Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 49:14 - 49:26

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 49:14 - 49:26


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The Glorification of Zion by Jehovah's Servant

v. 14. But Zion,
the capital of the chosen people as type of the Church of God, said, The Lord hath forsaken me, the God of the covenant having apparently turned against her, and my Lord hath forgotten me, her Bridegroom and Husband was utterly estranged from her. It is an expression of the deepest affliction of the soul, which is obsessed by the fear and terror of hell. Upon this the Lord Himself answers with words of glorious consolation,

v. 15. Can a woman forget her sucking child,
the tiny infant in her arms; that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? It is the strongest comparison which the Lord can find for human understanding. But His love and mercy surpass even the intense love of the fondest mother. Yea, they may forget, it may so happen that a human mother will so far forget herself and deny the call of natural affection, yet will I not forget thee, the heavenly Father's love is so inexpressibly great and burning that He actually finds it impossible not to feel the compassion of love toward those that are His

v. 16. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands,
as a token that the picture of the Lord's pity is indelibly impressed upon His heart and mind, that He has it before the eyes of His mind always; thy walls are continually before Me, He has them before Him in their proper and correct reconstruction; He sees His Church as a beautiful and perfect building, a habitation of His Holy Spirit.

v. 17. Thy children shall make haste,
hurrying to the side of their mother as though they could not come fast enough to save and to glorify her; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee, leaving Zion in undisturbed possession of her city.

v. 18. Lift up thine eyes round about and behold,
so the Lord's consoling admonition proclaims, all these, the people gained for the Lord by the proclamation of the Gospel, gather themselves together and come to thee, to join the Church. As I live, saith the Lord, with a solemn oath of reassurance, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, like a bride putting on her rich garments, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth, as she girds her robes about her. The Church is pictured with a host of her children about her, their great number serving as her choicest ornament.

v. 19. For thy waste and thy desolate places and the land of thy destruction,
the land of Judah with its many sacked cities and ruined farms being a type of the Church's desolation in consequence of the Babylonian captivity, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away, the destroyers of the land being crowded out of the land by the increasing number of Jerusalem's children, by the growing number of believers in the Messianic era.

v. 20. The children which thou shalt have,
the spiritual offspring of Zion, after thou hast lost the other, those that were born to her during the time of the exile, shall say again in thine ears, this would surely come to pass once more that they would clamor, The place is too strait for me, too narrow for their increasing number; give place to me that I may dwell, providing enough room for those who would be born anew by the Spirit of God in the Word.

v. 21. Then shalt thou say in thine heart,
in joyful surprise, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, before and during the Babylonian captivity, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? Zion was childless and unfruitful, rejected of her Lord and left by the wayside; she thought she had been utterly forsaken. And who hath brought up these? the children which now come with the demand that they be given sufficient room to spread out in the land. And once more her surprised question is sounded, Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? The Church cannot grasp the mercy of the Lord as it is revealed in this rich blessing. The Lord now gives a most solemn answer:

v. 22. Thus saith the Lord God,
the all-powerful Ruler and Sovereign of the universe, Behold, I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles, in a signal which bids them come, and set up My standard to the people, a guide directing them in the right way; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, the spiritual children of Israel born in the midst of heathenism, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders, in eager submission to the rule of the King of Peace.

v. 23. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers,
protecting and nurturing the Church, and their queens thy nursing mothers, fostering the cause of the believers in every conceivable manner; they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, in the attitude of submission and worship, and lick up the dust of thy feet, giving due homage to the Church on account of the obvious protection which the Lord gives to those that trust in Him; and thou shalt know, by the powerful proof thus given, that I am the Lord, the evidence to that effect being continuous and overwhelming; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me, this being a promise which applies to the believers of all times. Moreover, the Lord now answers an objection which might be made in view of the fact that the children of Zion were still in the power of the enemies:

v. 24. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty or the lawful captive,
the entire band of captives, delivered? this being the somewhat dubious question put by the more timid, who see nothing of the promised deliverance.

v. 25. But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty,
those whom the enemies thought they were holding most securely, shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, overcoming those who made war on His chosen people, and I will save thy children, therefore the future is so secure.

v. 26. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh,
in revenging the wrongs done to His people; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine, in a slaughter brought upon them by Jehovah; and all flesh, all people of the world, shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob, invincible in His power. Thus the Lord promises to bring Zion to the knowledge of His grace and love by imparting His salvation, while His judgment upon the enemies of His Church causes them to acknowledge His sovereign power and covenant faithfulness.