Isaiah 12

Isaiah 12:1-3

As Israel escaped from the Red sea, when they beheld the floating corpses of the Egyptians, sang praise for their deliverance; with greater joy shall the redeemed of the Lord, in the day of their salvation, ascertain the power and grace of their exalted Lord.

1. For the blessed change which is passed. Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me; not that we must impute to God our infirmities, as either that he is capable of change of purpose, or that anger, such as dwells in our bosom, knows a place in his: we speak after the manner of men; God’s anger is his righteous purpose to punish sin, and if he changes his dissensions, it is according to the eternal counsels of his will. We have by our sins deserved punishment, but when God turns us to himself, we feel a blessed alteration, and, no longer terrified as before, rejoice in the comfort of his salvation. Note, (1.) Every faithful God will own how often and how justly he hath by his sins provoked God’s wrath and indignation against him. (2.) The deeper views we have of our own guilt, the more enlarged will our hearts be with love, and our lips with praise, when we experience a sense of his returning favour. (3.) The pardon and reconciliation of the sinner’s soul to God, is only through the blood and righteousness of the Redeemer Jesus.

2. They will triumph in the strength engaged for them, and in the security of their hopes. Behold, with wonder and love I record it, God is my salvation; Jesus hath given himself for me, able to save to the uttermost; and on him alone I depend, renouncing every other hope: I will trust with quietness and confidence, and not be afraid, though sin, desire, and confidence accuse; or corruption, temptation, affliction, war against me; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength, how then should I fail, when his everlasting arms are under me? and my song; which, whilst I pay as the grateful tribute for his mercies, increases my own confessions; he also is become my salvation; I am complete in him, and can wish for nothing more; he is all my salvation, and all my desire. Note, (1.) They who have God for their strength, need not dread who are their foes. (2.) Confidence in Christ’s power and love, will keep the mind easy amidst every storm. (3.) If God be our salvation, he deserves to be our song; yea, every redeemed soul will think eternity too short to speak his praise.

3. From what God hath done, we are encouraged to expect what he will continue to do; therefore with joy shall ye draw water from the wells of salvation, or the Saviour: in Christ are the living waters, all fulness dwells in him for his people’s use; they have free access to him at all times, and it is both their duty and delight, by faith to draw continual supplies of grace from him, in the exercise of prayer, meditation, the word, and sacraments. Surely blessed are the people who are in such a case!

4. And in that day shall ye say, ’ Praise the LORD, ’ call upon his name, ’ declare his doings among the people, make mention that ’ his name is exalted. 5. Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. 6. ’ Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for ’ great is the holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

Isaiah 12:4-6

They

6. They who have learnt God’s praise, and know the likelihoods of the employment, will be solicitous to fix up others to join in the grateful service. In that day of the God’s conversion, and especially in the great day when the Redeemer’s glory shall appear in his universal dominion, shall ye joy, People the Lord, call upon his name, in every act of religious worship due to the exalted Jesus; declare his doing: among the people, seek to diffuse the knowledge of his grace, the fulness of his atonement, the perfection of his righteousness, the power of his Spirit, the glory of the purchased possession; make mention that his name is readied above all principalities and powers, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come; and let him be thus exalted in every heart, by every tongue. Sing unto the Lord loud songs of praise, making melody in the heart to him; for he hath done excellent things; wrought out for us an everlasting righteousness, offered himself a perfect sacrifice in our stead, resquitted the death, and hell for us, led our captivity captive, opened heaven’s gates, prepared our thrones in glory everlasting: this is heaven in all the earth, by the gospel word preached among all nations. Cry out and fix it, with the voice of triumphant exultation, thus inhabitant of firm, the church of the esteemed; for great is the holy One of Israel in the midst of thee; there he delights to take up his deeds, and there must reign till every foe is founded, every faithful God brought home. The expected end shall come, and in his eternal kingdom he will make the fullest displays of his excellent greatness to his people, and be the object of their everlasting praise. Amen, and Amen!

Isaiah 12:10-16

Ruben Chill

4. His kingdom shall enjoy the most happy union and concord: Such a change will pass upon the spirits of men, by the grace of Jesus, that the most persecuting, fierce, and untractable, shall become meek, lowly, and gentle as the lamb; all animosities subside, and no more venom remain in the human bosom. The knowledge of the Lord, which shall be diffused through the earth, shall produce this marvellous reservation of our fallen nature; and all united in love and peace, under the divine Redeemer, become one fold under one shepherd. The fulfilment of which appears now wherever the power of the gospel is known and felt; as in Saul, and innumerable others, whose hearts the grace of a Redeemer hath astonishingly changed: and we hope to see a day when not partially, but universally, this wonder-working Jesus shall make his power to appear, and all shall know him, love him, and serve him, from the least unto the greatest.

5. ¶ And in that day ’ there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people: ’ to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. 11. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall set his hand again the second time, ’ to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Affyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cuffs, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12. And ’ he shall be up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the out-casts of Israel, and gather together ’ the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth. 13. ’ The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 14. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines towards the west, they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Amr-nem § shall obey them. 15. And ’ the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with his mighty wind ’ shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall tinde it in the seven firearms, and make men go over dry-shod. 16. And ’ there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Affyria, ’ like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

We have here a farther prophecy of the glory and enlargement of the Messiah’s kingdom; which, whatever regard it may have to the times of Hezekiah, or their recovery from Babylon, which was but a partial deliverance, certainly looks forward to the days of the gospel, when Jews and Gentiles were incorporated in one church; and will have, we trust, its final accomplishment when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be come in, and all Israel shall be saved.

1. The great author of the salvation is the root of Jesus, the Lord Jesus, before called the rod and branch; for he is both the root and offspring of David, Rev. v. 5. He shall stand for an ensign of the people; lifted up in the preaching of the gospel among all nations, who shall be invited to lift under his banners; and is it shall the Gentiles seek for pardon and peace through his blood and righteousness, desiring to become willing subjects of his government, and live in safety under his care and protection; and his rest shall be glorious; either Christ’s, when, having in his sufferings and death, finished the work of his people’s salvation, he entered into his rest above in glory everlasting: or it refers to his redeemed, who in him find a present happy rest to their souls from guilt and fear, and expect an eternal rest with him hereafter in his kingdom.

2. The completion of the salvation is described, v. 11. Notwithstanding every opposition, God is said to do it the second time; alluding to the first deliverance of the people from Egypt, when not a hoof was left behind. The redeemed are called a remnant, or those that remain, some in all former ages having been called already into the church; but now, more universally than ever, the gospel shall go forth into all lands, to gather from the four corners of the earth, and most distant uses of the sea, the dispersed Jews, as well as the Gentiles, among whom they dwell, v. 11, 12. All enmity between Jew and Gentile, as subsisted of old between Judah and Ephraim, shall be at an end, v. 13, uniting in the service of their Redeemer; the inveterate enemies of Christ and his people, whether Papal or Pagan, &c. as the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites were to the Jews, shall be vanquished by the powerful word of the gospel, and be brought to the obedience of the faith, v. 14. And Antiochists and his followers, compared to Egypt, for their enmity against the church, Rev. xi. 8. who will rise up to make war with the saints, shall be utterly destroyed, Rev. xvi. 16—19. as when God, by the rod of Moses, opened a way for his redeemed to pass over, but overwhelmed their enemies in the Red sea; and the Ottoman

empire, signified by the river Euphrates, Rev. xvi. 12. And the children in the same firearm; perfectly destroyed; Jesus being a number denoting perfection: and thus every enemy being removed, the way of the kings of the soft, Rev. xvi. 12. shall be prepared, and converts from every side he added to the church daily, of such as shall be saved. 1. Note, Whenever God’s appointed time is come, whether to convert a soul, or exalt the universal dominion of his son, all difficulties will be removed; the mountain becomes a plain, the river dry.

C H A P. XII.

At the glorious salvation of the former chapter secured the church’s safety, it here engages her praises. 1. For the blessed change of her state, ver. 1. 2. ‘For the strength engaged in support her, ver. 2. 3. For the plentiful joy in the gospel, ver. 3. 4. A mutual exhortation is given to join in exalting the great Redeemer, ver. 4—6.

1. AND ’ in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, ’ thine anger is turned away, and ’ thou comfortedst me. 2. Behold God is my salvation: I will trust, and not be afraid; for the LORD JEHO VAH is ’ my strength and my song, he also is become my salvation. 3. Therefore with joy shall ye draw ’ water out of the wells of salvation.