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False gods are further challenged by the Lord.

17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:

20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

22 Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.

23 Shew the things that are to

come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. 24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.

26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.

27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.

28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.

29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

LECTURE 1149.

How we must choose the Lord for our God.

Here we find an express challenge to idolaters and their idols, to foretel things future, if they can. "Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." And here these false gods are also challenged, to protect their worshippers, as the Lord protected his, or to overthrow the enemies of their people, as the Lord overthrew the enemies of his. "Yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it toge

ther." And we have here also fresh instances, in which the true God vouchsafes to manifest these attributes of his glorious godhead. He undertakes most graciously for his people, that He will provide for them water when they are athirst, and springs of water in a dry land, and that He will plant for them, in the barren desert, trees yielding shade and flowers and fruit. Under which images, most appropriate in an eastern climate, there is implied the supply of all their wants, the refreshment of all their weariness. And God expressly declares, that He will thus deal with Israel for the manifestation of his own great glory and Godhead; that men "may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it."

Again, in regard to foretelling the future, the Lord here gave another prophetic description of the conqueror, foreshewn at the beginning of the chapter, mentioning the quarter from which he would arise, and the great success which he would meet with ; adding this remarkable circumstance, that from the rising of the sun, or from a country far eastward of Judea, he would call on the name of the Lord. Of which prophecy we find a remarkable fulfilment, in the opening of the book of Ezra, where the proclamation of Cyrus begins thus: "The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth." Ezra 1. 2. And what idol god, has ever thus declared the end from the beginning? Nay, they cannot so much as hear the words of those who foolishly consult them. God foretells to Zion, "Behold, behold them." He gives messengers of good tidings to Jerusalem long beforehand. But as to all others that are called gods, they cannot answer a word. And He therefore thus sums up the issue of his controversy with them: "Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you." Oh let us then choose the Lord for our God. And let us be aware that to choose Him means somewhat more than merely understanding the absurdity of worshipping stocks and stones. We must believe in Him, love Him, and obey Him, according to the revelation of his word. For not only of false gods, but also of worldly honour, wealth and pleasure, and of every thing that we are tempted to idolize on earth, may these words be truly said: "an abomination is he that chooseth you."

Christ the light of the Gentiles, a stumbling block to the Jews. 1 Behold my servant, whom I habitants thereof. uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles Ishall wait for his law.

5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

8 I am the LORD: that is my name and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the in

11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.

12 Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.

13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.

14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.

15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.

16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

18 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD's servant?

20 Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.

21 The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.

24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. 25 Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to

22 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. 23 Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? heart.

LECTURE 1150.

Against being ashamed of God and of his Gospel.

St. Matthew quotes the first verses of this chapter as fulfilled in our Lord's ministry. See Matt. 12. 18-20. Here then it is foretold, that the Messiah would impart true religion "to the Gentiles." And He would convert them not by violent means, but by the power of gentleness and love. His success in this marvellous undertaking is set forth. And the ground of his succeeding is declared to be no less than the appointment, the purpose, and the covenant, of the God of heaven and earth; who resolves, and proclaims long before, that the Gentiles shall not always be in darkness, that his glory shall not be given perpetually to others, but that a new and better order of things shall be established in the world. Hereupon the most remote inhabitants of the earth are called on to sing unto the Lord a new song, and to declare his praise from beyond the mountains and the seas. And the benefits for which they must glorify his name are stated by God; namely, his going forth with power to overthrow idolatry, his abolishing that worship of rival gods which He had long put up with, see Acts 17. 30, his renovating the spiritual condition of mankind, his giving sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf, and his not forsaking those whom He thus enlightened and renewed. But upon this enlightening of the Gentiles, the Jews, who had been chosen, and trained, and commissioned, to be messengers of the truth unto their brethren, would prove more blind than they. Though the Gospel would in reality greatly glorify the Lord, the Jews, out of a mistaken and perverse zeal for their own dispensation, would reject their Messiah. And in consequence they would be given up by God to various calamities here mentioned, and which, as all the world well knows, they have now for many centuries been enduring. God forbid then, that we should ever risk the guilt of rejecting our Saviour, of crucifying our King! God grant, that as we have been so far enlightened as to be ashamed of images and of false gods, we may have the grace to glorify his name, by never being ashamed of Him, or of his truth, never deterred by shame from doing that which is pleasing in his sight!

The Lord promiseth to recall his dispersed people.

1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,

Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon

thee.

3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. 4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.

5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;

6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;

7 Even every one that is called

by my name: for I have created
him for my glory, I have formed
him; yea, I have made him.
8 Bring forth the blind people
that have eyes, and the deaf that

have ears.

9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified or let them hear, and say, It is truth.

10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.

13 Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?

LECTURE 1151.

The Jews witnesses to the truth of God's word. Though it is the object of Isaiah, in this part of his prophecies, to speak comfortably to Jerusalem, yet he is far from saying, Peace, when there is no peace. And as at the close of the last chapter he put on record a fearful threatening, so here also he implies, that God's people must pass through many a severe trial of affliction, which he describes under the figures of waters, and rivers, fire, and flame. But at the same time, he charges them, in the name of the Lord, not to be dismayed, never to despair. For God, they might be assured, would be ever with them, to protect them in all dangers, and to bring them out at last in safety from all their tribulations. If we apply this promise

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