Isaiah 55:12-13 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing… I. AN EFFECT THE MOST JOYFUL. Joy to whom? 1. To themselves. "The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. Lord .Chesterfield said, "I hope I shall never be what they call converted, for I should be the most miserable man upon earth; not considering that this change would have produced a change in his taste, and that he would have been able to relish things which he disliked before. He to talk of religion making him miserable! Why, does he not, in one of his letters, tell us that he had always been wretched — that he had always found the world a cheat — and that he was now leaving it, not because he was reconciled to it, but because he was compelled; and that, since time had become his enemy, he was endeavouring to sleep away the remainder of it in a carriage? Bolingbroke, too, said, "I now find in my affliction that my philosophy fails me. But the Christian's religion does not fail him in the day of trouble." 2. To their fellow-Christians. There is no room for envy here, for there is enough for others as well as for yourselves, and enough for all. 3. To their pious friends, connections and relations. They had given them many a pang before. 4. Joy to ministers. When they observe the success of their labours, they resemble the husbandman, who, after his ploughing, manuring and sowing, goes forth and sees, first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear. 5. Joy to the angels. 6. Joy to the Mediator. 7. Joy to God Himself. "The pleasure of the Lord," says Isaiah, "shall prosper in his hand." "The Lord thy Go-d in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing." II. AN EFFECT THE MOST TRANSFORMING. "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree," etc. III. AN EFFECT THE MOST HONOURABLE TO GOD. It shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign, that shall not be cut off." (W. Jay.) Parallel Verses KJV: For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. |
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