_Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement?_ JEHOVAH AND UNFAITHFUL ISRAEL These Israelites went to the only kind of law with which they were familiar, and borrowed from it two of its forms, which were not only suggested to them by the relations in which the nation and th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore, when I came, was there no man?_ THE MEDIATOR: DIVINE AND HUMAN These words could have been spoken only by the Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus They place before our thoughts-- I. His DIVINE POWER AND GLORY. Power is naturally calm. The power that sustains the univers... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned_ THE LORD’S SERVANT MADE PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGS In Isaiah 50:4 the servant is again introduced, speaking of Himself and His work, as in Isaiah 49:1. He describes-- 1. The close, intimate, and continuous communion with God through which He... [ Continue Reading ]
_I gave My back to the smiters_ THE SHAME AND SMITING I. AS THE REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD. In the person of Christ Jesus, God himself came into the world, making a special visitation to Jerusalem and the Jewish people, but at the same time coming very near to all mankind. When our Lord came into this w... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the Lord God will help Me_ MESSIAH NEITHER ASHAMED NOR PUT TO SHAME The verse is better rendered thus: “But the Lord Jehovah helps Me, therefore I was not ashamed” (_i e._ , felt no shame) ; “therefore I made My face like flint” (figure for determination, Ezekiel 3:9), “and knew that I shou... [ Continue Reading ]
_He is near that justifieth Me_ JEHOVAH THE JUSTIFIER The consciousness of innocence is expressed (as often in the Book of Job) under the conception of a legal process. (_Prof. J. Skinner, D. D._) TO “JUSTIFY” To “justify” is to show to be in the right, by giving Him victory in His cause. The t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who is among you that feareth the Lord?_ THE FEAR OF THE LORD The fear of the Lord blends its operations with the exercise of every other grace. It intermixes with faith, and renders it fruitful; it co-operates with love, and prevents it from becoming secure; it unites with hope, and keeps it fro... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, all ye that kindle a fire_ A CHILD OF DARKNESS WALKING IN LIGHT By the “fire” and “the light of their fire” which wicked men are said to walk in, two things must be meant. I. THEIR OWN NATURAL RIGHTEOUSNESS and the sparks and acts thereof. II. THE LIGHT OF OUTWARD COMFORTS from the crea... [ Continue Reading ]