Christ in Isaiah

THE Exodus from Egypt is one of the most
conspicuous landmarks of the past; not only
because of its historical value, but because it
inaugurated a religious movement which is the

most important factor in our modern world.

The Exodus from Babylon has never succeeded in arousing equal interest, largely because it was more gradual and uneventful. Yet it was a marvellous episode, and bore upon its face the evident interposition of Jehovah on behalf of his people. Its results, which culminated in the advent of the Servant of the Lord, were in the

highest degree momentous.

The story of this Exodus is anticipated in chapters xl. to lv. of the Book of Isaiah, which form the subject of this volume. But the story of the Exodus itself is

subsidiary and introductory to another theme, which soon vi Preface.

absorbs our: attention. Before us pass, in vivid outlines, the scenes by which our redemption was secured. The humiliation and suffering, sorrow and anguish of soul, substitution and death, exaltation and satisfaction of the: Saviour are portrayed, with the minuteness and accuracy of a contemporary; and there is hardly a sentence from which we cannot begin and preach Jesus, as Philip did to the Ethiopian eunucn.

“* Ask God to give thee skill
In comfort’s art;
That thou mayst consecrated be
And set apart
Into a life of sympathy.
For heavy is the weight of ill
In every heart;
And comforters are needed much
Of Christlike touch.”
A. E. HAMILTON.

ISAIAH xl. 1.)

HINK it not strange, child of God, concerning the fiery trial that tries thee, as though some strange thing had happened. Rejoice! for it is a sure sign that thou art on the right track. If in an unknown country, I am informed that I must pass through a valley where the sun is hidden, or over a stony bit

of road, to reach my abiding-place — when I come to it, each

moment of shadow or jolt of the carriage tells me that I am on the right road. So when a child of God passes through affliction he is not surprised.

In the case of the chosen people, who for nearly seventy years had been strangers in a strange land, and had drunk the cup of bitterness to its dregs, there was thus added weight to their sorrow — the conviction of their captivity being the result of their own impenitence and transgression. This is the bitterest of all — to know that suffering need not have been; that it has resulted from indiscretion and inconsistency; that it is the harvest of one’s own sowing; that the vulture which feeds on the vitals is a nestling of one’s own rearing. Ah me! this is pain! There is an inevitable Nemesis in life. The laws of the heart and home, of the soul and human life, cannot be violated with impunity. Sin may be forgiven; the fire of penalty may be changed into the fire of trial; the love of God. may seem nearer and dearer than ever — and yet there is the awful pressure of pain; the trembling heart; the failing of eyes and pining of soul; the harp on the willows; the refusal of the lip to sing the Lord’s song.

We cannot wonder at the troubles that afflict us. Look up. Thou art to be like the Son of God, who Himself passed through the discipline of pain, as the participator with the children of flesh and blood. If He needed to come to earth to learn obedience by the things that He suffered, surely thou canst not escape. Couldst thou be quite like Him, unless thou wert perfected by suffering? Thou must endure the file of the lapidary; the heat of the crucible; the bruising of the flail — not to win thy heaven, but to destroy thy unheavenliness. The spirits gathered on the frontiers of the heavenly world, to encourage thee in thy journey thither, tell thee that the brilliance of their reward has been in the measure of the vehemence of their sorrows, giving scope and opportunity for the heroism of their faith.

Look down. ‘Thinkest thou that the prince of hell was pleased when thou didst forsake him for thy new Master, Christ? Verily not! At the moment of thy conversion, thy name was put on the proscribed list; and all the powers of darkness pledged themselves to obstruct thy way. Remember how Satan hated Job; does he not hate thee? He would vent on thee the hatred he has to thy Lord, if he might. There is, at least, that one case on record of hell being permitted to test a saint, within a defined limit.

Look around. Thou art still in the world that crucified thy Lord, and would do the same again, if He were to return to it. It cannot love thee. It will call thee Beelzebub. It will cast thee out of its synagogue. It will count it a religious act to slay thee. In the world thou shalt have tribulations, though J in the midst of them thou mayest be of good cheer.

A Bibine Art. It When the soul is in the period of its exile and bitter pain, it

should do three things: Look out for comfort; store it up; and pass it on.

I. LOOK OUT FOR COMFORT. — It will come certainly. Wherever the nettle grows, beside it grows the dock-leaf; and wher- ever there is severe trial, there is, somewhere at hand, a sufficient store of comfort, though our eyes, like Hagar’s, are often holden that we cannot see it. But it is as sure as the faithfulness of God. “I never had,” says Bunyan, writing of his twelve years’ imprisonment, “in all my life, so great an insight into the Word of God as now; insomuch that I have often said, Were it lawful, I could pray for greater trouble, for the greater comforts’ sake.” God cannot forget his child. He cannot leave us to suffer, unsuccoured and alone. He rums to meet the prodigal; but He rides on a cherub, and He /ves on the wings of the wind to the sinking disciple.

It will come proportionately. Thy Father holds a pair of scales. This on the right is called As, and is for thine afflictions; this on the left is called So, and is for thy comforts. And the beam is always kept level. The more thy trial, the more thy comfort. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth through Christ.

It will come Dzvinely. It is well, when meeting a friend at the terminus, to know by what route to expect him, lest he arrive on one platform, whilst we await him on another. It is equally important to know in what quarter to look for comfort. Shall we look to the hills, the stable and lofty things of earth? No; in vain is salvation looked for from the multitude of the mountains. Shall we look to man? No; for he cannot reach low enough into the heart. Shall we look to angels? No; among the many ministries that God entrusts to them, He seldom sends them to comfort: perhaps they are too strong, or they have never suffered. To bind up a broken heart requires a delicacy of touch which a Gabriel has not. God reserves to Himself the prerogative of comfort. It is a Divine art. The choice name of the Son and the Spirit is Paraclete (the Consoler, or Comforter). Thine is the God of all comfort. It is when Israel is in the extremity of her anguish, that the Divine Voice sounds from heaven in strains of music, “Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.” “I am He that comforteth you.” “As one whom his mother comforteth, will I comfort you.”

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