The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 247

Ill. 1TB :MODAL, 1. Ie i, a wretched thing t-0 be on the side of wrong. First and most of all, because it is the wrong side we a:re espousing, and it ought to be an insuJTerable thing to us that we are thinking, speaking, working on behalf of that which is evil in tho sight of God and hurtful to the truer interests of m~n. But alw because we are -certain to bo defoe.ted in the end. Z. It is a blessed thing to be engaged on th~ sid11 of rigliteousness. First and most, because it is the ea.use of God, of man, of trnth, on which we are leagued; and also because we are sure to win at last. 'l'he wise and the good may meet with many a check, but they will gain the victory; the unholy and the evil-minded may snatch many an advantage, but the end shall be a miserable disaster, an utter overthrow, a. dragon-haunted desert. Let us see to it that we are fighting on God's side, and, once sure that we are, let us strike our blow for truth and wisdom, confident that, however strong and high stand the towers of sin, its citadel -will be taken, its day will descend into darkness, its million-peopled streets become a doleful desert.-O. Ver. 3,-The Lorirs sanctified oneir. This term is used of an army, regarded as being consecrated by the sacrifices which were offered at the beginnin_,;; of the campaign (comp. 2 Sam. xiii. 9). 'fhe assertion made by the prophet is that the Persian army was not really consecrated to Ahura-Mazda, but to Jehovah. ·whatever might seem to be the fact, t-he fact .really was that the Persians would fulfil J ehovah's will and carry •out Jehovah's judgments. A "sanctified one" is, properly, one separated from eelf- 'interests and from other people's concerns, in order that he might carry out God's will . ." Set apart by the purposes and providence of God, disengaged from other projects, that .they might wholly apply themselves to something God would have done: such as were qualified for that to which they were called, for what God employs men in, he does in some measure fit them for." We learn from this expression, and its conneclion, that we too may be set apart for God, we may be the Lord's sanctified ones; and yet, on the one hanrl, the fact may be unreco~ized, or, on the other, the fact may bring to us impulse and honour and the unspeakable joy of service. I. SET APART FOR Goo WITHOUT OUR KNOWING IT. As of Cyrus, the Lord's anointed, it is said, "I girded thee, though- thou hast not known me." But in this case there can -be no proper rewards, since the will of the man is not in harmony with the Divine will. God may use his creature man, just as he uses clouds and winds and waves, to fulfil his purposes, and there is no more to be said about it. We are the Lord's tools, his rod, his staff. Willingly or unwillingly man must do the Lord's bidding. II. SET .APART FOR" Goo WITIT. OUR OWN GLAD CONSENT. Then we come into the position of willing, loving servants; and then there can be rewards which take three forms. Such willingly sanctified ones (1) are honoured with yet further and higher trusts; (2) are personally cultured by the doing of tbeir life-work under such cunditions; and (3) are sure to receive, now in their hearts, and by-and-by in some open manner, the Master's "Well done, good and faithful servants," the smile and the word of gracious approval. And such rewards are altogether independent of the particular character of the work for which we are set apart. It may be most trying an,\ p,~inful work, even work of judgment or retribution. No matter; the Divine rec,,gnition is ever of willingness and faithfulness. God rewards the true man, not the !-'articular form the man's service must take.-R. T. Ver. 6.-" The day of the Lord." This expression is employed for that crisis in the history of the world when Jehovah will interpose to correct the evils of the present. Such great crises are ea.lied" days" in antithesis to the ages of Divine long-suffering. In Christian thought the term is associated with the coming day or time of judgment, and mainly with that in view we dwell on the words. Isaiah was one of a class of prophets to whom God disclosed, in visions, the scenes of the ever-nearing foture. Maybo in the quietness of their homes, as they meditated on the condition of the world, and the purposes of God concerning meu, they were rapt in vision, and, with various degrees of dimness or of clearness, they saw pass before their entranced view, now the scenes of battle and bloodshed, now the scenes of famine and pestilence; now they beheld the desolation of those nations that oppressed their own people-Nineveh and Babylon buried out of sight, Tyre a place for thfl fisher's nets ; and now they_ 240 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [ OH, XUI, l-lll2.