Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 62:12
And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.
12. Zion and its people shall then be recognised in their true character by all.
The holy people ] The priesthood of humanity; ch. Isa 61:6.
The redeemed of the Lord ] ch. Isa 35:10 [Isa 51:10 ]; cf. Isa 48:20.
Sought out ] i.e. “much sought after.” Cf. Jer 30:17, “This is Zion whom no man seeketh after.”
A city not forsaken ] See Isa 62:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And they shall call them – It shall be the honorable and just name by which they shall be known, that they are a holy people, and that they are the redeemed of Yahweh. No name is so honorable as that; no one conveys so much that is elevated and ennobling as to say of one, he is one whom Yahweh has redeemed from sin and death and hell by atoning blood. He who has a just sense of the import of this name, will desire no Other record to be made of his life – no other inscription on his tomb – than that he is one who has been redeemed by Yahweh.
And thou shalt be called – (See the notes at Isa 62:2).
Sought out – The city much sought after, or much desired – to wit, by converts who shall come from afar; by foreigners who shall come to do thee honor (see Isa 2:3; Isa 40:5-6, Isa 40:10-11; Isa 49:18-22). Or it may mean that Jerusalem would be a city sought out and desired by Yahweh; that is, no more forsaken by him. So Gesenius understands it.
A city not forsaken – No longer given up to the invasions of a foreign enemy, and abandoned to long desolation. The idea is, that the church and people of God would be the object of his kind protecting care henceforward, and would enjoy his continued smiles.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 62:12
Thou shalt be called, Sought out
Sought out
1.
The first meaning of our text is very clear. Here is a prophecy, that as Jerusalem, having been despoiled her beauty by her enemies, was for a long time forsaken and worthy to be called, A city which no man seeketh after, so, in a brighter day, her glory shall return, she shall be an attraction to all lands, and the joy of the whole earth; multitudes of willing pilgrims shall seek her out that they may behold her beauty. She shall be a city greatly set by and greatly sought out by those who love the hallowed spots where the mighty deeds of the Lord were wrought, and the arm of Jehovah made bare.
2. The text, doubtless, has a similar reference to the Church of God. During many centuries the Church of Christ was hidden–a thing obscure, despised, unknown, abhorred; she concealed herself in the catacombs; her followers were the poorest and most illiterate of men, proscribed by cruel laws, and hunted by ferocious foes Although the royal bride of Christ, and destined to be the ruler of nations, she made no figure in the worlds eye; she was but a little stone cut out of the mountain without hands. But the day is already come in which multitudes seek the Church of Christ. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Am I sought out?
In a fuller and more spiritual sense the Church of God may well be called Sought out; and the like title may truthfully be applied to every single member of that dearly-loved and dearly-purchased family.
I. THE NATURAL CONDITION IMPLIED IN THE TITLE, SOUGHT OUT.
1. If the Church of God has been sought out, then it is clear enough that originally it was lost.
2. We were so lost that we did not seek the Lord.
3. As we had no thought of coming to God, so we never should have willed to return.
4. So far from seeking God, we did not desire Him to seek us.
5. Our being sought out, considering our condition, was one of the greatest wonders ever known or heard of. I have heard this expressed in words occasionally; when a man has come to join the Church, he has said to me,
If any one had told me six months ago that I should make a profession of being a follower of Christ, I would have knocked him down. And yet the thing did occur.
II. WE HAVE SURPASSING GRACE REVEALED. This grace lies in several particulars.
1. That they were sought out at all. It is very wonderful grace on the part of God that He should plan a way of salvation; but there is something more gracious than this generous summons. One would have supposed that after the invitation had been freely given and the preparation for the feast had been generously made, the Lord would leave men to come or not as they willed.
2. But this grace appears even more conspicuous if you consider the persons sought out. That any should be sought out is matchless grace, but that we should be sought is grace beyond degree.
3. Nor must I fail to bring to your recollection, that the surpassing grace of God is seen very clearly in that we were sought out. The word out conveys a mass of meaning. Men go and seek for a thing which is lost upon the floor of the house, but in such a case there is only seeking, not seeking out. The loss is more perplexing, and the search more persevering, when a thing is sought out. We were mingled with the mire; we were as when some precious piece of gold falls into the sewer, and men have to gather out and carefully inspect a heap of abominable filth, to turn it over, and over, and over, and continue to stir and rake, and search among the heap until the thing is found. Or, to use another figure, we were lost in a labyrinth; we wandered hither and thither, and when ministering mercy came after us, it did not find us at the first coming; it had to go to the right hand and to the left, and search hither and thither, and everywhere, to seek us out, for we were so desperately lost, and had got into such a strange position, that it did not seem possible that ever grace could come to us. And yet we were sought out! No gloom could hide us, no filthiness could conceal us, we were found. The lives of some of Gods people, if they could be written, would make you marvel. The romance of Divine grace is infinitely more interesting than the romance of imagination.
4. The grace of God is illustrious in the Divine Agent by whom we are sought out. It was not the minister; he might have sought thee year after year, and never have found thee. Thy tearful mother, with her many prayers, would have missed thee. Thine anxious father, with his yearning bowels of compassion, would never have discovered thee. Those providences, which like great nets were seeking to entangle thee, would all have been broken by thy strong dashings after evil. Who was it sought thee out? None other than Himself. The Great Shepherd could not trust His under-shepherds; He must Himself come, and oh! if it had not been for those eyes of omniscience, He never would have seen thee; He never would have read thy history and known thy ease: if it had not been for those arms of omnipotence, He never could have grasped thee; He never could have thrown thee on His shoulders and brought thee home rejoicing.
5. Remember that the glory of it is that we were sought out effectually. We are a people not sought out and then missed at the last.
III. THE DISTINGUISHING TITLE JUSTIFIED. How were we sought out?. Let us justify the name.
1. We are sought out in the eternal purposes and the work of Christ.
2. This seeking out, as far as we know it, began by gracious words of mercy. A godly mother told us the truth with weeping, a holy father set us a good example; we were sought out by that little Bible we were taught to read, and that hymn-book which was put into our hands. We were sought out when we were taken to the house of God. We were sought out while the preacher called the Sabbath-breaker, the hard-hearted, the hypocrite, the formalist, the abandoned, the profane. According to our case we felt that he was calling us, and the eyes of Jesus were looking on us, and His voice was bidding us repent and live.
3. Afflictions sought us out. The fever hunted us to the Cross. When the cholera came, it carried a great whip in its hand to flog us to the Saviour. We had serious losses, a decaying business, all which should have weaned us from the world. Our friends sickened; from their graves we heard the voice of invitation, Come unto Christ and live. We were disappointed in some of our fondest hopes, and our heart, riven for the time, yearned after a higher life and a deeper satisfaction.
4. Then came mysterious visitations. It was in the night season when all was still, we sat up in our bed, and solemn thoughts passed through us; the preachers words which we had heard years ago came back fresh as when we heard them for the first time; old texts of Scripture, the recollection of a mothers tears, all these came upon us. Or it was in the midst of business, and we did not know how it was, but suddenly a deep calm came over us.
5. But after all, these visitations, these providences, these preachings, and so on, would all have been nothing, if it had not been for the appointed time when the Holy Spirit came and sought us out.
IV. A SPECIAL DUTY INCUMBENT UPON THOSE WHO WEAR THE TITLE, SOUGHT OUT. If it be really so that you are such debtors to Divine seeking, ought you not to spend your whole lifetime in seeking others out? We are not to preach merely to those who come to listen. Let us hunt for souls by visitation. Where all other means fail, seek men by our prayers. As long as a man has one other man to pray for him, there is a hope of his salvation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A city not forsaken
A city not forsaken
1. A forsaken city! What a picture it presents. Streets once crowded with life, left desolate. Halls once ablaze with light–darkened. Every voice of music hushed, every dancer gone. No man of wisdom to advise. No soldier to defend. No peopled homes. No schools with children. No trade. No port. No active work for God or man. A city forsaken! Bereft, indeed!
2. But A city not forsaken! How different I with its crowded streets; its marts of trade; its palace of legislature; its courts of administration and justice; its glory of magnificent architecture; its busy river; its turrets ablaze with the glory of their gold; its towers of strength; its bulwarks of defence; its processions of royalty; its merchants; its scholars; its citizens, good, bad and indifferent; its sanctuaries; its slums; its manifold life and stir. Ay, verily, a city not forsaken is a place of interest and power; a place to live in; where the pulse beats; where men feel the blessings of community, and find the possibilities of success; where trade has its markets; where intellect is sharpened, and where extremes meet–the place of the temple, the arena, the theatre, the gymnasium, and the forum. (C. H. Kelly.)
The Church, a city not forsaken
The text is uttered respecting the Church of the Lord, and is true of every part of that Church. It is descriptive. It is historic. It is prophetic. (C. H. Kelly.)
The presence of God in His Church
If it was the delight of the ancient Jews to know that the Lord was in His temple in Jerusalem, it is also ours to know that He is with us.
1. His Church abounds in splendour; in numbers; in wealth; in structures. She is rich in schools and universities. Her sons are among the greatest scholars; the bravest soldiers; the most eloquent speakers. She is like the Kings daughter, arrayed in costly attire, and all beautiful within, having external adornment and internal excellence; but what of all that, if that were all? What if she were forsaken of God? If there were no shout of the King in the camp?
2. But there is the presence of God–the Father in His family; the Captain with His hosts; the King in His city.
3. Having this truth, how rich is the Church of God! It involves the heritage of power, wisdom, love.
4. We will rejoice because, having God in the city, the commonwealth is safe; truth will be victorious; vice will be curbed; crime will cease; ignorance will be instructed; men and women will be saved; children will be nurtured and trained aright; true spiritual religion, as contrasted with mere conventional Churchism, will prevail; the love of worldliness will give place to spirituality of life; there will be honesty instead of theft; truthfulness instead of lies; purity instead of wickedness holiness instead of mere professional Church membership. (C. H. Kelly.)
The Church, a city not forsaken by its own people
1. Its numbers are larger to-day than ever. They help to constitute its wealth, to make it full of power; they make its defence stronger than walls of brick and stone; mightier than ramparts. The fellowship of believers; the communion of saints; the brotherhood of Christians is very real. It is found in this city–this Church of God. It is illustrated in the lives of myriads who dedicate their intellect, their love, to it. Verily, this city is not forsaken. Its dwellings are peopled. Its population increases.
2. And more are coming. One day Henry Clay stood on a peak on the Aleghany Mountains, with arms folded, and as though looking into the distance far beyond. Some one said to the rapt thinker, Mr. Clay, what are you thinking about? He replied, I am listening to the ontramping of the feet of future generations of Americans. He knew they would come. So we. We rejoice in the millions of our city. But yet there is room. They come. They will continue to come. This is no forsaken spot. It never will be. Desolation does not belong to this Zion.
3. There are good reasons for its sons not forsaking it. In it they have found salvation. In it they have been made joyful. When they were pursued and troubled, it opened its gates to them, and gave them refuge and safety The walls which surround It can never be broken through by any foe; for God is the strength of those walls, and every citizen is absolutely safe. (C. H. Kelly.)
Backsliders
But have not any forsaken this city? The answer is, to their own sad sorrow, Yes! At this hour there are sheep that have strayed; prodigals that have wandered; backsliders that have fallen. They have forsaken purity; they have turned their backs on God. What has the City herald to proclaim to such? What is the message of the King? The proclamation is mercy; amnesty; full forgiveness. The message of the King is, Return. Will you come? The gates of the city are open: Will you enter? You have forsaken the Church; but God has not forsaken you. But, so far as you are concerned, the gates of the city will soon be closed. Take care that you are on the right side. One of our ministers said that one evening, after a days excursion, he and his party were about to enter an Eastern city. They saw a horseman approach at a gallop. Our friend asked, Why does he ride so fast? Because, said the guide, he knows that in a few moments it will be sunset, and the city gate will be closed; and, if he is not in before that, he will be too late, and must remain outside in the dark. It is nearly sunset with some of you who have forsaken the city; soon the gate will be closed; be quick and enter in! (C. H. Kelly.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. They shall call them] These characteristics seem to be put in their inverted order. –
1. God will not forsake them.
2. They shall be sought out.
3. They shall be redeemed. And,
4. Be in consequence a holy people.
1. When God calls, it is a proof that he has not forsaken.
2. When he seeks, it is a proof he is waiting to be gracious.
3. When the atonement is exhibited, all things are then ready.
4. And when that is received, holiness of heart and life is then to be kept continually in view, as this is the genuine work of God’s Spirit; and without holiness none shall see the Lord.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They shall call them, The holy people; or, they shall be called, or they shall be, a peculiar, separate people, Isa 4:3.
Sought out; or, one found that was lost: see Eze 34:16. Or, sought out, or for, or one in great esteem, one that the Gentiles should seek to join themselves withal, so as to be one church with her. That reproach should be wiped off from her, that this is Zion whom no man seeketh after, Jer 30:17. Or, cared. for, viz. by God, whom he hath out of infinite love gathered to himself.
A city not forsaken: see Isa 62:4. The meaning is, that thus they shall esteem the gospel church; she shall be accosted With such salutations as these are,
the holy people, the
redeemed of the Lord, & c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. Sought outSought afterand highly prized by Jehovah; answering to “not forsaken”in the parallel clause; no longer abandoned, but loved; image from awife (Isa 62:4; Jer 30:14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they shall call them the holy people,…. For whom the way is prepared, to whom the standard is lifted up, and the proclamation made, and who upon it are gathered in to Christ the Saviour, and to the church: these shall be called, by men that know them, have a spirit of discerning, and are capable of judging, “the holy people”; a people separated and set apart for God, for his service and glory; chosen to be a special people, above all the people of the earth; chosen through sanctification of the Spirit, and to holiness here and hereafter, and so sanctified by God the Father, as in Jude 1:1, and in consequence of it are made holy by the Spirit of God, in the effectual calling; they are not holy by nature, nor by their own power, but by the grace of God, who calls them with a holy calling, and to holiness, and implants principles of grace and holiness in them, so that they are truly and really so. This character respects the church and its members in the latter day, when everyone that remains in Jerusalem, and every pot and vessel there, shall be holiness to the Lord; yea, that shall be upon the bells of the horses, Isa 4:3:
the redeemed of the Lord; which character includes the blessing of redemption, from whence the denomination is, which is a blessing of a spiritual nature; the redemption of the soul from sin, Satan, the law, its curse, and condemnation, and from all enemies; a blessing early in the heart of God; contrived by his infinite wisdom; secured in the covenant of grace; wrought out by Christ; is a plenteous one, containing various blessings of grace in it, and, in its effects and consequences, of an eternal duration: this character is also expressive of Christ, as the author of the above blessing: these are not redeemed by themselves, nor by their friends, nor by men, nor by angels, but by the Lord; who, as man, is the near kinsman of his people, and has the right to redeem; as God, he is mighty and able to redeem them; and who by his precious blood has obtained redemption for them; so that he has a property in them, which is asserted in this character; they are not their own, nor any other’s but his, a peculiar people, redeemed from among men, the special favourites of heaven; and who, in consequence of it, are called, and kept, and saved with an everlasting salvation:
and thou shalt be called, Sought out; thou, daughter of Zion; or the church of God, consisting of elect, redeemed, and called ones; such as are sought out of the ruins of the fall, among the men of the world, and dust of the earth; found in a very miserable condition, usually by means of the Gospel, and by Christ, who knows them well, where are, and what the time of finding them, and can by name, and does; all which is the fruit and effect of his love unto them; though this character may chiefly respect the notice that will be taken of the church in the latter day; whereas she has been Zion, whom no man seeks after,
Jer 30:17, now she shall be sought and flocked unto by all nations, and by great personages, even by the kings and princes of the earth, Isa 2:2.
A city not forsaken; the city of the living God, of which saints are fellow citizens, consisting of many persons, in good and flourishing circumstances, and which shall not be forsaken of men, as it has been,
Isa 60:15, but shall be filled with converts, both Jews and Gentiles; nor forsaken of God, but shall enjoy his gracious presence, and sensible communion with him in his ordinances; nor shall any of its true members be forsaken, or the work of grace in them; they shall none of them perish, but have everlasting life; so that here is a cluster of glorious doctrines, in their order and connection one with another: election in the first character; redemption in the second; effectual calling in the third; and final perseverance in the last.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
12. And they shall call you a holy people. He describes the benefit of the coming of the Lord; that is, because, by shewing that he takes care of his elect as his heritage, he will make it evident to the whole world that the covenant of adoption, which he made with Abraham, was not deceptive. He therefore calls them “a holy people,” because the Lord hath separated and consecrated them to himself; for, although he governs all nations, he has deigned to choose the seed of Abraham, that he might make them the object of his peculiar care. (Exo 19:6.)
The redeemed of Jehovah. In the sense now stated, God declares that they shall be a holy people, when he shall appear as their Savior and Redeemer; for, as the people are said to be “profaned” when they lie amidst filth, being afflicted and distressed by the reproaches of the wicked, so they are said to be “sanctified,” when the Lord actually shews that he presides over their salvation. This was accomplished by a wonderful redemption; and at that time God also testified that he remembered his heritage, which, in the eyes of men, he appeared to have forsaken and disregarded; for in these words, Sought out, (172) not forsaken, is denoted a contrast between the time when God made a divorce from his people, and the time when he again reconciled to himself those whom he had cast off.
(172) “The word דרושה, (derushah,) the name that shall be given to Jerusalem, is rendered by some sought after, that is, a city to which, as being very highly celebrated and visited by crowds of strangers, all shall resort and shall desire to be enrolled among her citizens. Others render it cared for, that is, by Jehovah, who appeared to have abandoned and given her up to forgetfulness, as her citizens complained. (Isa 49:14.) Both agree with what is here added, ‘A city not forsaken.’ (See Jer 30:14.)” — Rosenmuller.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE MORAL REDEMPTION OF THE METROPOLIS
Isa 62:12
THE moral leprosy of the modern metropolis is a dark picture. In Raymonds Life of Lincoln there is an anecdote of Mr. Campbell, once Secretary of State for Illinois. He speaks of a cadaverous looking man with a white neckcloth, who came requesting the use of the House of Representatives for a course of lectures. The Secretary inquired, What is to be the subject of the lectures? The clerical gentleman replied, The Second Coming of Christ. Its no use, said Mr. Campbell. If you will take my advice you will not waste your time in this city. It is my private opinion that if the Lord has been in Springfield once He will never want to see it a second time. We believe that Christ is in the city in Spirit, but as previously suggested, He is sickened by what He sees. Christ is going to come to the metropolis eventually, in judgment, and, if things are not improved over the present condition, many, yea, multitudes, must perish.
The purpose of this chapter therefore, is to suggest possible ways of improvement.
MORALITY IS POSSIBLE TO THE MUNICIPALITY
We talk of soulless corporations, but no one ever speaks of a soulless city. A city is soulful instead.
The corporation may express itself in steel rails, puffing engines, clicking! telegraphs; but a city expresses itself in a moving, breathing, laughing, sorrowing crowd. Aside from the individual there is nothing which impresses us as more sentient than a city. It lives and moves and has a being. The heart of Christ broke over Jerusalem, and He wept about her, as He did at the grave of His friend Lazarus. He loved that city as He loved His own blessed mother. There is just as much reason why this living thing we call a municipality should be moral as there is why a man should be moral.
The mayors character determines, in no small measure, the morals of the city. In a recent gathering a mayor likened a city to a family, and said, The average father finds it difficult enough to control two or three, or a half dozen; how much more difficult then to restrain a quarter or a half of a million or two millions. The figure is fit. There are many features of the city life akin to those of the family life; and, while we speak from time to time about the city fathers, after all, the paternalism of every town is more surely located in the mayor than in any other man, or even set of men. It is accepted as settled that what I think, what I say, what I do, what I am, will decide, in great measure, whether my house is orderly or disorderly, moral or immoral. It is not enough either that in my thought, word, and deed, and character, I should be righteous; my very office, as father, imposes upon me the necessity of looking after the thought, language, deeds and character of my household. Sodom reached the acme of sin when Lot was its mayor. He was a respectable citizen, not much more; but evidently he had poorly kept his oath of office. He paid the price in the loss of his wife, the destruction of some of his children, and the moral damnation of others. One is not surprised, therefore, when it comes abroad that Lot himself has fallen into nameless iniquity.
Given a mayor who hates sin and delights in righteousness, and reforms are inevitable. Suppose, for instance, Anthony Comstock was a resident of your city, and had just been chosen mayor for two years, what do you think would be the feeling on the part of saloonists? What commotion do you suppose would exist with those human hyenas who sleep not except they have done some mischief and who shadow our daughters whenever they walk the streets? How many gambling devices would be exposed to gullible youth when Comstock had been in the chair a month? When in Chicago forty years ago, Mr. Hesing was a candidate for the mayorality, he said to the public I would like to be mayor of Chicago. I want to put to the test the honesty of the reform movement. I will pledge myself to all reform measures, for I believe I am as sincere as any man who has taken a part in the movement for reform in Chicago. That is good campaign stuff as the speakers say. What we need is to have post-election men who will put campaign speeches into practice.
The moral element in society is solemnly responsible for municipal improvement. A good mayor has a perfect right to expect their hearty endorsement and co-operation in every movement looking to better moral conditions. Too long this element has excused itself from taking any active part in politics save on election day. When told, as we often are, that the mayor and every alderman, and every official of power, is dogged and importuned, cajoled and threatened by the whole vicious crowd who want to Sodomize the city, we are prone to reply that they have a financial interest large enough to justify them in putting in their whole time in politics. The implication is that the better element has no material interest. But is that true? Would our interests were no greater than financial. But our interests are social, domestic and religious. The man who is silent and inactive, while the very social atmosphere is polluted, will pay the price of indifference by losses before the magnitude of which he will be driven mad. If soldiers do not keep the barracks in repair they cannot expect to escape the enemys bullets; if citizens do not provide pure water for the public schools, in some way, they must look to having their children smitten with typhoid fever; and if the moral element of society does nothing to create a condition of moral atmosphere they will pay the price not only in purse, but in domestic grief, and probable personal pollution.
The Church of God is especially charged with civic reform. Let us define! According to the New Testament, the chief business of the Church of God is not that of cleaning up a world doomed already to the fires, but it is that of righteous conduct upon the part of every member, and the reclamation of their sin-smitten fellows. Under no circumstances should the Church become a political organization. Romanism has already revealed the ruinous effects of such a procedure upon both Church and State. Even as good a man as John Calvin never went more sadly wrong than when he attempted to rule Geneva through the power of the Church. The present-day position of the Church of England, with the Passive Resistance Movement, is only another evidence of injury to the cause of Christ, and injustice to the State when a Church assumes political functions. But, when the Church is regarded as the body of God-fearing, righteous-living men, then, it ought to be in politics, and as a powerful influence, before which the saloon, and all evil accessories, should be made afraid and in the face of which sins should be made ashamed. The silence of the Church of God should be broken at every sight of gross civic sins. It is related that the dumb son of King Chroesus broke the string that held his tongue when he saw them about to slay his father, and cried, Kill not my father! When we witness the wicked children of the city in the act of matricide, the church ought to resist effectively the bloody attempt upon the life of our nursing mother.
MORALITY DEPENDS UPON PERSONAL REDEMPTION
In this picture of the city of Jerusalem, in its eventual and glorious estate, the Prophet speaks not only of the fact that a holy people shall be there, but he mentions expressly the circumstances that they shall be called the redeemed of the Lord.
Enforced morality belongs to the realm of legislation. Men have no right to be mean, no right to be vicious. The decalogue has Gods declaration against the transgression of those great natural laws, the keeping of which is essential to the good of human society. And, the decalogue, divinely given, and enforced by the Almighty Himself, is an ensample of the righteousness of restraining men from evil.
When Anthony Comstock attended the Worlds Fair at Chicago, he had not been on the grounds a day when the worst institutions on the Midway were being locked up by the sheriff; and Anthony Comstock was right. Whenever an individual, or a corporation, adopts a course which evilly affects public weal, there exists every moral right why they should be restrained. Some time ago, when the Elks were coming into the writers city, a report came that a man had made an arrangement to sell the vilest picture upon which one ever looked. A detective was put after him, and he was sent to jail for six months. They compelled him to behave himself by putting him behind the bars. When, on another occasion, it was learned that two men were guilty of the grossest violation of the rights of children, a little company saw to it that they were imprisoned. There is not a common citizen who does not have a perfect right to swear out a warrant for the booze sellers who are violating the law against sale of liquors. Those who have read Jacob Riis book, The Battle with the Slums will recall how when Mr. Roosevelt was mayor of New York, some of the grossest immoralities were called to his attention, and although it involved in some instances the destruction of large areas of property, buildings were demolished and razed to the foundations, that plague spots might be stamped out of the municipality. There is such a thing as making men behave themselves by putting them into the penitentiary, and all society admits the justice of it; but an enforced morality, while needful, is not sufficient.
The best morality is voluntary, and born of Divine redemption. There are few classes of men who are more moral than those who are behind prison bars, especially if they are condemned to solitude. Aside from a muttered oath to ones self, they do not break the letter of the Ten Commandments, and yet their hearts may be burning hells. The man who does right as Joseph did, because it is right, because God expects it of him, because his own mind and heart prompts it, is the man who is making a real contribution to social redemption. The Gadarene of the New Testament they bound with fetters and chains, and when these were upon him he must needs be moral in conduct; but that Gadarene was never fit for citizenship until the Son of Man, passing by, unbound him and spoke peace to his soul, and, dispossessing his heart of every dark angel, redeemed him to a right mind and dismissed him to people and home. The only morality that makes for all that is best in home and society is that which is born from above. Henry Ward Beecher reminds us that even industry, frugality and honesty are not sufficient in themselves. To them must be added love for the right, which is Heaven-born, else they all come short. The Apostle says, By the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight and it may be said that by the deeds of the Law no mans moral character is established. If you ask, What weight do you put upon this, we replyThe proper weight. But it does not reach up to the voluntary morality born of redemption. Mr. Beecher says, What becomes of those qualities if they do not measure up to God? If a man undertakes to jump across a chasm that is ten feet wide and jumps eight feet, what are you going to do with the eight feet that he did jump? It is one of those things which must be accomplished in whole, or it is not accomplished at all. A man who drops anchor but his rope does not reach the bottom has an anchor good as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. A morality that comes short of that voluntary morality engendered by an indwelling spirit only produces, as Beecher puts it, The lower leaves without the bloom and the fruit; and the lower is no substitute for the higher. If our city is ever saved the redeemed of the Lord must be there.
The true Christian is the best possible citizen. Sometime since the chief of police in one city said, I find when people become Christians the officers have no trouble with them. But far more should be claimed in the Christians behalf. He should not only cease to give the policeman trouble; he should commence to give the policeman assistance. In fact, one true Christian in the neighborhood is worth more for its moral condition than one policeman. That is particularly true if it be the sort of policeman on some of the city beatsthe sort, who was seen in my city a few years since, sitting between two lewd women, half drunk, at the time when a score of small boys were lined up before the bar paying their dimes for liquid damnation. John G. Wooley once said that there are many men who are willing to talk of good citizenship; who say they want to get together with the crowd at something better than the worst, but they do not want a Christian citizenship. They will vote for the best men to do the bidding of the unclean party; they will consent to having a saloon open six days in the week and request that it be closed on Sunday; they will object to having a saloon planted down by their own homes, but be willing to have it set down by other homes which are less attractive, where it can the more easily accomplish its dreadful work. He tells the story of three little boys, who, on their way home from school, fell to talking about their fathers. One said, My father is a democrat. What is yours? The second said, Mine is a republican. What is yours? The third replied, Mines neither. He is a Methodist. So little children, he adds, exalt the virtue of church membership.
Church membership is not the same thing as Christian citizenship. There are church members who will stoop to a job that only the degraded ought to do; but Christians, never! After all, then, the future of your city, and the future of any city, depends upon how many may be numbered among the redeemed of the Lord. The great work to which every follower of the Nazarene is called, is not that of veneering political appearances, but it is that of accomplishing personal redemption. Every time a soul is snatched from the moral sinks of the metropolis, the evil power of those sinks is reduced, and good citizenship is increased. The Son of Man was the best Statesman the world ever saw, and He gave Himself to the one work of seeking and saving that which was lost.
There is another point in this text worthy of attention.
THE MORAL PEOPLE ARE THE PROSPEROUS PEOPLE
Thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken. There are some men who are always alarmed lest a reform administration kill the municipality. One of these, living in a town which had been cursed by a saloon, saw local option obtain, and afterwards, talking with Geo. W. Bain, said this, Yes, we have a dry town, but it is an awful dead one! The liquor is gone. To which Mr. Bain facetiously answered, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. There are people in Minneapolis, scores of them, who positively believed that to put the saloon and its accessories out of this city would be to destroy its business prosperityand apparently they believed it in spite of the per capita wealth of the people of Maine; they believed it in spite of the rapid financial strides of North Dakota. In spite of the prosperity of the last eleven years of prohibition, they still believe it!
The proposition that the moral people are the prosperous people is argued from every conceivable standpoint.
Reason demands this result. Some time since the editor of a journal said, sagely enough, that there were some men who foolishly believed that money was only easy when it reached them through the tills of a saloon. The adverb foolishly was properly employed. In Bloomington, Illinois, years ago, when the gambling houses and saloons were rife on every side, the business men contended with bitterness, that the credit system was ruining them. Men were losing so much at the gambling table that accounts went undischarged. When a few men inaugurated a movement that shut up many of these places, the best business men of the city poured letters of gratitude upon them. They had learned that when the men conducting the gambling rooms, and the professionals they had imported, were filling their pockets, just that much less could go into the channels of honest commerce.
It would be a strange world if morality was not under Divine favor. God would be no longer worshiped, and men would be justified in their unbelief. When the human mind conceives of such a world as that, it thinks only of chaos and darkness, and a place where God is unknown. It is far more impossible to suppose that a righteous Creator would not bring out of good moral behavior material success, than it is to imagine that sunshine and rain could never bring the tiny shoot to flower and fruitage.
But still further, Revelation is replete with promises of it. Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. The Lord promised to Abraham if he would obey Him, I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great. The Psalmist says, Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt Thou compass him (Psa 5:12). The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles (Psa 34:17). I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread (Psa 37:25). Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved (Psa 55:22). Verily there is a reward for the righteous (Psa 58:11). The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon (Psa 92:12), etc., etc. But why multiply instances? No man who knows the Word of God will ever call into question its promises to the people of righteous morals.
History has also demonstrated this as a fact. The Christian people of the world today are the most prospered in it. Victor Hugo, in Les Miserables speaking of The Lark says, To be wicked does not insure prosperity, for the Inn did not succeed well.
Bancroft, in his History of the United States, speaking of Benjamin Franklin, says On the deep foundations of sobriety, frugality, and industry, the young journeyman built his fortunes and his fame. That was a good foundation; but there is one infinitely better, and that is the foundation Christ Jesus. A man may be all right in the eyes of his fellows, but if he is to have an abiding peace and be without condemnation, he must also be right in the sight of God. Some years ago in Southern Illinois, a young man committed a crime. Fearing detection, he fled to the West. He deeply deplored his fault and was never guilty of another offense. In the West he married, and, when a little one came into the home, his heart yearned after his mother that she might see the child. Finally he ventured back; stayed quietly with his mother for a few days, and then, growing bolder, he went to see some of the neighbors.
The sheriff heard of his presence and went to the house. After his arrest he called his wife to him and said, Have I been a good husband to you? Yes, dear, you certainly have. Have I been a good father to our child? No child ever had a better. Mother, have I been a good, dependable son? Yes, my boy, but what is the matter? Well, there is a crime back of me and I am now under arrest. He was all right with his mother; all right with his wife; he was more than right in the eyes of his baby; but in the eyes of the law, wrong; and his fidelity as husband, as neighbor, counted for naught against this crime.
Men and women, though you may be all right in the eyes of the public; and with your fellows; by your brothers, sisters and friends, you may be held in the highest esteem, unless you have repented your transgressions of the law of God and have made all right with Him there is no prosperity that can remain permanent, no abiding peace for the present, no promise of peace for the future.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
THE NEW NAMH
Isa. 62:2; Isa. 62:12. Thou shalt be called by a new name. And they shall call them, &c.
According to the Hebrew idiom, the name which expresses the nature and character of a person is used as equivalent to that nature and character. The promises of these verses involve accordingly, far more than appears upon the surface.
I. The new name abolishes the old, In the prophetical writings Israels sins are very plainly described and very faithfully upbraided. The favoured people are called rebels and traitors, idolaters and spiritual adulterers. Upon their repentance, the old reproach is wiped away, and the old appellations are discarded. This is how Divine mercy treats all true penitents and believers. Former sins are forgotten, former rebukes are reversed, former sentences of condemnation are cancelled.
II. The new name expresses a new character. The Christian dispensation provides, by peculiar agencies and spiritual powers, for the renewal of the nature and the life of men (2Co. 5:17). In accordance with the fact is the expression of the fact; in accordance with the new nature, the new birth, the new life, is the new name. They who were unholy become the holy people, because, from being the bondsmen of sin, they have become the redeemed of the Lord.
III. The new name is significant of a new state of favour and acceptance. Especially those upon whom the great change has passed are the Lords,His possession and property, His beloved and honoured, for whom no privileges are too great and no dignities too eminent. The new name is His name who confers it, and who delights to deem and to call His beloved ones His own.The Homiletical Library, vol. ii. p. 153.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
THE CITY OF GOD
(Anniversary Sermon.)
Isa. 62:12. Thou shalt be called, A city not forsaken.
Travellers in the East have described the present desolate and deserted condition of what were once great and populous cities. But there is a city which has not been thus forsaken, which has survived the ravages of time, the City of God, the Church of Christ. He reads these chapters in a most imperfect light who sees nothing more in them than allusions to the earthly Jerusalem and the restoration of the Jews. Several appellations are given to the Church. The last of these designations, A city not forsaken, is fitted to suggest some suitable reflections on the present interesting occasion, when as a congregation we celebrate Gods loving-kindness exhibited in our past history. We are fulfilling the prediction of the text when we make it the burden of our song that God has not forsaken His Church, that in our ancestral Zion, as in other portions of the Church, the light of life has not been quenched but still burns brightly.
I. Gods presence in the Church. This should absorb every other consideration. We may reflect on the earnestness and fidelity of the watchmen who have successively occupied the walls of Zion; we may think of the generations departed who profited by their ministrations, but the thought of the Divine presence should above everything else fill us with gratitude (Psa. 87:5-6). What is meant by the presence of Christ in the Church?
1. It is a real presence.
2. This presence is constant, uninterrupted.
3. This presence is perpetual. He is ever with His people in all the plenitude of His power, in all the freshness of His grace (Psa. 48:14). Often indeed it has seemed as if the Saviours presence had been withdrawn from the Church (Isa. 49:14; Isa. 54:6-7; Isa. 62:4; see pp. 342345, 552).
II. The constitution of the Church. Jerusalem was a glorious city, the pride of every pious Jew, the yearly resort of the tribes. It was the centre of the nations religious life, the rallying-point of their religious affections. Such the Church of Christ ought to be to us. It is a society of men and women regulated by the laws of Jesus Christ, and it goes in Scripture under the figure of a city, because God is its Architect and Ruler. The one Lawgiver in the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ, and its one statute-book is the Bible. It exists for the mutual benefit of its members and the defence and propagation of the truth (1Ti. 3:15). The Church, then, is a witness for Christ, wherein He displays the wonders of His redeeming grace. How distinguished the honour! how lofty the privileges! how great the obligations of those who are citizens of the spiritual Jerusalem!
III. There are special occasions when this designation of the Church may be appropriately considered, such as the beginning of a new pastorate, the revival of spiritual life, the removal of hindrances to Christian activity and the origination of some fresh enterprise. These call for thankful acknowledgment as evidences that the Church is not forsaken. And when a congregation takes the retrospect of its past history it may well cherish the same gratitude, and the reflection that it owes all to God will lead to humility and hopefulness. It is not our own effort, however strenuous, nor our own liberality, however large, that has made the Church what she is, but the presence of her King and Head.William Guthrie, M.A.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
THE SEEKING LOVE OF GOD
Isa. 62:12. Thou shalt be called, Sought out.
Without violence we may use these words of every member of the Church of God. All His children may take for their name and distinction the words Sought out.
I. THE NATURAL CONDITION IMPLIED IN THIS TITLE.
1. The Church of God was originally lost.
2. So lost that we did not seek the Lord.
3. Nor should we have ever willed to return to Him.
4. We did not desire Him to seek us.
5. Our being sought out, considering our condition, was one of the greatest wonders ever known or heard of.
II. SURPASSING GRACE REVEALED. That they were sought out at all.
2. The persons sought out.
3. That we were sought OUT. The word out conveys a mass of meaning. We were mingled with the mire, &c.
4. That we were sought out Divinelyby God Himself.
5. Effectually.
III. THE DISTINGUISHING TITLE JUSTIFIED. How were we sought out?
1. In the eternal purpose and work of Christ.
2. By gracious words of mercy.
3. By afflictions.
4. By mysterious visitations.
5. By the Holy Spirit.
IV. THE SPECIAL DUTY INCUMBENT UPON THOSE WHO WEAR THIS TITLE. Seeking others out. The preaching of the Gospel is not the only means. Let us hunt for souls by
1. Visitation. Take the Gospel to the people.
2. Your prayers.C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Nos. 525, 526.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(12) The redeemed of the Lord.Literally, ransomed, as in Isa. 35:10; Isa. 51:10.
Sought out . . .i.e., a city which men would seek after to honour, and promote its welfare. (Comp. the opposite, Zion, which no man seeketh after, in Jer. 30:17.)
A city not forsaken.With special reference to the name Azubah in Isa. 62:4. (Comp, the change of names in Hos. 2:1.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Time is near when the Church, so extended and flourishing, shall be called by its generally accepted name.
The holy people
the redeemed of the Lord Yea, more. Reverting back to the mother-symbol thereof, namely, Jerusalem, thou shalt be called, Sought out Derushah.
A city not forsaken Ir-lo-neezebah. So Alexander translates; and the meaning is, Thou art the all-desired place; thou art no more in peril of invasion from old enemies, as was ancient Jerusalem. Henceforth thou art the Protected-of-Jehovah; and, blessed with his smiles, thou shalt be never forsaken more.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
OH! for a portion of that holy zeal, which inflamed the minds of the faithful of old, when they preferred Zion, and her interests, above their chief joy! But now, alas! it may be said, in the language of the Prophet, Zion hath none to guide her, among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any to take her by the hand, of all the sons she hath brought up. Alas! what a day of languishing is Zion now in! Oh! that the Lord would take to himself his great name, and come forth in his own glorious cause, conquering and to conquer; that those sweet promises might be fulfilled, when his land should no more be termed forsaken, nor be found desolate; but that Zion’s walls might become salvation, and her gates praise!
And oh! ye watchmen, whom our God hath set upon the walls of his Jerusalem, see to it, that ye hold not your peace, day nor night! Speak to the people for God and his Christ; and speak to our God, for his people in Christ. Ye know the vast, the infinite importance of your situation, and the awful responsibility in which the service of the sanctuary placeth you. Like watchmen, therefore, do ye not only watch over your own souls, but over the souls of the people. Look well to their state, to their order, and discipline. Mark well how others walk with Christ, and in Christ. See the tendencies of the Lord in his word, in his providence, in his grace, to his Church and people. Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people. Observe, and tell the people of the motions and advances of the enemy upon the ramparts of Zion; and above all, look up with holy earnestness and importunity to the Great King of Zion, and wrestle with him in prayer, that when the enemy cometh in like a food, the Spirit of the Lord may lift up a standard against him. Blessed Lord Jesus: make thy Zion, thy Church, as thou hast here said, the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and as a city that thou hast sought out, and which shall never be forsaken!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 62:12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.
Ver. 12. And they shall call them the holy people. ] Profane persons, therefore, and persecutors of holiness, are not to be reckoned among the people of the Lord. Are not all the Lord’s people holy? said those rebels; but that helped them not.
And thou shalt be called, Sought out.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
holy. See note on Exo 3:5.
Sought out. Hebrew. Derushah.
not forsaken. Hebrew. L’o-Ne’ezabah.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
redeemed
Heb. “goel,” Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield “Isa 59:20”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
The holy: Isa 60:21, Deu 7:6, Deu 26:19, Deu 28:9, 1Pe 2:9
The redeemed: Isa 35:9, Psa 107:2, 1Pe 1:18, 1Pe 1:19, Rev 5:9
Sought out: Isa 65:1, Eze 34:11-16, Mat 18:11-13, Luk 15:4, Luk 15:5, Luk 19:10, Joh 4:23, Joh 10:16
not: Isa 62:4, Mat 16:18, Mat 28:20, Heb 13:5
Reciprocal: Exo 19:6 – and an Deu 14:2 – General Psa 74:2 – redeemed Psa 149:2 – let the Isa 40:1 – comfort Isa 43:1 – Fear Isa 56:5 – and a Isa 60:14 – The city Isa 62:2 – thou shalt Isa 63:18 – people Jer 13:11 – for a name Jer 33:9 – a name Jer 51:5 – Israel Dan 12:7 – the holy Zep 3:20 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
62:12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A {o} city not forsaken.
(o) That is, one over whom God has had a singular care to recover her when she was lost.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Then the nations would call the Israelites "the holy people" (in standing and state; cf. Exo 19:6; Deu 7:6), "those whom Yahweh had redeemed" (physically and spiritually), and "sought out." They would refer to Jerusalem as "the city that the Lord had not forsaken." In short, Yahweh would restore His people’s relationship with Himself.