p. 707The spirit of Christ was in the prophets; so the apostle Peter says (1 Pet. i. 11). And this being so, the prophets not only spoke beforehand of Christ, and typically represented him, but of necessity they spoke things that were only partially and proximately applicable to themselves. This is very evident in the words of Isa. lxi., words which Jesus appropriated to himself in the synagogue at Nazareth.
The eunuch’s enquiry of Philip, “Of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?” (Acts viii. 34), is one that must often have been put before the manifestation of Christ. It is an enquiry that we need to bear in mind, in connection with the apostolic answers to be found in the New Testament, when we study the writings of Moses and the prophets concerning Christ.
Sometimes the prophet spoke things, as it were, in his own name, which were utterly inapplicable to himself individually, as, for instance, when David said, “My flesh shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Psa. xvi. 10). David individually is not the subject of this prophecy, though, of course, included in its operation. So Peter and Paul alike argue (Acts ii. 29: xiii. 36). So it is in the case before us: Isaiah was truly inspired to preach and prophesy, and dramatically to foreshadow the coming One; but many of the things he here proclaimed were for that One to accomplish and not for him, except as a subordinate participant both then and hereafter.
This view, which is the divine view presented in the words of Christ and the apostles, can scarcely be taken by those who regard the prophets as little more than gifted natural thinkers. Such an p. 708 estimate does violence to the express declarations of the prophets themselves. Here is Isaiah protesting: “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me.” He declares that his inspiration is from God, and superior to “the will of man” (2 Pet. i. 21). It would not be so necessary to harp upon this, were it not so persistently obscured by modern criticism. How could David, by merely natural gift, proclaim the immunity of God’s Holy One from the corruption of the grave? How could Isaiah, by merely superior intuition, foretell his entombment “with the wicked and with the rich in his death,” and then the “prolonging of his days”? We may press the enquiry concerning a multitude of details of time and place and circumstance that were absolutely beyond the ken of any. The only explanation is “the spirit of the Lord.”
“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 broken-hearted, 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” (Isa. lxi. 1, 2).
These are the words quoted by Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth (Lu. iv.). We look first at Isaiah. He did some of the things spoken of here, but not all. He was indeed inspired, and, being anointed with the Holy Spirit, he did preach good tidings to the meek, when he thus spoke of the coming One and his glorious work. It might perhaps even be said in a figure that he bound up the broken-hearted, and proclaimed liberty to the captives in foretelling the return from Babylon (Isa. xl. 13), and even the resurrection of the dead (xxvi. 19). But it was not his to “proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Nor could he announce the actual presence of “the day of vengeance of our God”; and comfort to all Zion’s mourners. And the further we read on the more is Isaiah personally and individually left below and behind; the more we find ourselves to be in the presence of “the Redeemer” himself thus revealed beforehand by “the spirit of the Lord.”
There is no sufficient explanation of even the opening words above cited till we find ourselves in the presence of Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth. There, indeed, the light breaks in.
p. 709 We read in Luke (ch. iv.) that after the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus “returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee; and there went out a fame of him through all the regions round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.”
The law and the prophets appear to have been divided into sections for the “reading in the synagogue every sabbath day” (Acts xiii. 15, 27: xv. 2), after the manner found among the Jews to the present day. What may have been “the portion” for the day, according to the prevailing division, we know not; but the portion of God’s appointment some seven hundred years before was unerringly “found” by the same spirit in Jesus that had before spoken in Isaiah of that day.
Jesus read the words quoted above, and no more. And he added an astonishing comment—astonishing to the worshippers in the synagogue, but only natural to him, if we may so speak. “He closed the book and gave it again to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” And although Luke does not tell us what he said, he does tell us that “all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth.” It was as though the people, astounded as they were at his claims to be the Anointed of the Lord, could not withhold their testimony that he did indeed speak in the strain of the prophecy he thus so strikingly quoted.
The division of the word made by Jesus in his quotation was a striking one, marking off his work of preaching in the flesh from his work of judgment in the spirit: “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord—and the day of vengeance of our God.” He spoke then of “the acceptable year” and left out “the day of p. 710 vengeance.” We perceive the fitness of this when we have sufficiently learned from the scripture all the details of his mission.
The “anointing” of the prophet’s reference was afterwards the subject of apostolic testimony and appeal. Peter in the house of Cornelius challenged the memories of his hearers, “how that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him” (Acts x. 38). He drew attention to that memorable preaching of the gospel to the “meek,” and the “healing” and liberating even to the extent of raising the dead. The testimony of God was in it all; it was the work of the Father through Jesus by the Spirit, as Peter again testified on the day of Pentecost. “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did by him in the midst of you” (Acts ii. 22). This is the true exhibition of the meaning of Isaiah’s prophecy in this place.
The immediate effect of the words of Jesus of Nazareth was to cause his rejection there, notwithstanding the admiration that could not be withheld. “Is not this the son of Joseph?” they asked. And Jesus said that No prophet was accepted in his own country. Had not Elijah and Elisha both been rejected and persecuted on those same hills centuries before? And had not God, passing over the widows in Israel, sent Elijah to a Sidonian widow of Sarepta? And again, had not God, passing over the lepers of Israel, cleansed Naaman the Syrian through Elisha? And what now if God would pass over these Nazarenes and send His Anointed forth to others? They were filled with wrath, and tried to throw him over the precipice, but in some unrecorded way he was delivered, for his time had not come, and “he passing through the midst of them went his way.” Had they known the scriptures they would have perceived that he was indeed that “arm of the Lord” spoken of by the prophet whose words he so appropriated, that “Servant” of Yahweh, the “Redeemer” who should indeed be “given for a covenant,” but who should “prolong his days” by resurrection, and in whose hand the pleasure of the Lord should prosper.
p. 711 Jesus being thus authoritatively connected with the prophecy in its opening words, we go forward in “the spirit of Christ” in the context. He will proclaim “the day of vengeance of our God.” The apostles say this of him. “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. i. 8). And in the context Paul declares that for those who do know God and obey the gospel, that is the season of “rest”—“rest with us,” as it is said. Then Zion’s mourners will be comforted; then when “this corruptible” shall be exchanged for the glory of the divine nature, such will be given “beauty for ashes.” Abraham in that day will no longer say, “I am but dust and ashes” (Gen. xviii. 27), for he will be “equal to the angels.” “The oil of joy for mourning,” another beautiful related contrast, finds illustration in the reference to Jesus in Heb. i. 9, “God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” The change to spirit nature after the resurrection, and the first rank in the kingdom of God, are the literal elements involved in the beautiful figure. So the “garments of praise, for the spirit of heaviness” find illustration in the apocalyptic references to the “clothing,” both of the Lord and of the saints (Rev. i. 13: iii. 4: xix. 8, 13, 14). It is an investment with a change of nature befitting a change of character. Sinners believing the gospel and repenting and being baptised into Christ are clothed with his name. In the flesh, if obedient, they labour in faith, and pray and praise, but it is often in “the spirit of heaviness,” “groaning, being burdened.” But when made immortal like the Lord, praise will find perfect expression in and from the spiritual body, which is the gift of God. Such will be “trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh that he may be glorified.” Jesus himself is the tree of righteousness, and of life. He promises in the Revelation to give to him that overcometh to “eat of the tree of life that is in the midst of the paradise of God” (ch. ii. 7), that is, to partake with him of the life and glory of the Kingdom of God. In the last chapter of the Revelation the figure is reproduced, the “trees of p. 712 righteousness” are fruitful unto God, and their “leaves are for the healing of the nations;” that is, Christ and his people will glorify the Father in directing the nations of the earth in His way in the age to come.
And the “old wastes” are to be rebuilt to the glory of God. This of course refers to the land of Isaiah’s prophecy, “Immanuel’s land.” These prophecies have been wrested to apply to “heaven beyond the skies,” but the absurdity of such an idea is manifest upon reflection. There are no “old wastes,” and “waste cities,” and “desolations” in heaven, surely. The error arises out of the ancient and demoralising doctrine of the “immortality of the soul.” From the days of Babylon downwards this has corrupted the word of God in Israel. But when this is discarded and the express terms of the word of God alone received, all becomes clear and beautiful, and the ancient Life and Land covenants of God become the basis of “a hope that maketh not ashamed.”
“Strangers” are to do the manual work in the case (v. 5). Of this there is an illustration in the history of Joshua (ch. ix.), when “the Gibeonites by craft obtained a league,” and, being spared from the sword, were made “bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God.” Of course the merely natural man will revolt at the suggestion; but in those “times of restitution” to come men will have been greatly humbled by the Lord’s judgments in the earth, and will have learned righteousness, and consequently the survivors will be only too thankful to throw themselves on the mercy of the Lord, under whose beneficent rule they will enjoy privileges that will contrast greatly with the enslavement they endured in the kingdoms of men. Solomon’s employment of the “strangers” in the preparation of material for the temple (2 Chron. ii. 17; 1 Kings x. 13-18) is another illustration. Here it will be seen that the work was not slavery: “A month they were in Lebanon and two months at home.” The Greater than Solomon will not be a slave-driver after the type of the magnates of the present evil world. “He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.” Knowing what toil is himself, he will mercifully regulate that of p. 713 “the strangers” that labour in the restoration of Zion, and indeed the “labour” of all the earth.
Over it all will be the new priesthood of the age to come, of which Isaiah himself will be a constituent, as is implied in this prophecy. Speaking in “the spirit of Christ,” he thus addressed his brethren of that day, some of whom probably will be found to have been his contemporaries in the days of Hezekiah: “Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord; men shall call you the ministers of our God; ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. For your shame ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion; therefore, in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them.”
The very name of priest has become hateful on earth through the iniquity of man; but we must endeavour to eliminate this present evil world from our ideas, and go back to the appointment of God in Israel to get some true idea of the true glory and beauty of the divine regulation of the world in the age to come. The world is God’s, “that he may be glorified”; this is the first principle, the recognition of which is almost absent from the earth now. True well-being for man upon earth is impossible till it be reinstated in its true position.
In Israel everything was for God. The nation was of God. Its first father was called of God. His son Isaac was given of God. His descendants were delivered from Egyptian bondage by God, constituted “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” by solemn covenant at Sinai. Not only its worship, but its whole life was regulated by God through a priesthood, which in its highest order held direct communication with God. The law of God was administered by this priesthood, a law the true character and beauty of which is only just beginning to dawn upon the minds of modern thinkers, and which was at once a blessing in its regulation of the life that now is, and a wonderful shadow of the conditions of the life to come with Jesus Christ.
Before Moses’ time, there had been the Melchizedek order of priesthood in Salem (Jerusalem), in which the royal and priestly functions were united. Melchizedek had blessed Abraham on his p. 714 return from the slaughter of the kings, bringing forth “bread and wine,” the symbols and memorial of the blessings to come upon the seed of Abraham hereafter by Jesus Christ. This priesthood was the order that God declared in Psa. cx. should be the portion for ever of David’s Lord. “The Lord (Yahweh) hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” Consequently Jesus, who is that Priest, must be King of Righteousness (Zedek), King of Peace (Salem), King of Jerusalem, and Priest of the Most High God. This is the argument of the epistle to the Hebrews.
And under him are his immortal brethren made kings and priests unto God, and to reign on the earth (Rev. v. 10). All this is involved in this prophecy of Isaiah; but it is all foreign to the theologies of Christendom, which have no place for so real and tangible a salvation. The idea of such a priesthood eating the riches of the Gentiles and boasting themselves in their glory is scouted as grossly carnal; but it is written here, and will come to pass just as surely as Jesus appeared in Nazareth in fulfilment of the context some nineteen hundred years ago. Unbelief will not hinder this, as it did not hinder that. No doubt there will be strenuous objection on the part of the Gentiles; so there was on the part of Pharaoh in the days of the Exodus. And this, like that, has been foreseen and foretold by the word of God, whose purpose has never been frustrated by any hard-hearted sinners.
The retribution promised is extremely fitting. Jesus himself was put to shame and death in Jerusalem. What more fitting than that he should reign there in glory. So with a multitude of others: “It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.” Isaiah himself suffered shame and death there, as is supposed; and the body of Christ, in whatever age and country, belongs to that land and city. “Therefore in their land they shall possess the double (the counterpart of glory proportionate to their shame and suffering), and everlasting joy shall be unto them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people, and all that see them shall p. 715 acknowledge them that they are the seed (Isa. liii. 10: liv. 3) which the Lord hath blessed.”
Jesus himself emphasised this in his teaching when exhorting his disciples not to be afraid to encounter shame and confusion for his name’s sake. For, he said, “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. x. 32). “He that overcometh, I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels” (Rev. iii. 5). And the converse is equally true and emphatically declared: He that denieth shall be denied. We look at Isaiah; we look at Jesus—in the days of “shame” and “confusion”—and then in the days of life and glory “in their land.” Shall we not still strive to “overcome”?
As in the opening verses, so in the close of the chapter, “the spirit of Christ” in the prophet speaks of Jesus in a very direct and personal way; although doubtless including the prophet himself as a member of the “one body.” I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; 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 a priestly crown (marg.), and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. 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.”
Who is it that is here spoken of? Not the prophet himself primarily. Who is that heavenly “bridegroom” clothed with garments of salvation and robed with righteousness? There can be no hesitation in the answer. It is the Spirit’s answer by the mouth of John the Baptist and by Jesus himself. “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom,” said John, “the friend of the bridegroom,” as he directed his disciples to Jesus (Jno. iii. 29). “Can they mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them” (Luke v. 34), said Jesus of himself concerning his disciples. He is the bridegroom “decked with a priestly crown.” He intercedes even now in heaven for his people “making themselves ready” as a bride in his absence. Most of the scattered elements of “the p. 716 bride” are in the earth ready to “spring forth before all the nations” in the resurrection. The earnest of it all is Jesus himself, who appropriated this wonderful prophecy in the synagogue nearly nineteen hundred years ago; who suffered shame and confusion in his land for our sakes; who rose from the dead at Jerusalem, and ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives in the presence of individual members of “the bride.” The time draws near for the great consummation when Isaiah shall realise the full import of his words of long ago. Already it is faintly “known among the Gentiles” in prospect, and in far-off lands and isles of the seas is caught the echo of a heavenly song: “Halle-lu-Yah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready!” (Rev. xix. 7).