Isaiah 41:15-16 - Homilies By W. Clarkson

The triumph of the truth.

I. THE MOUNTAINOUS OBSTACLES THAT HAVE TO BE OVERCOME . These are not kingdoms, military forces, or fortifications, but things which are far mightier than they—error, prejudice, passion, pride, habit of life, materialism, self-will. These are high hills, massive mountains in the way of the world's welfare.

II. THE INSTRUMENT BY WHICH THEY ARE TO BE SURMOUNTED . This is none other than a living Church. "I will make thee ," etc. The Israel which is to "thresh" these mountains is "the Israel of God," the Church of Jesus Christ; not, indeed, any one organization so called or calling itself by that name, but the whole "host of God's elect "—the unnumbered multitude of souls that, under every sky, accept his truth, trust in his Name, love his appearing, toil in his vineyard.

III. THE TRIUMPH OF THE TRUTH . This is twofold.

1 . The disappearance of all that is evil, the scattering of the chaff ( Isaiah 41:16 ).

2 . The exaltation of Christ: "Thou shelf glory in the Holy One of Israel." In the day of redemption men will glory in no one and in nothing but in the Lord that redeemed them; they will enthrone him in their hearts and in the world.

IV. THE PRIZE OF VICTORY . "And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord." The Church will not be filled with a perilous complacency; it will rejoice in the Lord its God—in the honor in which he is universally held; in the love with which all hearts are filled toward him; in the service which every human life is paying him. These ingredients will fill to the brim its pure cup of joy.—C.