Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers
The outpouring of the Spirit
As the communication of the Spirit is necessary to produce a reformation, so a large communication or outpouring of the Spirit is necessary to produce a public general reformation; such as may save a country on the brink of ruin, or recover one already laid desolate.
Without this remedy, all other applications will be ineffectual; and the distempered body politic will languish more and more, tin it is at length dissolved. Until this outpouring of the Spirit, says the prophet, “briers and thorns shall come up upon the land; and the houses of joy, the palaces, and towers, shall be heaps of ruins, dens for wild beasts, and pastures for flocks.” Until that blessed time come, no means can effectually repair a broken state, or repeople a desolate country. But when that blessed time comes, then what a glorious revelation--what a happy alteration follows! (Isaiah 32:15-19). (S. Davies, M. A.)
The Holy Spirit in prophecy
I. THE BLIGHT OF SIN. It is contrasted here with the beauty of holiness; and this contrast makes the deep gloom more apparent than if it were viewed by itself.
II. THE DARK OUTLOOK which Isaiah beheld. There is gloom first, and then gladness--confusion first, then comfort--darkness first, then light. Sin brings suffering and sorrow, either in this world or in the world to come.
III. THE BLESSING PROMISED. In proportion as the Church prays for, and expects, and receives the more abundant outpouring of the Spirit, the work of the world’s conversion will proceed apace. We speak of a Pentecostal effusion; but the Church prays and waits for a yet more abundant outpouring: and, when it comes, the glory of the latter day will be fully realised.
IV. THE BRIGHT FUTURE. As the result of the pouring out of the Spirit, “the wilderness shall become a fruitful field.” It has been said that this part of the prophecy is “luminous, rather than lucid; full of suffused, rather than distinct meanings.” This much, however, is clear, that the good fruits of the Spirit’s outpouring will be both material and moral. (P. Mearns.)