Isaiah 61:1-2. The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
How condescending and how kind are the objects of our Saviour's mission to put an end to sorrow. He looks out the mourners: they are the especial objects of his care, and all that he does has this for one of its grand objects to comfort all that mourn. Surely if there be any troubled heart here, it may claim an interest in such a divine work as this. Jesus has come to comfort all that mourn. Shall he not comfort you?
Isaiah 61:3. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
To make an appointment an ordinance a decree concerning them; and it will be to this effect.
Isaiah 61:3. To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
So it seems that God finds glory in the helping of his sad sick, sorrowful creatures. He gets glory out of making them: he gets higher glory out of new making them. Creation yields the moonlight glory; the new creation is a glory as of the sun shining in its strength. O ye mourners, may God grant you grace now to give glory to God by cheerfully accepting those wondrous blessings of grace which Christ has come to bestow.
Isaiah 61:4. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
When mourning souls find comfort, and captive souls get liberty, they are full of life and full of energy, and they begin to restore what had become wasted and desolate. I warrant you that there is nothing for a church by way of medicine at all equal to pouring new blood into her by new-saved souls. They come among us with their new songs, like the sweet birds in summer, and seem to wake the morning with their gladsome music. They come among us like the dewdrops from the womb of the morning, sparkling in beauty, bearing the dew of their youth. May God send to many old churches that have got to be like old wastes, and some communities that have come to be like desolations may he send to them these builders these earnest, loving hearts to build them up.
Isaiah 61:5-6. And stranger's shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the priests of the LORD.
God's true Israel, his chosen, his elect they may look upon all other men as their ploughmen and their vine dressers. Kings and queens rule the world for you. For you the merchant, with his keel, divides the sea; for you the ploughman ploughs the soil. As for you, though you have a hand in these things, they are not your main employment. Your occupation is a higher one than theirs the service of your God. Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord.
Isaiah 61:6. Men shall call you ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
For all things are of God, and all things are yours through Jesus Christ. In that same day in which the Lord comforts mourners and binds up their broken hearts, he gives them to enter into a sacred priesthood, in which they walk among the sons men as God's peculiar people honoured above all the rest of mankind. Oh! the distinctions which distinguishing grace makes! How it lifts the poor from the dunghill and setteth him among princes, even the princes of his people! Christ has done great things, indeed, for us, for though we were as beggars, behold he hath made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign for ever and ever.
Isaiah 61:7. For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion:
You may be persecuted: your name may be cast out as evil, but when the Lord in mercy blesses and visits you, you shall have a wonderful recompense more than you could have expected. «For your shame ye shall have double.»
Isaiah 61:7-8. Therefore in their land they shall possess the double, everlasting joy shall be unto them. For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
There are churches in the world that are not churches of God, and they supply their needs by forged demands from the people; but God hateth robbery for a burnt-offering. He accepts the willing gifts of his people, and with those who present them he makes an everlasting covenant.
Isaiah 61:9. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.
Oh! to have such distinguishing marks of character about us that all who see us may see that the blessing of God is upon us. And this will be quite consistent with poverty, with sickness, for in the poverty there will be content, and in the sickness and depression of spirit there will yet be such divine upholdings that men shall be astonished that their fellowmen shall be capable of such joy under such circumstances. They «shall acknowledge them that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.»
Isaiah 61:10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
Brothers and sisters. I wish we could all catch hold of the spirit of this verse that each one of us would now say, «I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.»
Isaiah 61:10. My soul shall be joyful in my God;
What a precious sentence «My soul shall be joyful in my God.»
Isaiah 61:10. For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
On those festive occasions the Orientals are wont to use all the wealth they have in decoration. The bridegroom decketh himself with a crown puts on a tiara. He is a king for once. And the bride herself brings out all the many jewels with which Eastern women deck themselves. Now all this, in a high spiritual sense, we find in Christ. He is not merely covering to us, but ornament and beauty, adornment, exaltation, glory, honour. How beautiful a child of God looks in Christ I cannot tell you, but I believe that next to his dear Son, the most engaging sight to the divine Father is any one of his dear Children whom he sees in Christ. You know we all think our children lovely, and God knows his children to be so when he hath covered them with the robe of righteousness, and clothed them with the garments of salvation.
Isaiah 61:11. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
This exposition consisted of readings from 2 Samuel 15:13-23; Isaiah 61:1.; Mark 14:22-41.