Isaiah 45:3 And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD… As Cyrus, as a deliverer, was but a type of the Messiah, this promise has been, and is being, fulfilled in Christ in His great triumph over the powers of darkness. These words present a special phase of His triumphs. The preceding words have already found striking fulfilment, "I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight," &c. But to Christ God has also given the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of secret places. I. In one sense, THIS IS TYPICAL OF ALL GOD'S DISCLOSURES. Those things which men discover to-day are treasures which have been in darkness for countless generations, jewels which have been concealed in hidden places during millenniums. II. This is supremely true of THE ADVENT AND REDEMPTIVE WORK OF CHRIST. Look at the manner of His coming. See the poverty which surrounded His birth. Look at the nature of His life — "Without a place to lay His head"; "a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief." He was, more-over, "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." There is nothing very bright in that record. When Christ, in the hour of utter loneliness, uttered that piercing cry, "My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?" and darkness covered earth and heaven, then out of that dense gloom He who in the beginning made light to shine out of darkness, made the most glorious light to shine; so that from the Cross to-day there streams the greatest revelation with which God has ever enriched our race. Again, how graciously true this is of Christ's redemptive work in view of the spiritual darkness of the world which He came to save! What a revelation of the world's night we find in the advent of our Lord. Until then men knew not how dark this world was. These words only gain their full significance in the story of Christ's redemption When He came the world was hopeless and undone. It had exhausted its energies in its numberless attempts to save and ennoble itself, and down deep in recesses of darkness and iniquity were buried the brightest talents with which humanity had been enriched — so many glorious impulses and high capacities prostituted to the vilest uses, or paralysed in the dark and made utterly useless. Oh, the countless lost pieces of silver, and the priceless jewels which He has rescued since then from hopeless degradation and sin! III. This is gloriously true in THE EXPERIENCE OF THOSE WHO ACCEPT CHRIST AS THEIR SAVIOUR. 1. Was not the first hour of our spiritual enlightenment and enrichment a fulfilment of the same Divine promise? 2. Then, again, you have had your doubts and fears. They were terrible to bear at the time; yet out of them you were at length permitted to snatch a new wealth of assurance and joy. 3. This is true also, in the life of every one who has accepted Christ, of that other experience which darkens our vision, namely, that of sorrow in its many and varied forms. It is in darkness, too, that we learn trustfulness and faith. (D. Davies.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. |
    |