THE ONENESS OF GOD IN REVELATION AND IN NATURE
Isaiah 42:5-6. Thus saith God the Lord, &c.
Isaiah 42:5 is a description of God; Isaiah 42:6, a declaration of His purposes. The sentiment is that the God of nature is the God also of redemption.
Assuming the truth of the identity of the Author of nature with the God of revelation, consider certain lessons which follow as corollaries from it:—
I. That religious investigation should be characterised by the spirit of docile inquiry. Want of humility vitiates the methods by which men form their religious opinions. In science, it is settled that docility of inquiry is the one spirit which can lead to scientific discovery; in religion many feel at liberty to create their opinions. Especially is the faith which men think they derive from revelation often formed arrogantly. We bring to it a burden of habits of mind, of purposes of life, of usages in society, of the demands of science, the necessities of philosophy, and of authorities in theology. Pursuing our researches thus, we do not discover our facts; we make them (H. E. I. 558, 559). What is the reception which the civilised world now gives to the old astronomy of the Ptolemies, which mapped out the heavens like a Chinese atlas? The truth which we infer as indisputable from the fact of the oneness of the God of nature with the God of revelation is that the disclosures of God in the one should be received in the same spirit as the disclosures of God in the other.
II. That in revealed theology will be found a definite and positive system of truth. Side by side with Christian dogmatism there grows up a Christianised scepticism within the range of Scriptural thought. On the one hand, it is claimed that a revelation shall teach this; and on the other, that this revelation, properly speaking, can teach nothing. We begin with inquiry, we end with inquiry. It is refreshing to turn to the confidence with which, in the natural sciences, men express their convictions. How courageous is the etymology of the very word “science!” It is power, because it is knowledge. It even believes that it knows things which are not demonstrable. But our God is one God. We must look for a theology which is a system, not of inquiries, but of answers. We must presume, especially, that in the Book of God we shall come upon certain verities which shall be patent to unperverted inquiry. We do not so much find them as they find us. They come home to the heart of a child as readily as to that of a sage, just as the facts of nature do. Moreover, we must presume that these Scriptures contain a theology that can be positively preached. It must be free from self-contradictions, as other sciences are, so that an athletic faith can use it. It must be such as can show its strength in its methods of working; such as can penetrate and agitate and instrumentally regenerate souls.
III. That the facts of these two departments of God’s working will never contradict each other. The trial which Christianity has undergone from its imagined conflict with the discoveries of science has now a history. The history of science confirms the faith which we should cherish, that there is a oneness of God in revelation and in nature. Science itself has established it as an axiom that there are no insulated departments of inquiry. When men think they discover in nature something antagonistic to revelation, we may safely reply, as did the three men at the mouth of the furnace, “We are not careful to answer thee,” &c. (Daniel 3:16-17).
IV. That we should expect to find the revealed government of God to be a system characterised by sacredness and uniformity of law. In the natural world we find no such thing as caprice. Disease, even, has laws which are as beautiful in their operation as the laws of health. Law in nature,—Decree in religion. The two revolve around each other like twin stars; both are developments of one truth—that God acts by plan, and not by caprice (Matthew 10:29-30).
V. That from the unity of God in nature and in revelation we have reason to expect the occurrence of mysteries in a revealed theology. Science, in the world of matter, is thwarted in all its investigations, sooner or later, by insoluble mysteries; and just so, and no otherwise, is it with certain problems in religion. Nor is it any more marvellous that revealed theology does not solve such problems in the one realm of thought, than that natural science does not in the other. Is the connection of the race with Adam one of the hard sayings of a revealed theology? But is it more easy of solution that the vices of a father become a poison in the veins of his children and children’s children?
VI. That from the oneness of God in nature and revelation we may infer a confirmation of our faith in the certainty of this world’s conversion to Christianity. The creation of this world and its redemption are, in a truthful sense, parallel acts of omnipotence. It is as certain that the one will occur as that the other has occurred. The necessity of law in nature,—the certainty of law in redemption. The heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water; He turneth it whithersoever He will. Who has not observed the profusion with which the natural world is made emblematic, in the prophetic Scriptures, of the final triumphs of the Gospel? (chap. Isaiah 55:10-11; Isaiah 60:21; Psalms 72:16; Isaiah 35:2; Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 66:12; Isaiah 11:9; Psalms 72:7; Psalms 72:17; Isaiah 60:6-7; Isaiah 11:6-8). The mountains, &c., become not only the emblems, but the pledges of the mighty works which He will do for man’s recovery.—Austin Phelps, D.D.: Exegete and Homiletic Monthly, vol. i. pp. 281–292.
CALLED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS
Isaiah 42:5-8. Thus saith God the Lord, &c.
Some of the most wonderful words ever uttered. It is God speaking to His own Son. It is as if we were secretly admitted into the counsel of God.
I. God provided the Saviour. “I have called Thee in righteousness”—I have asked Thee to do this work of righteousness; to work out this salvation, which shall show me to be a righteous God. God did, as it were, look round all the creatures to see whom He would call to this great work. But He chose His Son. None other could be a sufficient Saviour.
II. God upheld the Saviour. “I will hold,” &c. The figure seems taken from a father and his little child. When God called His Son to the work it could not but be a fearful work in His eyes. God here comforts His Son under the view. Learn—
(1.) How dreadful the sufferings of Christ were.
(2.) The greatness of your sins.
(3.) God’s great hand in Christ’s work.
III. God gave Christ for a covenant. Gave Him away to be a covenant Saviour to the people and a light to lighten the Gentiles. The Son was infinitely dear to the Father. Sinners were infinitely vile in the sight of the Father. Yet, “I will give Thee!” Learn—
(1.) The intense love of God for sinners.
(2.) That God must have the glory of their redemption.
IV. God gave Christ for a light.
1. By nature men have blind eyes.
2. Are bound in prison.
3. Sit in a dark prison-house. A change comes through the gift of God.
CONCLUSION.—Has Christ been made to rise upon your soul? Plead with God to fulfil His word.—R. M. M‘Cheyne: additional Remains, pp. 61, &c.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE ESTABLISHED IN CHRIST
Isaiah 42:6. I will give Thee for a covenant of the people.
These words are repeated by the prophet (Isaiah 49:8). There are three things which have affinity one to another, and yet differ one from another—a purpose, a promise, a covenant. A purpose differs from a promise and a covenant, in that it lays no obligation upon a man. A promise lays an obligation upon him who makes it. There is in every covenant a mutual promise and stipulation between the parties covenanting, whereby they are equally bound each to other in certain articles and agreements consented to by both. Consider, then—
I. WHAT COVENANT IS HERE MEANT.
There are covenants between men and men. Abimelech and Abraham made a covenant (Genesis 21:32); Jacob and Laban (Genesis 31:44). Such are called civil covenants. There are also religious covenants, of which two have become famous. One of these was made in the state of man’s innocency (Genesis 2:16-17). In this, God promised to Adam, for himself and his posterity, life and happiness, upon the condition of perfect and perpetual obedience. This is called the covenant of works. The other was made after the Fall (Genesis 3:15); it was renewed with Abraham (Genesis 12:3), and with Isaac (Genesis 26:4), and with Jacob (Genesis 28:14). In this covenant eternal life is promised to man upon the condition of faith in Christ. The apostle calls it “the law of faith” (Romans 3:27). It is of this the text speaks. Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant, had nothing to do in the first. It was fœdus amicitiæ. God and Adam were perfect friends when it was made. That of which Christ is Mediator was made to bring man to life and salvation, after his sinful violation of the first covenant.
II. WHO THIS PEOPLE IS TO WHOM CHRIST IS GIVEN AS A COVENANT.
By “the people” we are to understand the people of Israel. These are principally mentioned for three reasons. 1—Because Christ, according to His human nature, descended from them (Romans 1:3; Isaiah 11:1).
2. Because this covenant of grace was first made with them (Romans 9:4).
3. Because when Christ should come in the flesh, this covenant was first to be pressed upon them (Matthew 10:5-6; Matthew 15:24). Still, the promise of Christ to Abraham extends to the elect of all nations (Genesis 12:3).
III. IN WHAT RESPECTS CHRIST IS CALLED A COVENANT OF THE PEOPLE.
1. He is the Head of the covenant. Adam was the head of the covenant of works; Christ, the second Adam, is the Head of the covenant of grace. He is caput electionis; and He is caput fœderis, in whom all the elect are fœderati, entered into covenant with God. Fallen man was unmeet to enter into covenant immediately with the holy God. All the promises of God are in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20).
2. He is the Purchaser and Procurer of the covenant. We read of the “blood of the testament” (Hebrews 9:20; Isaiah 53:10).
3. He is the Sum and Substance of the covenant. Take Christ out of it, and it will be but an empty thing; He is its Alpha and its Omega, its very pith and kernel.
4. He is the Messenger of the covenant (Malachi 3:1). He published it of old by the prophets (1 Peter 1:11), and alterwards in His own person (Ephesians 2:17); when He was ascended, by the apostles (Mark 16:15); and still by the ministry instituted by Him to continue to the end of the world (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
5. He is the Surety of the covenant (Hebrews 7:22). He undertakes on God’s part that all that He hath promised shall be made good to the believer.
(1.) By His Word (John 5:24).
(2.) By the shedding of His blood. His blood was poured out to ratify the covenant.
(3.) By the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. One end of these is to confirm the covenant; they are both outward seals of the covenant.
(4.) By His Spirit. The Spirit is a sealing as well as a sanctifying Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:12). And Christ is a Surety on our part. He undertakes that we shall close with the covenant, and that we shall walk according to it (Ephesians 4:11-13; 2 Corinthians 4:13; Romans 1:4).
CONCLUSION.—
1. The whole business of our salvation centres in Christ Jesus. Who can express the strong, rich comfort which springs out of this to all that have an interest in Christ?
2. Let the unbeliever be warned that the covenant of peace is built on Christ. He that hath not Christ hath not the covenant; out of Christ, out of the covenant (Ephesians 2:12).—Ralph Robinson: Sermons, pp. 462–479.
He who is promised as the chief matter, the mediator, surety, scope of the covenant, is by a metonymy called “the covenant.” “I will give Thee for a covenant;” that is, I covenant to give Thee to the people. Jesus is granted in the covenant to bring us to God. To which blessed and glorious purposes He is exhibited—
I. AS THE LIGHT OF LIFE (Luke 2:32; John 1:4; John 8:12). There is a light that serves to kill and destroy, to bring death and condemnation to light: the light of the law, that killing letter concerning which the apostle says (Romans 7:9-10). But Christ brings life and immortality to light (2 Corinthians 4:6; John 14:8-9; John 17:3).
II. AS THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is His name (Jeremiah 23:6). To this end He is given to us—
1. As our propitiatory sacrifice (1 John 2:2; Romans 3:25).
2. As a merciful and faithful High Priest (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 9:24; Exodus 28:12; Exodus 28:29; Hebrews 12:24; 1 John 2:1-2; Romans 8:33-34). Not only a righteous, but a merciful High Priest, that is provided with a sacrifice, and hath a heart to offer (Hebrews 5:2). No dignity to which He is exalted can make Him forget His friends (2 Timothy 2:13).
III. AS OUR LORD AND KING (Zechariah 9:9; Isaiah 9:6). God hath more care of His saints than to leave the government of them on their shoulder. He is a King to gather them, to govern them, to defend and save them (Matthew 1:21). Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
IV. AS OUR HEAD AND HUSBAND (Ephesians 1:22-23; 1 Corinthians 11:3). Believers are joined to the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:17; Colossians 2:19). They are married to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). From this union follows:—
1. A communication of influences (Colossians 2:3; Colossians 1:19). This fulness of Christ is ours, and for us (John 1:16; Colossians 3:3).
2. A complication of interests. Christ and His saints are mutually concerned. They have nothing but through Him; their whole tenure is in the Head; and whatsoever is His is theirs—His God His Father, His merits, &c.—R. Alleine: God’s Covenant Grant, pp. 24–36.
The word “covenant” stands in the centre of this passage (Isaiah 42:5-8), and we may well conclude, on a consideration of the whole context, that the idea of covenant is central also in meaning. In (Isaiah 42:5) we are reminded of God’s creative, providential, and sustaining energy, as manifested in the material universe and in the region of human souls. From this elementary truth we are led on to the deep secret which God is ever unfolding in His revelations of mercy and saving love. The whole passage teaches us—
I. THAT JEHOVAH, WHO IS THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE, IS ALSO THE KING OF GRACE. Isaiah 42:5 sublimely expresses His supremacy over nature and man, and is suggestive—
1. Of what He teaches us in astronomy (“He that created the heavens and stretched them out”).
2. Of what He teaches us in geology, botany, and related sciences (“He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it”).
3. Of what He teaches us in the history of nations (“He that giveth breath,” &c.; comp. Acts 17:25). So also is He supreme in the empire of souls—in the work of redeeming as well as of creating. His glory in this respect cannot be shared by another (Isaiah 42:8). He is the Originator of all saving methods, and the Source of all spiritual fulness.
II. THAT HIS PURPOSES IN THE DOMAIN OF GRACE ARE EQUALLY REAL AND SURE AS THOSE IN THE SPHERE OF NATURE. He disdains not to make a covenant with the people. His gracious intentions are not capricious, haphazard, accidental, or in any way partaking of the nature of after-thought. They are of the nature of a covenant—a divine purpose, treasured up and unfolded in the course of the ages. Modern science loves to trace the invariability of natural laws. Christian theism, also, accepts the teaching as proof of the divine veracity. In nature and in grace we learn of a covenant-keeping God. Indeed, the one is but an illustration of the other. (See Jeremiah 31:36; Jeremiah 33:25-26; Isaiah 55:10-11.)
III. THAT THE DIVINE COVENANT IS SPECIALLY ATTESTED. God would have us know, beyond all mistake, that He is covenanting with us.
1. The earlier forms of pledge were given in the special selection of the Jewish nation to bear testimony for Him.
2. The crowning pledge of His covenant is afforded us in the gift of Christ. Only in Him do the words of Isaiah 42:6-7 find their true fulfilment.
IV. THAT THE DIVINE COVENANT HAS RESPECT TO ALL NATIONS AND PEOPLES. For the blind and self-righteous Jew of ancient times, or the hard and unsympathetic dogmatist of modern times, to regard the covenant as expressive of an exclusive compact by which a vast portion of mankind was to be shut out from God’s pitying favour, is to mistake its significance. This is to turn a sublime truth into a keynote of caprice and unworthy favouritism. It is a “covenant of the people, a light of the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:6), that is here indicated. So the earliest form of the promise was comprehensive, and looked onward to an all-inclusive plan (see Genesis 12:3). We see in Jehovah’s covenant, then, a basis of redemption for all men, an offer of saving help to every sinner of every race.—William Manning.
THE GREAT NAME
Isaiah 42:8. I am the Lord: that is my name.
The names and titles of the Almighty, which convey ideas of overwhelming greatness and glory mingled with awful mysteriousness, are most worthy of our best attention.
I. THE NAME BY WHICH GOD HAS GRACIOUSLY REVEALED HIMSELF.
Our translators have only retained the word JEHOVAH four times out of 6855 instances in which it occurs in the original Hebrew. Seldom, if ever, used by the Jews after the Babylonish captivity; on account of their great reverence for the Divine Being, they substituted Adonai—Lord; and their example was followed by our translators, who, out of respect to this feeling, have almost invariably rendered it Lord, always, however, directing it to be printed in capitals, to denote that the original word is JEHOVAH, and to distinguish it from every other name.
Its derivation and meaning. The incommunicable name. Psalms 83:18 accords with this declaration. In two instances we have God’s own interpretation of this great name (Exodus 3:14; Exodus 34:6-7, more fully interpreted). In the former instance He announced Himself to Moses in the glory of His self-existent and eternal majesty, as “I AM;” in the latter, in the glory of His grace and goodness—the most ample and particular description of the Divine character, as given by Himself, in the sacred records.
It also denotes God’s special relation of love and care to His people. The covenant name. He is the God of all flesh, but He is the JEHOVAH of His people (Psalms 68:4). If we would rejoice before the Lord, we must contemplate Him in the special relation of love and care. Our comfort very much depends upon the views we cherish of our God. The splendour of His attributes cannot of itself awaken joy. Trusting in Him, through Christ, as our JEHOVAH—an unchangeable Lord of purpose and promise—gives comfort, and we can view His glorious perfections with holy, chastened joy, that softens down to adoring love. For, Hebrews 6:17-18. Our hearts can only find satisfaction in union with a Being such as God has revealed Himself to be.
II. THIS GREAT NAME IN UNION WITH SOME OF ITS OLD TESTAMENT COMBINATIONS.
1. JEHOVAH TSIDKENU (Jeremiah 23:6). Jesus is not only the righteous Lord, but the Lord our righteousness. This short sentence, only two words in the Hebrew, comprises the whole Gospel. As sinners need a righteousness in which to stand before the Holy One, Christ’s Gospel is the grand provision for the restoration of righteousness in fallen and sinful men (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:25-26); personal righteousness, obtained only by faith (Romans 4:5; Romans 5:1; Romans 10:3-4).
2. JEHOVAH-SHALOM—Jehovah is peace (Judges 6:24). The Lord speaks peace unto His people. He who is our righteousness is also our peace (Ephesians 2:14; Romans 5:1). Our legacy (John 14:27).
3. JEHOVAH-NISSI—Jehovah is my banner (Exodus 17:15). Material warfare an emblem of the spiritual.
(1.) The Church of God is a Church militant; ever at war with the kingdom of darkness. The world must be conquered for Christ. The banner of King Jesus is not placed in our hands for us to be calmly indifferent, but to inspire us with an absorbing ambition for its increase of glory. Victory is sure.
(2.) Our Christian life is a battle. Not only troubles to meet and pass through, but active enemies to resist and overcome. There is no furlough and no discharge. Yet we need not fear.
4. JEHOVAH-JIREH—The Lord will provide (Genesis 22:14). Let this memorial of the past be our watchword for the future. The Lord will provide for us in wisdom according to our necessities (Philippians 4:19). He has done so, and He will (Romans 8:32).
5. JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH—The Lord is there (Ezekiel 48:35). Doubtless Ezekiel has another city and another promised land in view—the Gospel church and the Heavenly Jerusalem. The Church is called “the city of the living God.” The Lord is there—our joy and rejoicing—nor will He ever forsake His people. Of the Church triumphant JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH is the chief glory and happiness. “God Himself shall be with them, and dwell among them.”
“This is their supreme delight,
And makes a heaven, of heaven.”
CONCLUSION.—This Infinite Jehovah is anxious to become your Covenant Friend, and Guide, and Portion.—Alfred Tucker.
THE RIGHTS OF GOD MAINTAINED
Isaiah 42:8. I am the Lord; that is my name, &c.
God is jealous of His honour (Exodus 20:2-5). The injunctions against idolatry have been repeatedly violated by all the nations of the earth: in ancient times by the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and even the Israelites; in somewhat later times by the Persians, Greeks, Romans; and every modern nation known to us is either now idolatrous or has been rescued from idolatry through the influence of Christianity. To the corrupted mind of man idolatry has peculiar charms: it gratifies his desire for outward signs; it meets his craving after the material and the visible.
The text is of vital interest to ourselves, inasmuch as every impenitent sinner and every unfaithful follower of Christ dishonours God and is chargeable with a kind of idolatry. Mark—
I. THE IMPORT OF GOD’S NAME. “I am Jehovah, that is my name.”
1. It means the Being that exists. Of every other being, animate and inanimate, it can be affirmed that there was a time when it did not exist; but of Jehovah no such affirmation can be made (Psalms 90:2; Isaiah 40:14).
2. It implies that He is the fountain of all being. A false philosophy affirms the existence of other beings independent of God, and maintains especially the eternity of matter. But such views are irrational and absurd (Jeremiah 10:12; Isaiah 40:26). Nor may it be affirmed that these passages imply no more than that God worked on pre-existent matter (Hebrews 11:3; H. E. I. 353–359).
3. The word signifies that God is also the preserver of being. He made all things for Himself—not to be abandoned to themselves and fate; but to be watched over and sustained, that the end of their creation might be fully answered (H. E. I. 362–365).
4. The name Jehovah indicates that God is the God of Providence. It is admitted that God operates by law; but it is as certainly His power that upholds the worlds as it would be were there no law of gravitation. The laws of nature, so called, are but the modes in which God works. Miracles show that those laws are under His control (Psalms 148:8; H. E. I. 3530–3538).
5. The sublimest feature in His Providence is that which was exhibited in the redemption of mankind. The name Jehovah leads us to this point. God is the Saviour of the world, since for a sinful world there could have been no preservation without redemption. In Christ the character of God as the merciful I AM is clearly manifested (John 1:14).
II. THE GLORY WHICH BELONGS TO HIM. “My glory will I not give to another,” &c. The term glory is sometimes used in Scripture in reference to the visible symbol of Jehovah’s presence—the Shekinah; at other times it denotes the manifestation of His power and wisdom in creation; and at other times again it is employed in a more general sense to set forth the attributes and perfections of His character. But in the text the word is equivalent to honour, worship, adoration. What, then, is the glory which belongs exclusively to God?
1. The glory of the creation of all things (Revelation 4:11).
2. The glory of the world’s redemption. The work to be achieved was not simply the redemption of mankind, but their redemption in a way consistent with the law of God. But achieved it was, and achieved by God Himself; no angelic being aided in the enterprise, and “of the people there was none with Him.”
3. The glory of the application of redemption to the case of each individual believer in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:8; Titus 3:5-6). Where is boasting then? It is excluded.
4. The glory of the advancement of mankind in knowledge, holiness, and peace. The human race is certainly improving; and it is to Christianity we are indebted chiefly for our civil privileges, and for all our social and domestic comforts. To whom is the glory of our national greatness due? To Him by whom kings reign, to whom the wise owe their wisdom, and from whom every good and every perfect gift descends. Christianity, moreover, is the means which God employs for the world’s regeneration; for though other instrumentalities may be brought into operation, they are but subordinate.
III. HIS DETERMINATION TO MAINTAIN HIS RIGHTS. “I will not give my glory to another,” &c. This declaration may be viewed as corrective—
1. Of the sin of idolatry. He has not given His glory to the gods of the heathen, nor will He permit their devotees to give it them. But there are forms of idolatry practised by the Christian professor. What is the worship of the Virgin Mary, of saints and martyrs, of relics and of pictures, but idolatry? And what is the inordinate love of the creature but idolatry? What is covetousness but idolatry? What is the grasping after wealth which prevails but idolatry? (1 John 2:15).
2. Of the sin of pride. The proud man takes God’s glory to Himself. Perhaps one reason why Christians are less useful than they might be is that they fail to give God the glory due unto His name, and would fain reserve a measure of praise for themselves (1 Samuel 2:30).
3. Of the sin of unbelief. This is allied to pride. It scorns to be indebted for eternal life to grace; it will not submit to the righteousness of God. It robs God of His claims to our confidence and love; but God will not give His glory to another, and never will the terms of mercy be other than they are (Mark 16:16).—Thornley Smith: Sermons by Wesleyan Ministers (1852), pp. 172–187.