Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 25:1
O LORD, thou [art] my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful [things; thy] counsels of old [are] faithfulness [and] truth.
1. The first half of the verse recalls in every phrase the language of the Psalter. Cf. Psa 63:1; Psa 145:1; Psa 138:2; Psa 54:6; Psa 118:28.
thou hast done wonderful things ] as Exo 15:11; Psa 77:14; Psa 78:12. These “wonders” are the execution (in the recent experience of the nation) of counsels of old; i.e. purposes long since conceived and revealed. The last clause is perhaps to be translated: (even) counsels from afar in faithfulness and fidelity.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1 5. The writer of the psalm, speaking in the name of the believing community, praises God for His wonderful providence ( Isa 25:1) manifested in the overthrow of Israel’s enemies (2, 3) and in the mercy vouchsafed to the nation in a time of trouble (4, 5).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
O Lord, thou art my God – The prophet speaks, not in his own name, but in the name of the people that would be delivered from bondage. The sense is, that Yahweh had manifested himself as their covenant-keeping God; and that in view of his faithfulness in keeping his promises, they now had demonstration that he was their God.
I will exalt thee – A form of expression often used to denote praise Psa 118:28; Psa 145:1, meaning that the worshipper would exalt God in the view of his own mind, or would regard him as above all other beings and objects.
For thou hast done wonderful things – On the meaning of the Hebrew, pel’ – wonderful, see the note at Isa 9:6.
Thy counsels of old – Which were formed and revealed long since. The counsels referred to are those respecting the delivery of his people from bondage, which had been expressed even long before their captivity commenced, and which would be now completely and triumphantly fulfilled.
Are faithfulness – Have been brought to pass; do not fail.
And truth – Hebrew, ‘omen – whence our word Amen. Septuagint, Genoito – Let it be. The word denotes that the purposes of God were firm, and would certainly be fulfilled.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 25:1
O Lord, Thou art my God.
–This chapter looks as pleasantly upon the Church as the former looked dreadfully upon the world. (M. Henry.)
Calm after storm
We can only understand the highest, sweetest meaning of this chapter in proportion as we enter into the spirit of the chapter which precedes it. That chapter is full of clouds, and darkness, and judgment. The very terribleness of God is a reason for putting trust in Him. Probably this view of the Divine attributes has not always been sufficiently vivid to our spiritual consciousness. We have thought of God, and have become afraid; whereas when we hear Him thundering, and see Him scattering His arrows of lightning round about Him, and behold Him pouring contempt upon the mighty who have defied Him, we should say, See! God is love. What does He strike? No little child, no patient woman, no broken heart, no face that is steeped in tears of contrition. On what does His fist fall?–on arrogance, on haughtiness, on self-conceit, on self-completeness. He turns the proud away with an answer of scorn to their prayer of patronage. God is only terrible to evil. That is the reason why His terribleness should be an encouragement and an allurement to souls that know their sin and plead for pardon at the Cross. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Song of assurance
I. THE AFFINITY THAT IS CLAIMED. O Jehovah, Thou art my God. This affinity was predetermined by God the Father; it is exhibited in the most conspicuous manner in the person of God the Son; it is revealed, beyond the possibility of doubt, to the heart of Gods elect by God the Holy Ghost
II. THE WONDERS ACKNOWLEDGED. Thou hast done wonderful things. will only select three out of myriads: His vicarious work, the extension of the Redeemers kingdom, and the deliverance of precious souls individually by con version to God.
III. THE ETERNAL FIRST CAUSE AVOWED. Thy counsels of old. (J. Irons.)
The faithfulness of God
That Divine perfection which the prophet celebrates is a fountain of consolation to everyone that thirsts after righteousness.
I. ENUMERATE SEVERAL PAST INSTANCES OF THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD.
1. Connected with the history of the deluge.
2. His conduct towards the people of Israel.
3. His promise to the father of the faithful, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed,–a promise afterwards repeatedly confirmed by prophets.
4. In the fulness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, etc. Gal 4:4-5). Having thus produced an instance of the faithfulness of God from each of the several kingdoms of nature, providence, and grace, I proceed to–
II. DEDUCE SUCH INFERENCES AS THE SUBJECT APPEARS TO SUGGEST.
1. We should cherish gratitude.
2. It is the privilege of devout Christians to maintain unshaken confidence in God–with reference both to the Church of Christ and the circumstances of individual believers.
(1) Of the perpetuity and future prosperity of the Church we are not permitted to doubt.
(2) Since the Lord is faithful, let the Christian who is in a state of poverty, re member that his Saviour hath said, Take no thought saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed . . . Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things, etc.
(3) Since God is faithful, let those who feel the strength of indwelling sin in their hearts, remember that it is promised, sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
(4) To fearful Christians the subject is also calculated to administer great relief. It should inspire a cheerful and affectionate confidence.
(5) In short, this illustrious attribute presents an asylum, whatever storms you are called upon in the path of duty to endure.
3. The subject should awaken salutary fear. For the faithfulness of God to His word and purpose is an attribute no less to be dreaded by the impenitent than valued by believers. (T. Sims, M. A.)
My God
Thou art my God, who hast invited me to sacred intercourse with Thee: who hast inclined me to surrender myself and all my concerns into Thy hands, and to choose Thee for my God. Thou art my Father, who hast nourished and brought me up among Thy children. Thou art my Friend, who hast loaded me with a rich profusion of favours. Thou art the Portion that I have chosen, in the possession of which I shall enjoy the most permanent felicity. Thou art my God, and therefore my happiness shall be complete. I humbly claim from Thy all-sufficiency the supply of all my wants; from Thy wisdom, direction and conduct; from Thy power, assistance and protection; from Thy love, refreshment and consolation; from Thy mercy, forgiveness and blessing; from Thy faithfulness, stability and support; and from Thy patience, forbearance and long suffering. I cheerfully resign myself and all my interests to Thy direction and disposal; and, with dutiful affection, I consecrate all my powers and faculties to Thy honour, whose I am, and whom I serve, that they may be employed in promoting Thy glory. (R. Macculloch.)
Exalting the Lord
To exalt the Lord our God is–
1. To proclaim the glorious honour of His majesty.
2. To extol the exceeding riches of His grace.
3. To magnify His transcendent excellences.
4. To celebrate, with affectionate gratitude, His wonderful loving kindness. (R. Macculloch.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXV
The short glance which the prophet gave at the promised
restoration of the people of God and the Messiah’s kingdom, in
the close of the preceding chapter, makes him break out into a
rapturous song of praise in this, where although he alludes to
temporal mercies, such as the destruction of the cities which
had been at war with Zion, the ruin of Moab, and other signal
interpositions of Divine Providence in behalf of the Jews; yet
he is evidently impressed with a more lively sense of future
and much higher blessings under the Gospel dispensation, in
the plenitude of its revelation, of which the temporal
deliverances vouchsafed at various tines to the primitive
kingdoms of Israel and Judah were the prototypes, 1-5.
These blessings are described under the figure of a feast made
for all nations, 6;
the removing of a veil from their faces, 7;
the total extinction of the empire of death by the resurrection
from the dead, the exclusion of all sorrow, and the final
overthrow of all the enemies of the people of God, 8-12.
It does not appear to me that this chapter has any close and particular connexion with the chapter immediately preceding, taken separately, and by itself. The subject of that was the desolation of the land of Israel and Judah, by the just judgment of God, for the wickedness and disobedience of the people: which, taken by itself, seems not with any propriety to introduce a hymn of thanksgiving to God for his mercies to his people in delivering them from their enemies. But taking the whole course of prophecies, from the thirteenth to the twenty-fourth chapter inclusive, in which the prophet foretells the destruction of several cities and nations, enemies to the Jews, and of the land of Judah itself, yet with intimations of a remnant to be saved, and a restoration to be at length effected by a glorious establishment of the kingdom of God: with a view to this extensive scene of God’s providence in all its parts, and in all its consequences, the prophet may well be supposed to break out into this song of praise; in which his mind seems to be more possessed with the prospect of future mercies than with the recollection of the past. – L.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXV
Verse 1. Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.] That is, All thy past declarations by the prophets shall be fulfilled in their proper time.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The prophet reflecting upon those great and glorious prophecies which he had delivered concerning the destruction of his enemies, and the protection and deliverance of his people, and the sending of the Messiah, and the establishment of his own kingdom in spite of all opposition, interrupteth the course of his prophecies, and breaketh forth into a solemn celebration of all these wonderful works.
Thy counsels of old are faithfuless and truth; thy counsels, from which all thy works proceed, and which thou hast from time to time revealed to thy prophets and people, which were
of old, being conceived from all eternity, and long since made known by thy threatenings and promises, are true and firm, and therefore shall certainly be accomplished,
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. wonderful (Isa9:6).
counsels of old(Isa 42:9; Isa 46:10).Purposes planned long ago; here, as to the deliverance of His people.
truthHebrew, Amen;covenant-keeping, faithful to promises; the peculiar characteristicof Jesus (Re 3:14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O Lord, thou [art] my God,…. Not by creation and providence only, but by covenant and grace. This is the first and foundation blessing of grace, and secures all the rest; in this true happiness consists, and is preferable to every other enjoyment; the knowledge of it is come at in effectual calling, and by the witnessing of the Spirit; it is the highest attainment of grace to be assured of it; and though it is not always seen and known, it will always remain, and will be the glory of the New Jerusalem state,
Re 21:3. These are the words, Aben Ezra says, either of the prophet, or of the ancients, before whom the Lord will reign,
Isa 24:23. Kimchi says of the latter, which seems very probable, these are the elders and representatives of the church; see
Re 11:16:
I will exalt thee; the Lord God, Father, Son, and Spirit; the Father, by attributing the whole of salvation to his love and free favour; the Son, by ascribing deity to him, by making use of him in all his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, and by giving him the glory of salvation wrought out by him; the Spirit, in his person, and the operations of his grace. Christ, in particular, will be exalted in this state as King of saints, and because of his having taken to himself his reigning power, Re 11:15:
I will praise thy name; celebrate his perfections, confess him before men, praise him for all his benefits; this is one way of exalting him, and is the great work of New Testament saints, and especially in the latter day; see Re 19:1:
for thou hast done wonderful [things]; this respects not so much the wonderful things in nature and grace, either in creation and providence, or in redemption and effectual calling; but what will be done in the latter day; as the conversion of the Jews and Gentiles, the destruction of antichrist, and the glorious appearing of the kingdom of Christ:
[thy] counsels of old [are] faithfulness [and] truth; the decrees and purposes of God, which are from eternity, are all truly and faithfully performed; this is an amplification of the wonderful things which are done according to the counsel of the divine will; not only the choice of men to salvation, the redemption of them by Christ, and their effectual calling; but the calling of the Jews and Gentiles, in particular, in the latter day, and all things relating to the church to the end of time; which, as they were fixed in the eternal purpose of God, they are punctually and exactly brought about in time; these are the true and faithful sayings of God, Re 19:9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The first echo is Isa 25:1-8, or more precisely Isa 25:1-5. The prophet, whom we already know as a psalmist from Isa 12:1-6, now acts as choral leader of the church of the future, and praises Jehovah for having destroyed the mighty imperial city, and proved Himself a defence and shield against its tyranny towards His oppressed church. “Jehovah, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name, that Thou hast wrought wonders, counsels from afar, sincerity, truth. For Thou hast turned it from a city into a heap of stones, the steep castle into a ruin; the palace of the barbarians from being a city, to be rebuilt no more for ever. Therefore a wild people will honour Thee, cities of violent nations fear Thee. For Thou provedst Thyself a stronghold to the lowly, a stronghold to the poor in his distress, as a shelter from the storm of rain, as a shadow from the burning of the sun; for the blast of violent ones was like a storm of rain against a wall. Like the burning of the sun in a parched land, Thou subduest the noise of the barbarians; ( like) the burning of the sun through the shadow of a cloud, the triumphal song of violent ones was brought low.” The introductory clause is to be understood as in Psa 118:28: Jehovah ( voc.), my God art Thou. “ Thou hast wrought wonders: ” this is taken from Exo 15:11 (as in Psa 77:15; Psa 78:12; like Isa 12:2, from Exo 15:2). The wonders which are now actually wrought are “ counsels from afar ” ( m eracok ), counsels already adopted afar off, i.e., long before, thoughts of God belonging to the olden time; the same ideal view as in Isa 22:11; Isa 37:26 (a parallel which coincides with our passage on every side), and, in fact, throughout the whole of the second part. It is the manifold “counsel” of the Holy One of Israel (Isa 5:19; Isa 14:24-27; Isa 19:12, Isa 19:17; Isa 23:8; Isa 28:29) which displays its wonders in the events of time. To the verb we have also a second and third object, viz., . It is a common custom with Isaiah to place derivatives of the same word side by side, for the purpose of giving the greatest possible emphasis to the idea (Isa 3:1; Isa 16:6). indicates a quality, in actual fact. What He has executed is the realization of His faithfulness, and the reality of His promises. The imperial city is destroyed. Jehovah, as the first clause which is defined by tzakeph affirms, has removed it away from the nature of a city into the condition of a heap of stones. The sentence has its object within itself, and merely gives prominence to the change that has been effected; the Lamed is used in the same sense as in Isa 23:13 (cf., Isa 37:26); the min, as in Isa 7:8; Isa 17:1; Isa 23:1; Isa 24:10. Mappelah , with kametz or tzere before the tone, is a word that can only be accredited from the book of Isaiah (Isa 17:1; Isa 23:13). , , and are common parallel words in Isaiah (Isa 1:26; Isa 22:2; Isa 32:13-14); and zarim , as in Isa 1:7 and Isa 29:5, is the most general epithet for the enemies of the people of God. The fall of the imperial kingdom is followed by the conversion of the heathen; the songs proceed from the mouths of the remotest nations. Isa 25:3 runs parallel with Rev 15:3-4. Nations hitherto rude and passionate now submit to Jehovah with decorous reverence, and those that were previously oppressive ( artzim , as in Isa 13:11, in form like partzim , shalshm ) with humble fear. The cause of this conversion of the heathen is the one thus briefly indicated in the Apocalypse, “for thy judgments are made manifest” (Rev 15:4). and (cf., Isa 14:30; Isa 29:19) are names well known from the Psalms, as applying to the church when oppressed. To this church, in the distress which she had endured ( , as in Isa 26:16; Isa 63:9, cf., Isa 33:2), Jehovah had proved Himself a strong castle ( m a’oz ; on the expression, compare Isa 30:3), a shelter from storm and a shade from heat (for the figures, compare Isa 4:6; Isa 32:2; Isa 16:3), so that the blast of the tyrants (compare ruach on Isa 30:28; Isa 33:11, Ps. 76:13) was like a wall-storm, i.e., a storm striking against a wall (compare Isa 9:3, a shoulder-stick, i.e., a stick which strikes the shoulder), sounding against it and bursting upon it without being able to wash it away (Isa 28:17; Psa 62:4), because it was the wall of a strong castle, and this strong castle was Jehovah Himself. As Jehovah can suddenly subdue the heat of the sun in dryness ( tzayon , abstract for concrete, as in Isa 32:2, equivalent to dry land, Isa 41:18), and it must give way when He brings up a shady thicket (Jer 4:29), namely of clouds (Exo 19:9; Psa 18:12), so did He suddenly subdue the thundering ( sha’on , as in Isa 17:12) of the hordes that stormed against His people; and the song of triumph ( zamr , only met with again in Son 2:12) of the tyrants, which passed over the world like a scorching heat, was soon “brought low” ( anah , in its neuter radical signification “to bend,” related to , as in Isa 31:4).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| A Song of Praise. | B. C. 718. |
1 O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. 2 For thou hast made of a city a heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. 3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. 4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. 5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
It is said in the close of the foregoing chapter that the Lord of hosts shall reign gloriously; now, in compliance with this, the prophet here speaks of the glorious majesty of his kingdom (Ps. cxlv. 12), and gives him the glory of it; and, however this prophecy might have an accomplishment in the destruction of Babylon and the deliverance of the Jews out of their captivity there, it seems to look further, to the praises that should be offered up to God by the gospel church for Christ’s victories over our spiritual enemies and the comforts he has provided for all believers. Here,
I. The prophet determines to praise God himself; for those that would stir up others should in the first place stir up themselves to praise God (v. 1): “O Lord! thou art my God, a God in covenant with me.” When God is punishing the kings of the earth upon the earth, and making them to tremble before him, a poor prophet can go to him, and, with a humble boldness, say, O Lord! thou art my God, and therefore I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name. Those that have the Lord for their God are bound to praise him; for therefore he took us to be his people that we might be unto him for a name and for a praise, Jer. xiii. 11. In praising God we exalt him; not that we can make him higher than he is, but we must make him to appear to ourselves and others than he does. See Exod. xv. 2.
II. He pleases himself with the thought that others also shall be brought to praise God, v. 3. “Therefore, because of the desolations thou hast made in the earth by thy providence (Ps. xlvi. 8) and the just vengeance thou hast taken on thy and thy church’s enemies, therefore shall the strong people glorify thee in concert, and the city (the metropolis) of the terrible nations fear thee.” This may be understood, 1. Of those people that have been strong and terrible against God. Those that have been enemies to God’s kingdom, and have fought against the interests of it with a great deal of strength and terror, shall either be converted, and glorify God by joining with his people in his service, or at least convinced, so as to own themselves conquered. Those that have been the terror of the mighty shall be forced to tremble before the judgments of God and call in vain to rocks and mountains to hide them. Or, 2. Of those that shall be now made strong and terrible for God and by him, though before they were weak and trampled upon. God shall so visibly appear for and with those that fear him and glorify him that all shall acknowledge them a strong people and shall stand in awe of them. There was a time when many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them (Esther viii. 17), and when those that knew their God were strong and did exploits (Dan. xi. 32), for which they glorified God.
III. He observes what is, and ought to be, the matter of this praise. We and others must exalt God and praise him; for, 1. He has done wonders, according to the counsel of his own will, v. 1. We exalt God by admiring what he has done as truly wonderful, wonderful proofs of his power beyond what any creature could perform, and wonderful proofs of his goodness beyond what such sinful creatures as we are could expect. These wonderful things, which are new and surprising to us, and altogether unthought of, are according to his counsels of old, devised by his wisdom and designed for his own glory and the comfort of his people. All the operations of providence are according to God’s eternal counsels (and those faithfulness and truth itself), all consonant to his attributes, consistent with one another, and sure to be accomplished in their season. 2. He has in particular humbled the pride, and broken the power, of the mighty ones of the earth (v. 2): “Thou hast made of a city, of many a city, a heap of rubbish. Of many a defenced city, that thought itself well guarded by nature and art, and the multitude and courage of its militia, thou hast made a ruin.” What created strength can hold out against Omnipotence? “Many a city so richly built that it might be called a palace, and so much frequented and visited by persons of the best rank from all parts that it might be called a palace of strangers, thou hast made to be no city; it is levelled with the ground, and not one stone left upon another, and it shall never be built again.” This has been the case of many cities in divers parts of the world, and in our own nation particularly; cities that flourished once have gone to decay and are lost, and it is scarcely known (except by urns or coins digged up out of the earth) where they stood. How many of the cities of Israel have long since been heaps and ruins! God hereby teaches us that here we have no continuing city and must therefore seek one to come which will never be a ruin or go to decay. 3. He has seasonably relieved and succoured his necessitous and distressed people (v. 4): Thou has been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy. As God weakens the strong that are proud and secure, so he strengthens the weak that are humble and serious, and stay themselves upon him. Nay, he not only makes them strong, but he is himself their strength; for in him they strengthen themselves, and it is his favour that is the strength of their hearts. He is a strength to the needy in his distress, when he needs strength, and when his distress drives him to God. And, as he strengthens them against their inward decays, so he shelters them from outward assaults. He is a refuge from the storm of rain or hail, and a shadow from the scorching heat of the sun in summer. God is a sufficient protection to his people in all weathers, hot and cold, wet and dry. The armour of righteousness serves both on the right hand and on the left, 2 Cor. vi. 7. Whatever dangers or troubles God’s people may be in, effectual care is taken that they shall sustain no real hurt or damage. When perils are most threatening and alarming God will then appear for the safety of his people: When the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall, which makes a great noise, but cannot overthrow the wall. The enemies of God’s poor are terrible ones; they do all they can to make themselves so to them. Their rage is like a blast of wind, loud, and blustering, and furious; but, like the wind, it is under a divine check; for God holds the winds in his fist, and God will be such a shelter to his people that they shall be able to stand the shock, keep their ground, and maintain their integrity and peace. A storm beating on a ship tosses it, but that which beats on a wall never stirs it, Psa 76:10; Psa 138:7. 4. That he does and will shelter those that trust in him from the insolence of their proud oppressors (v. 5): Thou shalt, or thou dost, bring down the noise of strangers; thou shalt abate and still it, as the heat in a dry place is abated and moderated by the shadow of a cloud interposing. The branch, or rather the son or triumph, of the terrible ones shall be brought low, and they shall be made to change their note and lower their voice. Observe here, (1.) The oppressors of God’s people are called strangers; for they forget that those they oppress are made of the same mould, of the same blood, with them. They are called terrible ones; for so they affect to be, rather than amiable ones: they would rather be feared than loved. (2.) Their insolence towards the people of God is noisy and hot, and that is all; it is but the noise of strangers, who think to carry their point by hectoring and bullying all that stand in their way, and talking big. Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise, Jer. xlvi. 17. It is like the heat of the sun scorching in the middle of the day; but where is it when the sun has set? (3.) Their noise, and heat, and all their triumph, will be humbled and brought low, when their hopes are baffled and all their honours laid in the dust. The branches, even the top branches, of the terrible ones, will be broken off, and thrown to the dunghill. (4.) If the labourers in God’s vineyard be at any time called to bear the burden and heat of the day, he will find some way or other to refresh them, as with the shadow of a cloud, that they may not be pressed above measure.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ISAIAH – CHAPTER 25
ZION PRAISES JEHOVAH FOR SALVATION AND COMFORT
Verse 1-5: PRAISING THE LORD FOR HIS MIGHTY WORKS
1. Here is a song of praise from the hearts of those who have been divinely preserved through fearful judgments.
2. The object of adoration is Jehovah Himself with whom they claim a personal relationship, (vs, 1; Exo 15:2; Psa 48:14; Isa 7:13; Isa 49:4-5; Isa 61:10).
a. They exalt and praise His name, (Psa 28:6-7).
b. They rejoice in His wonderful works, (Psa 40:5; Psa 98:1); in faithfullness and truth He has fulfilled His covenants (purposes) of old, (Isa 42:9; Isa 46:10; comp. Rev 3:14) – their “wonderful Counsellor”, (Isa 9:6).
3. The cause for praise (as here stated) is threefold:
a. For the destruction of the strong, defensed and terrible “city” (representative of no particular city, but of a world-system of humanistic wisdom, power and strategy – under demonic influence – in opposition to, and defiance of the will, Word and way of God) in such a way as to compel the fear of all nations, (Verse 3; Isa 13:11).
b. For the deliverance of Zion – being a refuge for the poor and needy in the time of their great distress, (Verse 4-5; Isa 14:32; Psa 28:8; Isa 11:4; Isa 32:1-2; Isa 4:5-6).
c. And for the destruction of Moab – their enemy.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. O Lord, thou art my God. Hitherto Isaiah has prophesied about the judgments of God, which threatened not only a single nation, but almost the whole world. Now, it was impossible that the contemplation of calamities so dismal as those which he foresaw should not give him great uneasiness; for godly persons would desire that all mankind should be saved, and, while they honor God, they desire also to love all that belongs to him; and, in short, so far as any man sincerely fears God, he has a powerful and lively feeling of the divine judgments. While wicked men stand amazed at the judgments of God, and are not moved by any terror, godly men tremble at the slightest token of his anger. And if this be the case with us, what do we suppose was experienced by the Prophet, who had almost before his eyes those calamities which he foretold? For, in order that the ministers of the word might be convinced of the certainty of what they taught, it was necessary that they should be more powerfully impressed by it than the generality of men.
Since therefore the Lord held out to Isaiah, as in a picture, those dreadful calamities, he found it necessary, under the overpowering influence of grief and anxiety, to betake himself to the Lord; otherwise the confused emotions of his mind would have agitated him beyond measure. He therefore takes courage from the belief that, in the midst of these tempests, the Lord still determines to promote the advantage of his Church, and to bring into subjection to himself those who were formerly estranged. Isaiah therefore remains firm and steadfast in his calling, and does not allow himself to be drawn aside from his purpose, but continually relies on the expectation of mercy, and therefore perseveres in celebrating the praises of God. Thus we learn that this thanksgiving is connected with the former prophecies, and that Isaiah considers not only what he foretold, but why the Lord did it; that is, why the Lord afflicted so many nations with various calamities. It was, that he might subdue those who were formerly incorrigible, and who rushed forward with brutal eagerness, who had no fear of God, and no feeling of religion or godliness.
Thou art my God. Being as it were perplexed and confused, he suddenly raises his thoughts to God, as we have already said. Hence we ought to draw a very useful doctrine, namely, that when our minds are perplexed by a variety of uneasy thoughts on account of numerous distresses and afflictions which happen daily, we ought immediately to resort to God, and rely on his providence; for even the smallest calamities will overwhelm us, if we do not betake ourselves to him, and support our hearts by this doctrine. In order to bring out more fully the meaning of the Prophet, the word but or nevertheless may be appropriately inserted in this manner: “Whatever temptations from that quarter may disturb me, nevertheless I will acknowledge thee to be my God.” Thus he promises that he will give to God the praise which is due to him; and this cannot be, unless a firm belief of his grace dwell in our hearts, and hold a superiority, from which grace springs a joy, which yields to us the most abundant ground for praises, when we are certain of our salvation, and are fully convinced that the Lord is our God. Accordingly, those who are influenced by no desire to praise God, have not believed and have not tasted the goodness of God; for if we actually trust in God, we must be led to take great delight in praising his name.
For thou hast done a wonderful thing. He uses the word פלא, ( pĕlĕ,) wonderful, in the singular number instead of the plural. The Prophet does not confine his view to the present appearance of things, but looks to the end; for even men who in other respects are heathens, behold in the government of the world astonishing events, the sight of which overwhelms them with amazement; which undoubtedly happened to the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon, and to the Babylonians and Moabites. But those only who have tasted his goodness and wisdom can profit by the works of God; for otherwise they undervalue and despise his works, and do not comprehend their excellence, because they do not perceive their end, which is, that God, wonderfully bringing light out of darkness, (2Co 4:6,) raises his Church from death to life, and regulates in the best manner, and directs to the most valuable purpose, those things which to the eye of man appear to be confused.
Counsels which have been already decreed of old. (136) Now, in order to bestow still higher commendation on the providence of God, he adds, that the “counsels have been already decreed of old;” as if he had said, that to God nothing is sudden or unforeseen. And indeed, though he sometimes appears to us to act suddenly, yet all things were undoubtedly ordained by him before the creation of the world. (Act 15:18.) By this word, therefore, the Apostle means that all the miracles which happen contrary to the expectation of men, are the result of that regular order which God maintains in governing the world, arranging all things from the beginning to the end. Now, since we do not understand those secret decrees, and our powers of understanding cannot rise so high, our attention must therefore be directed to the manifestation of them; for they are concealed from us, and exceed our comprehension, till the Lord reveal them by his word, in which he accommodates himself to our weakness; for his decree is ( ἀνεξεύρητον) unsearchable.
Firm truth. (137) From the eternal decrees of God the Prophet thus proceeds to doctrines and promises, which he undoubtedly denotes by the word truth; for the repetition would be frivolous, if this word did not signify a relation; because, when God has revealed to us his purpose, if we believe his sayings, he then appears to be actually true. He commends the firmness and certainty of the word, when he says that it is “steadfast truth;” that is, that everything that comes from God, everything that is declared by him, is firm and unchangeable.
(136) “Faithfulness and truth.” — Eng. Ver. “Perfectly true.” — Stock. “Truth, certainty.” — Alexander.
FT394 “Counsels of old.” — Eng. Ver. “Counsels of old time.” — Stock
FT395 “ Of foreigners, a term with the Jews synonymous to barbarians or enemies; as the Romans confounded hospites with hostes , being to them nearly the same thing.” — Stock
FT396 See page 191
FT397 “The branch of the terrible ones.” — Eng. Ver. “So shall the song of the tyrants be brought low.” — Alexander
FT398 “Of wines on the lees well refined.” — Eng. Ver.
FT399 “ Que nous en soyons remplis et rassassiez;” — “That we may be filled and satisfied with it.”
FT400 “ Le voile qui cache la face de tous les peuples;” — “The veil which covers the face of all people.”
FT401 “He will swallow up death in victory.” — Eng. Ver.
FT402 “When we consider the expression which follows, (evidently meant, by a parallelism, to be exegetical,) πάντων περίψημα, there is little doubt that the sense of περικαθάρματα is ‘the cleansings up,’ as περίψημα is ‘the sweepings up or around;’ metaphorically denoting ‘the vilest things’ or ‘persons,’ the very ‘outcasts’ of society.” — Bloomfield on 1Co 4:13. “ Περίψημα denotes filings or scrapings of any kind, and also the sweepings that are cleared away with a brush.” —Calvin on Corinthians, vol. 1 p. 166
FT403 “ J’ay mieux aimé le tourner, On dira;” — “I chose rather to render it, It shall be said.”
FT404 “ Ces deux mots, Voici, Cestui-ci ;” — “These two words, Lo, This. ”
FT405 “ C’est-ci l Eternel;” — “This is the Eternal.”
FT406 “This is a strange oversight. נגילה ( nagīllah) and נשמחה ( nismĕchāh) are in the future tense, and are so rendered by our Author in his version, “ Exultabimus et lætabimur,” — “We will rejoice and be glad.” “The augmented futures at the close,” says Professor Alexander, alluding to the He paragogic, “may either denote fixed determination (‘we will rejoice, we will be glad’) or a proposition, (‘Let us then rejoice,’) for which the language has no other distinct form.” — Ed
FT407 That is, Abraham and Lot. (Gen 11:31.)
FT408 “As straw is trodden down for the dunghill, (or, thrashed in Madmenah.)” — (Eng. Ver.)
FT409 Professor Alexander renders it, “in the water of the dunghill,” and remarks, “The Keri, or Masoretic reading in the margin, has במו, a poetical equivalent of ב, the preposition. The Kethib, or textual reading, which is probably more ancient, is במי, in the water. This, with the next word, may denote a pool in which the straw was left to putrefy.”
FT410 See Commentary on Isaiah, vol. 1 p. 488
(137) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE GRAND APPROPRIATION
Isa. 25:1. O Lord, Thou art my God.
I. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN GOD AND OURSELVES.
1. The Lord is our God in a necessary and absolute sense.
2. He should be our God by choice (H. E. I., 306, 307, 2381, 2385, 46304647, 4970).
3. If He is thus to become our God, it must be through the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the exercise of an appropriating faith (H. E. I., 1952).
II. THE ADVANTAGES WE MAY ANTICIPATE FROM THIS CONNECTION.
1. Light in darkness.
2. Guidance in perplexity.
3. Protection in danger.
4. Strength in duty.
5. Consolation in sorrow.
6. Sanctity and glory.
III. THE DUTIES ARISING OUT OF THIS CONNECTION.
1. We should exalt Him.
2. We should be jealous for His honour.
3. We must obey His commands.
4. We should acquiesce in His will.
5. We should seek our pleasure and satisfaction from Him.John Corbin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
B. JUBILEE BY JUDAH, CHAPTER 25
1. JUBILATION FOR JEHOVAHS POWER
TEXT: Isa. 25:1-5
1
O Jehovah, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things, even counsels of old, in faithfulness and truth.
2
For thou hast made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
3
Therefore shall a strong people glorify thee; a city of terrible nations shall fear thee.
4
For thou has been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5
As the heat in a dry place wilt thou bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the terrible shall be brought low.
QUERIES
a.
What counsels of old has God done?
b.
Who are the strong people to glorify Jehovah?
c.
Why the figure of storm and shade?
PARAPHRASE
O Covenant-God, Thou art my Lord. I will extol and celebrate with thanksgiving Your Name. You have done wonderful things; Your plans formed long ago have been faithfully and absolutely fulfilled. You turn a mighty city into a heap of rubble. Strong fortresses You make into ruins. The castle of aliens You make to disappear never to be built again. Therefore a people of strength will glorify You; ruthless nations and their cities will fear You. To the weak and powerless You have been a refuge; You have been a refuge to the needy in their distress. You have been a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat when the ruthless nations storm and burn down upon us. As heat in a dry and torrid land is cooled by the shadow of a cloud, so You subdue the shouts of the aliens and put to silence the boasting chants of the ruthless nations.
COMMENTS
Isa. 25:1-3 SOVEREIGN LORD: Two Hebrew names of God are used in Isa. 25:1Yaweh and Elohim. According to the best lexicographers Yaweh (Jehovah) denotes Gods covenant-keeping nature (faithfulness) while Elohim (Lord) denotes Gods Lordship or Almightiness. Chapter 25 is the prophets song of praise following Chapter 24s pronouncement of the doom of world power. The Covenant God has promised He will triumph over His enemies and that He shall reign eternally. Based upon the past faithfulness of God, Isaiah begins his song of praise thanking Him for the promises of future covenant fulfillment. The prophet seems to thank Jehovah for future triumph as if it had already been completed. Gods sovereign deeds are performed supernaturally in history as He carries out His covenanted plan of redemption. Such supernatural sovereignty and faithfulness causes men to marvel (cf. Psa. 40:5; Psa. 98:1; Eph. 1:11, etc.). The Hebrew word yodoh is translated praise in Isa. 25:1, and means literally, celebrate. Isaiah calls all who will to a celebration of praise for the faithfulness of Jehovah to keep His word.
Damascus (Syria), Samaria (Israel), Nineveh (Assyria), Memphis (Egypt) and Ethiopia threatened Gods people. But always God warned and promised their doom. Where are they now? They have all been brought low. Now Babylon threatens. What are Gods people to do? Trust in His faithfulness to keep His promise of Babylons doom also. Isa. 25:2 promises that no city of man shall be strong enough to resist the Faithful and Almighty God. No material device, no political ideology, no philosophical system will ever thwart the Absolute certainty of Jehovahs covenant. World systems may deceive some (even with lying signs and wonders) that they are going to eradicate Gods kingdom and His covenant. But they shall never accomplish it. World systems have already been defeated (Col. 2:15, etc.)their obliteration awaits only the Consummation.
In the meantime (while we await the Consummation), some strong people (Gentiles) will turn to Jehovah glorifying and fearing Him. Isaiah is predicting the conversion of Gentiles as they see the wonderful faithfulness of the God of Israel (cf. our comments Isa. 19:16 ff).
Isa. 25:4-5 SHELTERING GOD: The Hebrew word dol is literally exhausted but translated poor in Isa. 25:4. Another reason for Isaiahs celebration of praise to Jehovah is His being a refuge for the weak and helpless. The Hebrew people had plenty of evidence for this aspect of Gods nature. He had taken them as a helpless, infantile people (cf. Eze. 16:1 ff) and rescued them, nurtured them, protected them and blessed them. He sheltered them from their enemies century after century as long as they depended upon Him. The metaphors of storm, refuge, heat, and shade should register vividly on the Hebrew mind. Palestine is subject to some violent natural storms and is a land of torrid heat and arid dryness. The prophets used such metaphors of the land frequently to communicate Gods nature and His will to their people. Jehovah is The Shadow of a Mighty Rock, within a weary land. The storms of world power (cf. Revelation, the Seals, Trumpets, etc.) rage against Gods elect covenant people (cf. Psa. 2:1-11) and, looked at from a human perspective, it appears the city of God will fall. But the Divine Perspective shows refuge and salvation and victory for the city of God.
Just as a cloud can obscure the heat of the sun and give refuge to a dry, dusty traveler, so easily will the Lord bring to nothing the torrid rage of His enemies and save His faithful ones. The supernatural deeds of God done in history and recorded by eyewitnesses testify abundantly that He will do what He has promised. Let all who believe Him celebrate in jubilant praise.
QUIZ
1.
What two names for God are used in this text and what do they signify?
2.
How has God demonstrated in the past that He keeps His word?
3.
Why does Isaiahs audience need to be reminded He keeps His word?
4.
Have world systems already been defeated?
5.
Is God a refuge for people because they are materially poor?
6.
What storms rage against Gods elect?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXV.
(1) O Lord, thou art my God.The burst of praise follows, like St. Pauls in Rom. 11:33-36, upon the contemplation of the glory of the heavenly city.
Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.It is better to omit the words in italics, and to treat the words as standing in the objective case, in apposition with wonderful things. The counsels of old are the eternal purposes of God made known to His prophets. The absence of a conjunction in the Hebrew, emphasises the enumeration.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1, 2. He sings in words familiar to him from Psa 118:28; Psa 77:15; Psa 72:12, etc.; also, from Exo 15:11.
For Sufficient occasion is it that Babylon (as the vision gives it) is destroyed.
Palace of strangers Either a place of traffickers from all regions, or of its own people alienated from Israel’s God, or both.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Yahweh Will Bring Down ‘The City’ With all Its Anti-God Significance And Will Uphold His People and Defeat Death So That They Rise Again ( Isa 25:1-8 ).
Analysis.
a O Yahweh, you are my God, I will exalt you, I will give thankful praise to your name, for you have done wonderful things, counsels of old in faithfulness and truth (Isa 25:1)
b For you have made of a city a heap, of a defenced city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city, it will never be built. Therefore will the strong people glorify you, the city of the terrible nations will fear you (Isa 25:2-3).
c For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress (Isa 25:4 a).
c A refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against a wall (Isa 25:4 b).
b As the heat in a dry place, you will bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the terrible will be brought low, and in this mountain will Yahweh of hosts make to all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined (Isa 25:5-6).
a And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering (shroud) that is cast over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He has swallowed up death for ever, and the Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from off all the earth, for Yahweh has said it (Isa 25:7-8).
In ‘a’ Yahweh is to be praised because He has done wonderful things, things declared from of old. and in the parallel He will do a new thing, an even greater wonder, for He will destroy death, removing tears and reproach and bring His people everlasting life. In ‘b’ the strong will glorify Him and the terrible will fear Him and all that belonged to the terrible will be a heap and a ruin, and in the parallel the song of the terrible will be brought low, but those who are Yahweh’s will feast with Him luxuriously. In ‘c’ and parallel all this is because Yahweh is the refuge and strength of His people.
Isa 25:1-3
‘O Yahweh, you are my God, I will exalt you,
I will give thankful praise to your name,
For you have done wonderful things,
Counsels of old in faithfulness and truth.
For you have made of a city a heap,
Of a defenced city a ruin.
A palace of strangers to be no city.
It will never be built.
Therefore will the strong people glorify you,
The city of the terrible nations will fear you.’
The song is a song of triumph at the victory of Yahweh as described in Isa 24:23, seen as looking back on His powerful activity in history and exulting in what He has done and giving Him thankful praise. He has done ‘wonderful things’, mighty wonders, carrying out His wise plans (counsel) which were from of old, faithfully and honourably.
Note the emphasis on His sovereignty throughout history. At the end it will be seen that He has carried through what He planned from the beginning, faithfully and truly fulfilling His covenant.
For He has brought down ‘the city’ which stood for all that was against God, the city of wastedness, of emptiness (Isa 24:10) (Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and so also are Nineveh, and Tyre, and Thebes, and Rome). It has been made a heap and a ruin. It is no more. Such is the palace of those who refuse to become one of God’s people, who remain strangers to Him and to them. They will be a ‘no city’. They will dwell among the ruins.
From the beginning the ‘city’, whether Cain’s city (a tent or cave encampment – Gen 4:17) or Babel (Gen 11:1-9), has been seen as in opposition to God. When men gather together it is usually to do mischief. They begin to exert themselves against their fellowmen, and to indulge themselves in idle luxury and engage in evil behaviour.
That is why after the building of Babel and the scattering of mankind God is seen as turning to one who had no continuing city, to Abraham the friend of God, a pilgrim and stranger in the earth (Heb 11:9-10; Heb 13:14; Jas 2:23). Even Jerusalem, the concept of which was to build a city of God, turned bad (Isa 1:21), and has had to be replaced by a heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 11:16; Heb 12:22; Heb 13:14; Gal 4:26).
So in this cry of triumph is a recognition that all cities oppose God and His people and are therefore doomed (Isa 26:5). The city is ever a symbol of man’s opposition to God. It includes Nineveh, and Tyre, and eventually Rome. But especially Babylon with all that it stood for. It will be destroyed, never to be rebuilt.
This will cause strong nations to stand in awe of Him and give Him full credit, the city of terrible nations will fear Him. These strong and terrible nations are the peoples powerful enough to establish empires, and to conquer nations. They too will have their city which will also be destroyed. By this they will recognise His mighty power, and fear. For they too will be doomed.
It should be noted here that this is not referring to a specific city. It is referring to all cities, the places to which men looked for refuge. In that day there will be nothing for poeple to look to who have not looked to Yahweh..
Isa 25:4
‘For you have been a stronghold to the poor,
A stronghold to the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat,
When the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against a wall.’
In contrast to thos other cities, to His own, God is not just a city, but an enduring and impregnable stronghold. This is another reason for Isaiah’s exultation, because of what Yahweh has been and is for those who trust in Him, for the poor and the needy. ‘The poor’ is often a description indicating those who are faithful to God. They see earthly things as of no value. They have nothing else to trust in but God (Zep 3:12; Psa 72:13; Psa 82:4; Mat 5:3). But He will be seen to have been their stronghold, somewhere where they could enter and be safe. He will be to them as a refuge from the storm, as a shadow where they can shelter from the burning heat, when the great trials of life come on them (compare ‘the Man’ in Isa 32:2). The picture of the storm wind, picking up the sand and battering a wall like a sand blaster, is a vivid one, and illustrates the effect of invading ‘terrible’ enemies on those who are their victims. But in it all God will be a protection to His own, and they can find strength and comfort in Him (even against the great Enemy).
Isa 25:5
‘As the heat in a dry place,
You will bring down the noise of strangers,
As the heat by the shadow of a cloud,
The song of the terrible will be brought low.’
Yahweh will be a protection to His own, but to others He will be like a searing heat. The first picture is of those who are ‘strangers’ to God’s people, aliens, wilting in the burning, exhausting heat in an arid land, so that their commotion and activity against His people subsides as they struggle with the impact of the Yahweh produced heat. But when cloud cover comes they are no better off, for the second picture is of the heat being reduced (brought low) by the effect of a cloud, but this but points to the song of prospective invaders being similarly reduced because they are left with nothing to sing about. There will be a cloud over their lives.
Isa 25:6
‘And in this mountain will Yahweh of hosts make to all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.’
And finally, ‘in this mountain’. This is the mountain of Yahweh’s people, in earthly terms the hill country stretching from north to south (regularly called ‘the mountain’), His ‘holy mountain’ (Isa 11:9), God’s land, the picture of His eternal inheritance, with its focal point in Mount Zion (Isa 2:2-3; Isa 24:23). In this mountain, in contrast to the searing heat of Isa 25:5, Yahweh will provide a great and luxurious feast for His own from among all peoples (compare Isa 40:11; Eze 34:23 and see Exo 24:11 which was a symbol of what was to come). Wine on the lees is when the wine has settled down, with the sediment, ‘the lees’, falling to the bottom. This is wine ready for consumption. The fat things full of marrow represent all that is good to eat. The whole idealistic picture is often called ‘the Messianic banquet’, the time of good things for God’s people.
And when Christ came He did provide for man the perfect feast in the hill country of Israel, firstly in the feeding of the crowds and then by the feast of Himself, a feast which replaced the manna and was sufficient for all (Joh 6:32-35). He provided the good wine (Joh 2:1-11), which pointed to what He was and what He had come to do. Indeed He often likened the Kingly Rule of God to a feast in His parables (e.g. Luk 14:15-24). And His own will finally feast at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9), when the final everlasting feast will begin in the new Jerusalem, Mount Zion (Heb 12:22). They will drink of the water of life freely (Rev 21:6). The whole idea is brought out again in Rev 21:1-7.
Isa 25:7-8
‘And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering (shroud) that is cast over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He has swallowed up death for ever, and the Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from off all the earth, for Yahweh has said it.’
This too will be ‘in this mountain’. That these verses can in the end only refer to the everlasting kingdom comes out here in this remarkable revelation. He Who has done wonderful things will now perform His greatest wonder. Death will be defeated! But that destruction of the veil of death was indeed accomplished ‘in this mountain’ when Jesus Christ was offered up as a sacrifice and raised again in newness of life, defeating death for ever and taking away from His true people the very fear of death (Heb 2:14-15). But the prime meaning of the sentence lies in what that accomplished in the everlasting kingdom.
Death is seen to be like a shroud cast over the peoples, like a mourning veil spread over the nations, a dark shadow over all men, but in the mountain of Yahweh, the place where Yahweh’s people will finally be gathered, there will be no more death. Death will have been swallowed up for ever. Mourning will be a thing of the past. All tears will have been removed by the sovereign Lord, Yahweh. Their reproach will be taken away. For death is the wages of sin, therefore no more death reveals that they have become sinless in God’s eyes, and no more a reproach. The sentence of Eden has been reversed. This is Yahweh’s promise. He has given His word, and His word will bring it about.
The background to the seed thought may be the Canaanite myth of the death of Moth (‘Death’), the killer of Baal (‘Lord’), which results in Baal living again, but it is only used as illustration. But this is not myth. Here there is no thought of yearly repetition or connection with fertility. It rises far above that. Death as a reality is seen as defeated by the Lord Yahweh once for all, and swallowed up, an event never needing to be repeated.
This too found partial fulfilment in the first coming of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, Who gave men eternal life as something they could enjoy in the present (Joh 5:24-25), and will receive in its final fulfilment at His second coming (Joh 5:28-29; 1Th 4:14-17). For He came as the resurrection and the life so that men may live and not die (Joh 11:25-26). And it will come to completeness when those who hear His voice come alive again, both immediately in experience, and then by the resurrection at the last day (Joh 5:24-25; Joh 5:28-29; 1Jn 5:13; 1Co 15:42-49), when they will rise again with spiritual bodies. Death will be swallowed up for ever.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 25:6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
Isa 25:6
Comments – The phrase “wines on the lees” means that this wine has been stored and aged so that it is the best tasting of all wines. Note some modern translations.
BBE reads, “a feast of good things, a feast of wines long stored, of good things sweet to the taste, of wines long kept and tested.”
God’sWord, “a feast with the best foods, a banquet with aged wines, with the best foods and the finest wines.”
YLT reads, “a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Prophecies Against the Nations Isa 13:1 to Isa 27:13 records prophecies against twelve nations, culminating with praise unto the Lord. God planted the nation of Israel in the midst of the nations as a witness of God’s plan of redemption for mankind. Instead of embracing God’s promises and commandments to mankind, the nations rejected Israel and their God, then they participated in Israel’s destruction. Although God judges His people, He also judged these nations, the difference being God promised to restore and redeem Israel, while the nations received no future hope of restoration in their prophecies; yet, their opportunity for restoration is found in Israel’s rejection when God grafts the Church into the vine of Israel (Rom 11:11-32). The more distant nations played little or no role in Israel’s idolatry, demise, and divine judgment, so they are not listed in this passage of Scripture.
It is important to note in prophetic history that Israel’s judgment is followed by judgment upon the nations; and Israel’s final restoration is followed by the restoration of the nations and the earth. Thus, some end time scholars believe that the events that take place in Israel predict parallel events that are destined to take place among the nations.
Here is a proposed outline:
1. Judgment upon Babylon Isa 13:1 to Isa 14:27
2. Judgment upon Philistia Isa 14:28-32
3. Judgment upon Moab Isa 15:1 to Isa 16:14
4. Judgment upon Damascus Isa 17:1-14
5. Judgment upon Ethiopia Isa 18:1-7
6. Judgment upon Egypt Isa 19:1-25
7. Prophecy Against Ethiopia & Egypt Isa 20:1-6
8. Judgment upon the Wilderness of the Sea Isa 21:1-10
9. Judgment upon Dumah Isa 21:11-12
10. Judgment upon Arabia Isa 21:13-17
11. Judgment upon Judah Isa 22:1-25
12. Judgment upon Tyre Isa 23:1-18
13. Judgment upon the Earth Isa 24:1-23
14. Praise to God for Israel’s Restoration Isa 25:1 to Isa 27:13
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Praise unto God Isa 25:1 to Isa 27:13 contains a passage of praise unto God. It naturally follows a lengthy passage of judgments upon the nations of the earth; for it teaches us that divine chastisement and judgment is for our good, producing the fruit of righteousness. This passage of Scripture helps us to understand that God judged the world out of love in order to turn the nations back to Him so that He might be praised and worshipped upon the earth.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Thanksgiving for God’s Benefits
v. 1. Lord, Thou art my God, v. 2. For Thou hast made of a city an heap, v. 3. Therefore shall the strong people glorify Thee, v. 4. For Thou hast been a strength to the poor, v. 5. Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud; the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low, v. 6. And in this mountain, v. 7. And He will destroy in this mountain, v. 8. He will swallow up death in victory,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Isa 25:1-12
ISAIAH‘S SONG OF PRAISE ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GOD‘S KINGDOM. AS in Isa 12:1-6, after describing the first setting up of Christ’s kingdom and the call of the Gentiles, the prophet broke out into song, through joy at the tidings he was commissioned to announce, so now, having proclaimed the final establishment of the same kingdom in the heavenly Zion, he is again carried away by the sense of exultant gladness into a fresh Lobgesang, which he utters in his own personnot, as the former one, in the person of the Church. His song divides itself into three sections:
(1) Isa 12:1-5, a thanksgiving for deliverance;
(2) Isa 12:6 -8, a commemoration of blessings granted; and
(3) verses 9-12, exultation in the security obtained.
Isa 25:1
Thou art my God; I will exalt thee (comp. Exo 15:2 and Psa 118:28). To Isaiah the “Song of Moses” seems to have been a pattern thanksgiving, from which he delighted to draw his phrases when he was bent on formally singing praise to God. Compare the following: Exo 15:2 with Isa 12:2, “He is become my salvation;” the same with Isa 25:1, “He is my God; I will exalt him;” Exo 15:6 with Isa 13:16, “Hath dashed in pieces;” Exo 15:7 with Isa 47:14, “Consumed them as stubble;” Exo 15:11 with Isa 46:5, “Who is like,” etc.? the same with Isa 25:1, “Doing wonders;” Exo 15:16 with Isa 8:13, “Fear and dread;” Exo 15:18 with Isa 24:23, “The Lord shall reign.” Wonderful things; thy counsels of old are, etc.; rather, thou hast wrought wonders, counsels of old, faithfulness and truth. The wonders for which God is praised were decreed in his counsels from all eternity; their accomplishment shows forth God’s “faithfulness” and “truth.”
Isa 25:2
Thou hast made of a city an heap. No particular city is pointed at. The prophet has in his mind the fate of all those cities which have been enemies of Jehovah and persecutors of the saints upon earth. A defended city; i.e. “a fenced, or fortified, city.” A palace of strangers. As the “city” of this passage is not an individual city, so the “palace” is not an individual palace. All the palaces of those who were “strangers” to God and his covenant have ceased to bethey are whelmed in the general destruction (see Isa 24:20). They will never rise again out of their ruins.
Isa 25:3
Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee; rather, strong peoples. God’s judgments on the nations specially hostile to him would cause some among the heathen peoples to range themselves on his side. Perhaps Persia is mainly intended (see Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1, etc.; and comp. Ezr 1:1-4; Ezr 6:3-12, etc.). The city of the terrible nations; rather, cities of terrible nations. Though the noun is singular, the verb is plural, showing that the word “city” is again used distributively.
Isa 25:4
The poor the needy. The “poor and needy” are especially the afflicted saints, whom the ungodly of the earth have so long injured and oppressed. God is ever a “Strength” and “Refuge” to such (comp. Isa 14:30; Isa 29:19; and see also Psa 72:12-14). A Refuge from the storm (comp. Isa 4:6; and the Psalms passim). A Shadow from the heat. The idea is a little enlarged in Isa 32:2. Its germ is, perhaps, to be found in Psa 121:5, Psa 121:6. No writer accumulates striking images with such force and beauty as Isaiah. Primarily, the entire imagery has reference to what God will have done for his people when the final consummation arrives. Secondarily, a precious encouragement is held out to all who are undergoing their earthly trial and probation, who are taught where to look for a sure refuge in time of trouble.
Isa 25:5
Thou shalt bring down. The past foreshadows the future. What God had done in “bringing down” the enemies of his saints, he would do again and again. He could as easily bring to naught the clamorous uprising of heathen nations (strangers) against his people, as temper the sun’s heat by the interposition of a thick cloud. The branch; rather, the song (comp. Isa 24:16; Job 35:10; Psa 95:2; Psa 119:51). The exultant chant of triumph which the ungodly are sure to raise as they deem their victory over the people of God complete, will be stopped in mid-career, and “brought low,” or reduced to silence, by the crushing overthrow predicted in Isa 24:1-23.
Isa 25:6-8
The blessings of the final state are now touched upon, as a special subject for thanksgiving. They are not enumerated; but a certain number are set forth, as specimens from which we may form a conception of the general condition of the “saved.” These are:
(1) a heavenly feast, in which they will all participate (Isa 25:6);
(2) a removal of the “veil,” or “covering,” which is in this life over all things, causing men to have an indistinct vision, and an erroneous estimate of their value;
(3) the abolition of death, which will no longer hang over them as a thing to be feared; and
(4) the cessation of tears, or the entire freedom of the saved from all sorrow.
Isa 25:6
In this mountain; i.e. the heavenly Zionthe “mountain of the Lord’s house” (Isa 2:2; comp. Isa 24:23). Unto all people; rather, unto all peoples. There is no restriction of salvation to any particular race or nation”Jew, Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond, free” (Col 3:11), are equally invited, and some of each come in (comp. Dan 7:14; Mat 8:11; Rev 5:9; Rev 7:9). The Church of the redeemed contains men and women of all “nations and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues.” A feast of fat things. It follows from many passages of Holy Scripture that there is something in the final beatitude of man which is best represented to us in our present condition by the image of a “feast”something very different, no doubt, from the festive joy of which our Teutonic ancestors hoped to partake in the halls of Odin, but yet figured to us most fitly and appropriately by terms ordinarily used to describe earthly feasting. Our Lord tells of a “marriage supper,” to which he will invite his friends (Mat 22:2-12); and the scene of the “marriage supper of the Lamb, “according to St. John in the Revelation” (Rev 19:7-9), is heaven. There man, it would seem, will partake of a sacrificial feast with his glorified Lord (Mat 26:29)will eat the “heavenly manna,” which is “angels’ food” (Psa 78:25), and drink a spiritual drink which may be called “the fruit of the vine,” deriving from this “eating” and “drinking” life and joy and strength. It has been already observed, in the Commentary upon Exodus, that the sacrificial meal on Sinai, whereto the seventy elders were admitted (Exo 24:9-11), prefigured this heavenly feasting, and throws a certain light upon it. All gross and carnal ideas must, of course, be subtracted from the conception of the heavenly festivity; but it seems to be true to say that our author, and also St. John and our Lord himself, imply that in the world to come there will be a feast, at which God will be the Host, and all men, priests and laity alike, his guests, and receive from him the choicest and most exquisite giftsgifts which will make them supremely happy. A feast of wines on the lees. ‘Wine which remained on its Ices, and was not poured off them into another vessel, was considered to be of especial strength (see Jer 48:11). Its defect was a want of clearness. The wine of the heavenly banquet is to be at once strong and perfectly clear or “well refined.”
Isa 25:7
He will destroy the face of the covering. According to some, the “covering cast ever all people” is death, and the second clause of the verse is a mere repetition of the first. But, though the heads of criminals were covered when they were led to execution (Est 7:8), yet death itself is never elsewhere called a “covering.” May not the prophet have in view that “veil” or “covering” of misconception and prejudice, whereof St. Paul speaks as lying “on the hearts of the Jewish nation,” and preventing them from discerning the true sense of Scripture (2Co 3:15)? Certainly one of the great curses of humanity while here is its inability to see things as they really areits colored, distorted, prejudiced, views of life and death, of this world and the next, of self-interest, duty, happiness. This “veil” is certainly to be done away; for “now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now we know in part, but then shall we know even as we are known” (2Co 13:12).
Isa 25:8
He will swallow up death in victory; rather, he will abolish death forever. Hosea, a contemporary, was inspired to write! “Will ransom Israel from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction” (Hos 13:14); but otherwise this was the first announcement that death was to disappear and to cease to be a possibility. It was an enormous advance on the dim and vague conceptions of a future life hitherto current (Job 19:25, Job 19:27; Psa 17:15) to have such an announcement made as this. Hitherto men had been “through fear of death all their life subject to bondage” (Heb 2:15). Now they were taught that, in the resurrection-life, there would be no tear, no possibility of death. The joyous outburst of the apostle, when he quotes the present passage (2 Corinthians 15:54), is the natural thanksgiving song of reassured humanity, on recognizing its final deliverance from the unspeakable terror of death and annihilation. The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. A recent commentator asks, “What place is left for tears?” But surely death is not the only cause of human mourning. Our own sins, the sins and sufferings of our dear ones, are the main provocatives of our tears. When it is promised, as here and in Rev 7:17 and Rev 21:4, that “there shall be no more pain, neither sorrow nor crying,” the revelation is made that there shall be no more sin; for where sin is, sorrow must be. The rebuke of his people shall he take away. It will be among the lesser satisfactions of the final condition of the saved that they are no longer subject to reproach. In this life they have to endure continually reproach, rebuke, contumely (Psa 74:10; Psa 89:50, Psa 89:51, etc.). In the resurrection-life they will be exempt from any such annoyance. The Lord hath spoken it. God’s word has gone forth. There can be no retractation. The blessings promised are certain to be obtained.
Isa 25:9-12
After thanksgiving for deliverance in the past, and commemoration of blessings in the present, confidence is expressed in the future.
(1) The redeemed declare their joy that they have “waited for God,” trusted in him, and looked to him for salvation. They feel that they “have their reward.”
(2) The prophet declares his conviction that the enemies of God’s elect are henceforth powerless. They are personified under the name of “Moab,” and regarded as still animated by sentiments of hostility; but their absolute impotency for working evil is insisted on (Isa 25:11, Isa 25:12).
Isa 25:9
It shall be said; literally, one shall say; i.e. the redeemed generally shall thus express themselves. We have waited for him. During all the weary time of their oppression and persecution, the godly remnant (Isa 24:13-15) was “waiting fur the Lord,” i.e. trusting in him, expecting him to arise and scatter his enemies, won-daring that he endured so long the “contradiction of sinners against himself” (Heb 12:3), but content to abide his determination of the fitting season for coming forward as their Avenger, and now quite satisfied that he has avenged them in his own good time and in his own good way. We will be glad and rejoice (comp. Psa 118:24 and So Psa 1:4).
Isa 25:10
In this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest. The protecting hand of God will ever be stretched out over the spiritual Zionthe Church of the Redeemedto defend it and keep it safe throughout eternity. Moab shall be trodden down. Various reasons have been given for the selection of Moab to represent the enemies of the redeemed. Perhaps, as the Moabites were, on the whole, the bitterest of all the adversaries of the Jews (see 2Ki 24:2; Eze 25:8-11), they are regarded as the fittest representatives of the human adversaries of God. For the dung-hill; rather, in the water of a dung-pit. The image is, perhaps, selected with conscious reference to Psa 83:1-18; where the psalmist prays that the “children of Lot” and their helpers may become “as the dung of the earth” (Psa 83:10).
Isa 25:11
He shall spread forth his hands as he that swimmeth. Moab will endeavor to save himself from sinking in the water of the dung-pit; but in vain. God will bring down his pride, or abase his haughtiness, together with all the plots and snares that he contrives. A continued plotting of the enemies of God against his Church seems to be assumed, even after the Church is established in the spiritual Zion under the direct protection and rule of Jehovah.
Isa 25:12
The fortress of the high fort shall he bring down, etc.; rather, hath he bowed down, laid low, brought down to earth. The past mercies of God in abasing the pride of the Church’s foes, rather than any further mercies of the same kind, seem to be here spoken of. Mr. Cheyne suggests that the verse is out of place.
HOMILETICS
Isa 25:1-12
The place of thanksgiving in the religious life.
It is generally agreed by Christians that the religious life embraces a considerable number of separate duties of a strictly religious character. Among these the first place is ordinarily assigned to prayer; the second to reading of the Scriptures; the third, perhaps, to meditation; and so forth. But it is not always, or indeed very often, that a distinct position, or a very prominent position, is assigned to praise and thanksgiving. Prayer is apt to be made the staple of our religious exercises, thanksgiving to be huddled off into a comer. Yet, if we will consider the matter, we shall find that, on all grounds, thanksgiving is entitled to at least an equal place in our regards with prayer.
I. THANKSGIVING IS POINTED OUT BY NATURE AS A DUTY NO LESS THAN PRAYER. It is as the Giver of benefits that man seems first to have recognized God. Worship began with altars and sacrifices (Gen 4:3-5), which were primarily thank offerings. One of the earliest forms of religion was sun-worship, and the reason for selecting the sun as the object of religious regard was the manifest fact that from the sun man derives so many and such great blessings. Geolatry was another very early form of worship, and took its rise from the feeling that the earth was a nursing mother, comprehending in herself a manifold variety of beneficent influences. The very name “God” is probably a modification of the root gut, or “good,” and was given to the Supreme Being by our Anglo-Saxon forefathers, in recognition of his goodness in bestowing upon us so many benefits. The first religious utterances seem to have taken the shape of hymns rather than prayers (Gen 14:19, Gen 14:20; Exo 15:1-18); and hymns or psalms form the most antique portions of all rituals.
II. THANKSGIVING IS, EQUALLY WITH PRAYER, ENJOINED ON MEN AS A DUTY IN SCRIPTURE. If prayer is required in such phrases as, “Pray without ceasing” (1Th 5:17); “I will that all men pray everywhere” (1Ti 2:8); “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luk 18:1); “Pray one for another” (Jas 5:16); thanksgiving is as frequently and as positively enjoined in passages like the following: “Give thanks always for all things” (Eph 5:20); “I exhort that giving of thanks be made for all men” (1Ti 2:1); “Offer sacrifices of praises, giving thanks’ (Heb 13:15); “With thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Php 4:6).
III. THANKSGIVING IS, EQUALLY WITH PRAYER, SET BEFORE US BY THE CHURCH AS A DUTY. The ritual of the Jewish Church was almost entirely one of praise. The Book of Psalms is the Israelite’s ‘Manual of Devotion.’ Our own Church declares the objects for which we assemble in public worship to be
(1) “to render thanks for the great benefits which we have received at God’s hands;”
(2) “to set forth his most worthy praise;”
(3) “to hear his most Holy Word;” and
(4) “to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul”assigning to thanksgiving and praise the foremost place. The Eucharistic service is that in which Christian worship culminates, and that service is, by its very name, a service of praise. The embodiment of the entire Psalter in our Prayer-book is a strong evidence of the importance which our Church assigns to praise.
IV. PRAISE IS, IN ITS NATURE, A HIGHER RELIGIOUS EXERCISE THAN PRAYER. In prayer we approach God for our own sakes, desiring something of him. In praise we have no selfish object, but desire simply to honor God by setting forth his admirable qualities and declaring the reasons that we have for loving and adoring him. Praise is the enduring attitude of angels, who have (comparatively speaking) no occasion for prayer. Prayer implies imperfection, want, need, defect of nature. Praise is appropriate when all wants are satisfied, when the nature is no longer defective, when no need is felt. Thus prayer belongs to the probation period of man’s existence; but praise will ring on through the vaults of heaven for all eternity. The cry in the heavenly Jerusalem will ever be, “Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest” (Rev 15:3, Rev 15:4).
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Isa 25:1-8
Hymn of praise to Jehovah.
I. THE PERSONAL APPROPRIATION OF GOD. This is one of the great marks of personal, spiritual religion. Other nations have known their gods as leaders in war, protectors of hearth and home; it was reserved for Israel and for Christianity to think of the High and Holy One as tenanting the heart and soul of the believer. Jehovah is not only “my father’s God,”this would be merely traditional religion; but “my God,” “my Salvation,”this is personal religion
. This is seen in his counsels and in the execution of them.
1. His far-reaching counsels. God’s thoughts are not extempore inspirations, accidental”happy,” as we say, springing up in no fixed order or method; they originated “long ago” (Isa 22:11; Isa 37:26). To God nothing is sudden or unforeseen; though to us it may seem” the unexpected always happens.” All things were ordained by him before the foundation of the world (Act 15:18). “All the wonders which happen contrary to the expectation of men are the result of that regular order which God maintains in governing the world, arranging all things from the beginning to the end. Now, since we do not understand these secret decrees, and our powers of understanding cannot rise so high, our attention must therefore be directed to the manifestation of them; for they are concealed from us, and exceed our comprehension, till the Lord reveal them by his Word, in which he accommodates himself to our weakness; for his decree is unsearchable” (Calvin).
2. The faithful realization of them in history. The imperial city, the city of Israel’s oppressors (Isa 24:10), is destroyed. It has become a ruinous heap of stones; and the palace of the barbarians will never again rise out of those ruins. It is symbolic in its fate of heathen pride and power and superstition, and all that exalts itself against the true God and the true religion.
III. THE EFFECT OF HIS JUDGMENTS ON THE HEATHEN. They will honor the mighty God of Israel. They will be converted from rudeness and wildness to meekness and lowly reverence. The former oppressors will bow in fear before him. “They are affrighted, and give glory to the God of heaven” (Rev 11:13). For in great crises, in days of judgment, the nature of Jehovah and his rule is made manifest to men. The calm, unbroken smile of the summer day does not so reveal God to us in his power and beneficence as the thunder and the lightning, followed by the refreshing rain. Revolutions awaken the slumbering consciences of the nation; and God is revealed, not only by the objects and institutions he overthrows, but by those which are protected and fostered in the midst of and by the very means of change. He is seen to have been, in the magnificent imagery of the prophet, “a fortress to the weak, a fortress to the poor in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat” (cf. Isa 30:3; Isa 4:6; Isa 32:2; Isa 16:3). As he can quell the fiery heat by bringing up a shady thicket of clouds, (Jer 4:29, Exo 19:9 Psa 18:12), or say to the proud waves of the sea, “Thus far, and no further!” so did he dispel the thundering hordes of the assailants of his people. So in later times did he meet the “blast of threats and slaughter” (Act 9:1) from the mouth of an arch-persecutor, and turn, by his mighty and merciful self-manifestation, that arch-persecutor into an arch-apostle. And to the infant Church he became what is described in Psa 18:4. Behind the providence which “frowns,” the “smiling face” is ever hidden.
IV. THE ULTIMATE CONSUMMATION. In this mountain of Zion, where the prophet dwells, the seat of the Divine presence, a feast of fat things, with wines on the lees well strained, will be made for all peoples. They will be incorporated into the kingdom of Jehovah; many having come from east and west, and north and south, to sit down in the kingdom of God. The feast is symbolic of all spiritual and temporal blessings, as it is in the parables of our Savior. It is symbolic of satisfaction: “The meek shall eat and be satisfied” (Psa 22:26). The allusion may be to the thank or peace offering: “I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness” (Jer 31:14; cf. Le Jer 7:31). The meal which followed the sacrifice was a joyous and festive occasion. It was expected by the Jews that the glorious Messianic time would be ushered in by a great feast; and of this, doubtless, the guest at the dinner-table of the Pharisee was thinking when he exclaimed, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” As the feast, so the age, of the Messiah is to be unending. And in one great burst of universal joy, death and sorrow are to be swallowed up. Death is signified by the covering or veil cast over all nations, or web woven over them. The covered head is a sign of mourning in antiquity in general; it will be withdrawn (Psa 21:10; Psa 55:10). Darkness and oblivion are associated with death; this will greatly give way before the light of Jehovah. The bondage to the fear of death will be broken, death itself will be abolished, and life and immortality be brought to light (2Ti 1:10; 1Co 15:54). The promise belongs to the Jewish nation (Hos 13:14), and to all its believing members. All sorrow is more or less rooted in the associations of death; this too shall cease, and Jehovah shall wipe away all tears from off all faces. The reproaches so long leveled at the people in their worldwide dispersion shall be taken away. No more will the taunt be leveled at them, “Where is now your God?” (Psa 79:10). Sin will be eradicated, which has had its fruit in tears, in shame, and in death. “The new Jerusalem is Jehovah’s throne, but the whole earth is Jehovah’s glorious kingdom. The prophet is here looking from just the same point of view as Paul in 1Co 15:18, and John in the last page of the Apocalypse” (Delitzsch). The last point in the distant perspective on which the eye rests is the epoch known as” the day of redemption,” the restoration of all things, when the old and corrupt order shall finally give place to the new, the confusions of time cease in the harmonies of the eternal world (see Luk 21:28; Act 3:21; Rom 8:23; Eph 4:30). A great poet, Burns, said that he could never read this passage without tears. It does, indeed, touch the depth of the heart, as it strikes the full tones of the eternal evangel. For here we have the gospel in the universality of its message (“good tidings of great joy to all people“)the fullness of its power to satisfy and to comfort, in the all-hopeful perspective of the future it opens up. “Let us, then, direct all our hope and expectation to this point, and let us not doubt that the Lord will fulfill all these things in us when we have finished our course. If we now sow in tears, we shall reap in joy. The reproaches of men will procure for us one day the highest glory. Having obtained here the beginning of this happiness and glory, by being adopted by God and beginning to bear the image of Christ, let us firmly and resolutely await the completion of it at the last day” (Calvin).J.
Isa 25:9-12
Song of the redeemed.
I. THE STATE OF THE CHOSEN PEOPLE. They will be in the joyous realization of long-awaited blessings. A brief strain from their hymn is given
“Lo! here is our God!
For him we have waited that he should save us;
This is Jehovah, for whom we have waited;
Let us exult and rejoice in his salvation!”
As “a sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier things,” so the crown of joy is the recollection of past miseries in the hour of deliverance. And how it intensifies joythe sense of having waited, of having ploughed and sown, watched and wept, with a view to the “far-off interest of tears!” And finally, to see and know that in this mingled experience one hand has been at work, one will has been guiding, one mercy mixing the ingredients of life’s cup! “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself!” yea, but verily, also, thou art a God that dost in due time disclose thyself to reward the patience and faith of thy chosen, and to pour confusion on thy foes! On the sacred mountain the hand of Jehovah will rest, to protect his people, to judge his foes. Beautiful image! As a symbol of protection, cf. Ezr 7:6, Ezr 7:28; Ezr 8:18, Ezr 8:22, Ezr 8:31; Neh 2:8.
II. THE DOOM OF THE HEATHEN. Noah seems to stand for the heathen in general. Moab, as the proud foe of Israel (2Ki 24:2; Eze 28:8-11), shall be trampled down, swamped, and contend like a swimmer for his life. But his pride will be abased; his strong walls be cut down, even to the dust. So that hand, which is outspread beneficently, like the canopy of the broad sky, to protect and bless the chosen, may be clenched in threat and for vengeance upon the wicked. There are two senses in which that hand may “rest” upon uslightly, as the father’s hand rests on the head of a beloved child, to express affection, approval, and the promise of aid; or heavily, to punish, to overwhelm, to “turn our moisture into the drought of summer.” To listen to the voice, to submit to the hand of the Eternal,this is the expression of genuine piety. To writhe and struggle and resist the pressure of that hand, to turn a deaf ear to that voice,this is the expression of hardness of heart and impiety, bringing certain punishment in its turn. “Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts!”J.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM
Isa 25:8
Christ’s conquest of death.
“He will swallow up death in victory.” Here the fullness of Isaiah’s evangelical prophecy begins to break forth. In the fourth verse he has described Jehovah as “a Strength to the poor, a Strength to the needy in his distress, a Refuge from the storm, a Shadow from the heat;” and all this, he says, God has been. Human history will endorse the record. But he will be more to men than all this! Death, that dogs men’s footsteps and darkens even their days with fear; death, that breaks in upon all dreams of perfect friendship and permanent joy; death, which, as invisible monarch, holds empire in so many breasts;death itself shall be destroyed.
I. THE VICTORY CAME. It was not then. But the prophecy was fulfilled. Death had to bring its sacred spoils and to lay them at the feet of Christ during his earthly ministry. And when men wondered at his mighty power, Christ said, “Marvel not at this, for all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth.”
II. THE VICTORY WAS COMPLETE. Death was swallowed up in victory. No province was left undisturbed. No delay intervened. No conflict occurred. Death knew its own Lord and King, and gave back at once its spoils. Thus we understand the words, “He led captivity captive.” The very powers that once had held empire over men he now despoiled. And as in the Roman processions, the princes who once had spoiled others were now led captive at the chariot-wheels of a greater victor than themselves, so death was led captive at the chariot-wheels of Christ.
III. THE VICTORY WAS PERMANENT. “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” Now that Christ has risen from the dead, he has become the Firstfruits of all that sleep. The triumph of the Savior over the grave was designed to give great rest and gladness of heart. “And the Lord God will wipe away tears from Off all faces.” It is immortal life that not only gives preciousness to friendship, but that gives relief from overwhelming tribulation. We sorrow, indeed, still; the hot rain of tears falls from the aching brain; but we sorrow not as those without hope. We comfort our hearts with these words of Jesus: “Let not your hearts be troubled . In my Father’s house are many mansions.”W.M.S.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Isa 25:1-5
Rejoicing in God.
Such words as these could only come from an enlightened mind. They would have been impossible to a heathen sage. The gods of the nations were beings in whom no right-minded man could rejoice at all, and their character could not have been painted in these colors. But the God of Isaiah, our God, is One for whom “praise may be continually on the lips” of the wise and pure. Our souls can “delight themselves in God;” for
I. HIS ABIDING FAITHFULNESS. “His counsels of old are faithfulness and truth” (verse 1). “The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.” What he has purposed and promised is sure of fulfillment. The lapse of time, the passing of centuries, makes not the faintest difference in the certainty. Heaven and earth may pass, but his promise never (Jas 1:17; Heb 13:8). We may lean all the weight of our hope on his Divine Word, and we shall find that we are resting on the immovable rock.
II. HIS PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Verses 2, 5.) The powerful empire-city might boast of its antiquity, its defenses, its soldiery, but its iniquity should receive its desertit should be humbled to the very dust; it should be a heap, a ruin, a desert. The righteousness of God will assuredly be vindicated in time. God must not be judged as if a few decades were much in his measurement. Only wait his time, and when the cup of human guilt is full, the arm of Divine retribution will deal its stroke. Then shall the shoutings of impious arrogancy be silenced; it shall be dumb with shame (verse 5).
III. HIS DIVINE COMPASSION. (Verse 4.) When the raging tempest of human persecution threatens to overtake and destroy the humble and the helpless, then the pitiful One will appear on their behalf. A Strength to the poor and the needy, a Shadow from the heat, will he prove to be; as the saving cloud shelters from the scorching heat (verse 5), so will Divine interposition deliver from the consuming fires of human wrath. And this gracious pity is not an unusual or occasional feeling in his heartit is his constant attitude, it is his abiding spirit. In every age and in every land he regards the poor and the needy, the suffering and the down-trodden, with a peculiar kindness; he is always ready to shelter them in the pavilion of his power. Therefore:
1. Let the guilty fear. (Verse 3.) What God has done in holy retribution he is prepared to do again, and will do again if heedlessness lead to impenitence, and impenitence to greater and more arrogant rebellion.
2. Let the oppressed hope. The destruction of the strong city of sin is the relief and the rescue of the holy. Not only the “strong people,” but the obedient and humble peoplethe people of Godwill “glorify” his Name (verse 3).
3. Let the redeemed praise God for his righteous judgment and his merciful deliverances. “I will praise thee.” Not only those delivered from power and bondage of the human enemy, but those who have been ransomed and redeemed from the tyranny and the slavery of sin.
4. Let every man claim a direct personal interest in God. By approaching to him, by communion with him, by reconciliation to him, by joyful engagement in his service, let each one of us claim the right to say with holy exultation, “O Lord, thou art my God.”C.
Isa 25:6
Divine provision for the human soul.
In the vegetable and animal kingdoms God has made full and rich provision for all the wants and cravings of our bodyfor its revival, its nourishment, its strength, its enjoyment. In the gospel of his grace he has granted us the most ample and generous provision for our spiritual nature. In Christ Jesus, in “the truth as it is in him,” and in his holy service, we have all we need for
I. OUR SPIRITUAL REVIVAL. Food, especially wine, is given to revive as well as to nourish. “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish” (Pro 31:6). Many a human life has been saved by the restoring cup administered with a wise hand. The wine of heavenly truth is for a revival indeed. From him who is the “true Vine” (Joh 15:1) comes that reanimating virtue which calls from spiritual death the soul that was about to perish in its sin.
II. NOURISHMENT. Food is, above all things, for sustenance. We partake of the kind and welcome growths of the garden and the field that the waste of our system may be repaired, and that life may be preserved in its fullness and integrity. Without constant refreshment from “the Word of the truth of the gospel,” if we did not sit down daily to the table which God has spread for us in his heavenly wisdom, our souls would soon fade and fail and die. As we eat of the “Bread of life,” as we drink of “the river that makes glad the city of God,” we find our life sustained; we “live unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
III. STRENGTH. “A feast of fat things full of marrow.” That which is ample, not only to sustain life, but to augment its force. “Of wines on the lees”wines that have acquired, and will presumably impart, strength. In Jesus Christ is everything to confer spiritual vigor, manliness, power. Communion with him, the study of his life and character, active service in his cause, the direct communications which proceed from his upholding, energizing Spirit,all these minister to spiritual strength; they are all open to every disciple, so that the Christian teacher has a right to say, imperatively, to the disciple, “Be strong in the Lord” (Eph 6:10).
IV. JOY. Wine and gladness are closely associated in Scripture (see Psa 4:7; Psa 104:18). Feasting and joy are also intimately connected. The provision which is made in the feast of the gospel is one that gives a purer, truer, more manly, more lasting joy; for it is the joy of the soul, and it is a joy in God.
V. ADAPTATION. The wine of this feast was to be strong for those who wanted strength”on the lees;” it was also to be “well refined” for those who wanted the coarse flavor removed and desired purity as well as power (see Jer 48:11). The same Divine truth, delivered from the same lips, contained within the same covers, has force, for those who need to be mightily wrought upon, and refinement for those whose moral perceptions are clear and whose spiritual taste is fine and cultured. There is everything on the table of our Lord to meet the varied cravings of these hearts of ours.
1. This is a feast which we are not at liberty to decline; for “the Lord of hosts has made it”has prepared it with exceeding care and at great cost.
2. It is open to every hungering soul. It is made “unto all people.” It is free to all. “He, every one that thirsteth,” etc.C.
Isa 25:7
Spiritual veils.
Anything interposed between the eye and the object of vision may be called a veil; designed for the purpose of convenience or of modesty, the veil has often been the cause of unsightliness and inconvenienceit has been abused almost as much as it has been used. In Scripture the word has a moral significance, indicating something which intercepts the truth, and blinds the soul to the will of God and to its own duty and interest.
I. THE EXISTENCE OF SPIRITUAL VEILS. They are those of:
1. Credulity. Often the mind freely accepts all kinds of irrational, superstitious errors, which coat and cover the truth of God, rendering it invisible beneath a mass of error.
2. Prejudice. Men who act as did the Jews in our Lord’s time, determining beforehand and judging irrespective of the evidence before their eyes, making up their minds in advance of any facts or reasons which have to be alleged, are sure to miss their way. They cannot see through the veil of prejudice.
3. Intellectual pride: unwillingness to believe anything which our finite faculties cannot comprehend; practical forgetfulness that the heavenly Father must have many more truths that we can only very dimly discern to reveal to his children, than earthly fathers have to make intelligible to their sons.
4. Worldliness: allowing the interests, occupations, gratifications, of this world to assume a magnitude and importance to which they have no claim; and allowing the conventional maxims of society to pass current as heavenly truth, when they are only too often misleading and even deadly errors.
5. Passion. The false glare of passion hides from many souls the truth which otherwise they would see and by which they’ would live.
II. THEIR REMOVAL God “will destroy the veil that is spread over all the nations.”
1. It is a blessed fact, in the far future, which God will establish. By means he is now employing, and perhaps by ways and methods of which we may have no conception now, he will bring it to pass; the day will come when the nations shall walk in the light of the Lord; both Jew (2Co 3:16) and Gentile (Isa 60:3).
2. We may contribute our share toward this happy issue: there are mental errors and spiritual delusions which we can help to expose, both by enlightening words and convincing action.
3. We are bound to make every effort to put away whatever veil may be over our own eyes. Unconscious spiritual blindness is sin (see Joh 9:41). It may be in part a man’s misfortune, but it is partly his fault. There may be that which palliates it, but nothing will excuse it. We must betake ourselves to God (Psa 139:23, Psa 139:24).C.
Isa 25:8, Isa 25:9
The evening of expectation.
Of this passage we may look at
I. ITS PRIMARY HISTORICAL APPLICATION. (See Exposition.)
II. ITS APPLICATION TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. The Church of Christ is “the Israel of God,” and we may expect much of the language first used in reference to the Jewish nation to be appropriate to it and even intended for its service. Like ancient Israel, the Church has found itself in great humiliation and distress, and has been in sore need of Divine comfort in its dark days. At many stages in its history the Church has felt itself oppressed with heavy burdens, beset with serious difficulties, threatened with great calamities; and then the blessed promise of deliverance has dawned, and its heart has been elated, and such words of joyful praise as these in the text have been upon its lips. Even when there are no signs of the coming of Christ in delivering and reviving power, the Church may “take heart of grace” if it be
(1) faithful in word and in deed to its Master’s charge;
(2) prayerfully and patiently expectant, waiting on him in reverent confidence; mindful of the fact that our ways are not always his ways, nor our chosen times his times.
This holy and rightful attitude will turn the night of sorrow into the evening of expectation; and in due time will come the morning of deliverance; this will include
(1) the removal of reproach“The rebuke of his people will he take away;”
(2) the cessation of spiritual distresshe “will wipe away tears,” etc; the tears of a Christ-like sympathy and regret (see Psa 119:136; Jer 9:1; Luk 19:41);
(3) a joyous participation in the exaltation of Christ and the establishment of his kingdom”Rejoice in his salvation.”
III. ITS APPLICATION TO INDIVIDUAL SOULS. Our Christian life presents various aspects according to the path by which our Lord leads us home. The life of some may be characterized as that of abounding privilege, of others as that of multiplied mercies, of others as that of honorable and useful activity; in these cases the heavenly kingdom may appear to be a continued though an exalted experience in another sphere. But in other instances human life is one of unflagging toil, or of unceasing struggle, or of oppressive care, or of crushing sorrow: the night for which weeping endures (Psa 30:5) is all but lifelong. It is in such cases as these that we are “saved by hope.” Hope is the morning star which is a blessed promise of an eternal day. It turns the night of weary trouble into the evening of holy expectation; it puts a song of joy even into the lips of suffering; it calmly but eagerly “prevents” the approaching morning; it anticipates the hour when the tears of sorrow will be wiped away from eyes that will weep no more forever, when every burden will fall from every heavy-laden shoulder, when the heart will be “exceeding glad” in the joy of God’s great salvation. Let the children of affliction comfort themselves with these words of the prophet; but let them
(1) be well assured that they are the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ, and that their title is good to the heavenly heritage;
(2) wait patiently for Christ’s appearing. If they would say, “We will be glad in his salvation,” they must be able to say, “We have waited for him.”C.
Isa 25:8
The supreme victory.
“He will swallow up death in victory.” The terms of the text are not satisfied by anything less than the gospel of the grace of God; that, and that alone, can be truly said to swallow up death. It is only Jesus Christ who can be said to have “abolished death” (2Ti 1:10). This is the supreme victory. Great conquests have been gained in other fields: in geographical researchdiscovery of America, penetration of Africa, etc.; in the useful artsprinting, telegraphy, steam-power, etc.; in mathematical science; in historical exploration, etc. These things, and such things as these, have conferred dignity on our nature and. enlargement on our life. But there is one victory compared with which even these are smallthe triumph over death. Death has been thought of and written about everywhere as the great conqueror, before whose prevailing arm all human forces go down vanquished to the dust. It has been acknowledged to be the master of our humanity. But in the gospel of Jesus Christ death is defied, is met face to face, is overcome, is so utterly subdued and routed that we can truly say that it is “swallowed up in victory.” In Christ there is a double defeat of its power; for in him is
I. ABUNDANT SPIRITUAL LIFE HERE. Sin has led man down to moral and spiritual death; they that live apart from God are “dead while they live,” for they move on toward the grave, missing all those things which give nobility, excellency, beauty, real and lasting joy to human life. But to know God in Christ Jesus is life (Joh 17:3). And whoso enters into all the fullness of the life which is in Christ has that life “more abundantly“ (Joh 10:10). Spiritual death is lost in largeness and fullness of spiritual lifelife in God, with God, for God; it is swallowed up in victory.
II. IMMORTAL LIFE IN THE HEAVENLY WORLD. Here we have the significance of the words of the text. Other faiths beside that of Jesus Christ have included a promise of life in the future; but the hopes they have held out have been uncertain, vague, illusory; the life they have promised has been shadowy, unreal, unattractive. Their disciples must have felt that in its contest with death the faith has met its match, and, if it has not been actually worsted, it has failed to triumph. In the gospel of Christ we have a decided and delightful contrast to this. There the victory is complete. We pass away, indeed, from earth, from its scenes, its engagements, its friendships, its joys; but we pass into a state and a world where everything is immeasurably better than the present.
1. We are unclothed in body, but we are clothed upon with a house which is from heaven (2Co 5:4).
2. The ignorance of earthly twilight we exchange for the full knowledge of the celestial day (1Co 13:12).
3. From the broken delights and the fatiguing toils of time we pass to the tearless happiness and to the untiring activities of eternity.
4. The sorrowful separations of the present will make more blessed the union where we “clasp inseparable hands” in unfading friendship.
5. The apparent absence of the heavenly Father will be lost in the conscious nearness which will make us to dwell continually in his holy presence, God with us and we with him forever. Death will be “swallowed up in victory.”
(1) It will be long before we shall meet with a faith which will offer us greater things than these.
(2) How sad, how foolish, how guilty, to remain spiritually, and therefore essentially, apart from him in the knowledge and service of whom stands eternal life!C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
Isa 25:1
Personal rights in God.
“O Lord, thou art my God.” The difference between the “man” and the “godly man” may be seen in this. The man says, “O Lord, thou art God;” but the godly man says, “O Lord, thou art my God.” The difference is the matter of conscious personal relation; it is a question of “appropriation.” At first sight it might seem to detract from the august majesty of the Divine Being that any single individual should call him “mine.” But, whatever we may make of it, the fact must be admitted that, while God’s revelation to man in nature is to man as a wholeto man as a race the revelation of God to man in a book, and in a person, is a constant encouragement to him to recognize and come into the joy of personal relations. This point may be variously illustrated.
I. THE EARLIEST REVELATION OF GOD TO THE RACE AS MORAL BEINGS PERMITTED PERSON RELATIONS. This is shown in God’s trusting Adam and Eve; also in his holding the communion of friendship with them, “walking in the garden;” and much may be made of the assertion in Luke’s genealogy, “the son of Adam, which was the son of God“ (Luk 3:38).
II. THE PATRIARCHS LIVED IN THE JOY OF PERSONAL RELATIONS WITH GOD. Illustrated in Abraham’s familiarity in intercession for Sodom; indicated in the fact of covenant; and proved in the distinctness with which God is spoken of as the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
III. THE DELIVERANCES AND REDEMPTIONS OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL SHOW AN IMMEDIATE AND PERSONAL INTEREST IN THEM ON THE PART OF GOD. One instance is suggestive of many. On the further shores of the Red Sea Moses lint a song of thanksgiving into the mouths of the people, and this is its opening verse: “The Lord is my Strength and Song, and he is become my Salvation: he is my God.”
IV. WHEN PERSONAL GODLINESS FINDS EXPRESSION WE SEE THE SIGNS OF THE PERSONAL APPROPRIATION. (See Psa 118:28; Psa 145:1.)
V. THE FULL REVELATION OF GOD TO MAN IN CHRIST JESUS IS PERMISSION AND INVITATION TO COME INTO PERSONAL RELATIONS. That is the revelation of God as a Father, a word which involves our individual rights in him as his sons. That is the revelation of a salvation which restores broken relations and renews our rights in God. But it is precisely in this appropriation of God that men are so often hindered. Many can admit that “Jesus died for the sins of the world,” and “God loved the world;” but there is no life, no joy, no right sense of relation, until we can say, “God loves me, even me; and Jesus died for me, even me.” R.T.
Isa 25:1
The true reading of the Divine dealings.
“Thou has, done wonderful things, even counsels of old, in faithfulness and truth” (Revised Version). When we can read aright, the Divine plan and workings in the olden times are not merely wonderful, causing surprise at the Divine wisdom and power; the great thing about them is seen to be their goodness, adaptation, mercifulness, and truth to promise and pledge. This is the result of a true reading of history, and ninny of us have found this to follow our right and worthy reading of our own lives, and of God’s ways with us. Now we can say, “Not one good thing hath failed us of all that the Lord our God hath promised.” “All the operations of providence are according to God’s eternal counsels (and those faithfulness and truth itself), all consonant to his attributes, consistent with one another, and sure to be accomplished in their season.”
I. WE OFTEN. MISTAKE GOD‘S PURPOSE WHILE IT IS BEING WROUGHT OUT. As we might mistake any work in progress. Because we do not know the mind of the Worker; because his ways are other than our ways; because he uses strange agents and agencies; and because he purposely holds from our view his meaning, so that he may encourage patience, waiting, and trust.
“Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain.”
Illustrate by the apparent confusion in the ground where a cathedral is being erected; and show how great a mistake we should make about God’s purpose in Joseph or David, if we took only isolated parts and incidents of their lives for study. We often mistake God’s meaning when we try to read only parts of our own lives.
II. WE SHALL NOT MISTAKE GOD‘S PURPOSE WHEN WE SEE IT IN ITS ISSUES. That is true. God’s end always explains and justifies his means. But then the end is not yet; it is often away in the future, out of our vision. And we want some indication of God now. All we can have is the vindication, given over and over again, in history. We have “seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.” And we have good argument and well-grounded faith that God’s counsels are always “faithfulness and truth.”
III. WE NEED NEVER MISTAKE GOD‘S DEALINGS OR GOD‘S PURPOSE IF WE WILL READ THEM IN THE LIGHT OF WHAT WE KNOW OF GOD HIMSELF. Life for us all may be full of puzzling firings, but we can always say, “We know God.” It must be right, it must be wise, it must be good, it must be for the absolute best, since he has done it, who, being love, must be “making all things work together for good.” True reading is reading in the light of what we know God to be.R.T.
Isa 25:4
God our Shadow.
“For thou hast been a Shadow from the heat.” The prophet sees, in God’s mercifulness to his people, a reason why the nations around, the masses of the people, should fear him. We man understand why the word “fear” is employed. God’s deliverings and defendings of his people involve judgments on the great kingdoms that were oppressing Israel; and judgments are striking and impressive to masses of people, who must act upon fear rather than upon love, or even upon a sense of duty, for they are like children who are only learning the superior power of moral motives, and meanwhile must be subject to force, and put into right ways. The figures in this verse are very forcible. The “storm“ is in the original a “storm which overthrows a wall,” or a storm so violent that it sweeps down walls before it (Matthew Arnold). In Eastern countries the value of a shade from the blazing sunshine is well understood; anti Thomson tells of a terrible boated day when he escaped from the burning highway into a dark vaulted room at the lower Beth-heron, and realized what Isaiah pictured. Another traveler says, “About midday, when the heat was very oppressive, a small cloud, scarcely observable by the eye, passed over the disc of the burning sun. Immediately the intense heat abated, a gentle breeze sprang up, and we felt refreshed.” As a figure for God this may be variously applied and illustrated. We suggest three lines of illustration.
I. GOD IN HISTORY HAS OFTEN PROVED A SHADOW. Points may be obtained from such reviews of history as are given in Psa 105:1-45.; 106.; 107. The key-note is, “Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.”
II. GOD NEEDS TO BE A SHADOW IN OUR TIMES OF PROSPERITY. For then all that is good and great in us is in grave danger of being burned up in the blazing heat. Few of us can stand long in the sun of prosperity. Woe unto us when all men speak well of us! and woe unto us when all things go well with us! It is most gracious in God that he flings his shadow across, and gives us times of quietness and peace; bumbling times they must be, when self is put down from his boastful place.
III. GOD IS SURE TO BE A SHADOW IN OUR TIMES OF ADVERSITY. So David found, and when new trouble came he could say, “I flee unto thee to hide me.” Our earthly anxieties come in part from circumstances, in part from enemies, and in part from our own evil selves. It may be shown that, for each kind of trouble, the only true shelter is in God. Close with this ideawhere the shadow is, God, who throws it, must be near; then, if we keep well within the shadow, we must be close to God, and so quiet and safe.R.T.
Isa 25:6
Jehovah’s feast after reconciliation.
The picture in this text is based upon the familiar custom in Judaism of associating a sacrificial feast with a thank offering or peace offering. Such feasts were highly festive and joyous occasions. As an instance of the custom, reference may be made to the scene of the anointing of King Saul. Samuel made a feast, after sacrifice, to which some thirty persons were bidden (1Sa 9:19, 1Sa 9:22). “According to the Mosaic Law, the fat pieces of the victim were to be devoted to Jehovah immediately by burning, and the next best piece, the breast, mediately by giving it to his servants the priests;” the rest was a foundation for a feast in which the offerers shared. The “wines on the lees” are those kept long, that have become old and mellowed. “Full of marrow” indicates superior quality. The first reference may be to the joy of the returned captives when God permitted a revival of Jerusalem; but the full reference must be to the spiritual provisions of Messianic times. For “feasts” as the figure for spiritual blessings, gospel provisions, comp. Psa 22:26-29; Isa 55:1-5; Mat 8:11; Mat 25:1; Luk 13:28, Luk 13:29; Luk 14:15-24. Keeping to the idea of feast after sacrifice sealing the reconciliation, and working that idea out in relation to Christian times, we note
I. GOD GIVES COMMUNION WHEN HE GIVES RECONCILIATION. The feast was designed to assure the worshippers that all separations and enmities were done away, and God was now in gracious and comfortable relations with them. In the East restored friendship is sealed by eating together. It will at once be seen how this constancy of Divine communion with renewed souls is sealed in the symbolic meal of our sacramental Supper. That feast keeps up the assurance of God’s comfortable relations with us. We are the restored and accepted ones to whom God gives his friendship.
II. GOD IS CONCERNED ABOUT HIS FUTURE RELATIONS WITH HIS REDEEMED ONES. It is important to correct a sentiment which very seriously imperils right Christian living, but seldom gets shape in actual words. It is assumed that God is supremely anxious for our salvation, our “conversion” as we call it, but indifferent to what we are and do, if only we are saved. This modern modification of Antinomian error is met by the fact that God makes a feast for the redeemed, providing for them after redemption. God is the food for the soul’s life, and that life he quickens.
III. GOD WANTS JOY TO CHARACTERIZE THOSE CONTINUOUS RELATIONS. Therefore is the festive figure chosen. “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” The redeemed of the Lord ought to march “with singing unto Zion.” Depressions may come, but they may not abide. Our Christian life should be a glad feasting on the abundance God provides.R.T.
Isa 25:8
Triumph over death.
There is a first reference here to the restoration of Judah from its death-state of captivity, and to the wiping away of the tears the captives shed when they hung their harps upon the willows. But we cannot forget that St. Paul and St. John have put the richest Christian meanings into these beautiful and pathetic words (1Co 4:1-21 :54; Rev 7:17; Rev 21:4). And life for a nation out of the death-state of captivity may well be taken as a type of the sublime resurrection of humanity from the grasp of physical death. Our triumph over death is assured; and foretaste of it is given in the conquest of the Lord Jesus over the grave. He is our Conqueror of death, and in him the prophecy of this text will have its large and blessed fulfillment. We read the prophecy in the light of Christ and of his work. And Scripture teaches us to regard the resurrection of Christ as a final conquest of death for us (Act 2:24;1Co 4:21, 55, 56; Eph 4:8; 2Ti 1:10; Heb 2:14; Rev 1:18).
I. CHRIST IS THE CONQUEROR OF DEATH ITSELF. It was not the design of Christ to destroy death altogether, and withdraw its commission to the human race. He left it still to bite, but plucked away its sting, the venom of its hopelessness, and the bitterness of its connection with human sin. We shall die, though Christ has conquered death; but death is now only the messenger that calls us homehe is no longer the jailer that drags us to our doom. Dissolution, or translation, such as we have hints of in the cases of Enoch and Elijah, may be the Divine idea for unfallen created beings; but certainly death, as we know it, with all its attendant circumstances of evil, is the immediate result of human sin. Change of state, and change of worlds, may be death in an abstract sense; but death in fear, and amid sufferings, and under disease, and involving agonizing separations, and terrible with the black shadows of an unknown future; this deathand this is the death with which we have to dois the penalty of transgression. “The sting of death is sin.” Lord Bacon, in his essay on death, almost makes too much of the material accompaniments of it, and under estimates the moral feeling in relation to it. He says, “Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible There is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it mates and masters the fear of death; and therefore death is no such terrible enemy when a man hath so many attendants about him that can win the combat for him. Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief fleeth to it; and lear preoccupieth it.” But this is only true for certain individuals, and under various pressures of excitement. To most of us, and especially to those who are thoughtful, and oppressed with the burdens of humanity, death has aspects of great bitterness. Then in what sense can we think of Christ as the present Conqueror of death? The answer is thisHe has conquered the death-dread in us, both concerning ourselves and concerning those who are dear to us. He has “delivered those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” And he has conquered it by fixing its connections with the body alone, and severing it, once and forever, from all relation to the renewed and redeemed soul. “He that liveth and believeth on me shall never die.” In Christ death is compelled to take rank with disease and pain, as the servants of God. Its masterfulness is destroyed; its dart lies broken on the ground.
II. THE CONQUEROR OF DEATH OUGHT TO RULE IN ITS STEAD. In Christ life rules, hope rules, goodness rules, eternity rules. Man may despairingly look upon his partially raised schemes, and say, “Alas! I shall die.” But the Christian man builds on bravely and hopefully. He knows that beneath all the outward show he is raising a structure of character on which death has no power, and he says, “I shall never die.” The difference that is made by our letting death rule our thoughts and hopes and endeavors, and letting Christ rule them, may be illustrated by the change wrought in the land of Persia, when Zoroaster proclaimed that Ormuzd, the Good, was the real ruler of humanity. When Zoroaster came, the religious instincts of the people were debased, the divinity worshipped was malevolent, the moral tone was low, the social habits were vicious, the land of Iran was overgrown with thorns and weeds; men were idle, negligent, like the surfeited inhabitants of Sodom, given up to sensuality; they thought of their divine ruler as evil, malicious, cruel; they had the crushing, despairing, disheartening sentiments which always follow the belief that death, the representative of evil, rules. Zoroaster brought back the old and lost truth that God rulesnot evil, not death. Evil is subject to God. The good God is the God of life, and life is mightier than death; of light, and light triumphs over darkness. Ormuzd was the god of production, and if they would sow and plant and weed, they would be sure to win, under his benediction, a glorious triumph over waste and barrenness and death. We are not yet free as we should be from the notion that death still reigns. We have not yet opened our hearts fully to the glorious truth that Jesus, the conqueror of death, now reigns. Above everything else our age wants to yield its allegiance to Christ, ruling in morals, in education, in literature, in science, in politics, in commerce, and in society; triumphing now over all the forms of evil that death can symbolize.R.T.
Isa 25:9
Waiting on God.
“This is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.” Waiting on God. Waiting for God. Waiting on when all is dark. Waiting still, when commotions and troubles surround us. Bidding us wait for him, a way of the Lord’s dealing with us. Making it hard to wait, a sign of God’s severer dealing with us. And wafting sanctified to our soul-culture. These are subjects very suggestive to Christian meditation.
I. WAITING CIRCUMSTANCES. It was a waiting-time for the godly in Judah when Isaiah wrote. In their own country, luxury and profligacy were plainly bearing the country on to some terrible doom. In the nations around them the cup of iniquity was getting full, and overwhelming judgments were falling on one after another. Every man who believed in the covenant was put into silence and waiting. The scenes around him he could not reason out. Precisely what God would do with his people he could not know. All about him was painful mystery; he could only wait, keeping firm hold of the truth, faithfulness, and love of God while he waited. When circumstances are against us, the best thing we can do is to wait.
“Wait thou his time, so shall thy night
Soon end in joyous day.”
The history of God’s ancient people is a series of waiting circumstances. Through a long Egyptian bondage they were called to wait for the day of their deliverance. Surrounded with perils, they stood at the shores of the Red Sea, and were bidden to wait for the salvation of God. Crowded in the plain before the Mount of Sinai, the people failed to wait in patience until Moses reappeared. For forty years they wandered, waiting for admission to their promised land. In their first siege they must wait until God’s signal for the falling walls. At last they must hang their harps on the willows, in the stranger’s land, waiting the completion of their seventy years of judgment. And even today, among us, Israel stands in waiting circumstanceswaiting while her land lies fallow; waiting while the times of the Gentiles are being fulfilled. While the story of that people Israel remains upon the records, all may know that God does a part of his work of grace in men, by placing them in waiting circumstances. What is true of the nation is true of her heroic sons and daughters: e.g. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Simeon, and a host of others had to wait, and often wait long, for the fulfillment of their hopes. So we are still placed in waiting circumstances. There are often times when we can do nothingwe can only sit at the window, like the sailor’s wife when the storm-wrack fills the sky, and the sea makes its moan almost to heart-breaking. Times when we are put aside from busy life. Times when our way seemed to be walled up, no door would open, no sign of the guiding hand appeared; we could only wait. But this is true, the circumstances are God’s arrangement, and the waiting does God’s work. Life itself is one great waiting-time. The earth itself is but in waiting circumstances (Rom 8:22).
II. WAITING ATTITUDES.
1. The attitude of prayer, using that word in its large sense of openness of soul to God; the outlooking, up-looking of the soul to God; the humble sense of self; the silent and the spoken cry for the light and help of God. The union of prayer with waiting lifts it from the mere dull and stricken submission of the slave, into the pleasant waiting of the child, who, being sure of the Father’s love, keeps looking for the Father’s time. Waiting work never becomes weary work, or bitter work, until we cease to pray.
2. The attitude of expectancy. Waiting ought to become watching, in strong faith and assured hope; watching like that of David, when he could sing out his confidence and say, “Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the daytime.” Such a spirit the captives in Babylon might cherish. Flinging open their windows westward, as they knelt, they might see the temple arise, the streets of the holy city fill with busy people, and the walls encircle a delivered and independent nation; and with such expectations it could not be hard to wait, for God’s time to bless is never more than a “little way off.”
3. The attitude of keeping on in the ways of righteousness, whether we find them pay or not pay. Doing right, even if it does seem to bring suffering. Purposing that our mouth shall not transgress. If, while we wait, we faint in spirit, let us take good care never to faint from righteousness.
III. WAITING CONSOLATIONS. We may be quite sure that God is in the waiting. Nearer than ever to us in the hours of delay. If the waiting is God’s, if it belongs to the mysterious ways of the Divine love, then even waiting-times are blessed. They are even a gracious agency for the culture of our souls; and oftentimes better things are done for us in the waiting than in the suffering times. The great lessons of the perfect trust are learned in the waiting hours; and “patience gets her perfect work.”R.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Isa 25:1. O Lord, thou art my God The elegance of the prophet is observable in this verse, which he begins without any connecting particle or introduction; bursting out immediately into praise, upon a sight of the great deliverance spoken of in the last verse of the preceding chapter. It is commonly thought that the elders and teachers of the people are here introduced as the first speakers. Thy counsels of old, or from far, signify not only those long before taken, but also which had been long before declared and published by the prophets. Faithfulness and truth, is in the Hebrew, emunah omen, the truest truth, or, the most faithful faith, an emphatical expression, shewing that there is the most exact analogy between the promise and the completion of the promise; so that the completion exhibits the most pure fidelity of God. Vitringa. See 1Ma 4:24.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
3. ISRAELS SONG OF PRAISE FOR DELIVERANCE
Isa 25:1-5
1O Lord, thou art my God;
I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name;
For thou hast done wonderful things;
Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2For thou hast made of a city an heap;
Of a defenced city a ruin;
A palace of strangers to be no city;
It shall never be built.
3Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee,
The city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
4For thou hast been a 1strength to the poor,
A 2strength to the needy in his distress;
A refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat;
3When the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers,
As the heat in a dry place;
Even the heat with the shadow of a cloud:
The 4branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa 25:1. (comp. Psa 30:2) forms an intended rhyme with . The expression first occurs Exo 15:11. Comp. Isa 9:5. Here follows as there . Is this accidental? ( is . .). The two words are dependent on . God has shown truth which is faithfulness, i.e., faithful, certain. The two substantives of the same root (comp. Isa 3:1; Isa 16:6) which are placed togother, stand in the relation of apposition. Similar constructions occur Pro 22:21; Jer 10:10; Gen 1:12; Jer 20:1. In these cases the substantive standing in apposition serves the place of an adjective that is wanting, or intensifies the notion of the adjective.
Isa 25:2. The construction is a confusio duarum constructionum. For it must be either (comp. Joe 1:7; Isa 5:20; Isa 14:23, et saepe) or (comp. Hos 13:2; Gen 2:19). The construction here employed has arisen from the blending of these two modes of expression. Before , Isa 25:5 b, we have to supply from the first part of the verse, or is to be regarded as in apposition.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The contemplation of the mighty acts of God naturally excites to praise and thanksgiving. We are here reminded of Rom 11:33 sqq., where Paul cannot avoid praising in a hymn the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. In like manner the Prophet here extols the Lord for having executed so gloriously His wonderful purpose embracing the most remote times, thus having proved Himself to be true, and at the same time having attested the Prophet as a faithful interpreter of the thoughts of God (Isa 25:1). The Lord has shown how He can make good what is most incredible. He announced the destruction of great cities, when they were in the height of their power and glory; and so it has happened (Isa 25:2). He has thereby constrained even His enemies to honor and fear Him (Isa 25:3). But to His poor oppressed church He has been a shield and refuge; and has subdued the raging of her enemies against her (Isa 25:5).
2. O LORD truth.
Isa 25:1. The Prophet here sings a psalm as in chapter 12. The very commencement: O LORD, thou art my God recalls places of the Psalms as Psa 31:15; Psa 40:6; Psa 86:12; Psa 118:28; Psa 143:10; Psa 145:1; comp. Jer 31:18, places which are related to the one before us partly as models, but mostly as copies. The are in my judgment not merely the counsels conceived from afar, i.e., from eternity (Isa 22:11; Isa 37:26), but also the counsels reaching to a remote incalculable distance. can grammatically bear this meaning (Isa 17:13; Isa 20:3). And is it not a quite characteristic mark of the prophecy contained in chap. 24 to which this hymn particularly relates, that it reaches to the utmost, end of the present aeon of the world? Could this have remained unknown to the Prophet? Although, according to 1Pe 1:11, Isaiah, when reflecting on the time of the fulfilment, could not attain to exact knowledge, yet so much he must have been aware of, that his look was fixed on facts which follow the destruction of the globe of the earth in its present form (Isa 24:17 sqq.). The Prophet risked something when he gave expression to these strange unintelligible things which appeared such as an enthusiast would utter. But he could not do otherwise, and he did it unhesitatingly, confiding in the omniscience and veracity of the Lord. And this sure confidence, that he with his bold prophecy would not be put to shame, did not deceive him. He sees all the marvels which he predicted realized. Therefore he praises Gods truth, faithfulness.
3. For thou hast madefear thee.
Isa 25:2-3. The Prophet now goes into details. The prophecy contains partly threatening, partly promise. The Lord has made both good. This is first affirmed of the threatening, and at the same time the salutary effect of its fulfilment is shown (Isa 25:3). in the beginning of Isa 25:2, and in the beginning of Isa 25:4 correspond to one another. Both serve to prove the truth of what was said in Isa 25:1 : For thou hast done,etc. The general expression for thou hast made of a city a stone-heap, sets at defiance all attempts of modern criticism to explain the prophecy of some definite historical fact. Not only once, but as often as it was predicted, the Lord has converted into a stone-heap a city which at the time of the threatening was mighty and flourishing. City and defenced city are used collectively. After the all-including the Prophet makes mention of the prominent parts of the city, the fortifications and the high buildings (palaces). 23:13; Isa 32:14; Isa 34:13. The palaces of the foreigners (comp. on Isa 1:7) have become , i.e., without city, and therefore no city. They stand desolated and solitary in the midst of the destroyed city, still capable of being recognized as palaces, but yet in the way of becoming what all around them is. For what else than a ruin can a palace become, which no city, no wall encompasses, which is exposed to every attack? The ruins of the palaces of Nineveh, Babylon, etc., attest this. in is therefore to be taken in that negative sense in which it can denote without, and also not. (Comp. Isa 17:1; Isa 7:8; Isa 23:1). We have further to observe that the two in Isa 25:2 correspond to one another; if out of the city (), there has become a heap, then the is also , i.e., the palace has no longer a city around it, and is also no more a city. This is very prominently set forth by the last clause it shall never be built (from Deu 13:7, comp. Job 12:14). The conquered must own the might of the victor, do him homage and fear him. This homage and fear may be caused by sheer force, and so be merely outward. But it is possible that the conquered have been inwardly vanquished by their adversary, i.e., that they have perceived that there is error and injustice on their side, and on the side of their conqueror, truth and right. In this case the honor and fear which they render, will be not merely constrained and outward, but voluntary and sincere. The latter is to be supposed here. Isaiah has frequently predicted the conversion of the heathen Isa 2:2 sqq.; Isa 11:10; Isa 19:18 sqq.; Isa 23:15 sqq.; Isa 24:13 sqq. Mark the imperfects (futures) in Isa 25:3. The Prophet sees what is expressed in Isa 25:2 as absolutely past; but the honoring and fearing spoken of in Isa 25:3, will continue to all eternity.
4. For thou hast beenbrought low.
Isa 25:4-5. The leading thought of these two verses is that the Prophet perceives with gratitude and joy the manner in which the Lord has fulfilled His promises. in Isa 25:4 corresponds therefore to in Isa 25:2. That the Lord will be (stronghold, Isa 17:9-10; Isa 23:4; Isa 23:14; Isa 27:5; Isa 30:3) to the (Isa 10:2; Isa 11:4; Isa 14:30; Isa 26:6) and to the (Isa 14:30; Isa 29:19; Isa 32:7; Isa 41:17) has been often enough declared by the Prophet (comp. the passages referred to). and are, as Delitzsch remarks, designations, well-known from the Psalms, of the ecclesia pressa. The second part of Isa 25:4 is almost wholly borrowed from Isa 4:6. What is there promised is here seen by the Prophet as fulfilled (comp. Isa 32:2). But this fulfilment has a positive and a negative side. The positive, i.e., the giving of safety is only possible on the ground of the negative, i.e., after the destruction of those who would deprive the poor of safety and bring them to ruin. (translate for) before is therefore not co-ordinate with in the beginning of Isa 25:2; Isa 25:4, but is subordinate to the latter. is here the blast, the storm, the furious snorting, raging of the violent ones (Isa 30:28; Isa 33:11). is a wall-storm,i.e., a storm beating against a strong wall. See a parallel expression in Isa 9:3 : , the staff striking the shoulder. Mark how the hindrances to safety previously mentioned are here represented under a three-fold gradation , and . We shall not err if we regard the first word as marking the beginning, the second the middle, and the third the end of the hostile action. For one part of the assaults made by the wicked on the servants and children of God is warded off at the very commencement, when it is yet only snorting. It rebounds without doing harm as rain from the stone wall. But another part reaches its full meridian height. It sends forth the arrows of its fury as the sun sends forth the arrows of its flame in the hot land, but the Lord bends them downwards. After a victory has been won, songs of triumph are sung ( means triumphal song, not branch, comp. Son 2:12). The enemies of the people of God can in many cases have their victory and triumph. But even when it has gone so far, the Lord is still able to afford deliverance. He can bow to the dust the enemy already triumphant, and singing songs of praise. As the shadow (Isa 30:2-3; Isa 49:2; Isa 51:16) of a cloud keeps off the rays of the sun, and so diminishes the heat, so will a humiliating termination be prepared for the enemies song of victory by the hand of the Most High, which He holds as a sheltering shadow over His people (Isa 49:2; Isa 51:16; Job 8:9).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Isa 24:2. When general judgments take place, no distinction is observed between man and wife, master and servant, mistress and maid, learned and unlearned, noble and plebeian, clergy and laity; therefore let no one rely on any external prerogative or superiority, but let every one without distinction repent and forsake sin.Cramer. Though this is right, yet we must, on the other hand, remember that the Lord declares in reference to the same great event, Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left (Mat 24:10 sq.). There is no contradiction in these two statements. Both are true: outward relations will make no difference; there shall be no respect of persons. But the state of the heart will make a difference. According to the inward character there will, in the case of those whose external position in the world is perfectly alike, be some who enter life, others whose doom is death.
2. Isa 24:5 sq. The earth is burdened with sins, and is therefore deprived of every blessing. The earth must suffer for our guilt, when we have as it were spoilt it, and it must be subject to vanity for our sakes (Rom 8:20). What wonder is it that it should show itself ungrateful toward us?Cramer.
[3. Isa 24:13 sq. Observe the small number of this remnant; here and there one who shall escape the common calamity (as Noah and his family, when the old world was drowned), who when all faces gather blackness, can lift up their head with joy. Luk 21:26-28. Henry.D. M.].
4. Isa 24:17-20. Our earth is a volcanic body. Mighty volcanic forces were active at its formation. That these are still in commotion in the interior of the earth is proved by the many active volcanoes scattered over the whole earth, and by the perpetual volcanic convulsions which we call earthquakes. These have hitherto been confined to particular localities. But who can guarantee that a concentration and simultaneous eruption of those volcanic forces, that is, a universal earthquake, shall not hereafter occur? The Lord makes express mention of earthquakes among the signs which shall precede His second coming (Mat 24:7; Mar 13:8; Luk 21:11). And in 2Pe 3:5 sqq. the future destruction of the earth by fire is set over against the destruction of the old world by water. Isaiah in our place announces a catastrophe whose characteristic features will be that, 1) there will be no escape from it; 2) destructive forces will assail from above and below; 3) the earth will be rent asunder; 4) it will reel and totter; 5) it will suffer so heavy a fall that it will not rise again (Isa 24:20 b). Is there not here a prophecy of the destruction of the earth by volcanic forces? And how suddenly can they break loose! The ministers of the word have every reason to compare this extreme exposedness of our earth to fire, and the possibility of its unexpectedly sudden collapse with the above-cited warnings of the word of God, and to attach thereto the admonition which is added in 2Pe 3:11.
5. Isa 24:21. The earth is a part of our planetary system. It is not what it appears to the optical perception to be, a central body around which worlds of a different nature revolve, but it, together with many similar bodies, revolves round a common centre. The earth according to that view of the account of the creation in Genesis 1, which appears to me the true one, has arisen with all the bodies of our Solar system out of one primary matter, originally united, common to them all. If our Solar System is a well-ordered, complete organism, it must rest on the basis of a not merely formal, but also material unity; i.e., the separate bodies must move, not only according to a principle of order which governs all, but they must also as to their substance be essentially like. And as they arose simultaneously, so must they perish simultaneously. It is inconceivable that our earth alone should disappear from the organism of the Solar System, or pass over to a higher material condition. Its absence, or ceasing to exist in its previous form and substance, would necessarily draw after it the ruin of the whole system. Hence the Scripture speaks every where of a passing away and renovation of the heaven and the earth (Psa 102:26; Isa 51:6; Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22; Mat 5:18; Mat 24:29; Mat 24:35; 2Pe 3:7; 2Pe 3:10; 2Pe 3:13; Heb 12:26; Rev 20:11; Rev 21:1). The heaven that shall pass away with a great noise, whose powers shall be shaken, whose stars shall fall, is the planetary heaven. The same lot will happen to the companions of our earth, to the other planets, and to the centre, the sun, and to all other co-ordinate and subordinate stellar bodies, which will befall the earth itself. This is the substance of the view which serves as a basis for our place. But personal beings are not thereby by any means excluded from the . The parallel expression , and the use in other places of the related expression lead us rather to suppose personal beings to be included. But I believe that a distinction must be made here. As the heavenly bodies which will pass away simultaneously with the earth, can only be those which arose together with it, and which stand in organic connection with it, so also the angelic powers, which are judged simultaneously with us men, can be only those which stand in connection with the heavenly bodies of our Solar System, i.e., with the earthly material world. There are heavenly bodies of glorious pneumatic substance. If personal beings stand in connection with them, they must also be pure, glorious, resplendent beings. These will not be judged. They are the holy angels, who come with the Lord (Mat 25:31). But it is quite conceivable that all the bodies of our Solar System are till the judgment like our earth suffered to be the theatre of the spirits of darkness.
6. Isa 24:21-23, It seems to me that the Prophet has here sketched the chief matters pertaining to eschatology. For the passing away of heaven and earth, the binding of Satan (Rev 20:1-3), the loosing of Satan again (Rev 20:7), and finally the reign of God alone, which will make sun and moon unnecessary (Rev 21:23)are not these the boundary-stones of the chief epochs of the history of the end of the world?
7. Isa 25:6. [The Lord of hosts makes this feast. The provision is very rich, and every thing is of the best. It is a feast, which supposes abundance and variety; it is a continual feast to believers: it is their fault if it be not. It is a feast of fat things and full of marrow; so relishing, so nourishing are the comforts of the Gospel to all those that feast upon them and digest them. The returning prodigal was entertained with the fatted calf; and David has that pleasure in communion with God, with which his soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness. It is a feast of wines on the lees; the strongest-bodied wines, that have been long kept upon the lees, and then are well refined from them, so that they are clear and fine. There is that in the Gospel which, like fine wine, soberly used, makes glad the heart, and raises the spirits, and is fit for those that are of a heavy heart, being under convictions of sin, and mourning for it, that they may drink and forget their misery (for that is the proper use of wine; it is a cordial for those that need it, Pro 31:6-7) may be of good cheer, knowing that their sins are forgiven, and may be vigorous in their spiritual work and warfare, as a strong man refreshed with wine. Henry.D. M.]
8. Isa 25:9. In the Old Testament the vail and covering were before mens eyes, partly because they waited for the light that was to appear, partly because they sat in darkness and in the shadow of death (Luk 1:79). The fulfilment of this prediction has in Christ already begun, and will at last be perfectly fulfilled in the Church triumphant where all ignorance and sorrow shall be dispelled (1Co 13:12). Cramer.
9. Isa 25:8. God here represents Himself as a mother, who presses to her bosom her sorrowful son, comforts him and wipes away his tears (Isa 66:13). The righteous are to believe and appropriate this promise, that every one may learn to speak with Paul in the time of trial: the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, Rom 8:18. Cramer.
10. Isa 25:10. This is now the hope and consolation of the church that the hand of the Lord rests on this mountain, that is, that He will be gracious, and let His power, help and grace be there seen and felt. But the unbelieving Moabites, i.e., the Jews, with all others who will not receive the gospel, shall be threshed to pieces as straw in the mire; these the Lords hand will not rescue, as it helps those who wait on Him, but it shall press them down so that they will never rise, according to the saying, Mar 16:16. Veit Dietrich.
11. Isaiah 25 Three thoughts contained in this chapter we should hold fast: 1) When we see the world triumph over every thing which belongs to the Lord and His kingdom, when our hearts are anxious about the preservation in the world of the Church of Christ, which is sore oppressed, let this word of the Prophet comfort our hearts. The world-city which contains all that is of the world, sinks into the dust, and the church of Christ goes from her chains and bands into the state of freedom and glory. We have often seen that it is the Lords way to let every thing come to maturity. When it is once ripe, He comes suddenly with His sentence. Let us comfort ourselves therewith, for thus will it happen with the world and its dominion over the faithful followers of Christ. When it is ripe, suddenly it will come to an end. 2) No one who has a heart for the welfare of the nations can see without the deepest pain how all hearts are now seduced and befooled, and all eyes closed and covered. The simplest truths are no longer acknowledged, but the more perverse, brutal and mean views and doctrines are, the more greedily are they laid hold of. We cannot avert this. But our comfort is that even this seduction of the nations will reach its climax. Then men will come to themselves. The vail and covering will fall off, and the Gospel will shine with new light before the nations. Therewith let us comfort ourselves. 3) Till this happens, the church is sorrowful. But she shall be full of joy. The promise is given to her that she shall be fully satisfied with the good things of the house of the Lord. A life is promised to her which neither death nor any pain can affect, as she has rest from all enemies. The word of the Lord shall be fulfilled in her: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The Church that has such a promise may wait in patient quietness for its accomplishment, and praise the Lord in affliction, till it pleases Him to glorify her before all nations. Weber, The Prophet Isaiah. 1875.
12. Isa 26:1. The Christian church is a city of God. God has built it, and He is the right Master-builder. It is strong: 1) on account of the Builder; 2) on account of the foundation and corner-stone, which is Christ; 3) on account of the bond wherewith the living stones are bound together, which is the unity of the faith. Cramer. [The security and happiness of true believers, both on earth and in heaven, is represented in Scripture under the image of their dwelling in a city in which they can bid defiance to all their enemies. We dwell in such a city even now, Psa 46:4-5. We look for such a city, Heb 11:10; Heb 11:16; Revelation 21D. M.]
13. Isa 26:2. [These words may be taken as a description of the people whom God owns, who are fit to be accounted members of the church of the living God on earth, and who will not be excluded from the celestial city. Instead of complaining that only the righteous and the faithful will be admitted into the heavenly city, it should rather give us joy to think that there will be no sin there, that none but the just and true will there be found. This has been a delightful subject of reflection to Gods saints. The last words written by Henry Martyn were: Oh! when shall time give place to eternity? When shall appear that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? There, there shall in no wise enter in any thing that defileth; none of that wickedness which has made men worse than wild beastsnone of their corruptions which add to the miseries of mortality shall be seen or heard of any more.D. M.]
14. Isa 26:4. The fourth privilege of the church is trust in God the Rock of Ages, i.e., in Christ, who not only here, but also Matthew 16; 1 Corinthians 10; 1 Peter 2, is called a rock in a peculiar manner, because no other foundation of salvation and of the church can be laid except this rock, which is here called the rock of ages on account of the eternity of His being, merit and office. Hence a refutation can be drawn of the papistical fable which makes Peter and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs, to be the rock on which the church is built. Foerster. [Whatever we trust to the world for, it will be but for a moment. All we expect from it is confined within the limits of time; but what we trust in God for will last as long as we shall last. For in the Lord Jehovah, Jah, Jehovah, in Him who was, and is, and is to come, there is a rock of ages, a firm and lasting foundation for faith and hope to build upon; and the house built on that rock will stand in a storm. Henry.D. M.]
15. Isa 26:5. It is very common with the prophets, when they prophesy of the kingdom of Christ to make reference to the proud and to the needy, and to represent the latter as exalted and the former as brought low. This truth is directed properly against the self-righteous. For Christ and His righteousness will not endure spiritual pride and presumption; but the souls that are poor, that hunger and thirst for grace, that know their need, these Christ graciously receives. Cramer.
16. Isa 26:6. It vexes the proud all the more that they will be overcome by those who are poor and of no consequence. For example, Goliath was annoyed that a boy should come against him with a staff (1 Sam. 13:43) Cramer.
17. Isa 26:8-10. That the justice of God must absolutely manifest itself that the majesty of the Lord may be seen, and that the wicked may learn righteousness, must even from a new Testament view-point be admitted. But the New Testament disputes the existence of any one who is righteous when confronted by the law, and who is not deserving of punishment. [But that there is none righteous, no not one, is taught most emphatically in the Old Testament also.D. M.]. But it (the New Testament) while it shuts up all, Jews and Gentiles, without exception, under sin (Gal 3:22; Rom 3:9; Rom 11:32), sets forth a scheme of mediation, which, while it renders full satisfaction to justice, at the same time offers to all the possibility of deliverance. This mediation is through the Cross of Christ. It is only when this mediation has not been accepted that punitive justice has free course. It should not surprise us that even the Evangelist of the Old Covenant, who wrote chap. 53, did not possess perfect knowledge of this mediation. Let us remember John the Baptist (Mat 3:7; Mat 11:11) and the disciples of the Lord (Luk 9:54). [Let us not forget that Isaiah was a true Prophet, and spoke as he was moved by the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul did not find fault with the most terrible denunciations of judgment contained in the Old Testament, or affect a superiority over the men who uttered them. On the contrary, he quotes them as words which could not be suffered to fall, but which must be fulfilled in all their dreadful import. See e.g. Rom 11:9-10.D. M.].
18. Isa 26:12. It is a characteristic of true, sincere Christians, that they give God the glory and not themselves, and freely confess that they have nothing of themselves, but everything from God (1Co 4:7; Php 2:13; Heb 12:2). Cramer.
19. Isa 26:16. The old theologians have many comforting and edifying thoughts connected with this place: A magnet has the power to raise and attract to itself iron. Our heart is heavy as iron. But the hand of God is as a magnet. When that hand visits us with affliction, it lifts us up, and draws us to itself. Distress teaches us to pray, and prayer again dispels all distress. One wedge displaces the other. Ex gravibus curis impellimur ad pia vota. Ex monte myrrhae procedimus ad collem thuris (Cant. 9:6). In amaritudine crucis exsurgit odor devotae precationis (Psa 86:6 sq.). Ubi nulla crux et tentatio, ibi nulla vera oratio. Oratio sine mails est tanquam avis sine alis. Optimus orandi magister necessitas. . Quae nocent, docent. Ubi tentatio, ibi oratio. Mala, quae hic nos premunt, ad Deum ire compellunt. Qui nescit orare, ingrediatur mare. When the string is most tightly drawn, it sounds best. Cross and temptation are the right prayer-bell. They are the press by which God crushes out the juice of prayer. Cramer and Foerster.
20. Isa 26:20. As God, when the deluge was about to burst, bade Noah go into his ark as into his chamber, and Himself shut the door on him (Gen 7:6); so does the Lord still act when a storm is approaching; He brings His own into a chamber where they can be safe, either for their temporal preservation and protection against every might (Psa 91:1), or, on the other hand, to give them repose by a peaceful and happy death. His anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life (Psa 30:6). Cramer.
21. Isa 27:1. [Great and mighty princes [nations] if they oppose the people of God, are in Gods account, as dragons and serpents, and plagues of mankind; and the Lord will punish them in due time. They are too big for men to deal with, and call to an account; and therefore the great God will take the doing of it into His own hands. Henry.D. M.].
22. Isa 27:2-5. It seems to the world that God has no concern for His church and Christians, else, we imagine, they would be better off. But certain it is, that it is not the angels but God Himself that will be watcher over this vineyard, and will send it gracious rain. Veit Dietrich. [The church is a vineyard of red wine, yielding the best and choicest grapes, intimating the reformation of the church, that it now brings forth good fruit unto God, whereas before it brought forth fruit to itself, or brought forth wild grapes, Isa 5:4. God takes care (1) of the safety of this vineyard; I the Lord do keep it. He speaks this, as glorying in it, that He is, and has undertaken to be, the keeper of Israel; those that bring forth fruit to God are, and shall be always, under His protection. (2) God takes care of the fruitfulness of this vineyard: I will water it every moment; and yet it shall not be over watered. We need the constant and continual waterings of the divine grace; for if that be at any time withdrawn, we wither and come to nothing. Henry. D. M.].
23. Isa 27:4. Est aurea promissio, qua praecedentem confirmat. Indignatio non est mihi, fury is not in me. Quomodo enim is nobis irasci potest, qui pro nobis est mortuus? Quanquam igitur appareat, eum irasci, non tamen est verum, quod irascatur. Sic Paulo immittitur angelus Satanae, sed non est ira, nam ipse Christus dicit: sufficit tibi gratia mea. Sic pater filium delinquentem castigat, sed non est ira, quanquam appareat ira esse. Custodia igitur vineae aliquando cogit Deum immittere speciem irae, ne pereat luxurie, sed non est ira. Est insignis textus, which we should inscribe on all tribulations: Non est indignatio mihi, non possum irasci. Quod autem videtur irasci est custodia vineae, ne pereas et fias securus. Luther. In order to understand fully the doctrine of the wrath of God we must have a clear perception of the antithesis: the long-suffering of God, and the wrath of God, wrath and mercy. Lange.
24. Isa 27:7-9. Christ judges His church, i.e., He punishes and afflicts it, but He does this in measure. The sorrow and cross is meted out, and is not, as it appears to us, without measure and infinite. It is so measured that redemption must certainly follow. But why does God let His Christians so suffer? Why does He not lay the cross on the wicked? God answers this question and speaks: the sin of Jacob will thereby cease. That is: God restrains sin by the cross, and subdues the old Adam. Veit Dietrich.
25. Isa 27:13. [The application of this verse to a future restoration of the Jews can neither be established nor disproved. In itself considered, it appears to contain nothing which may not be naturally applied to events long past. J. A. Alexander.This prediction was completely and entirely fulfilled by the return of the Jews to their own country under the decree of Cyrus. Barnes.D. M.].
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Isa 24:4-6. Fast-day sermon. Warning against dechristianization of the life of the people. 1) Wherein such dechristianization consists: a, transgression of the commandments that are in force; b, alteration of the commandments which are essential articles of the everlasting covenant, as e.g. removing of all state institutions from the basis of religion. 2) Its consequences: a, Desecration of the land (subjectively, by the spread of a profane, godless sentiment; objectively, by the secularization of relations hitherto held sacred); b, the curse consumes the land, Isa 24:4.
2. On Isa 25:1-5. The Lord, the refuge of the needy. 1) He has the power to help. This we perceive a, from His nature (Lord, God, Wonderful); b, from His deeds (Isa 25:1 b, Isa 25:2). 2) He gives His strength even to the feeble, (Isa 25:4). 3) These are thereby victorious, (Isa 25:5).
3. On Isa 25:6-9. Easter Sermon, by T. Schaeffer (Manch. Gab. u. ein Geist III. p. 269):The glorious Easter-blessing of the Risen One: 1) Wherein it consists? 2) who receive it? 3) what are its effects? Christmas Sermon, by Romberg [ibid. 1869, p. 78): Our text represents to us Christmas joy under the image of a festive board. Let us consider, 1) the host; 2) the guests; 3) the gifts.
4. On Isa 26:1-4. Concerning the church. 1) She is a strong city in which salvation is to be found. 2) The condition of having a portion in her is faith. 3) The blessing which she is instrumental in procuring is peace.
5. Isa 26:19-21. The comfort of the Christian for the present and future. 1) For the present the Christian is to betake himself to his quiet chamber, where he is alone with his Lord and by Him made cheerful and secure. 2) For the future he has the certain hope, a, that the Lord will judge the wicked, b, raise the believer to everlasting life.
6. Isa 27:2-9. How the Lord deals with His vineyard, the church. 1) Fury is not in Him towards it; 2) He protects and purifies it; 3) He gives it strength, peace and growth; 4) He chastens it in measure; 5) He makes the chastisement itself serve to purge it from sins.
Footnotes:
[1]stronghold.
[2]stronghold.
[3]for the blast of the terrible ones was, etc.
[4]triumphal song.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This is a most precious chapter, containing promises on the part of God, and praises on the part of the Church. It is all over gospel; and as suited to the present hour of the Church, as to the time in which it was delivered.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Prophet, in the name of the Church, begins the song of praise. And without all doubt, it is a gospel song, in which redemption is celebrated. Probably with reference to the ruin of Babylon, which, though the captivity of the Church in Babylon was not then begun, much less finished; yet looking to the close of it, under the teaching of the Spirit, the prophet blesseth Jehovah for bringing his people out of it, and destroying the Church’s enemies. But we lose the whole beauty of this hymn, and the design for which it is handed down to us, if we do not see in it the faithfulness and truth of Jehovah, in the accomplishment of redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Here the Church sings and triumphs, and every redeemed soul shouts aloud, O Lord thou art my God. I will exalt thee, for thou hast indeed, done wonderful things. Reader, think what wonders in redemption! what wonders in thy redemption!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
An Act of Faith
Isa 25:1
I. ‘O Lord, Thou art my God.’ This is not a prayer, but something higher ‘an act of faith’.
What do we mean by an act of faith? We mean an expression of faith in which the will has its part.
An act of faith should be the utterance of the whole nature, the will giving effect both to the conclusions of the reason and to the desires of the affections. An act of faith seems so simple; it is tremendous, for it involves the operation of the whole soul.
II. There is (1) the act of faith, ‘O Lord, Thou art my God’. (2) Then its result, ‘I will exalt; Thee, I will praise Thy Name’. (3) Then the reason for this, ‘For Thou hast done wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth’.
1. The act of faith proceeds from personal religion; for having taken God as the Supreme Ruler of our life, the intellect loves to seek into the mysteries of His Being, revealed in Holy Scripture, and in the experiences of Divine Providence; the will strives to be obedient to His commandments and precepts, and the affections find their joy in reaching out to Him as the object of their love.
2. The result of this is expressed in the next two clauses, ‘I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy Name’. And by ‘Name’ we mean when we speak of God His character what He is. Some may ask, ‘How can we exalt God?’ We cannot exalt God in the sense of raising Him any higher than He is, but we can proclaim to others, by our words and in our lives, that we recognize Him to be the Most High. This is what is meant by exalting God.
3. The reason for this ‘For Thou hast done wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth’.
a. Thou hast wrought wonders in our lives, in the lives of the saints, in the Church of God.
b. ‘Thou hast wrought wonders; counsels of old.’ There was that counsel by which, before the world was made, God willed to become Incarnate in human nature, and to raise His creature, man, to a nature Divine.
c. ‘In faithfulness and truth.’ All God’s wonders, all God’s counsels, have been in faithfulness and truth. The covenant He made with man He has kept, and therefore Isaiah was able to make his act of faith in God, his act of trust; for faith has both its objective and subjective side. It enables us first to believe that God is, then to learn from revelation what God is, and when we have learned this, to trust God with our whole soul.
A. G. Mortimer, The Church’s Lessons for the Christian Year, part i. p. 29.
References. XXV. 1. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Lessons for Daily Life, p. 25. J. Aspinall, Parish Sermons (2nd Series), p. 106. XXV. 3, 4. J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Prophets, p. 54. XXV. 4. S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Sermons, p. 221. XXV. 6. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv. No. 846. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah, p. 90. XXV. 6-8. Ibid. p. 80. J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Prophets, vol. i. p. 66. J. C. Miller, Penny Pulpit, vol. xii. No. 720, p. 429. XXV. 7. T. T. Carter, Lent Lectures, 1860-66, p. 297. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah, p. 92.
Isa 25:8
Ruskin says, speaking of the death of Christ: ‘It was not the mere bodily death that He conquered that death had no sting. It was this spiritual death which He conquered, so that at last it should be swallowed up mark the word not in life; but in victory. As the dead body shall be raised to life, so also the defeated soul to victory, if only it has been fighting on its Master’s side, has made no covenant with death; nor itself bowed its forehead for his seal. Blind from the prison-house, maimed from the battle, or mad from the tombs, their souls shall surely yet sit, astonished, at His feet Who giveth peace.’
Waiting for God (Third Sunday in Advent)
Isa 25:9
I. What does Waiting Imply? Advent is especially a time of waiting, and this waiting involves four things.
1. Faith. St. Paul speaks of Christians as those who are ‘waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’. They therefore believe in the promise of His coming.
2. Further, the posture of the Christian is one of desire. Israel of old longed for the manifestation of the Deliverer. ‘Thou that sittest between the cherubims, come and save us!’ (Psa 80:1-2 ). St. Paul speaks of loving Christ’s appearing; St. John cries, ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’ The word which the Apostle uses describes the attitude as of one stretching out and longing for ‘the revelation’ (Romans 13:19).
3. Then patience is an ingredient in the waiting. ‘Be patient,’ says St. James, ‘therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord;’ and he compares the patience to that of the husbandman, who has to wait for the slow processes of nature to see the end of his labours.
4. Preparation is involved in this waiting; nay, is one chief purpose of it.
II. Why Wait So Long?
1. The question was discussed in the Middle Ages. Why was the Incarnation so long delayed?
2. One reason for this delay of the Incarnation is drawn from the condition of man. He had to be humiliated by a sense of his sinfulness, in order that he might feel his need of a Deliverer. We see the same providence in individual sinners as in a microcosm. God allows the prodigal to pursue his downward course until he comes to his senses, and misery brings him to the turning-point.
3. All delays in the approaches of God are for the sake of man, that he might prepare to receive Him.
The ministry of the Baptist is a visible setting forth of this need of preparation.
III. What Wait We For? ‘Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him.’
1. That there is a primary reference in the passage to wonderful interventions of God on behalf of His people, whether in contemporary or subsequent deliverances, is, of course, admitted. Commentators have, however, been puzzled as to what particular catastrophe or oppressing power the Prophet refers to in this chapter. Whatever may be the historic application, it cannot be more than a type of the full accomplishment of the prophecy in the Person of Christ He alone swallows up ‘death in victory,’ and wipes away ‘tears from off all faces’.
2. The text is fulfilled by the Incarnation. ‘This is our God.’ It points to the mystery that our Lord is a Divine Person, and that therefore He can ‘save us’. This stirs the hymn of joy: ‘We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation’.
W. H. Hutchings, Sermon-Sketches, p. 12.
Expectation (A Christmas Sermon)
Isa 25:9
I. The Hope of the Incarnation. Christmas is a season of expectation. And then also it is a season of confidence. ‘He will save us.’ Not He will save the heathen, the outcast, the hopeless; but He will save us. It is a personal confession. For it implies that we are dissatisfied with our lives as they are; that we are willing that they should be lifted out of the bondage of convention. The slavery of selfishness and greed, the deception thoughtlessly practised, the slander carelessly spoken. No one can mix much with his fellow-men without realizing that a new doubt is everywhere awaking in men’s minds. Is not Christianity an exhausted force. Is not its power over the world coming to an end? Here are vast social evils crying to heaven, and no salvation comes. Men live and work and die with no apparent consciousness of spiritual realities, and all our efforts break against the passive force of apathy. Can we, in face of all this, still hold to our belief that He who was born on that first Christmas morning is the Saviour of the world? If He is a Saviour, where is His salvation? We must face questions like these and they will lead us back to the cradle of Bethlehem. Like the wise men we grow bewildered in the streets of the city and we lose our star, but as we go towards Bethlehem, behold it goes before us again. We have found the lost cue, we are strong again, we can face the world’s challenge. We believe that in the Incarnation lies still the hope of the world. Yes, and our hope too. For when the simple truths of religion have become complicated by human glosses, and have lost touch with reality, or have grown harder and intolerant, we need to bring them again to Bethlehem and lay them at the cradle of a little Child. For He is the Saviour of Christianity as well as the Saviour of the World. Of our religious ideas, as well as of our personal character, it is true that except we be converted and become as little children we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.
II. The Realization of God. Christmas is a season of realization. ‘This is our God.’ The realization of God; God not far away in some heaven of music and rapture, but here by the cradle of little children, in the paths where footsore men tramp wearily, in houses of gladness or sorrow.
III. ‘The Prince of Peace.’ We are asked to speak to the people of this country on the subject of international peace. But what can we say?
There can be no peace till the spirit of distrust and greed and selfish ambition ceases to dominate the policy of nations. The only real guarantee for peace is in the resolute and watchful action of all Christian men. In this too ‘He will save us’ if we wait for Him. He will teach us that there are better battles to fight than the battles full of ‘confused noise and garments rolled in blood’. His battle is against ignorance and vice, against the selfish heart and the grasping hand, against discord and hatred, and all the foul things that haunt the darkness.
References. XXV. 9. A. Murray, Waiting on God, p. 89. T. F. Lockyer, The Inspirations of the Christian Life, p. 196. W. H. Hutchings, Sermon-Sketches, p. 12. H. P. Liddon, Advent in St. Paul’s, pp. 77, 306. E. Fowle, Plain Preaching to Poor People (1st Series). XXVI. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xli. No. 2430; vol. xlvii. No. 2713. XXVI. 1 . W. C. E. Newbolt, Counsels of Faith and Practice, p. 305. XXVI. 1, 2. J. Monro Gibson, A Strong City, p. 3; see also Christian World Pulpit, vol. liii. p. 151. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah, p. 102; see also Paul’s Prayers, p 234. XXVI. 1-10. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah, p. 95. XXVI. 1-14. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvi. No. 2669.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Calm After Storm
Isa 25
We can only understand the highest, sweetest meaning of this chapter in proportion as we enter into the spirit of the one which precedes it. That chapter we have read and studied. It is full of clouds, and darkness, and judgment. The Lord himself seems to have yielded to the spirit of contempt, and to have held in scorn even the work of his own fingers. The sarcasm of the Lord is intolerable. His laugh, who can stand? It is a laugh of judgment; it comes after certain moral experiments, and endeavours, and issues; it is not frivolity, it is a singular aspect of judgment, the only aspect which certain men in certain moods can understand; for they have withstood mercy, and compassion, and tears, and they have seen God himself in an attitude of supplication, in the posture of a suppliant and a beggar, and they have turned him from their heart-door. The only thing which he can now do is to laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear cometh. We have walked through the dark valley of the preceding chapter, and now we come to a calm after a storm, to a sweet and beauteous song, to an eventide that carries the burden of its waning light easily, and that shines upon us with mellowest, most comforting sympathy. Who could claim such a God as a refuge? An hour or two ago he thundered in the heavens as Almightiness alone can thunder; nothing was sacred to him that defied him by its bulk and power and pride; he turned the earth upside down and laughed at its impotent endeavours at rectification. Who can flee to him, and call him by all these tender names a strength, a refuge, a shadow, a sanctuary?
The very terribleness of God is a reason for putting our trust in him. Probably this view of the divine attributes has not always been sufficiently vivid to our spiritual consciousness. We have thought of God, and have become afraid; whereas when we hear him thundering, and see him scattering his arrows of lightning round about him, and behold him pouring contempt upon the mighty who have defied him, we should say, See! God is love. What does he strike? No little child, no patient woman, no broken heart, no face that is steeped in tears of contrition. On what does his fist fall? On arrogance, on haughtiness, on self-conceit, on self-completeness. He turns the proud away with an answer of scorn to their prayer of patronage. God is only terrible to evil. That is the reason why his terribleness should be an encouragement and an allurement to souls that know their sin and plead for pardon at the Cross.
In the fourth verse we find what we may term a completing view of the divine personality and government. Say whether there is aught in poetry that streams from a fountain with this fluency:
“Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall” ( Isa 25:4 ).
Here we come upon language which the heart can understand, and which the heart responds to with personal gratitude. Sometimes the Scriptures leave us. They are like a great bird with infinite wings, flying away to the centres of light and the origin of glory, and we cannot follow them in their imperial infinite sweep; then they come down to us and flutter near our hearts, and speak or sing to us in words and tones we can comprehend. This verse is an instance in point. Every man who has had large experience of life can annotate this verse for himself; he needs no critic, no preacher, no orator, to help him into the innermost shrine and heart of this holy place. Each of us can repeat this verse as a part of his own biography: each can say, Thou hast been a strength to me when I was poor; I never knew my poverty when thou didst break the bread; we always thought it more than enough because the blessing so enlarged the morsel: thou hast been a strength to me in my need and in my distress; when my father and my mother forsook me thou didst take me up; thou didst turn my tears into jewellery, thou didst make my sorrows the beginnings of paeans and hymns of loud and perfect triumph: thou hast been a refuge from the storm; when men could not bear me, tolerate me, see anything in me to touch their complacency; when the roof was broken through by the weighty rain, and when the flood put out the last spark of fire, I never felt the cold because thou wast near me, and in the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delighted my soul. Thou hast been a shadow from the heat; I could always fly to thee at noontide, and rest in thine almightiness as a flock gathers itself around the great tree, and tarries for a while during the sultry noontide. So long as men can say this, with all the passion of earnestness, with all the vividness of personal consciousness, the Bible smiles at every attempt to overthrow its supremacy, and waits to take in the last wanderer from its hospitable shelter. Remember, therefore, when reading passages that are surcharged with judgment, verses that are all lightning, Scriptures that are hot as hell with God’s anger, that other Scriptures must be quoted if we would realise a completing view of God, as to his personality and government and purpose; and the last and uppermost verdict will be, “God is love.” When God once begins to be gracious, turns away from judgment, and dawns upon the world’s consciousness like a new morning, who can tell what he will do? He gives with both hands; he withholds nothing; he not only causes the storm to cease, he proceeds to positive hospitality, goodness, beneficence; he comes down to us to search into our need in all its extent and urgency, and crowns the day with infinite satisfactions.
Now he will make a feast, and the table shall be spread upon the mountain where it can be well seen; it shall be a grand public feast, and the angels shall sound the banquet trumpet, and call the hungriest first to eat God’s bread. He will deign to take up Oriental figures in order to express the amplitude of his provision, and the lavishness of his proposal to feed and bless the race: The Lord of hosts will make a feast “unto all people” ( Isa 25:6 ). What a gospel word is that “all people.” He only singled out one people that he might get at the rest. He never elected any one to stop at. He began by constructing a nation that he might by-and-by make a peculiar nation of the whole earth, and speak of his earth-church to all the other stars: and might he not in speaking of it speak almost with the boast of divine love? The feast shall be a feast “of fat things,” an expression fully understood by the Oriental mind. “A feast of wines on the lees,” wines that had rested long and become clarified, and have developed their richest flavour. “Of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined,” as if repetition were needed to assure those who are called to the banquet that God had left nothing undone. When did God ever perform half a miracle? When did God say, I can do no more I must return and complete this when my strength is recruited? When he lights this little earth there is more light runs off the edges to light other worlds than the little earth itself could contain; the earth has not room enough to contain the sun’s hospitality of glory. So, throughout all the economy of providence, God’s measure is good good measure, pressed down, heaped up, running over, any image that will express fulness, largeness, repletion, redundance. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. A poor Deity, indeed, if our little fluttering wing could climb to any pinnacle of his! Who can understand not only the power but the generosity and beneficence of God?
But how can those who are in the mountain banquet-house be happy while death is ravaging down below? The Lord says in reference to that, that he “will swallow up death in victory” ( Isa 25:8 ). We must not amend that expression “swallow up.” There is a sound in it which is equal to an annotation. We hear a splash in the infinite Atlantic, and the thing that is sunk has gone for ever. It was but a stone. Death is to be not mitigated, relieved, thrown into perspective which the mind can gaze upon without agony; it is to be swallowed up. Let it go! Death has no friends. Who names the ghastly monster with healthy pleasure? Who brings Death willingly to the feast? asks him to join the dance? begs him to tarry through the night, and weave stars of glory in the robe of gloom? Death has no friends. He is to be swallowed up, slain, forgotten. Yet in another aspect how gracious has death been in human history, What pain he has relieved; what injuries he has thrust into the silent tomb; what tumult and controversy he has ended. Men have found an altar at the tomb, a house of reconciliation in the graveyard, music for the heart in the toll and throb of the last knell. Even Death must have his tribute. He may not work willingly. He never saw himself. Let us be just. When Death is dead, will there be some other way into the upper city that is paved with gold, and calm with eternal Sabbath? Shall souls then ascend as did the Christ? Will chariots of fire then bear them to the city everlasting? Will angels then throng the house, and carry off the soul without wrench or pain, or need of heartbreak and farewell? How is it to be? for Death is dead, Death is swallowed up. Will some larger sleep enclose us in its soothing embrace, and woo us as with the voice of whispered love to the land of summer, the paradise of God? To our inquiries there is no reply in words. Yet may we not, even now, be so enabled to view death as to escape all its terrors? Even now death is abolished. With Christ in the house there is no death there is but a hastening shadow, a flutter, a spasm, a vision, and then the infinite calm.
The prophet is here standing upon an equality with the apostle. The Apostle Paul uses the very same words, enlarges the same thought, with ineffable delight and thankfulness: he, too, sees the time when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, and death shall be swallowed up in victory, and men shall almost mock death, and say, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” It will be a noble avenging. Death has had long swing and rule and festival; he has eaten millions at a meal; what if the race should some day avenge itself upon the memory of death by noble song, not self-conceived but inspired by the very Christ who abolished death, and shall say tauntingly, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” produce your weapons produce your triumphs! The avenging would not be unnatural or ignoble.
God has promised that a period shall be put to the reign of sorrow: “God will wipe away tears from off all faces” ( Isa 25:8 ). Can we not wipe away our own tears? Never. If any man dry his own tears he shall weep again; but if God dry our tears our eyes shall never lose their light. It all comes, therefore, to a consideration of this solemn question Who shall put an end to this sorrow? Shall we try frivolity shall we drown our sorrows; shall we banish our grief by pre-engaging our memory by things that die in their using? Or shall we say, Thou living God of all joy, thou only canst put an end to human woe: make my heart glad, and then my face will shine; take the guilt away from my conscience and my whole nature, and then my tears will cease to flow? This is interior work, this is a spiritual miracle, this belongs to the reign of God and the ministry of grace. We resign ourselves, not passively and murmuringly, but actively and thankfully, to God, that he may make us glad with his own joy. The Lord awaits our consent to the drying of our tears.
Then God reveals himself by the overflowing abundance of his goodness:
“And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” ( Isa 25:9 ).
How is a king’s gift known? Surely by its royalty of fulness, by its having upon it no mark or stain of grudging or littleness. How is God known in the earth? By the very fulness of it; by the attention which has been paid to secret places, to little corners, to tiny things, to threadlets that only a microscope can see. He has finished, so far, this world as if he had never had another world on which to lavish his generous care. We know God by the superabundance of the festival. He never gives merely enough. Yet he never exercises his dominion in wantonness and prodigality, but always with that economy which waits upon the wisest generosity. If we sin against the light we insult the whole noontide. It is no little artificial light that flickers in the infinite darkness that we despise, but a whole firmament of glory. If we sin against Providence, it is against a full table that we rebel; and it is upon an abundant harvest that we pronounce our curse. The Lord leaves nothing half done, does nothing with a grudging hand, keeps back nothing for his own enrichment. Doth not the goodness of the Lord lead thee to repentance? What a noble companion would Goodness make for any man who longed to go home again! Goodness, beginning with the spring, passing into the summer, reddening and purpling with the hospitable autumn yes, and not scorning the field of snow and the wind all frost, for even there God keeps sanctuary and the Most High his testimony. Sinners, therefore, with an infinite turpitude are they who force their way to their lowest nature, to their original type, to the hell that awaits unrighteousness, through goodness so vast, so delicate, so infinite.
Are we surprised to find such delineations of God in the Old Testament? All these visions might have come before us from some apostolic standpoint. Who has taught us to talk about the “Old” Testament and the “New,” as if they were issued from different heavens, and signed by different deities? “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord” one thought, one purpose, one love. The Lamb was slain from before the foundation of the world: before there was any world to sin the sinning world was died for. Is this a mystery? only in words. Is this a contradiction? only in the letter. After long years of spiritual education the soul leaps up and says, Eureka! I have found it I see it I know the meaning now thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift! When men turn their back upon the Old Testament they find no other. Even if they cling to the New Testament it is but half a book. The New Covenant can only be understood by those who are spiritually learned in the Old Covenant. The whole economy of God, in thought, in providence, in purpose, is one and indivisible. Then began the Christ of God at Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms, and in all the Scriptures, to expound the things concerning himself. “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me.” “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.” The ancient day came to the passing moment, and they constituted one bright morning; and in the light of that dawn they began to understand what might be meant by heaven.
Prayer
Almighty God, the great storm is thine, the mighty wind, the all-shaking tempest: the clouds are the dust of thy feet: all nature is but the garment which thou hast put on for a moment. Our life is thy care, for thou didst form man in thine image and thy likeness that he might show forth thy praise. Thou dost use all ministries for the perfecting of our manhood, even calamities and losses and sore scourgings; these are processes by which thou dost bring us to fulness and assurance of sonship. They are hard to bear; we tremble under thy stroke; a cloud upon thy face destroys our heaven: yet we know not what we do when we murmur and complain. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; but thou hast a purpose in it all, thou hast an afterwards, in which we shall see the vision perfectly, and understand the purpose, and call thy judgment Love. We will therefore put ourselves into thine hands, not of necessity, but consentingly, lovingly, wisely; for of this are we persuaded, that we are but of yesterday, and know nothing; we cannot tell what is best for us; we form our policies only to see them destroyed; we put up our plans, and behold they are thrown down by a strong wind. Better that thou shouldst rule, for all time, all space, lie naked to thine eye; thou seest all things at once; thou art Alpha and Omega: direct our lives, therefore, for us, and help us to cast all our care upon God, because he careth for us. We bless thee if we have come to this condition of soul: it is as the beginning of heaven, it brings sweet rest to the mind; we now take no thought for the morrow, so long as we hold on by God’s strength, and know that his will is best. But all this we have learned from thy Son Jesus Christ: he is our Teacher, we have been scholars in his school, and we have learned of him; he spoke to us of the Father, of the Father’s gentleness, and care, and love, and pity, and we listened to the music until it filled our souls, and we were enabled by thy strength to answer it with the gift of all our love. Henceforth we live not unto ourselves, but unto him who loved us, and bought us with his own blood. We would be Christ’s wholly, body, soul, and spirit; we would that his name were written upon every faculty of ours, and that Holiness unto the Lord were our one title, and the one seal by which we can be known. Let thy rough wind blow, yea, let thine east wind steal forth upon the earth, only give us to feel that above all the winds is the ruling power of love, is the eye of pity, is the purpose of wisdom; then in the storm we shall find a resting-place, and in the roughest wind we shall bow before a secret altar where God will meet us, and give us joy in the midst of suffering. We cast ourselves into thy hands. Blessed are they who rest there: we hear a voice concerning them which says, No man shall pluck them out of my Father’s hands. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
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?”
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
XV
THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 7
Isaiah 24-27
This section (Isaiah 24-27) is called, in our outline of the book of Isaiah, “The First Book of Judgment.” In this section we emerge out of the prophecies relating to the typical forms of national life, as in the preceding section, into others of a broader character, which concern the world at large. In this we have the deluge of divine justice taking in the whole world. The central people, Israel, first, and then all the surrounding people have been laid low, and the silence of death reigns. Yet in the remote parts of the earth songs arise, songs of hope of the future glory of Jehovah, the king, as he swallows up death forever, so that they who dwell in the dust, awake, arise, to live forever. Israel’s recovery is as life from the dead, to the surrounding nations. In Isa 24 we have a deep elegiac tone, but in Isaiah 25-27 we have the sound of the triumphant songs of the righteous. Of this section Sampey says, “Whatever may be the historical setting and exact fulfilment of these chapters, like the book of Revelation, they contain many magnificent pictures and glorious promises, and a sense of the divine presence that make them of permanent value.”
The chapters constitute the divisions of this section. Isa 24 is a picture of the terrible judgments to come. Isa 25 sounds out the glorious triumph of Jehovah over sin and death. Isa 26 is a song of praise to be sung in the land of Judah for Jehovah’s defense of Zion, the overthrow of the proud city and the deliverance of his people. Isa 27 is the pronouncement of Judgment against the oppressor on behalf of Israel. To sum up, we have (1) World-Judgments, (2) A Song of Triumph, (3) A Song of Praise, and (4) Judgment upon the Oppressors of Israel.
The broad sweep of this section reminds us of the prophecy of Joel. Man’s sin has infected the whole earth, therefore, the punishment must include the whole world and its inhabitants.
There is a word of frequent occurrence in this section. It is the Hebrew word for “earth,” here translated “land” in some instances. There is some difficulty in deciding just how it should be translated: whether it should be translated “land” or “earth” uniformly, or whether the translation should vary. Some passages seem to favor the use of the word, “land,” and others the word “earth.” Dr. Day in the “Bible Commentary” says, “The truth appears to be this: The land of Israel was a miniature of the world. Its recovery from the moral pollution of the idolatrous races was a historical prelude of a like recovery of our earth.”
The temple congregation was a type of the New Testament church, which in turn is a type of the “glory church,” and the visible king, a type of the “king of all the earth.” In Israel was the germ of blessing for all nations. Consequently, if Israel’s light was eclipsed, the whole world was darkened. When Israel languished under a curse, the “everlasting covenant” appeared to be annulled, or at least suspended. So in the use of this word Isaiah seems to comprehend the whole earth as involved in Israel’s mission. If the land of Israel was doomed to desolation, then the whole earth became “waste and void.” (Cf. Jer 4:23 .)
In Isa 24:1-12 we have (1) a universal catastrophe in which there is a complete emptying of the earth and equalizing of its inhabitants; (2) the causes of it, which are the transgression of the laws, the violation of the statutes and the breaking of the everlasting covenant; (3) the manifestations of it in sadness and gloom, everywhere, all means of joy perverted and desolation on every hand; (4) the promise of the remnant, which is compared to the gleaning after harvest.
Now this question arises: What the laws transgressed, the statutes violated, and the covenant broken, in Isa 24:5 ? The laws, statutes, and covenant, referred to in this passage seem to antedate the Mosaic law and to include the laws, statutes, and covenant which were in the very constitution of things. Law, in its last analysis, is the intent or purpose of the Creator with respect to the thing created. So the law of man is God’s purpose for man in his very being. There were statutes for man expressed in the history and covenants prior to the Mosaic code. There was God’s covenant with Adam for the whole race, renewed in Noah and particularized in Abraham. It was an everlasting covenant, comprehending the redemption of a lost race. So the world here is presented as violating every vestige of law which it had received to this time.
We have in Isa 24:14-20 the songs of the remnant in many parts of the world and especially from the sea, i.e., the Mediterranean Sea, and its isles, but these songs are ineffective in view of the awful distress upon the earth, which represents a mighty upheaval to come, before Jehovah, through the remnant, shall become the recognized, universal king. The reference here to the sea and its isles corresponds to the fact that it was on the Mediterranean coasts that the first Christian churches arose, whose songs have been drowned many a time by the din of war.
In Isa 24:21-23 we have a picture of Jehovah’s overthrow of the kings of the earth and his own glorious reign in Mount Zion, and is clearly a reference to the great conflict which will immediately precede the millennium. The kings of the earth shall be engaged in one mighty struggle after which the Messiah will be received by the Jews and then will be ushered in the great reign of our Lord through the converted Jews who become the flaming evangels of the world. This glorious period we have presented again in the closing part of the book, in the prophet Zechariah and in other parts of the Old and New Testaments. The title of Isa 25 is “A Song of Triumph” and it is vitally related to the preceding chapter as an effect is related to a cause. The prophet in the closing part of Isa 24 proclaims the final establishment of the kingdom in the heavenly Zion and now he is carried away by the sense of exultant gladness into a triumphant song of which this chapter is the expression.
This chapter divides itself into three parts: (1) a thanksgiving for deliverance (Isa 25:1-5 ) ; (2) a commemoration of blessings granted (Isa 24:6-8 ) ; (3) an exultation in the security obtained (Isa 25:9-12 ).
Isaiah seems to get his pattern for this song from the “Song of Moses” (Exo 15 ) which contains many of the phrases in Isaiah’s song here.
The word “city” in Isa 25:2 is here used distributively and does not point to any particular city. The prophet is referring to all those cities which have been the enemies of Jehovah. The words “palace” and “strangers” are used in the same way.
The blessings of this glorious triumph of Jehovah are to be celebrated by a feast of fat things. This idea is presented in many other scriptures, as in the case of Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom and the picture which our Lord gave, thus: “They shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in my kingdom.”
Then what the “covering” and the “veil” of Isa 25:7 ? This is the glass through which Paul says we see darkly. It includes the Jewish veil of Judicial blindness and the veil of prejudice and misconception of all people in their natural state. Blessed time, when it shall be removed and we shall see face to face. The swallowing up of death here makes us think of Hosea’s prophecy: “I will redeem them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction.” Otherwise, this is the first clear announcement of the resurrection, and it was a marked advance on the dim light respecting the future, as realized by God’s people hitherto. This puts us alongside of Paul, and the wiping away of tears, etc., places us with John on Patmos where he saw Paradise regained and the glorious bride adorned for her husband. A glorious outlook, yet to be realized. The exultation expressed here is an exultation in the salvation of Jehovah, with the complete destruction of Moab.
But who is Moab here and why should the name be so used in this instance? Moab ‘is used symbolically to represent the degradation of Zion’s remaining enemies. The following are some of the reasons why Moab may have been chosen:
1. Moab sought to bring a curse on Israel by the help of Balaam’s sorceries, and although these were ineffectual, yet the artifice suggested by Balaam of seducing Israel by means of the licentious rites of Peor, did bring heavy chastisement upon the people. Moab stood at the entrance of Canaan to prevent Israel, if possible, from entering upon its inheritance, and thus it acted the very part of the serpent’s seed.
2. The mountains of Moab, beyond the Dead Sea, rise up as if in rivalry with those of Judah) from which they are separated by the Dead Sea. So between Moab and Zion was “a great gulf fixed,” like that fixed by divine judgment between Abraham and Dives.
3. Moab, the child of Lot, the offspring of a dark deed of unconsciousness superinduced by intoxication, stands as the mystical representative of the corrupted and sensual world. Now the theme of Isa 26 is a song of praise to be sung in the land of Judah. In the preceding song the prophet poured forth his own thankfulness for the prospect of Zion’s glorious redemption and triumph, but in this he represents the redeemed themselves in the glorified state singing praise to God for the same.
The purpose of this prophetic revelation was strictly practical. It was for the comfort and admonition of that existing generation. In every age the people of God must have the characteristic of patient faith and upright obedience, which is very greatly expanded in the progress of divine revelation.
A synopsis of this chapter is as follows:
1. The New Jerusalem versus the Old, Isa 26:1-7 .
2. The desire of the righteous is for Jehovah versus the perverseness of the wicked, Isa 26:8-10 .
3. The prosperity of Jehovah’s people versus the destruction of their enemies, Isa 26:11-15 .
4. Israel’s barrenness versus her hope in the resurrection, Isa 26:16-19 .
5. An exhortation to Israel to hide till Jehovah’s indignation be past, Isa 26:20-21 .
The points worthy of note in Isa 26:1-7 are:
1. The two cities mentioned in this paragraph are set over against each other. The first is the New Jerusalem which is abundantly described by John in Rev 21 , while the second is the Old Jerusalem which is here ‘represented as laid waste, trodden under foot as we see her today.
2. The expression of and exhortation to implicit faith in Jehovah as an object of peace and confidence is characteristic of Isaiah. From Isa 26:4 , I preached a sermon once on the theme, “The Rock of Ages,” combining with this text Psa 61:2 , “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” This is the outline followed:
1. The Foundation (1Pe 2:6 ; Isa 28:17 )
2. The Shadow (Isa 32:2 )
3. The Fortress (Psa 18:2 )
4. The Water (1Co 10:1-4 )
5. The Cleft (Exo 33:21-23 )
6. The Rock of Ages: (a) everlasting to me; (b) everlasting for all of every age.
7. Trust in the Lord forever, for he is a “forever [everlasting] rock.”
3. A suggested translation of Isa 26:3-4 is the following: “A mind (imagination) stayed (on thee) thou keepest in perfect peace; because in thee it trusts (is confident). Trust ye in Jehovah forever, for Jehovah is an everlasting rock.” A poet has beautifully expressed this lofty idea thus: As some toll cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, The round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.
The passage (Isa 26:8-10 ) expresses the longing of the righteous for the display of Jehovah’s judgment against the wicked and corresponds to the New Testament teaching that God’s people are to leave vengeance to him and await God’s own time for its display. To this end we have the parable of the unjust judge, and the cry by the martyrs under the altar, “How long, Master, the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” is an expression of this same desire.
In Isa 26:19 is the expression of Israel’s faith in God’s promise, a foundation stone of the doctrine of the resurrection. It certainly suggests a resurrection of individuals, and not merely a return of material prosperity, as in Hos 6:2 ; Eze 37 ; Dan 12:2 .
The lesson of Isa 26:20-21 is distinctly a call to prayer and patient waiting on God. The opening of the door of the prayer chamber in times of distress is the opening of a door into another world, a scene of serenity and elevation. In the presence of him who seeth in secret are the most difficult problems solved. That which opposes us is overcome by the new energy of the Spirit here imparted. Let us here listen to the poet Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream Of glory on the consecrated hour Of man in audience with Deity; Who worships the great God, that instant joins, The first in heaven, and sets his foot on hell.
The title of Isa 27 is “Judgment upon the Oppressors of Israel” and the parts, or natural divisions, of this chapter are as follows:
1. A triple vengeance on the oppressors of Israel and the protection of Jehovah’s vineyard (Isa 27:1-6 ).
2. Jehovah’s dealing with Jacob a chastisement instead of vengeance, and for the purpose of his purification (Isa 27:7-11 ).
3. The homecoming of the exiles (Isa 27:12-13 ).
The meaning of the oft-recurring phrase, “In that day,” in this chapter, is significant. This expression here refers to the time of God’s vengeance heretofore described, when God is visiting the enemies of his kingdom in vengeance, as stated in Isa 26:21 . There is evidently a variation in the time referred to in the different instances of its use, since all the prophecies of the chapter do not refer to the same period of time. So each instance of its use will have to be determined by the context, just as in its use in other scriptures.
The meaning of “Leviathan” in verse I is a very difficult question to answer. Some deny the possibility of identification of the powers represented by these symbols; others identify them as three world powers: Leviathan, the swift serpent; Leviathan, the crooked serpent; and “the dragon of the sea,” making the first refer to Assyria, the second to Babylon, and the third, to Egypt. There seem to be points of identification sufficient for such an explanation, as the swift serpent, referring to Assyria with its long, swift Tigris; the crooked serpent, referring to Babylon with its winding Euphrates; and the dragon, referring to Egypt, the land of darkness, for which the dragon stands.
There is a sharp contrast in Isa 27:1-6 between God’s dealings with Leviathan, the enemies of the kingdom, and his dealing with Jacob. The one shall be punished into destruction and the other shall take root, blossom, and bud. The passage (Isa 27:2-6 ) is a companion picture of Isa 5:1-7 , a joy song set over against a dirge. Both vineyards refer to God’s people, the former to Israel nominally, the latter to Israel really. This is the holy remnant spoken of so often in Isaiah, but now flourishing and prosperous.
The contrast in Isa 27:7-11 is a contrast in the purpose and extent of punishment upon Judah and Israel and the enemies of Judah and Israel. In the one case it was to be without measure, but in the other it was “in measure”; or without restraint in the one case, the purpose was purely punitive, while in the other it was to purify by chastisement.
There is an important lesson of Isa 27:9 which is a lesson on the conditions of forgiveness. These chastisements of Jacob were looking to his repentance. Jehovah was looking for the fruits of repentance, viz: the putting away of sin and idolatry. The child’s verse is, after all the best theology and practical godliness: Repentance is to leave The sins we loved before; And show that we in earnest grieve By doing so no more.
The prophecy of Isa 27:12-13 is a prophecy of the homecoming of God’s scattered people. As a fruit gatherer Jehovah will gather them from the Euphrates to Egypt. He will give the signal of the trumpet and they shall be gathered from the remote countries of Assyria and Egypt. This prophecy had a partial fulfilment in the return of the Jews after the captivity but in this return they did not come mainly from Assyria and Egypt. There was a larger fulfilment in the gospel trumpet sounded on the day of Pentecost which was heard and heeded by representatives from these countries here mentioned, but the complete fulfilment of this prophecy is doubtless, to be realized when the signal of our Lord shall call these scattered Jews from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South, and thus assembled in their own land the veil that has so long bedimmed their eyes shall fall from their faces and they shall behold, by faith, him whom they have pierced. Then shall come the blessed time when “they shall worship Jehovah in his holy mountain at Jerusalem,” a glorious anticipation.
QUESTIONS
1. What is Isaiah 24-27 called in our outline of the book of Isaiah?
2. Give a brief introductory statement of this section, showing its nature in the light of the preceding section.
3. What is the outline of the section
4. The broad sweep of this section reminds us of what other prophecy?
5. What word is of frequent occurrence in this section, what its meaning, and what the significance of its use here?
6. What are the contents of Isa 24:1-13 , and what their interpretation?
7. What are the laws transgressed, the statutes violated, and the covenant broken, in Isa 24:5 ?
8. What the contents and interpretation of Isa 24:14-20 ?
9. What is the picture in Isa 24:21-23 ?
10. What is the title of Isa 25 and what the relation of this chapter to the preceding one?
11. Give a brief analysis of this chapter.
12. Where does Isaiah seem to get his pattern for this song and what the proof?
13. What city is referred to in Isa 25:2 ?
14. How are the blessings of this glorious triumph of Jehovah to bo celebrated?
15. What the “covering” and the “veil” of Isa 25:7 ?
16. What announcement here as to the resurrection and further blessedness?
17. How is the exultation expressed?
18. Who is Moab here and why should the name be so used in this instance?
19. What is the theme of Isa 26 ?
20. What is the character of this son in contrast with the preceding one?
21. What is the purpose of this prophetic revelation?
22. Give a synopsis of this chapter.
23. What are the points worthy of note in Isa 26:1-7 ?
24. What is expressed in Isa 26:8-10 ?
25. What is suggested by Isa 26:19 ?
26. What is the lesson of Isa 26:20-21 ?
27. What is the title of Isa 27 ?
28. What are the parts, or natural divisions, of this chapter?
29. What is the meaning of the oft-occurring phrase, “In that day,” in this chapter?
30. What is the meaning of “Leviathan” in Isa 27:1 ?
31. What is the contrast in Isa 27:1-6 ?
32. What is the contrast in Isa 27:7-11 ?
33. What is the important lesson of Isa 27:9 ?
34. What is the prophecy of Isa 27:12-13 and when the complete fulfilment of it?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Isa 25:1 O LORD, thou [art] my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful [things; thy] counsels of old [are] faithfulness [and] truth.
Ver. 1. O Lord, thou art my God. ] Sunt verba fidelium in regno Christi, saith Piscator. These are the words of the subjects of Christ’s kingdom, who in the end of the former chapter are called his ancients or elders. See Rev 4:4 . But that of Oecolampadius I like better: More suo in iubilum et hymnum erumpit propheta. The prophet, as his manner is, breaketh forth into a joyful jubilation; and being ravished, and as it were rapt beyond himself with the consideration of such marvellous things, he first maketh a stop or breathing, and then sweetly celebrateth God’s power, truth, justice, and mercy; the naked heart of it were seen, as it were in an anatomy, in the sending of his Son, and the benefits thereby; concerning which the apostles afterwards discoursing more plainly and plentifully, do yet make use of some passages in this chapter, as is to be seen. 1Co 15:51-57 Rev 7:10-17 ; Rev 21:24-27
Thou art my God.
I will exalt thee.
For thou least done wonderful things.
Thy counsels of old.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah Chapter 25
The bearing of Isa 24 on the consummation of the age is entirely confirmed by that which follows and is now before us, where we have the prophet personifying the people raising their hearts to Jehovah in praise. They are celebrating God for His wonderful doings, and own that His counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. “Jehovah, thou [art] my God I will exalt thee, I will celebrate thy name; for thou hast done wonderful [things]: counsels of old [which are] faithfulness [and] truth. For thou hast made of the city a heap; of the fortified town a ruin; a palace of strangers to be no city – it shall never be built up. Therefore shall the mighty people glorify thee, the city of terrible nations shall fear thee. For thou hast been a fortress to the poor, a fortress to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat; for the blast of the terrible ones [was] as a storm [against] a wall. Thou hast subdued the tumult of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; [as] the heat by the shadow of a cloud, [so] the song of the terrible ones is brought low” (vv. 1-5). The execution of His judgement takes effect on the strong and their city. It is the habitable earth which comes under Jehovah’s hand, as certainly as the end of the chapter before was His dealing with the heavens and the earth.
The eternal state does not enter into account. On the other hand there is no ground for making it bear on present circumstances. It is a new state of things that does not exist now; for if there be one place in the earth where, less than another, the Lord has the appearance of reigning, it is in that very Jerusalem and Mount Zion. The chosen land of Israel (1896) is in the possession of the Turk; it has been in his hands for hundreds of years, and before then it was the object of contention for the kings of the earth and equally so for the followers of Mahomet; it has been the great battle-ground between the east and the west; and up to the present time God has permitted that the devotees of Mecca should appear to have gained the victory there. Ever since the cross of the Saviour, God is no longer maintaining the glory of His Son in connection with Mount Zion. The Son of God has been rejected, and has died upon the cross. Since then all connection with the world is broken, every link with the Jew is gone; and no man has ever seen the Lord of glory, except the believer.
He was witnessed by the world before, seen of men – not merely of angels as now. He was displayed before human eyes, God manifest in the flesh. But, when man cast Him out, all acknowledgment of the world as such was terminated. He was no more seen after His resurrection by any unbeliever; none but chosen witnesses were permitted to behold Him. Taken soon after up to heaven, He sits at the right hand of God; and thence He will come to judge the quick and the dead. A great mistake it is to confound the judgement of the quick with the judgement of the dead. Scripture indicates that there is a long interval of most remarkable character, which separates the one from the other. Indeed there is to be, in a certain and most important sense, a peaceful judgement of the quick going on all through the interval of a thousand years An awful execution of judgement on open enemies must be before the Lord begins to reign, as there will be an insurrection of the distant nations at the end. The judgement of the dead follows that reign, before the eternal state is manifested. (See Rev. 20 – 21)
The judgement of the dead remains, then, perfectly certain. It is a truth of God that there is a resurrection both of the just and the unjust. But it has not been so generally seen that the Lord of glory is about to revisit this world and stop the whole course of human affairs, and interpose with both providential inflictions, and then His own personal judgement, upon the guilt of man; not yet for judging the dead, which will come afterwards. Before the dead stand before the white throne divine dealing by the Lord Himself will be the portion of living men from the highest to the lowest. To this our Lord referred, when He warned His disciples of the days that were coming. Thus Matt. 24 – 25. and Luk 17:21 refer, save a part of the last chapter, exclusively to this time and to these circumstances. Some scriptures speak only of the judgement of the dead, others both unfold the portion of the risen saints to enjoy heavenly glory with Christ, and tell how the dead are to be judged according to their works.
The believer is saved according to the worth of Christ’s work; he who shall be judged according to his own works is lost for ever. No child of God, if judged as he deserved, could be saved. For, if judged at all, God must judge after His own justice with no less a standard than Christ. We must be as spotless as His Son in order to be fit companions for Him. But on that ground there is an end of all hope. The gospel turns on this, that Jesus was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification, not for our judgement. What is the value in God’s sight of the work He has done? Is it only a partial salvation? or for only some believers? If it be not a full salvation for sinners, yea, for the worst of those who believe it is not what God commends to us, nor a due and righteous answer to the cross of Christ. Therein is the very comfort of the salvation that Christ has effected. It is a perfect salvation, it delivers from all sins, it places the chief of sinners upon a new ground as Christians, kings, priests, and children of God. Thenceforward our business is to trust and obey Him, labouring for and suffering with Christ and for Christ, as we await His return from heaven, even Jesus our Deliverer, Who will judge His adversaries.
It is plain that there are two classes of men who are to enter the resurrection state. I do not say to rise at the same time, for no scripture says this. It is said that “the hour is coming when all that are in the graves . . . shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgement”* (Joh 5:28 , Joh 5:29 ). All this is quite true, but not a word about their coming forth at the same time. Other scriptures show that the two resurrections, here shown to be distinct in principle and issue, will not take place simultaneously. Hence, while both might be said to be the rising of the dead, that of the righteous alone is or could be called a rising from the dead, the rest being left as yet in their graves. From Rev 20 . again, it is plain that a thousand years at least will intervene between the resurrection of the just and that of the unjust. Any one reading the Revelation without prejudice could not fail to gather that the righteous dead are raised first to reign with Christ; and then, after the earthly reign, that the rest of the dead are raised, who are judged according to their works; and of these it is said that whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. There is not a hint of any who were found written. When God judges according to works, nothing can follow but destruction. Their evil works abound in the books; and the book of life has none of their names in it.
*”Damnation” though the effect of judgement, is not the sense of the expression. It is an instance of men giving their own strength to a word and really weakening the passage in result.
This strongly links itself with what is before us. Here we have the Lord, not hidden in heaven, but appearing from heaven to reign. He is not reigning on the earth now. It is chiefly. among idle speculative men (of learning perhaps) where you find any dream so foolish. Who is not aware that if any period in the history of Christendom was particularly dreary as to outward light, it is that from Constantine, or some time after, to the Reformation – the dark ages, as they are called? Yet even pious men are not wanting who maintain that this is the very time when Christ was reigning; that it began in the year 320 and ended 1320! that is, the most unrelieved reign of darkness that Christendom has yet seen! Augustine made this reign begin with Christ and extend all through Christianity. This was bad; the other is worse, though maintained by H. Grotius. Both exercised an enormous influence in the world. The great Dutchman, if consulted in a matter of erudition, would have probably given no inconsiderable help to most men; but when he came to the word of God, he was as much at sea there as St. Peter or St. John would have been in that which was his favourite province. In divine things learning is of small value – except as a drudge to men of spiritual judgement and lowly; for the meek only has God promised to guide in judgement. The assumption that, because a man is a profound scholar, even if a Christian also, he is a safe expositor of scripture, is a grave mistake.
Let my reader, if he know it not already, search and see whether there be not a time coming when the Lord, Who is now in heaven at the right hand of God, will leave it to introduce His reign over the earth with the chosen city as His earthly metropolis. Do you ask why there should be such an attraction to that spot? Certainly it has been the scene of sorrow and shame and rivalry between the east and west, and also of the deepest humiliation of God’s ancient people. But let me ask you, even on your ground, where there is a spot on earth so full of grand associations, so connected with all that is dear to the believer? There the Lord of glory came. There He died. It is His city, the city of the Great King. Why should He not then come and take it for Himself? Is it not worthy of Him to pardon and bless and sanctify and magnify Jerusalem before the world, overcoming her evil with His good? Most plain is the scripture that the Lord has to come there, and to establish it as the capital of His earthly kingdom. It is not meant that the Lord will dwell literally on the earth, but be King over it. Yet scripture says He will plant His foot upon the mount of Olives. It is therefore quite necessary for the truth of His future kingdom to maintain that He will visibly come and smite the earth, and establish His kingdom there, and fill the world with the blessed effects of His presence and glory. Scripture says that He will surely come and display Himself here; but for how long, to what extent, and how often during that reign, it is not for me at least to pretend to aver; for I am not aware that scripture answers those questions. And as there is a special place, so there is a people He will favour most Jerusalem and the Jewish people.
But what is to become of Christians? Are they and the Jews to be huddled in Jerusalem together as the old Chiliasts affirmed? Is this the Christian hope? Such an idea is ignorant and monstrous. The Christian is even now in title blessed in the heavenly places. Thence he will reign over the earth. The Jews then gathered and converted will be in their own promised land and city, on which the eyes of Jehovah rest continually; for it is the truth of God that He never withdraws a gift, and never repents of a promise. He might repent of creating man: this was not a promise; it was simply an exertion of His will. But if God chose Israel or the church, He repented of neither, though both have been unfaithful; for He meant to bless, He does bless, and, no matter what the difficulty, He will bless for ever. This we have to hold fast: the purpose of God shall stand. Changes in man and the earth may be, but the counsel of God must yet be accomplished.
Hence the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He gave the land of Israel to their fathers. He gave the promise to make their seed a blessing. He connected His own Son with Israel after the flesh, that, spite of their sin in Christ’s cross, in virtue of His grace therein an immovable basis of blessing might be laid, when they shall be raised to such a pinnacle of greatness on the earth as is reserved for no other people here below. When the Lord will come to reign, He will have removed to the Father’s house the heavenly people. He will have raised the dead from their graves, and changed the living into the likeness of His own glory. For this all Christians should be looking, as their expectation. When they are caught up thus, then the earth is clear for the Holy Ghost to work among the Jews. The Spirit of God does not operate to two different ends – a heavenly and an earthly – at the same time. But here we find Him at work among the Jews who are not caught up to heaven, as we expect to be, but are blessed under the Messiah on the earth.
Our Lord then having first come and removed the Christians dead and living to be with Himself above, will next begin to act upon the Jews and prepare them as His people when He reigns. This is what is in question here. The earthly centre of His reign is Mount Zion and Jerusalem. This it is which gives to the reign of David such emphasis in the word of God. For he was the chosen type of the Lord, not merely in His humiliation, but also in His glory. He had also to war and put down his enemies, and therefore was called a “man of blood.” Our Lord will be first an executor of judgement, though not, as David, allowing anything of his own spirit or will to interfere and spoil the work; but, in the holy authority of God Himself, in the pouring out of divine wrath and indignation, all will be perfect and dealt with in righteousness. In that day the Lord will convulse the whole universe, punishing “the host of the high ones on high,” that is, in the scene that they have defiled, “and the kings of the earth on the earth” (Isa 24:21 ).
Thus the believing Jews of that day will utter the song in evident reference to their experience of the faithfulness of God. They do not address God as Father in the Spirit of adoption, for they are not Christians; they will be believers, but believing Jews. It is gross ignorance to talk of Abel, Enoch, Abraham, David, or Daniel as Christians. They were all saints, but none then were Christians. Not merely was it after Christ came that the disciples were first called Christians, but the place into which believers were at length brought by the work of Christ and the gift of the Spirit differs essentially. There is hardly a worse error for a believer now; for it alike tells upon the present and the future and the past, merging all the various displays of God’s mind in confusion. This blunts the edge of the word, hinders the full blessing and testimony of the church, and by its ignorance mars the glory of God as much as man can, who is not an open adversary.
Now, no doubt, in presence of the cross, and the Holy Ghost sent personally on earth, the old distinctions of Jew and Gentile fade before their common ruin in sin and death morally. But when the Lord comes, He will prepare the Jewish people to receive Him according to the prophets; and they will be made the witnesses of His mercies no less than of His glory here below; as now they are the most obstinate enemies of the gospel and of His grace to the Gentiles. Whereas in this chapter we hear the proper language of Jews. If a Christian were to address God as Jehovah, it is of course in itself true; but it is a very unintelligent title in our worship. To us there is one God, the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ. Jehovah is the name of God looked at as a governor that maintains His kingdom; whereas Father is that name which first came out in connection with His beloved Son, and now, by virtue of redemption, is true of us who believe in Him.
Hence, as often noticed, the very day that Christ was raised from the dead, He says, “Go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Joh 20:17 ). Christ, by His death and resurrection, has brought us into the same place with Himself. This the Lord always had in view when He was here, so that He never addressed God as Jehovah, because the New Testament presents Him in view of Christianity. But the Old Testament shows that the Lord will have a people, and that they will know Him and the Father as Jehovah. This suffices to indicate the difference; and these remarks have been made to show that another class of people are here spoken of, not Christians, but Jews, who recognise God by that title which God gave Himself in relation to Israel of old. When God chose Moses, He bade him go and make Himself known to them as Jehovah, telling them that He was not so known before. Thus was it ordered at the commencement of the public dealings of God with His people, and throughout their national history it was as Jehovah He appeared. It was not that the name did not previously exist, but He never took it before for His recognised title as the God of Israel.
It is now the prophet who speaks on behalf of Israel, he breaks into the language of praise, and individualises it in behalf of the people in ver. 1. What are the wonderful things? The death and resurrection of Christ? Not a word about either. These are the themes we should speak about. Thus, on the Lord’s-day morning, when we come together, what occupies our hearts is the burden of His praise. We have the still more wonderful works of God in Christ and the new creation; and the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven bears His witness to these (Act 2:11 ).
Here Israel are supposed to be occupied with the wonderful things God has wrought for the deliverance of their nation. For God will have interposed and put forth His power to deliver His ancient people by the judgement of their mightiest enemies. They speak of the ruin God has inflicted on all around them. As long as the Jews are unbroken for their sins and indifferent to the truth of God, only bent on making money and serving as the world’s bankers, people will be content to use them and let them alone. But from the moment that God calls the Jew out of his present spiritual and national degradation, when the dry bones are gathered together, when their hearts turn to the rejected Messiah, the nations will turn against them, and once more rend them, as truly as ever. How do we know this? The Bible delivers the believer from guess work. People who do not study the prophetic word can only speculate about the future. There can be no certainty for them; to pretend to it would be presumptuous. But when you in detail believe the Bible, you are entitled through the teaching of God’s Spirit to have the certain light of God. It is entirely our own unbelief if we do not enjoy it.
“And in this mountain shall Jehovah of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the veil which veileth all peoples, and the covering that is spread over all the nations. He will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from off all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken” (vv. 6-8). The Spirit of God refers here to resurrection: so the apostle, in 1Co 15:54 , applies the beginning of verse 8, “When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” The resurrection synchronises with the deliverance of Israel, which itself will be “life from the dead” for the world (Rom 11:15 ). Thus the first open stroke at death will be at this very time. Jesus is the resurrection and the life; and when He comes with His risen saints He will receive His ancient people, and will swallow up the covering that is spread over all the nations. For there is no deliverance wrought in the earth up to that time. It is when His reign over the earth is to begin, not when it ends.
“Jehovah hath spoken.” Why, we ask, does He say so here? Is it not because He foresaw that man would be incredulous? The special mark of Jehovah’s voice is here, the evil heart of unbelief being well known to Him, and all the delusions of wise and unwise, deceiving and being deceived. He knew how Christendom would say, in reading of predicted judgements, they were for the Jews; and of blessings, these are for themselves. Thus they claim all the good things for the church, as they leave all the dark things for Israel; but even there they destroy conscience by the lie which views prophecy as past and obsolete. “And it shall be said in that day, Behold, this [is] our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this [is] Jehovah; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of Jehovah rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down on the dunghill. And he will spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth [them] forth to swim, and he will bring down their pride together with the plots of their hands. And the fortress of the high defences of thy walls will he bring down, lay low, [and] bring to the ground, into the dust” (vv. 9-12).
We must examine of whom God speaks; there are judgements upon Israel and upon Christendom, and blessings for Israel and for the church. That this is for Israel has been already shown; the language used is only suited to them. They speak of themselves, not as we do, conscious children of God, but as His people and of judgements which introduce their blessing. Were all the earth to be dissolved, it would neither lessen nor increase our blessing. When Christ comes, He will simply remove us to Himself, changed into His likeness and out of the scene of weakness and sin and sorrow into His own heavenly home. Whereas here, “It shall be said in that day, Behold, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is Jehovah; we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” They are not saved yet. Such is not our case now, save as to the body. Search the New Testament and you will see that, as regards the soul, we must be saved now; and if we believe, we are. It is plain that here is another class, Jews who have waited in shame for Jehovah, and who when He comes in glory, say, “This is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us.” Not for us but for them “shall the hand of Jehovah” rest in “this mountain.” Our portion is in heaven. “This mountain” is the lofty centre of the earthly glory. And accordingly the name of a proud national foe of Israel follows, as doomed to humiliation. Is the Christian looking for Moab to be trodden down? The wholesale christening of the Jewish prophets tends to make scripture ridiculous, and many a man has become hardened in his incredulity by such baseless preoccupation with the gospel and the church. There are general truths and principles that apply to us; for all prophets are intended for the use of the Christian, as the law also. Every scripture is inspired and profitable; but it is absurd thence to infer that all is about ourselves. “The law is good,” says the apostle, “if a man use it lawfully”; and very profitable are the prophets yet we must hear them not as if we were Jews, but as Christians.
Here then is proof plain enough that not Christians, not the church of God, are before us, but Israel. What have we to do with Moab as an enemy? and an enemy which is to be trodden down? Do we look to tread down our enemies, if it were even the Roman papacy? Here is scripture, but it is not a prophecy of scripture about us: assuredly we ought to enjoy it and to bless God for it; yet the people concerned are not ourselves but Israel. They on the earth will see their former enemies completely put down, and Moab among the rest – a consideration which ought to have kept any from interpolating the church and from obliterating the Jew. For they are preserved as a separate people for mercy at the end, and mercy enduring for ever, and for the first place of earthly distinction and power under the Messiah, whereas we of the church are sharers of Christ’s rejection on earth, but to be glorified on high as He is, and to reign over the earth with Him in that day.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 25:1-5
1O LORD, You are my God;
I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
For You have worked wonders,
Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
2For You have made a city into a heap,
A fortified city into a ruin;
A palace of strangers is a city no more,
It will never be rebuilt.
3Therefore a strong people will glorify You;
Cities of ruthless nations will revere You.
4For You have been a defense for the helpless,
A defense for the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;
For the breath of the ruthless
Is like a rain storm against a wall.
5Like heat in drought, You subdue the uproar of aliens;
Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.
Isa 25:1 O Lord, You are my God This section of Isaiah is very personal (cf. Isa 61:10). Isaiah knows YHWH (he is an ideal representative of the covenant spirit) and appeals to Him as friend, Savior, and Sovereign!
Note how Isaiah addresses YHWH.
1. I will exalt you, Isa 25:1, BDB 926, KB 1202, Polel IMPERFECT used in a COHORTATIVE sense
2. I will give thanks to Your name, Isa 25:1, BDB 392, KB 389, Hiphil IMPERFECT used in a COHORTATIVE sense
Notice how he characterizes God.
1. You are my God, Isa 25:1
2. You have worked wonders, Isa 25:1
3. Your plans were formed long ago with perfect faithfulness, Isa 25:1
4. You have made a city into a heap, Isa 25:2
5. a strong people will glorify You, Isa 25:3
6. You have been a defense for the helpless, Isa 25:4
7. You did subdue the uproar of aliens, Isa 25:5
This is a psalm of praise, not unlike Psalms 145. This is the theological opposite of the universal judgment of chapter 24.
NASBwonders
NKJV, RSVwonderful things
TEVamazing things
NJBmarvels
SPECIAL TOPIC: WONDERFUL THINGS
Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness God is in complete control of history. This is a recurrent theme in the OT (i.e., Isa 14:24; Isa 14:26-27; Isa 23:8-9; Isa 46:10-11). History is not cyclical, but teleological. There is no VERB in the MT text (formed is assumed).
The two Hebrew words translated perfect faithfulness are from the same root.
1. the first one (, BDB 53) means firmness, steadfastness, or fidelity. It is a FEMININE NOUN (cf. Psa 88:12; Psa 89:1-2; Psa 89:5; Psa 89:8; Hos 2:20).
2. the second (, BDB 53) means trusting, or faithfulness. It is a MASCULINE NOUN (cf. Isa 26:2; Deu 32:20).
Together they (the amen family of words) imply the complete and total faithfulness of God to His plans, promises, and purposes (i.e., Gen 3:15; Gen 12:3; Exo 19:5-6; Isa 2:2-4; Isa 19:23-25, see Special Topic: Believe, Trust, Faith, and Faithfulness in the OT ).
Isa 25:2 a city into a heap Here again is a city which symbolizes the rebellion of man (cf. Isa 24:10). It stands for every capital of every human society which has tried to make its own way and meet its own needs without God. See note at Isa 24:10 and chart at chapter 26, Introduction D.
The term heap (BDB 164) is used of the pile of rubble after a city is destroyed (cf. Isa 37:26; 2Ki 19:25; Jer 9:11; Jer 51:37). Fortified cities were their strongest defense, but now they are piles of stones!
A palace of strangers JPSOA emendates this to the citadel of arrogant men (footnote), which is followed by JB, The Bible: An American Translation, by Smith and Goodspeed, and A Translation of the Old Testament Scriptures From the Original Hebrew by Spurrell. The LXX has a city of ungodly (or impious) men.
This involves a change from
1. MT, , BDB 266 I, KB 267, Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE, stranger
2. , BDB 267, insolent, prideful
This is the confusion of the Hebrew R and D, which look so similar.
Isa 25:3 a strong people will glorify You This possibly refers to differing groups of Gentiles.
1. Isa 18:2; Isa 18:7 (Cush)
2. Isa 19:19-25 (Egypt and Assyria)
3. Isa 24:14-15 (nations of the east and west [coastlands])
The term strong people (BDB 766 & 738) is parallel to ruthless nations (BDB 156 & 792, Isa 25:4 d and 5). The demonstration of YHWH’s power (i.e., wonderful things, BDB 810, Isa 25:1) convinces them that He is the LORD of the universe.
Cities of ruthless nations will revere You Here again is a play on the word city, but the allusion seems to be that even these rebellious cities (i.e., Isa 24:10; Isa 25:2-3; Isa 25:12; Isa 26:1-6) are going to one day praise and serve God. The surprising but recurrent universalism of Isaiah (i.e., Isa 2:2-4; Isa 19:23-25; Isa 24:14-16 a; Isa 43:21) appears again (praise God!). See Special Topic: The Two Cities of Isaiah .
Isa 25:4 This is an obvious allusion to God caring for the socially and religiously ostracized (i.e., Isa 4:5-6; Isa 32:2). God loves the poor (cf. Isa 29:19). Notice how YHWH acts toward the poor, helpless, and socially ostracized.
1. a defense for the helpless
2. a defense for the needy in distress
3. a refuge from the storm, cf. Isa 4:6; Isa 32:2
4. a shade from the heat
This is so different from the ruthless (BDB 792, cf. Isa 29:5; Isa 29:20). This is how society was meant to be (i.e., Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5).
Also notice that these needy and poor people must seek/trust in YHWH and His promised help. God works with fallen humans in a covenant relationship. He always takes the initiative and sets the conditions, but humans must respond (cf. Psa 50:15; Psa 91:15; Psa 107:6; Psa 107:13) to His offer in repentance, faith, obedience, and perseverance. Both the OT and NT have benefits and responsibilities! See Special Topic: YHWH’s Eternal Redemptive Plan .
NASBIs like a rain storm against a wall
NKJV,
PESHITTAis as a storm against the wall
NRSVlike a winter rainstorm
TEV, NJBlike a winter storm
REBlike an ice storm
The MT has rain-storm (BDB 281, cf. Isa 4:6; Isa 28:2; Isa 30:30; Isa 32:2) and wall (, BDB 885, cf. Isa 22:5; Isa 38:2; Isa 59:10). A similar word cold (, NRSV, TEV, NJB, REB, NIDOTTE, vol. 3, pp. 994, 995, is from , BDB 903). The UBS Hebrew Text Project gives wall an A rating (very high probability).
Isa 25:5 the song of the ruthless JPSOA changes the Hebrew text from song to rainstorm (cf. Isa 25:4).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name. In Hebrew three words, two making the Figure of speech Paronomasia (App-6); not for a “play on words”, but for solemn emphasis, to attract our attention. Hebrew. ‘aromimka, ‘odeh shimka. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 15:2). App-92.
wonderful things = a wonderful deed.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 25
But O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth ( Isa 25:1 ).
In other words, “God, I’m going to worship You and praise You. These are things that You’ve determined long ago, but they are faithful, they’re true.” Jesus said, “I am faithful and true witness” ( Rev 3:14 ). Jesus confirmed these things are going to come to pass. He that is faithful and true saith. And Jesus, saying much of these same things as Isaiah, declares Himself as the faithful and true witness declaring these very things. God said to Daniel, “Seal up the prophecy for it is sure.” It shall surely happen. And so here is Isaiah praising God for His faithfulness. Here is Isaiah praising God for His name and for the wonderful things that He has counseled of old, that He shall bring to pass.
For thou hast made of a city a heap; of a defensed city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the awesome nations will fear thee. For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall ( Isa 25:2-4 ).
God has been and is always a strength to the poor. He is a strength to the needy. He is a refuge from the storm. How many times have we sought and found refuge in Him from the storm. He is a shadow from the heat. He is praising the Lord for being the refuge and the shadow from the heat and the blast from the awesome ones.
Now this could very definitely be a reference to the things that will be taking place at the Great Tribulation and how that God will be the refuge to His children. “Come ye apart, my children, for a while, until the indignation be overpast” ( Isa 26:20 ). I cannot believe, I do not believe that the church will be here when this horrible devastation that Isaiah speaks about takes place upon the earth. I do not believe that. I am so deeply convicted of the fact that the Lord has better plans for me.
Jesus said, “Pray always, that you’ll be accounted worthy to escape all of these things that are coming to pass upon the earth, and to be standing before the Son of man” ( Luk 21:36 ). He will be a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat.
Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the awesome ones shall be brought low. And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all the faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it ( Isa 25:5-8 ).
Now if I just had read you that scripture and we weren’t going along in Isaiah and I said, “Where is this scripture found?” And “He will swallow up death in victory.” You’ll say, isn’t that in Corinthians? 1Co 15:1-58? “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” ( 1Co 15:55 ) You see, Jesus has triumphed over death, hell and the grave. And in speaking of the resurrection of Jesus Christ which brings to us the hope of our resurrection, for Paul said:
Now is Christ raised from the dead, and it has become the firstfruits of those who rise from the dead. But some of you will say, How are the dead raised? and with what body will they come? Don’t you realize that when you plant a seed into the ground it doesn’t come forth into new life until it first of all dies? And then the body that comes out of the ground isn’t the body that you planted. Because all you planted was a bare grain, by chance, wheat or some other grain. And God gives to it a body as pleases Him. So is the resurrection from the dead. You are planted in weakness and you’re raised in power. You’re planted in corruption; you’re raised in incorruption. You’re sown in dishonor, you’re raised in glory. You’re planted as a natural body, you’re raised as a spiritual body. For there’s a natural body, there’s a spiritual body. And even as you’re born in the image of the earth and have been earthy, so shall you bear the image of the heaven. And of course, the glory of the celestial is one, the glory of the terrestrial is another” ( 1Co 15:20 , 1Co 15:35-38 , 1Co 15:42-44 , 1Co 15:40 ).
And he goes on and speaks about these things and then he said, “But behold, I’m going to show you a mystery. We’re not going to all sleep, but we’re all going to have a metamorphosis, a change of body. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trump of God shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” ( 1Co 15:51-52 ).
And then shall be brought to pass this saying, “O death, where is thy string? O grave, where is thy victory?” For the sting of death was sin but it has been removed through Jesus Christ. Oh, thank God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so this glorious Easter proclamation. It all hinges on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It has brought to us this glorious hope. And in that day, the death will no longer be victorious. It will be swallowed up. It was swallowed up in victory in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “And the Lord will wipe away all tears.”
Now if I read that to you, you’ll say, “That’s in Revelation, isn’t it?” Yeah, seventh chapter. “And God shall wipe away all tears.” And then Revelation chapter 22, again, “And God shall wipe away all tears.” The glorious day of the kingdom. “And the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.” I like that. God spoke it. You know it’s going to be.
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him ( Isa 25:9 ),
You’ve been waiting for the Lord? He will come. Surely He will come.
and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust ( Isa 25:9-12 ).
So the devastation of chapter 24, the Great Tribulation, and then the glorious triumphs of the Kingdom Age in chapter 25, and then God’s restoration of His work on Israel in chapter 26. It’s unfortunate that they’ve made chapter distinctions because these things all flow together. And really we should go on and take chapter 26, but we’re not going to until next Sunday night. But we hope that you can remember the sequence that we have here. The Great Tribulation, the beginning of the Kingdom Age, the Lord’s victory and glory, and then God’s glorious dealing with His people Israel. And it’s always exciting. God is faithful to His promises and as we get into chapter 26 and all, we’ve got God’s glorious work in restoration of His people. As the prophets have all foretold when once again God begins to work in their midst.
Shall we stand.
I love the Bible, because you know that it’s true. You know that what God has said He has done. And if He has done what He said you know that He will also do what He said He is going to do. You can read it with such confidence, such assurance knowing that it shall indeed be. “Heaven and earth,” Jesus said, “will pass away, but My Word will never pass away” ( Mat 24:35 ). The sureness of the Word of God. And so you can read it and you can map out your life by the Word of God and always be on safe ground. God’s Word cannot fail. God’s Word will not fail. You can bank on it.
May the Lord be with you and may the Lord strengthen you through this week. And may the Word be as a fire burning within your heart as God ministers to you His truth. And may your life be purged through the Word, cleansed. And may you walk with the Lord in beautiful fellowship. And may God grant to you opportunities of witnessing and serving Him. In Jesus’ name. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Isa 25:1-5
Isa 25:1-5
A PROLEPTIC SONG OF THE REDEEMED
This chapter is a prolepsis, that is, an anticipation of the rejoicing and praise of God which the redeemed of all ages will sing. However, the song of exultation contains other tremendously significant prophecies which seem to break into the song itself, as in Isa 25:6-12. The three paragraphs of the chapter are: praise of God for the great things he has done (Isa 25:1-5), the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and the prophecy of the end of death (Isa 25:6-8), and the ultimate triumph of God over all his enemies (Isa 25:9-12).
Isa 25:1-5
THE SONG
“O Jehovah, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things, even counsels of old in faithfulness and truth. For thou hast made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. Therefore shall a strong people glorify thee; a city of terrible nations shall fear thee. For thou hast been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. As the heat in a dry place wilt thou bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the terrible ones shall be brought low.”
Peake has a perfect summary of these verses:
“The deliverance still lies in the future; the song is written from the standpoint of the redeemed community, and expresses its exultation over its salvation. God has overthrown the city; its inhabitants shall stand in awe of him. He has been a shelter to his distressed people when the blast of the violent has beaten on them like a winter storm. He has assuaged the oppression of the enemy, as the sun’s scorching heat in a parched land is ameliorated by clouds.”
Rawlinson believed that the exultation expressed was made by Isaiah in his own person, and “not in the person of the Church,” but we believe Peake’s view is preferable.
“Counsels of old …” (Isa 25:1). “The wonders for which God is praised were decreed in his counsels from all eternity; their accomplishment shows forth God’s `faithfulness and truth.'” Paul stressed this fact repeatedly. God’s counsels were made “before the worlds” (1Co 2:8); they were “kept in silence through times eternal” (Rom 16:25); the mystery of salvation was hidden “for ages and generations” (Col 1:26), etc.
Isa 25:2 mentions “a city”; but this is not any particular city. The great cities that existed in Isaiah’s day were Thebes (Egypt), Babylon, and Nineveh all three of which were destroyed within about a century after Isaiah’s times; but no definite city is identified here. For ages, it has been understood that there is a connection here with “Mystery Babylon the Great” (Revelation 18), standing in the scripture as a symbol of the greedy and sinful cities of the world in all ages. A Methodist scholar, E. Stanley Jones, stated that, “A city is where greed is entrenched.” Jamieson was sure, however, that “the city” is not Babylon, but “collectively stands for the cities of surrounding nations.”
God’s making cities into “heaps” refers to the same event mentioned in Rev 16:19, where it is related that “The cities of the Gentiles fell.” “`Heaps’ is a graphic picture of Babylon and Nineveh as they are this very day.” God’s opposition to “the city” is a reference to God’s hatred and ultimate destruction of the great urban cities of the earth, representing, as Leon Morris stated it, “The cities of civilization, the achievement of man’s demon-driven pride; and they will collapse.”
“A city of terrible nations shall fear thee …” (Isa 25:3). This shows that people of all nations, not Jews alone, will participate in the festivities of the Messianic banquet and joys of God’s kingdom in Christ.
“The storm and the heat …” (Isa 25:4-5). These are symbols that speak of God’s enemies and of, “Their vain attempts to subdue the poor and the needy. In the end, they themselves will be subdued. In that day, only the Lord’s people will be heard celebrating his mighty deeds.”
Peake pointed out that the word rendered “strangers” in Isa 25:2; Isa 25:5, should be read as “insolent.”
Isa 25:1-3 SOVEREIGN LORD: Two Hebrew names of God are used in Isa 25:1-Yaweh and Elohim. According to the best lexicographers Yaweh (Jehovah) denotes Gods covenant-keeping nature (faithfulness) while Elohim (Lord) denotes Gods Lordship or Almightiness. Chapter 25 is the prophets song of praise following Chapter 24s pronouncement of the doom of world power. The Covenant God has promised He will triumph over His enemies and that He shall reign eternally. Based upon the past faithfulness of God, Isaiah begins his song of praise thanking Him for the promises of future covenant fulfillment. The prophet seems to thank Jehovah for future triumph as if it had already been completed. Gods sovereign deeds are performed supernaturally in history as He carries out His covenanted plan of redemption. Such supernatural sovereignty and faithfulness causes men to marvel (cf. Psa 40:5; Psa 98:1; Eph 1:11, etc.). The Hebrew word yodoh is translated praise in Isa 25:1, and means literally, celebrate. Isaiah calls all who will to a celebration of praise for the faithfulness of Jehovah to keep His word.
Damascus (Syria), Samaria (Israel), Nineveh (Assyria), Memphis (Egypt) and Ethiopia threatened Gods people. But always God warned and promised their doom. Where are they now? They have all been brought low. Now Babylon threatens. What are Gods people to do? Trust in His faithfulness to keep His promise of Babylons doom also. Isa 25:2 promises that no city of man shall be strong enough to resist the Faithful and Almighty God. No material device, no political ideology, no philosophical system will ever thwart the Absolute certainty of Jehovahs covenant. World systems may deceive some (even with lying signs and wonders) that they are going to eradicate Gods kingdom and His covenant. But they shall never accomplish it. World systems have already been defeated (Col 2:15, etc.)-their obliteration awaits only the Consummation.
In the meantime (while we await the Consummation), some strong people (Gentiles) will turn to Jehovah glorifying and fearing Him. Isaiah is predicting the conversion of Gentiles as they see the wonderful faithfulness of the God of Israel (cf. our comments Isa 19:16 ff).
Isa 25:4-5 SHELTERING GOD: The Hebrew word dol is literally exhausted but translated poor in Isa 25:4. Another reason for Isaiahs celebration of praise to Jehovah is His being a refuge for the weak and helpless. The Hebrew people had plenty of evidence for this aspect of Gods nature. He had taken them as a helpless, infantile people (cf. Eze 16:1 ff) and rescued them, nurtured them, protected them and blessed them. He sheltered them from their enemies century after century as long as they depended upon Him. The metaphors of storm, refuge, heat, and shade should register vividly on the Hebrew mind. Palestine is subject to some violent natural storms and is a land of torrid heat and arid dryness. The prophets used such metaphors of the land frequently to communicate Gods nature and His will to their people. Jehovah is The Shadow of a Mighty Rock, within a weary land. The storms of world power (cf. Revelation, the Seals, Trumpets, etc.) rage against Gods elect covenant people (cf. Psa 2:1-11) and, looked at from a human perspective, it appears the city of God will fall. But the Divine Perspective shows refuge and salvation and victory for the city of God.
Just as a cloud can obscure the heat of the sun and give refuge to a dry, dusty traveler, so easily will the Lord bring to nothing the torrid rage of His enemies and save His faithful ones. The supernatural deeds of God done in history and recorded by eyewitnesses testify abundantly that He will do what He has promised. Let all who believe Him celebrate in jubilant praise.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Immediately following this terrible description is a prophecy which, in the form of praise, declares the activity of Jehovah. The song first offers praise for judgment both in its procedure, as it destroys the false city, and in its results, as by such action God manifests Himself as the Succorer and Helper of the afflicted.
The result of this activity will be spreading the feast in the mountain of the Lord, and His illumination of all the nations, followed by the ending of sorrow and the wiping away of tears.
At last Jehovah’s own afflicted people will break forth into a song of praise as they come to know Him; and their enemies, comprehensively spoken of as Moab, will finally be overcome and cast out.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Sorrow Turned to Gladness
Isa 25:1-12
Here is a song of thanksgiving at the fall of Babylon. When she fell, a sigh of relief passed over the whole world, and strong, terrible nations over which she had exerted her tyranny gratefully recognized the goodness and righteousness of Jehovah. We may anticipate, as we read these glowing words, what that song will be when the spirited Babylon is overthrown, Rev 19:1-7.
Notice how God suits Himself to our need, whether for strength, or refuge, or shadow. Take from Him what you are needing most. As the cloud draws its veil over the burning sunshine to mitigate its heat, so does God interpose to reduce the sufferings of His own. The branch, that is, the exulting song of the terrible ones, their song of triumph, shall be hushed. From Isa 25:6 we learn that the hunger of man for God can only be satisfied in Jesus; and from Isa 25:7, that the dread of death and the hereafter, which has lain heavily on humanity as a pall shall be forever ended, when Jesus comes the second time unto salvation. Compare 1Co 15:54. God will not only wipe tears from our eyes but the fountains of tears shall be dried up, Rev 21:4.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
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 TWENTY-FIVE
EXULTANT SONG OF THE REMNANT
IT IS with growing interest and increasing joy that we move on now to contemplate the exultation of the remnant of Israel who will become the nucleus of the new nation after the powers of evil which have sought their complete destruction shall have been dealt with by the Lord Himself at His Second Advent. For this remnant “the time of the singing” (Song of Solomon 2:12) will at last have come. Down through the centuries the cries of misery and lamentation have been loud and long because they knew not the time of their visitation, but when at last they look upon Him whom they have pierced and recognize in the once-despised Galilean their own promised Messiah their hearts will well up with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord their GOD who henceforth will be their everlasting portion.
Let us consider the song, verse by verse.
“O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth” (verse 1).
They who had been so grievously misled in the past will then come to realize that the Lord’s counsels of faithfulness and truth have remained unchanged in spite of the fact that when the Lord JESUS appeared to bring in the blessings so long awaited, they fulfilled their own Scriptures in rejecting Him and giving Him up to the death of the Cross. But GOD made that very Cross the great altar upon which the true propitiatory sacrifice was offered for the sins of the world.
Nor did He change His plan because they said, “We will not have this Man to reign over us.” For the time being the One whom they refused to acknowledge as king was taken up to glory and seated, in fulfillment of Psa 110:1, at GOD’s right hand. During the long years of His personal absence from this earth, Israel has become the nation of the wandering foot, seeking rest and peace in vain because the Prince of Peace, who alone could give what their hearts yearned for, was to them a stranger. But in that coming day they will recognize and adore Him and so enter into fullness of joy.
“For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee” (verses 2, 3).
These verses clearly indicate the destruction of all God-defying Gentile power in the time of the end. The leaders of the Jews declared of old, “We have no king but Caesar.” Unspeakably terrible have been their sufferings under the Caesars ever since, but at the end of the great tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble, all the powers that have oppressed them will be destroyed and they will be freed forever from Gentile tyranny and persecution.
“For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall” (verse 4).
Doubtless this verse may be interpreted as applying to the entire period of Israel’s scattering and distress for although the nation as such was rejected by GOD when they rejected His Son, nevertheless, during all this present age there has remained an election of grace; Jews who in their anguish and misery have turned to God and have found in the Holy Scriptures the revelation of His Son as their Messiah and Saviour. To these He has ever been a refuge and a comfort, even in the midst of trial and sorrow, enabling them to rejoice in His unfailing love.
“Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined” (verses 6, 6).
Coincident with the destruction of the Beast and the False Prophet, as we read in Revelation 19, will come the fulfillment of the prophetic Word in regard to the return of the Lord and the establishment of His throne upon Mount Zion. From thence shall the law go forth into all the world, and men everywhere among those who have been spared from the judgments of that awful day will be invited to revel in the riches of God’s abundant grace. He will spread His table, not only for Israel but for the saved from among the Gentiles too, as indicated in Revelation 7. We certainly are not to take this sixth verse as referring to some literal feast, but to the spiritual refreshment which will be offered to all in that day.
“And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it” (verses 7, 8).
Ever since sin came into the world, men have been blinded to the eternal truths of God’s Word. As we read in Ephesians 4, “having the understanding darkened, . . . through the ignorance that is in them.” But when the LORD Himself appears in glory, this blindness will pass away, not only from the eyes of Israel who are now unable to understand their own Scriptures because of the veil that is upon their hearts, but from the eyes of the Gentiles as well.”
The apostle quotes from verse 8 in opening up the truth of resurrection in I Corinthians 15. He shows that this passage will have its partial fulfillment at what we know as the Rapture, when the dead shall be raised and the living changed, and this corruption shall put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality. Then, indeed, will come to pass that of which Isaiah here speaks. For all the children of God, living and dead, at that time, death will be swallowed up in victory.
That there will be a further fulfillment at the end of the great tribulation is evident from Rev 20:4-6, for the first resurrection will include not only the saints of this and past ages, but also those who will be put to death for refusing to worship the Beast and his image during the days of the great tribulation. Together these will constitute the heavenly company, while the spared of Israel and the nations will enter into the millennial kingdom here on the earth.
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (verse 9).
One can imagine something of the exultant joy of the remnant as they look upon the once-despised JESUS and see in Him the GOD of their fathers manifested in flesh. “Lo,” they cry, “this is our God; we have waited for Him.” Under His beneficent but righteous reign, their wanderings come to an end and they enter into possession of the land promised to Abraham and confirmed in the promise to David.
“For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust” (verses 10-12).
Moab, which we have already seen speaks of the pride of a false religious profession, will no longer be a menace to the peace of God’s people. He will utterly destroy everything that would mar the joy of that day of blessing. This will be brought about, not by human effort, not by man’s ingenuity, but by the Lord Himself, who will spread forth His hands in judgment upon those who refuse to bow to His will, and in grace upon those that put their trust in Him.
~ end of chapter 25 ~
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Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Isa 25:4
I. This is a world where storms often gather, and tempests on this planet are never out of place. The storm has also its mission and its work as well as the calm. Now, among men, adversity of all kinds is a powerful agent in accomplishing necessary spiritual operations.
II. This is a time of storms, and tempests here are not out of season. The days of man upon earth are as the winter of his life. Death is the seedtime, and immortality is the spring and summer and harvest. When the spring and summer have come, snow and hail are out of season; but during the winter of our being-the days we spend upon earth-hail and snow and rain are in season.
III. Every storm, however, is raised and guided under the eye and hand of God. The stormy wind does not surprise Him, neither does it master Him; it only fulfils His decree; it simply accomplishes His word.
IV. The object of every storm is good, although the present experience of it is not joyous, but grievous; and hence the need of a refuge, even to the child of God. It is quite true that no storm can ultimately hurt him; but any storm may terribly disquiet him, if he have not a refuge in the storm, and if he make not full and complete use of that refuge. And where is the refuge? “God is a refuge for us.”
V. A place to be a refuge must be out of the storm; or if in the midst of the storm, it must be stronger than the storm. God is a refuge from the storm-a refuge required by all, and resorted to by many, but in which there is always room-a refuge stronger than the concentrated force of all the storms which have ever raged-a refuge in which we may stay until all storms are over, and a refuge affording efficient shelter.
S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 4th series, No. 13.
References: Isa 25:6.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 139; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv., No. 846. Isa 25:6-8.-J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages from the Prophets, vol. i., p. 66. Isa 25:7.-S. Cox, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 331. Isa 25:8, Isa 25:9.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 279. Isa 25:9.-H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 1; Ibid., Old Testament Outlines, p. 185; J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 6th series, p. 140; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 69; Bishop Walsham How, Plain Words, 2nd series, p. 10. Isa 26:3.-F. W. Farrar, Penny Pulpit, No. 955 (see also Old Testament Outlines, p. 187); Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi., No. 1818; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 181; C. White, Literary Churchman Sermons, p. 181. Isa 26:4.-Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 188; Outline Sermons to Children, p. 87.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 25
Israels Praise and the Blessings of the Kingdom
1. The praise of the delivered nation (Isa 25:1-5) 2. The blessing for all nations during the Kingdom (Isa 25:6-8) 3. Israel rejoicing after waiting (Isa 25:9) 4. Moab and Israels enemies judged (Isa 25:10-12)In the foreground of this chapter stands another hymn of praise, which redeemed Israel will sing in that day. Jehovah has done wonderful things for His people. Compare with Isa 12:5;Psa 46:8-11, etc.
The blessings for all nations are described in Isa 25:6-8. The mountain is Zion Isa 4:5-6,Psa 132:13-18). From there the streams of blessing will gush forth. Then all the ends of the earth shall remember, and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee Psa 22:27. Darkness will be removed and all tears wiped away. All this does not relate to the eternal state, but to conditions on the earth.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
thou art: Isa 26:13, Isa 61:10, Exo 15:2, 1Ch 29:10-20, Psa 99:5, Psa 118:28, Psa 145:1, Psa 146:2, Rev 5:9-14, Rev 7:12
thou hast: Psa 40:5, Psa 46:10, Psa 78:4, Psa 98:1, Psa 107:8-43, Psa 111:4, Dan 4:2, Dan 4:3, Rev 15:3
thy counsels: Isa 28:29, Isa 46:10, Num 23:19, Psa 33:10, Psa 33:11, Jer 32:17-24, Eze 38:17-23, Rom 11:25-29, Eph 1:11, Heb 6:17, Heb 6:18, Rev 19:11
Reciprocal: Deu 32:4 – a God Jdg 5:1 – Sang Deborah Psa 25:10 – mercy Psa 89:1 – thy faithfulness Psa 107:32 – exalt Psa 117:2 – General Psa 119:129 – testimonies Isa 11:5 – and faithfulness Isa 12:1 – O Lord Isa 12:4 – his name Isa 24:14 – General Isa 41:16 – thou shalt rejoice Eze 42:20 – it had Joe 2:26 – that Act 2:11 – wonderful 1Co 1:9 – God 1Co 10:13 – but 1Th 5:24 – Faithful 2Ti 2:13 – yet Rev 19:2 – true
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THANKSGIVING
I will praise Thy Name.
Isa 25:1
Isaiah lived in sad and degenerate times, but he was yet a man of praiseful spirit and hopeful outlook. Isaiah was personally of hopeful spirit because he could sing, O Lord, Thou art my God, and as regarded Israel his faith in the covenant mercies of Jehovah, which would surely fulfil themselves in the long reach of the centuries, fortified him against temporary despondency. Isaiah was moved to praise as he looked backward and recalled that the Lord had already done wonderful things, that His counsels of old had been faithfulness and truth, and then he worked away from the past tenses into the future tenses of religious experience, anticipating the fulfilment of the Messianic promises when God would make unto all people a feast of fat things, would swallow up death in victory, and would wipe away tears from off all faces. Looking both backward and forward, therefore, there appeared abundant reason for praising the Lord.
I. Thanksgiving is properly the key-note of the redeemed life.It is always a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. Praise is comely for the upright. There is no song in the life of sin. Scepticism has no hymnology.
Let those refuse to sing
Who never knew our God:
But children of the Heavenly King
May sound His praise abroad.
II. The temper of thanksgiving is not to be limited to one time or to a single set of circumstances.Thanksgiving Day should be every day. The spirit of praise should run through the whole of life. Like the sunshine, it should bathe all things in glory.
The Christian life is a continual feast of fat things. Lifes blessings are more than its burdens. All these gifts come in the way of undeserved mercy. Whittier sings:
O favours every year made new!
O gifts with rain and sunshine sent!
The bounty overruns our due,
The fullness shames our discontent.
III. It should never be the case that complaints reach the Lord quicker than acknowledgments of His mercy.It is a shame to receive of God without sending back any answering psalm of praise. Let the redeemed of the Lord praise Him. The Lord is worthy to be praised, and thanksgiving will render the blessings now in hand all the sweeter, while it will make the coming of further bounties in the future all the surer.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Isa 25:1. O Lord O Jehovah, thou art my God In covenant with me: my friend, my father, my portion. The prophet speaks in the name of the whole church, and of every true member of it. I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name Expressions these flowing from a deep and grateful sense of the divine goodness. Those that have Jehovah for their God are in duty bound to praise him. For thou hast done wonderful things In different ages and nations from the beginning hitherto, especially for thy own people, and against their enemies. Thy counsels of old Hebrew, , properly, from afar, signifying not only counsels long before taken, but which had been long before declared and published by the prophets; are faithfulness and truth That is, thy counsels, from which all thy works proceed, and which thou hast from time to time revealed to thy prophets and people, which were of old, being conceived from all eternity, are true and firm, and shall certainly be accomplished.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 25:2. A defenced city a ruin. This city, in the next words, is called a palace of strangers; therefore it was a great city. In the critics we find nothing but conjectures, as SamariaAr of MoabNinevehBabylon. Memphis, the capital of Egypt, was a palace of strangers, ambassadors, &c.; but we have no certainty of its ruin, till the time of Nebuchadnezzar. It was destroyed by a blast of the terrible ones: Isa 25:4. There can scarcely be a doubt remaining, but the city alluded to was Nineveh, which the Babylonian army captured and rebuilt; for those cities stood many contests. See Isa 26:5. Nineveh was finally taken by the united armies of Babylon and Media, in the twenty ninth year of king Josiah. After this final overthrow, Nineveh was never rebuilt, The Turkish city of Mosul is on the opposite side of the river Tigris. See on Nahum.
Isa 25:5. Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers. From this we learn that the city was not as yet destroyed; and that it was a gentile city, a city of strangers, which perfectly coincides with Nineveh.
Isa 25:6. In this mountain shall the Lord make a feast to all people. While the prophet is speaking of visitations on the wicked, and intervals of joy in Jerusalem, he does not forget to glance, and constantly to glance, on the superior glory of Zion in the latter day. Josiahs feast was for the Jews, but the Lords feast is for all people of the gentile world. What can that be but the gospel feast, for the poor Jews in the streets and lanes of the city, and for the poor gentiles in the highways and hedges. Wisdom keeps open house for hungry souls; and yet there is room.
Isa 25:7. He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering, which veiled the holy of holies from vulgar eyes. And what is this veil but the darkness of the gentile world, the gross darkness which covers the people. The Lord by the gospel promises to open their blind eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light. To remove the wall of partition, and give them full access to the holy place in Christ Jesus, and a perfect knowledge of all the mysteries of the great salvation. What is this but a translation out of darkness into marvellous light. It is the light of life opened; the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
Isa 25:8. He will swallow up death in victory, by a glorious resurrection from the dead, and by reversing the afflicted state of the church, in all the glory of the latter day. The serpent does not masticate his prey, but swallows it whole. In like manner, by the glorious resurrection of the dead, we shall be swallowed up of immortality and eternal joy. Then the church shall sing the advent of her Lord. Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him. He is come; he will save us with an everlasting salvation.
REFLECTIONS.
Here follows a song of praise for the judgments of God on the impious Assyrians, and for his gracious care in preserving his more faithful people. This song follows the preseding chapter; but I see no reason which criticism has assigned of sufficient weight, why it might not follow the destruction of Sennacheribs army. It opens with an intimate approach to JEHOVAH. Oh Lord, thou art my God; for adversity, which consumes the wicked, drives the church into closer union with the arm of vengeance and protecting love.
It praises him for his judgments, and for his distinguishing mercy. He had made Samaria a heap of ruins, while Jerusalem was miraculously saved, and shone with smiles of brighter joy for having been under a cloud for a few months. God was their refuge from the storm, and a shadow from the heat. The blast of the Assyrians, here called the terrible or formidable ones, and strangers, which came with battering-rams against the wall, God laid low.
After Gods angel had slain the proud blasphemers, who according to the preseding chapter had made men very few, Israel made a feast of fat things and wine in the mountain or temple of the Lord, and to all the people of neighbouring nations who came up to learn the wonders of the Lord. Truly they had cause to do so, for the special marks of Gods protecting love were worthy of the covenant he had made with his people on Sinai. Oh what a feast of joy! One hundred and eighty five thousand of the enemy slain in one night! The survivors of the slaughtered nations would now see the murderers of the earth laid low, and the terrible ones stripped of all their terrors. Surely the nations would now know that there was no God like the God of Israel; and surely Israel would now no more suffer an idol to exist in Jerusalem. But ah, like our vain hearts, they soon forgat, and went astray. The destruction of the Assyrians would very much tend to confirm the credit of the holy prophets; for according to Isaiah, the Lord destroyed the veil and gloomy covering then upon all nations; and the Assyrians, who were as death walking in triumph, were swallowed up in victory. The tears therefore were wiped from all faces.
In this most signal deliverance God gave his church a pledge of what he will ever do in the destruction of her foes. Hence this passage, though it literally belongs to the preservation of Jerusalem, while Moab and Samaria her enemies were not perceived; yet it has justly been applied to the future vengeance everywhere denounced on the unbelieving world. Then shall the church rejoice in the fulness of joy, and sing, Lo this is our God; we have waited for him. He will save us, and we will be glad in his salvation. Thus St. Paul has taught us to improve it, by saying, Death is swallowed up in victory. Hence the good and the fragrance of all Gods former gifts are lasting in excellence throughout every age of the church.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 25:1-5. A Song of Praise for Yahwehs Great Deliverance.The deliverance still lies in the future; the song is written from the standpoint of the redeemed community, and expresses its exultation over its salvation. Yahweh has overthrown the city, its inhabitants shall stand in awe of Him. He has been a shelter to His distressed people when the blast of the violent has beaten on them like a winter storm. He has assuaged the oppression of the enemy, as the suns scorching heat in a parched land is ameliorated by clouds.
Isa 25:1. counsels of old: Gods decrees formed in the far-distant past.
Isa 25:2. a city: the identification is uncertain; perhaps it is that of Isa 24:10.palace: fortress (Amo 1:4*).strangers: i.e. to God, but read insolent, and similarly in Isa 25:5.
Isa 25:4. storm against the wall: read storm in winter.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
25:1 O LORD, thou {a} [art] my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful [things; thy] counsels of old [are] faithfulness [and] truth.
(a) Thus the prophet gives thanks to God because he will bring under subjection these nations by his corrections, and make them of his Church, who before were his enemies.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Pilgrims on the march 25:1-5
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The prophet reflects a personal knowledge of God; he is a saved person. He exalts and thanks Yahweh his God because He supernaturally and faithfully executed the outworking of plans that He had formulated long before.
The singer is probably Isaiah himself, who projected himself into the future time that he envisioned (cf. chs. 40-66). He spoke for the redeemed of that time, the beginning of the Millennium. Since Old Testament saints will be resurrected at the beginning of the Millennium (Dan 12:2), Isaiah himself may utter this prophetic psalm of praise in the future. Isaiah included more praise of God among his prophecies than any other Old Testament writing prophet. We might even think of him as a psalmist as well as a prophet. [Note: Grogan, p. 158.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
BOOK 5
PROPHECIES NOT RELATING TO ISAIAH’S TIME
In the first thirty-nine chapters of the Book of Isaiah-the half which refers to the prophets own career and the politics contemporary with that – we find four or five prophecies containing no reference to Isaiah himself nor to any Jewish king under whom he laboured, and painting both Israel and the foreign world in quite a different state from that in which they lay during his lifetime. These prophecies are chapter 13, an Oracle announcing the Fall of Babylon, with its appendix, Isa 14:1-23, the Promise of Israels Deliverance and an Ode upon the Fall of the Babylonian Tyrant; chapters 24-27, a series of Visions of the breaking up of the universe, of restoration from exile, and even of resurrection from the dead; chapter 34, the Vengeance of the Lord upon Edom; and chapter 35, a Song of Return from Exile.
In these prophecies Assyria is no longer the dominant world-force, nor Jerusalem the inviolate fortress of God and His people. If Assyria or Egypt is mentioned, it is but as one of the three classical enemies of Israel; and Babylon is represented as the head and front of the hostile world. The Jews are no longer in political freedom and possession of their own land; they are either in exile or just returned from it to a depopulated country. With these altered circumstances come another temper and new doctrine. The horizon is different, and the hopes that flush in dawn upon it are not quite the same as those which we have contemplated with Isaiah in his immediate future. It is no longer the repulse of the heathen invader; the inviolateness of the sacred city; the recovery of the people from the shock of attack, and of the land from the trampling of armies. But it is the people in exile, the overthrow of the tyrant in his own home, the opening of prison doors, the laying down of a highway through the wilderness, the triumph of return, and the resumption of worship. There is, besides, a promise of the resurrection, which we have not found in the prophecies we have considered.
With such differences, it is not wonderful that many have denied the authorship of these few prophecies to Isaiah. This is a question that can be looked at calmly. It touches no dogma of the Christian faith. Especially it does not involve the other question, so often-and, we venture to say, so unjustly-started on this point, Could not the Spirit of God have inspired Isaiah to foresee all that the prophecies in question foretell, even though he lived more than a century before the people were in circumstances to understand them? Certainly, God is almighty. The question is not, Could He have done this? but one somewhat different: Did He do it? and to this an answer can be had only from the prophecies themselves. If these mark the Babylonian hostility or captivity as already upon Israel, this is a testimony of Scripture itself, which we cannot overlook, and beside which even unquestionable traces of similarity to Isaiahs style or the fact that these oracles are bound up with Isaiahs own undoubted prophecies have little weight. “Facts” of style will be regarded with suspicion by any one who knows how they are employed by both sides in such a question as this; while the certainty that the Book of Isaiah was put into its present form subsequently to his life will permit of, -and the evident purpose of Scripture to secure moral impressiveness rather than historical consecutiveness will account for, -later oracles being bound up with unquestioned utterances of Isaiah.
Only one of the prophecies in question confirms the tradition that it is by Isaiah, viz., chapter 13, which bears the title “Oracle of Babylon which Isaiah, son of Amoz, did see”; but titles are themselves so much the report of tradition, being of a later date than the rest of the text, that it is best to argue the question apart from them.
On the other hand, Isaiahs authorship of these prophecies, or at least the possibility of his having written them, is usually defended by appealing to his promise of return from exile in chapter 11 and his threat of a Babylonish captivity in chapter 39. This is an argument that has not been fairly met by those who deny the Isaianic authorship of chapters 13-14, 23, 24-28, and 35. It is a strong argument, for while, as we have seen, there are good grounds for believing Isaiah to have been likely to make such a prediction of a Babylonish captivity as is attributed to him in Isa 39:6, almost all the critics agree in leaving chapter 11 to him. But if chapter 11 is Isaiahs, then he undoubtedly spoke of an exile much more extensive than had taken place by his own day. Nevertheless, even this ability in 11 to foretell an exile so vast does not account for passages in 13-14:23, 24-27, which represent the Exile either as present or as actually over. No one who reads these chapters without prejudice can fail to feel the force of such passages in leading him to decide for an exilic or post-exilic authorship.
Another argument against attributing these prophecies to Isaiah is that their visions of the last things, representing as they do a judgment on the whole world, and even the destruction of the whole material universe, are incompatible with Isaiahs loftiest and final hope of an inviolate Zion at last relieved and secure, of a land freed from invasion and wondrously fertile, with all the converted world, Assyria and Egypt, gathered round it as a centre. This question, however, is seriously complicated by the fact that in his youth Isaiah did undoubtedly prophesy a shaking of the whole world and the destruction of its inhabitants, and by the probability that his old age survived into a period whose abounding sin would again make natural such wholesale predictions of judgment as we find in chapter 24.
Still, let the question of the eschatology be as obscure as we have shown, there remains this clear issue. In some chapters of the Book of Isaiah, which, from our knowledge of the circumstances of his times, we know must have been published while he was alive, we learn that the Jewish people has never left its land, nor lost its independence under Jehovahs anointed, and that the inviolateness of Zion and the retreat of the Assyrian invaders of Judah, without effecting the captivity of the Jews, are absolutely essential to the endurance of Gods kingdom on earth. In other chapters we find that the Jews have left their land, have been long in exile (or from other passages have just returned), and that the religious essential is no more the independence of the Jewish State under a theocratic king, but only the resumption of the Temple worship. Is it possible for one man to have written both these sets of chapters? Is it possible for one age to. have produced them? That is the whole question.