The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 178

II. CALL TO SALVATION. In him who is real and true, alone can men find deliver- Ruce from temporal Rnd spiritual ills. Not Israel alone, but mankind, is destined to look to him as the Universal Saviour. Jehovah swears by himself-the strongest form of assurance-" when the accompanying revelation is specially grand, or specially hard to believe." "The abolition of the last vestige of nationalism in the true religion is announced." The word is gone forth, and shall not miss its aim; the truth has sped like an arrow to the mark. Every knee shall bow in homage, every tongue shall swear a_llegiance. Suhmission shall be without reserve and absolute. "Only in Jehovah are nghteousness and strength." While confusion shall be the portion of his enemies, his servants shall be ac.cepted, and be placed by him on the footing of the justified and righteous. "He, then, that trembles at the name of an offended Creator, let him comfort himself in the title of a reconciled Father. Though we have cause to dread the tribunal of his justice, let us come confidently to the throne of his mercy. Let us come freely, and spread all our wants before him, lay open all our complaints, tell him all the dis- tresses and secret anguishes of our burdened consciences. Believe it, we cannot be more ready to t.ell them than he is to hear them; nor he to hear them than to relieve them. Let us anchor our hopes, our trust, our confidence, on his goodness; for although as our Creator he will not save us, yet as our Redeemer he will."-J. Vers. 18-25.-Jehovah: his nature and purposes. I. Hrs SOLE DEITY. He is the Creator, and to say this is to say that bis is " the Godhead." This truth is repeated "line upon line," and "precept upon precept." Simple truths have an emphasis pecu- liar to them. They need to be iterated, because the memories of men are unfaithful, their imaginations vagrant, their affections prone to wander from their true and central Object. It was so in ancient times; it is so still Then men were tempted to think that other national gods had some power ; now they are disposed to turn to some "ideal substitute" for God. We should learn, not to share out our reverence among God and various ideals of the true, wise, beautiful, and good, but to conceive of him as the sum total of them all. The enduringly good, and the permanently true and spiritually and essentially fair, all enter into the conception of "the Eternal, beside whom there is none." II. Hrs PURPOSE IN THE CREATION. It was to be, "not as a chaos," but a scene of order, a kosmos, as the Greek said. It was "formed, finished, and arranged, that it might be inhabited "-like "a lodging for a friend." God "rejoices in the habitable parts of the earth; and his delights are with the children of men." His thought was above all for the social kosmos-tbe spiritual system, the beauty of the regenerate state of souls ; his mind to be reflected in the human creation ; the human creation to illustrate the glory of his mind. If science brings to light the wonders of the natural order, true theology brings to light the greater wonders of the spiritual order. It is a discovery of the law to which the passions and forces of human nature must render obedience in order to happiness. III. THE OPE1''NESS oF ms REVELATIONS. Not in darkness and secrecy, like the heathen mysteries; nor in obscure and symbolic phrases, like theirs. Nor is it a matter of occult art and divination. It is the "light of Jehovah" (cf. Dent. xxx. 11-14; Jer. ii 31). Luminous in themselves, his words lead us. on to tracts of light and felicity. They are direct, and opposed to the crooked and enigmatic deliverances of the heathen oracles. Let human experience decide between Jehovah and the heathen gods. They only dare to make such an appeal who are conscious that it cannot be resisted. That religion cannot stand which will not endure satire; for ridicule is the test of truth. How can they endure it who "without knowledge carry the word of their image, and pray unto a god that cannot save"? What argument can they produce? What covenant can there be between the soul and an idol ? what ability in wood or stone to i;.we? 'l'he result remains as before. As there is but one Creator, so is there but one Moral Govcrnor--one righteous, faithful, covenant-keeping God. IV. CALL TO SALVATION AND TO ADORATION. "Be saved!" That is, ye shall be saved in turning unto me. If he is the only God, obedience to him must be the onl_Y S."l.lvation. And upon this end God has set his hear~this end, he swears, as God 1s God, shall be accomplished. The true Israel shall expand, the barriers of naturalism shall be broken down; there shall be universal, voluntary, unrestrained submission. ou. XLV. 1-26.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 183