I
S A I A H
CHAP. XXXV.
As
after a prediction of God's judgments upon the world (ch. xxiv.)
follows a promise of great mercy to be had in store for his church (ch.
xxv.), so here after a black and dreadful scene of confusion in the foregoing
chapter we have, in this, a bright and pleasant one, which, though it foretel
the flourishing estate of Hezekiah's kingdom in the latter part of his reign,
yet surely looks as far beyond that as the prophecy in the foregoing chapter
does beyond the destruction of the Edomites; both were typical, and it
concerns us most to look at those things which they were typical of, the
kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of heaven. When the world, which lies in
wickedness, shall be laid in ruins, and the Jewish church, which persisted in
infidelity, shall become a desolation, then the gospel church shall be set up
and made to flourish. I. The Gentiles shall be brought into it, ver. 1, 2, 7.
II. The well-wishers to it, who were weak and timorous, shall be encouraged,
ver. 3, 4. III. Miracles shall be wrought both on the souls and on the bodies
of men, ver. 5, 6. IV. The gospel church shall be conducted in the way of
holiness, ver. 8, 9. V. It shall be brought at last to endless joys, ver. 10.
Thus do we find more of Christ and heaven in this chapter than one would have
expected in the Old Testament.
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1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall
be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the
glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon,
they shall see the glory of the LORD,
and the excellency of our God. 3 Strengthen ye the weak
hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 4 Say to them that are
of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save
you.
In these verses we have,
I. The desert land blooming. In the foregoing chapter we had a populous and
fruitful country turned into a horrid wilderness; here we have in lieu of
that, a wilderness turned into a good land. When the land of Judah was freed
from the Assyrian army, those parts of the country that had been made as a
wilderness by the ravages and outrages they committed began to recover
themselves, and to look pleasantly again, and to blossom as the rose. When the
Gentile nations, that had been long as a wilderness, bringing forth no fruit
to God, received the gospel, joy came with it to them, Ps. lxvii. 3, 4; xcvi.
11, 12. When Christ was preached in Samaria there was great joy in that
city (Acts viii. 8); those that sat in darkness saw a great and joyful
light, and then they blossomed, that is, gave hopes of abundance of fruit; for
that was it which the preachers of the gospel aimed at (John xv. 16), to go
and bring forth fruit, Rom. i. 13; Col. i. 6. Though blossoms are not
fruit, and often miscarry and come to nothing, yet they are in order to fruit.
Converting grace makes the soul that was a wilderness to rejoice with joy
and singing, and to blossom abundantly. This flourishing desert
shall have all the glory of Lebanon given to it, which consisted in the
strength and stateliness of its cedars, together with the excellency of
Carmel and Sharon, which consisted in corn and cattle. Whatever is
valuable in any institution is brought into the gospel. All the beauty of the
Jewish church was admitted into the Christian church, and appeared in its
perfection, as the apostle shows at large in his epistle to the Hebrews.
Whatever was excellent an desirable in the Mosaic economy is translated into
the evangelical institutes.
II. The glory of God shining forth: They shall see the glory of the Lord.
God will manifest himself more than ever in his grace and love to mankind (for
that is his glory and excellency), and he shall give them eyes to see it, and
hearts to be duly affected with it. This is that which will make the desert
blossom. The more we see by faith of the glory of the Lord and the excellency
of our God the more joyful and the more fruitful shall we be.
III. The feeble and faint-hearted encouraged, v. 3, 4. God's prophets
and ministers are in a special manner charged, by virtue of their office, to strengthen
the weak hands, to comfort those who could not yet recover the fright they
had been put into by the Assyrian army with an assurance that God would now
return in mercy to them. This is the design of the gospel, 1. To strengthen
those that are weak and to confirm them--the weak hands, which are unable
either to work or fight, and can hardly be lifted up in prayer, and the feeble
knees, which are unable either to stand or walk and unfit for the race set
before us. The gospel furnishes us with strengthening considerations, and
shows us where strength is laid up for us. Among true Christians there are
many that have weak hands and feeble knees, that are yet but babes in Christ;
but it is our duty to strengthen our brethren (Luke xxii. 32), not only to
bear with the weak, but to do what we can to confirm them, Rom. xv. 1; 1 Thess.
v. 14. It is our duty also to strengthen ourselves, to lift up the hands
which hang down (Heb. xii. 12), improving the strength God has given us,
and exerting it. 2. To animate those that are timorous and discouraged: Say
to those that are of a fearful heart, because of their own weakness and
the strength of their enemies, that are hasty (so the word is), that
are for betaking themselves to flight upon the first alarm, and giving up the
cause, that say, in their haste, "We are cut off and undone" (Ps.
xxxi. 22), there is enough in the gospel to silence these fears; it says to
them, and let them say it to themselves and one to another, Be strong, fear
not. Fear is weakening; the more we strive against it the stronger we are
both for doing and suffering; and, for our encouragement to strive, he that
says to us, Be strong has laid help for us upon one that is mighty.
IV. Assurance given of the approach of a Saviour: "Your God will come
with vengeance. God will appear for you against your enemies, will
recompense both their injuries and your losses." The Messiah will come,
in the fulness of time, to take vengeance on the powers of darkness, to spoil
them, and make a show of them openly, to recompense those that mourn in Zion
with abundant comforts. He will come and save us. With the hopes of
this the Old-Testament saints strengthened their weak hands. He will come
again at the end of time, will come in flaming fire, to recompense tribulation
to those who have troubled his people, and, to those who were troubled, rest,
such a rest as will be not only a final period to, but a full reward of, all
their troubles, 2 Thess. i. 6, 7. Those whose hearts tremble for the ark of
God, and who are under a concern for his church in the world, may silence
their fears with this, God will take the work into his own hands. Your God
will come, who pleads your cause and owns your interest, even God himself, who
is God alone.
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5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then shall the lame
man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the
wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. 7
And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of
water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass
with reeds and rushes. 8 And a highway shall be there, and a way,
and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over
it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall
not err therein. 9 No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the
redeemed shall walk there: 10 And the ransomed of the LORD
shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their
heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee
away.
"Then, when your God shall come, even Christ, to set up his
kingdom in the world, to which all the prophets bore witness, especially
towards the conclusion of their prophecies of the temporal deliverances of the
church, and this evangelical prophet especially--then look for great
things."
I. Wonders shall be wrought in the kingdoms both of nature and grace, wonders
of mercy wrought upon the children of men, sufficient to evince that it is no
less than a God that comes to us. 1. Wonders shall be wrought on men's bodies
(v. 5, 6): The eyes of the blind shall be opened; this was often
done by our Lord Jesus when he was here upon earth, with a word's speaking,
and one he gave sight to that was born blind, Matt. ix. 27; xii. 22; xx.
30; John ix. 6. By his power the ears of the deaf also were unstopped, with
one word. Ephphatha--Be opened, Mark vii. 34. Many that were lame had
the use of their limbs restored so perfectly that they could not only go, but leap,
and with so much joy to them that they could not forbear leaping for joy, as
that impotent man, Acts iii. 8. The dumb also were enabled to speak, and then
no marvel that they were disposed to sing for joy, Matt. ix. 32, 33. These
miracles Christ wrought to prove that he was sent of God (John iii. 2), nay,
working them by his own power and in his own name, he proved that he was God,
the same who at first made man's mouth, the hearing ear, and the seeing eye.
When he would prove to John's disciples his divine mission he did it by
miracles of this kind, in which this scripture was fulfilled. 2. Wonders,
greater wonders, shall be wrought on men's souls. By the word and Spirit of
Christ those that were spiritually blind were enlightened (Acts xxvi. 18),
those that were deaf to the calls of God were made to hear them readily, so
Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened, so that she attended, Acts
xvi. 14. Those that were impotent to every thing that is good by divine grace
are made, not only able for it, but active in it, and run the way of God's
commandments. Those also that were dumb, and knew not how to speak of God or
to God, having their understandings opened to know him, shall thereby have
their lips opened to show forth his praise. The tongue of the dumb shall sing
for joy, the joy of God's salvation. Praise shall be perfected out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings.
II. The Spirit shall be poured out from on high. There shall be waters and
streams, rivers of living water; when our Saviour spoke of these as the
fulfilling of the scripture, and most probably of this scripture, the
evangelist tells us, He spoke of the Spirit (John vii. 38, 39), as does
also this prophet (ch. xxxii. 15); so here (v. 6), in the
wilderness, where one would least expect it, shall waters break out.
This was fulfilled when the Holy Ghost fell upon the Gentiles that heard
the word (Acts x. 44); then were the fountains of life opened, whence
streams flowed, that watered the earth abundantly. These waters are said to break
out, which denotes a pleasing surprise to the Gentile world, such as
brought them, as it were, into a new world. The blessed effect of this shall
be that the parched ground shall become a pool, v. 7. Those that
laboured and were heavily laden, under the burden of guilt, and were scorched
with the sense of divine wrath, found rest, and refreshment, and abundant
comforts in the gospel. In the thirsty land, where no water was, nor
ordinances (Ps. lxiii. 1), there shall be springs of water, a gospel
ministry, and by that the administration of all gospel ordinances in their
purity and plenty, which are the river that makes glad the city of our God,
Ps. xlvi. 4. In the habitation of dragons, who chose to dwell in the
parched scorched ground (ch. xxxiv. 9, 13), these waters shall flow,
and dispossess them, so that, where each lay shall be grass with reeds and
rushes, great plenty of useful productions. Thus it was when Christian
churches were planted, and flourished greatly, in the cities of the Gentiles,
which, for many ages, had been habitations of dragons, or devils rather, as
Babylon (Rev. xviii. 2); when the property of the idols' temples was altered,
and they were converted to the service of Christianity, then the habitations
of dragons became fruitful fields.
III. The way of religion and godliness shall be laid open: it is here called the
way of holiness (v. 8) the way both of holy worship and a holy
conversation. Holiness is the rectitude of the human nature and will, in
conformity to the divine nature and will. The way of holiness is that course
of religious duties in which men ought to walk and press forward, with an eye
to the glory of God and their own felicity in the enjoyment of him. "When
our God shall come to save us he shall chalk out to us this way by his gospel,
so as it had never been before described." 1. It shall be an appointed
way; not a way of sufferance, but a highway, a way into which we are
directed by a divine authority and in which we are protected by a divine
warrant. It is the King's highway, the King of Kings' highway, in which,
though we may be waylaid, we cannot be stopped. The way of holiness is
the way of God's commandments; it is (as highways usually are) the good old
way, Jer. vi. 16. 2. It shall be an appropriated way, the way in which God
will bring his own chosen to himself, but the unclean shall not pass over
it, either to defile it or to disturb those that walk in it. It is a way
by itself, distinguished from the way of the world, for it is a way of
separation from, and nonconformity to, this world. It shall be for those
whom the Lord has set apart for himself (Ps. iv. 3), shall be reserved
for them: The redeemed shall walk there, and the satisfaction they take
in these ways of pleasantness shall be out of the reach of molestation
from an evil world. The unclean shall not pass over it, for it shall be
a fair way; those that walk in it are the undefiled in the way, who escape
the pollution that is in the world. 3. It shall be a straight way: The
wayfaring men, who choose to travel in it, though fools, of weak
capacity in other things, shall have such plain directions from the word and
Spirit of God in this way that they shall not err therein; not that
they shall be infallible even in their own conduct, or that they shall in
nothing mistake, but they shall not be guilty of any fatal misconduct, shall
not so miss their way but that they shall recover it again, and get well to
their journey's end. Those that are in the narrow way, though some may fall
into one path and others into another, not all equally right, but all meeting
at last in the same end, shall yet never fall into the broad way again; the
Spirit of truth shall lead them into all truth that is necessary for them.
Note, The way to heaven is a plain way, and easy to hit. God has chosen the
foolish things of the world, and made them wise to salvation. Knowledge
is easy to him that understands. 4. It shall be a safe way: No lion
shall be there, nor any ravenous beast (v. 9), none to hurt or
destroy. Those that keep close to this way keep out of the reach of Satan
the roaring lion, that wicked one touches them not. Those that walk in the way
of holiness may proceed with a holy security and serenity of mind, knowing
that nothing can do them any real hurt; they shall be quiet from the fear of
evil. It was in Hezekiah's days, some time after the captivity of the ten
tribes, that God, being displeased with the colonies settled there, sent
lions among them, 2 Kings xvii. 25. But Judah keeps her integrity, and
therefore no lions shall be there. Those that walk in the way of
holiness must separate themselves from the unclean and the ravenous, must save
themselves from an untoward generation; hoping that they themselves are of
the redeemed, let them walk with the redeemed who shall walk there.
IV. The end of this way shall be everlasting joy, v. 10. This precious
promise of peace now will end shortly in endless joys and rest for the soul.
Here is good news for the citizens of
Zion
, rest to the weary: The ransomed of the Lord, who therefore ought to
follow him wherever he goes (Rev. xiv. 4), shall return and come to
Zion
, 1. To serve and worship God in the church militant: they shall
deliver themselves out of
Babylon
(Zech. ii. 7), shall ask the way to
Zion
(Jer. l. 5), and shall find the way ch. lii. 12. God will open
to them a door of escape out of their captivity, and it shall be an effectual
door, though there be many adversaries. They shall join themselves to the
gospel church, that
Mount
Zion
, that city of the living God, Heb. xii. 22. They shall come
with songs of joy and praise for their deliverance out of
Babylon
, where they wept upon every remembrance of
Zion
, Ps. cxxxvii. 1. Those that by faith are made citizens of the gospel
Zion
may go on their way rejoicing (Acts viii. 39); they shall sing in the
ways of the Lord, and be still praising him. They rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
the sorrows and signs of their convictions are made to flee away by the power
of divine consolations. Those that mourn are blessed, for they shall be
comforted. 2. To see and enjoy God in the church triumphant; those that walk
in the way of holiness, under guidance of their Redeemer, shall come to
Zion at last, to the heavenly Zion, shall come in a body, shall all be
presented together, faultless, at the coming of Christ's glory with
exceeding joy (Jude 24; Rev. vii. 17); they shall come with songs. When
God's people returned out of Babylon to Zion they came weeping (Jer. l.
4); but they shall come to heaven singing a new song, which no man can learn,
Rev. xiv. 3. When they shall enter into the joy of their Lord it shall
be what the joys of this world never could be everlasting joy, without
mixture, interruption, or period. It shall not only fill their hearts, to
their own perfect and perpetual satisfaction, but it shall be upon their
heads, as an ornament of grace and a crown of glory, as a garland worn in
token of victory. Their joy shall be visible, and no longer a secret thing, as
it is here in this world; it shall be proclaimed, to the glory of God and
their mutual encouragement. They shall then obtain the joy and gladness which
they could never expect on this side heaven; and sorrow and sighing shall
flee away for ever, as the shadows of the night before the rising sun.
Thus these prophecies, which relate to the Assyrian invasion, conclude, for
the support of the people of God under that calamity, and to direct their joy,
in their deliverance from it, to something higher. Our joyful hopes and
prospects of eternal life should swallow up both all the sorrows and all the
joys of this present time.
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