Isaiah 26:12-18 - Homilies By W. Clarkson

The argument from the past.

Great things are represented, by the prophetic voice, to have been done, and these furnish the strongest reason to expect great things in the future.

I. THE GREAT THINGS GOD HAS DONE FOR US .

1. He has heard our cry in the day of distress ( Isaiah 26:16 , Isaiah 26:17 ). Few things go home to our hearts more readily than the words of the psalmist, "I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me." It is a great thing to have been heard of God, to have gained his pitiful ear, and to have enjoyed his merciful consideration; that amid the millions of his children he has distinguished us and bent on us his benign regard.

2. He has granted full deliverance . "Other lords … have had dominion … but [now] thee only will we celebrate; they are dead;" their very memory is perishing ( Isaiah 26:13 , Isaiah 26:14 ). We may have been under the dominion of some cruel vice (lust, or avarice, or intemperance), or of "the world" (1 John); but in the mercy of God these spiritual adversaries have been defeated, have been slain, they are no more to be dreaded, and now a Divine Redeemer is the Object of our adoration; for him we live, his honor we seek, his Name we strive to glorify ( Isaiah 26:15 ), in his holy and ennobling service we spend our days and our powers.

3. He has granted spiritual enlargement . ( Isaiah 26:15 .) "Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord." To some, especially to those whom he redeems from the bondage of vice or crime, God grants material enlargement, the improvement of their estate , the brightening of their life , the broadening of their sphere . To all who, at the touch of his liberating hand, come out of spiritual captivity into the freedom of his children, he gives spiritual advancement, increase of knowledge, of joy, of love, of influence, of hope. As we love and serve Christ, we are enlarged on every hand—the horizon of our souls is removed beyond its former bounds.

II. THE ARGUMENT THEREFROM . The fact, that God has done such great things for us—and all that has been done for us has been wrought by him ( Isaiah 26:12 ; and see Psalms 87:7 )—is a strong reason to expect other gracious things in the future. "Thou wilt ordain peace for us" ( Isaiah 26:12 ). It is a scriptural argument that the conferring of greater blessings is a security to us for the possession of smaller ones (see Matthew 6:25 ; Romans 8:32 ; Psalms 56:13 ). The gifts of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ,