The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 106

Vers. 1-7.-Thefcilse refuge and tlie frue.. In the regulation of his life, a wise man will gi ,·e a large place to the consideration of what resources he will have in the times of great emergency. For he knows that snch times must come to him as they come to all men, and when they come there is urgent and even terrible need of a refuge to which the stricken soul ruay flee. We are here reminded of- I. THE REFUGE WHICH IS FALSE, AND WHICH WILL FAIL us. (Vers. 5-7.) We smile with pity, perhaps even a contemptuous pity, as we read of the carpenter and the smith joining their labour iu order to produce the well-made idol, before which the offerinas shall be presented, etc. But may it not be that those who watch us from above, a;d wbo are so much wiser than we, sometimes sigh, not contemptuously but sadly, as they see us putting our trust an<l finding our refuge in that which is little better than the carefully manufactured image? When trouble has come, or when dangers thicken, when the heart is agitated or concerned, then the foolish sometimes resort to their idols-to those things which are nearly as impotent and as untrustworthy as these. 1. 'l'o the stimulant or the drug. 2. To the social excitement or the stress of business engagement. 3. To the comfort of human affection. But these are wholly unsatisfactory, because: 1. They are not on a level with the height of our spiritual nature; they are not worthy of us who are created in the image of God, and who are bound to find, in our sorrows and our straits, a resource which answers to the spiritual powers we have received of him. 2. They are transient in their influence; they gradually become less efficacious, and at la,t lose all power to soothe and to sustain. 3. They themselves are temporary; at any moment they may be removed from our sight and grasp. II. 'l'HE REFUGE WHICH IS TRUE, AND ON WHICH WE MAY CONFIDENTLY RELY. (Vers. 2---4.) It is none other than the living God himself. "In the time of trouble he will hide us in his pavilion." There are three strong assurances of Divine succour. 1. Partic'lilar instances of Divine interposition. (Vers. 2, 3.) The God who raised up Cyrus, who constrained him to answer his own Divine ends, who empowered him to do such great things, and to triumph over such serious obstacles, is One who evidently gives heed to individual souls, and who both can and will select the very instruments which are needed to work out the redemption for which we are waiting and hoping. He who similarly raised up Luther, Zwingle, Calvin, 'l'yndale, Knox, etc., to take 1heir place and do their work when such men as they were wanted, will not fail us in our emergency now. 2. His government of the whole human race. "Who hath wrought and <lone it, calling the generations from the beginning?" All human history attests the presence, the power, the righteousness, the providence, of the Lord. 3. His Divin~ ,,u.ture. "I tbe Lord, the First, and with the last, I am he." In God, our Father anu .:mr t,aviour, we have (1) One who, whatever passes, will be always with us (Matt. :uviii. 20); anJ (2) One who, whatever changes, remains constantly the same (Jas. i. 17; John xiii. 1; Heb. xiii. 8).-C. V ns. 8, 9.-His grace and our heritage. We are reminded here of- I. THE SENSE IN wmcH Gon HAS CHOSEN us. "Jacob, whom I have chosen . . . I ha,•e chosen thee." The way in which God's ancient people were chosen of God is familiar biblical history. Abraham was called out of Chaldea, Israel (the people) out of Euypt, the Jews out of Babylonia, in order that they might recdve, retain, and reflect the truth of the living God; in other words, tl,is nation was the recipient of those distinguishincr mercies which could alone account for their national redemption and their spirituat' condition. We are now the subjects of God's electing, his dis- tinguishing grace in these respects ;-in ways which are not common to the whole of our race, perhaps not even to the generality of our fellow-men, we _have. been {l) acquainted with his redeeming truth, made to know and to understand 1t m its purity on. XLI, 1-29.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 109