Isaiah, Chapter 54, verses 1-10
1 The Prophet, for the comfort of the Gentiles, prophesieth the amplitude of their Church, 4 their safety, 6 their certain deliverance out of afflictionLuke, Chapter 7, verses 24-30
24 testifieth to the people what opinion he held of John, 30 inveigheth against the Jews, who with neither the manners of John nor of Jesus could be won7
7:24 When the messengers were departed - He did not speak the following things in the hearing of John's disciples, lest he should seem to flatter John, or to compliment him into an adherence to his former testimony. To avoid all suspicion of this kind, he deferred his commendation of him, till the messengers were gone; and then delivered it to the people, to prevent all imaginations, as if John were wavering in his judgment, and had sent the two disciples for his own, rather than their satisfaction.
7:27 Mal 3:1.
7:28 There is not a greater prophet than John - A greater teacher.But he that is least in the kingdom of God - The least teacher whom I send forth.
7:29 And all the people - Our Lord continues his discourse: justified God - Owned his wisdom and mercy in thus calling them to repentance, and preparing them for Him that was to come.
7:30 But the Pharisees and scribes - The good, learned, honourable men: made void the counsel, the gracious design, of God toward them - They disappointed all these methods of his love, and would receive no benefit from them.
54 The blessings and fulness of the gospel - church, Isa 54:1-4.
The Gentiles becoming Christ's spouse, to whom his love is everlasting, Isa 54:5-10.
Her glories, Isa 54:11-12.
The gifts of the Holy Ghost, Isa 54:13.
Her sure preservation, Isa 54:14-17.
54:1 Sing - The prophet having largely discoursed of the sufferings of Christ, and of the blessed fruits thereof, and here foreseeing that glorious state of the church, he breaks forth into this song of triumph.And as the foregoing chapter literally speaks of Christ, so doth this of the church of Christ. This church, consisting at first of the Jews, and afterwards of the Gentiles, had been barren, 'till the coming of Christ. The desolate - The church of the Gentiles, which in the times of the Old Testament was desolate, does now bring forth to God a more numerous posterity than that of the Jews.
54:2 Enlarge - That it may be capable of the Gentiles, who shall flock to thee in great numbers. Strengthen - That they may be able to support that great weight which the tents thus enlarged, shall be upon them.
54:3 For - Thou shalt bring forth a multitude of children; for this word is commonly used of any extraordinary propagation of living creatures.On the left - On every side, in all the parts of the world.Thy seed - Thy spiritual seed, the church of the New Testament, which is accounted Abraham's seed, or children.
54:4 Ashamed - For the barrenness and widowhood, which once was the matter of thy grief and shame. Forget - Thou shalt not be upbraided with thy former barrenness in thy youthful state.
54:5 Thy maker - Will own thee for his spouse. The Lord - Who hath the sovereign command of all men and creatures, and therefore can subdue the Gentiles to thee, and can make thee to increase and multiply in so prodigious a measure, even in thine old age, notwithstanding thy barrenness in the days of thy youth, of which he speaks in the foregoing verse.The God - The God and father of all nations, whereas formerly he was called only the God of Israel.
54:6 Called thee - To return to him. As forsaken - When thou wast like a woman forsaken. And grieved - For the loss of her husband's favour. Of youth - As affectionately as an husband recalls his wife which he married in his youth.
54:7 For a moment - In comparison of God's everlasting kindness.Gather thee - From all the places where thou art dispersed, from all parts of the world.
54:8 With everlasting kindness - With kindness to thee and thy seed through all succeeding generations.
54:9 This - This covenant of grace and peace made with thee shall be as certain and perpetual as that which I made with Noah, that there should never be another flood to drown the world. Wrath - So as to forsake thee utterly.
54:10 The mountains - Shall sooner depart from their places than any kindness shall depart from thee. The covenant - That covenant whereby I have made peace and friendship with thee, and have promised to thee all manner of happiness. God will not cast off his Christian church, as he cast off the church of the Jews, the New covenant is established upon better and surer promises than the Old. The Lord - Who doth this not for thine own merits, but merely for his own grace and mercy.