Isaiah 41:14 Fear not, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will help you, said the LORD, and your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. And why does it say, "and thy Redeemer"? What was the use of appending the Redeemer's . name to this precious exhortation? I. It was added FOR AMPLIFICATION. There are some preachers from whom you will never learn anything; not because they do not say much which is instructive, but because they just mention the instructive thought once, and immediately pass on to another thought, never expanding the second thought, but immediately passing on, almost without connection, to a third. Other preachers, on the other hand, follow a better method. Having given one idea, they endeavour to amplify it, so that their hearers, if they are not able to receive the idea in the abstract, at least are able to lay hold upon some of its points, when they come to the amplification of it. Now God, the great Author of the Book, the great Preacher of the truth by His prophets, when He would preach it, and when He would write it, so amplifies a fact, so extends a truth, and enlarges upon a doctrine. "I will help thee," saith Jehovah-That means Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. "All! but," said God, "My people will forget that, unless I amplify the thought, so I will even break it up; I will remind them of My Trinity. They understand My Unity; I will bid them recollect that there are Three in One, though these Three be One"; and He adds, "Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." Jehovah — Redeemer — Holy One of Israel — three persons, all included, indeed, in the word Jehovah, but very likely to be forgotten unless they had been distinctly enumerated. Suffer your thoughts to enlarge upon the fact, that the promise contained in this verse, "Fear not, I will help thee," is a promise from Three Divine Persons. II. It is a SWEETENING OF THE PROMISE. All the promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus; but when a promise mentions the name of the Redeemer, it imparts a peculiar blessedness to it. It is something like, if I may represent it by such a figure, the beautiful effect of certain decorations of stained glass. There are some persons whose eyes are so weak that the light seems to be injurious to them, especially the red rays of the sun, and a glass has been invented, which rejects the rays that are injurious, and allows only those to pass which are softened and modified to the weakness of the eye. It seems as if the Lord Jesus were some such a glass as this. The grace of God the Trinity, shining through the man Christ Jesus, becomes a mellow, soft light, so that mortal eye can bear it. III. I think this is put in by way of CONFIRMATION. Read the promise, recollecting that it says, "Thy Redeemer"; and then, as you read it through, you will see how the word "Redeemer" seems to confirm it all. Now begin. "I will help thee": lay, a stress on that word. If you read it so, there is one blow at your unbelief. "I will help thee," saith the Redeemer. There is the Master's handwriting; it is His own autograph, it is written by Himself; behold the bloody signature! It is stamped with His Cross. And now let us read the promise again, and lay the stress on the "will." Oh, the "wills" and the "shalls": they are the sweetest words in the Bible. When God says "I will," there is something in it. And now we lay stress on another word: "I will help thee." That is very little for Me to do, to help thee. Consider what I have done already. What! not help thee? Why, I bought thee with My blood. And now, just take the last word, "I will help thee." ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. |
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