Isaiah chapter 26

CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE NEW SONG AND TEE RIGHTEOUS NATION. 

THE fall of the " terrible ones" who come from the north " as a storm against the wall" of Jerusalem (compare Ezek. xxxviii. 9, and Zech. xiv. 1-2), and of their Moabitish antagonists who have their own schemes of appropriation concerning the city and the land of Israel, is the occasion of the great song of rejoicing on the part of Israel and the children of the resurrection. This is the subject of Isaiah xxvi. It finds a counterpart in the Apocalyptic rejoicings over the fall of Babylon the Great. There it is written, " Rejoice over her thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her" (Rev. xviii. 20). This " great city " of the Apocalypse, which has for ages triumphed over the apostles and prophets, and their followers in faith and practice, is Rome, as indicated to John by the angel in ch. xvii. 18. Isaiah's prophecy includes John's in the Revelation, which supplemented the former by a profusion of details that would only have been unintelligible and burdensome to Isaiah and his contemporaries. Isaiah and John both have visions of the New Jerusalem, which triumphs at last in " the time of the dead," or the resurrection, over the " great city " of the adversary. In Isaiah's times, literal Babylon was the rising foe. In John's days it was Rome, the mystical Babylon, which continues down to our own time. But, as we learn from Revelations xi. and from ancient history, " the great city" was not to be limited to Rome architecturally and municipally, but to be understood as embracing all the Roman Empire. This was in harmony with the decree of Caracalla, by which, for purposes of increasing taxation, he made the boundaries of " the great city" coextensive with those of the empire. Hence mystical Babylon likewise is not to be confined to Rome or the Roman Catholic pale, but is to be considered as coextensive with the Kingdom of the Apostacy, which is humanly styled Christendom. This great system of " confusion " is more and more disposed to avow, or at any rate manifest, its real relation to Roman-Babylon the Great; and it is certain, because foretold in the Bible, that when the Lord appears as a claimant for the throne over the East and all the world, that Greek and Roman Catholicism, with all the Protestant daughters of the family, will unite in unholy alliance to make war against him and depose him " (Psa. ii. : ex.; Rev. xvii. 14, &c.) Both Isaiah and John, as well as the other prophets, show that the result will be the destruction of the adversary and the victory and joyful exaltation of the Lord and his people. Isaiah in this place introduces it in these beautiful words: "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. WE have a strong city ! Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation that keepeth the truth may enter in." The " we" of this declaration—" the righteous nation which Tteepellt the truth"—is sufficiently defined by the Lord and by Peter in the New Testament. In the parable of the vineyard (Matt, xxi. 33), Jesus condemned the wicked husbandmen of Israel who were about to slay him, and said that the Owner of the vineyard would " let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, which should render him the fruits in due season." And he added more plainly : "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation hringing forth the fruits thereof." What was taken from these was life and place and power in an Israelitish constitution of things in the Holy Land, and this is what is to be given to the " nation " in question, only under an immortal constitution of things under "the Heir" there enthroned. Peter, addressing the "elect strangers" of his day, said: "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of the darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Pet. ii. 9). " The fruits thereof," of which the Lord spoke in parable, Peter here defines to be showing forth God's praises, abstaining from fleshly lusts, patiently enduring contradiction for Christ's sake, and maintaining good works that men might be Jed to " glorify God in the day of visitation." Such men are "walls and bulwarks" even now, being " built upon the foundations of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." Had there been a few more Lots in Sodom, all the city would have been spared for the sake of the ten righteous. What shall we say, then, of the whole company of the fathers, prophets, and apostles under Christ in a state of "Salvation"? Jeremiah, in the days of his flesh, was made " a fenced brazen wall" to his countrymen. In the day of salvation, he will be incorporated in the symbolic " wall of the city great and high " (Rev. xxi. 12), when the glory of God is revealed in Jerusalem. " For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about her, and the glory in the midst of her " (Zech. ii. 5). " Open ye the gates" is a phrase which, like the others, finds its counterpart in the apocalyptic visions, and affords matter for instruction, edification, and comfort. None but those belonging to "the righteous nation which keepeth the truth" can enter these gates. There is a great consensus of opinion to the contrary in Christendom; that is to say, it is the universal fashion of the religious world to disregard God's conditions, and seek salvation each in his own way. We remember what Christ said about " the door of the sheepfold," and the leaders of the people, who sat in Moses' seat endeavouring to " climb up in some other way" (John x.). History repeats itself. Christendom calls Christ " Lord, Lord," but does not the things that he says. He says, " He that believeth (the gospel of the kingdom) and is baptised shall be saved." Christendom, in effect, says: "It does not matter so much what you believe so long as you are in earnest; and you need not be baptised." All such other-way-climbings are rebuked by the Scriptures in many places, and in this place most strikingly. " Keeping the truth" is the only open sesame here. In the Apocalypse it is written: " Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city " (Rev. xxii. 14). " Doing his commandments" is the Lord's comment on the earlier expression, " keeping the truth." " The truth" is an Israelitish matter, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are inscribed on the gates of the symbolic city (Rev. xxi. 12). Everyone who " keeps the truth " holds " the hope of Israel " for which Paul was bound, and concerning which he preached. He testified that it was Jesus who was ordained of God to rule the world in righteousness, and that he would return frGm the heaven to bring again the righteous from the dust of death and cause them to inherit the earth for ever, that he would set up again the fallen kingdom of Israel in Jerusalem,, and regather the tribes from their dispersion, and settle them after their old estate. He preached that God offered to all men a share in this great inheritance on condition of their repenting, and believing His promises as expressed in the gospel of the kingdom, being baptised,, and thereupon waiting for His Son from heaven in the doing of His commandments. All who affectionately and intelligently heard and obeyed his preaching and were baptised into Christ became prospective constituents of " the righteous nation," who shall "enter in through the gates into the city." The revived truth in the latter days has called us to a portion in this. Let us spare no endeavour to "keep the truth." Isaiah says: " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in Yahweh for ever, for in Yah, Yahweh, is a Rock of Ages." We may have been familiar from childhood with this last phrase by reason of the common use of Toplady's well-known hymn; but alas, how foreign is the sentiment of the hymn in places to that of the prophet whose inspired phrase it borrows. And how far off has been the substance of it all until the truth revealed it to us. Christ is that substance truly, as it is written in another connection, " that Rock was Christ" (1 Cor. x. 4). He exemplifies the perfect trust and the perfect peace, and of this he spoke to his disciples before he suffered. In John xiv. he comforted them with the prospect of an abiding place in the Father's house, and bade them fear not though trouble should overtake them:—"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid." He promised that he would come again and receive them to himself. Afterwards they understood him perfectly, and in the power of the spirit testified to others who took his name upon them in the way appointed, aod found his peace, though tribulation in the world accompanied it. They would not exchange the shelter of the " Rock of Ages" for anything the world could offer for a brief lifetime. They looked, as Abraham did, for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Their confidence is given as the reason of their trust in Isaiah's following words (v. 5): " For he bringeth down them that dwell on high ; the lofty city he layeth it low ; he layeth it low even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust." Christ's friends are content to wait for this vindication, which is now very near, and when it comes will be manifest to all men to their consternation. " Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, but they shall see, and shall be ashamed for their envy at the people." Meanwhile the attitude of the true followers of the prophets and apostles is before us in verses 8, 9. " In the way of thy judgments, 0 Lord, have we waited for thee, the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." What else is there to wait for or desire? Solomon's verdict is true: " Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, all is vanity." No doubt at first, to the ears of inexperienced youth and perverseness, this sounds mawkish ; but give youth enlightenment such as Solomon had from God, and time to consider, and it will presently endorse his judgment. It is not with any hope of materially altering the existing state of things on earth that the servants of God maintain their testimony in the face of overwhelming odds. They know that argument is powerless, except to take out a people for the name of God, which is itself a great and noble work. They can but testify and endure in hope of the promised day, when God will plead His own cause, knowing that in such a course they are pleasing Him and saving themselves. The prophet's confidence was in this direction. He comforted himself (v. 8) with the assurance that God was working with the righteous; a truth that is emphatically upheld in apostolic teaching. He lamented the dominion of other Lords over his people. Apostate Kings introduced the worship of other gods, and had compelled conformation thereto. And throughout the ages there are illustrations of this. Nebuchadnezzar and his golden image, and the Pope and his dragooning of heretics into the Catholic faith, are widely separated instances in point of time, but connected in essence. But all such lords are as dead as the images and phantoms they delight in and serve. Only in the God of Israel and His appointed " Kings and Lords" is there life. Of the others Isaiah says, " They are dead, they shall not live, they are deceased, they shall not rise; therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them and made all their memory to perish." When this new song is sung in the land of Judah the time for Gentile lording it over Israel and the saints will have passed away. A new order of kings will have arisen in the earth, and the one pure worship of the Father in Israel will have supplanted the confusions of Babylon the Great. The increase of the nation of which the prophet speaks in v. 15 is due to the re-appearance in the land of the living of a glorious generation of " Israelites indeed," and the gathering again of the scattered tribes of Israel who have been u removed far unto all the ends of the earth." Isaiah lamented the impotence of \he faithful in these figurative words; " Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain and crieth out in her pangs, so have we been in thy sight, Ο Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain ; we have, as it were, brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen " (ch. xxvi. 17-18). The figure of the woman in travail which the prophet uses here to express the troubled condition of God's people before the reappearance of Christ, is appropriated by the Lord himself in his parting conversation with the disciples (John xvi. 21-22). He associates the end of the " travail" with his coming again : " Ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." In that great day the labours of the servants of God will no longer be apparently abortive—they will " work deliverance in the earth," and " the inhabitants of the world" will fall before them. The announcement of the resurrection ot the dead in v. 19 is striking and beautiful. Their whole number is put forth under the figure of one dead body. The prophet, speaking by the Spirit of Christ, says, " Thy dead shall live, my dead body they shall arise : Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Omitting the italicised words, the meaning of the passage becomes plainer. The whole number of the accepted who have died are considered as the Spirit's " dead body." In the constitution of the kingdom of Israel in the days of the Exodus,, the chosen people were considered as " the body of Moses," for, says Paul, " all our fathers were baptised unto Moses, in the cloud, and in the sea." So it is with the " prophet like unto Moses," since manifested in Israel for the remission of sins. For Paul says again, " By ODe spirit are ye all baptised into one body . . . now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." When these are dead, they are the Spirit's " dead body," which, like that of Christ personally, " rests in hope" of tasting his resurrection power in the day to come. The figure of the dew applied in this place, and in the 110th Psalm to the children of the resurrection, is a very beautiful one. Dr. Thomas has the following remarks upon it: " The sleepers in the dust are styled ' dew' because of the resemblance existing between the process of nature in the formation of dew and the operation of the eternal Spirit on the generation of living beings from the dust. In comprehending the formation of dew, we are enabled to form some idea of the evolution of a living body from dust. A dewdrop is a sparkling drop of water secretly and silently deposited upon the leaves of plants. The elements of which it is composed exist previously to its formation, free and uncombined in the air of night These are the invisible gases termed oxygen and hydrogen. But, besides these, there is the indispensable formative agent styled electricity. Without this there could be no dewdrop, visible or invisible. The gases might be mechanically mixed, but without the invisible and silent operation of the electricity, they could not be chemically combined in the manifested product called a dewdrop. This is a visible and tangible thing generated from invisible and intangible latent elements. According to the electrical law of its formatioD, it is globular and lightrefracting, or sparkling in the open brightness of the dawn. These refractions are the brilliancies, splendours, or glorious vestments of the dew. Before the dawn, the dewdrops are all in the womb of night, of which both they and the dawn receive their birth, begotten by the orb of day. No figure can be more beautiful, no resemblance more complete. This new-born body multitudinous, like the " body of Moses" in the days of the Exodus, arises in troublous times. Not one nation, but many, are to be confounded at all Israel's might (Mic. vii. 16). The punishments of God are not to be upon Egypt only, but upon all the earth besides. In this crisis, a position of safety is provided, as it was in the days of the Exodus, when Israel kept indoors, sheltered by the blood of the Paschal lamb on the doorpost and lintel, in the night on which the destroying angel passed through Egypt, and cut off the firstborn. " Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain" (Is. xxvi. 20-21). Thus the prophet, by the Spirit, spoke of the only refuge that God would provide for His people in the day of vengeance. No other shelter will avail. We hear much of the " balance of power," and the schemes and alliances by which the nations seek to secure and perpetuate peace on the basis of a complete ignoring of God and His purpose. A more fatal fallacy could not be imagined. All history illustrates the fact. Where was the whole world of sinners when Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came ? That is a type that Christ applies to this very time. Noah's ark rode the waters of the Deluge for the brief space of about a year until " the indignation was overpast," and then he came forth to the establishment of a new order of things in the earth. Christ is the Ark of safety, in him alone there is assurance of deliverance from the deluge which will sweep away the existing order of things.