For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up, so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
Parallel Translations
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For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up, so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
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For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
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For as the earth bringeth forth her growth, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause victory and glory to spring forth before all the nations.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Isaiah 61:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 58:11 and Yahweh will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters don’t fail.
- Mark 4:26-32 He said, “God’s Kingdom is as if a man should cast seed on the earth, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, though he doesn’t know how. For the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” He said, “How will we liken God’s Kingdom? Or with what parable will we illustrate it? It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth, yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow.”
- 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
- Isaiah 55:10-11 For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
- Psalms 85:11 Truth springs out of the earth. Righteousness has looked down from heaven.
- Song of Solomon 4:16–5:1 Awake, north wind, and come, you south! Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and taste his precious fruits. I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved.
- Isaiah 45:8 Rain, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, Yahweh, have created it.
- Isaiah 62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp.
- Isaiah 62:7 and give him no rest, until he establishes, and until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
- Psalms 72:3 The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people. The hills bring the fruit of righteousness.
- Psalms 72:16 Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
- Isaiah 60:18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land, nor desolation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
- Matthew 13:3 He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow.
- Matthew 13:23 What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”
- Matthew 13:8 Others fell on good soil, and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 61:11 For as the earth bringeth forth her…
Isa 61:11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
Ver. 11. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud.] Hic rursum loquitur Christus, saith Piscator: here Christ speaketh again, giving us to understand that piety is planted by God in the hearts of his people. We are God’s husbandry, saith the apostle; see Mar 3:26-28. The Church is Christ’s garden. {Son 5:1} Howbeit it is with holy affections as with exotic noble plants; this country is not so kindly for them, being but a stepmother to them; therefore must they be much watered and cherished, &c. We have a gracious promise that our hearts shall be like watered gardens, {Isa 58:11} and that if we quench not the Spirit, but quicken and cherish it, there shall flow out of our belly, that is, out of the bosom and bottom of our souls shall flow rivers of living water, {Joh 7:38} better than those that watered the garden of Eden; so that we shall be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. {Php 1:11}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain As the garden causeth the things that are sown…
As the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth: by this and the other metaphor he shows not only the reviving of the blessings of the church after they had been as it were dead in the winter of affliction, but the great plenty and abundance of blessings that should break forth; that which had been as a wilderness shall be as a paradise, pointing at the effects of his grace and bounty.
So the Lord God will cause righteousness to spring forth, i.e. his great work of salvation shall break out and appear.
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And praise, as the natural product and fruit of it; his own glory being the principal end of making his righteousness to appear and manifest itself.
Before all nations: these things will not be done in a corner, but will be eminently conspicuous in the sight of all the world, for which purpose those hymns penned by the godly will ever be famous in the churches of Christ to all ages, as of Moses, Hannah, Mary, Zacharias, Simeon, &c.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For as the earth bringeth forth her bud,.... Of…
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud,.... Of tender grass in the spring of the year, after a long and cold winter, being well manured:
and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth being enclosed, and better taken care of, and well watered, and dunged, and cultivated; seeds sown in such a rich soil spring up freely, strongly, and constantly:
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so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations; that is, the righteousness and salvation of his people through Christ, by which they shall be justified and saved; and on account of which they shall praise the Lord, and shall be to honour and praise themselves, being interested in those blessings in the sight of all the Christian nations around them. It respects the conversion of the Jews, and their justification and salvation, and the suddenness of it, and the large numbers of them converted, who should rise up at once like the buds of grass out of the earth; and denotes the flourishing condition in which they shall be, like a garden abounding with all manner of flowers and fruit; and suggests how full of joy, thankfulness, and praise to God they should be, and how honourable in the sight of men; and all this will be the Lord's doing, and owing to his efficacious grace. The Targum is,
"so the Lord God will reveal the righteousness and praise of Jerusalem before all the people.''
Next: Isaiah Chapter 62
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Righteousness - His great work of salvation shall break…
Righteousness - His great work of salvation shall break out and appear. Praise - As the natural product, and fruit of it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. The Lord God - "The Lord JEHOVAH"]…
Verse 11. The Lord God - "The Lord JEHOVAH"] "אדני Adonai, the Lord, makes the line longer than the preceding and following; and the Septuagint, Alexandrian, (and MSS. Pachom. and I. D. II.,) and Arabic, do not so render it. Hence it seems to be interpolated." - Dr. JUBB. Three MSS. have it not. See on Isa 61:1 of this chapter. Both words אדני יהוה Adonai Jehovah, are wanting in one of my MSS.; but are supplied in the margin by a later hand.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 61:11. For as the earth bringeth forth, &c.…
Isa 61:11. For as the earth bringeth forth, &c. — By this and the other metaphor here used, the church shows, not only the revival and restoration of her blessings, after they had been, as it were, dead and lost in the winter of affliction, but the great plenty and abundance of them that should spring forth and flourish: what had been as a wilderness should be as a paradise, referring to the effects of God’s grace and bounty. So the Lord will cause righteousness — That is, his great work of salvation; and praise — As the natural product and fruit of it; to spring forth — To break out and appear; before all nations — These things will not be done in a corner, but will be eminently conspicuous in the sight of all the world.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For as the earth bringeth forth - This figure…
For as the earth bringeth forth - This figure is several times used by the prophet (see the notes at Isa 45:8; Isa 55:10-11). The idea is an exceedingly beautiful one, that, on the coming of the Messiah, truth and righteousness would spring up and abound like grass and fruits in the vegetable world when the earth is watered with rain.
Her bud - The word ‘bud’ we now apply usually to the small bunch or protuberance on the branches of a plant, containing the rudiments of the future leaf or flower. The Hebrew word, however, (צמח tsemach), rather means the germ, the shoot, or the young and tender plant as it comes up from the earth; that which first appears from the seed.
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So the Lord God will cause righteousness to spring forth - (See the notes at Isa 42:19; Isa 43:9; Isa 44:4; Isa 45:8).
Before all the nations - The sense is, that righteousness would abound over all the earth, and that all the world would yet join in celebrating the praises of God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Nations, whose conversion is implicitly foretold. All behold the…
Nations, whose conversion is implicitly foretold. All behold the justice which God has treated both his people and their oppressors. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Isa 45:8, Isa 55:10-11; Psa 72:3; Psa 85:11).
(Isa 45:8, Isa 55:10-11; Psa 72:3; Psa 85:11).
bud--the tender shoots.
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praise-- (Isa 60:18; Isa 62:7).
Next: Isaiah Chapter 62
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. As the earth bringeth… as the garden causeth……
11. As the earth bringeth… as the garden causeth… to spring forth — For similarly as the earth in detailed order brings forth her productions, and as a garden its plants, so shall the Lord Jehovah cause righteousness, or righteous and holy character, and praise, or gratitude, on account of such character, to spring forth, and become abundant to the presence and perpetual observation of all peoples. And this shall be the reward — the compensating result, of all the travail undergone by the world’s priestly Messiah.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. as the earth &c.] i.e. as surely as…
11. as the earth &c.] i.e. as surely as the seed germinates in the earth, so surely will Jehovah bring to pass the great redemption here promised through the self-fulfilling power of His word. Cf. ch. Isa_55:10, Isa_42:9, Isa_43:19, Isa_58:8.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) As the earth bringeth forth her bud .…
(11) As the earth bringeth forth her bud . . .—The passage is memorable as at least suggesting the leading thought of the parable of the sower, and the appropriation of that title to Himself by the Son of Man (Mat_13:3-23; Mat_13:37; Mar_4:26-29).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain As the garden; rather, as a garden. The Hebrew…
As the garden; rather, as a garden. The Hebrew is without the article. Righteousness and praise. The essential result of righteousness is "salvation" (see ver. 20); its accidental result is "praise" or "renown." Men cannot but recognize the benefits which flow to themselves from goodness in others; and a perfectly righteous nation would attract to itself universal praise. (comp. Zep_3:20, "I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain For as the earth bringeth forth her bud
Isa_61:11
For as the earth bringeth forth her bud
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Gods Word as seed
The Word in the mouth of the servant of Jehovah is the seed out of which great things are developed before all the world.
The ground and soil of this development is mankind, the garden enclosed in it is the Church, and the great things themselves are righteousness as the present inner nature of His Church, and renown as its present outward manifestation. The impulsive force of the seed is Jehovah, but the bearer of the seed is the Servant of Jehovah, and the fact that it is possible to scatter the seed of a future so full of grace and glory is the ground of His festive rejoicing. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
Certainty in redemption as in nature
As surely as the seed germinates in the earth, so surely will Jehovah bring to pass the great redemption here promised through the self-fulfilling power of His Word (cf. Isa_55:10; Isa_42:9; Isa_43:19; Isa_58:8). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
The springing forth of righteousness
It is a great act that God performs before our eyes during the spring and summer.
I. It is a MANIFESTATION that we see. A mystery hidden during the winter months is being revealed. As Nature hides and then reveals, So the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth.
1. It is a great manifestation of power that we see. We more readily associate Gods power with vast convulsions; but this is the continuously working and gentle power of the Most High. Mark the consummate case with which all is done. Yet not a sheath is split, not a flower starts from the earth, but it is moved to do so by some power.
2. Is not this putting forth of leaves a great manifestation of mind? Suppose we discard the word design and accept the word adaptation, do we escape from the suggestion of mental action? It is not possible to describe the facts as they appear to us without using language that implies adjustment by means of mind.
3. It is something more than mind that is manifested in the beauty of nature. Beauty is only visible to reason, indeed to the higher kind of reason. Your horse sees nothing of the beauty of the landscape; your dog despises your flowers. The images of all these things are reflected on their eyes as on yours, but they produce no emotion. So that in nature, it seems, special provision is made for the peculiar gratification of the higher mind of man. Surely it must be reason that thus addresses itself to reason, and if reason, then benevolence.
II. The prophet sees in this THE PARABLE OF ANOTHER MANIFESTATION--a great moral and spiritual manifestation. So the Lord God, etc. It is pathetic that he should maintain this faith through the winter of his discontent. All spiritual influences are treasured up, and there is a conservation of spiritual force as of natural. But the preparation is long, as the winter that precedes the spring. How great the joy of knowing that we may help to provide or strengthen the forces of the worlds true vernal hour.
III. Remember that WE SHALL BE MANIFESTED (2Co_5:10). Forces arc gathering within us. When we awake, may our surprise, even in respect to ourselves, be like that with which we look upon the new heavens and the new earth! (A. H. Vine.)
The reign of righteousness
I. THE GOSPEL IS THE DISPENSATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. The love it reveals is a just love; the love it requires is a just love. It is a righteous system on two accounts.
1. It defends the rights of man. It takes nothing from him but his sin.
(1) Every man has a right over his own person. God has given him a body, and over its senses and members he has a sovereign right; and if he does not by the use, or rather by the abuse of this right, sin against the laws, order, and welfare of society, no one but God has any authority to take it away. But, alas! man is often robbed of his original right. There are two systems in the world, which, without shame or apology, perpetuate and sanction the guilty act; slavery and religious persecution. Now the Gospel detects, condemns, and in proportion to its progress destroys, these dark and direful systems.
(2) Man has a right over his property. The Gospel, by prohibiting fraud, theft, robbery, and every form of dishonesty, defends this right. It teaches men to be righteous in the acquisition, the enjoyment, and the disposal of wealth.
(3) Man has a right over his mind. And it is the mind, after all, that gives value to man. But it is injured, enslaved by ignorance, error and the world. For there is a slavery darker and deeper than that which tortures the flesh. A mind in chains is the greatest injustice and the greatest distress in the universe. It is painful to think how little real advantage the souls of men have derived from civilization, and its attendant blessings. There is nothing on earth that can give purity, freedom, righteousness, and comfort to the soul, except the truth and spirit of Christ. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
2. The Gospel also reveals a righteousness which God has provided for man as a guilty and lost sinner. It shows that God can save transgressors without transgressing Himself the eternal laws and the general interests of His government. To show this is its peculiar use. The chief object of the Gospel is not to prove that there is love in God, but to show the nature and extent of that love. Natural religion preaches the benevolence of God; revealed religion preaches the justice of His benevolence. The creation proves the existence of Gods perfections; the cross of Christ harmonizes them.
II. THE SPIRIT OF GOD ALONE CAN RENDER THIS SYSTEM OPERATIVE AND EFFICIENT IN THE WORLD. The Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. The process by which this is to be accomplished is figuratively described in the text: As the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will make the Gospel effectual to the salvation of men. The process is Divine, vivifying, progressive, and beautiful. (Caleb Morris.)
Spring
I. THE ONCOMING OF SPRING TEACHES THAT THERE IS A GOD. There is an invisible Creator, a reflection of whose thoughts and a product of whose power are all these magic spring wonders.
II. Another lesson which spring particularly teaches is that THERE ARE ALLOTTED SEASONS FOR CERTAIN TASKS. Our Saviour thus on several occasions speaks of times and seasons ordained by God. And the Psalmist refers to this same arrangement when he says,: The Lord appointeth the moon for seasons, the sun knoweth his going down. In nature, therefore, spring holds an ordered place. As summer is for ripening and autumn for reaping, so is this season for planting. It is the season for beginnings, the time for casting in the seed. Just such an order there is in the vineyard of grace. There is a spring-time of the Gospel, when all the conditions are favourable to making secure our eternal interests. Let every one heed this period. For it is most critical. It is his accepted time; it it his day of salvation. Ordinarily, the spring season is your youth. But in some cases it, doubtless owing to unfavourable early circumstances, comes later.
III. ANOTHER LESSON OF SPRING WE LEARN ALONE FROM INSPIRATION. It is that taught by the prophet in the text: For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, etc. That is, as Christians look upon nature putting on her flowery spring attire, and as they see a universal bursting forth of life, activity and joy, they are to behold in this a sign and a pledge of the progress, triumph and universal prevalence of the kingdom of God.
IV. SPRING, MOREOVER, TEACHES THE DIVINE ORIGIN AND POWER OF BEAUTY. Does it not fulfil that Scripture which says He hath made everything beautiful in his time? And we learn therefrom that beauty is Divine. That we live not for blind utility and stern necessities alone.
V. SPRING IS AN EMBLEM OF IMMORTALITY. This rejuvenation coming out of the icy tomb of winter shows us that Nature does not die--she only sleeps. Emerson puts this argument thus: The soul does not age with the body. On the borders of the grave the wise man looks forward with equal elasticity of mind and hope. For it is the nature of intelligent beings to be for ever new to life. (J. B. Remensnyder, D. D.)
Spring
The teaching is that there is a spiritual spring-time appointed of God, and it will surely come. As certainly as spring comes to the earth physically, so surely will it come to the Church spiritually.
I. CONTEMPLATE THIS TRUTH IN REFERENCE TO THE BROAD FIELD OF THE WORLD. Let our meditations range through history and into prophecy.
1. This leads us to expect that there may be in Gods work, and in our work for God, a period of unrequited labour. The analogy between the processes of nature and Gods work in the Church holds good not only as to the revivals of spring, but as to the depressing incidents of winter. We must not always reckon to see nations converted the moment the Gospel is preached to them, and especially where new ground has been broken up Jam_5:7). While the seed is under the ground a thousand adversaries present themselves, all apparently in array against its ever rising from the earth. When we survey the condition of affairs apart from faith in God, it may even seem to us that, our cause is hopeless.
2. Our text excites the hope of a sacred spring-time. Gods Gospel cannot perish. That which is sown in the garden springs up because there is vitality in it. Even so the truth of God is an incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth for ever. Life in garden seeds may be destroyed; under certain influences the life-germ may perish, but the living truth of God is immortal and unconquerable (1Pe_1:24-25). But seed springs up, not only because of its own vitality, but because of its surrounding circumstances. So we may rest assured that Godwill make all things propitious in His providence to the growth of His own truth. But the corn comes not up out of the earth because it is vital, or because of its surroundings merely, for, as we believe, there is the actual power of God at work throughout nature. And it is because God is at work in His Gospel--mysteriously at work, it is true, but certainly at work, for the Spirit of the living God which was given at Pentecost has never gone back to heaven--that we expect the Gospel to flourish. If at any time our mind should grow desponding concerning the progress of the Gospel, it ought to encourage us to remember that the Gospel will conquer, not because it looks as if it would, but because God has declared and decreed that it shall do so. The disheartening circumstances of the winter may have been, all of them, promotive of the success of the spring. Remember what sowing has already gone before. Christ sowed the earth with His own self. Remember, too, who is the Husbandman of this field. Moreover, there is the Spirit Himself, as well as the Father and the Son, and He has designed to dwell in the midst of the Church.
II. CONTEMPLATE THIS TRUTH IN REFERENCE TO THE GARDEN COMMITTED TO YOUR OWN PERSONAL CULTURE. As Gods people you have all something to do for Him; I want you to do it in the best possible manner; but you will not do so unless you are of good heart. Be not impatient with regard to the result of what you are doing. Exercise faith as to results.
III. CONTEMPLATE THIS SAME TRUTH IN REFERENCE TO THE BELIEVERS SPIRITUAL STATE. Do you not sometimes fall into a wintry condition? There are times when we feel as if we had no life at all. In such times as these we cannot make any change in ourselves. What we cannot do, God can do. Spring comes from yonder sun, and so must our revival in religion, and our restored joy and peace, come from God.
IV. CONTEMPLATE ALL THIS IN REFERENCE TO THOSE WHO ARE NEWLY AWAKENED. Those very desires of yours show that there is some good seed sown in you. It is winter-time with you; may that winter do you good. Your only hope of anything better than what you arc passing through lies in Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain (Missionary Sermons.)
THE PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL ASSURED AND ILLUSTRATED
(Missionary Sermons.)
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Isa_61:11. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden, &c.
I. The seed. II. The extent of the ground to be brought under cultivation. III. The manner in which the fruit-fulness is produced.—Bishop Wilson: Sermons delivered in India, pp. 395–417.
The vision of the prophet extends from the prosperous state of restored Israel to the ultimate glory of Christian Zion in the universal diffusion of righteousness and praise. We have here a beautiful and suggestive analogy between things natural and things spiritual.
I. The life and sprouting of spring follow the desolation and death of winter. Far deeper is the moral deformity and death which has come upon our race by sin. Man, made in the image of God, has lost the holiness which made him one with God; is now “dead in trespasses and sins,” &c. The curse of evil extends to the whole race in all its generations. The facts that show the moral condition of the mass of mankind, looked at in the light of Divine truth, and judged by the purity of the Divine law, are more appalling than any winter blight and desolation.
II. The “earth,” and “garden” bring forth their precious fruits and flowers under culture. In nothing does man toil more laboriously against the curse than in tilling the ground. There is the same necessity for labour in the moral culture of the world. Corrupted human nature is not made to yield the fruits of holiness without toil. Every conversion represents more labour than can be made to appear to the eye. Wherever the Word of God has had free course and been glorified are found proofs of God’s blessing on labour.
III. The “earth” and “garden” cause the things that are sown in them to spring forth with certainty. As surely as winter passes away and spring returns, seeds germinate, grasses grow, plants and trees put forth new beauty and fruitfulness, and this with a regularity that amounts to certainty (Gen_8:22). “So,” in like manner, with equal certainty, “will the Lord God,” &c. “Righteousness,” lost to our race by the sin of Adam, is restored by the mediation of Christ. As sin and dishonour were joined together as a twofold curse, so righteousness and praise are joined together as a double blessing. Let the work of righteousness appear in social order and purity, commercial and political integrity; let the people be all righteous, and glory will dwell in the land. The text assures us that God will do all this. Delay is no falsification of His promise (Isa_55:10-11).
IV. The “earth” brings forth the things that are sown in it mysteriously as to manner. Beneath the surface are subtle forces and workings of nature by which the seed is made to grow. These hidden workings fitly represent the operation of God in the production of moral results.
V. “The earth and garden” bring forth their fruits universally. There are sandy deserts and miry places that cannot be cultivated, but generally speaking, the earth gives her increase. With more literal truth it may be said the moral world is capable of universal cultivation. The necessity for cultivation is universal, and the Church is God’s husbandry that it might be His husbandman. The Divine covenant that assured success is made with the race, not with any particular portion; and the Spirit who glorifies Christ in the work of human salvation is given to the world. If, therefore, the Church will extend the means which God has appointed, He will accompany them by His sure effectual blessing, and “cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations.”—William Jackson.
Could anything be more incredible than; prophecy of spring in winter time to a man not already familiar with the glory with which summer can clothe the world? Who can wonder that the heathen found this the divinest thing which they could imagine; that the power which drew forth these glorious hoards from the dark treasures of earth, and flung them with such royal hand abroad, was to them the most God-like God? Life rising year by year, nay, day by day, out of death. Just as incredible as spring is to winter, as life is to death, is the summer splendour that shall one day mantle this sad world.
Let us consider—
I. The concords of the natural and the human worlds. The worlds are one; the author is one; the life is one. One living breath breathes through both. The poet, in the highest form, is the man who can disclose the unity. The culture of the spiritual life in man is like the culture of a seed field. “Behold a sower went forth to sow.” This stands as the image of the divinest work ever accomplished in this great universe. Isaiah had a keen eye for this unity. His prophecies are full of imaginative revelations of the likeness between the ways of God in nature and in man. The future of the world unfolded itself before him as the outburst of a glorious spring, a spring which should know no autumn, a dawn that should never darken into night. Yes, hopeless as it may seem, it shall be (Isa_35:1-2; Isa_35:5-10).
II. The winter of life and of the world. All that we look upon, all that strains our pity, oppresses our sympathy, saddens our heart, and kills our hope, to the prophet’s eye was but as the earth in winter—bare, bleak, stern, cold, dank, dark, tainted with decay, storm-beaten, frost-nipped, snow-wreathed, a wilder ness of desolation, a waste of death. There are times when the wrong, the selfishness, the unholy passion, the bitter misery which fills the world, quite distracts us. We dream of what a home of the sons of God might be like; the life that beings made in God’s image, in His likeness, might live. And we look round, and the heart sinks in utter despair. Where is the trace of it? Isaiah saw it all in his day—world and Church rotten together (Isa_1:21). But he saw something which Christ also sees beyond. He saw that it was a winter, out of which the Lord God would bring a glorious period—spring.
III. The certainty of a future everlasting spring. The law reigns throughout all the spheres that light shall burst out of darkness, spring out of winter, life out of death. Does the law range through all the stages of creation, and fail in the highest? Does the Lord cause the earth to bring forth and bud, and fail to touch the coldness and deadness of the winter of our world? Does man break the chain of the victorious purpose that runs through creation, and defy successfully the Eternal Ruler to bring summer, out of His winter, life out of His death? No, a thousand times no, or the world had been dead long ago. The fact that God bears it all is, knowing what we know of God, profoundly significant. It means that He sees already a tint of greenness crisping over the wintry barrenness, and foresees the day when (Isa_35:1). But to an intelligent eye winter is not all desolation. There is a prophecy in every shrinking bud and blade, &c. Those see it most fully whose hearts are most attuned to sympathy with the patience and the hope of God. “The Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” It is a significant collocation. Praise is the voice of joy. To be joyful man must be right—right within, right all round—that is, right with God. Right-doing makes the soul glow, as the blood glows in the rosy morning air; and as it glows it sings. Here is the principle of the reformation, the revival, the restitution, and all are images of spring. It is the turning man’s heart to righteousness, to Gods righteousness, to Christ. The world had once a vision of what life may grow to when man’s heart is turned to righteousness by being made the captive of the Divine love. What outburst of all beautiful things, what joy, what praise was there (Act_2:41-47). Thus shall it be one day when the Pentecostal fire leaps from heart to heart through the great world, the world which is redeemed, and waits only to be renewed and restored.—J. Baldwin Brown, B.A.: The Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi. p. III, &c.
Isa_61:11. I. The wintry aspect of the world. II. The promise of spring. III. The power by which the change is effected.—Dr. Lyth.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.