Isaiah 61:10-11 - Homilies By W. Clarkson

Wise exultation.

I. OUR CAPACITY OF EXULTATION . Our human spirit is capable of great emotion. Our feeling may sink to great depths of sorrow, or may rise to great heights of joy. We have no language which will express the degrees of spiritual distress and agony which are possible to the stricken and despairing, or which will measure the degrees of joy and ecstasy possible to the blessed and the victorious.

II. OUR TEMPTATION in this matter. The warning of the prophet of the Lord ( Jeremiah 9:24 ) proves that in other lands and other times than ours the wise (learned) man has been tempted to glory in his wisdom, the rich man in his wealth, the mighty man in his power and prowess. But such glorification is our weakness and our folly; it is not built on truth; it conducts to complacency; it ends in disappointment, if not in shame.

III. OUR WISDOM . This is to rejoice in God, to ';glory in this, that we understand and know him," and are ranked among his people. We cannot go too far in our delight in him.

1 . His character provides a source of spiritual satisfaction absolutely inexhaustible. We say everything in one word as to his sufficiency when we say that he is "our God . "

2 . He has done greatest things for us. He has

3 . He stands pledged to accomplish that in which we shall greatly triumph ( Isaiah 61:11 ). As the well-cultivated garden has in it living forces which will show themselves in fairest flowers and richest fruits, so has the Lord our God in himself all the wisdom, grace, and power which will be manifest in righteousness and praise, springing forth in the sight of all the nations.—C.