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… Such will one day be the song of a ransomed nation, and such is even now the song of the ransomed soul. Until we can sing this song we do not know what praise really means. It is a striking contrast indeed. (1) It is a stern and terrible fact that there are some persons on whom the wrath of God does rest (John 3:36). There are few more startling expressions in the whole Bible than this. Think of the wrath of God abiding on you! You rise up in the morning, and there it is — hanging over you. You go forth to your work, the sun is shining in the outer world, making all nature jubilant, and over you this dark funereal pall is still hanging. You surround yourselves with all the pleasing scenes of a comfortable home. In the very midst of your comfort and prosperity still that cloud is there. You lay your head upon your pillow at night, and if you should think at all, your last thoughts might well be: If I never wake again here on earth, I must certainly wake to find the wrath of God abiding on me. This is not the only passage in which such an affirmation is made. (2) How did this great change indicated here take place? If you refer to the immediate context, you will learn a valuable lesson. In the previous chapters we meet with a very mournful refrain: "For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still." These sorrowful words come after a description of terrible and overwhelming judgment. This points to the solemn conclusion that, although it is perfectly true that sin always brings punishment in its train, the punishment which we endure, as the result of our sin, does not expiate its guilt. What was it that turned away the anger of God from Israel? The tenth chapter is merely a parenthesis. It is when the Rod of the stem of Jesse has appeared, and the eye of God, looking down upon His own nation, sees something within that nation that He is well pleased with, that a complete change comes over the aspect of things. The anger of God disappears, the sunlight of Divine pleasure bursts upon a rejoicing nation, and the next moment we are introduced to this song of triumphant praise. The moment that the eye of God, gazing down upon you, sees in your nature that which He beheld of old in the sacred land, and which He will behold again one day on a consecrated earth, the Plant of renown — Christ received into your nature, Christ growing in the thirsty, barren soil of your fallen humanity, like a root in a dry ground, and making all things fertile and fruitful by His presence — when God, gazing down, sees within you a received Christ, He has no anger, no judgment for that. You will be able to say, "Thou wast angry; Thine anger is turned away: Thou comfortedst me." I. In reaching this point the soul proceeds to make the most astonishing and glorious discovery it is possible for us to make. "Behold, God is my SALVATION." I suddenly discover that I have no longer anything to fear in God. He bridges over in His own blessed Person the vast chasm between my sin and His purity, and as I step upon this wondrous bridge I find that it will bear my weight. God Himself brings me to God. This salvation is offered to us for nothing. But it cost the Son of God something. This salvation is to be appropriated by simple trust. "I will trust, and not be afraid." II. But not only does the happy soul find out that God is his salvation; he goes on to find out that the Lord Jehovah is his STRENGTH. The very title which the prophet gives to God suggests the eternal immutability of the great "I Am." As we obtain salvation by taking God for our salvation, so we obtain strength by taking God for our strength with equally simple, childlike faith. III. When you have made the discovery that the Lord Jehovah is your strength, no wonder if you go on to make yet a third. He is our SONG. God designs that from this time forth you shall be perfectly happy; but, if you want to be really happy, God must be your song. When we think upon God there is always something to sing about. His faithfulness and truth; His unchanging love; His readiness to be to us all that we want; the hope that He holds out to us, blooming with immortality. IV. And, as the result of this, we shall "WITH JOY DRAW WATER OUT OF THE WELLS OF SALVATION." Some have sat beside the wells of salvation, from time to time, as a matter of custom and habit, and yet have never known what it was to draw water out of the wells with joy. You have come to church on Sunday because it happened to be Sunday. You were expected to be there, and there you were. Some of you have read your Bible because it is a proper thing to do. Your life has been a life of legal performances. Your prayers have been little better than superstitious incantations. Now all that is changed. It is with joy, and not with murmuring, that we are to find our wells. On more than one occasion the Israelites applied for water in this spirit, and found a curse mingled with their blessing. Let us dig our wells as they dug the well of old at Beer, when, though they lacked water, they were wise enough to leave the matter in the Lord's hands. Then it was God undertook for them. (Anon.) 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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