ISAIAH 26 COMMENTARY

EDITED BY GLENN PEASE

A Song of Praise

1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of

Judah:

We have a strong city;

God makes salvation

its walls and ramparts.

1.BARNES, In that day shall this song be sung - By the people of God, on their restoration to their own land.

We have a strong city - Jerusalem. This does not mean that it was then strongly fortified, but that God would guard it, and that thus it would be strong. Jerusalem was easily capable of being strongly fortified Psa_25:2; but the idea here is, that Yahweh would be a protector, and that this would constitute its strength.

Salvation will God appoint for walls - That is, he will himself be the defender of his people in the place of walls and bulwarks. A similar expression occurs in Isa_60:18 (see also Jer_3:23, and Zec_2:5).

Bulwarks - This word means properly bastions, or ramparts. The original means properly a pomoerium, or antemural defense; a space without the wall of a city raised up like a small wall.

The Syriac renders it, Bar shuro, - Son of a wall, meaning a small wall. It was usually a breastwork, or heap of earth thrown up around the city, that constituted an additional defense, so that if they were driven from that they could retreat within the walls.

2. CLARKE, We have a strong city - In opposition to the city of the enemy, which God hath destroyed, Isa_25:1-12 (note). See the note there.

Salvation - for walls and bulwarks - chomsothvachel, walls and redoubts, or the

walls and the ditch. chel properly signifies the ditch or trench without the wall; see Kimchi. The same rabbin says, This song refers to the time of salvation, i.e., the days of the Messiah.

3. GILL, In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah,.... When great things shall be done: for the church and people of God; and when antichrist and all their enemies are destroyed, as mentioned in the preceding chapter Isa_25:1; then this song shall be sung expressed in this throughout; which the Targum calls a "new" song, an excellent one, as the matter of it shows; and which will be sung in the land of Judah, the land of praise in the congregation of the saints, the professors and confessors of the name of Jesus: in Mount Zion, the church of God below, Psa_149:1, we have a strong city; not an earthly one, as Jerusalem; so the Jewish writers, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi, interpret it; nor the heavenly city, which God has prepared and built, and saints are looking for, and are citizens of: but rather the holy city, the New Jerusalem, described in Rev_21:2 or however, the church of Christ, as in the latter day; which will be a "strong" one, being of the Lord's founding, establishing, keeping, and defending; and whose strength will greatly lie in the presence of God, and his protection of it; in the number of its citizens, which will be many, when Jews and Gentiles are converted; and in their union one with another, and the steadfastness of their faith in Christ; when a "small one", as the church is now, shall become a "strong nation", Isa_60:22, salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks; instead of walls, ditches, parapets, counterscarps, and such like fortifications; what they are to cities, that is salvation to the church and people of God; it is their safety and security: as God the Father is concerned in it, it flows from his love, which is unchangeable; it is by an appointment of his, which is unalterable; is secured by election grace, which stands not upon the works of men, but the will of God; and by the covenant of grace, ordered in all things, and sure; and by his power the saints are kept unto it: as Christ is concerned in it, it is as walls and bulwarks; he is the author of it, has completely finished it, and has overcome and destroyed all enemies; his righteousness is a security from all charges and condemnation; his satisfaction a bulwark against the damning power of sin, the curses of the law, and the wrath of God; his mediation and intercession are a protection of saints; and his almighty power a guard about them. As the Spirit is concerned in it, who is the applier of it, and evidences interest in it; it is a bulwark against sin, against Satan's temptations, against a spirit of bondage to fear, against error, and a final and total falling away; particularly the church's "walls" will be "salvation", and her "gates" praise, of which in the next verse Isa_26:2, in the latter day glory; to which this song refers; see Isa_60:18.

4. HENRY, To the prophecies of gospel grace very fitly is a song annexed, in which we may give God the glory and take to ourselves the comfort of that grace: In that day, the gospel day, which the day of the victories and enlargements of the Old Testament church was typical of (to some of which perhaps this has a primary reference), in that day this song shall be sung; there shall be persons to sing it, and cause and hearts to sing it; it shall be sung in the land of Judah, which was a figure of the gospel church; for the gospel covenant is said to be made with the house of Judah, Heb_8:8. Glorious things are here said of the church of God.

I. That it is strongly fortified against those that are bad (Isa_26:1): We have a strong city. It is a city incorporated by the charter of the everlasting covenant, fitted for the reception of all that are made free by that charter, for their employment and entertainment; it is a strong city, as Jerusalem was, while it was a city compact together, and had God himself a wall of fire round about it, so strong that none would have believed that an enemy could ever enter into the gates of Jerusalem, Lam_4:12. The church is a strong city, for it has walls and bulwarks, or counterscarps, and those of God's own appointing; for he has, in his promise, appointed salvation itself to be its defence. Those that are designed for salvation will find that to be their protection, 1Pe_1:4.

5. JAMISON, Isa_26:1-21. Song of praise of Israel after being restored to their own land.

As the overthrow of the apostate faction is described in the twenty-fifth chapter, so the peace of the faithful is here described under the image of a well-fortified city.

strong city Jerusalem, strong in Jehovahs protection: type of the new Jerusalem (Psa_48:1-3), contrasted with the overthrow of the ungodly foe (Isa_26:4-7, Isa_26:12-14; Rev_22:2, Rev_22:10-12, etc.).

salvation ... walls (Isa_60:18; Jer_3:23; Zec_2:5). Maurer translates, Jehovah makes His help serve as walls (Isa_33:20, Isa_33:21, etc.).

6. K&D, Thus the second hymnic echo has its confirmation in a prophecy against Moab, on the basis of which a third hymnic echo now arises. Whilst on the other side, in the land of Moab, the people are trodden down, and its lofty castles demolished, the people in the land of Judah can boast of an impregnable city. In that day will this song be sung in the land of Judah: A city of defence is ours; salvation He sets for walls and bulwark. According to the punctuation, this

ought to be rendered, A city is a shelter for us; but seem rather to be connected, according to Pro_17:19, a city of strong, i.e., of impregnable offence and defence. The subject

of is Jehovah. The figure indicates what He is constantly doing, and ever doing afresh; for

the walls and bulwarks of Jerusalem (chel, as in Lam_2:8, the small outside wall which encloses

all the fortifications) are not dead stone, but yeshuah, ever living and never exhausted salvation (Isa_60:18). In just the same sense Jehovah is called elsewhere the wall of Jerusalem, and even

a wall of fire in Zec_2:9 - parallels which show that yeshuah is intended to be taken as the accusative of the object, and not as the accusative of the predicate, according to Isa_5:6; Psa_21:7; Psa_84:7; Jer_22:6 (Luzzatto).

7.CALVIN, 1.In that day shall a song be sung. Here the Prophet begins again to shew that, after the

return of the people from captivity, they will be defended by God power and guardianship, and that under

his protection Jerusalem will be as safe as if she had been surrounded by bulwarks, ramparts, a ditch,

and a double wall, so that no enemy could find entrance.

It is proper to observe the time when song was sung. The Prophet had foretold the calamity that would

befall the Church, which was not yet so near at hand, but happened a short time after his death. When

the people were led into captivity, they would undoubtedly have despaired, if they had not been

encouraged by such promises. That the Jews might cherish a hope that they would be delivered, and

might behold life in the midst of death, the Prophet composed for them this song, even before the

calamity occurred, that they might be better prepared for enduring it, and might hope for better things. I do

not think that it was composed solely that, when they had been delivered, they might give thanks to God,

but that even during their captivity, though they were like dead men, (Eze_37:1,) they might strengthen

their hearts with this confidence, and might also train up their children in this expectation, and hand down

these promises, as it were, to posterity.

We have formerly (154) seen the reason why these and other promises were put by Isaiah into the form of

verse. It was, that, having been frequently sung, they might make a deeper impression on their memory.

Though they mourned in Babylon, and were almost overwhelmed with sorrow, (hence these sounds,

(Psa_137:4,) can we sing the Lord song in a foreign land? yet they must have hoped that at a future

period, when they should have returned to Judea, they would give thanks to the Lord and sing his

praises; and therefore the Prophet shews to them at a distance the day of deliverance, that they may take

courage from the expectation of it.

We have a city of strength. By these words a full restoration of Jerusalem and of the people is promised,

because God will not only deliver the captives and gather those that are scattered, but will also preserve

them safe, after having brought them back to their country. But not long afterwards believers saw that

Jerusalem was destroyed, (2Kg_25:9,) and the Temple thrown down, (2Ch_36:19,) and after their return

nothing could meet their eye but hideous ruins; and all this Isaiah had previously foretold. It was therefore

necessary that they should behold from the lofty watch-tower of faith this restoration of Jerusalem.

He hath made salvation to be walls and a bulwark. He now defines what will be strength of the city; for

the of God will supply the place of a towers, ditches, and mounds. As if he had said, other cities rely

on their fortifications, God alone will be to us instead of all bulwarks. Some allege that the words may be

read, hath set a wall and bulwark for salvation; and I do not set aside that rendering. But as a more

valuable doctrine is contained in the Prophet words, when nothing is supplied, it serves no good purpose

to go far for a forced interpretation; especially since the true and natural interpretation readily presents

itself to the mind, which is, that God protection is more valuable than all ditches and walls. In like manner,

it is also said in the psalm, mercy is better than life, (Psa_63:3;) for as David there boasts of enjoying,

under God shadow, greater safety and freedom from care than if he had been fortified by every kind of

earthly defense, so Isaiah here says, that there will be good reason for laying aside fear, when God shall

have undertaken to guard his people. Now, since this promise extends to the whole course of redemption,

we ought to believe that at the present day God is still the guardian of his Church, and therefore, that his

power is of more avail than if it had been defended by every kind of military force. Accordingly, if we wish

to dwell in safety, we must remain in the Church. Though we have no outward defences, yet let us learn

to be satisfied with the Lord protection, and with his sure salvation, which is better than all bulwarks.

8. MACLAREN, OUR STRONG CITY

What day is that day? The answer carries us back a couple of chapters, to the great picture drawn by the prophet of a world-wide judgment, which is followed by a burst of song from the ransomed people of Jehovah, like Miriams chant by the shores of the Red Sea. The city of confusion, the centre of the power hostile to God and man, falls; and its fall is welcomed by a chorus of praises. The words of my text are the beginning of one of these songs. Whether or not there were any historical event which floated before the prophets mind is wholly uncertain. If there were a smaller judgment upon some city of the enemy, it passes in his view into a world-wide judgment; and my text is purely ideal, imaginative, and apocalyptic. Its nearest ally is the similar vision of the Book of the Revelation, where, when Babylon sank with a splash like a millstone in the stream, the ransomed people raised their praises.

So, then, whatever may have been the immediate horizon of the prophet, and though, there may have stood on it some historical event, the city which he sees falling is other than any material Babylon, and the strong city in which he rejoices is other than the material Jerusalem, though it may have suggested the metaphor of my text. The song fits our lips quite as closely as it did the lips from which it first sprang, thrilling with triumph: We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

There are three things, then, here: the city, its defences, its citizens.

I. The City.

Now, no doubt the prophet was thinking of the literal Jerusalem; but the city is ideal, as is shown by the bulwarks which defend, and by the qualifications which permit entrance. And so we must pass beyond the literalities of Palestine, and, as I think, must not apply the symbol to any visible institution or organisation if we are to come to the depth and greatness of the meaning of these words. No church which is organised amongst men can be the New Testament representation of this strong city. And if the explanation is to be looked for in that direction at all, it can only be the invisible aggregate of ransomed souls which is regarded as being the Zion of the prophecy.

But perhaps even that is too definite and hard. And we are rather to think of the unseen but existent order of things or polity to which men here on earth may belong, and which will one day, after shocks and convulsions that shatter all which is merely institutional and human, be manifested still more gloriously.

The central thought that was moving in the prophets mind is that of the indestructible vitality of the true Israel, and the order which it represented, of which Jerusalem on its rock was but to him a symbol. And thus for us the lesson is that, apart altogether from the existing and visible order of things in which we dwell, there is a polity to which we may belong, for ye are come unto Mount Zion, the city of the living God, and that that order is indestructible. Convulsions come, every Babylon falls, all human institutions change and pass. The kingdoms old are cast into

another mould. But persistent through them all, and at the last, high above them all, will stand the stable polity of Heaven, the city which hath the foundations.

There is a lesson for us, brethren, in times of fluctuation, of change of opinion, of shaking of institutions, and of new social, economical, and political questions, threatening day by day to reorganise society. We have a strong city; and whatever may come-and much destructive will come, and much that is venerable and antique, rooted in mens prejudices, and having survived through and oppressed the centuries, will have to go; but Gods polity, His form of human society of which the perfect ideal and antitype, so to speak, lies concealed in the heavens, is everlasting. Therefore, whatsoever changes, whatsoever ancient and venerable things come to be regarded as of no account, howsoever the nations, like clay in the hands of the potter, may have to assume new forms, as certainly they will, yet the foundation of God standeth sure. And for Christian men in revolutionary epochs, whether these revolutions affect the forms in which truth is grasped, or whether they affect the moulds into which society is run, the only worthy temper is the calm, triumphant expectation that through all the dust, contradiction, and distraction, the fair city of God will be brought nearer and made more manifest to man. Isaiah, or whoever was the writer of these great words of my text, stayed his own and his peoples hearts in a time of confusion and distress, by the thought that it was only Babylon that could fall, and that Jerusalem was the possessor of a charmed, immortal life.

This strong city, the order of human society which God has appointed, and which exists, though it be hidden in the heavens, will be manifested one day when, like the fair vision of the goddess rising from amidst the oceans foam, and shedding peace and beauty over the charmed waves, there will emerge from all the wild confusion and tossing billows of the sea of the peoples the fair form of the Bride, the Lambs wife. There shall be an apocalypse of the city, and whether the old words which catch up the spirit of my text, and speak of that Holy City as descending from heaven upon earth, at the close of the history of the world, are to be taken, as perhaps they are, as expressive of the truth that a renewed earth is to be the dwelling of the ransomed or no, this at least is clear, that the city shall be revealed, and when Babylon is swept away, Zion shall stand.

To this city-existent, immortal, and waiting to be revealed-you and I may belong to-day. We have a strong city. You may lay hold of life either by the side of it which is transient and trivial and contemptible, or by the side of it which goes down through all the mutable and is rooted in eternity. As in some seaweed, far out in the depths of the ocean, the tiny frond that floats upon the billow goes down and down and down, by filaments that bind it to the basal rock, so the most insignificant act of our fleeting days has a hold upon eternity, and life in all its moments may be knit to the permanent. We may unite our lives with the surface of time or with the centre of eternity. Though we dwell in tabernacles, we may still be come to Mount Zion, and all life be awful, noble, solemn, religions, because it is all connected with the unseen city across the seas. It is for us to determine to which of these orders-the perishable, noisy and intrusive and persistent in its appeals, or the calm, silent, most real, eternal order beyond the stars-our petty lives shall attach themselves.

II. Now note, secondly, the defences.

Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. This evangelical prophet, as he has been called, is distinguished, not only by the clearness of his anticipations of Jesus Christ and His work, but by the fulness and depth which he attaches to that word salvation. He all but anticipates the New Testament completeness and fulness of meaning, and lifts it from all merely material associations of earthly or transitory deliverance, into the sphere in which we are accustomed to regard it as especially moving. By salvation he means and we mean, not only negative but positive blessings. Negatively it includes the removal of every conceivable or endurable evil, all the ills that flesh is heir to, whether they be evils of sin or evils of sorrow;

and, positively, the investiture with every possible good that humanity is capable of, whether it be good of goodness, or good of happiness. This is what the prophet tells us is the wall and bulwark of his ideal-real city.

Mark the eloquent omission of the name of the builder of the wall. God is a supplement. Salvation will He appoint for walls and bulwarks. No need to say who it is that flings such a fortification around the city. There is only one hand that can trace the lines of such walls; only one hand that can pile their stones; only one that can lay them, as the walls of Jericho were laid, in the blood of His first-born Son. Salvation will He appoint for walls and bulwarks. That is to say in a highly imaginative and picturesque form, that the defense of the City is God Himself; and it is substantially a parallel with other words which speak about Him as being a wall of fire round about it and the glory in the midst of it. The fact of salvation is the wall and the bulwark. And the consciousness of the fact and the sense of possessing it, is for our poor hearts, one of our best defenses against both the evil of sin and the evil of sorrow. For nothing so robs temptation of its power, so lightens the pressure of calamities, and draws the poison from the fangs of sin and sorrow, as the assurance that the loving purpose of God to save grasps and keeps us. They who shelter behind that wall, feel that between them and sin, and them and sorrow, there rises the inexpugnable defense of an Almighty purpose and power to save, lie safe whatever betides. There is no need of other defenses. Zion

Needs no bulwarks,

No towers along the steep.

God Himself is the shield and none other is required.

So, brethren, let us walk by the faith that is always confident, though it depends on an unseen hand. It is a grand thing to be able to stand, as it were, in the open, a mark for all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and yet to feel that around us there are walls most real, though invisible, which permit no harm to come to us. Our feeble sense-bound souls much prefer a visible wall. We, like a handrail on the stair. Though it does not at all guard the descent, it keeps our heads from getting dizzy. It is hard for us, as some travellers may have to do, to walk with steady foot and unthrobbing heart along a narrow ledge of rock with beetling precipice above us and black depths beneath, and we would like a little bit of a wall of some sort, for imagination if not for reality, between us and the sheer descent. But it is blessed to learn that naked we are clothed, solitary we have a Companion, and unarmed we have our defenceless heads covered with the shadow of the great wing, which, though sense sees it not, faith knows is there. A servant of God is never without a friend, and when most unsheltered

From marge to blue marge

The whole sky grows his targe,

With suns self for visible boss,

beneath which he lies safe.

Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks, and if we realise, as we ought to do, His purpose to keep us safe, and His power to keep us safe, and the actual operation of His hand keeping us safe at every moment, we shall not ask that these defences shall be supplemented by the poor feeble earthworks that sense can throw up.

III. Lastly, note the citizens.

Our text is part of a song, and is not to be interpreted in the cold-blooded fashion that might suit prose. A voice, coming from whom we know not, breaks in upon the first strain with a command, addressed to whom we know not-Open ye the gates-the city thus far being supposed to be empty-that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. The central idea

there is just this, Thy people shall be all righteous. The one qualification for entrance into the city is absolute purity.

Now, brethren, that is true in regard to our present imperfect denizenship within the city; and it is true in regard to mens passing into it in its perfect and final form. As to the former, there is nothing that you Christian people need more to have dinned into you than this, that your continuance in the state of a redeemed man, with all the security and blessing that attach thereto, depends upon your continuing to be righteous. Every sin, every flaw, every dropping beneath our own standard in conscience of what we ought to be, has for its inevitable result that we are robbed for the time being of consciousness of the walls of the city being about us and of our being citizens thereof. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? The New Testament, as emphatically as the old psalm, answers, He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous. There is no way by which Christian men here on earth can pass into and keep within the city of the living God, except they possess personal purity, righteousness of life, and cleanness of heart.

They used to say that Venice glass was so made that any poison poured into it shivered the vessel. Any drop of sin poured into your cup of communion with God, shatters the cup and spills the wine. Whosoever thinks himself a citizen of that great city, if he falls into transgression, and soils the cleanness of his hands, and ruffles the calm of his pure heart by self-willed sinfulness, will wake to find himself not within the battlements, but lying wounded, robbed, solitary, in the pitiless desert. My brother, it is the righteous nation that enters in, even here on earth.

I do not need to remind you how, admittedly by us all, that is the case in regard to the final form of the city of our God, into which nothing shall enter that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie. Heaven can only be entered into hereafter by, as here and now it can only enter into, those who are pure of heart. All else there would shrivel as foul things born In the darkness do in the light, and be consumed in the fire. None but the pure can enter and see God.

The nation which keepeth the truth-that does not mean adherence to any revelation, or true creed, or the like. The word which is employed means, not truth of thought, but truth of character; and might, perhaps, be better represented by the more familiar word in such a connection, faithfulness. A man who is true to God, keeping up a faithful relation to Him who is faithful to us, he, and only he, will pass into, and abide in, the city.

Now, brethren, so far our text carries us, but no further; unless, perhaps, there may be a hint of something yet deeper in the next clause of this song. If any one asks, How does the nation become righteous? the answer may lie in the immediately following exhortation-Trust ye in the Lord for ever. But whether that be so or not, if we want an answer to the questions, How can my stained feet be cleansed so as to be fit to tread the crystal pavements? how can my foul garments be so purged as not to be a blot and an eyesore, beside the white, lustrous robes that sweep along them and gather no defilement there? the only answer that I know of is to be found by turning to the final visions of the New Testament, where the spirit of this whole section of our prophet is reproduced. Again, Babylon falls amidst the songs of saints; and then, down upon all the dust and confusion of the crash of ruin, the seer beholds the Lambs wife, the new Jerusalem, descending from above. To his happy eyes its glories are unveiled, its golden streets, its open gates, its walls of precious stones, its flashing river, its peaceful inhabitants, its light streaming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And when that vision passes, his last message to us is, Blessed are they that wash their robes that they may enter through the gates into the city. None but those who wash their garments, and make them white in the blood of the Lamb, can, living, come unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; or, dying, can pass through the

iron gate that opens to them of its own accord, and find themselves as day breaks in the street of the Jerusalem which is above.

Isaiah 26:1-10

THE SONG OF TWO CITIES

This song is to be interpreted as a song, not with the cold-blooded accuracy proper to a scientific treatise. The logic of emotion is as sound as that of cool intellect, but it has its own laws and links of connection. First, the song sets in sharp contrast the two cities, describing, in Isa_26:1-4, the city of God, its strength defences, conditions of citizenship, and the peace which reigns within its walls; and in Isa_26:5-6 the fall and utter ruin of the robber city, its antagonist Jerusalem, on its rocky peninsula, supplies the form of Isaiahs thought; but it is only a symbol of the true city of God, the stable, invisible, but most real, polity and order of things to which men, even while wandering lonely and pilgrims, do come, if they will. It is possible even here and now to have our citizenship in the heavens, and to feel that we belong to a great community beyond the sea of time, though our feet have never trodden its golden pavements, nor our eyes seen its happy glories.

In one aspect, it is ideal, but in truth it is more real than the intrusive and false things of this fleeting present, which call themselves realities. The things which are are the things above. The things here are but shows and shadows.

The citys walls are salvation. There is no need to name the architect of these fortifications. One hand only can pile their strength. God appoints salvation in lieu of all visible defences. Whom He purposes to save are saved. Whom He wills to keep safe are kept safe. They who can shelter behind that strong defence need no other. Weak, sense-governed hearts may crave something more palpable, but they do not really need it. A parapet on an Alpine road gives no real security, but only satisfies imagination. The sky needs no pillars to hold it up.

Then an unknown voice breaks in upon the song, calling on unnamed attendants to fling wide the gates. The city is conceived of as empty; its destined inhabitants must have certain qualifications. They must be righteous, and must keep faithfulness being true to the God who is faithful and true in all His relations. None but the righteous can dwell in conscious citizenship with the Unseen while here, and none but the righteous can enter through the gates into the city. That requirement is founded in the very nature of the case, and is as emphatically proclaimed by the gospel as by the prophet. But the gospel tells more articulately than he was enlightened to do, how righteousness is to be won. The last vision of the Apocalypse, which is so like this song in its central idea, tells us of the fall of Babylon, of the descent to earth of the New Jerusalem, and leaves as its last message the great saying, Blessed are they that wash their robes that they may . . . enter in through the gate into the city.

Our song gives some hint of similar thoughts by passing from the description of the qualifications for entrance to the celebration of the security which comes from trust. The safety which is realised within the walls of the strong city is akin to the perfect peace in which he who trusts is kept; and the juxtaposition of the two representations is equivalent to the teaching that trust, which is precisely the same as the New Testament faith, is the condition of entrance. We know that faith makes righteous, because it opens the heart to receive Gods gift of righteousness; but that effect of faith is implied rather than stated here, where security and peace are the main ideas. As some fugitives from the storm of war sit in security behind the battlements of a fortress, and scarcely hear the din of conflict in the open field below, the heart,

which has taken refuge by trust in God, is kept in peace so deep that it passes description, and the singer is fain to give a notion of its completeness by calling it peace, peace. The mind which trusts is steadied thereby, as light things lashed to a firm stay are kept steadfast, however the ship toss. The only way to get and keep fixedness of temper and spirit amid change and earthquake is to hold on to God, and then we may be stable with stability derived from the foundations of His throne to which we cling.

Therefore the song breaks into triumphant fervour of summons to all who hear it, to trust in Jab Jehovah for ever, Such settled, perpetual trust is the only attitude corresponding to His mighty name, and to the realities found in His character. He is the Bock of Ages the grand figure which Moses learned beneath the cliffs of Sinai and wove into his last song, and which tells us of the unchanging strength that makes a sure hiding-place for all generations, and the ample space which will hold all the souls of men, and be for a shadow from the heat, a covert from the tempest, a shelter from the foe, and a home for the homeless, with many a springing fountain in its clefts.

The great act of judgment which the song celebrates is now (Isa_26:5-6) brought into contrast with the blessed picture of the city, and by the introductory for is stated as the reason for eternal trust. The language, as it were, leaps and dances in jubilation, heaping together brief emotional and synonymous clauses. So low is the once proud city brought, that the feet of the poor tread it down. These poor and needy are the true Israel, the suffering saints, who had known how cruel the sway of the fallen robber city was; and now they march across its site; and its broken columns and ruined palaces strew the ground below their feet. The righteous nation of the one picture are the poor and needy of the other. No doubt the prophecy has had partial accomplishments more than once or twice, when the oppressed church has triumphed, and some hoary iniquity been levelled at a blow, or toppled over by slow decay. But the complete accomplishment is yet future, and not to be realised till that last act, when all antagonism shall be ended, and the net result of the weary history of the world be found to be just these two pictures of Isaiahs-the strong city of God with its happy inhabitants, and the everlasting desolations of the fallen city of confusion.

The triumphant hurry of the song pauses for a moment to gaze upon the crash, and in Isa_26:7 gathers its lessons into a kind of proverbial saying, which is perhaps best translated The path of the just is smooth (or plain"); Thou levellest smooth the path of the just. To render upright instead of smooth seems to make the statement almost an identical proposition, and is tame. What is meant is, that, in the light of the end, the path which often seemed rough is vindicated. The judgment has showed that the righteous mans course had no unnecessary difficulties. The goal explains the road. The good mans path is smooth, not because of its own nature, but because God makes it so. We are to look for the clearing of our road, not to ourselves, nor to circumstances, but to Him; and even when it is engineered through rocks and roughnesses, to believe that He will make the rough places plain, or give us shoes of iron and brass to encounter them. Trust that when the journey is over the road will be explained, and that this reflection, which breaks the current of the swift song of the prophet, will be the abiding, happy conviction of heaven.

Lastly, the song looks back and tells how the poor and needy, in whose name the prophet speaks, had filled the dreary past, while the tyranny of the fallen city lasted, with yearning for the judgment which has now come at last. Isa_26:8-9 breathe the very spirit of patient longing and meek hope. There is a certain tone of triumph in that Yea, as if the singer would point to the great judgment now accomplished, as vindicating the long, weary hours of hope deferred. That for which the poor and needy wait is the coming in the path of Thy judgments. The attitude of expectance is as much the duty and support of Christians as of Israel. We have a greater future clearer before us than they had. The world needs Gods coming in judgment more

than ever; and it says little for either the love to God or the benevolence towards man of average Christians, that they should know so little of that yearning of soul which breathes through so much of the Old Testament. For the glory of God and the good of men, we should have the desire of our souls turned to His manifestation of Himself in His righteous judgments. It was no personal end which bred the prophets yearning. True, the night round him was dreary enough, and sorrow lay black on his people and himself; but it was Gods name and memorial that was uppermost in his desires. That is to say, the chief object of the devout souls longings should be the glory of Gods revealed character. And the deepest reason for wishing that He would flash forth from His hiding-place in judgments, is because such an apocalypse is the only way by which wilfully blind eyes can be made to see, and wilfully unrighteous hearts can be made to practise righteousness.

Isaiah believed in the wholesome effect of terror. His confidence in the power of judgments to teach the obstinate corresponds to the Old Testament point of view, and contains a truth for all points of view; but it is not the whole truth. We know only too well that sorrows and judgments do not work infallibly, and that men being often reproved, harden their necks. We know, too, more clearly than any prophet of old could know, that the last arrow in Gods quiver is not some unheard-of awfulness of judgment, but an unspeakable gift of love, and that if that favour shown to the wicked in the life and death of Gods Son does not lead him to learn righteousness, nothing else will.

But while this is true, the prophets aspirations are founded on the facts of human nature too, and judgments do sometimes startle those whom kindness had failed to touch. It is an awful thought that human nature may so steel itself against the whole armoury of divine weapons as that favour and severity are equally blunted, and the heart remains unpierced by either. It is an awful thought that there may be induced such truculent obstinacy of love of evil that, even when in a land of uprightness, a man shall choose evil, and forcibly shut his eyes, that he may not see the majesty of the Lord, which he does not wish to see because it condemns his choice, and threatens to burn up him and his work together. A blasted tree when all the woods are green, a fleece dry when all around is rejoicing in the dew, a window dark when the whole city is illuminated, one black sheep amid the white flock, or anything else anomalous and alone in its evil, is less tragic than the sight, so common, of a man so sold to sin that the presence of good only makes him angry and restless. It is possible to dwell amidst the full light of Christian truth, and in a society moulded by its precepts, and to be unblessed, unsoftened thereby. If not softened, then hardened; and the wicked who in the land of uprightness deals wrongfully is all the worse for the light which he hated because it showed him the sinfulness of the sin which he obstinately loved and would keep.

9. MEYER, PEACE THROUGH STEADFAST TRUST

Isa_26:1-10

No doubt when Babylon fell before Cyrus the Jewish remnant under Ezra and Nehemiah sang this triumphal ode, which contrasts the respective lots of Babylon and Jerusalem. The one is the city of this world and its children; the other the city and home of the saints. The fate of Babylon is delineated in Isa_26:5-6; but with what glowing words does the prophet dwell on the blessedness of those who are fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God, Eph_2:19. Note in Isa_26:3, margin, one of Gods double doors against the intrusion on the soul of a single note of alarm or fear. God is the Rock of Ages, Isa_26:4, margin. Our trust should be permanent as His love-forever. The weakest foot may trample on the proudest foe,

when God has laid him in the dust. God levels the path of the just. However difficult your path, dare to believe that you are being directed in righteousness God cannot make mistakes. Any other path would be impracticable. Only nurse the desires of your soul for God; they are the result of the promptings and drawings of His Spirit.

10. PULPIT, A SONG OF THE REDEEMED IN MOUNT ZION. The prophet, having (in Isa_25:1-12.) poured forth his own thankfulness to God for the promise of the Church's final redemption and triumph, proceeds now to represent the Church itself in the glorified state as singing praise to God for the same. Isa_26:1

In that day. In the "day of God" (2Pe_3:12), the period of the "restitution of all things" (Act_3:21). In the land of Judah; i.e. in the "new earth"whose city will be the "heavenly Jerusalem," and wherein will dwell "the Israel of God"the antitype whereof the literal "land of Judah" was the type. A strong city; literally, a city of strength. In the Revelation of St. John the new Jerusalem is represented as having "a wall great and high" (Rev_21:12), and "twelve gates," three on each side. The intention is to convey the idea of complete security. In the present passage the city has "gates" (verse 2), but no "walls"walls and bulwarks being unnecessary, since the saving might of God himself would be its sure defense against every enemy.

11. BI 1-10, Periods of restoration

If it be demanded, what period of time is this which the prophet speaks of? we must answer, that it is the time when the people, who for their provocations were thrown into the furnace of affliction, and had continued in it till they were purged from their sins, were delivered from it, and restored to the favour of God, and the enjoyment of His former mercies. Of which restoration there are three kinds or degrees plainly spoken of by the prophet Isaiah.

1. The Jews return from the land of their captivity, especially that of Babylon.

2. The restoration of the family and kingdom of David in the person of the Messiah.

3. The perfect felicity of that kingdom in astute of future glory. (W. Reading, M. A.)

Three elements in prophecy

All true prophecy, seems to have in it three elements: conviction, imagination, inspiration. The seer speaks first of all from his knowledge of, and experience with, the inherent vitality of right and righteousness. He is sure that the good in the world is destined to conquer the evil. Then when he attempts to tell how this victory is to be brought about he uses his imagination. He employs metaphors and figures which from the necessities of the case may not be literally fulfilled. And then, in addition to this, his prophecies have in them a certain comprehensiveness of plan and structure, and a certain organic relation to history, such as can be revealed only by the Divine Maker of history Himself. It took a man of large parts to see above the wreck and ruin, and through the darkness of his age, such visions of hope and promise as Isaiah saw. Everywhere around him were sensuality and oppression. The Church of the true God had been almost swallowed up by the foul dragon of paganism. And yet the prophet, with his eye upon the future, beheld a day when this song was to be sung in the land of Judah: the song of salvation.

Sure he was that God must triumph, and with the poets instinct he clothed his assurance in the language of metaphor, and set it to the rhythm of song. (C. A. Dickinson.)

The triumph of goodness

1. Those who study this song in the light of succeeding history find in it the picture of the ultimate triumph of the Church. The central figure is the strong city, the walls and bulwarks of which are salvation, and through whose open gates the righteous nation which keepeth the truth is allowed to enter. This picture reminds us at once of that vision of the new Jerusalem which fell upon the eyes of the seer of Patmos many years after, and which was evidently the type and symbol of the perfected kingdom of Christ. To attempt to give to this strong city and this new Jerusalem a literal and material significance is to involve ourselves in inextricable difficulties.

2. There are two views concerning the progress and ultimate triumph of Christianity in the world. In some respects these views are the same; in others they differ radically.

(1) The first theory is that there is to be in the near or remote future a sudden, visible appearance of Christ in the clouds of heaven to take His place upon the throne of David at the earthly Jerusalem, where He will reign with His saints for a thousand years. Meanwhile the world is to come more and more under the Satanic influence.

(2) The other theory is that of a gradual development under the spiritual forces which began to be dominant in the world on the day of Pentecost, when Christ, according to His own promise, began His reign in His new kingdom. This I believe to be the true view: the one which Christ Himself propounded when He said His kingdom should be like the seed that should grow up.

3. I am well aware that those who claim that the world is fast ripening in evil for its final catastrophe can point to many facts which seem to substantiate their theory. But just here, it seems to me, comes in one of their greatest mistakes. There is, of course, danger of generalising too much, but there is certainly great danger of allowing some near fact to blind the eyes to the great general truth which lies beyond it; to hold the sixpence so near the eye that we cannot see the sun. There is danger of confining our thoughts so exclusively to certain specific texts as to get a wrong conception of the real truth of which these special texts may be only a small part. Now, what are some of the signs that we are living today in an age of conquest?

(1) Take that law of decay which you find written upon evil everywhere, whether in the individual or the nation. He bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, He layeth it low. Rome in her arrogance was the first great organised power to make war against the new kingdom. But Rome fell, and over the ruins of her pagan temples the Christian walks today. France posed as the haughty oppressor of the weak and unfortunate, as the instigator of the horrors of St. Bartholomews day, and following close upon her dreadful sin came the death and desolation of the Revolution. Our own great nation allowed to ripen in her very heart the malignant curse of slavery, and for her sin was obliged to suffer the pangs of a civil war. These are only a few of the conspicuous illustrations of the great truth that righteousness is surely, though perhaps slowly, vindicating her everlasting strength.

(2) I might call your attention to the other side of this conquest: to the rapid increase in the present days of that strong City whose wails are salvation. I might show you a whole library filled with missionary literature which tells that the kingdom of the new King has extended its bounds into almost every habitable part of the earth. I might point you to the Year Books of our Churches, and show you what armies of men and women are yearly marching through the gates of the strong City. I might show you how the spirit of

the Cross, having taken possession of the civilised nations of the world, has materialised into churches and hospitals and asylums and charitable institutions and temperance guilds and myriads of Christian homes.

(3) But further, I might speak of another phase of this conquest. When Thy judgments are in the earth, says the prophet, the inhabitants of the earth will learn righteousness. These Divine judgments appear as a subtle tonic atmosphere pervading the whole world, and, like the ozone of the mountains, invigorating almost unconsciously every age and generation.

(4) The influence of the Gospel is pervasive. In a certain sense we have a right to say that a community is a Christian community even though but a small minority of its inhabitants profess to accept Christ as their personal Saviour. The spirit of Christ is in that community; the leaven of the Gospel is leavening it. The new kingdom is established there, and even they who deny allegiance to it are in many ways better than they who are without it. The principles of Jesus Christ are the standard principles of morality throughout Christendom today, and men are inevitably judging them selves and being judged by others according to these standards.

4. I believe that we are in the midst of mighty spiritual forces which are working successfully for the redemption of this world from sin; and I have two great incentives to spur me on to earnest effort.

(1) The one is faith in humanity and Christ. I say humanity and Christ, because I believe they are one. That, to me, is the meaning of His incarnation. The mighty forces of righteousness are moving with their slow, crushing power as the steam roller moves over the newly macadamised road, breaking and levelling everything before it, that the chariot of the King may ride smoothly on to its destination. But this is only a part of the truth. The other part is that the new kingdom is open to all.

(2) The other thing which spurs me on is hopethat blessed hope which the apostle had of the glorious consummation of this age of conquest. (C. A. Dickinson.)

We have a strong city

A city the emblem of security

To understand this figure of a city we must remember what a city was in the earlier ages; i.e., a portion of land separate from the general surface, in which the people of a locality gathered, and put their homes into a condition of safety by building walls of immense strength, which should both resist the attacks of enemies and, to a great extent, defy the ravages of time. Such a city, then, was the emblem of security. (R. H. Davies.)

The song of salvation

I. THE GROUND OF REJOICING. Salvation; and consequently eternal security. We have a strong city. All Gods people are represented as citizens; the whole sainthood is represented as a corporate assemblage of people possessed of peculiar privileges, connected with an eternal condition, and as such are to dwell in some region of safety and bliss. Here they find not such an abode. Here they have no continuing city, but seek one to come. And, when they shall be gathered together in the presence of their Lord, they will constitute the body to form a city.

II. THE CHARACTER OF THOSE WHO ARE TO PARTAKE OF THESE BLESSINGS. The righteous nation which keepeth the truth. (R. H. Davies.)

Salvation

Salvation, i.e., freedom and safety. The original sense of the word rendered salvation (as Arabic shows) is breadth, largeness, absence of constraint. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)

Saving health

(1) Political theorists have been fond of picturing an ideal State, the government of which would be perfect.

(2) The ideal State in the mind of the average Hebrew was limited to his own race, but in the writings of the inspired psalmists and prophets it could not be so restricted, but widened itself out so as to embrace the whole world. Thus was the way prepared for the grand conception of the kingdom of heaven as first proclaimed and then established by the Son of God.

(3) But it is a difficult thing, except in moments of great exaltation, to put much intensity of feeling. Into a conception so vast. It was a great deal easier to conceive an ideal State than an ideal world, and an ideal city was still more manageable for the imagination. We need not wonder, then, that even after the great proclamation about all the kingdoms of the world becoming the kingdom of God, the seer of Patmos should fondly return to the thought of the city, and revel in anticipating the advent of the New Jerusalem. Nor shall we be astonished that the prophets, though they had the wider outlook, should even in their moods of highest exaltation cling fondly to the thought of a holy city as the best picture, the more serviceable that it was a miniature of the coming kingdom of God.

(4) In these early days of insecurity, the first requisite of a city was strength. So it is natural that this should be the feature on which the prophet here lays special stress. But wherein does its strength lie? He speaks not of ramparts or forts, of fleets or armies, but of salvation as the bulwarks of the city. We find this word salvation in other places translated by the more suggestive rendering health, or saving health.

1. The first thought suggested in this connection is that the city should be a clean place to live in, healthy from end to end and in every corner, each house in it a fitting abode for sons of God and daughters of the King. When we pass from the sanitation of the city to the saving health of the citizen, we think first of his body, and recognise the necessity of having all the conditions as conducive as possible to its health.

2. But clearly we cannot stop there. We must have the mens sana in corpore sane; hence the need of universal education, to secure intellectual sanity.

3. Nor may we end here, for moral sanity, a sound conscience, is even still more important. The nation must be a righteous nation.

4. Clearly, there must be sanitation for the will before we have reached saving health; and inasmuch as the will is swayed by desire, the sanitation must reach the heart. What sanitary measures could we here summon to our aid? The purest water will not cleanse the heart; the most bracing air will have no effect upon the soul. There must be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, and some breath of God for inspiration to the soul.

5. And here we reach the prophets highest, dominating thought. In that day, the passage begins. What day? Look back (Isa_25:9). It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us. And look forward (Isa_26:4), Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us; for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us (Isa_26:12). This introduces us to one of the most important questions of the day. There are many, sound and strong on the subject of righteousness, who yet fail to realise that righteousness is so bound up with saving truththat truth of God and His salvation through Jesus Christ His Son, and by His Holy Spirit breathed in human hearts, which they sometimes offensively set aside as mere dogmathat the one cannot be had where it does not exist already, and cannot be retained long where it does without the other. Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

6. How can we open or help to open these gates of national strength and saving health? For individual action the answer would be such as this: First, by loving truth and keeping righteousness ourselves; next, by doing all we can to help others to a life of godliness and righteousness; further, by earnest and frequent prayer to Him who gave of old the promise, I will open to you the two-leaved gates; and lastly, by the faithful exercise of the privileges of citizens, seeing to it that in the forming of our opinions, in the giving of our votes, in the use of all our influence, not selfish interest, or class interest, or even party interest, but the interests of righteousness and truth be the determining factor. But individual action is not enough. We must combine; we must bring our united force to bear. And here the main reliance must be on the Church of Christ, on which is laid the responsibility of carrying on His great work of salvation. (J. M.Gibson, D. D.)

Our strong city

There are three things here

I. THE CITY. No doubt the prophet was thinking of the literal Jerusalem, but the city is ideal, as is shown by the bulwarks which defend, and by the qualifications which permit entrance. And so we must pass beyond the literalities of Palestine, and must not apply the symbol to any visible institution or organisation if we are to come to the depth and greatness of the meaning of these words. No Church which is organised amongst men can be the New Testament representation of this strong city. And if the explanation is to be looked for in that direction at all, it can only be the invisible aggregate of ransomed souls which is regarded as being the Zion of the prophecy. But, perhaps, even that is too definite and hard. And we are rather to think of the unseen but existent order of things or polity to which men here on earth may belong, and which will one day, after shocks and convulsions that shatter all which is merely institutional and human, be manifested still more gloriously. The central thought that was moving in the prophets mind is of the indestructible vitality of the true Israel, and the order which it represented, of which Jerusalem on its rock was but to him a symbol. And thus for us the lesson is that, apart altogether from the existing and visible order of things in which we dwell, there is a polity to which we may belong, for ye are come unto Mount Zion, the city of the living God, and that order is indestructible. There is a lesson for us, in times of fluctuation, of change of opinion, of shaking of institutions, and of new social, economical, and political questions, threatening day by day to reorganise society. We have a strong city; and whatever may comeand much destructive will come, and much that is venerable and antique, rooted in mens prejudices, and having survived through and oppressed the centuries, will have to go, but Gods polity, His form of human society, of which the perfect ideal and antitype, so to speak, lies concealed in the heavens, is everlasting. And for Christian men in revolutionary epochs the only worthy temper is

the calm, triumphant expectation that through all the dust, contradiction, and distraction the fair city of God will be brought nearer and made more manifest to man. To this cityexistent, immortal, and waiting to be revealedyou and I may belong today.

II. THE DEFENCES. Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. This evangelical prophet is distinguished by the fulness and depth which he attaches to that word salvation. He all but anticipates the New Testament completeness and fulness of meaning, and lifts it from all merely material associations of earthly or transitory deliverance into the sphere in which we are accustomed to regard it as especially moving. By salvation he means, and we mean, not only negative but positive blessings. Negatively, it includes the removal of every conceivable or endurable evil, whether they be evils of sin or evils of sorrow; and positively, the investiture with every possible good that humanity is capable of, whether it be good of goodness or good of happiness. This is what the prophet tells us is the wall and bulwark of his ideal real city. Mark the eloquent omission of the name of the builder of the wall. God is a supplement. Salvation will He appoint for walls and bulwarks. No need to say who it is that flings such a fortification around the city. There is only one hand that can trace the lines of such walls; only one hand that can pile their stones; only one that can lay them, as the walls of Jericho were laid, in the blood of His first-born Son. Salvation will He appoint for walls and bulwarks, i.e., in a highly imaginative and picturesque form, that the defence of the city is God Himself. The fact of salvation is the wall and the bulwark. And the consciousness of the fact is for our poor hearts one of our best defences against both the evil of sin and the evil of sorrow. So, let us walk by the faith that is always confident, though it depends on an unseen hand. Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks, and if we realise, as we ought to do, His purpose and His power to keep us safe, and the actual operation of His hand keeping us safe at every moment, we shall not ask that these defences shall be supplemented by the poor feeble earthworks that sense can throw up.

III. THE CITIZENS. Our text is part of a song, and is not to be interpreted in the cold-blooded fashion that might suit prose. A voice, coming from whom we know not, breaks in upon the first strain with a command, addressed to whom we know not. Open ye the gatesthe city thus far being supposed to be empty,that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. The central idea there is just this, Thy people shall be all righteous. The one qualification for entrance into the city is absolute purity. Now, that is true in regard of our present imperfect denizenship within the city; and it is true in regard to mens passing into it, in its perfect and final form. They used to say that Venice glass was so made that any poison poured into it shivered the vessel. Any drop of sin poured into your cup of communion with God shatters the cup and spills the wine. Whosoever thinks himself a citizen of that great city, if he falls into transgression, and soils the cleanness of his hands, and ruffles the calm of his pure heart by self-willed sinfulness, will wake to find himself not within the battlements, but lying wounded, robbed, solitary, in the pitiless desert. The nation which keepeth the truth,that does not mean adherence to any revelation, or true creed, or the like. The word which is employed means, not truth of thought, but truth of character; and might, perhaps, be better represented by the more familiar word in such a connection, faithfulness A man who is true to God, that keeps up a faithful relation to Him who is faithful to us, he, and only he, will tread and abide in the city. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The walls and bulwarks of a city

Accepting the vague but universal idea that there is an abundance of sin of every sort massed together in any great city, our inquiry concerns the main lines of work by which the welfare of the city may be promoted. To the eye of the prophet there comes a vision of a strong city; and

the walls and bulwarks of that strength is said to be salvationthat is, the strength and safety of a city is in the men and women in it who are saved through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. I know there are many to turn a deaf ear to any such claim as this. They reject it as being too sweeping. They say that there are many sources from which the life-giving waters come. Let us take a look at some of these things which are supposed to give safety.

I. And perhaps the first thing to be mentioned is Law. It need not be any highly moral or religious enactment, but simply plain, everyday, matter-of-fact law. The city needs it. People in the simplicity of country life, where there is an abundance of room, can get on without much law. But the city needs law. And no one will decry the beneficent effect of righteous laws. It must be said, however, that the good effect of law is very much diminished by the many bad laws which are enacted. Are we claiming too much when we say that largely the efficiency of law is due to the Christian men and women who are in the city? Righteous laws follow in the train of progress made by Christianity. The bulwark which at first seemed to stand out alone and distinct becomes identified with that bulwark in the vision of the prophet whose foundation stone, as well as its lofty capstone, is salvation.

II. We are led on to speak of another bulwark for the city. It is A BENEFICENT AND POWERFUL PUBLIC OPINION. But again, I assert that very largely all this safety is due to the presence in the city of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is the public conscience itself, and where did it come from but through Christianity?

III. But again, look at another so-called secular bulwark. Call it THRIFT, the genius of success, the ability to get on in the world. Thrift is consistent with pure selfishness. Find a society in which everybody is only thrifty, where no man cares for his neighbour, where the human heart feels nothing of the flow of generosity and love, and, while you may be able to point to fine and well-kept houses, neat little cottages, well-dressed, clean children, you are really looking upon a hollow, lifeless sham. I do not want to live there, A sea of poverty with a little stream from Calvary flowing into it would be far better. Just a touch of human sympathy and love would transform the whole. (J. C. Cronin.)

A song of salvation

I. What is the PERIOD referred to? A day which was to he remarkable for the destruction of the Churchs enemies, for the salvation of her friends, and for the glorious extension of the Gospel through all the nations of the earth.

II. What is the SUBJECT of this song? We have a strong city: salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. The inviolable security of the Church was to be the subject.

III. WHERE is this song to be sung? In the land of Judah. It was sung when the great salvation was accomplished by the one offering of Christ upon the Cross; and the risen Saviour said to His disciples, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature; and the tidings were sent abroad; and the Gospel, which was first preached at Jerusalem, was sounded forth into all lands. And we cannot but indulge the confident persuasion, that among the Jews, though they are for the present cast out, this song shall be sung in due time, which shall be as life from the dead. But as that people have long since been cut off because of their unbelief, we remark, that the words will apply to others also; for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, etc. So that this song comes down to us. (G. Clayton.)

The Church not in danger

I. THE FIGURATIVE DESCRIPTION WHICH IS HERE GIVEN OF THE CHURCH.

1. It is a city; from which metaphor we obtain three ideas respecting it

(1) Its amplitude. It is not a family, or a village, or a hamlet, or a provincial town; but a city. It includes as its inhabitants, all the good both in heaven and in earth, who form an exceeding great multitude. The dimensions of this city are such as comport with the largeness of the Fathers designs, the transcendent value of the Saviours merits, the variety and immensity of the Holy Spirits influences.

(2) Its order No city ever flourished long without rule. Christ is the King of this city, and He establishes His laws in the midst of it.

(3) Its magnificence. We are not to look for the magnificence of the Church in outward splendour and glory, but in its sanctityits holy principles and practices.

2. But this city has an important appellative;it is a strong city. And this will appear, if you consider

(1) The foundation on which it rests. Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

(2) The protection it enjoys. God Himself dwells in this city; and His presence is our stay and our defence. All His attributes and promises are connected with this safety.

(3) The principles by which its unity is cemented. Unity is strength. And the unity subsisting between the members of this city is so strong as not to be dissolved by any earthly power. The principles by which the members of the Church of Christ are united are these twotruth and love. We have a strong city.

(4) The rude assaults it has sustained, uninjured. We hardly know the strength of anything till it is put to the test. The Church has been exposed to the opposition of earth and the fury of hell.

II. ITS IMPREGNABLE SAFETY. How do I know that this city shall continue, and its interests be advanced, until its glory is consummated? Why, for this reason: Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

1. Hostility is implied.

2. The means of preservation and defence are amply provided.

3. It implies a glorious issue. All these means shall prove effectual

III. HOW MAY WE HAVE A SATISFACTORY ASSURANCE THAT WE HAVE PERSONALLY AN INTEREST IN THIS CITY OF THE GREAT KING? You may have this

1. If you have chosen Jesus Christ as the ground of your dependence for salvation.

2. If you are visibly incorporated with the inhabitants of this city.

3. If you are enabled to exemplify the distinguishing character of those who are citizens of Zion.

4. If you find that you have truly merged all your interests in the interests of the Church, and have identified your happiness with her successes.

5. If you find your thoughts and affections much engaged on that future State of which the Church on earth is but a type.

Conclusion

1. Let me call upon you to be thankful to God, who has afforded you such an asylum.

2. Let me invite you to enter this city.

3. Let us dismiss our fears, when we have once got within the walls of this city.

4. Endeavour to bring as many as you can to be inhabitants of that Zion, the privileges of which you enjoy. (J. C. Cronin.)

The saving arm of God a sure defences to the Church of Christ against all her enemies

I. Mention some of those ENEMIES against whom the Church is fortified.

1. She is fortified against all the attempts of Satan.

2. A wicked world is always disposed to take part with Sam against her.

3. The Church has enemies within her own walls; and is often in the greatest perils by false brethren.

4. The Church has enemies even in the hearts of her best friends and sincerest members. That principle of corruption that is not totally subdued in the best Christians, as it is inimical to God, must also be inimical to the Church; and, as far as it prevails, its effects must be always hurtful to her.

II. Speak of that SALVATION which God has promised to appoint for walls and bulwarks to the Church.

1. Salvation bears an evident relation to misery and danger.

2. It is but a partial salvation that she can hope to enjoy in this world:

3. But her salvation shall one day be complete. From every salvation that God has already wrought, faith draws encouragement: considering it as a pledge of what He will work in time to come.

III. CONSIDER WHAT ABOUT THE CHURCH IS SECURED AGAINST THE ATTEMPTS OF ENEMIES BY THE SALVATION OF GOD. She may lose much of what may appear to a carnal eye as most valuable to her. But in the eye of the Church herself, and of all her genuine children, all this perfectly consistent with the all-sufficiency of that salvation by which she is defended. An is still safe that is necessary either to her being or her well-being, and all that is essential to the happiness of any of her citizens.

1. Her foundation is always safe. She is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.

2. Her existence is always safe. The Church may be driven into the wilderness; but she shall never be driven out of the world.

3. Her particular citizens are all safe, under the protection of Gods saving arm.

4. Her privileges and immunities are all safe. These having been purchased for her by the blood of Christ, and bestowed upon nor by His God and Father, are also preserved by Divine power and grace; and none shall ever be suffered to deprive her of them.

5. Her treasures are all safe. She has a two-fold treasure: a treasure of grace, and a treasure of truth. Both these are lodged in the hand of Christ.

6. Her real interests are all safe and secure: and that to such a degree, that neither shall she suffer any harm, in the issue,nor shall her enemies gain any advantage, by all their apparent success.

7. In a word, her eternal inheritance is perfectly safe and secure.

IV. Conclude with some IMPROVEMENT of what has been said.

1. The Church of Christ has but little occasion for the favour and protection of earthly princes, and little cause to regret the want of it.

2. It is neither upon ordinances nor instruments, upon her own endeavours nor those of her members, nor upon any created assistance that the Church of Christ ought to depend for safety or prosperity.

3. Neither the Church of God, nor any particular Christian, has anything to fear from the number, the power, the policy, or even the success of their enemies,

4. This subject informs us what it is that really brings the Church of Christ into danger. Nothing but her own sin can bring her into real danger; because this, and nothing else, tends to deprive her of her protection, or to cause her defence to depart from her.

5. We may here see plentiful encouragement to every member of the Church, as well as to those who bear office in her, to continue strenuous and undaunted, in opposing every enemy, in defending every privilege, that God has bestowed upon the Church, every ordinance that He has instituted in her, and every truth that He has revealed to her.

6. We have here an ample fund of consolation to all those who are affected with the low condition of the Church of God in our day. (J. Young.)

The city of salvation

In the Scriptures we read of some very strong cities, that are now levelled with the dust. But the city mentioned in the text is stronger than all the rest. The state of nature may be called the city-of-destruction; and the state of grace, the strong city, or the city of salvation.

I. The NAME of this city. Salvation. It is a very old name, it has had this name a great many thousands of years; it has never changed its name; it is a durable name; it is an unchangeable name.

II. What KIND of a city it is.

1. It is a large city. It would hold all the inhabitants of the earth for thousands of generations.

2. It is a free city. The Lord Jesus Christ welcomes you to come and live in it.

3. It is a wealthy city. The treasures of free grace are in the city of salvation.

4. It is a healthy city. They breathe good air who live in it. The Physician is the Lord Jesus Christ, who heals every disease.

5. It is a happy city.

6. This city will last foe ever. Where is Babylon? Where is Tyre? Where is Nineveh? Where are the cities of Egypt? Those mighty cities are levelled with the dust, but this city will last through all eternity.

III. The BUILDER of this city. The Lord Jesus Christ. In London there is a constant succession of streets for many miles in length, and the whole was built by man.

IV. Who are the INHABITANTS of this city? They are good men, women, and children.

1. They are called saints. The word saint means a holy person.

2. Another name given to the inhabitants of this city is righteous.

3. Another name is believers.

4. Another name is sons and daughters.

V. The WATCHMEN of the city. There are watchmen placed upon the walls of Zionparental watchmen, teaching watchmen, and ministerial watchmen.

VI. The GUARDS of the city. Angels guard you while you sleep and while you are awake. They are wise guards; powerful guards; affectionate guards.

VII. The WAY which leads to this city. The road of repentance.

VIII. The WALL of this city. It is so high that no enemy can scale it; it is so strong that no enemy can break or injure it.

IX. The FOUNDATION of this city. The righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

X. The STREETS of this city. There are some very remarkable streets.

1. The high street of Faith. This street runs from one end of the city to the other. In almost every town and city, we find a street of this nameHigh Street. But there is no such street, as this high street of faith; it is a very long and beautiful street. It connects the gate of conversion and the gate of Heaven. This high street is frequented by all who live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. The street of Humility. It lies alongside the high street of faith.

3. The street of Obedience. The inhabitants are very partial to this street. This street is divided into ten parts. The ten parts are the ten commandments. This is a very broad street. Thy commandments are exceeding broad. It is a remarkably clean street.

4. A fourth street is Worship street.

XI. We may now take a view of the SCHOOLS of the city.

1. Providence.

2. Revelation.

3. Affliction.

4. Experience.

XII. Come and see the PALACES of the city. When anyone gets to London, they want to see the palace of the king. I will show nobler palaces than palaces or earthly Kings. These palaces are ordinances; such as prayer, praise, reading and hearing the Holy Gospel, baptism and the Lords Supper, meditation and self-examination. Consider the reason why they are called palaces. A palace is a place where the king is to be seen. It is a place where petitions are presented; where the king bestows wealth and great gifts. Here petitions are presented and received; here King Jesus bestows wealth and honour. It is a place for conversing with the king; and here we may converse with Jesus. In a palace grand feasts are held; so in the ordinances noble feasts are provided for souls immortal, where they may eat abundantly of heavenly provisions.

XIII. The ARMOURY of the city. A beautiful piece is hanging up called the helmetthe helmet of salvation. Not far from the helmet is a breastplatethe breastplate of righteousness. Near the breastplate is a girdle or sash,with this inscriptiontruth. The next piece of armour is a pair of

shoes with this namepreparation of the Gospel of peace. Next is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The shield of faith.

XIV. The GARDEN of the city.

1. The walks in the garden. The walks of meditation and holy fellowship.

2. The fountains. The Lord Jesus Christ is the principal fountain. There is another fountain, called the consolation of the Holy Ghost; the water is delicious. All the inhabitants drink of it.

3. The flowers. There are the flowers of the promises and doctrines; they are odoriferous flowers, and never failing.

4. The trees. The tree of knowledge; not the tree of knowledge which was in Eden, but of knowledge and wisdom. There is not a poisonous tree in the garden. The tree of life, the Lord Jesus Christ, is therewhose leaves are for the healing of the nations.

XV. The BANK of this city. The name of this bank is written on the door; it isthe covenant of grace. It is so free, all may come and apply; and all who apply, receive. The bank, too, is very rich; and it is free for the poorest sinner. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Proprietor, and He is willing to give to poor sinners as much as they need. This bank cannot fail; it cannot break. Whatever is drawn out during the day, it is as full again at night. It is full of the unsearchable riches of Christ.

XVI. There is a GATE through which the inhabitants of the city pass, when they enter Heaven. It is the gate of death. There is a valley leading to the gate called the valley of the shadow of death. It is illuminated with the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Pious children pass through that valley, leaning on the arm of Jesus. (A. Fletcher, D. D.)

2 Open the gates

that the righteous nation may enter,

the nation that keeps faith.

1.BARNES, Open ye the gates - This is probably the language of a chorus responding to the sentiment in Isa_26:1. The captive people are returning; and this cry is made that the gates of the city may be thrown open, and that they may be permitted to enter without obstruction (compare Psa_24:7, Psa_24:9; Psa_118:19).

That the righteous nation which keepeth the truth - Who, during their long captivity and contact with pagan nations, have not apostatized from the true religion, but have adhered firmly to the worship of the true God. This was doubtless true of the great body of the captive Jews in Babylon.

2. CLARKE, The righteous nation - The converted Gentiles shall have the gates opened - a full entrance into all the glories and privileges of the Gospel; being fellow heirs with the converted Jews. The Jewish peculiarity is destroyed, for the middle wall of partition is broken down.

The truth - The Gospel itself - as the fulfillment of all the ancient types, shadows, and ceremonies; and therefore termed the truth, in opposition to all those shadowy rites and ceremonies. The law was given by Moses; but grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ; Joh_1:17, and see the note there.

3. GILL, Open ye the gates,.... Not of Jerusalem, literally understood, nor of heaven; rather of the New Jerusalem, whose gates are described, Rev_21:12 at least of the church in the latter day; the gates or door into which now should be, and then will be, open; Christ the door, and faith in him, and a profession of it, without which none ought to be admitted, and whoever climbs up another way is a thief and a robber, Joh_10:1 these words are the words of the prophet, or of God, or of Christ by him, directed not to the keepers of the gates of Jerusalem, or of the doors of the temple, though, they may be alluded to; nor to any supposed doorkeeper of heaven, angels, or men, there being none such; rather to the twelve angels, at the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem, Rev_21:12 or to the ministers of the Gospel, who have the key of knowledge to open the door of faith, and let persons into the knowledge of divine things; to admit them to ordinances, and receive them into the church by the joint suffrage of the members of it. The phrase denotes a large increase of members, and a free, open, and public reception of them, who are after described; see Isa_60:11, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in; not all the world, for there is none righteous, not one of them naturally, or of themselves; nor the Jewish nation, for though they sought after righteousness, did not attain it, unless when they will be converted in the latter day, and then they, and all the Lord's people, will be righteous, and appear to be a holy nation, and a peculiar people, Isa_60:21 and being made righteous by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and sanctified by the Spirit, will be fit persons to be admitted through the gates into the city; see Psa_118:19 and because there will be great numbers of such, especially when a nation shall be born at once, hence they are so called: and these will be a set of men that "will keep the truth"; not, as the Targum renders it, "who keep the law with a perfect heart;'' for no man can do that; but rather the ordinances of the Gospel, as they were first delivered by Christ and his apostles, and especially the truths of it; and the word here used is in the plural number, and may be rendered "truths"; the several truths of the Gospel, which will be kept by the righteous, not in memory only, but in their hearts and affections, and in their purity, and with a pure conscience; and they will not part with them at any rate, but hold them fast, that no man take their crown, Rev_3:11.

4. HENRY, That it is richly replenished with those that are good, and they are instead of fortifications to it; for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, if they are such as they should be, are its strength, Zec_12:5. The gates are here ordered to be opened, that the righteous nation, which keeps the truth, may enter in, Isa_26:2. They had been banished and driven out by the iniquity of the former times, but now the laws that were made against them are repealed, and they have liberty to enter in again. Or, There is an act for a general naturalization of all the righteous, whatever nation they are of, encouraging them to come and settle in Jerusalem. When God has done great things for any place or people he expects that thus they should render according to the benefit done unto them; they should be kind to his people, and take them under their protection and into their bosom. Note, 1. It is the character of righteous men that they keep the truths of God, a firm belief of which will have a commanding influence upon the regularity of the whole conversation. Good principles fixed in the head will produce good resolutions in the heart and good practices in the life. 2. It is the interest of states to countenance such, and court them among them, for they bring a blessing with them.

5. JAMISON, Address of the returning people to the gates of Jerusalem (type of the heavenly city, Heb_12:22); (Psa_24:7, Psa_24:9; Psa_118:19). Antitypically (Rev_22:14; Rev_21:25, Rev_21:27).

righteous nation that had not apostatized during the captivity. Horsley translates, The nation of the Just One, namely, the Jews.

6. K&D, In Isa_26:1 this city is thought of as still empty: for, like paradise, in which man was placed, it is first of all a creation of God; and hence the exclamation in Isa_26:2 : Open ye the gates, that a righteous people may enter, one keeping truthfulness. The cry is a heavenly one; and those who open, if indeed we are at liberty to inquire who they are, must be angels. We recall to mind Psa_24:1-10, but the scene is a different one. The author of Ps 118 has given

individuality to this passage in Psa_118:19, Psa_118:20. Goitzaddik (a righteous nation) is the

church of the righteous, as in Isa_24:16. Goi (nation) is used here, as in Isa_26:15 and Isa_9:2, with reference to Israel, which has now by grace become a righteous nation, and has been

established in covenant truth towards God, who keepeth truth ('emunim, from 'emun, Psa_31:24).

7. PULPIT, Open ye the gates. The command is given by God to his angels within the city, or perhaps

by some angels to others, to "open the gates," and let the saints march in and take possession

(comp. Psa_118:19, Psa_118:20, which seems to represent the same occasion; and Psa_24:7-10, which

tells of another occasion on which the angelic warders were bidden to throw open the gates of the

celestial city. The righteous nation which keepeth the truth; literally, a righteous nation. A people,

made up of all kindreds and nations and tongues, which should henceforth be "the people of God" They

are "righteous," as washed clean from all taint of sin in the blood of the Lamb. They "keep the truth," or

"keep faithfulness," as under all circumstances clinging loyally to God

8. CALVIN, 2.Open ye the gates. This was undoubtedly despised by many, when it was published

by Isaiah; for during his life, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were wicked and ungodly, and the number of

good men was exceedingly small. But after his death, when they had been punished for their wickedness,

it was in some measure perceived that this prediction had not been uttered in vain. So long as wicked

men enjoy prosperity, they have no fear, and do not imagine that they can be brought low. Thus the Jews

thought that they would never be driven out of Judea, and carried into captivity, and hoped that they

would continue to dwell there. It was therefore necessary to take away from them every pretense for

being haughty and insolent; and such is the import of the Prophet words:

And a righteous nation, which keepeth the truth, shall enter in. inhabitants of the restored city shall be

unlike the former; for they will maintain righteousness and truth. But at that time this promise also might

appear to have failed of its accomplishment; for when they had been driven out of the country and led into

captivity, no consolation remained. Accordingly, when the Temple had been destroyed, the city sacked,

and all order and government overthrown and destroyed, they might have objected, are those which

he bids us Where are the people who shall Yet we see that these things were fulfilled, and that

nothing was ever foretold which the Lord did not accomplish. We ought, therefore, to keep before our

minds those ancient histories, that we may be fortified by their example, and, amidst the deepest

adversity to which the Church is reduced, may hope that the Lord will yet raise her up again.

When the Prophet calls the nation and truthful, he not only, as I mentioned a little before, describes the

persons to whom this promise relates, but shews the fruit of the chastisement; for when its pollution shall

have been washed away, the holiness and righteousness of the Church shall shine more brightly. At that

time wicked men were the majority, good men were very few, and were overpowered by the multitude of

those who were of an opposite character. It was therefore necessary that that multitude, which had no

fear of God, and no religion, should be taken away, that God might gather his remnant. Thus, it was a