Isaiah 62:4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah… Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken. Mistaken we may be - our judgment is so weak, our hearts so worldly - but not forsaken. It is a beautiful word, and it is enough. God will not condescend to explain all his ways to men; but he is a Father, and the Father will never forsake his child. Isaiah is called the evangelical prophet, and he is so; he heralds the kingdom of Christ, describes the nature of the kingdom, under a King who shall reign in righteousness, and gives us the pathetic picture of his sorrows. In one word, as a prophet of the Redeemer, he describes the theophany, the appearance or manifestation of God himself; the great coming age of Immanuel, "God with us." Wars are prophesied of, even after the advent of Christ - tribulations and shaking of nations. Much has to be overturned; but amid all there is the pathway of the true King. Jesus comes, and comes to reign. Much is transient here. It is declared so to be. Man is said to be a pilgrim, and yet utters a cry of wonder that he cannot make earth a home. Riches are said to have wings, and then man is surprised that they flee away. Life is said to be like the grass, and then man is staggered that it is cut down. Friends turn false or fickle, and then man is surprised that evil hearts act in evil ways. Nature has her seasons, and then man marvels at the analogue of life which has its night as well as its day. On the one hand man scoffs at and scorns the Bible, and on the other refuses to see how full of realism and truth all its moral revelations are. It is equally true on its restful side. It tells us that amidst all we have a Father in heaven, whose will is wise and just, whose heart is kind and true and good. It assures us in that coming of Christ, to which all the ages looked forward, that God "remembers us in our low estate, for his mercy eudureth for ever," and that, though often mistaken, we shall never be termed Forsaken. I. THIS IS A DIVINE REPLY. A reply to what? Why, to Zion's utterance in Isaiah 49:14, "The Lord hath forsaken me." Not, mark you, that there have been no Divine footprints in the past, no Divine provision and protection in Zion's yesterday; but now he hath forsaken us. Study life, especially what is called religious life, and you will find that this is always the foolish cry of the Church. It will live in the past. It will not believe that there are prophets and righteous men to-day. It will decorate the sepulchres of the fathers. It did so in Isaiah's time; it does so now. It glorifies the days of Wickliffe and Luther, of Whitefield and Wesley, forgetful that God is the living God, and his voice is heard, his hand outstretched, his purpose working now. I know nothing in which the human mind is so fatally biased as in this backward looking and longing, whilst he is still nigh us in our breath and in our heart. Forsaken? No, there are prophets of truth still; heralds of mercy still; national seers still, who search the very heart of nations. Wherever the Spirit of Christ is, there he is. There are wars, vices, wrongs, still; but their time is not so easy as it was - not so easy, indeed, as in some past ages which we glorify. The Spirit of Christ is becoming more and more the test of good and evil, of wisdom and unwisdom, of the real and the false, of the righteous and unrighteous. There is a light shining to-day that no breakers can put out, no wild storms of passion extinguish. "The Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world" is here. Christ's arm is not shortened; more worn and weary spirits lean on it than ever. Christ's mercy is not exhausted; his forgiveness is still the good cheer of millions of hearts. His revelations of immortality have not faded through the lapse of years. He alone has given to the world its all-covering sky. We feel that whilst we still believe in him and cleave to him, the prophetic words are real and true, "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken." II. A DIVINE HARMONY. The words do not stand alone. They are not merely a beautiful text, or an isolated flower, or a separate jewel. We have to take the moral strain of a book to see into the mind and meaning of the plan. We do not interpret Mendelssohn or Mozart by separate passages, neither should we so treat Isaiah. He is evidently the prophet of a golden age, no matter whether there are ten hands visible in the work or one. We test truth by its voice, not by its mere speaker. All prophets were not to be listened to and obeyed simply because they were prophets. "I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evil-doers... Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord" (Jeremiah 23:14, 16); and again, "Let not your prophets deceive you" (Jeremiah 29:8); and again, "Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies" (Ezekiel 13:9); "Thus saith the Lord God: Woe unto the foolish prophets O Israel, thy prophets are like foxes" (Ezekiel 13:3, 4). Yes; there was a moral test then; an instinct which revealed the true prophet, as it reveals the true Saviour. Our Lord rested all on this: "If ye were of the truth, ye would hear my voice:" "My sheep hear my voice." A remarkable instance of this moral test is given us in Ezekiel 13:22. The people were to set their faces against the prophets. Why? "Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life." That which was against righteousness and assisted evil was not to be believed. Why will men be so afraid of this test? Why do they seek to rest authority on the authors and writers of books, and not rest it, as God does, and ever did, and only could, on the truth itself? It was Isaiah's way, it was our Lord's way, it was St. Paul's way. "Commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." I thus come to my word "harmony." It is harmonious with all within us. Isaiah is a prophet of righteousness, of Divine forbearance, of Divine forgiveness, of Divine pity, of Divine ministry, of Divine sacrifice. If asked - Is this a God to be trusted, worshipped, loved? the whole inward being exclaims, "Amen, and amen." III. A DIVINE CONSOLATION. It is really part of the "comfort ye" strain, as that reaches to the depths of our being. Not forsaken. The same Isaiah is here. We feel sin. Israel felt it. We cannot by any philosophy of heredity escape from the consciousness of personal guilt. Alone the flame burns. At night the thorn pierces through the pillow. Are we left to bear the great sorrow unpitied and unaided? Out of Zion the Deliverer shall come. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." We feel social evils; we are hurt by unrighteousness, galled and wounded by selfishness. Amid all, fierce wars seem again and again to stir the mad passions of humanity. What thought can light our gloom, can give strength to our hopes? Only this - "A King shall reign in righteousness." If there be no hope for the supremacy of the Christ, all is lost, for beside him there is no Saviour. But are there not signs that a better spirit is abroad? I think so. Men are sighing for a Prince of peace, and with the sigh there is a sob too, "O Lord, how long?" We feel our own solitude. We seem to be forsaken. Change comes. Fortune is turned to misfortune, health to sickness. But there are restful hours in all Christian hearts. Say what men' will of the mysteries, let them ponder the facts; there is a touch of Christ, there is a tender sense of an encircling arm, there is a consciousness of the good Shepherd's care and love. We want to bring home the music of this promise to weary hearts. If we want to exercise more influence than philosophers and moralists, we must have a better message. When Ulysses passed by the island of the syrens, the classic story tells us that, to save himself from their snares, he bound himself with mighty thongs to the masts, and secured his sailors' safety by filling their ears with wax, that they might not be bewitched. But when the sweet singer, when Orpheus, voyaged by the same syren island, he bound himself to no mast. He started a sweeter, nobler music than the syrens could ever reach, and so sailed by in triumph. If we are to win men and keep men - men who have been charmed with the syren voices of the world all the week - our melody must be one that comes down from heaven; the music of forgiveness and mercy, of grace and help, of God's love, and God's care, and God's everlasting throne. We are in him that is true, in him of whom all prophecy is full, who was the Spirit of it all. In life with all its mysteries, and in death with all its leave-takings. We shall never be termed "Forsaken." - W.M.S. Parallel Verses KJV: Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. |
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