead us to forget the true importance of what He evermore does. His present life is presented in Scripture under two contrasted and harmonious aspectsas being rest, and as continuous activity in the midst of rest [1761]
[1761] His session on the throne proclaims the full accomplishment of all the purposes of His earthly ministry. It points backwards to the forces lodged in the worlds history by Christs finished work,the basis of all our hopes; it points to a future as the goal of all these hopes. But while He rests as from a perfected work, He also rests not day nor night. The right hand of God is significant of the operative energy of the Divine nature; sitting there is equivalent to possessing and wielding that measureless power. The Evangelist who uses the expression says they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them. The words at the beginning of Actsall which Jesus began both to do and teachsuggest the same thought. The whole history of that book is shaped by this conviction. The Lord adds to the Church daily; His name works miracles, &c. Not the Acts of the Apostles, but the Acts of the Lord in and by His servants is the accurate title of this book. Stephen beheld his Lord standingas if risen with intent to helpon the right hand of God. John in Patmos saw Him who holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, and walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The text speaks of a continuous forthputting of power: I will not rest. His power is in exercise as the inspiration of good men, using them as His weapons, and the axe must not boast itself against Him that heweth. He orders providences, and shapes the course of the world for the Church (1Ch. 16:21-22). The word of this Master is never Go, but Come. There is besides, the wonderful truth of His continuous intercession for us. His work on earth is ever present to the Divine mind as the ground of our acceptance and the channel of our blessing (Joh. 17:24).Dr. Maclaren.
II. CHRISTS SERVANTS ON EARTH DERIVE FROM HIM A LIKE PERPETUAL ACTIVITY FOR THE SAME OBJECT (Isa. 62:7). Note a twofold form of occupation devolving on these Christ-sent servants. They are watchmen, and they are also Gods remembrancers. The former metaphor is commonly applied in the Old Testament to the prophetic office, but in accordance with the genius of the New Testament, as expressed on Pentecost, should be extended to the whole mass of Christian people.
1. Our voices should ever be heard on earth. With faith in Christ come responsibilities. We are watchmen. Let us ponder the pattern.
2. Our voices should ever be heard in heaven. Faith is a mute appeal to Gods faithful love; and, beyond that, our prayers come up for a memorial before God. They remind God. The prayer that prevails is a reflected promise. These two forms of action ought to be inseparable. Prayerless work will soon slacken, and never bear fruit; idle prayer is worse than idle.
3. The power for both is derived from Christ. He sets the watchmen; He commands the remembrancers. And our pattern is His manner of discharging them, and the condition of receiving the power is to abide in Him.
III. THE CONSTANT ACTIVITY OF THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST WILL SECURE THE CONSTANT OPERATION OF GODS POWER. Give Him no rest. Bold words. The prophet believes that those who remind God can stir up the strength of the Lord. Practically, God reaches His endthe establishment of Zion, through the Church. The great reservoir is always full; but the bore of the pipe and the power of the pumping-engine determine the rate at which the stream flows from it (Mat. 13:58). We may have as much of God as we want, as much as we can hold, far more than we deserve. An awful responsibility lies on us. With what grand confidence may the weakest go to his task.
STIMULATING LESSONS.
1. Look at the energy around us. Do we work as hard for God as the world does for itself.
2. Look at the energy beneath us. If we are sitting drowsy by our camp fires, the enemy is on the alert. It is no time for Gods sentinels to nod.
3. Look at the energy above us. On the throne of the universe is the immortal Power who slumbereth not. Before the altar of the heavens is the Priest of the world. Round Him stand perfected spirits, who rest not day and night. Do we work for God as He and all that are with Him do? Alas! have we not been like the three Apostles sleeping, even while the Lord was wrestling with the tempter in Gethsemane. Let us lift up our cry to God: Awake, awake (Isa. 51:9); and the answer shall be an echo of the prayer turned into a command (Isa. 52:1).A. Maclaren, D.D.: Sermons, Second Series, pp. 1938.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
THE FUTURE GLORY OF THE CHURCH
Isa. 62:1. For Zions sake will I not hold my peace, &c.
I. The implied obscurity of Zion.
The modern Church is obscured
1. By its divisions.
2. By its assimilation to the world.
3. By its peculiar position as an agency in progress, working for the worlds highest good.
II. The ultimate extension of the Churchs glory.
This is the night of the Churchs history; she is now in the shade. But as the morning sunlight bursts on the scene, banishing every lingering shred of twilight, and revealing the rarest scene of life and loveliness that was before but dimly seen, so shall her righteousness by and by appear. There are indications of the coming glory
1. In the triumphs of the Gospel at home.
2. In the salient features of the present age (see p. 333).
III. The Divine energy is pledged to accomplish the Churchs future glory.
Inspiring fact! Jehovah is ceaselessly, in speech and action, working for His people. In this we have the inviolable guarantee of Zions future glory.
1. Gods Word is His voice. This voice has sounded through the ages of the past, protesting against every prevalent form of iniquity, instructing the nations in sublimest truths, and preparing them for a loftier destiny. Like a many-toned bell it still peals through the world in strains at once monitory and joyous. Never shall that voice be hushed till its mission is fulfilled,
2. Gods providence is His action. The world is governed by Jehovah in the interest and furtherance of the higher purposes of Christianity.
3. The motive influencing the Divine energythe love of God for Zion. God loves His Church, because He sees in her a photograph of Himself, a reflection of His own image, the embodiment and universal manifestation of His own glory. She is the fruit of sufferings unparalleled, &c. His own honour is involved in the ultimate triumph and glory of His Church.
Lessons.
1. We see the vanity and groundlessness of our fears for the Churchs safety and ultimate victory.
2. We see the blessedness of consecrated service for the Church of God.George Barlow: The Study, vol. iii. p. 450, &c.
THE LOVE OF THE CHURCH.
I. THE PURE AND HOLT INCENTIVES THAT MOVED THE PROPHET TO RELIGIOUS ACTIONS.
1. For Zions sake. He loved Zion for the beauty, joy, strength, and safety she afforded the world. Analogies between Zion and the Church (Psalms 48).
2. For Jerusalems sake (see p. 436).
II. THE EARNEST RESOLUTIONS OF THE PROPHET IN REGARD TO THE DISCHARGE OF THE APPROPRIATE DUTIES OF HIS OFFICE AND MINISTRY TOWARD ZION AND JERUSALEM. I. He resolved not to hold his peace. He was not only a praying prophet, but a preaching prophet,
2. He was resolved not to rest or cease from his ministerial labours.
III. THE WISE AND USEFUL ENDS THE PROPHET HOPED TO ACCOMPLISH.
1. The establishment of righteousness in Zion and Jerusalem.
2. The promotion of their salvation.Geo. Nestor: The Preachers Monthly, vol. vii. pp. 5052.
The prophets were true philanthropiststheir love of country was deep and ardent. The heaven-kindled passion was not quenched by afflictions however sore, or by apostasy however general. O that their mantles might fall on us! that we may experience a quenchless passion to promote the welfare of Zion. Notice
I. THE SUBJECTS OF THE PROPHETS SOLICITUDE. To the devout Jew Zion was the dearest spot on earth. Zion remains beautiful fur situation, &c. The temple which graced its heights was its glory. Type of the Christian Church (1Pe. 2:5).
II. THE MODE OF MANIFESTING HIS SOLICITUDE.
1. I will not hold my peace. He resolved to lift up his voice and cry aloud
(1) Before God. Prayer the natural outlet of the believers solicitude. Let us plead with God as did Abraham, Moses, Daniel, &c. Power of prayer.
(2) Before men. There is a time to be silent, and a time to speak. Those who are deeply concerned for the welfare of Zion will be sure to speak.
2. I will not rest. Our solicitude and activity must be ceaseless. A spasmodic and fitful zeal is unhealthy. Perseverance is nowhere more needful than in religion. Whether men hear or forbear, it should be ours to give line upon line, &c.
III. THE BRILLIANT RESULTS DESIRED. The allusion is to a marriage ceremony, &c.Benjamin Browne.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
C. REGENERATION OF ZION, CHAPTER 62
1. NEW NAME
TEXT: Isa. 62:1-5
1
For Zions sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth.
2
And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name.
3
Thou shalt also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
4
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah; for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
5
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
QUERIES
a.
How could Zions salvation be like a burning lamp?
b.
How is Zion to be a crown in the hand of Jehovah?
c.
What is Hephzi-bah?
PARAPHRASE
For the sake of Zion, I dare not remain silent. For the sake of My holy city, I dare not remain inactive. It has come time for Me to act on her behalf again so that men may not think I have become powerless or defaulted on My promises toward her. I will act historically and supernaturally so that what I do toward her salvation will be as unmistakable as the bright sunshine and a burning lamp. What I am going to do in justification of My people will be so radically different from anything I have ever done before these people will have to be called by a new name, which comes directly from the mouth of God. When God totally remakes His people they will be so glorious they will sparkle and dazzle in Gods hand like a jewel-covered diadem. My people will no longer be called Forsaken or Desolate; they shall be called God Is Pleased With Her and Happily Married, because Jehovah will be pleased with her and He will marry her. Just like a young man eagerly takes possession of a virgin when he marries her, so Gods people will be eagerly possessed by Him. Just as a groom is delighted with his bride, so God will delight in His people.
COMMENTS
Isa. 62:1-3 APPEARANCE: Jehovah dare not remain khashah (silent) or shakat (inactive) any longer in relationship to Zion. Apparently this inactivity and silence toward Zion has to do with the long period between the O.T. and the N.T. when there was no God-sent prophet and no specific supernatural action from Him. Of course, God providentially sustained Israel during the intertestamental period. Daniel predicted that He would (Dan. ch. 1012). But Jehovah dare not allow this period of Jewish indignation go on longer lest His enemies think He has no more concern for them.
So Jehovah will not rest again until He has made Zion so righteous her splendor and glory will be as blindingly evident as the sun in the heavens or a lamp shining in pitch darkness.
What God is going to do in glorifying Zion, the whole world shall see. And it shall be so totally different from what Zion has been before she shall have to be called by a new name. Everything about her will be new; old terminology will be inadequate. This wholly new Zion is predicted by other prophets (Jer. 3:15-17; Jer. 33:16; Eze. 48:35). This prophecy was fulfilled when Gods New Covenant people began to be called Christians (cf. Act. 11:26). It was fitting that those married to Christ should be called Christians (cf. Joh. 3:31-36; Eph. 5:21-33; Rev. 19:6-8; Rev. 21:2; Rev. 22:17, etc.). The Hebrew word shem is the word for name. It means literally, a mark, fame, reputation, monument. God was going to do something so radical to Zion she would henceforth be distinguished by a completely new mark! She would have a new commandment and live by a new love (Joh. 13:34-35). Of course, there were many names by which New Covenant believers were known; e.g., the way (Act. 24:14), saints (1Co. 1:2), brethren (Gal. 1:2), church of God (1Co. 1:1-2) and others.
Notice, the crown of beauty is not on the head of Jehovah, but in His hand. Zion, the church, is a work of His hands and He now beholds the work which contributes to the glory that is already His. The woman (Rev. 12:1-2) which we take to represent the covenant people of God (in both Old and New Testaments) has a crown upon her head. The church is the crowning accomplishment of God through the redemption of the Son. Recreation glorifies God even more than creation!
Isa. 62:4-5 APPELLATION: The point of the name-change appears to be focused on the changed relationship of God toward His people. He will no longer call them ezuvah (Forsaken) or shemamah (Desolate). God will eventually call His people khephzi-bah (My Delight is in Her) and beulah (Married). These name-changes may have initial application to Gods redemption of Judah from Babylonian captivity. However, their ultimate goal is the changed relationship in the New Zion (the messianic kingdom-church). One is reminded here of Hoseas prophecy of changed relationships and changed names (Hos. 1:8 to Hos. 2:1; Hos. 2:14-23). Hoseas prediction definitely found its fulfillment in the New Covenant church (cf. Rom. 9:25-26; 1Pe. 2:10). It may be of interest to know that the Hebrew word beulah (married) comes from the root word baal which means, to have dominion, to be lord over, to possess.
The emphasis on marriage as descriptive of the new relationship stresses the fact that Gods concern for His people is not one of mere duty; it is deeper than thatit is love. Just as a young man eagerly possesses (marries) his bride, so Jehovah will join Himself intimately to His people. He makes a covenant of love with His bride (the church) to protect her, sustain her, live with her and give her the honor of His name. He will lavish upon her the best of everything He haseven His own Son to atone for her sins.
QUIZ
1.
Why must Jehovah not remain silent any longer about Zion?
2.
When was Jehovah silent toward Zion?
3.
Why was it necessary to rename Zion?
4.
What is the probable fulfillment of the new name?
5.
How do we know the name-changing refers to the messianic kingdom?
6.
Why illustrate Gods relationship to New Zion as a marriage?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
LXII.
(1) For Zions sake . . .Opinions again differ as to the speaker. Is he the prophet, or the Servant of Jehovah, or Jehovah Himself ? On the whole, the second view seems to be most in harmony with what follows. The true Servant will carry on what in the language of later theology may be called his mediatorial intercessory work, that there may be no delay in the fulfilment of the glorious promises that have just been uttered.
As brightness.Better, as the brightness of morning, the word being thus used in Isa. 60:3, Pro. 4:18.
As a lamp . . .Better, as a burning torch.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
MESSIAH’S HEAVENLY INTERCESSION.
1. The “Servant of Jehovah,” or Messiah, is the speaker still. He will not be at rest till what is promised in the preceding three verses is accomplished. This is the present view of the best commentators.
For Zion’s sake Zion is the generic word for the great Messianic cause.
Will I not hold my peace It is the office of Messiah to ask or to work for the earth as his inheritance, (Psa 2:8,) and that of Jehovah to give it. Does not the passage refer rather to Messiah’s proclamation of the Gospel?
Righteousness go forth as brightness Go forth until the holiness of the Church shall be abundantly manifest, as a light shining out of darkness. Righteousness and salvation utter each the very same idea; both are needed only to balance the sentence. The terms brightness and lamp indicate Zion as not yet so fully out of the shade as is needful; but that in good time she will enjoy abundance of light, and diffuse it unto others.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Anointed One Announcing Blessing On Zion ( Isa 62:1-5 ).
The Anointed One promises His continued activity on behalf of God’s people in their association with Zion (see note on Isa 59:20) so that they may be a true witness to God and enjoy Yahweh’s favour. Here the idea of Zion (60) and the idea of the Anointed One (61) are combined. The Anointed One has come in order to establish Zion.
Isa 62:1-2
‘For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace,
And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
And her salvation as a lamp which burns.
And the nations will see your righteousness,
And all kings your glory,
And you will be called by a new name,
Which the mouth of Yahweh will name.’
The Anointed One first declares His intentions to bring home the concept of Zion to the nations. He will not rest until the nations know that Yahweh is there, reigning in glory among His true people. He will not rest until they see the glory of the Zion that is calling to them. Then He declares to them the certain fulfilment of what He will accomplish. His central purpose is the establishment of all that Zion means (see notes on Isa 59:20; Isaiah 60 introduction), and He will not cease His endeavours or give Himself rest until all His people are a shining witness of the effectiveness of His work; until all see their righteousness shining out (Mat 5:16) and all behold their salvation which will be like a burning lamp.
‘For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace.’ The verb can refer to action rather than words (see Jdg 18:9; Psa 107:29), which would then parallel the second line. Alternately it may indicate the determined nature of His teaching, or the equally determined nature of His intercession on His people’s behalf (compare Isa 62:6). He cannot rest until His words have been successful (compare Isa 61:1-2; Isa 42:3-4; Isa 50:4) on behalf of His people. Here Zion and Jerusalem are used to denote the purified, faithful Israel, but in the whole context of God’s presence with them and among them.
‘Until her righteousness goes forth as vivid brightness, and her salvation as a lamp which burns.’ Once again salvation and righteousness are paramount. Both go together. There can be no salvation until they are accounted righteous, and that can only be through that salvation. Both go forward hand in hand. Then once righteousness has been imputed (Isa 53:11; Isa 4:3) and imparted it will be like a shining brightness, a vivid brightness before them. They will be a fit witness to the glory of Yahweh. Their lights will shine out before men who will see their good works and glorify their Father Who is in Heaven (Mat 5:16). The consequences of their deliverance and salvation will also be a burning light, in a similar way to the lives of men like John the Baptiser (Joh 5:35). The basic thought is of a world in darkness, unable to see, until the brightness of the light shines on them out of the darkness, revealed in the purity of life of God’s people.
‘And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of Yahweh will name.’ Such will be the brightness of their lives that nations and kings will see and wonder, and there will be given to them a new name depicting the glorious change that has occurred in them, a name given to them by Yahweh. For so wonderful will be their transformation that only Yahweh can provide the name. They will be His workmanship. The giving of a new name indicates total transformation. They will be those named by Yahweh (as Peter was named by Jesus as the rock-man).
The giving of such a new name is a theme of Revelation (Isa 3:12; Isa 19:13; Isa 19:16; Isa 22:4). Indeed John took up the themes of Isaiah in his contrast of Christ named as King of Kings (Rev 19:16) and Babylon named as the Mother of Harlots (Rev 17:5).
All this was what Jesus claimed to have come to accomplish. He came as the light of the world that men who followed Him might not walk in darkness but have the light of life (Joh 8:12), that they might become ‘sons of light’ (Joh 12:36; 1Th 5:5), that they too might be the light of the world (Mat 5:14 compare Eph 5:8; Col 1:12).
Isa 62:3-5
‘You will be a crown of beauty in the hand of Yahweh,
And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
You will no more be termed, Forsaken,
Nor will your land any more be termed Desolate,
But you will be called, My Delight Is In Her (Hephzibah),
And your land, Married (Beulah),
For Yahweh delights in you,
And your land will be married.’
For as a young man marries a virgin,
So shall your sons marry you,
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So will your God rejoice over you.’
Here the total transformation is described. God’s people will also become a royal crown of beauty in Yahweh’s hand. It is not on His head because that would depict that royal authority belongs to His people, it is in His hand because they are under His care and protection, because it shows that they are His own private possession, and because it represents the royal worth and dignity that is theirs. The thought may also be that He has fashioned it with His own hands.
In the past they have been Forsaken and Desolate, but this will be so no longer, for instead they will be called My Delight Is In Her (hephzibah – in contrast to forsaken) and Married (beulah – in contrast to desolate). When God’s true people feel forsaken and desolate they can take comfort in these words, that in their new state they are those in whom God delights and who are bound to Him by the closest of ties.
Indeed Zion may be sure that it is Yahweh Who delights in her, and that she will be married both to her many sons, (indicating the profusion of future blessing and the fact that her ‘children’ will acknowledge her as a faithful virgin), and to Yahweh Who is her heavenly bridegroom. Her purity is recognised by both man and God.
While the illustration of the sons marrying a virgin mother is hardly realistic literally, its point is clear. Zion will have become pure and her sons, her people, will recognise the fact and join with her purity. Her children will be pure in all respects and in all relationships. But of far greater import is it that Yahweh also will delight in her and rejoice over her like a bridegroom to a bride.
Note the use of the name Hephzibah. That was the name of Manasseh’s mother and may point therefore to a date in his reign for this prophecy as Isaiah uses a well known name to illustrate his point..
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
THE COMING OF THE DELIVERER AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ZION ( Isa 59:15 to Isa 62:12 ).
Isaiah wanted them to know that God sees their desperate condition and determines to act. He looks for a man, someone to stand in the gap, but there is none. So He Himself acts. He will step in on behalf of His people. He will bring them a Deliverer, a Redeemer, One Who is clothed in righteousness and salvation, and also One Who is clothed in vengeance and zealousness for God. He is concerned with redemption in righteousness, and judgment on unrighteousness. On the one hand He will deal with their enemies and on the other He will come as a Redeemer to Zion, to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, and put His Spirit on them and put His words in their mouths, in such a way that they will never again depart.
But note how in parallel with God rising to act, there will be those who are turning from transgression in Jacob (in sinful Israel). His action and His people’s repentance go together. There can be no deliverance that does not result in repentance. He will not deliver an unrepentant people.
In these chapters Isaiah rises to a new height in his conception of Zion. And we have to stop and consider what he means by Zion.
In Isaiah Zion is looked at from different aspects. On the one hand there is the mundane city of Jerusalem which is fallen and rejected, and symbolic of Israel as a whole, although enjoying a certain measure of protection ‘for David’s sake’. This will eventually be restored (Isa 1:1; Isa 1:8; Isa 2:1; Isa 3:1; Isa 3:8; Isa 3:16; Isa 7:1; Isa 10:12; Isa 10:24; Isa 10:32; Isa 14:32; Isa 16:1; Isa 22:10; Isa 31:4-5; Isa 31:9; Isa 33:14; Isa 36:2; Isa 36:7; Isa 36:20; Isa 37:10; Isa 37:22; Isa 37:32; Isa 40:9; Isa 41:27; Isa 49:14; Isa 52:7-9; Isa 64:10; Isa 66:8), as indeed it was. Then there is the Jerusalem/Zion which is almost synonymous with the people (‘we’ Isa 1:9; Isa 4:4; Isa 5:3; Isa 8:14; Isa 10:10-12; Isa 22:21; Isa 28:14; Isa 30:19; Isa 52:2; Isa 65:18-19). Here it is not the city which is important but the people. (Compare how in Zec 2:6-7 ‘Zion’ represents the exiles). And finally there is the Jerusalem/Zion from which will go God’s message to the world (Isa 2:4; Isa 62:6-7), the Jerusalem/Zion which is the city of God, the ‘earthly’ dwellingplace of Yahweh in which dwells His glory, with its central mount rising up to heaven (Isa 2:2), in contrast with the world city (often seen as Babylon) which is the seat of all evil, which will be toppled from its high place (Isa 26:5-6; compare Isa 24:21-22; Isa 25:2). Here Zion is the future glorious Jerusalem, which has eternal connections and will be part of the everlasting kingdom (Isa 1:27; Isa 4:3-5; Isa 12:6; Isa 18:7; Isa 24:23; Isa 26:1-4; Isa 28:16; Isa 30:19; Isa 33:5; Isa 33:20; Isa 35:10; Isa 46:13; Isa 51:3; Isa 51:11; Isa 51:16; Isa 52:1; Isa 59:20; Isa 60:14; Isa 61:3; Isa 62:1; Isa 62:11; Isa 65:18-19; Isa 66:10; Isa 66:13; Isa 66:20). It is more than a city. It represents the whole future of the people of God, including their hopes of living in His presence, and takes in all God’s people. It is this last view of Zion which is prominent in Isa 59:15 toIsa 62:12.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 62:2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.
Isa 62:2
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
Zion the Bride of Jehovah.
v. 1. For Zion’s sake will I not hold My peace, so the Lord calls out through His prophet, in His eagerness to picture the glory which would pertain to Zion in the new dispensation, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, He will not feel satisfied, He will not abate in His zeal, until the righteousness thereof, the salvation guaranteed by His covenant, go forth as brightness, like the light of the dawn, and the salvation thereof as a lamp, a torch or cresset, that burneth, dispelling the gloom and darkness of ignorance.
v. 2. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, v. 3. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory, v. 4. Thou, Jerusalem, v. 5. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy Sons marry thee, v. 8. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, v. 7. And give Him no rest till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth, v. 8. The Lord hath sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength, v. 9. but they that have gathered it shall eat it, v. 10. Go through, go through the gates, v. 11. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, v. 12. And they shall call them,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Isa 62:1-12
FURTHER GRACIOUS PROMISES MADE TO ISRAEL BY “THE SERVANT.” Some regard the speaker in this chapter as Jehovah; some as the prophet, or the prophetical order; some as “the Servant.” The last supposition appears to us the simplest and the best. The close connection with the preceding chapter is evident. If that then be, in the main, “a soliloquy of the Servant,” this should he a continuation of the soliloquy. Israel is promised “righteousness,” “glory,” “a new name,” a guard of angels, a time of peace and prosperity, deliverance from Babylon, and triumphant establishment in Zion under God’s protection.
Isa 62:1
For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace. In the past God has kept silence (Isa 42:14; Isa 57:11). “The Servant” has not caused his voice to be heard. Babylon has been allowed to continue her oppression unchecked. But now there will be a change. God will lift up his voice, and the nations will hear; and the “salvation” of Israel will be effected speedily. For Jerusalem’s sake. “Zion” and “Jerusalem” are used throughout as synonyms (Isa 2:3; Isa 4:3, Isa 4:4; Isa 31:4, Isa 31:5, and Isa 31:9; Isa 33:20; Isa 40:9; Isa 41:27; Isa 52:1; Isa 64:10, etc.), like “Israel” and Jacob.” Strictly speaking, “Zion” is the mountain, “Jerusalem” the city built upon it. Until the righteousness thereof go forth (comp. Isa 54:17; Isa 61:10, Isa 61:11). As brightness; or, as the dawn (comp Isa 60:3; Pro 4:18; Dan 6:19). Salvation as a lamp that burneth; rather, as a torch that blazeth (comp. Jdg 15:4; Nah 2:1-13 :14; Zec 12:6). Israel’s “salvation” would be made manifest; primarily by her triumphant return from Babylon, and more completely by her position in the final kingdom of the Redeemer.
Isa 62:2
The Gentiles shall see, etc. A continuation of the account of Israel’s final glory, as given in Isa 61:6-9. What the Gentiles are especially to see and admire is Israel’s righteousness. This may point to those acknowledgments of the purity and excellence of the early Church which were made by the heathen (Plin; ‘Epist.,’ 10.97), and which culminated in the saying, “See how these Christians love one another!” The sceptic Gibbon acknowledges, among the causes of the success of Christianity, “the virtues of the early Christians.” All kings (comp. Isa 49:7, Isa 49:23; Isa 60:3; Psa 50:22 :11). Thou shalt be called by a new name (comp. Isa 61:4 and 12; and see also Isa 65:15). It is not altogether clear what the “new name” is, since in the remainder of the present chapter more than one name is suggested. Rosenmuller supposes” Hephzibah” to be meant. Dr. Kay suggests “the holy people,” and notes that the title of “holy ones,” or “saints,” is given by St. Paul to all Christians (Act 26:10; Rom 1:7; Rom 16:15; 1Co 1:2, etc.). Mr. Cheyne thinks that it is some unknown title of honour, akin to that mentioned by Jeremiah “Jehovah our Righteousness” (Jer 33:16). “New names” will be given to individual saints in the heavenly kingdom (Rev 2:17; Rev 3:12).
Isa 62:3
Thou shalt also be a crown of glory, etc. God will exhibit Israel to an admiring world, as a man might exhibit a “crown” or “diadem” which he held in his hand. They will look on with admiration and reverence”for they shall perceive that it is his work” (Psa 64:9).
Isa 62:4
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken. Judah had believed herself” forsaken” of God (Isa 49:14), and had actually been, in a certain sense, forsaken “for a small moment” (Isa 54:7). Her enemies, it would seem, had gone so far as to give her the name in derision. Neither shall thy land be termed Desolate. Judaea had not only been desolated by the Babylonian invaders under Nebucbarlnezzar, but had remained “desolate” during the whole period of the Captivity (Isa 32:13, Isa 32:14; Isa 49:19, etc.). It had come to be spoken of as Sh’marnah, “a desolation” (see Jer 34:22; Jer 44:2, Jer 44:6; Eze 33:29; Eze 36:34). Now all should be altered. As Ezekiel prophesied, “The land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced and are inhabited” (Eze 36:35). Thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah; i.e. “my delight is in her.” Hephzi-bah was the name of Hezekiah’s queen, Manasseh’s mother (2Ki 21:1). And thy land Beulah. Beulah, or rather Be’ulah, means “married” (comp. Isa 54:1). Judaea would be “married” to her sons, or her people, when they quitted Babylon and once more took possession of her. The Hebrew verb toe “to marry” means literally “to be lord over.”
Isa 62:5
As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride. There is a double employment of the analogy with marriage here. The land, Judaea, personified as a female, is married to her sons, or her people, regarded (in this connection) as a male. The people, regarded as a female (“the virgin daughter of Zion,” Isa 37:22) is also married to Jehovah, and recognizes him as her Bridegroom (Comp. Isa 54:5). As Bridegroom, God calls his bride “Hephzi-bah””my delight is in her.”
Isa 62:6
I have set watchmen upon thy walls. “The Servant” has appointed watchers upon the walls of Zioneither “prophets” (Delitzsch), or “priests and prophets” (Kay), or, more probably, “angelic beings” (Cheyne), who keep perpetual watch and ward (Comp. Isa 52:8). Neither day nor night do they hold their peace, or keep silence, but ever intercede with God for his people, like the “angel of Jehovah” in Zec 1:12, reminding him of his covenant with them, and his promises to them, and exhorting him to “awake, awake” for his own honour’s sake (Isa 51:9-11). It is generally allowed that the “watchers” in Dan 4:13, Dan 4:17, Dan 4:23 are angels; and the same interpretation best suits the “watchmen” of the present passage. Ye that make mention of the Lord; rather, as in the margin, ye that are the Lord‘s remembrancers; i.e. “ye whose business it is to call to God’s remembrance the needs and claims of his people, and the obligations of his covenant promises.”
Isa 62:7
Give him no rest. Compare the teaching of our Lord with respect to the efficacy of importunity (Luk 11:5-8; Luk 18:1-8).
Isa 62:8
The Lord hath sworn. In answer to the representations of the “remembrancers,” God solemnly binds himself by an oath to come to the relief of the people, to restore them to their own land, and to give them the enjoyment of its fruits in peace. By his right hand. God commonly swears “by himself” (Gen 22:16; Isa 45:23; Jer 49:13; Jer 51:14; Amo 6:5), or “by his holiness” (Psa 89:35; Amo 4:2). Once he swears “by his great Name” (Jer 44:26), and once “by the excellency of Jacob” (Amo 8:7). There is no other place in Scripture where he swears “by his right hand and arm”emblems of his power to act. Thy corn thy wine; i.e. the fruits of thy land. Hitherto, even when Israel was in possession of Palestine, its fruits were constantly destroyed, or carried off, by the raids of hostile neighbours. Henceforth this plundering should cease.
Isa 62:9
Shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. This is not to be understood literally, at any rate, of the whole produce of the laud. What is meant is, that the produce will be consecrated by such festal means as the Law enjoined (Deu 14:22-27), and that then the remainder will be consumed with due thanks and acknowledgments.
Isa 62:10
Go through, go through the gates. The speaker returns to the period of the exile, and exhorts the people to pass forth from Babylon, and speed on their way homewards (comp. Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11). Some of them are to clear away obstacles, others are to bring materials and construct a highway along which the stream of emigrants may march (comp. Isa 57:14), while a third body removes such stones as might cause stumbling, and a fourth lifts up a standard to direct the march.
Isa 62:11
Meanwhile Jehovah, by his angels or his prophets, causes it to be made known to the ends of the earth that the redemption of Israel draws nigh, and that Zion’s” salvation” approaches. His reward is with him, etc. The words are repeated from Isa 40:10. Here they are certainly said of Israel. They go forth from Babylon, having their reward with themi.e. liberty, honour, riches to some extent (Ezr 1:4-11), and their work, or rather their recompensethe possession of Palestinebefore them.
Isa 62:12
They shall call them; or, men shall call them, equivalent to “they shall be called.” The holy people. The Persians in some degree recognized this character in the Israelites (Ezr 1:2, Ezr 1:3; Ezr 6:8-12 : Ezr 7:12-26). So did Alexander, according to Josephus. The Romans, on the contrary, regarded them as the votaries of a degrading superstition. Since the Roman conquest, they have been almost universally despised. Perhaps the prophecy may be considered to still await its complete fulfilment. Thou shalt be called. “Thou” refers to Zion or Jerusalem. She should be called Sought outi.e. a special object of God’s careand A city not for-sakenthe very opposite of her former name (verse 4), which was “Forsaken.” All the conditions of her former existence would be altered, nay, reversed, in the future.
HOMILETICS
Isa 62:2, Isa 62:4, Isa 62:12
The teaching of Scripture with respect to names.
Names are not spoken of in the Scriptures as unimportant, but as of a very high importance.
I. A SPECIAL VALUE IS SET ON THE NAMES OF GOD. The names of God are significant, and set forth his nature. “El” is “the Great;” “Shaddai,” “the Strong;” “Jehovah,” “the Alone-existent.” God selected this last name as that by which he would be especially known to the Jews (Exo 3:14), and it became a sort of proper name with them and their neighbours. It was this name which was not to be taken in vain (Exo 20:7). It came to be regarded as so holy that the Jews would not venture to pronounce it, but substituted the word “Adonai,” or “Lord,” whenever they read the Scriptures aloud. God himself is, in fact, in all his names; and nearly the same reverence is due to them which is due to him. Christians are baptized into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Mat 28:19). The Name of the God of Jacob defends them (Psa 25:1). The Father keeps them through his Name (Joh 17:11). They give thanks to his Name (Heb 13:15), fear and glorify his Name (Rev 15:4), confess and sing praise unto it (Rom 15:9). Christ’s Name, through faith in his Name, makes them strong, yea, gives them perfect soundness in the presence of all (Act 3:16).
II. A CERTAIN VALUE IS SET ON MEN‘S NAMES. God assigns men names (Isa 7:14; Isa 8:3; Hos 1:4, Hos 1:6, Hos 1:9; Mat 1:21; Luk 1:13, etc.); alters or modifies their names (Gen 17:5, Gen 17:15; Gen 32:28; 2Sa 12:25, etc.); explains the mystical meaning of their names (Mat 16:18); gives them wholly new names (Rev 3:12). The sacred writers also sometimes alter men’s names in contempt, or as a punishment. Thus Esh-Baal, “man of Paul,” becomes Ish-Bosheth, “man of shame;” Merib-Baal becomes Mephi-Bosheth, and the like. The true name of Hezekiah’s father seems to have been Jehoahaz, “possession of Jehovah”; but the sacred writers, offended with him on account of his idolatries, would only call him Ahaz, “possession.” Conquering kings sometimes required names of subject kings to be changed, apparently as a mark of submission and subserviency. Thus the name of Eliakim was turned to Jehoiakim by Pharaoh-Necho (2Ki 23:34), and the name of Mattaniah to Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki 24:17). Altogether, human names are recognized as having an importance which profane writers are rarely found to attach to them.
III. A CERTAIN VALUE IS SET ALSO ON THE NAMES OF PLACES. Importance is attached to the significance of place-names, and a meaning is found for them not always in accordance with their real etymologies. Babel (Babylon)was no doubt intended by the Babylonians to mean “the gate of God;” but the sacred writers saw in the name a derivation from balal, “to confound” (Gen 11:9). When places ceased to correspond to their names, the sacred writers freely altered the names, to suit the circumstances. Thus the Bethel of the patriarchs becomes the Beth-avert of Hosea (Hos 4:15; Hos 5:8; Hos 10:5), Jeroboam’s idolatries having turned “the house of God” into “the house of nothingness.” In the present chapter Jerusalem is supposed to have become “Azubah“ on her destruction by the Babylonians, and to be about to be called “Hephzi–bah” on her restoration by the returned exiles. Another name given to her by Isaiah is “Ariel” (Isa 29:1). Each name expresses some phase in her history or feature of her character.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Isa 62:1-9
Promises of future glory.
Let us assume that Jehovah is the Speaker, and that he utters this oracle in a time of darkness and despondency. What is expressed is the intense passion, if we may so say, of God for the realization of his ideas in the world. The prophet fears not to use the boldest anthropomorphic imagery in setting forth this view of God.
I. THE IRREPRESSIBLE DESIRES AND PURPOSES OF THE ETERNAL. He will not be silent nor will he rest. In dark times it seems that God is refraining himself, putting a restraint upon his lips, holding his peace, etc. Four times in the latter portion of Isaiah that thought occurs (Isa 42:14; Isa 57:11; Isa 64:12; Isa 65:6). When impiety and oppression are rampant, the wicked exclaim, “How doth God know?” and the righteous, “Why is he silent?” And yet there should befears and scruples on both sides. Silence and reserve need not mean indifference. Nor would the voice of the Eternal be so impressive were it not for the long spaces of silence that lie between. Sooner or later he will uprouse himself, and his mighty voice will go forth, and there will be a turn in affairs.
II. THE IDEAL ON WHICH HE HAS SET HIS HEART. It is the glory of the ideal Jerusalem, the spiritual city of God, or his Church.
1. The glory of righteousness and salvation. The two terms seem here nearly to denote the same thing. Negatively, freedom from all external calamity and from all internal impurity; positively, attainment of all prosperity and all moral rectitude. This is to be an all-pervading brilliance, or a torch carried far from hand to hand.
2. The beauty of holiness. “Crown of adorning in Jehovah’s hand,” or “diadem of royalty,” shall she be. All the associations of forsakenness, desolation, and widowhood shall pass away, and be replaced by those of nuptial beauty and joy. Her name shall be exchanged for a new one, i.e. her afflicted for a glorious condition.
III. THE ANGELIC MINISTRY. Angelic watchers are on the walls of the city, incessantly engaged in intercession. The idea of them is that of mediatorial beings. Here they intercede with Jehovah that he will raise the city (or Church) to her proper renown among the nations of the earth. And an answer to the prayer seems indicated, when Jehovah swears that the harvest and the vintage shall no more be pillaged by her foes.J.
Isa 62:10-12
The homeward call.
“The prophet returns to the exiles in Babylon, and urges them not to delay their homeward march.” It is the same call which resounded in the two former divisions of the prophecy (Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11).
I. THE WAY CLEARED. The gates of Babylon are to be thrown open. Invisible servants of Jehovah are to prepare the way (Isa 40:3; Isa 57:14). A great highway (as in Isa 11:16) is seen stretching homeward, from which the party of pioneers is removing obstructions; and on high there floats a banner over the escort of Gentile people (Isa 44:22; Isa 11:10, Isa 11:12).
II. THE PROCLAMATION. The news of the approaching salvation of Israel is to be published to the ends of the earth. Meanwhile Zion, by means of angelic or prophetic ministry, is to be informed of her coming deliverance. He who is Retributor and Compensator is at hand.
III. THE REALIZATION OF ZION‘S DESTINY. The people are to be known once more by that great appellation given them in the Law (Exo 19:6), the holy people, partaking of the nature of the holy Godby him redeemed, by him sanctifieda title which passed over into Christian use. In contrast to her former isolation and neglectedness (Jer 30:17), the city will be “sought out,” the object of the nations’ love and care. In Christians as the elect, the beloved of God, in the Church as the “city set on a hill,” or as a glorious and spotless bride, may be found the Christian fulfilment of these prophecies.J.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM
Isa 62:4
Fellowship with God.
“Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken.” Mistaken we may beour judgment is so weak, our hearts so worldlybut not forsaken. It is a beautiful word, and it is enough. God will not condescend to explain all his ways to men; but he is a Father, and the Father will never forsake his child. Isaiah is called the evangelical prophet, and he is so; he heralds the kingdom of Christ, describes the nature of the kingdom, under a King who shall reign in righteousness, and gives us the pathetic picture of his sorrows. In one word, as a prophet of the Redeemer, he describes the theophany, the appearance or manifestation of God himself; the great coming age of Immanuel, “God with us.” Wars are prophesied of, even after the advent of Christtribulations and shaking of nations. Much has to be overturned; but amid all there is the pathway of the true King. Jesus comes, and comes to reign. Much is transient here. It is declared so to be. Man is said to be a pilgrim, and yet utters a cry of wonder that he cannot make earth a home. Riches are said to have wings, and then man is surprised that they flee away. Life is said to be like the grass, and then man is staggered that it is cut down. Friends turn false or fickle, and then man is surprised that evil hearts act in evil ways. Nature has her seasons, and then man marvels at the analogue of life which has its night as well as its day. On the one hand man scoffs at and scorns the Bible, and on the other refuses to see how full of realism and truth all its moral revelations are. It is equally true on its restful side. It tells us that amidst all we have a Father in heaven, whose will is wise and just, whose heart is kind and true and good. It assures us in that coming of Christ, to which all the ages looked forward, that God “remembers us in our low estate, for his mercy eudureth for ever,” and that, though often mistaken, we shall never be termed Forsaken.
I. THIS IS A DIVINE REPLY. A reply to what? Why, to Zion’s utterance in Isa 49:14, “The Lord hath forsaken me.” Not, mark you, that there have been no Divine footprints in the past, no Divine provision and protection in Zion’s yesterday; but now he hath forsaken us. Study life, especially what is called religious life, and you will find that this is always the foolish cry of the Church. It will live in the past. It will not believe that there are prophets and righteous men to-day. It will decorate the sepulchres of the fathers. It did so in Isaiah’s time; it does so now. It glorifies the days of Wickliffe and Luther, of Whitefield and Wesley, forgetful that God is the living God, and his voice is heard, his hand outstretched, his purpose working now. I know nothing in which the human mind is so fatally biased as in this backward looking and longing, whilst he is still nigh us in our breath and in our heart. Forsaken? No, there are prophets of truth still; heralds of mercy still; national seers still, who search the very heart of nations. Wherever the Spirit of Christ is, there he is. There are wars, vices, wrongs, still; but their time is not so easy as it wasnot so easy, indeed, as in some past ages which we glorify. The Spirit of Christ is becoming more and more the test of good and evil, of wisdom and unwisdom, of the real and the false, of the righteous and unrighteous. There is a light shining to-day that no breakers can put out, no wild storms of passion extinguish. “The Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world” is here. Christ’s arm is not shortened; more worn and weary spirits lean on it than ever. Christ’s mercy is not exhausted; his forgiveness is still the good cheer of millions of hearts. His revelations of immortality have not faded through the lapse of years. He alone has given to the world its all-covering sky. We feel that whilst we still believe in him and cleave to him, the prophetic words are real and true, “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken.”
II. A DIVINE HARMONY. The words do not stand alone. They are not merely a beautiful text, or an isolated flower, or a separate jewel. We have to take the moral strain of a book to see into the mind and meaning of the plan. We do not interpret Mendelssohn or Mozart by separate passages, neither should we so treat Isaiah. He is evidently the prophet of a golden age, no matter whether there are ten hands visible in the work or one. We test truth by its voice, not by its mere speaker. All prophets were not to be listened to and obeyed simply because they were prophets. “I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evil-doers Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord” (Jer 23:14, Jer 23:16); and again, “Let not your prophets deceive you” (Jer 29:8); and again, “Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies” (Eze 13:9); “Thus saith the Lord God: Woe unto the foolish prophets O Israel, thy prophets are like foxes” (Eze 13:3, Eze 13:4). Yes; there was a moral test then; an instinct which revealed the true prophet, as it reveals the true Saviour. Our Lord rested all on this: “If ye were of the truth, ye would hear my voice:” “My sheep hear my voice.” A remarkable instance of this moral test is given us in Eze 13:22. The people were to set their faces against the prophets. Why? “Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life.” That which was against righteousness and assisted evil was not to be believed. Why will men be so afraid of this test? Why do they seek to rest authority on the authors and writers of books, and not rest it, as God does, and ever did, and only could, on the truth itself? It was Isaiah’s way, it was our Lord’s way, it was St. Paul’s way. “Commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” I thus come to my word “harmony.” It is harmonious with all within us. Isaiah is a prophet of righteousness, of Divine forbearance, of Divine forgiveness, of Divine pity, of Divine ministry, of Divine sacrifice. If askedIs this a God to be trusted, worshipped, loved? the whole inward being exclaims, “Amen, and amen.”
III. A DIVINE CONSOLATION. It is really part of the “comfort ye” strain, as that reaches to the depths of our being. Not forsaken. The same Isaiah is here. We feel sin. Israel felt it. We cannot by any philosophy of heredity escape from the consciousness of personal guilt. Alone the flame burns. At night the thorn pierces through the pillow. Are we left to bear the great sorrow unpitied and unaided? Out of Zion the Deliverer shall come. “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.” We feel social evils; we are hurt by unrighteousness, galled and wounded by selfishness. Amid all, fierce wars seem again and again to stir the mad passions of humanity. What thought can light our gloom, can give strength to our hopes? Only this”A King shall reign in righteousness.” If there be no hope for the supremacy of the Christ, all is lost, for beside him there is no Saviour. But are there not signs that a better spirit is abroad? I think so. Men are sighing for a Prince of peace, and with the sigh there is a sob too, “O Lord, how long?” We feel our own solitude. We seem to be forsaken. Change comes. Fortune is turned to misfortune, health to sickness. But there are restful hours in all Christian hearts. Say what men’ will of the mysteries, let them ponder the facts; there is a touch of Christ, there is a tender sense of an encircling arm, there is a consciousness of the good Shepherd’s care and love. We want to bring home the music of this promise to weary hearts. If we want to exercise more influence than philosophers and moralists, we must have a better message. When Ulysses passed by the island of the syrens, the classic story tells us that, to save himself from their snares, he bound himself with mighty thongs to the masts, and secured his sailors’ safety by filling their ears with wax, that they might not be bewitched. But when the sweet singer, when Orpheus, voyaged by the same syren island, he bound himself to no mast. He started a sweeter, nobler music than the syrens could ever reach, and so sailed by in triumph. If we are to win men and keep menmen who have been charmed with the syren voices of the world all the weekour melody must be one that comes down from heaven; the music of forgiveness and mercy, of grace and help, of God’s love, and God’s care, and God’s everlasting throne. We are in him that is true, in him of whom all prophecy is full, who was the Spirit of it all. In life with all its mysteries, and in death with all its leave-takings. We shall never be termed “Forsaken.”W.M.S.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Isa 62:1-7
From night to noon.
The passage rather implies than states a very sad condition in which Israel is found, and it suggests to us, as a starting-point
I. DARK DAYS THROUGH WHICH A CHRISTIAN CHURCH MAY PASS, The evils and miseries which may then be endured may include, as with Israel at the time of this prophecy:
1. Reduced numbers, causing weakness and humiliation, perhaps approaching extinction.
2. Submission to some kind of bondage; either to the tyranny of some spiritual delusion, or to the despotism of some other master than the Lord of love and righteousness.
3. The actual withdrawal of Christ; a condition in which it is rightly called “the Forsaken,” for “he does not many mighty works because of unbelief.” He does not dwell there, but passes by; he does not manifest his presence and his power in regenerating, or renewing, or sustaining grace.
4. The appearance of utter forgetfulness on the part of its Divine Head. There is such an absence of all fruitfulness, all usefulness, all moral and spiritual beauty, that its most appropriate name is “The Desolate One.”
II. THE DUTY OF ITS MINISTERS and its best friends in these dark days (Isa 62:1-6).
1. Pleading with God for his people. For Zion’s sake not holding peace, for Jerusalem’s sake not resting, but continually and earnestly interceding with God that he will pity, will interpose, will restore.
2. Pleading with his people in God’s name. The function of the prophet was to speak for God, and especially when his truth was forgotten and his will neglected. The duty and privilege of the minister of Christ is to declare with all fearlessness and fidelity, and with all needful reiteration, the truth which has been forgotten, the commandment which is being disregarded. This duty is shared by any others, particularly by any other officers, to whom the Spirit of God may reveal his will.
III. THE FUTURE WHICH IT IS IN THE POWER AND IN THE HEART OF GOD TO CONFER.
1. Deliverance from these distressing evils. There shall be “salvation” (Isa 62:1). The bonds shall be broken, the delusions dispelled, the assumption of power removed, the “evil thing in the midst” which prevented the indwelling of Christ shall be cast out.
2. Manifestation of the Master’s favour. Its “righteousness” in his sight shall “go forth as brightness:” there shall be such tokens of Divine favour that all who dwell around and observe shall “see its righteousness” asserted and behold its “glory” (Isa 62:2).
3. The possession of its Lord’s regard. Its new name, “Hephzi-bah,” shall indicate that its Lord delights in it, looks upon it with a glad approval, holds it in his right hand (Rev 2:1) as a man holds a crown or diadem, as something of rare value, of great price in his esteem (Isa 62:3).
4. The outpouring of its Lord’s affection. Its new name is also to be “Beulah:” for it is to be dear to his heart as is the bride to the bridegroom, the object of his fervent love. We may be so conscious of our shortcomings and of our departures from God’s will that we may fail to realize the fulness of our privilege. But it is our sacred duty to be dissatisfied with ourselves, as portions of the Church of Christ, until we are such as he can regard with Divine love and affection, such as he can prize as very precious crowns or diadems. If this seems impossible as things are, it behoves us to humble ourselves before him, to plead with him in penitent prayer, to rededicate ourselves to his service, until the hour comes when not only will the darkness have given way to dawn, but the dawn to noontide brightness.C.
Isa 62:8, Isa 62:9
The value of security, etc.
The principal lesson here is the inestimable advantage of national independence and consequent individual security. But other lessons also stand out from the passage, viz.
I. THE REALITY OF NATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY. It is very clearly implied that Israel had suffered grievously in the past as a nation, because of God’s wrath. She had sinned and had been condemned, and she had paid the penalty of suffering from a cruel and rapacious invasion; so that her citizens ate not of the corn they had sown, and drank not of the wine they had planted. God makes nations as well as individuals to pay due penalty for their transgressions. Hence we have
II. THE INDIVIDUAL OBLIGATION which this fact entails. It is impossible for any man to sever himself from the community of which he is a member; he is not at liberty to leave the national course, to be decided by other men, while he gives himself up to more congenial labours. No man can divest himself of his responsibilities as a citizen of his country; every man is bound to exert his influence on behalf of liberty, righteousness, peace, virtue, godliness.
III. THE VALUE OF SECURITY. If it be uncertain whether men will reap what they sow, if it is probable that strangers will partake of the fruit of men’s toil, there will be a constantly and powerfully disturbing force at work. But security will promote:
1. Order and good government.
2. Industryoccupation, enterprise, the useful arts.
3. Benevolencethe origination and growth of philanthropic institutions.
4. Pietythe erection of sacred structures and the establishment of religious organizations.
1. Let the prosperity which is the fruit of security be consecrated by gratitude and benevolence. “Eat and praise the Lord,” bring the wine “into the courts or his holiness.” Beware of a selfish and complacent spirit (see Deu 6:12), and cultivate carefully and devoutly a spirit of gratitude toward God and kindness toward man.
2. Appreciate at its full worth and give God thanks for the national security which is enjoyed. It is not one of the smaller mercies we have received at his hand that we have no fear of being displaced by any “stranger,” that we are so secure of the fruits of our toil. This sense of safety and stability has contributed largely to the resources at our command, and is adding incalculably to the best movements and measures of our time.
3. Rejoice in and bless God for the fact that even though we may not reap all that we sow here, there is a future in which the workman shall be amply and gloriously rewarded (Psa 126:6; 1Co 15:58).C.
Isa 62:10-12
God’s summons to the enslaved.
Taking the language of the tenth verse as an energetic address to the captive people of God to “go through” the gates of Babylon, and make their way with all diligence to Zion, the home of freedom and sacred joy, we have
I. A DIVINE SUMMONS TO THE ENSLAVED. To the individual soul, that has been brought into some spiritual bondage, perhaps under the tyranny of some enslaving habit; to the Christian Church, which has allowed itself to become subject to some outside power other than that of its Divine Lord; to the betrayed and subjected nation, which has enjoyed and is capable of an independent government,comes the summons from above; “Call forth all thy powers, leave no means untried, prepare the way, make a supreme and sacrificial effort to break the bonds, to walk in the way, to reach the goal of a true and lasting liberty.”
II. THE REWARD OF OBEDIENCE. “His reward is with him,” etc. The first recompense is found in:
1. A blessed sense of deliverance from bondage. The man, or the Church, rejoices greatly that he is one of the “redeemed of the Lord.” The fact that God has struck off his shackles and made him breathe the sweet air of freedom, the consciousness that iniquity “has no dominion over him,” is the greatest and happiest of all facts to him. Life holds no heritage which is equal to the “salvation” which has come to his heart, to his life.
2. A restored reputation. He did belong to the unholy, the guilty, perhaps to the vicious or to the violent; now he is one of “the holy people” whom all men honour. This conducts to:
3. Communion and friendship with the best and worthiest; with the Highest himself, and with the wise and good among men; he is among those who are “sought out,” “not forsaken.” Other rewards accompany obedience, not here stated or hinted. We may suggest:
4. Capacity for usefulness to others, occupying a position in which he (or it, the Church) may lead other enslaved ones into spiritual freedom (Psa 51:12, Psa 51:13; Joh 21:15; Act 26:18; Jas 5:19, Jas 5:20).
5. A good hope of an inheritance where perfect freedom dwells.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
Isa 62:1
Godly desires for the Church.
The Jews were remarkably attached to localities. They cherished the national associations with such places as Bethel, the Red Sea, the Jordan, etc.; but they loved most intensely Jerusalem and Mount Zion. To the better Jews localities were only shrines of spiritual truths. Bethel meant “God near:” the Red Sea meant “God redeeming:” Jordan meant “God faithful to his word.” Those Jews saw the spiritual through the local; we are expected to see the spiritual without the help of the local.
I. THE FERVENT DESIRES OF A GODLY SOUL. To see Zionthe type of Christ’s Churchdelivered and established in righteousness.
1. Delivered from
(1) its weaknesses, in motive, aim, and work;
(2) its hindrances, in body, business, and relationships;
(3) its prejudices, both individual and sectarian. The Church in the world is like a lamp burning dimly in impure air.
2. Established in righteousness.
(1) The internal character of a Church is the subject of greater anxiety than its outward condition. The King’s daughter must be “all glorious within.”
(2) The internal character of a church is only preserved as it has a capacity for growing. The figure in the text is of a “brightness,” not a mere flash, but brightness brightening, or going forth.
II. THE VARIETY OF MOTIVES THAT INCREASE THE DESIRES.
1. Our consecration vow. We gave ourselves first to Christ, and then to his Church.
2. The emotions of the Christian life. These inspire us to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”
3. Love to Christ. This, John tells us, is sure to find expression in love for the brethren.
III. THE ONE SUPREME MOTIVE PROMINENT IN THE TEXT, The real welfare of the Church itself. “For Zion’s sake.” We ought to feel the utmost anxiety that
(1) the joy of the Church should be increased;
(2) the beauty and Christ-likeness of the Church should be perfected;
(3) the efficiency and power of the Church should lye enlarged. Its righteousnesswhich is its true strengthshould shine more and more unto the perfect day.
IV. THE MAN WHO HAS GOOD DESIRES WELL NOT WITHHOLD HIS PERSONAL EFFORTS. “I will not hold my peace,” etc. The real greatness of prayer is only knows to the man who works, and the greatness of work only to him who prays.R.T.
Isa 62:2
The Lord’s new name for his people.
“And men shall call thee by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall appoint” (compare, for the promise of a new name, Rev 2:17; Rev 3:12). Abram, brought into covenant with God, receives a new nameAbraham. Jacob finds his triumph seal his acceptance with God, and he is henceforth known by a new nameIsrael. What the name is to be God only knows, but it will recognize the fact that the people had been faithful, and were rewarded for their faithfulness. A singular sentiment prevailed among the Jews in connection with this new naming. The possession of a new name came to be regarded among the pious as a demonstration that all sins committed under the old name were forgiven, and all decrees annulled which were issued against the sinner while possessed of his former appellation. Accordingly, at the approach of death, the Jews were wont to change the name of the dying person, and the reason of this custom will be perceived from the following prayer offered for the dying, to whom the new name has been given: “O God, take pity on A (his former name), and restore him to health, and let him henceforth be called B (the new name); and let him be glad in his new name, and let it be confirmed to him. Be pleased, we entreat thee, O God, that this change of name may abolish all the hard and evil decrees against him, and destroy the broad sentence. If death be decreed upon A (the former name), it is not decreed upon B (the new name), if an evil decree was made against A, lo! this hour he is another man, a new creature, and like a child born to a good life and length of days.”
I. THE NEW SAME INDICATES THE END OF THE OLD LIFE. Illustrate:
1. By the new name given in marriage, which closes up the old life in the father’s home.
2. By the new name given to those restored to Jerusalem, which intimated the close of the time of captivity in Babylon.
3. By the new name” Christian,” which marks the end of the old heathen life, or pagan life.
4. By the new heavenly name (as in Rev 2:17), which tells that the earth-conflict has ended in the victory of holiness. Apply to the Divine recognition of our final triumph over the old Adam, which is “corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.”
II. THE NEW NAME REMINDS MEN OF THE GRACE OF WHICH THEY ARE MONUMENTS. It is very positively stated that God gives the name, to remind men of what he has done for them. The name “redeemed” keeps in mind the “Redeemer.” The name “Christian” sets “Christ” ever before us. It is not our name for ourselves; it is God‘s name for us, and so a constant reminder of what Almighty grace has done, and can do.
III. THE NEW NAME INDICATES THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW LIFE. The name “holy city” calls attention to the fact that the people should be all holy, as those who are fully consecrated unto God.R.T.
Isa 62:4
The Bunyan figure of the Beulah-land.
Hephzi-bah was the wife of Hezekiah, and mother of Manasseh. Very uncertain tradition says she was a daughter of the Prophet Isaiah. The name means, “My delight is in her,” and Dr. C. Geikie says, “Her name, whether given at her marriage or earlier, wakes a thought of old-world tenderness and poetry. Was it a fond reminiscence of one he had loved and respected, when Isaiah tells us that Jehovah will make Zion, after her long desolation, once more his Hephzi-bah?” The word “Beulah” means “married,” and the figure rests upon the Eastern notion of the desolate condition of a maiden or a widow, and the happy satisfied state of the married woman, who has husband and home. A “married” land is one watched over, tended, cared for, and loved. Bunyan uses the name to represent the “waiting time” of old age, or of frailty, in which God’s people tarry awhile ere they pass over the river. If somewhat fanciful, his picture is both beautiful and suggestive. “Now I saw in my dream, that by this time the pilgrims were got over the Enchanted Ground, and entering into the country of Beulah; whose air was very sweet and pleasant; the way lying directly through it, they solaced themselves there for a season. Yea, here they heard continually the singing of birds, and, saw every day the flowers appear in the earth, and heard the voice of the turtle in the land. In this country the sun shineth night and day: wherefore this was beyond the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and also out of the reach of Giant Despair; neither could they from this place so much as see Doubting Castle. Here they were within sight of the city they were going to: also here met them some of the inhabitants thereof; for in this land the shining ones commonly walked, because it was upon the borders of heaven. In this land also the contract between the Bride and the Bridegroom was renewed; yea, here ‘as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so doth thy God rejoice over thee.’ Here they had no want of corn and wine; for in this place they met with abundance of what they had sought for in all their pilgrimages.” This passage is taken from the first part of the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ but a similar passage at the close of the second part should be examined. The following divisions may serve as guides in the spiritualizing of this Beulah-figure.
I. BEULAH–LAND REPRESENTS TIMES OF PEACE AFTER CONFLICT WITH SIN. Such times come in various parts of our life, and are times of refreshing.
II. BEULAH–LAND REPRESENTS TIMES OF COMFORT AND REST AFTER DIVINE CHASTISEMENTS. God is very tender over the healing of his smitten ones, and gives seasons when the very heavens drop balm.
III. BEULAH–LAND REPRESENTS TIMES OF WAITING WHEN EARTH‘S TOIL IS ENDED. The beautiful time of holy old age, full of sweet memories and patient trust.R.T.
Isa 62:6, Isa 62:7
The work of the praying men amongst us.
“Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchers; all day and all night they are never silent: ye that are Jehovah’s remembrancers, take ye no rest, and give no rest to him, until he establish and until he make Jerusalem a renown in the earth” (Cheyne). If the watchers are men, the idea is that during all the years of Israel’s captivity, her watchmen, remembrancers, or praying men, are to keep at their work without ceasing, as it were, every day reminding God of his people and of his promise. The figure of the verse is taken from the temple-service, in which there was appointed a constant watch day and night by the Levites. The watches in the East, even to this day, are performed by a loud cry from time to time by the watchmen, both to mark the time and to show that they are constantly attentive to their duty. Possibly the first reference of the figure is to angel-guards appointed by Jehovah; but we may reasonably use the figure for the earth-messengers of Jehovah, the pious praying souls who are his intercessors among his people. As intercessors, these men
I. KEEP GOD REMINDED OF HIS PEOPLE. It is a small objection, indicating very superficial thinking, that “God cannot need to be reminded of anything.” The answer is easy. If God is pleased graciously to reveal himself in certain relations, he graciously condescends to accept all the conditions involved in those relations. Children tell their parents what the parents know, and both children and parents are blessed in the telling. The prayers preserved for us in the Bible are full of things which God must know. It might be a thought full of help and cheer to us all that while, busied with our earth-cares, we may be forgetting God, our pious brothers and sisters, our praying men and women, Zion’s watchmen, are keeping God reminded of us. The bells that sound for morning prayers throughout our land are a voice that God hears as truly as man. Praying men keep Zion’s walls ever before her King.
II. KEEP GOD‘S PEOPLE EVER REMINDED OF THEIR GOD. Of this there is abundant necessity. Both prosperity and adversity tend to make us forgetful of our God. Even the steady ongoing, that has no ups and. downs, makes the thought of God fade in our minds. So we need the witness of our watchers, our praying men, and their muezzin, or call to prayer. Especially bring out that we need to be kept in mind of the Lord’s provisions and promisesthe assurance of our full and final redemption. They who pray amongst us, “Thy kingdom come,” keep us constantly reminded that there is a necessary preparation for all who are to share in the kingdom.R.T.
Isa 62:10
The mission of those who remove hindrances.
The point of interest here is that, so far as Jehovah was concerned, all things were arranged for the return of the exiles, and the restoration of the long-depressed nation. But some men were hindering the return by their hesitancies and doubtings and selfishnesses. Therefore Jehovah pleads with all who trust his Word, urging them to clear the way of the people, and get these hindrances moved out of their path. There are always hinderers to every good work, and there is always the Lord’s call to us not to let these hinderers do their evil work. They take the heart out of all good schemes, and often do much worse mischief than the active opponents, because they me a foe within the city, and have deceptive ways which are seldom fully recognized.
I. THE WORK OF THE HINDERER. There is a good work done by the conservative-minded among us, which must not be confounded with the work of the hinderer. It is good to have a drag put on the wheels of impulsiveness. It is well to be compelled patiently to consider schemes which have been thoughtlessly and enthusiastically taken up. But the hinderer is not the man of prudence and caution, but the man of selfishness and doubt. Some men cannot see good in anything, even though to other men the thing may be rich in promise. Others delight in prophesying failure, and plucking the spirit out of enterprise. Others see that proposed schemes will make heavy demands on self-denial, and as they are not prepared for this, they put stones in the way. No good thing was ever started that did not rouse the hinderers. And no good thing was ever carried through that did not overbear and carry away, or brush aside, the hinderers.
II. THE WORK. OF THOSE WHO REMOVE HINDRANCES. They are either energetic men, who will not be repressed, or else men of faith in God, who make their loyalty master difficulties. Men of firmness and persistency are needed in every sphere of Christian enterprise; and it is all the better if they have some pleasantness and even humour, and can remove hindrances without offending hinderers. Men of faith are always needed, who, clearly seeing what God would have done, go steadily on towards its accomplishment, refusing to turn aside either to the right hand or to the left. If we cannot, or will not, help toward the on-coming of Christ’s kingdom, at least we can get out of the way of those who will work.R.T.
Isa 62:11
The nearness of the Lord’s coming used as a persuasion.
The immediate reference here is to the Lord’s manifestation in the providences that led to the return of the exiles to Jerusalem. The Church has in every age had some great hope held out before it, and that hope could always be conceived of as a coming or manifestation of the Lord. Three “comings’ are commonly recognized. Our Lord’s coming in the flesh, as the Babe of Bethlehem, and the “Man Christ Jesus.” Our Lord’s coming in the Spirit, in the power of the Holy Ghost. Our Lord’s coming in some manifestation of himself for the judgment of sinners and the glorifying of his saints. This is the special persuasion to holiness, activity, and. spiritual preparedness which now rests on Christ’s Church.
I. THIS BELIEF THE SECOND COMING HAS ALWAYS BEEN HELD BY THE CHURCH; and the fact that some sections have held distorted and extravagant views of it must not be allowed to deprive us all of the inspiration that comes from so sober, yet so great and so glorious a hope. The belief was plainly held by the apostolic Church, and used by the early teachers as a persuasion to watchfulness, quietness of trust, and godly living. Bulwer Lytton is true to life when he describes Olynthus and a party of Christians singing amid the awful desolations of Pompeii, within hearing of the multitude that was rushing hither and thither for precious lifesinging with the calm assurance that their Lord was now very near
”Woe to the proud ones who defy him,
Woe to the wicked who deny him,
Woe to the wicked, woe!”
II. THE DOCTRINE OF THE SECOND COMING HAS ALWAYS HAD ITS PLACE IN THE CHURCH‘S CREED. In the Apostles’ Creed: “From thence he shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead.” In the Creed of St. Athanasius: “From whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead, at whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their own works.”
III. THE DOCTRINE OF THE SECOND COMING IS TAUGHT IN OUR HYMNS. The real faith and hope of the Church may be better shown by its favourite hymns even than by its formal creed. In every collection of hymns for Christian use some portion is devoted to the Lord’s second advent, and not a few of these hymns have become very sacred and dear to Christian hearts. A few may be recalled to mind
”Lo, he comes with clouds descending.”
“When thou, my righteous Judge, shalt come.”
“Great God, what do I see and hear?”
“The Lord shall come, the earth shall quake.”
Or that magnificent song of the ancient Church
“Day of Wrath! that awful day,
Shall the bannered cross display,
Earth in ashes melt away.”
IV. DEVOUT SOULS USE THIS HOPE IN URGING THE CLAIMS OF CHRIST ON CHRISTIAN DISCIPLES. For instance, J. A. James says, “We are to be waiting for the Son of God from heaven, and to be looking for his coming as our blessed hope, above all other hopes. This waiting for Christ was in an eminent degree characteristic of the primitive Christians; it is frequently mentioned by the apostles, and seems to have been a prevailing feeling of the Churches. All earnest Christians now have the same spirit. The bride, the Lamb’s wife, is, and must be, supposed to be ever looking for the return of the heavenly Bridegroom. The want of tiffs habitual looking for the return of Christ indicates a low state of piety, a prevalence of worldly-mindedness among professing Christians.” There is often much foolish talk about the “lost hope of the Church;” and it is strongly asserted that the Church generally is no longer looking for the coming of Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth. All that is true in connection with such statements is, that the great majority of Christian people fail to see that Scripture teaches the Lord’s coming in any prescribed mode and time and form. The Church has been content with the inspiration and persuasion of the great fact and the large hope. The universal Church keeps her eyes fixed on the east, watching for the first signs of the dawning of the day of God; but the Church also accepts her Lord’s declaration, that it is not for her “to know the times and the seasons.”R.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Isa 62:1. For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace It is plain from the last verse of the preceding chapter, that this is immediately connected with it; which Vitringa refers to a prophetic choir, representing the whole body of the ministers of God, and among there particularly the apostles and evangelists, at the beginning of the Gospel. These faithful ministers of God, therefore, the apostles and their successors, say, that they will not be silent, till the righteousness of the church, that is to say, its redemption, shall go forth as brightness, and its salvation shall burn as a shining lamp or torch; that is, till the kingdom of God shall be most brightly and completely revealed, and that saying of the psalmist be fulfilled, The heavens declare his righteousness, and all people behold his glory. See Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2. A DISTANT VIEW OF THE COMPLETION OF SALTATION
Isaiah 62
a) How the Redeemer is Himself the Finisher of this Salvation
Isa 62:1-5
1For Zions sake will I not hold my peace,
And for Jerusalems sake I will not rest,
Until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness,
And the salvation thereof as 1 lamp that burneth.
2And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness,
And all kings thy glory:
And thou shalt be called by a new name,
Which the mouth of the Lord shall name.
3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,
And a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
4Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken;
Neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate:
Aut thou shalt be called 2Hephzi-bah,
And thy land 3Beulah:
For the Lord delighteth in thee,
And thy land shall be married.
5For as a young man marrieth a virgin,
So shall thy sons marry thee:
And 4as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride,
So shall thy God rejoice over thee.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The speaker is the same in this as in the preceding chapter. Great things had been promised in the previous discourse. Will all be fulfilled? The Anointed of God declares most decidedly, appealing to His love to Jerusalem as the surest guarantee, that He will not rest till Jerusalem is exalted to the highest pitch of glory, and as the appropriate expression of this glory, a new name is promised to her (Isa 62:1-2). Jerusalem will then be the most beautiful royal ornament of the Lord her King (Isa 62:3). The times are past when country and city could become desolate. There will be a double relation between Jerusalem and Jehovah, which cannot be dissolved, because it rests on the deepest and truest love. Jehovah will have pleasure in Jerusalem as a bridegroom in his bride. Therefore Jerusalem cannot again be separated from Jehovah, or from her children (Isa 62:4-5).
2. For Zions sakerejoice over thee. (Isa 62:1-5). We might almost have thought that the promise had reached its maximum at the close of chapter 61, and that nothing greater could be added. But this is not the case. To our surprise we read, Isa 62:1, that the Messiah speaks of increasing effort which He will put forth to bring Jerusalem to the highest pinnacle of glory. We perceive from this that the accomplishment of salvation will take place gradually. That in chapter 62 the speaker is not the Prophet, but the Messiah, I maintain, with Stier and Delitzsch. [Here there is a mistake. Delitzsch makes the speaker in this chapter to be Jehovah. I translate from his Commentary: That Jehovah here speaks (LXX. Targum, Grotius, Vitringa, Luzzatto), is shown by Isa 62:6 a, and by the use of the word which is the expression commonly employed by Jehovah when He lets the existing condition of things continue without interposing (Isa 65:6; Isa 57:11; Isa 64:11; Isa 42:14).D. M.] The later interpreters for the most part regard the words as an utterance of the Prophet; But how could he hope to see all stages of this salvation accomplished? And how could he appoint the watchers spoken of in Isa 62:6? For to regard these watchmen as pious worshippers of Jehovah whom the Prophet appointed to call to Jehovah even as incessantly as he himself does (Isa 62:1), is exegetical caprice. Intercessors, who by their supplications bring about the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem, are not watchers on the walls. For watchmen are set over something which already exists. Observe, too, the which significantly stands at the be- ginning of the discourse, and is repeated in the i second member. Gods Anointed rests not, out of love to Zion. In His love, therefore, lies the security that Zion will have her right, that the promise given her will be kept. Is a better guarantee conceivable? He will not rest till her righteousness breaks forth as brightness, namely, the full brightness of the clear day, and her salvation as a blazing torch. The one of these images is taken from the day, the other from the night. By day there is no clearer light than that which comes from the sun; by night no light shines more brightly than a blazing torch. is here used as 1.10; Isa 60:3; Isa 60:19. Righteousness and salvation correspond to one another, as in Isa 61:10; Isa 59:17; Isa 56:1; Isa 51:5-6; Isa 51:8, etc. When Israels righteousness and salvation have attained their culmination, then they will shine so brightly that all nations and kings must see them. I do not think that there is any essential difference between salvation and glory. Glory is only the side of salvation which strikes the eyes, which is outwardly conspicuous (comp. Isa 58:8). But when Israel has become new outwardly and inwardly, a new name is also appropriate for him. This new name represents, therefore, a new time, the time of which it is said: Behold, I make all things new (Rev 21:5). But only God Himself can appoint ( to pierce, perforare, notare, only here in Isaiah) this new name, which exactly corresponds to the essential nature of Israel. We perceive from this trait that the Prophet does not think merely of the restoration by Cyrus (comp. Rev 2:17). How high the renovated Jerusalem will stand is seen from Isa 62:3. The crown is the ornament of a princes head. When Jerusalem is Jehovahs glorious crown, it is the first, highest, most precious jewel which He possesses (comp. Isa 28:1; Isa 28:5; Revelation 21). [It has been thought by some that there is a want of congruity in representing the crown as in the hand, instead of its being upon the head; but it must be obvious, that with no propriety whatever could the church be spoken of as placed on the head of Jehovah. The language is designed to teach the high estimation in which Jerusalem shall be held by the Most High, and her perfect security under His protection. Henderson, who rightly substitutes for hand, in the second member of Isa 62:3, palm, or the open I hand (),D. M.] The love of Jehovah effects that Jerusalem can never more be called Forsaken, nor her land Desolate; that, on the contrary, the city must be called My-delight-in-her, and the land Married. Thou shalt be called, is equivalent to Thou shalt be. [The E. V. translates the two first names, and gives the original forms of the two last. This is a manifest inconsistency. Azubah and Shemamah are the Hebrew words which are respectively rendered Forsaken and Desolate. Azubah and Hephzibah occur as actual names; the former was that of the mother of Jehoshaphat (1Ki 22:42), the latter was the name of the mother of Manasseh (2Ki 21:1). It is reasonable to suppose that the passage before us was written with allusion to the marriage of Hezekiah with Hephzibah, and that the imagery and form of expression here employed were suggested by that event. That marriage was evidently hailed with joy as full of promise. But Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah by Hephzibah, brought ruin on Judah. This passage, then, could hardly have been written after the death of Hezekiah. Professor Plumptre pertinently asks: At what period towards the close of the captivity would the mind of a later writer have turned to so disastrous a marriage, and so ill-omened a name as that of Hephzibah, as, suggestive of hope and gladness?D. M.] The land shall be called i.e., Maritata. The holy land shall not be a virgin chosen by no man, nor a repudiated wife, nor a widow, but a wife living in the conjugal relation. And to this figure there shall correspond a double reality (Isa 62:5). [Instead of thy sons,Lowth and many others would read thy builders, changing into and they consider the plural to be used for the singular, Jehovah being the builder of Jerusalem, who marries her. This alteration has been made to remove the seeming incongruity of sons marrying their mother. The idea of the marriage of children with their mother is indeed incongruous, but not only is a noble word, which in itself expresses only taking possession of, but, moreover, church and home are blended together in the prosopopia.Delitzsch. The particles of comparison are to be supplied (Gesen.Gr. 155,2 h). A young man by marrying wins for himself an inalienable right to have and to hold.Kay.D. M ]
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b) How the Redeemer accomplishes the Salvation of Jerusalem by means of the watchmen whom he has appointed
Isa 62:6-9
6I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem,
Which shall never hold their peace 5day nor night: 6Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence,
7And give him no 7rest, till he establish,
And till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
8The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength,
8Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies;
And 9the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy 10wine,
For the which thou hast laboured:
9But they that have gathered it shall eat it,
And praise the Lord;
And they that have brought it together shall drink it
In the courts of my 11holiness.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. As the Redeemer had said of Himself (Isa 62:1) that He will not rest till Jerusalem has reached even the highest glory, so He declares here that He will also indirectly, and by means of others, contribute to the attainment of this high end, namely by means of watchmen, who shall do as He Himself: not rest nor be quiet till the end is reached. If these watchmen are to help to reach the goal, their labor takes place in the time which precedes the attainment of the end. And it is naturally assumed in regard to this time, that while it lasts there are still enemies who can hurt Jerusalem, and against whom one must be constantly on his guard. On the other hand, these watchmen are also to be remembrancers for Jehovah, appointed to remind Him incessantly that the work is not yet completed, that Jerusalem is not yet that which it is to be (Isa 62:6-7). But Jehovah gives with an oath the comforting assurance, that Israel shall never again be the prey of the enemy, but shall rejoice evermore undisturbed in communion with their God, and shall partake to His praise of the fruits of their land (Isa 62:8-9).
2. I have setcourts of my holiness.
Isa 62:6-9. We must here above all hold fast that the subject of must be the same as that of and Isa 62:1. It is therefore the Anointed of the Lord who here speaks. [The appointment of officers in the church is in the New Testament ascribed to both God and Christ, 1Co 12:28; Eph 4:11.D. M.]. When He, on the one hand, perceives the necessity of appointing watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem, and, on the other hand, has the power to do this, He must be the Lord of Jerusalem, and also in some sense absent from it. And when He charges these watchmen to cry to Jehovah continually, and to let Him have no rest till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth, it is clear that He regards Jehovah as still standing above Himself. [But it is the Prophet who here suddenly breaks in, and addresses the Lords remembrancers.D. M.]. The Prophet, then, means to say that the Jerusalem restored according to chapter 61 by the working of the Messiah will be a city well built, and well provided with walls, but will still have enemies to fear, and not yet be the immediate theatre of the might and glory of her Lord. For when her Lord and Bridegroom has appointed watchmen, who cry to God incessantly for her (as e.g., Moses Exo 17:11 sqq., and Samuel 1Sa 7:8 sqq.; 1Sa 8:6; 1Sa 15:11; 1Sa 12:16-23; Psa 99:6; Jer 15:1), this intimates not only the presence of enemies, but also His own absence. He still needs representatives who in His name and Spirit, and also in His place exercise the office of guardians and watchmen in two ways; while they, on the one hand, warn against enemies; on the other, pray to God without ceasing for protection and help. [These watchmen strikingly contrast with those described Isa 56:10.D. M.]. The Jerusalem that after the Exile was restored, had still, even after the rebuilding of its walls, enemies enough, against whom it needed guardians and watchmen even as much as intercessors. The Zion of the New Testament has also enemies of every kind, but has also guardians and watchmen (Eph 4:11 sqq.), who as Jacob (Gen 32:24 sqq.) have in their office to wrestle with God and men. For the Zion of the New Testament with all her superiority over that of the Old, has yet a still higher ideal which she strives after: the heavenly Jerusalem. [The rendering in the text of the E. V.: Ye that make mention of the Lord can plead in its favor prevailing usage. But the marginal rendering, Ye that are the Lords remembrancers is supported by Isa 43:26 where Jehovah speaks put me in remembrance and by the context, in which Zions watchmen are commanded to importune Jehovah till He fulfil His promise by glorifying Jerusalem. The here addressed are thus exhibited as those who put Jehovah in remembrance. D. M.]. The prayer of these watchmen is answered. [The assurance that follows is intended rather to inspire them with confidence in prayer. D. M.]. Jehovah has sworn (the distinction between his right hand and the arm of his strength is merely rhetorical) that the still threatening enemies shall not hinder the peaceful prosperity of Jerusalem, nor her communion with her God. Here again the Prophet lays on Old Testament colors. He represents the enemy as a barbarous horde of Amalekites or Midianites, that makes an irruption into Palestine when the harvest is ripe, in order to carry it off (comp. Jdg 6:3; Deu 28:33). This shall not happen any more. The Israelites shall in the future enjoy the fruit of their labor undisturbed, thanking God alone for the same and giving Him the glory (Deu 14:22-26). [In the courts of my sanctuary cannot mean that the produce of the harvest will be consumed only there (which is inconceivable), but only signifies, with allusion to the legal ordinance respecting the second tithe which was to be consumed by the landed proprietor and his family, with the addition of the Levites and the poor, in the holy place before the Lord, Deu 14:22-27, that the partaking of the produce of the harvest will be consecrated by religious feasts. Thoughts of all Israel being then a nation of priests, and of all Jerusalem being a sanctuary, are not contained in this promise. It declares only this, that the enjoyment of the blessing of the harvest will henceforth be unimpaired, and will take place with grateful acknowledgment of the Giver, and so, because sanctified by thanksgiving, it will itself become a religious service. This is what Jehovah has sworn by His right hand, which He lifts up only to attest the truth, and by His mighty arm which irresistibly executes what He has promised. Delitzsch. D. M.].
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c) General survey of what is accomplished by the Redeemer
Isa 62:10-12
10Go through, go through the gates;
Prepare ye the way of the people;
Cast up, cast up the highway;
Gather out the stones;
Lift up a standard for the people.
11Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world,
Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh;
Behold, his reward is with him,
And his 12work before him.
12And they shall call them,
13The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord:
And thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Prophet in these words again briefly states all that belongs to the positive saving work of the Redeemer. He begins, therefore, with the summons to prepare the way for those returning from the Exile, and on all sides to give the signal to set out (Isa 62:10-11); for with the deliverance of Israel from the Babylonian exile, the time of salvation extending to the appearance of the New Jerusalem begins. The last and highest glory the Prophet at the close briefly characterizes by ideal names (Isa 62:12).
2. Pass throughnot forsaken.
Isa 62:10-12. The liberation of Israel from the Babylonian captivity is the beginning of redemption. Then the cry shall be heard: Go through the gates. These gates are not those of the cities of Palestine which are to be entered, but the gates of the Babylonian cities out of which they are to move; for this summons stands at the head, and after it comes the mention of the way which is to be prepared. The summons is, therefore, to be understood as Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11. and are repeated from Isa 57:14. To whom are these imperatives addressed? To all, both Jews and Gentiles (comp. at the close of Isa 62:10), who have to assist in making the return home practicable, easy and glorious. But we must not suppose that the summons must be literally carried out. Who built a highway () for the Israelites when they came out of Egypt? Yet it is said in Isa 11:16 that for the remnant returning from Assyria there should be a highway like that on which Israel came out of Egypt. The expression is employed for rhetorical effect. means that where the way should be rough and stony, the stones should be removed. This is not to be literally understood, but to be taken generally of the removal of all obstacles (comp. Isa 57:14 b). On the construction, comp. Isa 7:8; Isa 17:1; Hos 9:12. But as the exiles are not all in one country, the chief land of the Exile, but are scattered in all regions of the world, the command is at the same time issued to give them all the signal to return home. [Lift up a standard above the nations. This is the most accurate rendering, and is given by Luther, Alexander and Delitzsch.Dr. Naegelsbach takes in a loose sense as equivalent to or , and supposes that the signals are to be set up for the nations that shall accompany Israel. D. M.]. That what is said in Isa 62:11 does not relate merely to a proclamation published in the realm of Cyrus (Ezr 1:1), is evident, because this call is to sound forth to the end of the earth. The dominion of Cyrus did not reach so far, but the Israelites were in exile to the ends of the earth. The message must therefore reach the most distant nations, and no Israelite, even though living alone among the heathen, shall be forgotten (comp. Isa 11:11; Jer 3:18; Jer 16:14 sqq.). [It has been made a question whether the pronoun his (in his reward, etc.), refers to Jehovah or to the nearest antecedent, Salvation; and if to the latter, whether that word is to be translated Saviour, as it is by Lowth and in the ancient versions. This last is a question of mere form, and the other is of but little exegetical importance, since the Saviour or salvation meant is clearly represented elsewhere as identical with God Himself. The last clause is a repetition of Isa 40:10, and if ever the identity of thought, expression and connection served to indicate identity of subject, it is so in this case. Alexander. This interpreter maintains that the plain sense of the words, the context here, and the analogy of Isa 40:10, are all completely satisfied by the hypothesis that the Messiah (or Jehovah) is here described as coming to His people, bringing with Him a vast multitude of strangers, or new converts, the reward of His own labors, and at the same time the occasion of a vast enlargement to His Church. D. M.]. The names, Isa 62:12, are memorials of blessing, for Israel will certainly be that which it is called (comp. on Isa 32:5 sqq.). The expression occurs exactly no where else in the Old Testament. But compare Dan 12:7; Dan 7:27. The expression is found in Isaiah only here; further in Psa 107:2 (comp. 35:10; Isa 51:11). Jerusalem shall be called Derushah, the Sought out (the city desired and beloved by all), and the antithesis is added in the expression .
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 62:1. How could the eternal Word keep silence? Christ is never silent; let us, therefore, never be weary to hear and to learn His word. Leigh. [Christ loved His church and gave Himself for it that He might sanctify and cleanse it, and that He might present it to Himself a glorious church. His Zion is very dear to Him, and He gives her the glory which the Father gave to Him (Joh 17:22). He never forgets her, never ceases to work for her good, and to intercede for her. What precious consolation we find in the declaration contained in this first verse, when it is regarded as coming from the mouth of Christ Himself! We may sing upon certainty of success before-hand, even in our winter storm, in the expectation of a summer sun at the turn of the year. No created powers in Hell, or out of Hell, can mar the music of our Lord Jesus, nor spoil our song of joy. Let us then be glad, and rejoice in the salvation of our Lord; for faith had never yet cause to have wet cheeks, and hanging-down brows, or to droop or die….If Christ were buried and rotten among the worms, we might have cause to look like dead folks, but the Lord liveth, and blessed be our Rock., Rutherfords Letters, 182.D. M.].
2. On Isa 62:2 b. The new name is the correlative of the new creation. But only God Himself will appoint the new name. Only God the omniscient, the searcher of hearts, before whose eyes all things are naked and opened, is able to give this new name, for He only knows perfectly the inward nature of the new creature. When we read (Rev 2:17) that no one will know the new name but he who receives it, this cannot mean that no one will be acquainted with this name, that it will be a hidden, secret name, as, e.g., Macrobius (Saturn. III. 9) speaks of a secret name of the city of Rome with which even the most learned were unacquainted. For we read (Rev 19:12) that Christ has such a name written which no man knew, but He Himself. And this name is then mentioned,Rev 19:13. He is called: the Word of God. The sound of the name is known, but its deep significance no one understands but He who bears it. It follows that what we read in Isa 62:4 of this chapter cannot possibly be the new name referred to in Isa 62:2. For Hephzibah and Beulah are like Azubah (For-saken) and Shemamah (Desolate). The former names come in the place of the latter. But Azubah and Shemamah were never actual names. And so Hephzibah and Beulah cannot be actual names. [That is not to be understood of a mere name, but has special reference to state and character, is obvious from the common idiom by which anything is said to be called what it really is. See Isa 1:26. Henderson. Who can understand all that is contained in the name Hephzibah as applied by the Lord to His church? There is a mystery of grace and condescension in this significant name which we cannot fully comprehend. Only God Himself could give such a name to His church.D. M.].
3. On Isa 62:6 sq. No one should venture to serve as a spiritual watchman who has not been set by Christ Himself on the walls of Jerusalem. Leigh. [God is so far from being displeased With our pressing importunity, as men commonly are, that He invites and encourages it, He bids us cry after Him. He bids us make pressing aplications at the throne of grace, and give Him no rest, Luk 11:5-6. He suffers Himself not only to be reasoned with, but to be wrestled with. Henry.D. M.].
4. On Isa 62:7. [The public welfare and prosperity of Gods Jerusalem is that which we should be most importunate for at the throne of grace; we should pray for the good of the church, 1) That it may be safe, that He would establish it, that the interests of the church may be firm, may be settled for the present, and secured to posterity. 2) That it may be great, may be a praise in the earth; that it may be praised, and that God may be praised for it. We must persevere in our prayers for mercy to the church till mercy comes; we must do as the Prophets servant did, go yet seven times, till the promising cloud appear, 1 Kings 17:44. It is a good sign that God is coming to a people in ways of mercy, when He pours out a spirit of prayer upon them, and stirs them up to be fervent and constant in their intercessions. Henry. The Lords Remembrancers put God in remembrance of His own promises. As Jacob, Genesis 32.: Thou saidst. Comp. 2Sa 7:25. This is their all-prevailing plea. Therefore they find in their heart to pray. 2Sa 7:27.D. M.]
5. On Isa 62:9. [Nothing is a more certain indication of liberty and prosperity than thisthat every man may securely enjoy the avails of his own labor. In nothing is a state of liberty and order more distinguished from tyranny and anarchy than this. Nothing more certainly marks the advance of civilization; and nothing so much tends to encourage industry and to promote prosperity….And as the tendency of true religion is to repress wars, and to establish order, and to diffuse just views of the rights of man, it everywhere promotes prosperity by producing the security that a man shall enjoy the avails of His own productive industry. Wherever the Christian religion prevails in its purity, there is seen the fulfilment of this prophecy; and the extension of that religion everywhere would promote universal industry, order and law.BarnesD. M.]
6. On Isa 62:10. Every Christian teacher should let the imperatives that are found here sound daily in his ears and heart. For Christ has spoken them to him also. As often as a fit of slumber or laziness comes upon thee in the discharge of thy office, bethink thyself that Christ is standing behind thee and calling to thee: Go through, go through! Prepare the way, prepare the way! Lift up a standard! Leigh.
7. On. Isa 62:11. Adventus Christi vulgo triplex statuitur: humiliationis, sanctificationis, glorificationis. Foerster. Christ first came from above down to earth visible to all in the form of a servant. Secondly, He comes continually from above invisibly, by His Spirit in the word and sacrament that He may sanctify us. Thirdly, He will come again from above visible to all, not in the form of a servant, but in glory (Matthew 25). This three-fold coming of the Lord must be continually held before the church that the Bride may be ready when the Bridegroom comes.
8. On Isa 62:12. [None are to be called the redeemed of the Lord but those that are the holy people; the people of Gods purchase is a holy nation. And they shall be called sought out; God shall seek them out, and find them wherever they are dispersed, eclipsed or lost in a crowd; men shall seek them out that they may join themselves to them, and not forsake them. It is good to associate with the holy people, that we may learn their ways, and with the redeemed of the Lord, that we may share in the blessings of the redemption. Henry.D. M.]
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa 62:1-5. We have here an appropriate text for a sermon on the future prospects of the church. Mark 1) The foundation of the churchs hope, 2) The object of that hope. The foundation is the love which the Lord bears to His church (Isa 62:1 : For Zions sake, Isa 62:4 b and 5). The object of hope is a. Redemption from long-prevailing evils (Isa 62:4 a); b. A new life (Isa 62:1 b, Isa 62:2 a, Isa 62:3); c. A new name (Isa 62:2 b).
2. On Isa 62:6-7. The duty and aim of Christian ministers. 1) Their duty: a. toward men; not to be silent with exhortations and warnings; b. toward God; not to be silent with intercessions (Isa 62:6 b and 7 a). 2) Their aim: that the church of the Lord be built up and perfected (Isa 62:7 b).
3. On Isa 62:9. [This verse may properly be employed to form the basis of a discourse against the doctrine of the Communists, who would deprive others of the fruit of their industry.D. M.]
4. On Isa 62:10-12. Three things are here contained: 1) An invitation to all to meet the Messiah who is about to appear; 2) The proclamation of His advent; 3) The fit designation of those who receive the Lord with joy. Carpzov.
Footnotes:
[1]aburning torch.
[2]That is; My delight is in her.
[3]That is, Married.
[4]Hob. with the joy of the bridegroom.
[5]all the day and all the night.
[6]Or, ye that are the Lords remembrancers.
[7]Heb. silence.
[8]Heb. If I give, etc.
[9]strangers.
[10]new wine.
[11]sanctuary.
[12]recompense.
[13]people of the sanctuary.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The Prophet is at prayer: and God is in the confirmation of his promises in Christ, and the glories of the Church in her Husband and Saviour, are most joyfully set forth and celebrated.
Isa 62:1
They were happy times, when the Lord’s servants burned with an holy zeal for their Lord’s honour; and the Church of Zion, whose name hath been from all eternity engraven on the Lord’s hands, had the first affection in the people’s hearts. Whoever was the person here spoken of that felt so ardent a concern for Zion, we must not over-look the Person of him whose zeal for his Father’s house did eat him up. Psa 69:9 . Precious Lord Jesus! what were thy prayers for, in which thou didst spend whole nights, but for thy Zion! Who shall describe them? Luk 6:12 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Reign of Solomon
Isa 62:1
I. Solomon reigned over a great empire. The Jews were never masters of so wide an extent of land before or after as in his days. The king himself began his reign in a spirit which promised well for the coming time. He asked God neither for long life nor for riches, nor for victory over his enemies;; but for a wise and understanding heart to discern between good and bad, that he might be able to do true justice among so great a people; and immediately the wisdom given in answer to his prayer was put to a sore trial, and proved itself equal to the need; and all Israel, we are told, feared the king for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment. This is the first mark of Solomon’s reign. The ruler of the people is also the wisest of the people. The second mark is of another kind; we must attend to it well if we would understand the rest of the Bible. It is the building of the temple.
II. When the peaceful Solomon was settled in his kingdom, he began to build the temple of the Lord. He knew as he said ‘that the heaven of heavens cannot contain the Most High; yet he rightly prepared for Him a house set apart from all common uses, which should bear His name and be the sign of His presence, and he rightly poured forth upon this house of God all his riches to make it beautiful and wonderful to behold. That temple of Solomon was the beginning of our Churches.
III. The latter end of Solomon’s reign is sad to think of. His many heathen wives turned away his heart after other gods. He had freely spent his riches in building a temple for the Lord, but he did not keep his own heart pure and true to the Lord; that Divine temple he neglected. His sin no doubt spread far and wide among the people. The worship of idols came in once more in the very sight of the new temple. When he died and his son Rehoboam became king, a day of reckoning followed. By his bad conduct as a ruler Rehoboam goaded a large part of the people into rebellion. Ten out of the twelve tribes refused to obey him and set up another king; only two remained faithful to him. From this time the ten tribes are called the Kingdom of Israel or Ephraim, the two tribes are called the Kingdom of Judah. Cut off from Jerusalem and the temple the Kingdom of Israel fell at once into idol worship, yet great and true prophets were not wanting; and the deeds of Elijah and Elisha remind us that God did not forsake even those who were estranged from His holy place and from the kingly family of David. The story of the Kingdom of Judah is sad enough likewise. The end of both kingdoms is the same. Both become the victims of powerful foreign nations. The Kingdom of Israel is destroyed by the Assyrians who carry the people into captivity. The Kingdom of Judah, often threatened, often reduced to sore straits, lasts on three or four generations longer and then its day of doom comes. Jerusalem is taken, and the people of Judah are dragged away as captives to Babylon.
A. F. Hort, Sermons on the Books of the Bible, p. 59.
References. LXII. 1 . W. C. E. Newbolt, Church Times, vol. lviii. 1907, p. 586. T. T. Carter, Lent Lectures, 1860-1866, p. 374. LXII. 1, 2, 6, 7. A. G. Mortimer, The Church’s Lessons for the Christian Year, part i. p. 151. LXII. 1, 6, 7. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah XLIX.-LXVI. p. 200. LXII. 2. “Plain Sermons” by contributors to the Tracts for the Times, vol. ix. p. 3. LXII. 4. R. F. Horton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxvii. 1905, p. 276. LXII. 5. R. E. Hutton, The Crown of Christ, vol. ii. p. 417. H. P. Liddon, Sermons Preached on Special Occasions, 1860-1889, p. 320. J. Stalker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liv. 1898, p. 371.
Isa 62:6-7
This is the double counsel for the Christian soldier, and it links together working and praying.
I. Observe how the natural blends with the supernatural. Take ye no rest Therein our Lord was our pattern. How He toiled! ‘I must work while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work.’ I am inclined to think that never perhaps since the beginning of the Christian Church was this precept nearer to receiving a complete obedience. Take ye no rest. Most of us are very busy. The day begins early and ends late, and some of the hours are long, and perhaps the most comforting thought that comes to you ere you sleep is that you have done the best that ever you could. Often, no doubt, the tired body makes a tired soul, and there is too frequent feeling of disheartenment and defeat.
II. So let us lay the stress on the second part of the precept ‘Give Him no rest’. That is what the issue of the battle turns on. You give yourself no rest, you give no rest to the workers under you; you are prompt to censure anyone who seems to neglect anything; you are willing to rally the little strength you have left for any new burden. Try this, Give Him no rest.
Our Lord in a peculiar and remarkable manner insisted on this and practised this. He taught it in those strange parables which shed such a shower of light on His inner mind. It is strange to think that He Himself gave His Father no rest. It might seem as if He, least of all, needed to pray. The Prince of this world had nothing in Him; He was holy, harmless, and undefiled, separate from sinners. Yet to this duty and privilege of importunate prayer the mystical body are called by their Covenant Head. We know how He prayed on the mountain and in the desert. I agree with Bishop Monrad, who says that the words ‘He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears,’ refer rather to a habit than to a particular instance. He prayed without ceasing, and He calls upon us to do the same.
In temporal things there is often a limit to importunateness. God may say to us, ‘Speak no more to Me of this matter’. ‘I besought the Lord thrice,’ said St. Paul. But when we are praying for conversions importunity cannot be pressed too hard. We are not to give runaway knocks at the heavenly door; we are to knock there till we are answered.
W. Robertson Nicoll, British Weekly, 25 March, 1909.
References. LXII. 6-7. A. F. Winnington Ingram, Banners of the Christian Faith, p. 76. W. F. Cobb, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liii. 1898, p. 58. J. T. Briscoe, ibid. vol. lvi. 1879, p. 181. R. Waddy Moss, The Discipline of the Soul, p. 153. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxvii. No. 2189. LXII. 10. Ibid. vol. xix. No. 1131. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Lessons for Daily Life, p. 122. W. Brooke, Sermons, p. 256. LXII. 11, 12. Spurgeon, ibid. vol. xxxiii. No. 1947. LXII. 12. Ibid. vol. ix. No. 525. C. A. Kelly, Christian World Pulpit, vol xviii. 1905, p. 57.
Mighty to Save
XXVII
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN ISAIAH
The relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy is that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. To him give all the prophets witness. All the scriptures, the law, the prophets, and the psalms, testify of him. And we are fools, and slow of heart to credit adequate testimony when we distrust any part of the inspired evidence.
Of the ancient prophets Isaiah was perhaps the most notable witness of the coming Messiah. An orderly combination of his many messianic utterances amounts to more than a mere sketch, indeed, rather to a series of almost life-sized portraits. As a striking background for these successive portraits the prophet discloses the world’s need of a Saviour, and across this horrible background of gloom the prophet sketches in startling strokes of light the image of a coming Redeemer.
In Isa 2:2-4 we have the first picture of him in Isaiah, that of the effect of his work, rather than of the Messiah himself. This is the establishment of the mountain of the Lord’s house on the top of the mountains, the coming of the nations to it and the resultant millennial glory.
In Isa 4:2-6 is another gleam from the messianic age in which the person of the Messiah comes more into view in the figure of a branch of Jehovah, beautiful and glorious. In sketching the effects of his work here the prophet adds a few strokes of millennial glory as a consummation of his ministry.
In Isa 7:14 he delineates him as a little child born of a virgin, whose coming is the light of the world. He is outlined on the canvas in lowest humanity and highest divinity, “God with us.” In this incarnation he is the seed of the woman and not of the man.
The prophet sees him as a child upon whom the government shall rest and whose name is “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6 ). This passage shows the divinity of Christ and the universal peace he is to bring to the world. In these names we have the divine wisdom, the divine power, the divine fatherhood, and the divine peace.
In Isa 11:1-9 the prophet sees the Messiah as a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, i.e., of lowly origin, but possessing the Holy Spirit without measure who equips him for his work, and his administration wrought with skill and justice, the result of which is the introduction of universal and perfect peace. Here the child is presented as a teacher. And such a teacher! On him rests the seven spirits of God. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He judges not according to appearances and reproves not according to rumors. With righteousness he judges the poor and reproves with equality in behalf of the meek. His words smite a guilty world like thunderbolts and his very breath slays iniquity. Righteousness and faithfulness are his girdle. He uplifts an infallible standard of morals.
In Isa 40:3-8 appears John the Baptist, whom Isaiah saw as a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the coming King.
In Isa 11:2 ; Isa 42:1 ; Isa 61:1-3 the prophet saw the Messiah as a worker in the power of the Spirit, in whom he was anointed at his baptism. This was the beginning of his ministry which was wrought through the power of the Holy Spirit. At no time in his ministry did our Lord claim that he wrought except in the power of the Holy Spirit who was given to him without measure.
In Isa 35:1-10 the Messiah is described as a miracle worker. In his presence the desert blossoms as a rose and springs burst out of dry ground. The banks of the Jordan rejoice. The lame man leaps like a hart, the dumb sing and the blind behold visions. The New Testament abounds in illustrations of fulfilment. These signs Christ presented to John the Baptist as his messianic credentials (Mat 11:1-4 ).
The passage (Isa 42:1-4 ) gives us a flashlight on the character of the Messiah. In the New Testament it is expressly applied to Christ whom the prophet sees as the meek and lowly Saviour, dealing gently with the blacksliding child of his grace. In Isa 22:22 we have him presented as bearing the key of the house of David, with full power to open and shut. This refers to his authority over all things in heaven and upon earth. By this authority he gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter one for the Jews and the other for the Gentiles who used one on the day of Pentecost and the other at the house of Cornelius, declaring in each case the terms of entrance into the kingdom of God. This authority of the Messiah is referred to again in Revelation:
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying. Fear not: I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Rev 7:17
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphis write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and shutteth and none openeth. Rev 3:7
In Isa 32:1-8 we have a great messianic passage portraying the work of Christ as a king ruling in righteousness, in whom men find a hiding place from the wind and the tempest. He is a stream in a dry place and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
In Isa 28:14-18 the Messiah is presented to w as a foundation stone in a threefold idea:
1. A tried foundation stone. This is the work of the master mason and indicates the preparation of the atone for its particular function.
2. An elect or precious foundation stone. This indicates that the stone was selected and appointed. It was not self-appointed but divinely appointed and is therefore safe.
3. A cornerstone, or sure foundation stone. Here it is a foundation of salvation, as presented in Mat 16:18 . It is Christ the Rock, and not Peter. See Paul’s foundation in 1 Corinthians:
According to the grace of God which was given unto me; as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1Co 3:10-11 .
In Isa 49:1-6 he is presented as a polished shaft, kept close in the quiver. The idea is that he is a mighty sword. In Revelation, Christ is presented to John as having a sharp, twoedged sword proceeding out of his mouth.
In Isa 50:2 ; Isa 52:9 f.; Isa 59:16-21 ; Isa 62:11 we have the idea of the salvation of Jehovah. The idea is that salvation originated with God and that man in his impotency could neither devise the plan of salvation nor aid in securing it. These passages are expressions of the pity with which God looks down on a lost world. The redemption, or salvation, here means both temporal and spiritual salvation salvation from enemies and salvation from sin.
In Isa 9:1 f. we have him presented as a great light to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali. In Isa 49:6 we have him presented as a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the end of the earth: “Yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”
In Isa 8:14-15 Isaiah presents him as a stone of stumbling: “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.”
The prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection are found in Isa 50:4-9 ; Isa 52:13-53:12 . In this we have the vision of him giving his “back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” We see a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His visage is so marred it startled all nations. He is a vicarious sacrifice. The chastisement of the peace of others is on him. The iniquity of others is put on him. It pleases the Father to bruise him until he has poured out his soul unto death as an offering for sin.
The teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews is his teaching concerning the “holy remnant,” a favorite expression of the prophet. See Isa 1:9 ; Isa 10:20-22 ; Isa 11:11 ; Isa 11:16 ; Isa 37:4 ; Isa 37:31-32 ; Isa 46:3 . This coincides with Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-11.
In Isa 32:15 we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit: “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest,” and in Isa 44:3 : “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”
In Isa 11:10 he is said to be the ensign of the nations: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting place shall be glorious.”
Isa 19:18-25 ; Isa 54:1-3 ; Isa 60:1-22 teach the enlargement of the church. The great invitation and promise are found in Isa 55 .
The Messiah in judgments is found in Isa 63:1-6 . Here we behold an avenger. He comes up out of Edom with dyed garments from Bozra. All his raiment is stained with the blood of his enemies whom he has trampled in his vengeance as grapes are crushed in the winevat and the restoration of the Jews is set forth in Isa 11:11-12 ; Isa 60:9-15 ; Isa 66:20 . Under the prophet’s graphic pencil or glowing brush we behold the establishment and growth of his kingdom unlike all other kingdoms, a kingdom within men, a kingdom whose principles are justice, righteousness, and equity and whose graces are faith, hope, love, and joy, an undying and ever-growing kingdom. Its prevalence is like the rising waters of Noah’s flood; “And the waters prevailed and increased mightily upon the earth. And the water prevailed mightily, mightily upon the earth; and all the high mountains, that are under the whole heavens, were covered.”
So this kingdom grows under the brush of the prophetic limner until its shores are illimitable. War ceases. Gannenta rolled in the blood of battle become fuel for fire. Conflagration is quenched. Famine outlawed. Pestilence banished. None are left to molest or make afraid. Peace flows like a river. The wolf dwells with the lamb. The leopard lies down with the kid. The calf and the young lion walk forth together and a little child is leading them. The cow and the bear feed in one pasture and their young ones are bedfellows. The sucking child safely plays over the hole of the asp, and weaned children put their hands in the adder’s den. In all the holy realms none hurt nor destroy, because the earth is as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the fathomless ocean is full of water. Rapturous vision! Sublime and ineffable consummation! Was it only a dream?
In many passages the prophet turns in the gleams from the millennial age, but one of the clearest and best on the millennium, which is in line with the preceding paragraph, Isa 11:6-9 : “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”
The prophet’s vision of the destruction of death is given in Isa 25:8 : “He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it,” and in Isa 26:19 : “Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.”
The clearest outlines of the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained” are to be found in Isa 25:8 , and in two passages in chapter Isa 66 : Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her; that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hands of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants ; and he will have indignation against his enemies. Isa 66:10-14
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah. Isa 66:22-23
QUESTIONS
1. What is the relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy?
2. What can you say of Isaiah as a witness of the Messiah?
3. What can you say of Isaiah’s pictures of the Messiah and their background?
4. Following in the order of Christ’s manifestation, what is the first picture of him in Isaiah?
5. What is the second messianic glimpse in Isaiah?
6. What is Isaiah’s picture of the incarnation?
7. What is Isaiah’s picture of the divine child?
8. What is Isaiah’s vision of his descent, his relation to the Holy Spirit, his administration of justice, and the results of his reign?
9. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah’s herald?
10. What is the prophet’s vision of his anointing?
11. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a miracle worker?
12. What is the prophet’s vision of the character of the Messiah?
13. What is the prophet’s vision of him as the key bearer?
14. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a king and a hiding place?
15. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah as a foundation stone?
16. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a polished shaft?
17. In what passages do we find the idea of the salvation of Jehovah, and what the significance of the idea?
18. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah as a light?
19. Where does Isaiah present him as a stone of stumbling?
20. What is the prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection?
21. What is the teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews?
22. Where do we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit?
23. Where is he said to be the ensign of the nations?
24. What passages teach the enlargement of the church?
25. Where is the great invitation and promise?
26. Where is the Messiah in judgment?
27. What passages show the restoration of the Jews?
28. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah’s kingdom?
29. What is the prophet’s vision of the millennium?
30. What is the prophet’s vision of the destruction of death?
31. What is the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained?”
XXV
THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 17
Isa 61:1-63:8
The threefold theme of this section (Isa 61:1-63:6 ) is the mission of the Servant of Jehovah, a new picture of Zion’s glory, and the judgments of the Servant upon his enemies. The speaker in Isa 61:1-3 is the Messiah and the positive proof of it is the testimony of our Lord himself:
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written.
The spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, Today hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears: Luk 4:16-21 .
This short paragraph sets forth, in general, the preparation of the Messiah for his special mission. There are several items of information in this passage. We are told here that the Messiah had a special anointing for his work. This took place at his baptism when the Holy Spirit came upon him and abode with him ever afterward without measure. There follows in this passage the several offices that the Messiah filled. In the Old Testament we have the special anointing of prophets, priests, and kings for their respective offices. This anointing was performed by the use of the holy anointing oil for which we have the specific recipe in Exo 30:22-23 . All these offices of the Old Testament prophet, priest, and king were combined in the one person of the Messiah. He was prophet, priest, and king, and in Jesus Christ we have all these functions performed.
In this commission of our Lord here we have these functions distinctly indicated. His prophetic office is signified in the special commission to preach the good tidings unto the meek; his priestly work is indicated in his commission to bind up the brokenhearted; and his kingly office, in his commission to set free the captives. Then he was to proclaim the Jubilee year in which all captives were set free and all oppression of debt was removed, and there was a time of general rejoicing. All this has a distinct fulfilment in the gospel dispensation through Christ and his heralds. The picture here is one of joy and gladness, just such as comes to a people who have been freed from the bonds of slavery, of which the greatest is the slavery of sin. This is the mission of the Messiah and amply fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The results of such a ministry are pictured in Isa 61:4-9 . In the preceding paragraph the recipients of the blessings of the Messiah are called “trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah.” In this passage the prophet takes as his starting point the captivity, then pictures in glowing terms their return and rebuilding of the waste places, and then sweeps out into the future where he sees the Jews and the Gentiles in the kingdom together and the Jews holding a prominent place in the great plan of God for the salvation of the world. At that time instead of their shame they shall have double honor and instead of their dishonor they shall have rejoicing. One of the results of his work is the establishing of justice and the meting out of rewards in truth, and he makes an everlasting covenant with them.
Then in Isa 61:9 we have a striking prophecy. Here we are told that the seed of the’ Jews shall be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples; that they should be acknowledged by all who see them, as “seed whom Jehovah hath blessed.” This marvelous prophecy is being fulfilled in every nation of the world where the Jew has migrated. No man fails to recognize the shrewd Jew in the affairs of the governments and in the great commercial and financial interests of the marts of the world. He has figured largely at all the great courts of the earth ever since Joseph was prime minister at the court of Pharaoh and Daniel, at the court of Nebuchadnezzar. He is a success everywhere, so much so that the world points the finger at him and says, “There is the one whom Jehovah hath blessed.”
The speaker in Isa 61:10-11 is Zion, responding to the gracious promises of the preceding parts of this section. This was a great time for rejoicing. The good tidings, their healing and their liberty brought by the Messiah now finds a hearty response in heartfelt joy and rejoicing.
The things here mentioned for which God’s people rejoice and are joyful in him are as follows: The first thing mentioned is the garment of salvation, or the robe of righteousness. This, of course, is the imputed righteousness of Christ, and Dressed in his righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before his throne, God’s people may go on rejoicing as a bridegroom or as a bride adorned for the marriage. There is here also the strong assurance of the final triumph of righteousness in all nations. The whole world is to become an Eden, reclaimed forever out of the hand of the unrighteous spoiler. In this year of Jubilee the earth will be restored to its proper heirs, the righteous seed. For all the preceding weary ages of wrong, compensation shall be made. All God’s saints, who have long been shame-stricken, shall then become “kings and priests unto God,” and thus their joy shall be made full.
Some regard the speaker in Isa 62 as Jehovah; some, the prophet himself or the prophetic order, while others regard him as the Servant of Jehovah. The last supposition is by far the most logical and the best. The close connection with the preceding chapter is evident. In that chapter we have a soliloquy of the Servant and a response upon the part of Zion. Here the Servant takes up the soliloquy and goes on through this chapter.
The Servant in Isa 62:1-5 declared that he would not hold his peace any longer for the time had come for the publishing of Zion’s righteousness and salvation; that this should be evident to the nations; that she should have a new name and should be a crown of beauty and a royal diadem in the hand of God; that her new name should be expressive of her new relation, i.e., “not forsaken,” but Hephzibah, “My delight is in her,” and Beulah, which means “married”; that thenceforth Zion should be a delight and that God would rejoice over her. All this has its realization in the ministry of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
There has been a great controversy over the name, “Hephzibah.” Our Campbellite brethren claim that the new name here given Zion is the name, Christian, which the disciples received at Antioch (Act 11:26 ). They insist that the church should have that name and that to wear that name is essential to salvation. Just what that new name is, it is not easy to decide. Two names are given here “Hephzibah” and “Beulah.” Why we should select the first rather than the second, is not evident. These names are expressive of a new condition and of a new relation, one meaning, “My delight is in her” and the other, “married.” Then, it will be noted here that this new name shall be the “name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name.” But the name “Christian” was given the disciples by the heathen and in derision. Then the name Christian occurs but three times in the New Testament and in each case it is applied to the individual disciple and nowhere is it applied to the church. Another mystery about it all is that if the church of Jesus Christ should be called “The Christian Church,” why was it so long receiving this name? Not until 1827 was the name suggested at all, and then several other names were tried before they hit upon this name. According to this passage in Isaiah, if we find this new name in the New Testament, we must expect to find it given by Christ himself or by some one of his inspired apostles. But we look in vain for such name in their ministry and writings.
It seems better to consider these names in the light of the historical background of Zion at this time and in the light of the specific meaning of the words here used. The two names, “Hephzibah” and “Beulah,” have their corresponding application in the history of Israel, expressing a condition and a relation at the time the prophet wrote. “Azubah,” forsaken, was the name of Jehoshaphat’s mother (2Ch 20:31 ) and Hephzibah, “my delight is in her,” was the name of Hezekiah’s wife (2Ki 21:1 ). So here he says, “Thou shall no more be termed forsaken [Azubah]; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and the land Beulah; for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.” This explains that these names are expressive of Zion’s new condition and relation, which she was to maintain in the gospel dispensation under the new covenant. We find some New Testament expressions that correspond to these, indicating the relations under the new covenant, such as “the honorable name,” by James and the “new name” of Rev 2:17 ; Rev 3:12 , which will be given to individual saints in the heavenly kingdom.
Further interest in Zion is expressed by the Servant in Isa 62:6-9 . The interest here is in the setting of the watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem, who are to watch Jerusalem with an everlasting vigilance. Some think that the watchmen here are the prophets and priests; others, that they are angels who keep perpetual watch and ward over Zion. That these watchmen here are angelic beings appears from their personal vigilance and that they are reminders to Jehovah of his oath and covenant to bless Zion. This corresponds to the watchers in Dan 4:13 ; Dan 4:17 ; Dan 4:23 which are admitted, generally, to be angels. In the New Testament this idea of angel ministrations is emphatic. Our Lord refers to the angels that have charge of the “little ones” and angels ministered unto him on different occasions. Paul tells us that the angels are present and watching over the assemblies in the churches, and in Heb 1:14 he defines their work in particular, thus: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation?”
Their special mission has already been intimated in the preceding paragraph. But as this passage here sets forth, they are to be Jehovah’s remembrancers, reminding him of his covenant with them and his promises to them. They are not to let Jehovah rest until “He establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” This thought of importunity is also expressed in Luk 11:5-13 ; Luk 18:1-8 . Here is also set forth the oath of Jehovah respecting Zion, that the enemies of Zion shall no more triumph over her but that Zion shall enjoy the full blessing of her fruitage.
The proclamation of Isa 62:10-12 is a proclamation for all to go up to Jerusalem. A highway must be prepared, the stones must be gathered out and an ensign for the peoples be lifted up. The prophet here starts again with the Babylonian captivity, delineates the parts the several peoples perform in the return and restoration of the Holy City and its institutions. Then he announces the proclamation of Jehovah to the end of the earth that the salvation of the daughter of Zion cometh. Then stretching forward in his vision, he sees the Holy City called “Sought out, a city not forsaken.” This was not fully realized after the return and so we keep our faces toward the future in anticipation of this glorious day when the Jews everywhere shall receive with joy in their hearts this proclamation to go up to their own land and to the Holy City, never again to be forsaken.
The prophet’s vision in Isa 63:1-6 is a vision of someone coming from Edom, with crimsoned garments from Bozrah. His apparel is glorious, and his step is characteristic of a conqueror. But who is this conqueror from Edom? He here announces himself to be one speaking in righteousness and mighty to save. This is fulfilled only in our Lord Jesus Christ. We see him here in the capacity of an avenger, coming in judgments.
There is no idea of expiation in this passage whatever. It is the idea of vengeance upon the enemies of Zion that stands out prominent here. He explains that he had trampled the peoples in his wrath and that alone. There was no one with him and his own arm brought salvation to him.
Edom here, as in other places in Isaiah, refers to the worst enemies of Zion. The day of vengeance is yet future. It is the day when our Lord shall vindicate his people against all their enemies, who shall feel the weight of his mighty hand.
The whole of this prophecy is future and the verbs here are claimed by some to be in the future tense, but the dramatic form of the narrative demands that the verbs be in the past. So often the prophet sees the events, yet future, as already accomplished. This emphasized the certainty of their fulfilment, just as the tense of the verbs in Rom 8:29-30 which present the work of our salvation as if it had already been accomplished.
We find the parallel of this passage in Rev 19:1-21 . There we have the man on the white horse going forth to battle and winning his victor over the nations, stained also with their blood. This great conflict is a precursor of the millennium.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the threefold theme of this section (Isa 61:1-63:6 )?
2. Who is the speaker in Isa 61:1-3 and what the proof?
3. What are the things set forth in Isa 61:1-3 and what their fulfilment?
4. What are the results of such a ministry as pictured in Isa 61:4-9 ?
5. Who is the speaker in Isa 61:10-11 ?
6. What are the things here mentioned for which God’s people rejoice and are joyful in him?
7. Who is the speaker in Isa 62 ?
8. What interest expressed for Zion by the Servant in. Isa 62:1-5 ?
9. What is the controversy over the name, “Hephzibah,” and what the new name given to Zion?
10. What further interest in Zion is expressed by the Servant in Isa 62:6-9 ?
11. What are these watchmen set by the Servant and what the corresponding New Testament teaching?
12. What is their special mission and what Jehovah’s oath here concerning Zion?
13. What is the proclamation of Isa 62:10-12 and what will be its fulfilment?
14. What is the prophet’s vision in Isa 63:1-6 ?
15. Who is this conqueror from Edom?
16. In what capacity do we here see him?
17. Is there any idea of expiation in this passage, and what his own explanation of his crimsoned garments?
18. What does Edom here represent and when the “day of vengeance” here spoken of?
19. What can you say of the tense of the verbs in Isa 63:3-6 ?
20. Where do we find the parallel of this passage in Revelation?
Isa 62:1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp [that] burneth.
Ver. 1. For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace.] Habes hic orationem prophetae sanctissimam, saith Oecolampadius. Here we have the prophet’s oration, yea, here we have the prophet’s panegyric, to the Church, saith Hyperius, a by way of congratulation for her felicity and dignity in Christ, her head and husband; as also his resolution to be earnest and importunate with God and men for her deliverance and restitution. Terentius, that noble general under Valens the emperor, asked nothing but that the Church might be freed from Arians; and when the emperor tore his petition, he said that he would never ask anything for himself if he might not prevail for the Church.
Until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness. a Pro panegyrico Ecclesiae dicto omnia quae hoc capite dicuntur recte meo iudicio accipientur. – Hyper.
Isaiah Chapter 62
The Spirit of Christ in the prophet is importunate in intercession for Zion, as we see in the beginning of this chapter. For He it is that praises Jehovah in the name of the people and their capital. He speaks for the Bridegroom and for the earthly bride, so perfectly now in the expression of joy, as once in that of unfathomable grief and infinitely gracious suffering for sin. But it is not now in view of sin and weakness and unworthiness, but that Zion may henceforth shine brightly in her light of righteousness and salvation before the nations and all kings. “For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp [that] burneth. And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married” (vv. 14). Land and people are bound up in the plans and affections of Jehovah the latter called, My delight is in her; the former, Married. And this mark of favour will prove a divine ground of patriotism for Israel. “For [as] a young man marrieth a virgin, shall thy sons marry thee; and with the joy of the bridegroom over the bride shall thy God rejoice over thee” (v. 1), a still higher source of joy.
The Spirit of Christ working in the prophet also bears witness of the unceasing cry to Jehovah to effect His glorious counsels as to Jerusalem. “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace all day and all night: ye that put Jehovah in remembrance, take ye no rest, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make, Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (vv. 6, 7). at is of great interest to observe the place of watchmen here. And blessed the day when it will be not so much their warning men against evil in treachery or violence, as their loudly reminding Jehovah of the mercy that endures and of the reversal of all past sin and shame in Jerusalem established and made a praise in the earth. “Jehovah” on His part “hath sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn [to be] meat for thine enemies; and sons of the alien shall not drink thy wine, for which thou hast laboured; for they that have garnered it shall eat it, and praise Jehovah; and they that have gathered it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness” (vv. 8, 9). Assuredly this oath infallibly secures Israel on the earth.
Hence the animation of verse 10: “Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones, lift up a standard for the peoples” (v. 10). The day of Jehovah is there; He the Messiah is there for the salvation of Zion’s daughter – His reward with Him, and His work before Him. So Jehovah proclaims to the end of the world as His message to her. “Behold, Jehovah hath proclaimed unto the end of the earth, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward [is] with him, and his recompense before him” (v. 11). “And,” on the other hand, “they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of Jehovah: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken” (v. 12).
“Happy people that is in such a case; happy people whose God is Jehovah.” He will rejoice over Jerusalem, as a bridegroom over a bride. No more shall His people be called Azubah (Forsaken), no more the land be called Shemamah (Desolate), but Hephzibah (My delight is in her) the one, and Beulah (Married) the other. The blessing henceforward rests on Jehovah-Messiah, Who never did nor can fail; not on the worm Jacob who neither could be, nor ought to have been, relied on. Henceforward it is not the first covenant which claimed but could not find fulfilment fit for Jehovah from sinful Israel. It will be for ever the new covenant, founded on an infinitely better sacrifice which brings the remission of sins, and Jehovah’s putting His law in their inwards and writing it in their hearts, Himself their God, and they His people. Messiah’s prime interest then will be Israel and Jerusalem, but all the nations and the earth shall be blessed in divine goodness.
Some find a difficulty, because the Revelation (Rev 19:21 , 22) clearly teaches that the church is the bride, the Lamb’s wife; whereas Isaiah says it of Israel, and of their land with Jehovah. But there is really none; for the one speaks of what is for heaven, the other for the earth. And what hinders there being an object especially dear on high, and another here below in that day? But there is no confusion of the two in scripture; still less room for that truly carnal method of interpretation which by a strange hallucination the divines call spiritualizing, the essence of which system is to identify the Jew with the Christian, to metamorphose the land into heaven, to swamp long-suffering grace into the reign of righteousness, and imagine a kingdom of the Spirit to the denial of Christ’s world-kingdom, heralded by prophets of old, sung by psalmists, and sealed by the Saviour and the apostles. Both are true, but their spheres are as distinct as the objects themselves, as the character of the relation which Christ bears to each, and even as the languages in which they are respectively revealed. To confound them is to deny the future hopes of Israel, and to lose the heavenly place of the church.
The church has never been forsaken of God; while Zion unquestionably has; nor have we as members of the glorified Christ another fatherland but heaven, which cannot be termed desolate. Apply the language to Israel, and all is clear and unequivocal, without doing violence to a single expression.
Isaiah
THE HEAVENLY WORKERS AND THE EARTHLY WATCHERS
Isa 62:1 Two remarks of an expository nature will prepare the way for the consideration of these words. The first is that the speaker is the personal Messiah. The second half of Isaiah’s prophecies forms one great whole, which might be called The Book of the Servant of the Lord. One majestic figure stands forth on its pages with ever-growing clearness of outline and form. The language in which He is described fluctuates at first between the collective Israel and the one Person who is to be all that the nation had failed to attain. But even near the beginning of the prophecy we read of ‘My servant whom I uphold,’ whose voice is to be low and soft, and whose meek persistence is not to fail till He have ‘set judgment in the earth.’ And as we advance the reference to the nation becomes less and less possible, and the recognition of the person more and more imperative. At first the music of the prophetic song seems to move uncertainly amid sweet sounds, from which the true theme by degrees emerges, and thenceforward recurs over and over again with deeper, louder harmonies clustering about it, till it swells into the grandeur of the choral close.
In the chapter before our text we read, ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.’ Throughout the remainder of the prophecy, with the exception of one section which contains the prayer of the desolate Israel, this same person continues to speak; and who he is was taught in the synagogue of Nazareth. Whilst the preceding chapter, then, brings in Christ as proclaiming the great work of deliverance for which He is anointed of God, the following chapter presents Him as ‘treading the wine-press alone,’ which is a symbol of the future judgment by the glorified Saviour. Between these two prophecies of the earthly life and of the still future judicial energy, this chapter of our text lies, referring, as I take it, to the period between these two-that is, to all the ages of the Church’s development on earth. For these Christ here promises His continual activity, and His continual bestowment of grace to His servants who watch the walls of His Jerusalem.
The second point to be noticed is the remarkable parallelism in the expressions selected as the text: ‘I will not hold My peace’; the watchmen ‘shall never hold their peace .’ And His command to them is literally, ‘Ye that remind Jehovah-no rest or silence to you, and give not rest to Him.’
So we have here Christ, the Church, and God all represented as unceasingly occupied in the one great work of establishing ‘Zion’ as the centre of light, salvation, and righteousness for the whole world. The consideration of these three perpetual activities may open for us some great truths and stimulating lessons.
I. First, then, The glorified Christ is constantly working for His Church.
But whilst on the one side Christ rests as from a perfected work which needs no addition nor repetition, on the other He ‘rests not day nor night.’ And this aspect of His present state is as distinctly set forth in Scripture as that is. Indeed the words already quoted as embodying the former phase contain the latter also. For is not ‘the right hand of God’ the operative energy of the divine nature? And is not ‘sitting at the right hand of God’ equivalent to possessing and wielding that unwearied, measureless power? Are there not blended together in this pregnant phrase the ideas of profoundest calm and of intensest action, that being expressed by the attitude, and this by the locality? Therefore does the evangelist who uses the expression expand it into words which wonderfully close his gospel, with the same representation of Christ’s swift and constant activity as he had been all along pointing out as characterising His life on earth. ‘They went forth,’ says he, ‘and preached everywhere’-so far the contrast between the Lord seated in the heavens and His wandering servants fighting on earth is sharp and almost harsh. But the next words tone it down, and weave the two apparently discordant halves of the picture into a whole: ‘the Lord working with them.’ Yes! in all His rest He is full of work, in all their toils He shares, in all their journeys His presence goes beside them. Whatever they do is His deed, and the help that is done upon the earth He doeth it all Himself.
Is not this blessed conviction of Christ’s continuous operation in and for His Church that which underlies, as has often been pointed out, the language of the introduction to the Acts of the Apostles, where mention is made of the former treatise that told ‘all which Jesus began both to do and teach’? The gospel records the beginning, the Book of the Acts the continuance; it is one biography in two volumes. Being yet present with them He spoke and acted. Being exalted He ‘speaketh from heaven,’ and from the throne carries on the endless series of His works of power and healing. The whole history is shaped by the same conviction. Everywhere ‘the Lord’ is the true actor, the source of all the life which is in the Church, the arranger of all the providences which affect its progress. The Lord adds to the Church daily. His name works miracles. To the Lord believers are added. His angel, His Spirit, bring messages to His servants. He appears to Paul, and speaks to Ananias. The Gentiles turn to the Lord because the hand of the Lord is with the preachers. The Lord calls Paul to carry the gospel to Macedonia. The Lord opens the heart of Lydia, and so throughout. Not ‘the Acts of the Apostles,’ but ‘the Acts of the Lord in and by His servants,’ is the accurate title of this book. The vision which flashed angel radiance on the face, and beamed with divine comfort into the heart, of Stephen, was a momentary revelation of an abiding reality, and completes the representation of the Saviour throned beside Almighty power. He beheld his Lord, not seated, as if careless or resting, while His servant’s need was so sore, but as if risen with intent to help, and ready to defend-’ standing on the right hand of God.’
And when once again the heavens opened to the rapt eyes of John in Patmos, the Lord whom he beheld was not only revealed as glorified in the lustre of the inaccessible light, but as actively sustaining and guiding the human reflectors of it. He ‘holdeth the seven stars in His right hand,’ and ‘ walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.’
Not otherwise does my text represent the present relation of Christ to His Church. It speaks of a continuous forth-putting of power, which it is, perhaps, not over-fanciful to regard as dimly set forth here in a twofold form-namely, work and word. At all events, that division stands out clearly on the pages of the New Testament, which ever holds forth the double truth of our Lord’s constant action on, in, through, and for His Zion, and of our High Priest’s constant intercession.
‘I will not rest.’ Through all the ages His power is in exercise. He inspires in good men all their wisdom, and every grace of life and character. He uses them as His weapons in the contest of His love with the world’s hatred; but the hand that forged, and tempered, and sharpened the blade is that which smites with it; and the axe must not boast itself against him that heweth. He, the Lord of lords, orders providences, and shapes the course of the world for that Church which is His witness: ‘Yea, He reproved kings for their sake, saying, Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm.’ The ancient legend which told how, on many a well-fought field, the ranks of Rome discerned through the battle-dust the gleaming weapons and white steeds of the Great Twin Brethren far in front of the solid legions, is true in loftier sense in our Holy War. We may still see the vision which the leader of Israel saw of old, the man with the drawn sword in his hand, and hear the majestic word, ‘As Captain of the Lord’s host am I now come.’ The Word of God, with vesture dipped in blood, with eyes alit with His flaming love, with the many crowns of unlimited sovereignty upon His head, rides at the head of the armies of heaven; ‘and in righteousness doth He judge and make war.’ For the single soul struggling with daily tasks and petty cares, His help is near and real, as for the widest work of the collective whole. He sends none of us tasks in which He has no share. The word of this Master is never ‘Go,’ but ‘Come.’ He unites Himself with all our sorrows, with all our efforts. ‘The Lord also working with them’ is a description of all the labours of Christian men, be they great or small.
Nor is this all. There still remains the wonderful truth of His continuous intercession for us. In its widest meaning that word expresses the whole of the manifold ways by which Christ undertakes and maintains our cause. But the narrower signification of prayer on our behalf is applicable, and is in Scripture applied, to our Lord. As on earth, the climax of all His intercourse with His disciples was that deep yet simple prayer which forms the Holy of Holies of John’s Gospel, so in heaven His loftiest office for us is set forth under the figure of His intercession. Before the Throne stands the slain Lamb, and therefore do the elders in the outer circle bring acceptable praises. Within the veil stands the Priest, with the names of the tribes blazing on the breastplate and on the shoulders of His robes, near the seat of love, near the arm of power. And whatever difficulty may surround that idea of Christ’s priestly intercession, this at all events is implied in it, that the mighty work which He accomplished on earth is ever present to the divine mind as the ground of our acceptance and the channel of our blessings; and this further, that the utterance of Christ’s will is ever in harmony with the divine purpose. Therefore His prayer has in it a strange tone of majesty, and, if we may so say, of command, as of one who knows that He is ever heard: ‘ I will that they whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.’
The instinct of the Church has, from of old, laid hold of an event in His earthly life to shadow forth this great truth, and has bid us see a pledge and a symbol of it in that scene on the Lake of Galilee: the disciples toiling in the sudden storm, the poor little barque tossing on the waters tinged by the wan moon, the spray dashing over the wearied rowers. They seem alone, but up yonder, in some hidden cleft of the hills, their Master looks down on all the weltering storm, and lifts His voice in prayer. Then when the need is sorest, and the hope least, He comes across the waves, making their surges His pavement, and using all opposition as the means of His approach, and His presence brings calmness, and immediately they are at the land.
So we have not only to look back to the Cross, but up to the Throne. From the Cross we hear a voice, ‘It is finished.’ From the Throne a voice, ‘For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.’
II. Secondly, Christ’s servants on earth derive from Him a like perpetual activity for the same object.
There is distinctly traceable before a reference to a two-fold form of occupation devolving on these Christ-sent servants. They are watchmen, and they are also God’s remembrancers. In the one capacity as in the other, their voices are to be always heard. The former metaphor is common in the Old Testament, as a designation of the prophetic office, but, in the accordance with the genius of the New Testament, as expressed on Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out on the lowly as well as on the high, on the young as on the old, and all prophesied, it may be fairly extended to designated not to some selected few, but the whole mass of Christian people. The watchman’s office falls to be done by all who see the coming peril, and have a tongue to echo it forth. The remembrancer’s priestly office belongs to every member of Christ’s priestly kingdom, the lowest and least of whom has the privilege of unrestrained entry into God’s presence-chamber, and the power of blessing the world by faithful prayer. What should we think of a citizen in a beleaguered city, who saw enemy mounting the very ramparts, and gave no alarm because that was the sentry’s business? In such extremity every man is a soldier, and women and children can at least keep watch and raise shrill cries of warning. The gifts, then, here promised, and the duties that flow from them, are not the prerogatives or the tasks of any class or order, but the heritage and the burden of the Lord to every member of His Church.
Our voices should ever be heard on earth. A solemn message is committed to us, by the very fact of our belief in Jesus Christ and His work. With that faith come responsibilities of which no Christian can denude himself. To warn the wicked man to turn from His wickedness; to blow the trumpet when we see the sword coming; to catch ever gleaming on the horizon, like the spears of an army through the dust of the march, the outriders and advance-guard of the coming of Him whose coming is life or death to all, and to lift up our voices with strength and say, ‘Behold your God’; to peal into the ears of men, sunken in earthliness and dreaming of safety, the cry which may startle and save; to ring out in glad tones to all who wearily ask, ‘Watchman, what of the night? will the night soon pass?’ the answer which the slow dawning east has breathed into our else stony lips, ‘The morning cometh’; to proclaim Christ, who came once to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, who comes ever, through the ages, to bless and uphold the righteousness which He loves and to destroy the iniquity which He hates, who will come at the last to judge the world-this is the never-ending task of the watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem. The New Testament calls it ‘preaching,’ proclaiming as a herald does. And both metaphors carry one common lesson of the manner in which the work should be done. With clear loud voice, with earnestness and decision, with faithfulness and self-oblivion, forgetting himself in his message, must the herald sound out the will of his King, the largess of his Lord. And the watchman who stands on his watch-tower whole nights, and sees foemen creeping through the gloom, or fire bursting out among the straw-roofed cottages within the walls, shouts with all his might the short, sharp alarm, that wakes the sleepers to whom slumber were death. Let us ponder the pattern.
Our voices should ever be heard in heaven. They who trust God remind Him of His promises by their very faith; it is a mute appeal to His faithful love, which He cannot but answer. And, beyond that, their prayers come up for a memorial before God, and have as real an effect in furthering Christ’s kingdom on earth as is exercised by their entreaties and proclamations to men.
How distinctly these words of our text define the region within which our prayers should ever move, and the limits which bound their efficacy! They remind God. Then the truest prayer is that which bases itself on God’s uttered will, and the desires which are born of our own fancies or heated enthusiasms have no power with Him. The prayer that prevails is a reflected promise. Our office in prayer is but to receive on our hearts the bright rays of His word, and to flash them back from the polished surface to the heaven from whence they came.
These two forms of action ought to be inseparable. Each, if genuine, will drive us to the other, for who could fling himself into the watchman’s work, with all its solemn consequences, knowing how weak his voice was, and how deaf the ears that should hear, unless he could bring God’s might to his help? and who could honestly remind God of His promises and forget his own responsibilities? Prayerless work will soon slacken, and never bear fruit; idle prayer is worse than idle. You cannot part them if you would. How much of the busy occupation which is called ‘Christian work’ is detected to be spurious by this simple test! How much so-called prayer is reduced by it to mere noise, no better than the blaring trumpet or the hollow drum!
The power for both is derived from Christ. He sets the watchmen; He commands the remembrancers. From Him flows the power, from His good Spirit comes the desire, to proclaim the message. That message is the story of His life and death. But for what He does and is we should have nothing to say; but for His gift we should have no power to say it; but for His influence we should have no will to say it. He commands and fits us to be intercessors, for His mighty work brings us near to God; He opens for us access with confidence to God. He inspires our prayers. He ‘hath made us priests to God.’
And, as the Christian power of discharging these twofold duties is drawn from Christ, so our pattern is His manner of discharging them, and the condition of receiving the power is to abide in Him. He proposes Himself as our Example. He calls us to no labours which He has not Himself shared, nor to any earnestness or continuance in prayer which He has not Himself shown forth. This Master works in front of His men. The farmer that goes first among all the sowers, and heads the line of reapers in the yellowing harvest-field, may well have diligent servants. Our Master ‘went forth, weeping, bearing precious seed,’ and has left it in our hands to sow in all furrows. Our Master is the Lord of the harvest, and has borne the heat of the day before His servants. Look at the amount of work, actual hard work, compressed into these three short years of His ministry. Take the records of the words He spake on that last day of His public teaching, and see what unwearied toil they represent. Ponder upon that life till you catch the spirit which breathed through it all, and, like Him, embrace gladly the welcome necessity of labour for God, under the sense of a vocation conferred upon you, and of the short space within which your service must be condensed. ‘I must work the work of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.’
Christ asks no romantic impossibilities from us, but He does ask a continuous, systematic discharge of the duties which depend on our relation to the world, and on our relation to Him. Let it be our life’s work to show forth His praise; let the very atmosphere in which we move and have our being be prayer. Let two great currents set ever through our days, which two, like the great movements in the ocean of the air, are but the upper and under halves of the one movement-that beneath with constant energy of desire rushing in from the cold poles to be warmed and expanded at the tropics, where the all-moving sun pours his directest rays; that above charged with rich gifts from the Lord of light, glowing with heat drawn from Him, and made diffusive by His touch, spreading itself out beneficent and life-bringing into all colder lands, swathing the world in soft, warm folds, and turning the polar ice into sweet waters.
In the tabernacle of Israel stood two great emblems of the functions of God’s people, which embodied these two sides of the Christian life. Day by day, there ascended from the altar of incense the sweet odour, which symbolised the fragrance of prayer as it wreathes itself upwards to the heavens. Night by night, as darkness fell on the desert and the camp, there shone through the gloom the hospitable light of the great golden candlestick with its seven lamps, whose steady rays outburned the stars that paled with the morning. Side by side they proclaimed to Israel its destiny to be the light of the world, to be a kingdom of priests.
The offices and the honour have passed over to us, and we shall fall beneath our obligations unless we let our light shine constantly before men, and let our voice rise like a fountain night and day’ before God- even as He did who, when every man went to his own house, went alone to the Mount of Olives, and in the morning, when every man returned to his daily task, went into the Temple and taught. By His example, by His gifts, by the motive of His love, our resting, working Lord says to each of us, ‘Ye that remind God, keep not silence.’ Let us answer, ‘For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.’
III. Finally, The constant activity of the servants of Christ will secure the constant operation of God’s power.
It is easy to puzzle ourselves with insoluble questions about the co-operation of God’s power and man’s; but practically, is it not true that God reaches His end, of the establishment of Zion, through the Church? He has not barely willed that the world should be saved, nor barely that it should be saved through Christ, nor barely that it should be saved through the knowledge of Christ; but His will is that the world shall be saved, by faith in the person and work of Christ, proclaimed as a gospel by men who believe it. And, as a matter of fact, is it not true that the energy with which God’s power in the gospel manifests itself depends on the zeal and activity and prayerfulness of the Church? The great reservoir is always full-full to the brim; however much may be drawn from it, the water sinks not a hairsbreadth; but the bore of the pipe and the power of the pumping-engine determine the rate at which the stream flows from it. ‘He could there do no mighty works because of their unbelief.’ The obstruction of indifference dammed back the water of life. The city perishes for thirst if the long line of aqueduct that strides across the plain towards the home of the mountain torrents be ruinous, broken down, choked with rubbish.
God is always the same-equally near, equally strong, equally gracious. But our possession of His grace, and the impartation of His grace through us to others, vary, because our faith, our earnestness, our desires, vary. True, these no doubt are also His gifts and His working, and nothing that we say now touches in the least on the great truth that God is the sole originator of all good in man; but while believing that, as no less sure in itself than blessed in its message of confidence and consolation to us, we also have to remember, ‘If any man open the door, I will come in to him.’ We may have as much of God as we want, as much as we can hold, far more than we deserve. And if ever the victorious power of His Church seems to be almost paling to defeat, and His servants to be working no deliverance upon the earth, the cause is not to be found in Him who is ‘without variableness,’ nor in His gifts, which are ‘without repentance,’ but solely in us, who let go our hold of the Eternal Might. No ebb withdraws the waters of that great ocean; and if sometimes there be sand and ooze where once the flashing flood brought life and motion, it is because careless warders have shut the sea-gates.
An awful responsibility lies on us. We can resist and refuse, or we can open our hearts and draw into ourselves His strength. We can bring into operation those energies which act through faithful men faithfully proclaiming the faithful saying; or we can limit the Holy One of Israel. ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ ‘Because of your unbelief.’
With what grand confidence, then, may the weakest of us go to his task. We have a right to feel that in all our labour God works with us; that, in all our words for Him, it is not we that speak, but the Spirit of our Father that speaks in us; that if humbly and prayerfully, with self-distrust and resolute effort to crucify our own intrusive individuality, we wait for Him to enshrine Himself within us, strength will come to us, drawn from the deep fountains of God, and we too shall be able to say, ‘Not I, but the grace of God in me.’
How this sublime confidence should tell on our characters, destroying all self-confidence, repressing all pride, calming all impatience, brightening all despondency, and ever stirring us anew to deeds worthy of the ‘exceeding greatness of the power which worketh in us’-I can only suggest.
On all sides motives for strenuous toil press in upon us-chiefly those great examples which we have now been contemplating. But, besides these, there are other forms of activity which may point the same lesson. Look at the energy around us. We live in a busy time. Life goes swiftly in all regions. Men seem to be burning away faster than ever before, in an atmosphere of pure oxygen. Do we work as hard for God as the world does for itself? Look at the energy beneath us: how evil in every form is active; how lies and half-truths propagate themselves quick as the blight on a rose-tree; how profligacy, and crime, and all the devil’s angels are busy on his errands. If we are sitting drowsy by our camp-fires, the enemy is on the alert. You can hear the tramp of their legions and the rumble of their artillery through the night as they march to their posts on the field. It is no time for God’s sentinels to nod. If they sleep, the adversary does not, but glides in the congenial darkness, sowing his baleful tares. Do we work as hard for God as the emissaries of evil do for their master? Look at the energy above us. On the throne of the universe is the immortal Power who slumbereth not nor sleepeth. Before the altar of the heavens is the Priest of the world, the Lord of His Church, ‘who ever liveth to make intercession for us.’ Round Him stand perfected spirits, the watchmen on the walls of the New Jerusalem, who ‘rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.’ From His presence come, filling the air with the rustle of their swift wings and the light of their flame-faces, the ministering spirits who evermore ‘do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word.’ And we, Christian brethren, where are we in all this magnificent concurrence of activity, for purposes which ought to be dear to our hearts as they are to the heart of God? Do we work for Him as He and all that are with Him do? Is His will done by us on earth, as it is heaven?
Alas! alas! have we not all been like those three apostles whose eyes were heavy with sleep even while the Lord was wrestling with the tempter under the gnarled olives in the pale moonlight of Gethsemane? Let us arouse ourselves from our sloth. Let us lift up our cry to God: ‘Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord, as in the ancient days in the generations of old’; and the answer shall sound from the heavens to us as it did to the prophet, an echo of his prayer turned into a command, ‘Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion.’
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 62:1-5
1For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,
Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness,
And her salvation like a torch that is burning.
2The nations will see your righteousness,
And all kings your glory;
And you will be called by a new name
Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.
3You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD ,
And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4It will no longer be said to you, Forsaken,
Nor to your land will it any longer be said, Desolate
But you will be called, My delight is in her,
And your land, Married;
For the LORD delights in you,
And to Him your land will be married.
5For as a young man marries a virgin,
So your sons will marry you;
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So your God will rejoice over you.
Isa 62:1 Zion. . .Jerusalem These are in a Hebrew parallel relationship. Jerusalem was built on seven hills. Mount Zion was not the site of the Temple, but the location of David’s palace and came to be a reference to the whole city of Jerusalem. See Special Topic: Moriah, Salem, Jebus, Zion, Jerusalem .
The VERBS be silent (Qal IMPERFECT, BDB 364, KB 361) and be quiet (Qal IMPERFECT, BDB 1052, KB 1641), negated, are related to the positive statement of Isa 61:1. The I could refer to the prophet or the Servant/Messiah (Deity breaks the silence mentioned in Isa 42:14; Isa 57:11; Isa 64:12; Isa 65:6). Obviously chapters 60-62 are a literary unit.
righteousness. . .salvation These two words also are in a parallel relationship. Righteousness (see Special Topic at Isa 48:1) speaks of the position and lifestyle of the people of God which results in their physical deliverance from their enemies. In the OT the term salvation primarily refers to a physical deliverance, while in the NT the term refers primarily to spiritual forgiveness and a standing before God. Zion’s (cf. Isa 61:10-11) new day has come and will affect the whole world (cf. Isa 62:2; Isa 60:3)!
SPECIAL TOPIC: SALVATION (OLD TESTAMENT TERM)
brightness. . .burning Again the presence of YHWH is connected to light, as it was on Mt. Sinai (cf. Exodus 19-20). See note at Isa 60:1.
Israel was meant to be the light of YHWH to the darkness of paganism and fertility worship. However, she was captured by them. The NT gives this same mission of revelation (cf. Jesus is God’s ultimate Light, cf. Joh 1:4; Joh 8:12; Joh 12:35) and evangelism to believers (cf. Mat 5:14-16).
Isa 62:2 The nations will see your righteousness Israel was chosen by God to be a witness to the entire world to bring them to YHWH (cf. Isa 62:11; Isa 52:10; Isa 60:3; Isa 61:6; Isa 61:11; 1Pe 2:5; 1Pe 2:9; Rev 1:6). This is the true meaning of the phrase a kingdom of priests (cf. Exo 19:5-6).
And you will be called by a new name The imparting of a new name implies the new age of the Spirit. The new covenant is realized.
The term new (BDB 294 I) is used extensively in the second part of Isaiah to describe the new day of righteousness.
1. new things, Isa 42:9; Isa 48:6
2. new song, Isa 42:10 (cf. Rev 5:9; Rev 14:3)
3. something new, Isa 43:19 (cf. Rev 3:12)
4. new name, Isa 62:2 (cf. Isa 56:5)
5. new heavens and a new earth, Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22 (cf. 2Pe 3:13)
The new day (cf. Rev 21:5) was, in reality, the day that God always wanted for humans, but the Fall in Genesis 3 caused a terrible disruption! It is surely possible that the Bible’s imagery of heaven is a restored Garden of Eden (cf. Rev 21:2).
Isa 62:3 The Jerome Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 383, mentions that ancient eastern people believed their gods wore a crown shaped like the city that worshiped them. If so, then this may be a cultural allusion to this concept. This view depends on
1. YHWH being the speaker of chapter 62
2. how widespread this pagan concept was known
The Bible does use pagan imagery to describe and magnify YHWH. Four of many possible examples:
1. God of Heaven in Nehemiah
2. allusion to Persian Zoroastrian deity, Mal 4:2
3. allusion to the twelve signs of the zodiac in Rev 12:1
4. allusion to evil as a dragon
In Isa 28:5 YHWH Himself is the crown of the covenant people. He is their glory, light, provision, protection, and victory!
In Zec 9:16 the covenant people are the jewels in YHWH’s crown.
Isa 62:4 forsaken. . .desolate This describes Israel’s own interpretation of the Exile (i.e., this is their title for themselves). They felt they had been forsaken (cf. Isa 54:6-7) by God and wondered if He would ever love them again.
My delight is in her Delight may be the name Hephzibah (BDB 343, cf. 2Ki 21:1). This is the beginning of a sustained metaphor about God as marriage partner (cf. Isa 62:4-5). It is hard to describe an infinite Holy Creator God, therefore, we have to use human analogies (see Special Topic at Isa 41:2). It is common in the Bible to describe God as Father, as husband, as near kinsman.
married This can also be translated Beulah (BDB 127). Lines 4 and 5 may be the new name of Isa 62:2.
This VERB (BDB 127, KB 42) is used four times in Isa 62:4-5.
1. Qal PASSIVE PARTICIPLE, Isa 62:4
2. Niphal IMPERFECT, Isa 62:4
3. Qal IMPERFECT, Isa 62:5
4. same as #3
Isa 62:5
NASB, NKJVso your sons will marry you
NRSVso shall your builder marry you
TEVHe who formed you will marry you
NJByour rebuilder will wed you
REBso will you be wedded to him who rebuilds you
LXXso shall your son dwell with you
By a revocalization of the consonants () sons becomes builder (i.e., YHWH, cf. Psa 51:18; Psa 102:16; Psa 147:2), which fits the marriage imagery of the strophe.
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 336, says of this verse
Verse 5 presents as strange an analogy as that in Isa 60:16. In both cases there seems to be an intentional breach in the normal application of the analogy, perhaps in the interests of vivid impression. Such analogies puzzle us, but we do not forget them!
For Zion’s sake, &c. Not fulfilled, therefore, in the Gospel dispensation: for Zion is still trodden down of the Gentiles (Luk 21:24).
I. Here we have Messiah’s intercession for Israel. See “B”, p. 1007.
rest. Compare verses: Isa 62:6, Isa 62:7.
Chapter 62
In chapter 62, God continues to speak of the restoration of Israel.
For Zion’s sake [that is, Jerusalem] will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth ( Isa 62:1 ).
God said, “I’m not going to rest until I have accomplished it.”
And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken ( Isa 62:2-4 );
And, of course, the people have felt forsaken. Just recently they had another commemoration for those who survived the Holocaust. And you talk to so many people in Israel today or those who are here who have survived the Holocaust, and so often their question was, “Where was God when our parents or our uncles were burned in the ovens in Germany? Where was God? Where was God?” And that is a common question that you hear asked by them. And they themselves feel forsaken by God. But, “You will no longer be called Forsaken.”
neither will your land be termed Desolate: but you will be called Hephzibah ( Isa 62:4 ),
Which means the Lord delights in thee.
and thy land [will be called] Beulah ( Isa 62:4 ):
Which means married.
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee ( Isa 62:5 ).
As a bridegroom over the bride. So, again, this beautiful figure of speech that God relates to Israel as a bridegroom to His bride. Now in the New Testament, that same kind of relationship exists between Christ and His church, as Paul writing to the Ephesians writes about marital relationships. “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. And wives, submitting yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Now I speak to you,” Paul said, “of a mystery. For I speak concerning Christ and His church how that we have this beautiful, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as the bride to the bridegroom. And that love and all that is there.” So it is a figure of the Old Testament between God and Israel. In the New Testament of… That is, God the Father and Israel; in the New Testament of Jesus and the church.
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence ( Isa 62:6 ),
In other words, calling for intercessors.
And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he makes Jerusalem a praise in the eaRuth ( Isa 62:7 ).
In other words, don’t stop praying until the fulfillment of this takes place and God makes Jerusalem that glorious praise of the earth once more. The Bible says. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper who will pray for your peace” ( Psa 122:6 ). And so we are encouraged here of continual intercession and prayer, giving Him no rest. Interesting phrase concerning prayer.
You remember Jesus made an illustration of prayer in which He used very unlikely types of figures. It was a judge who had this little widow woman coming in every day and saying, “Avenge me my adversary.” And every day she was there seeking to be avenged to her adversary. Finally, Jesus said, though the judge said, “I don’t fear God or man, but this little woman is going to drive me crazy.” And so he gave the judgment for her. And He was using that as an illustration to encourage us in persistence in prayer.
Now, I have great difficulty with this in my own mind and in the understanding of it. The difficulty lies in the man that Jesus chooses in a figure to represent God, for he was an unjust judge. The man says, “I don’t fear God or man.” And the persistence of this little woman. But the illustration is this. If even an unjust judge will yield to the persistence, how much more will a righteous, just Father in heaven answer the petitions of His children who call upon Him continually. So He’s not really using the judge. He’s using the judge in a sharp contrast to God rather than as a figure of God, but in sharp contrast. So even if an unjust judge will yield to persistency, how much more. And so much of the New Testament is in contrast. If this would happen, how much more then will God your Father. So don’t give God rest until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for your enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for that which thou hast labored ( Isa 62:8 ):
Now, so often they found that… You remember, and it was something that persisted through their history. When their enemies had overrun them, they would come in and take their crops. You remember Gideon was threshing in a cave to hide it from the Midianites because the Midianites would watch them. As soon as they thresh the wheat, they’d come in and rip them off. And so you’d labor and someone else would take it from you. And they experienced this many times. They would build up the land and build up these places and other people would come in and take it. So God says that’s not going to happen anymore.
But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed to the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work is before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken ( Isa 62:9-12 ).
So God’s restoration of the people. “
Isa 62:1-5
Isa 62:1-2
The big thing in this chapter is the New Name God promised to give his people in Isa 62:2; and much to the surprise of this writer, none of the writers we have consulted on this subject has anything convincing to say about it. Only one writer, namely, the 19th-century Adam Clarke, knew what it was (and is); and his total comment was less than four short lines; but he did tell us what the new name is, CHRISTIAN.
True to Isaiah’s pattern of “here a little and there a little” (Isa 28:10; Isa 28:13), the prophet here returns to the revelation regarding that new name, mentioned also in Isa 56:5, where the passage affirms that: (1) the name will be given by God Himself, (2) within his walls and in his house, in his Church, (3) a memorial name, (4) a name better than that of sons and of daughters, and (5) an ever-flaming name that shall never be cut off.
We find ourselves absolutely astounded that so many present-day commentators profess not to know what God’s name for his people really is. We shall certainly attempt to clarify that.
This chapter, of course, is a continuation of the same theme which has dominated several of the preceding chapters, namely, the blessings of God under the New Covenant. The speaker is thought to be Jehovah, the Servant, or the prophet Isaiah; but regardless of which is correct, the message is that of God Himself. “The close connection with the preceding chapter is evident.”
Isa 62:1-2
“For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shall go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth. And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name.”
Terms like salvation, and righteousness, identify the period envisioned as that of the New Covenant in Christ. Some very significant additional information about that `name’ which God promised his people appears in this passage: (1) it shall be a new name; (2) it will be given at a time when the Gentiles have been accepted into the family of God, and when kings have become aware of God’s salvation, and (3) there is a repetition here of the fact that God Himself will give the name. These statements, added to those in Isa 56:5, make seven earmarks by which that New Name may be positively and unerringly identified. We shall discuss them in order, beginning with the five from Isa 56:5.
THE NEW NAME IS THE NAME “CHRISTIAN”
1. It was given by God Himself. This means that God assigned it, commanded it, and ordered his children to wear it. Where? In the Holy Scriptures, where all the rest of his commandments are recorded. “Let none of you suffer as a thief, or a murderer, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in other men’s matters”; but if a man suffer as a CHRISTIAN, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name (1Pe 4:15-16). To be perfectly candid about it, this command of God through the apostle Peter is as plain, definite, and binding upon the followers of Christ as are the other commandments in the same verses, namely, “Thou shalt not kill”; and “Thou shalt not steal.”
Since the name was given and commanded by God Himself, this means that the name “Christian” was not invented and applied by the enemies of Christianity, as some vainly and erroneously assert. There is no way that men could intelligently assert that Satan would have assigned any name to the followers of Christ that contained a memorial to the Son of God as does the name Christian.
As to the question of how men can glorify God in the name Christian, the answer is “by wearing it,” applying it to themselves, and using it to the exclusion of unauthorized, sectarian, and divisive names.
2. The name “Christian” was given by God “within his walls, within his house,” This means that it was assigned and worn first within the church of our Lord, that being the only “house” God ever had. And where was that? It occurred at Antioch where, “The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Act 11:26).
The appearance of the name Christian in Antioch was no casual, accidental, or insignificant occurrence. It came as the result of a number of very impressive developments. God selected a very important person to bring that name and bestow it upon the disciples, namely, Paul the mighty evangelist of the New Testament, the reason for that choice evidently being the truth that the Twelve Apostles seemed unlikely, at that time ever to meet the conditions under which the New Name would require to be given (see under No. 7, below). (a) Thus Paul was converted in Acts 9; and in that very chapter God revealed that the apostle Paul was that “chosen vessel unto me (God), to bear my (God’s) name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel” (Act 9:15). The use in this passage of the very phraseology of this chapter in Isaiah declares the evident truth that the apostle Paul was to be the “Name Bearer,” who would be the person through whom the New Name would be given to the church. (b) But as we shall see under 7, below, the Gentiles were first to be accepted into God’s fellowship before the New Name would be given. Very well, the basis of that general acceptance of Gentiles took place in Peter’s baptism of the house of Cornelius, as recorded in Acts 10. (c) Then in Acts 11, the New Name appears. Note the remarkable progression: Acts 9, the name bearer was converted and designated; Acts 10, a great Gentile congregation appeared in Antioch; and Acts 11, the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch! It is simply impossible to believe that all of these events fell into such a pattern accidentally. Some will wonder at our reference to Paul as the person “through whom” God delivered the New Name; but the last portion of Acts 11 shows this to be the case. When the Church in Jerusalem heard of the Gentiles being accepted into the faith in Antioch, they sent Barnabas, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Barnabas immediately went to Tarsus and brought Paul to Antioch, where a great Gentile church was gathered in about a year. Significantly, it was after Paul’s arrival, that the New Name was given.
3. The name “Christian” is a memorial name, appropriately memorializing the holy Head and Redeemer of the body of his Church. The mention of the marriage tie several times in this chapter is appropriate in connection with the sublime truth that all of the members of the Bride of Christ should indeed wear the name of their bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing could possibly be more appropriate in this context than the New Name, CHRISTIAN!
4. The New Name was promised to be a name better than that of sons and of daughters; and whatever is included in such a declaration, it has to mean that the New Name will be different from that of sons and of daughters.
5. The New Name was to be “an everlasting name that would never be cut off.” The name “Christian” qualifies under this characteristic also, because followers of Christ are today wearing the name “Christian,” just as Paul attempted to persuade Herod Agrippa to do (Act 26:28) during the first century of our era.
6. It was promised to be a New Name, and this is a most important qualification. This means that it could not be “Hephzibah,” which Adam Clarke and others suggested as a possibility, or Beulah, as some Bible concordances affirm; because neither of these was a new name. Hephzibah was the name of the mother of Manasseh, and our text also declares that “Beulah” would be the name of “the land,” not of the people of God. This same qualification eliminates all thought of “disciples” being the New Name, because that is a very old name. In the days before Christ, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, and the Herodians, and John the Baptist all had their “disciples.”
7. The appearance here, in conjunction with the promise of the New Name, of the declaration that the kings and the Gentiles should see the righteousness of God, as well as the mention of the very same things by Ananias upon the occasion of Paul’s baptism when the “Name-bearer” was designated, is a powerful indication that the New Name would never be given until Gentiles were generally accepted into God’s Church; and, as we have seen, the name was never given until a great Gentile congregation had been gathered in Antioch. This accounts for the use of the term “disciples” as the name of Christ’s followers throughout the gospels and throughout most of Acts of Apostles. Significantly, after the Book of Acts, no sacred writer ever used the word “disciples” again as a designation of the Lord’s people. The apostle John, for example, used “disciples” dozens of times in the Gospel, but never used it all in the four other books that he wrote later!
We do not believe that “disciples” is a proper term at all when used in place of the word Christian. What is wrong with the name God gave, commanded, and that he requested we should use to glorify God “in this name”?
McGuiggan is an able writer; and his suggestion that this New Name might have something to do with the name “Of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” into which Christians are baptized,” is interesting. However, my own conviction is that the name “Christian” is indeed “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” in the sense of being the name that originated with the Godhead, was commanded by the Father, memorializes the name of Christ, and is received by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Isa 62:3-5
“Thou shalt also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land be termed any more Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.”
There is no indication whatever that the prophecy professes in these verses to reveal the New Name, which, as we have seen, would not be revealed until the times of Messiah when Gentiles became followers of Christ. Rather, the subject is the glory and honor and happiness that shall mark the righteousness and redemption to be received in the future. As Cheyne said, “For the present, Jehovah reserves the mystic name of the New Jerusalem to himself.”
“A crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah …” (Isa 62:3). Crowns are not worn on the hand, and some have questioned the appropriateness of this statement; “But with no propriety whatever could it be said that the church is a crown of beauty `on the head’ of Jehovah.” The form of the metaphor honors that truth.
“So shall thy sons marry thee …” (Isa 62:5). This impossible comparison of sons marrying their own mother is resolved when it is understood that the “sons of Israel, their mother” will not at all marry the Old Israel, but the New Israel which is Christ. There is a prediction here of that sacred relationship between Christ and his holy Bride, the Church.
Isa 62:1-3 APPEARANCE: Jehovah dare not remain khashah (silent) or shakat (inactive) any longer in relationship to Zion. Apparently this inactivity and silence toward Zion has to do with the long period between the O.T. and the N.T. when there was no God-sent prophet and no specific supernatural action from Him. Of course, God providentially sustained Israel during the intertestamental period. Daniel predicted that He would (Dan. ch. 10-12). But Jehovah dare not allow this period of Jewish indignation go on longer lest His enemies think He has no more concern for them.
So Jehovah will not rest again until He has made Zion so righteous her splendor and glory will be as blindingly evident as the sun in the heavens or a lamp shining in pitch darkness.
What God is going to do in glorifying Zion, the whole world shall see. And it shall be so totally different from what Zion has been before she shall have to be called by a new name. Everything about her will be new; old terminology will be inadequate. This wholly new Zion is predicted by other prophets (Jer 3:15-17; Jer 33:16; Eze 48:35). This prophecy was fulfilled when Gods New Covenant people began to be called Christians (cf. Act 11:26). It was fitting that those married to Christ should be called Christians (cf. Joh 3:31-36; Eph 5:21-33; Rev 19:6-8; Rev 21:2; Rev 22:17, etc.). The Hebrew word shem is the word for name. It means literally, a mark, fame, reputation, monument. God was going to do something so radical to Zion she would henceforth be distinguished by a completely new mark! She would have a new commandment and live by a new love (Joh 13:34-35). Of course, there were many names by which New Covenant believers were known; e.g., the way (Act 24:14), saints (1Co 1:2), brethren (Gal 1:2), church of God (1Co 1:1-2) and others.
Notice, the crown of beauty is not on the head of Jehovah, but in His hand. Zion, the church, is a work of His hands and He now beholds the work which contributes to the glory that is already His. The woman (Rev 12:1-2) which we take to represent the covenant people of God (in both Old and New Testaments) has a crown upon her head. The church is the crowning accomplishment of God through the redemption of the Son. Recreation glorifies God even more than creation!
Isa 62:4-5 APPELLATION: The point of the name-change appears to be focused on the changed relationship of God toward His people. He will no longer call them ezuvah (Forsaken) or shemamah (Desolate). God will eventually call His people khephzi-bah (My Delight is in Her) and beulah (Married). These name-changes may have initial application to Gods redemption of Judah from Babylonian captivity. However, their ultimate goal is the changed relationship in the New Zion (the messianic kingdom-church). One is reminded here of Hoseas prophecy of changed relationships and changed names (Hos 1:8 to Hos 2:1; Hos 2:14-23). Hoseas prediction definitely found its fulfillment in the New Covenant church (cf. Rom 9:25-26; 1Pe 2:10). It may be of interest to know that the Hebrew word beulah (married) comes from the root word baal which means, to have dominion, to be lord over, to possess.
The emphasis on marriage as descriptive of the new relationship stresses the fact that Gods concern for His people is not one of mere duty; it is deeper than that-it is love. Just as a young man eagerly possesses (marries) his bride, so Jehovah will join Himself intimately to His people. He makes a covenant of love with His bride (the church) to protect her, sustain her, live with her and give her the honor of His name. He will lavish upon her the best of everything He has-even His own Son to atone for her sins.
Having thus dealt with the material prosperity, and with the spiritual realization, the prophet now describes in greater detail the vocational fulfilment. Speaking as in the midst of circumstances of incompleteness, he declares his desire, and avows his determination neither to hold his peace nor to rest until the people of God fulfil His ideal, so that He is vindicated among the nations. There is no uncertainty in his heart, for he declares his conviction that the people shall yet be called Hephzibah rather than Forsaken, and their land Beulah rather than Desolate.
the Land of Beulah
Isa 62:1-12
The Intercessor, Isa 62:1-4. Messiah is speaking here. Throughout the ages, He ever lives to make intercession. He asks that His Church may be one, that the heathen may be given Him for His inheritance, and that Israel may be restored. It is the cry of the unresting Savior. When Jesus pleads for thee, poor soul, thou canst not be desolate and forsaken. God loves, though all hate; God delights, though all abhor; God remains, though all forsake.
Intercessors, Isa 62:5-7. The Great High-Priest calls us to be priests. The unresting Lord calls on us not to rest. He says, Watch with me. He gives us rest from sin and sorrow, that we may not rest from prayer. We must take no rest and give God no rest. We are to become Gods remembrancers, Isa 62:6, r.v.
The divine answer, Isa 62:8-12. To the prophets mind the prayer is already answered as soon as spoken. Already the highway must be prepared for the return of the exiles. So to us, who have lain among the ashes, salvation comes apace. Make ready to trail thy Deliverer! Then learn to become the salt and benediction of others!
EXPOSITORY NOTES ON
THE PROPHET ISAIAH
By
Harry A. Ironside, Litt.D.
Copyright @ 1952
edited for 3BSB by Baptist Bible Believer in the spirit of the Colportage ministry of a century ago
ISAIAH CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
PROCLAMATION TO THE REMNANT
“For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God” (verses 1-3).
How PRECIOUS this is! These words, even today, would naturally fill the heart of every redeemed Hebrew as he thinks of his people still wandering in the darkness of unbelief, and he prays for the peace of Jerusalem and looks forward to the day when all will be brought into this knowledge. So at the very beginning of the tribulation period a remnant will be called out to carry this message to all their brethren and be an intercession to GOD, looking to Him to hasten the day when Jerusalem will be made a praise throughout all the earth.
The chapter goes on to tell of the Lord in His grace restoring Israel to Himself and bringing them into all the blessing of the Abrahamic Covenant.
“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night; ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken” (verses 6-12).
The days shall be when all this will be fulfilled. The words hardly need comment – they are so clear, so plain.
~ end of chapter 62 ~
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Isa 62:1-6
The speaker of these words is the personal Messiah. Notice the remarkable parallelism in the expressions selected as the text: “I will not hold My peace;” the watchmen “shall never hold their peace.” And His command to them is literally, “Ye that remind Jehovah-no rest (or silence) to you! and give not rest to Him.” So that we have here Christ, the Church, and God all represented as unceasingly occupied in the one great work of establishing Zion as the centre of light, salvation, and righteousness for the whole world.
I. The glorified Christ is constantly working for His Church. Scripture sets forth the present glorious life of our ascended Lord under two contrasted and harmonious aspects-as being rest, and as being continuous activity in the midst of rest. Through all the ages His power is in exercise. We have not only to look back to the cross, but up to the throne. From the cross we hear a voice, “It is finished.” From the throne a voice, “For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.”
II. Christ’s servants on earth derive from Him a like perpetual activity for the same object. The Lord associates Himself with watchmen, whom He appoints and endows for functions in some measure resembling His own, and exercised with constancy derived from Him. They are watchmen, and they are also God’s remembrancers. In the one capacity, as in the other, their voices are to be always heard. The watchman’s office falls to be done by all who see the coming peril and have a tongue to echo it forth. The remembrancer’s priestly office belongs to every member of Christ’s priestly kingdom, the lowest and least of whom has the privilege of unrestrained entry into God’s presence-chamber, and the power of blessing the world by faithful prayer. (1) Our voices should ever be heard on earth. (2) Our voices should ever be heard in heaven. (3) The power for both is derived from Christ.
III. The constant activity of the servants of Christ will secure the constant operation of God’s power. Those who remind God are not to suffer Him to be still. The prophet believes that they can regulate the flow of Divine energy, can stir up the strength of the Lord. An awful responsibility lies on us. We can resist and oppose, or we can open our hearts and draw into ourselves His strength. We can bring into operation these energies which act through faithful men faithfully proclaiming the faithful saying; or we can limit the Holy One of Israel. On all sides motives for strenuous toil press in upon us. Look at the energy around, beneath, above us. When are we in all this magnificent concurrence of energy, for purposes which ought to be dear to our hearts, as they are to the heart of God?
A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester, 3rd series, p. 19.
References: Isa 62:1.-J. P. Gledstone, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 89; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vii., p. 50. Isa 62:1-7.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiv., p. 56. Isa 62:2.-Plain Sermons by Contributors to “Tracts for the Times” vol. ix., p. 3. Isa 62:5.-B. Waugh, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 118. Isa 62:6, Isa 62:7.-W. J. Mayers, Ibid., vol. xvi., p. 276. Isa 62:10.-Outline Sermons to Children, p. 97; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix., No. 1131.
Isa 62:12
One of the deadliest thoughts which can infect a human spirit is this-I am of no use, no worth, to earth or to heaven. And yet it is a natural thought, the natural utterance of our selfish, sensual lives. Who has not groaned out the confession of Asaph: “I was as a beast before Thee”? Man is profoundly conscious at once of sinfulness and impotence. The worst sin against heaven is despair. The idea the Lord hath need of thee is a very fundamental principle of the Gospel, the good news from God to man.
I. Is there not something radically false in this connection of need or want with the Divine name? The writers of the Scripture see this difficulty plainly. They are full of sublime statements of the awfulness of the Divine supremacy. God absolute and infinite; the creature dependent and limited. But, on the other hand, they present and reiterate ideas as to the relation of the creature to the Creator, as to God’s need of man in a very solemn sense, and man’s need of God in every sense, which we are unable to square with any definition of the Divine attributes in which the intellect can find no flaw.
II. It is through Christ and Christ alone that we attain to the knowledge of the name and the mind of God. His love is essentially redeeming. It is a love which seeks and seeks to save. And this love which redeems has a great sorrow and want in the heart of it. It misses something which is infinitely dear to it, and it prepares to endure infinite toils and pains to recover that and to bring it home. The whole expression of the Incarnate One is a seeking, a longing, a loving.
III. It is impossible that God can seek us with more intense earnestness of purpose, or in more effectual modes, than those which are embodied in the mission of Christ to recover us to Himself. We may say reverently that the Father hath exhausted all the riches of His love in the gift of Christ to the world.
J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon, p. 62.
References: Isa 62:12.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix., No. 525; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 71.
CHAPTER 62
Zions Glory
1. He will not rest (Isa 62:1) 2. The new names (Isa 62:2-5) 3. The intercession and the answer (Isa 62:6-9) 4. The accomplishment at hand (Isa 62:10-12) The intercession in the beginning of the chapter is that of Christ. He will not rest till He has accomplished His purpose in His earthly people and in Zion. When it is accomplished Gentiles and kings will witness it. Zion then shall be called by a new name. The forsaken one will no longer be forsaken; the desolation of the land will cease. She shall be called Hephzibah (my delight in her) ; the land will be Beulah (married). All points to the glorious consummation of the kingdom, and other watchmen intercede and give Him no rest till He establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Faithful Jews, men of prayer will during the great tribulation call on God to make good His Word and fulfil His promises. May Gods people even now plead and intercede for the hastening of all His purposes. Behold, thy salvation cometh, behold His reward is with Him and His work before Him. Note the results of His coming in Isa 62:12.
Zion’s: Isa 62:6, Isa 62:7, Psa 51:18, Psa 102:13-16, Psa 122:6-9, Psa 137:6, Zec 2:12, Luk 10:2, 2Th 3:1, Heb 7:25
the righteousness: Isa 1:26, Isa 1:27, Isa 32:15-17, Isa 51:5, Isa 51:6, Isa 51:9, Isa 61:10, Isa 61:11, Psa 98:1-3, Pro 4:18, Mic 4:2, Mat 5:16, Luk 2:30-32, Phi 2:15, Phi 2:16, 1Pe 2:9
Reciprocal: Gen 15:17 – smoking 1Sa 7:8 – Cease 1Ki 11:13 – for Jerusalem’s 1Ki 19:14 – I have been Psa 18:28 – candle Psa 87:3 – Glorious Psa 97:11 – Light Psa 137:5 – I forget Isa 33:5 – he hath Isa 54:14 – righteousness Luk 2:31 – General Joh 3:34 – for God Joh 17:19 – for Act 3:19 – when 2Co 8:9 – for Gal 4:26 – Jerusalem Rev 4:8 – and they Rev 14:15 – crying
SPEAKERS FOR GOD
For Zions sake will I not hold my peace.
Isa 62:1
The prophet here endeavours to stir up Gods people to great vigour and activity.
I. Some reasons for this awakening voice of God.(1) We are naturally inclined to be indifferent. (2) God works in His own method. (3) The mission we are called to is supremely great. (4) Every church should be an evangelisation society. (5) Difficulties will be great, conflicts severe and continuous. (6) The greatest power we can wield against error is to live Christ. (7) The Church is the living representative of Christ in the world. (8) Seek to be clothed in the beautiful garments of holiness, humility, love, godliness, etc.
II. The strength the Church needs for this.(1) Holy faith. (2) Living communion with God. (3) Earnest consecration of Christian effort. (4) Indomitable perseverance. (5) Importunate prayer.
Isa 62:1-2. For Zions sake Namely, the churchs sake, Zion and Jerusalem being both put for the church, Heb 12:22. Will I not hold my peace It appears from the last verse of the preceding chapter, that this is immediately connected with it, and these may be considered as the words of the prophet, or, as Vitringa thinks, of a prophetic choir, representing the whole body of the ministers of God, and, among these particularly, the apostles and evangelists, at the beginning of the gospel; declaring that they will not be silent, till the righteousness of the church, that is, its redemption, (alluding to the redemption of the Jewish Church from Babylon,) shall go forth as brightness, &c. That is, till the kingdom of God shall be most brightly and completely revealed. Others, however, think that the prophet speaks here as the type of Christ, and in his name, and that Christ is to be considered here as declaring his resolution not to cease interceding for the church until it should be freed from the obloquy and reproach, the vexations and persecutions of the Jews and heathen; until its righteousness should be placed in a clear light, and all those crimes which were falsely charged on the Christians by their enemies, (namely, respecting their nightly assemblies, their killing of infants, and drinking their blood, their promiscuous lust, &c.,) should be undeniably confuted. For when the assemblies of the Christians came to be held openly, and in the day-time, and were frequented by greater numbers, all these calumnies were proved to be false. And when Constantine came to the empire, especially when he came to have the sole command, the Christian religion was raised out of its state of obscurity, was placed in a true and conspicuous point of view, and freed from the unmerited reproach that had been cast upon it. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness Thy innocence with respect to the things laid to thy charge, and the blamelessness, usefulness, and the holiness of thy members. Or, they shall acknowledge that God has justly honoured thee, and thereupon shall join themselves to thee. And all kings thy glory Those that were wont to scorn thee, shall now be taken up with the admiration of thy glory. And thou shalt be called by a new name Not the seed of Abraham, or the children of Israel, but the people and children of God; or by the name mentioned Isa 62:4. Which the mouth of the Lord shall name Thou shalt be brought into a new state, far more glorious than formerly, whereof God shall be the author. Or, thou shalt be called by another name, as it is expressed Isa 65:15. A name, the honour whereof shall make thee famous; ye shall be called Christians.
Isa 62:1. For Zions sake will I not hold my peace. The Redeemer speaks by his prophet; the zeal of his Fathers house absorbed his soul. He imparted his Spirit to the apostles; they could not be deterred from declaring the resurrection and the glory of their Lord. The same Spirit accompanied St. Paul, in all his labours and travels throughout the Roman world. He said in word and deed, I count not my life dear to me, so that I might testify the gospel of the grace of God, and finish my course with joy. The same Spirit now inspires ministers in some degree for the revival of religion at home, and for the diffusion of the gospel abroad. The prophet indeed meant, that the first drops of the shower should fall on the Jews; but whatever were the graces conferred after their restoration, they were by no means commensurate to all those glorious things spoken of Zion in the latter day.
The prophet thus inspired, would not hold his peace. Why should a minister sit silent while the wicked blaspheme? He would cry, oh altar, against idolatry; and raise his voice against all the wickedness of the land. The prophet would continue his sermons, and conflicts with sin, till the righteousness of Zion should shine out like the rising sun by day, and the burning lamp by night. Isaiah did not live to see the restoration of Israel, but Christ ever liveth to make intercession. He raised up Ezra, Nehemiah, and others; he raised up a Paul, the first minister of the gentile world, who fought a good fight, and died in the faith, that the fulness of the gentiles should come in, and all Israel be saved, as the Lord had promised. Isa 59:20. He adds, for the gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory, in all the unfoldings of thy counsel and love to thy church and people.
Isa 62:2. Thou shalt be called by a new name; by the name of the Lord, thy Maker, and thy husband. Agrippas wife assumed the name of Agrippina; and Caiuss wife is called Caia. See more on Isa 65:15. Act 11:26.
Isa 62:3. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord. All the glory of the nations shall encircle thy head, prophets and apostles shall be the gems of thy crown; the Lord himself will rejoice over thee, and cover thee with his glory.
Isa 62:4-5. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, a repudiated woman, whose habitation is desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, that is, my delight. It is not proper to read, my delight is in her, the feminine being understood. Hephzibah was queen to King Hezekiah, a favourite name in Israel. 2Ki 21:1. And thy land Beulah; that is, married, the bridegroom will dwell with the bride. For as a young man marries a virgin, and delights in the wife of his youth, so will thy God rejoice over thee; or literally, be married to thy children, for the promises of grace are given to the church throughout all generations.
Isa 62:6. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, oh Jerusalem. Such is the character of man, that watch and ward must be kept in all cities, and in times of war and danger, upon the walls. The watch was equally set day and night in the temple; the levites there, as in the city, gave the hour of the night. If the captain, on going his rounds, found a centinel asleep, he took out his candle, and ignited his linen dress, and roused him by a severe stroke on the back with the end of his spear. Hence the phrase, Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments. Rev 16:15.
The improvement here to the spiritual watch-men, may be found in Eze 3:17-21. Ye that make mention of the Lord, and blow the trumpet, keep not silence. Be devoted to the double duty of preaching to the people, and praying for the church. Elevate your souls, take a thousand promises with you, rise in the height of argument; for He who has declared his covenant, will confirm all its promises. He has sworn by lifting up his right hand, that the Assyrian armies shall no more devour the harvests and flocks of Israel. Hab 3:17. Therefore, cast up a highway, and lift up a standard, that the people may return from Babylon, and see his salvation.
Isa 62:11. Behold the Lord hath proclaimed to the end of the world, by a succession of promises; therefore say now to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy salvation cometh. The ancient Versions read, Behold thy Saviour cometh. yishac. . The Latin also is SALVATOR, or Saviour. The constant prayer of the church has been, Oh that the Salvation of Israel were come out of Zion. Psa 14:7. The corresponding promise is, The Redeemer shall come to Zion. Isa 59:20. Such also is the ever-living hope of the christian church.
REFLECTIONS.
Isaiah here, as is the manner of the prophets, by good things that are near, designates better things which are remote. Zion is comforted with the promises of restoration; but alas, with a succession of wars and troubles, which terminated in the final destruction of her temple. But there is a Zion, built above the hills of human power, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail; she is the Zion which shall be made the praise of all the earth. The Lord has given his Son the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession.
Watchmen, lift up your voice; blow the trumpet, give warning to the slumbering world; the danger is as great as their sins. If you tread in the steps of St. Paul, sent to turn the gentiles from darkness to light, and to complete the work he began, let each imagine that he really is St. Paul, preaching everywhere to Jews and Greeks; standing before courts, reasoning of righteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come. At other times declare the power of grace in your own conversion, to promote conversion in those that hear. Thus preach, and work, and fight, that you like him may receive the crown.
Isa 62:1-5. The prophet will not rest in his mission (cf. Isa 61:1) till Zions triumph is resplendent, her brilliance dazzling kings and nations. Zion shall be as a beautiful crown which Yahweh takes in His hand to adorn Himself. Now she may well be named Forsaken, her land, Deserted; but then Yahweh, Israels husband, shall restore her to His favour, and her name shall be My Delight, that of the land, Spouse. With a young husbands joy in his young bride shall her builder (not sons which completely spoils the figure), Yahweh, espouse her.
Isa 62:1. lamp: rather, torch.
62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not {a} hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until its righteousness shall go forth as {b} brightness, and its salvation as a lamp [that] burneth.
(a) The prophet says that he will never cease to declare to the people the good tidings of their deliverance.
(b) Till they have full deliverance: and this the prophet speaks to encourage all other ministers to the setting forth of God’s mercies toward his Church.
The certainty of these benefits 62:1-9
It seemed to Isaiah’s audience that the promises in chapter 60 could hardly come to pass, since the Babylonian exile was still looming ahead of them. The Lord assured them that He would surely fulfill these promises.
"Much of this chapter speaks of preparation being made for the coming of the Lord and for the restoration of His people, thus expanding the thoughts in Isa 40:3-5; Isa 40:9." [Note: J. Martin, p. 1116.]
Evidently God is the speaker (cf. Isa 62:6). Other possibilities are the Servant Messiah (cf. Isa 61:1-3) or Isaiah. Watts believed the speaker was Jerusalem’s civil administrator. [Note: Watts, Isaiah 34-66, pp. 309, 311-12.] God assured His people that even though they thought He had been silent to their prayers for deliverance (cf. Isa 42:14; Isa 45:15-19; Isa 57:11; Isa 64:12; Isa 65:6), He would indeed provide righteousness and salvation for them. He would do it for the love of His people, for Zion’s sake.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)