AN ALTAR AND A SAVIOUR FOR EGYPT
Isaiah 19:18-20. In that day shall five cities, &c.
I. God is able to raise up monuments and trophies of His grace in the most unlikely places (Isaiah 19:18-19). For the historical fulfilments of these predictions, see the ordinary commentaries. They should teach us not to despair of the progress of religion in the most unlikely places, the most unlikely times, among the most unlikely persons. The grace of God is able to subdue the hardest hearts, to enlighten the darkest minds, to convert the most guilty natures, to cast out Satan where his power seems strongest and his interest most secure. Despair not of your own salvation (H. E. I., 2376), of the salvation of those dear to you, of the final triumph of the cause of truth (H. E. I., 979, 1166–1168). But recollect that all that has been done has been done by the use of appropriate means: the altar to God in Egypt was built by human hands, the Ark was not built by miracle but by means; all the triumphs we anticipate are to be achieved by the diffusion of Divine truth, by the prayers and efforts of the Church. What effort are you making?
II. God often overrules the trials of life to produce a spirit of prayer, and to bring men to Himself. “They shall cry unto the Lord because of their oppressors [1045]
[1045] See Outline: SANCTIFIED AFFLICTION, chap. Isaiah 17:7-8.
III. It is God’s prerogative to raise up a Saviour (Isaiah 19:20). Whatever comforts or deliverances you have had through the medium of creatures, the hand of God is to be pre-eminently acknowledged in them all. Spiritually we need a great Saviour, and God has provided one equal to the emergency of the case. Our guilt is very great, our danger very threatening, our enemies very powerful, our ruin very awful, but help is laid on One that is mighty. The greatness of Christ as a Saviour appears from the essential dignity of His nature (Hebrews 1:1), from the certain efficacy of His atonement (Hebrews 7:25), from the countless number of the redeemed (Revelation 7:9), from the completeness of the salvation He imparts (1 Corinthians 1:30).—Samuel Thodey.