GOD’S RELATION TO HIS PEOPLE
Isaiah 63:16. Doubtless Thou art our father, though Abraham, &c.
From thanksgiving and confession, the people betake themselves to earnest prayer for deliverance from sin and suffering (Isaiah 63:15). Consider God’s relation to His people in two aspects—
I. As a fact most encouraging at all times, but especially in times of trouble. God’s ancient people were in sore trouble (Isaiah 63:15 and others). Yet, amid all, they derived encouragement from the intimate relationships which existed between God and them.
1. As their Father (Isaiah 64:8; Deuteronomy 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Jeremiah 3:4). Though this relationship was revealed under the old covenant, it was practically realised only upon the rarest occasions. Amid their trials, this is now the ground of their appeal. As their Father He must love them, and be ready to listen to them, &c. Though their earthly fathers afforded them no assistance, and seem to have ceased to feel any interest in them, they have confidence in the constancy of their heavenly Father’s compassion (Jeremiah 31:20). This is the ever deepening conviction of God’s people everywhere. Gourds may grow and wither, but our heavenly Father’s love neither grows nor withers—it is un-changing; it holds on and holds out, needing no sustenance from without, except that supplied by our need of it; it endures through all our unfaithfulness, &c.
As our Father—
(1) He is the author of our spiritual life. By His Spirit He quickens, &c., and imparts His own nature and image (2 Peter 1:4; Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:23-24).
(2) He secures our instruction. By His works, Word, Spirit, &c.
(3) He supplies all our need. His supplies are suited, abundant, satisfying, inexhaustible.
(4) He protects us. Exposed to innumerable perils and evils, He is our shield, &c.
(5) He gives us a glorious and everlasting portion. A kingdom, a crown, &c., and bliss ineffable and eternal.
Such a relation cannot fail to be a source of unspeakable comfort to the people of God amid all their trials. Such a Father, ever living and loving, &c. Are you His child by the adoption of grace, &c.? He wants you to be His restored, obedient child, &c. “We are all the children of God,” in the highest sense, “by faith in Christ Jesus.”
2. As their Redeemer (kinsman). Their history was a series of remarkable deliverances. As their Redeemer He delivers His people—
(1) From the bondage of sin and Satan, &c. (pp. 295, 416, 417, 438, 551). No arm but His could break the chain, &c.
(2) From all their troubles (Psalms 34:19). α. Either in this life, in answer to prayer (Psalms 34:6; Psalms 46:1, and others). At the fittest time, by the fittest instrument, through the fittest medium, and in the fittest manner. β. Or wholly, in the life to come. Here, then, is “strong consolation” for God’s people amid all their tribulations. Troubled one, “be of good cheer!”
3. As their unchanging Friend. “Name”—expresses the Divine perfections. We delight to tell our cares, &c., to a faithful friend. Whoever dies, Jesus lives.
II. As a fact independent of the recognition of the greatest men.—Abraham and Jacob were two of the greatest men in Jewish history—the venerated ancestors of the Hebrew race, &c. Whether these great men knew it or not, they felt their relationship to God was a fact most encouraging. The believer’s relation to God is a fact independent of man’s acknowledgment, however great.
The world knows us not, because it knows not our Father (1 John 3:1-2). They often regard us as fanatics, &c. Nothing do they less understand than the elements which constitute the Christian’s character and joys. As they mistake our Father’s character, it is no wonder they should mistake ours (John 17:25; Acts 3:17; 1 Corinthians 2:8). But whatever the great ones of the earth may think of you, if you have genuine faith in Christ, you are a child of God—the fact is as unalterable as it is glorious (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1-2; Galatians 4:4-7). Whoever refuses to acknowledge you, steadfastly believe in God as your Father, Redeemer, &c. This is infinitely more precious than the most honoured earthly ancestry, &c. Unspeakably blessed are those who have the LORD for their Father and Redeemer. They rise superior to all life’s trials, and exult in the hope of glory (Romans 5:2). Is this blessedness yours?—Alfred Tucker
I. The characters under which God is here addressed. (See former outline.) II. The affections and emotions of which God is the proper object.
1. Of admiring gratitude and awe.
2. Of filial confidence and trust.
3. Of earnest pleading and expostulation (Isaiah 63:15-19 and ch. 64).
4. Of high and animated hope. These are not the pleadings of despair, &c.—S. Thodey.
Isaiah 63:17-19. I. The sorrows of God’s people. Phases. Causes. Moral influence. II. Their chastisement. Just. Administered by means of their enemies. Merciful. Corrective. III. Their cure. Penitential prayer. Faith, founded on God’s peculiar right in His people.
Isaiah 63:19. God’s people as distinguished from their enemies are—I. His special property. II. His privileged subjects. II. His acknowledged children.—J. Lyth, D.D.