Isaiah 12:1-3 And in that day you shall say, O LORD, I will praise you: though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away… The text is many sided. We shall find out the very soul of the passage if we consider it as an illustration of what occurs to every one of God's people when he is brought out of darkness into God's marvellous light. I. THE PRELUDE of this song. Here are certain preliminaries to the music. "In that day thou shalt say." Here we have the tuning of the harps, the notes of the music follow after in the succeeding sentences. 1. There is a time for that joyous song which is here recorded. The term, "that day," is sometimes used for a day of terror, and often for a period of blessing. The common term to both is this, they were days of the manifestation of Divine power. "That day," a day of terrible confusion to God's enemies; "that day," a day of great comfort to God's friends. Now, the day in which a man rejoices in Christ, is the day in which God's power is revealed on his behalf in his heart and conscience. 2. A word indicates the singer. "Thou." It is a singular pronoun, and points out one individual. One by one we receive eternal life and peace. You fancy that it is all right with you because you live in a Christian nation; it is woe unto you, if having outward privileges, they involve you in responsibilities, but bring you no saving grace. Perhaps you fancy that your family religion may somewhat help you, but it is not so; there is no birthright godliness: "Ye must be born again." Still, I know ye fancy that if ye mingle in godly congregations, and sing as they sing, and pray as they pray, it shall go well with you, but it is not so; the wicket gate of eternal life admits but one at a time. This word, "thou," is spoken to those who have been by sorrow brought into the last degree of despair. 3. The next thing to be noted in the preliminaries is the Teacher. It is God alone who can so positively declare, "thou Shalt say." If any man presumes to say, "God has turned His anger away from me," without a warrant from the Most High, that man lies to his own confusion; but when it is written. "Thou shalt say," it is as though God had said, "I will matte it true, so that you shall be fully justified in the declaration." 4. Here is another preliminary of the song, namely, the tone of it. "Thou shalt say." The song is to be an open one, avowed, vocally uttered, heard of men, and published abroad. It is not to be a silent feeling, a kind of soft music whose sweetness is spent within the spirit. II. IN THE SONG ITSELF, I would call to your notice — 1. The fact that all of it is concerning the Lord. It is all addressed to Him. "O Lord, I will praise Thee: though Thou wast angry, Thine anger is turned away." When a soul escapes from the bondage of sin, and becomes consciously pardoned, it resembles the apostles on the Mount Tabor — it sees no man, save Jesus only. God will be all in all when iniquity is pardoned. 2. The next thing in this song is, that it includes repentant memories. "Though Thou wast angry with me." There was a time when God was to our consciousness angry with us. In the Hebrew the wording of our text is slightly different from what we get in the English. Our English translators have very wisely put in the word "though," a little earlier than it occurs in the Hebrew. The Hebrew would run something like this, "O Lord, I will praise Thee; Thou wast angry with me." Now we do this day praise God that He made us feel His anger. 3. The song of our text contains in itself blessed certainties. "Thine anger is turned away." Can a man know that? can a man be quite sure that he is forgiven? Ay, that he can; he can be as sure of pardon as he is of his existence. 4. Our song includes holy resolutions. "I will praise Thee." I will do it with my heart in secret. I will praise Thee in the Church of God, for I will search out other beliers, and I will tell them what God has done for me. I will cast in my lot with Thy people. I will praise Thee in my life. I will make my business praise Thee; I will make my parlour and my drawing room, I will make my kitchen and my field praise Thee. I will not be content unless all I am and all I have shall praise Thee. I will make a harp of the whole universe; I will make earth and heaven, space and time, to be but strings upon which my joyful fingers shall play lofty tunes of thankfulness. 5. This is a song which is peculiar in its character, and appropriate only to the people of God. I may say of it, "no man could learn this song but the redeemed." It is not a Pharisee's song — it has no likeness to "God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men"; it confesses, "Thou wast angry with me," and therein owns that the singer was even as others; but it glories that through infinite mercy, the Divine anger is turned away, and herein it leans on the appointed Saviour. It is not a Sadducean song; no doubt mingles with the strain. It is not the philosopher's query, "There may be a God, or there may not be"; it is the voice of a believing worshipper. It is not, "I may be guilty, or I may not be." It is all positive, every note of it. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. |
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