Vers. 16-21.-Three deliverances. In the past, Israel had had one great and unparalleled deliverance, that, namely- I. Fno::.r THE POWER OF EGYPT. With a" mighty hand and a st, etched-out arm" God had saved them from the miserable fate of being bond servants, b ,nnd to task- work, and compelled to labour under the lash. He had c!Jectctl tl.cir deliverance by a series of miracles, culminating in the death of the firstborn, and the passage of the Red Sea, whereby it rni~ht have been hoped that the nation would have been ~o impressed as to turn heartily to Goel, and become "a praise upon earth." But the re~ult liad not followed. Even in the ll'il-.lerness they had set up idols (Exml. xxxii. 1-20; Acts vii. 43). In the Holy Lan,l they had gone from bad to worse, "walked in the statutes of the heathen; built them high places in all their cities, set them up image~ and groves, wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, harclen"d their hearts, follolVfd vanily and become vain" (2 Kings xvii. 8-15); "transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen, polluted the house of the Lord, mocked his messengers, and misused his prophds" (2 Chron. xxxvi.14-16); "shed innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon" (2 Kings xxiv. 4); and thus rendered their first deliverance of no avail, since it was an ontward deliverance only from an earthly oppressor, and not an inward deliverance from the bondage of sin. Now Israel is promised in the future a second and a third deliverance- 11.. FROM 'l'HE OPPUESSION OF BABYLON. G,id will once more show forth his power, will chastise Babylon by the sword of Cyrus, will cause Cyru, to "perform all his pleasure" (eh. xliv. 28), will bring his people from the four winds of heaven (vers. 5, 6) and plant them again in their own land (eh. Ii. 11). "The ran;omed of the LorJ will return, and come to Zion." 'l'his deliverance is, so far, a sort of duplicate of the deliverance from Egypt, only that it is effected by new means, without miracle, by God's orrlinary and secret action on the course of human affairs. III. l<'ROM THE TYRANNY OF BIN. The second deliverance is to lead on to the third. Israel, redeemed from Babylon, and replanted in its own bud, is to "show forth God's praise" (ver. 21). The unimpressible people is to be, to a cerlain cxteut, impressed. lu point of fact, after the return to Palestine idolatry disappeared. The po~t-Captivity Jews were faithful to Jehovah. '!'bough not free from certain minor sins (Ezu ix. 1; Neh. xiii. 1-25; Mai. i. 7-14; ii. S-17; iii. 8-15), they were never apostates. In the Maccabreau times large numbers showed a noble contempt for death, and weru martyrs and confessors for tho truth. When our Lord came, there was still a sound and healthy element iu the nation. He was able to gather to hi111srlf a" liltle flock." The" little flock" expanded, and became the nucleus of the Christian Church. 'fl,is Church, holy by its calling, holy by its proression, holy by the sanctified lives of so many of its members, is but an enlargement of that early "flock." Thus the final deliverance-begun here, but noUo be completed till the consummation of all things- is a deliverance from sin. The final "Israel of God" will be "a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing" (Eph. v. 27).
Vers. 22-28.-The folly of self-justification befor~ God. Self-justification, addressed by man to God, is doubly foolish- I. As l.lAVING NO DASIB IN TRU'l'H, AND THEREFORE EASILY CONFUTED. Thero is no fact more certain, whether we accept the statements of Scripture as authoritative, or 144 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [en. xLm. 1-28,
pin our faith on our own observation and experience, than that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God'' (Rom. iii. 23). Each man is conRcious to himself of sin, and no one claims perfection for his neighbours. The greatest saints both of the Old Test.aruent and the New, have shortcomings, defects, fall into actn~l sins. Ono alone is depicted without sin, and he was more than man. Human biographies are in accord. No one, whatever his admiration for his hero, claims that he was perfect. All accept the notion that the best man is simply the one who has fewest faults. II. As EXCLUDING MAN FROM THE ONLY JUSTIFICATION POSSIBLE TO HIM. God will not justify the self-righteous. He forgives those only who ask his foruiveness. Pride is a barrier which shuts men out from him, and places them on a pa~ with the fallen ~~gel~," to wh?m is,, reserve~ the blackness of d_arkness for ever" (Jude 13). God Justifies the sinner (Rom. 1v. 5), but only the s1nner who confesses his sin and be"S for pardon. lf we "go about to establish our own righteousness, and do not submit ourselves to the righteousness of God," we exclude ourselves from God's covenant of salrntion, which is made with the humble, the contrite, the self-abased, the penitent. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John i. 9).