Isai. lx. 1. — Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
THE prophetic style is wonderfully sublime : its figures are so bold, its transitions so quick, its descrip-
tions so animated, that all the most admired composi- tions of Greece and Rome sink in our estimation when compared with the sacred oracles. The writings of Isaiah in particular justify this remark ; and both the chapter, and the very words, before us, are worthy of notice in this view. The prophet had just fore- told the advent of the Redeemer3; and instantly, passing over an interval of seven or eight hundred years, he sees his prediction, as it were, accomplished ; and calls upon the Church, in terms of joyful con- gratulation, to approve itself worthy of so great a blessing —
In discoursing on his words we shall consider,
I. The tidings here announced —
Christ is the fountain of light to the whole uni- verse—
[He is " the Lord" Jehovah, "in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead." Though as the Son of man, he laboured under all the sinless infirmities of our nature ; yet, as the Son of God, he was " the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person." From him proceeds a lustre, as from the sun in the firmament; but though " he shines in the darkness, the darkness does not apprehend his light b." It is the Church alone that truly receives him. That, like Goshen in the midst of Egypt, is light, whilst all around it is in gross darkness0. If any have the light of his word, they cannot profit by it, unless their eyes be opened by his good Spirit. Hence the prophet, speaking of him to the Church, says emphatically, " Thy light is come."]
This light is risen upon the Church of God —
[Under the Jewish dispensation " the day began, as it were, to dawn; and in the hearts of some the day-star had arisen d." But at the incarnation of Christ, and in the days of his ministration upon earth, the sun arose above the horizon. In the apostolic age it shone in its meridian splendour; and, through the goodness of God, it lias at last visited these distant regions e. In some respects it shines clearer upon us than even on the Apostles themselves ; since they, for several years after
a Isai. lix. 20. That the passage refers to Christ, and not merely to the deliverance of the Jews from Babylon, will he seen by com- paring Isai. ix. 2. with Matt. iv. 16.
h John i. 5. « Exod. ix. 26. and x. 21—23.
d 2 Pet. i. 19. e Mai. iv. 2. Luke i. 78, 79.