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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 26:11 - 26:21
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Concluding Scenes from the World's History
v. 11. Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up, to punish the foes of His people, they will not see, they deliberately close their eyes against the manifestation of His majesty; but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people, heaped with disgrace as they see the zeal of Jehovah for His people; yea, the fire of Thine enemies shall devour them, rather, "fire will devour Thine adversaries. " That is the judgment of God upon the wicked, by which they would be both surprised and confused.
v. 12. Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us, firmly establishing the condition of peace in the midst of His congregation; for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us, the believers' life of sanctification being a gift of the Lord and therefore acceptable in His sight.
v. 13. O Lord, our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us, for various despots of the world attempt time and again to tyrannize the believers; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name, for Jehovah has overthrown the tyrants and enabled His children to worship Him as their Lord.
v. 14. They, the enemies, are dead, they shall not live, they cannot return to their former power; they are deceased, they shall not rise, the enemies of God cannot hope to be delivered from the everlasting destruction to which they are condemned; therefore hast Thou visited and destroyed them and made all their memory to perish. That is the lot of the Lord's adversaries. Over against that we have the blessings which He sends upon His own people.
v. 15. Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, Thou hast increased the nation, for the Lord causes the number of His children to grow; Thou art glorified, by this act of mercy; Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth, for thus far the Church of God, by His own promise, is to be extended.
v. 16. Lord, in trouble have they visited Thee, thus the prophet once more cries out with reference to the night of affliction; they poured out a prayer, all the more fervent because it is made in secret, when Thy chastening was upon them, rendering them almost speechless with its severity. This is true to this day with regard to the consciousness of sin with its depressing effects.
v. 17. Like as a woman with child that draweth near the time of her delivery is in pain and crieth out in her pangs, so have we been in Thy sight, O Lord. The more unendurable the affliction seemed, the nearer was the time of deliverance.
v. 18. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have, as it were, brought forth wind, this being ever the result of man's sinfulness, of his life without God, which is all vanity; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, for by their own reason and strength men cannot produce salvation; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen, literally, "no inhabitants of the world will drop," that is, no new spiritual births can be brought out by the efforts of men, without the power of God. But in the hand of the Lord the matter assumes a different aspect:
v. 19. Thy dead men shall live, by the power of God's mercy; together with my dead body shall they arise, delivered by the might of God. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for Thy dew is as the dew of herbs, the divine glory imparting its heavenly power to the moldering dust of men, and the earth shall cast out the dead. The earth is forced to give up its victims, and the awakened believers join the number of those who are living the true life of the Spirit by the power of God.
v. 20. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, hiding while God takes vengeance upon the ungodly, and shut thy doors about thee, to be secure from disturbance; hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast, until the judgment of God has gone forth upon His enemies.
v. 21. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, reveal the murders committed, and shall no more cover her slain, everything being laid open before the eyes of the Judge of the world. Thus the chapter shows the deliverance and the resurrection of the believers in the midst of the judgment pronounced and carried out upon the ungodly.