The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 246

II. UNDER CHRIST THE VALUE OF A HUMAN BEING HAS BEEN IMMEASURABLY RAISED. Jesos Christ by his teaching (see especially Mark viii. 36, 37), by, the illo.s- trntion in his own person of what a Son of man can be, by the great purpose of. his life and death, has lifted up to an altogether different level our conception of mankind, Kow, we know: -l. That God mane every man for himself-for hli. favour, his,,foiend~ ship, his likeness, his service. 2. That God is earnestly desirous. that every child of his, however far he may have wandered from his side, should return to the. Father's l1ome (Luke xv.). -3. 'l'hat for every child of man a Divine Saviour suffered and died (Heb. ii. 9). 4-. That before every man who will accept Jesus Christ a.s his Redeemer there is a holy life on earth and a blissful, glorious immortality.. Instructed, inspired by these high truths, we have come, or are coming, to look on every human spirit. as possessed of a value which money does not in any degree represent, which cannot be told in "golden wedges." It behoves us all (1) to recognize our own individual worth, and to aet on that true Christian estimate ; (2) to recognize in every one around us, into whatsoever depths of evil he or she may have fallen, one who ma.y be 1-cclaimed and restored, a.nd who may become inexpressibly dear to .the Father and Saviour of men.-C. Vcrs. 19-22.-The owrthrow of evil,. The minuteness of detail with which this prophecy has been fulfilled goes far to prove that holy men of old did speak "as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The_ prediction is profoundly inter1,sting in ,this light; it is also instructive as foretelling the entire extinction of a. world-power which, at the hour of utterance, appeared to rest on immovable foundations. There are. great powers-national, l'cclesiastical, dynastic, institutional, ,social-which are as Babylon in Isaiah's time, and which need to be extinguished for the happiness and well-being of the race. Respecting the overthrow of evil, we see-- L ITS APPARENT D[POSSIBILITY OB DIBHEA.BTENING DI6TANCE.. How utterly impos- sible, or at least how hopelessly remote, must the day of Babylon's overthrow ,have seemed to the Jews in the time of the prophet! 'l'o those of a scoffing spirit, or to the constitutionally incredulous or despondent, the words of Isaiah doubtless :seemed visionary, if not altogether wild and vain. So vain may seem to us now the hopes which are held out of the fall and ultimate extinction of existing evils-the despotic empire; the usurping and corrupt Church; the huge, wasteful, war-inciting military and naval organizations; strongly entrenched social habits which dishonour and enfeeble the community; venerable systems of erroneous belief which have lasted for centuries and deluded millions of minds, etc. It seems to us desirable, beyond all reckoning, that these things should receive their death-blow, and should be numbered among the things of the past. But how can we venture to expect their defeat and their disappearance? All strong things are in their favour; the majority of mankind favour them; pecuniary interests, deep-rooted habits, social customs, inveterate pre- judices, powerful societies, are sustaining them. How hopeless it seems that powers so fortified can be successfully assailed and absolutely demolished! II. ITS ABBIVA.L IN DUE COURSE. Babylon did fall; it was taken and re-taken and taken again, and finally deserted, until it became what is here foretold. Every evil thing shall share its fate. Everything which exalts itself against God, everything which is hostile to the truth, everything which is actually harmful to mankind, shall one da_v be defeated and destroyed. A.a the little living seeds dropped into the crack of the huge temple become the upspringing plants which push their way through the strong masonry and at length overturn the tall columns and the massive walls and lay the whole structure on the ground; so the seed of Di vine truth, inserted in the temple of error, of vice, of tyranny, of idolatry, of iniquity, shall spring a.ad grow, and thrus~ and overturn, until the frowning walls have fallen and the structure of sin is a harmless ruw. The great Babylon of sin itself shall one day lie waste and have no inhabitant, 011. xm. 1-22.] THE BOOK OF THE P .ROPHET ISAIAH. 289