Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things. A comprehensive term, summing up all that God had done for his people through the long ages, The Hebrew indicates an echo from
Exodus 15:1, "He hath triumphed gloriously." Reviewing God's wondrous workings, we may regard them from three points of view.
I. THEY ARE THINGS WHICH WE OUGHT TO ADMIRE.
II. THEY ARE THINGS WHICH WE OUGHT TO STUDY.
III. THEY ARE THINGS WHICH WE OUGHT TO FEEL. Because of their graciousness to us as frail, and their mercifulness to us as sinners. The great glory of God is his mercy. Christ is the embodiment of mercy. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works towards the sons of men!" Thy mercy "endureth forever." - R.T.
And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord.
I. WHO ARE HERE CALLED UPON TO PRAISE GOD. The inhabitants of Zion and Jerusalem, whom God had in a peculiar manner protected from Sennacherib's violence (ver. 6). Those that have received distinguishing favours from God ought to be most forward and zealous in praising Him. The Gospel Church is Zion; Christ is Zion's King; those that have a place and name in that should lay out themselves to diffuse the knowledge of Christ, and to bring many to Him.
II. HOW THEY MUST PRAISE THE LORD.
1. By prayer. "Call upon His name." As giving thanks for former mercy is a decent way of begging further mercy, so begging further mercy is graciously accepted as a thankful acknowledgment of the mercies we have received.
2. By preaching and writing we must speak to others concerning Him — not only "call upon His name," but (as the margin reads it) "proclaim His name"; let others know something more from us than they did before concerning God, and those things whereby He has made Himself known. "Declare His doings" — His "counsels," so some read it. The work of redemption is according to the counsel of His will. and in that and other wonderful works that He hath done, we must take notice of His "thoughts which are to usward." Declare these "among the people" — among the heathen, that they may be brought into communion with Israel, and the God of Israel. When the apostles preached the Gospel to "all nations, beginning at Jerusalem," then this Scripture was fulfilled, that His doings should be declared among the people, and that what He hath done should be known in all the earth.
3. By a holy exultation and transport of joy. "Cry out and shout."
III. FOR WHAT THEY MUST PRAISE THE LORD.
1. Because He hath glorified Himself. "His name is exalted," is become more illustrious and conspicuous, and every good man rejoiceth in that.
2. Because He hath magnified His people. He "hath done excellent things" for them, which makes them look great and considerable.
3. Because He is, and will be, great among them.
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People
IsaiahPlaces
Assyria,
ZionTopics
Excellence, Excellent, Glorious, Gloriously, News, Noble, Praise, Praises, Psalms, Sing, Song, ThroughoutOutline
1. A joyful thanksgiving of the faithful for the mercies of GodDictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 12:5 1045 God, glory of
Isaiah 12:1-6
8149 revival, nature of
Isaiah 12:4-5
8496 witnessing, importance
Isaiah 12:4-6
8444 honouring God
Library
The Well-Spring of Salvation
'Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. ISAIAH xii. 3. There are two events separated from each other by more than fifteen hundred years which have a bearing upon this prophecy: the one supplied the occasion for its utterance, the other claimed to be its interpretation and its fulfilment. The first of these is that scene familiar to us all, where the Israelites in the wilderness murmured for want of water, and the law-giver, being at his wits' end what to do with his …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture 'My Strength and Song'
'The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation....' EXODUS xv. 2. These words occur three times in the Bible: here, in Isaiah xii. 2, and in Psalm cxviii. 14. I. The lessons from the various instances of their occurrence. The first and second teach that the Mosaic deliverance is a picture- prophecy of the redemption in Christ. The third (Psalm cxviii. 14), long after, and the utterance of some private person, teaches that each age and each soul has the same mighty Hand working for …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
How Shall the Soul Make Use of Christ, as the Life, which is under the Prevailing Power of Unbelief and Infidelity.
That we may help to give some clearing to a poor soul in this case, we shall, 1. See what are the several steps and degrees of this distemper. 2. Consider what the causes hereof are. 3. Shew how Christ is life to a soul in such a case; and, 4. Give some directions how a soul in that case should make use of Christ as the Life, to the end it may be delivered therefrom. And, first, There are many several steps to, and degrees of this distemper. We shall mention a few; as, 1. When they cannot come …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life
With Him, all Things
Gerhard Ter Steegen Is. xii. 2 Hath not each heart a passion and a dream? Each some companionship for ever sweet? And each in saddest skies some silver gleam, And each some passing joy, too fair and fleet? And each a staff and stay, though frail it prove, And each a face he fain would ever see? And what have I? An endless Heaven of love, A rapture, and a glory, and a calm; A life that is an everlasting Psalm, All, O Beloved, in Thee. …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others
Life in India.
On the 17th of July, 1805, the Union East Indiaman conveying Mr. Martyn sailed from Portsmouth. Mr. Martyn says: "Though it was what I had been anxiously looking forward to so long, yet the consideration of being parted forever from my friends, almost overcame me. My feelings were those of a man who should suddenly be told that every friend he had in the world was dead." Though suffering much in mind and body throughout the long and tedious voyage of nine months, Mr. Martyn seeks no selfish ease. …
Sarah J. Rhea—Life of Henry Martyn, Missionary to India and Persia
His Holy Covenant
"To remember His Holy Covenant; to grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, should serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all our days."-LUKE i. 68-75. WHEN Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, he spoke of God's visiting and redeeming His people, as a remembering of His Holy Covenant. He speaks of what the blessings of that Covenant would be, not in words that had been used before, but in what is manifestly a Divine revelation …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants
Appendix xiv. The Law in Messianic Times.
THE question as to the Rabbinic views in regard to the binding character of the Law, and its imposition on the Gentiles, in Messianic times, although, strictly speaking, not forming part of this history, is of such vital importance in connection with recent controversies as to demand special consideration. In the text to which this Appendix refers it has been indicated, that a new legislation was expected in Messianic days. The ultimate basis of this expectancy must be sought in the Old Testament …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
Opposition to Messiah in Vain
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. T he extent and efficacy [effects] of the depravity of mankind cannot be fully estimated by the conduct of heathens destitute of divine revelation. We may say of the Gospel, in one sense, what the Apostle says of the Law, It entered that sin might abound (Romans 5:20) . It afforded occasion for displaying the alienation of the heart of man from the blessed God, in the strongest light. The sensuality, oppression and …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2
The Gospel Message, Good Tidings
[As it is written] How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! T he account which the Apostle Paul gives of his first reception among the Galatians (Galatians 4:15) , exemplifies the truth of this passage. He found them in a state of ignorance and misery; alienated from God, and enslaved to the blind and comfortless superstitions of idolatry. His preaching, accompanied with the power of the Holy Spirit, had a great and marvellous effect. …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2
Messiah's Entrance into Jerusalem
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. -- And He shall speak peace unto the heathen. T he narrowness and littleness of the mind of fallen man are sufficiently conspicuous in the idea he forms of magnificence and grandeur. The pageantry and parade of a Roman triumph, or of an eastern monarch, as described in history, exhibit him to us …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1
Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament
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