THE PRESCRIBED METHOD OF WAITING FOR GOD’S SALVATION Isaiah 56:1. _Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment, &c._ [“The doctrine of the passage is simply this, that they who enjoy extraordinary privileges, or expect extraordinary favours, are under corresponding obligations to do the will of God; and... [ Continue Reading ]
JOINED TO THE LORD Isaiah 56:3; Isaiah 56:6. _The sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord_. The end of all worship is union with God. To this most glorious issue all the revelations of Scripture converge. It is the end of all teaching, and the seal of all perfection. Our Lord’s praye... [ Continue Reading ]
CHARACTERISTICS AND PRIVILEGES OF GOD’S PEOPLE Isaiah 56:4. _For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep My Sabbaths, &c._ The pride of ancestry, and boast of ceremonial exclusiveness, and glorying in the flesh, the Lord, by His prophet, looking forward to gospel days, now abolishes, and ma... [ Continue Reading ]
OTHERS TO BE GATHERED Isaiah 56:8. _The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel, &c._ God’s work is now that of gathering, &c. I. ENCOURAGEMENT TO THOSE WHO SEEK THE LORD. Note well the instances mentioned: instances of gathering by the hand of the Lord. Outcasts have been gathered, and th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FLOCK: ITS GUARDIANS AND ITS DEVOURERS Isaiah 56:9. _All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest_. These words are to be understood as a note of warning, a sound of alarm. It is not that God wishes His flock to be devoured that He thus summons the beasts of prey... [ Continue Reading ]
WORTHLESS SHEPHERDS Isaiah 56:10. _His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, &c._ A very sad description is here given of the “watchmen”—the spiritual leaders of Isaiah’s time, evincing a state of lamentable degeneracy and corruption. The language has often been, and still is, descriptive of... [ Continue Reading ]