Isaiah 30:15
For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: "By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence--but you were not willing."
For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said
This phrase establishes the authority and divine origin of the message. "The Lord GOD" in Hebrew is "Adonai Yahweh," emphasizing God's sovereignty and covenantal relationship with Israel. "The Holy One of Israel" underscores God's purity and unique relationship with His chosen people. Historically, this title reminds Israel of their special calling and the holiness required of them. It is a call to remember who God is and His rightful place as their guide and protector.

By repentance and rest you will be saved
"Repentance" in Hebrew is "shuv," meaning to return or turn back. It implies a heartfelt change of direction towards God, acknowledging past wrongs and seeking His ways. "Rest" suggests a cessation of striving and a reliance on God's provision and protection. Together, these terms indicate that salvation is not through human effort but through a humble return to God and a trust in His sufficiency. This reflects a consistent biblical theme where true peace and deliverance come from reliance on God rather than human schemes.

your strength will come from quietness and trust
"Strength" here is not physical might but an inner fortitude and resilience that comes from God. "Quietness" suggests a calmness and peace that transcends circumstances, a state of being that is undisturbed by external chaos. "Trust" is a deep-seated confidence in God's character and promises. Historically, Israel often sought alliances and military strength, but God calls them to find their true strength in a serene and steadfast faith in Him. This is a profound reminder that true power lies in a tranquil and trusting relationship with God.

But you were not willing
This phrase highlights the tragic reality of Israel's response. Despite God's clear offer of salvation and strength, the people chose their own path. This unwillingness is a recurring theme in the Bible, where human pride and self-reliance lead to downfall. It serves as a cautionary tale for believers today, emphasizing the importance of humility and obedience to God's call. The historical context shows Israel's tendency to rely on political alliances rather than divine guidance, a lesson in the futility of rejecting God's ways.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The Lord GOD
Refers to Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God of Israel, emphasizing His authority and holiness.

2. The Holy One of Israel
A title for God that underscores His unique relationship with Israel and His moral purity.

3. Israel
The chosen people of God, who are being addressed in this passage, often characterized by their struggle with faithfulness.

4. Isaiah
The prophet through whom God delivers this message, known for his prophecies concerning judgment and redemption.

5. Judah's Rebellion
The historical context involves Judah's reliance on alliances with foreign nations rather than trusting in God.
Teaching Points
Repentance as a Path to Salvation
True repentance involves turning away from self-reliance and sin, and turning towards God. It is a necessary step for experiencing God's salvation.

The Power of Rest
Spiritual rest is not inactivity but a deep trust in God's sovereignty and provision. It is in this rest that we find true strength.

Quiet Confidence
Confidence in God is not loud or boastful but is characterized by a quiet assurance in His promises and character.

The Danger of Unwillingness
The Israelites' refusal to trust in God serves as a warning against the stubbornness of heart that can lead us away from His blessings.

Holiness and Relationship
Understanding God as the Holy One of Israel reminds us of His call to holiness and the intimate relationship He desires with His people.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does it mean to repent and rest in the context of your current life situation?

2. How can you cultivate a quiet confidence in God amidst the noise and chaos of the world?

3. Reflect on a time when you were unwilling to trust God. What were the consequences, and what did you learn from that experience?

4. How does understanding God as the "Holy One of Israel" impact your view of His expectations for your life?

5. In what ways can you apply the principles of repentance, rest, and quiet confidence in your daily walk with Christ, and how do these principles connect with the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Psalm 46:10
This verse echoes the theme of finding strength in stillness and trust in God.

Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus invites those who are weary to find rest in Him, paralleling the call to rest and trust in Isaiah.

Philippians 4:6-7
Paul speaks of the peace of God that guards our hearts when we present our requests to Him, aligning with the quiet confidence mentioned in Isaiah.

Hebrews 4:9-11
Discusses the rest that remains for the people of God, encouraging believers to enter into God's rest through faith.
Faith and IntrospectionF. D. Maurice to his mother.Isaiah 30:15
National SalvationJ. G. Mantle.Isaiah 30:15
Quiet StrengthW. Clarkson Isaiah 30:15
Quietness and ConfidenceC. M. Merry.Isaiah 30:15
Quietness and ConfidenceR. Tuck Isaiah 30:15
Quietness and Confidence'Alexander MaclarenIsaiah 30:15
Rev. John Keble's MottoR. Hebbron.Isaiah 30:15
Settling Down Upon GodJ. G. Mantle.Isaiah 30:15
Sources of StrengthW.M. Statham Isaiah 30:15
The Duty of Conservatives in a Time of Theological ConflictE. B. Coe, D. D.Isaiah 30:15
The Promise Associated with Quietness and ConfidenceW. H. Krause, M. A.Isaiah 30:15
The Strength Obtained from Quietness and ConfidenceW. D. Horwood.Isaiah 30:15
The Triumph of Simple TrustA. Smellie, M. A.Isaiah 30:15
The Vanity of Earthly Help in Time of TrialS. Robins, M. A.Isaiah 30:15
Working with Divine ResourcesJ. G. Mantle.Isaiah 30:15
A Testimony ForeverE. Johnson Isaiah 30:8-18
Aspects of SinW. Clarkson Isaiah 30:8-14, 17, 18
People
Assyrians, Egyptians, Isaiah, Mash, Pharaoh, Rahab, Saraph
Places
Egypt, Hanes, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Negeb, Rahab, Zion, Zoan
Topics
Confidence, Holy, Hope, Keeping, None, Peace, Quiet, Quietness, Refused, Repentance, Rest, Returning, Salvation, Saved, Says, Sitting, Strength, Thus, Trust, Willing
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 30:15

     1205   God, titles of
     5058   rest, spiritual
     5933   restlessness
     6231   rejection of God
     6733   repentance, nature of
     8031   trust, importance
     8107   assurance, and life of faith
     8328   quietness

Isaiah 30:15-16

     8032   trust, lack of

Isaiah 30:15-17

     5819   cowardice

Library
'Quietness and Confidence'
'In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.'--ISAIAH xxx. 15. ISRAEL always felt the difficulty of sustaining itself on the height of dependence on the unseen, spiritual power of God, and was ever oscillating between alliances with the Northern and Southern powers, linking itself with Assyria against Egypt, or with Egypt against Assyria. The effect was that whichever was victorious it suffered; it was the battleground for both, it was the prize of
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

God's Waiting and Man's
'And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are they that wait for Him.'--ISAIAH xxx. 18. God's waiting and man's--bold and beautiful, that He and we should be represented as sharing the same attitude. I. God's waiting, 1. The first thought is--why should He wait--why does He not act at once? Because something in us hinders. We cannot enter into spiritual blessings
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Voice Behind Thee
The word behind us which is spoken of in the text is mentioned as one among other covenant blessings. No "if" or "but" is joined to it. It is one of those gracious, unconditional promises upon which the salvation of the guilty depends. There are many comforts of the new life which depend upon our own action and behaviour, and these come to us with "ifs"; but those which are vital and essential are secured to the chosen of God without "but" or "peradventure." It shall be so: God declares it shall,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 28: 1882

My God Will Hear Me
"Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you. Blessed are all they that wait for Him. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee."--ISA. xxx. 18, 19. "The Lord will hear when I call upon Him."--PS. iv. 3. "I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, O God!"--PS. xvii. 6. "I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me."--MIC. vii. 7. The power of prayer rests in the faith
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

With a Heart Full of Anxious Request,
"In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength." -- Isaiah 30:15. With a heart full of anxious request, Which my Father in heaven bestowed, I wandered alone, and distressed, In search of a quiet abode. Astray and distracted I cried, -- Lord, where would'st Thou have me to be? And the voice of the Lamb that had died Said, Come, my beloved, to ME. I went -- for He mightily wins Weary souls to His peaceful retreat -- And He gave me forgiveness of sins,
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations

But Though Prayer is Properly Confined to Vows and Supplications...
But though prayer is properly confined to vows and supplications, yet so strong is the affinity between petition and thanksgiving, that both may be conveniently comprehended under one name. For the forms which Paul enumerates (1 Tim. 2:1) fall under the first member of this division. By prayer and supplication we pour out our desires before God, asking as well those things which tend to promote his glory and display his name, as the benefits which contribute to our advantage. By thanksgiving we duly
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

"Take My Yoke Upon You, and Learn of Me," &C.
Matt. xi. 20.--"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me," &c. Self love is generally esteemed infamous and contemptible among men. It is of a bad report every where, and indeed as it is taken commonly, there is good reason for it, that it should be hissed out of all societies, if reproaching and speaking evil of it would do it. But to speak the truth, the name is not so fit to express the thing, for that which men call self love, may rather be called self hatred. Nothing is more pernicious to a man's
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Girdle of the City. Nehemiah 3
The beginning of the circumference was from 'the sheep-gate.' That, we suppose, was seated on the south part, yet but little removed from that corner, which looks south-east. Within was the pool of Bethesda, famous for healings. Going forward, on the south part, was the tower Meah: and beyond that, "the tower of Hananeel": in the Chaldee paraphrast it is, 'The tower Piccus,' Zechariah 14:10; Piccus, Jeremiah 31:38.--I should suspect that to be, the Hippic tower, were not that placed on the north
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Sennacherib (705-681 B. C. )
The struggle of Sennacherib with Judaea and Egypt--Destruction of Babylon. Sennacherib either failed to inherit his father's good fortune, or lacked his ability.* He was not deficient in military genius, nor in the energy necessary to withstand the various enemies who rose against him at widely removed points of his frontier, but he had neither the adaptability of character nor the delicate tact required to manage successfully the heterogeneous elements combined under his sway. * The two principal
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8

How those are to be Admonished who have had Experience of the Sins of the Flesh, and those who have Not.
(Admonition 29.) Differently to be admonished are those who are conscious of sins of the flesh, and those who know them not. For those who have had experience of the sins of the flesh are to be admonished that, at any rate after shipwreck, they should fear the sea, and feel horror at their risk of perdition at least when it has become known to them; lest, having been mercifully preserved after evil deeds committed, by wickedly repeating the same they die. Whence to the soul that sins and never
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Concerning Worship.
Concerning Worship. [780] All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times, nor persons. For though we are to worship him always, and continually to fear before him; [781] yet as to the outward signification thereof, in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it in our own will, where and when we will; but where and when we are moved thereunto by the stirring and secret inspiration
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

The Evening Light
This chapter is an article written by the author many years after she had received light on the unity of the church. It will acquaint the reader with what is meant by the expression "evening light." "At evening time it shall be light." "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light" (Zechariah 14:6,7). The expression
Mary Cole—Trials and Triumphs of Faith

The Baptist's Inquiry and Jesus' Discourse Suggested Thereby.
(Galilee.) ^A Matt. XI. 2-30; ^C Luke VII. 18-35. ^c 18 And the disciples of John told him of all these things. ^a 2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent by his disciples ^c 19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them unto the Lord [John had been cast into prison about December, a.d. 27, and it was now after the Passover, possibly in May or June, a.d. 28. Herod Antipas had cast John into prison because John had reproved him for taking his brother's wife.
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Eternity of God
The next attribute is, God is eternal.' Psa 90:0. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.' The schoolmen distinguish between aevun et aeternum, to explain the notion of eternity. There is a threefold being. I. Such as had a beginning; and shall have an end; as all sensitive creatures, the beasts, fowls, fishes, which at death are destroyed and return to dust; their being ends with their life. 2. Such as had a beginning, but shall have no end, as angels and the souls of men, which are eternal
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

How Christ is Made Use of for Justification as a Way.
What Christ hath done to purchase, procure, and bring about our justification before God, is mentioned already, viz. That he stood in the room of sinners, engaging for them as their cautioner, undertaking, and at length paying down the ransom; becoming sin, or a sacrifice for sin, and a curse for them, and so laying down his life a ransom to satisfy divine justice; and this he hath made known in the gospel, calling sinners to an accepting of him as their only Mediator, and to a resting upon him for
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

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

"They have Corrupted Themselves; their Spot is not the Spot of his Children; they are a Perverse and Crooked Generation. "
Deut. xxxii. 5.--"They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation." We doubt this people would take well with such a description of themselves as Moses gives. It might seem strange to us, that God should have chosen such a people out of all the nations of the earth, and they to be so rebellious and perverse, if our own experience did not teach us how free his choice is, and how long-suffering he is, and constant in his choice.
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Covenant of Works
Q-12: I proceed to the next question, WHAT SPECIAL ACT OF PROVIDENCE DID GOD EXERCISE TOWARDS MAN IN THE ESTATE WHEREIN HE WAS CREATED? A: When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge upon pain of death. For this, consult with Gen 2:16, 17: And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

A Description of Heart-Purity
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8 The holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity' calls here for heart-purity, and to such as are adorned with this jewel, he promises a glorious and beatifical vision of himself: they shall see God'. Two things are to be explained the nature of purity; the subject of purity. 1 The nature of purity. Purity is a sacred refined thing. It stands diametrically opposed to whatsoever defiles. We must distinguish the various kinds
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

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