Isaiah 61:10-11 - Homilies By E. Johnson

Spiritual joy in the Eternal.

We may regard the city as the speaker, and the city may typify the Church.

I. HER CLOTHING . As garments are for protection and ornament, so it may stand as a figure of a community arrayed in the strength and righteousness of Jehovah. And so the Church still sings—

"Jesus, thy robe of righteousness

My beauty is, my glorious dress."

There is an allusion to the dress of the bridegroom and of the priest; for at one time the bridegroom wore a crown, and the priest wore a mitre, with the plate or crown of gold in front of it ( Exodus 29:6 ). Such portions of the dress mark out the wearer in his sacred character and in his solemn functions. They are not for mere ornament. The Church, the saints in general, are designated as a" royal priesthood," to offer praise and prayer continually.

II. NATURE 'S PARABLE OF SPIRITUAL JOY . (cf. Isaiah 42:9 ; Isaiah 43:19 ; Isaiah 45:8 ; Isaiah 55:10 , Isaiah 55:11 ; Isaiah 58:11 .) The joy with which we see the earth becoming all "one emerald" with the new verdure of spring; the burgeoning of the trees, the disclosure of the rudiments of future leaves and flowers, is in a sense prophetic of some analogous process in the spiritual world. For self-fulfilling is the power of the Divine Word. And even when the aspect of Church and state is most dark and depressing, life is stirring, seeds of better development are germinating, and events are being set in motion which shall stir men up to praise Israel and the God of Israel.—J.