Isaiah 61

Isaiah 61:1-3

that are bound: 2. To proclaim ’the acceptable year of the LORD, and ’the day of vengeance of our God,’ to comfort all that mourn: 3. To appoint unto them that mourn ‘in Zion,’ to give unto them beauty for after, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, ’the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Our Lord, in the opening of his ministry at Nazareth, Luke 6. 17—21: hath left us no doubt to whom this prophecy belongs. We have here,

1. His qualifications for, and ordination to, the office of Mediator. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; without measure the Father had given it unto him, that he might be enabled for the arduous work he had undertaken: he made the Lord hath servitated me; he invested him with full power and authority for the discharge of his offices, as the prophet, pirath, and king of his people.

2. In consequence of this appointment he opens his commission, which was, to preach good tidings unto the mind; those who are lowly in their own eyes, to whom free pardon and grace will be welcome news: or the year, as Luke 21: 18: hath in spirit and purse, for unto these the gospel is preached. He hath done me to bind up the broken-hearted; those, whose bleeding hearts, pierced with a sense of guilt and sin, no other physician can cure, he is sent to bind up, to comfort, and heal them: to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prayer to them that are bound. Captives are we all to sin and Satan; not even born free, and by willing subjection also under heaven bondage, from which, by reason of our native corruption, we are utterly unable to deliver ourselves. He is come to purchase our liberty respecting God, by paying a ransom for us in satisfaction to the divine justice, which had delivered us up to the executioner of wrath: to refuse us by his power from the hands of our enemy; destroying death, and him that had the power of it, and providing a sufficiency of grace and strength to incite our captive hands, and enable us to come forth at his call, delivered alike from the power and punishment of our sins. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord; as the jubilee trumpet proclaimed the release of servants, the restoration of lost inheritance, and rest from all labour; so doth the gospel proclaim, with more acceptable found, a glorious liberty among the sons of God; a restoration to our forfeited inheritance, through the blood and righteousness of a Redeemer; and an eternal rest in glory, secured not for a year, but for the ages of eternity: and the day of vengeance of our God; the day of vengeance taken on Christ for our sins, or rather on the powers of darkness, when he triumphed over them on his cross, and which the sinner, who obfituary rejects his salvation, may expect, when he cometh on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. To comfort all that mourn under a sense of guilt, or corruption, or affliction, or who compassionately melt at others were so danger; and this he doth by his great and precious promises, which afflicted hail for every grief. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, or the mourners of Zion, whose hearts are tenderly affected with her corruptions, divisions, declinations, and sufferings: to give unto those beauty for after. In the original there is an elegant paramanalia, Phare for Ephor; they who lay in ashes, and were disfigured with dust, shall be raised up in beauty: the oil of joy for mourning; for in seasons of affliction they neglected to answer themselves, as at other times: the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; their sackcloth changed for brighter robes; expressions which are designed to describe the blessed change which is wrought upon the sinner’s heart by the gospel of Jesus, when from the dust of death and hell, from the depths of despair and misery, he is rescued, refreshed with the oil of Divine Grace, adorned with robes of a Redeemer’s righteousness, and his natural deformity removed, through that new creation in Christ Jesus, whereby he puts on the image of God in righteousness and true holiness, and rejoices in God his Saviour with that holy cherishedness which adorns his profession. That they might be called trees of righteousness, whose blessed fruit proves the soundness of their root; the planting of the Lord, to whose rich grace they are indebted for all; that he may be glorified, this being his great design; and to show forth his glory in our lips and our lives, must be our chief labour.

3. ¶ And they shall ‘build the old waltes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 5. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the allies shall be your plowmen, and your vine-dressers. 6. But ye shall be named the priests of the LORD: men shall call you the ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall you boast yourselves. 7. ¶ For your shame you shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall

possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. 8. For ‘I the LORD love judgment,’ ‘I hate robbery for burnt-offering, and I will direct their work in truth, and ‘I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.

Isaiah 61:4-9

The promises here made might be designed for the encouragement of the Jews on their return from Babylon; but they extend to the church of Christ, and every sinner delivered from the bonds of corruption.

1. They shall be enabled to rebuild their waste places, and repair their former desolations, v. 4, and when deeper desolations were spread over the world by sin, ignorance, and idolatry, God was pleased to send his Son, and by his ministry, and those whom he hath ordained, to raise up a glorious church in the midst of a desert world: and in every soul recovered by divine grace, the rains of corruption are also repaired, and the heart renewed as a holy temple, an habitation for God through the Spirit.

2. They should no longer be in subjection to others, but have plenty of servants at their command, v. 5. Or this may better refer to those of the favorite converts, who being put in truth with the gospel, because passers to the flock of Christ, and husbandmen in his field, labouring assiduously in the work of the ministry, to sow the feed of eternal life in men’s hearts.

3. They shall be exalted and enriched; honoured as priests of God, and enriched by the treasures of the Gentiles, the kings of Persia liberally assisting them at their return, v. 6. But this belongs more particularly to the church of Christ, where every member is consecrated a priest unto God, into which the riches of the Gentiles are brought, who at first contributed abundantly to the relief of the poor saints at Jerusalem, and whose wealth is still devoted to the service of Christ and his people: and in their glory shall you boast yourselves; in Christ, the glory of all the faithful. Or it means, that the Jewish believers would rejoice to see the honour put upon the Gentiles, in making them fellow heirs, and of the time body. Note. (1.) Despicably as the men of the world account of God’s ministers, their honour in his fight is great. (2.) They employ riches anglic, who use them to promote the breezils of Christ, and to serve his church and people.

4. They shall have abundant cause of joy and rejoicing, v. 7. For your shame you shall have double, or, for your double shame, for that load of ignominy which the profession of the gospel at first exposed them to, God would doubly repay them in inward consolations; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion; God can make them take pleasure in reproaches, and his love will be a portion that will abundantly satisfy them, in spite of all tribulations they may be called to endure. Therefore in their land they shall possess the double; whatever loth they sustain for Christ, he can give them in this world more in kind, or, what is better, double their inward comfort and joy, which is the best profession: everlasting joy shall be unto them; they shall not only here be satisfied with the fulness of his house, but inherit an eternity of glory at their exceeding great reward.

5. God will be their guide, v. 8. to teach them his will, and how to please him. I the Lord don judgment, and therefore will right the wrongs of his people: or he urges it as an argument for them to walk in uprightness before him, and in the paths of justice respecting each other. I have reason for burnt-offering; as when by their own deeds and duties men pretend to offer an acceptable sacrifice to God, which is regarded as the highest robbery of the Redeemer’s glory, in whose righteousness we can be alone accepted: or it is a rebate to those who, like the Pharisees, were strict in the observance of their ceremonial offerings, yet in temper were covetous, and offered in sacrifice the fruits of their oppression. From a heart enslaved by iniquity no pleasing service can be rendered to God. And I will direct their work in truth; his people shall be taught of him the true worship and way to please him: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, in which he engages to make them his people, and be their God for ever and ever; and happy are the people who are in such a case!

6. Their posterity shall be blessed. Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people; distinguished for their bound faith and unhappily glory: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed; the spiritual feed of Abraham, and blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. And this, with all the foregoing veries, some apply to the calling of the Jews in the latter day, when they shall possess an honourable place in the church of God. Note. Though to affect or define esteem even from good men for our conduct would be evil, yet when, unthought, serious godliness engages their regard, it is an honourable distinction.

7. “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom + deck-eth himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. 11. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden cauleth the things that are fown in it to spring forth: so the Lord GOD will caulh righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

v. 10, 11. These seem to be the words of the church triumphing in God her Saviour.

1. For what he hath done for her. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; an interest in his love known and believed, cannot but fill the soul with joy unfeasable, and full of glory. When we can say he is my God, we may well rejoice in him greatly: here we need fear no exert, whilst he is the glorious object of our delight. For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness; without, most splendidly adorned with the complete robe of a Redeemer’s righteousness, spoiled and pure; within, all glorious with the garments of salvation, the divine tempers and graces, with which the Spirit of God avays the souls of the redeemed: as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, coming from his chamber completely dressed, or in fourdread robes, glorious as those the high-prich wore; and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels, glittering and splendid for the day of her espousfuls: and him are believers preferred to Christ, perfect in the comeliness he hath put upon them, and decked with the beauty of holiness. May my soul be thus arrayed!

2. For what he will do for her. These robes of righteousness and garments of salvation shall endure for over; nor can time ever change their glorious hue. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden cauleth the things that are fown in it to spring forth; so that from year to year, in regular succession, the earth brings forth her increase; so the Lord God will come righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. To the end of time this divine righteousness shall be the ornament of every believer, and the subject of our ceaseless praise; and as it is wholly the Lord’s prerogative both to work it out for us, and to apply it to us, to him alone must all the glory be accorded.