Homiletic Review Isaiah 54:12 And I will make your windows of agates, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your borders of pleasant stones. The Hebrew word here for window is unusual (shemashoth), and this is the only instance of its translation by "window." It means "an opening for the sun." It implies the admission into the house of more than ordinary reflected daylight — the sun streams through it. The agate (kadbod) is a glass-clear stone. The writer uses it evidently more because of its clarity than because of its preciousness. As a clear way for the sun, the agate window suggests the desirability of keeping the soul's windows transparently clear. . I. THAN GOD, THE SOUL'S SUN, MAY SHINE IN WITHOUT IMPEDIMENT. 1. The Bible may be the agate window. Through it God shines in on man's mind and spirit. 2. This, similarly, should be the office of religious teaching, as in creed and sermon. How important to keep the media of truth transparent. II. THAT THE SOUL, LOOKING OUT, MAY SEE ACCURATELY. Bad glass, steam, or stain on a window confuses outlines. A fly in the telescope may twist the observer's astronomy. All our views of life's landscapes greatly depend on the window through which we look out. Sin stains it. Cynicism discolours it. The sun can shine through a hide or a thin shutter. But the soul can look out only through the clear window. God sees us, shines on us, when we do not see Him. Salvation depends not on His seeing us, but on our seeing Him. III. THAT OUR LIGHT MAY SHINE OUT TO OTHERS. Some one wandering in the darkness may see the light that shines from our life, and be guided to safety. (Homiletic Review.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. |
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