CONTENTS At this Chapter, the Prophet begins a sermon, and a most blessed one it is, which continues to the very close of his prophecy. It is all pure gospel from beginning to end. The Holy Ghost commands the Prophet to comfort his Church with proclamations of the Redeemer's coming, and the blessed... [ Continue Reading ]
Reader! do not fail to remark the Lord's gracious commands for comforting his people; he doubles it. Not that we are to suppose there was any reluctancy on the part of Isaiah to perform this blessed service; but certain it is, that the most forward of God's servants, in becoming sons of consolation,... [ Continue Reading ]
All the Prophets, with one voice, proclaimed the coming Saviour; but John the Baptist was eminently pointed out as the immediate herald and harbinger of our Lord; Matthew 3:1; Malachi 3:1. If the passage be read, as undoubtedly it should be read, spiritually, the humbling principles of grace, in pre... [ Continue Reading ]
In these verses of the Prophet's sermon, he draws a striking contrast between the fading, dying purposes of man, and the incorruptible and never-ending counsels of God! And the Apostle Peter makes a beautiful comment upon it, 1 Peter 1:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
This is a most beautiful address to Zion, the gospel church of Jesus, and to Jerusalem the beloved city. Some have thought that it had an allusion to the proclamation made by Cyrus, for the people in Babylon to return from their captivity; but certainly the grand and leading object was, to tell poor... [ Continue Reading ]
Some have thought that the person of God the Father is here spoken of, because the Church is taught to look up to Him with peculiar reverence of character, as the Creator. But, as the church is never taught to look up to God the Father, in this glorious distinction of character, to the exclusion of... [ Continue Reading ]
Who but must feel humbled to the very dust of the earth, while reading, in these verses, the sad state to which man is reduced by the fall? We see man so prone to idolatry, that if the poor creature be so poor, that he cannot have a golden image to fall down to, he will be content with a wooden one,... [ Continue Reading ]
As the Prophet's commission opened, so the chapter is closed, in giving a special comfort to the Lord's people. It is impossible to conceive in the whole compass of language, anything more gracious, more affectionate, or kind, than what is here said, in the Lord's love, to Israel. Every glorious per... [ Continue Reading ]
REFLECTIONS MY soul! hear what thy Lord saith in this blessed chapter, and behold how he hath both commanded his people to be comforted, and provided every means for their comfort. Precious Lord Jesus! in thee and thy great salvation, I do indeed see a most blessed and suitable provision for pardoni... [ Continue Reading ]