Preached by Rev. JOHN MACLACHLAN, North Uist.
“And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”—Isaiah xxxv. 10.
WHATEVER primary reference this prophecy might have to the return of the tribes from captivity, it is evident that all its interesting and beautiful descriptions can only be fully realised in the blessedness and glory of the Gospel dispensation. We purpose to consider it spiritually as referring to the Gospel way of salvation. In doing so we have:—
I. The way itself and its distinguishing characteristics.
II. The character of its travellers.
III. The mode of their journeying described.
IV. The termination of their journey stated.
I. A religious course is often spoken of as a way. It is called the way of wisdom, the way of life, the old way, the narrow way. Now the way of religious experience consists in an affectionate and believing obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion, in its essence, is love, in its vital spirit, faith, and in its visible evidence, obedience to God. Now, this way to Heaven is described in the text as (1) an highway, not a private path, not a secluded byway, but a royal public highway; a way broken up and opened by the authority of the King of kings; a way fully revealed, and extensively published in the Gospel; a way designed for the general accommodation of the human race, and leading to the metropolis of the universe, Zion, the city of the Great King. (2) It is a holy way—“shall be called the way of holiness.” Its Founder is holy. It was opened by the obedience of the Holy One of God. It was designed for the promotion of holiness. None who remain unclean can walk in it. God calls us to holiness. Gospel salvation consists in holiness. Christ’s people are a holy and peculiar people. (3) It is a plain way—“it shall be for those, the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” Not a way requiring
extensive philosophical knowledge, or deep metaphysical search to comprehend it but a way adapted to the poor and illiterate. Gospel requirements of faith and repentance, of obedience, and self-denial, plain, Gospel ordinances and duties are all plain. How plain are Christ’s addresses; how adapted are all the essential portions of the blessed Scriptures to make men wise unto salvation. (4) It is a safe way—”no lion shall be there.” Satan may invite and try to allure us from the way; but he cannot intercept us while walking in it. No, God protects it; He is the shield, the refuge, and the fortress of His people. Who shall harm us, if God be for us?
II. We shall observe in the second place the character of the travellers. The people referred to are stated to be returning from one place to another, in short, they are travellers. From the text we see that they are a redeemed people. The literal Israel were held in bondage in Babylon. The type represents each individual of the human race as they are by nature. They were born in original sin from which proceeds actual sin and are under captivity to sin and Satan. When God created man He created him righteous and holy, free from sin but the day that sin entered into the world and man transgressed the holy law of God he became a captive, or the servant of sin, and worse still by his transgression of the law, he was condemned by the justice of God to death temporal, spiritual and eternal. Apart from the above as we have seen he is under the power of death. God in His infinite love and mercy provided a Saviour in His own eternal Son. The Saviour was none else than His own beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God foresaw in a past eternity, before man was created, his future condition. In the covenant of grace which God made with His own Son as the head or representative of His Church the above provision Christ was set apart as a prophet, priest, and king. He was chosen by the Father to be the Saviour of lost sinners. Christ willingly undertook the work that was set before Him. As already stated man lay under guilt, condemned by the justice of God. In order that he would be redeemed there had to be
a sacrifice offered up as the Scripture saith, “Without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin.” Christ undertook to meet all the demands of justice, and, in order to meet the above demands he took unto himself a human body and soul. He that was God, holy and undefiled, condescended in taking human nature so that the Eternal God became a child of days. It was in human nature that the head of our race fell and it was to be in human nature that the demands of Justice were to be met. As the whole human race to a man lay under sentence of death, groaning and sighing as those under captivity. (2) Redemption from the penalty of the law. The first and most obvious consequence of sin is subjection to the penalty of the law, “The wages of sin is death.” Every sin of necessity subjects the sinner to the wrath and curse of God. The first step, therefore, in the salvation of sinners is their redemption from that curse. Until this is done they are of necessity separated from God. But alienation from Him of necessity involves both misery and subjection to the power of sin. So long as men are under the curse, they are cut off from the only source of holiness and life. Such is the doctrine taught throughout the Bible, and elaborately in Romans, ch. 6 and 7. In effecting the salvation of His people, Christ “redeemed them from the curse of the law,” not by a mere act of sovereignty, or power; not by moral influence restoring them to virtue, but by being “made a curse for them.” No language can be plainer than this. The curse is the penalty of the law. We were subject to that penalty. Christ has redeemed us from that subjection by being made a curse for us (Gal. iii. 13.) that the infinitely exalted and holy Son of God should be “accursed” is so awful an idea, that the Apostle justifies the use of such language by quoting the declaration of Scripture, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Suffering and especially the suffering of death judicially inflicted on account of sin is penal. Those who thus suffer have the curse of the penalty of the law. The sufferings of Christ, and especially His death upon the cross, were neither calamities,
nor chastisements designed for His own good, nor symbolical or didactic exhibitions, designed to illustrate and enforce truth, and exert a moral influence on others; these are all subordinate and collateral ends. Nor were they the mere natural consequences of His becoming a man and subjecting Himself to the common lot of humanity. They were divine inflictions. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He was smitten of God and afflicted. These sufferings were declared to be on account of sin, not His own, but ours. He bore our sins. The chastisement of our peace was on Him. They were designed as an expiation, or for satisfaction of justice. They had, therefore, all the elements of punishment, and consequently it was in a strict and proper sense that He was made a curse for us. All this is included in what the Apostle teaches in this passage (Gal. iii. 13), and its immediate context. (2) Redemption from the law. Nearly allied to this mode of representation are those passages in which Christ is said to have delivered us from the law. Redemption from bondage to the law includes not only deliverance from its penalty, but also from the obligation to satisfy its demands. This is the fundamental idea of Paul’s doctrine of justification. The law demands and from the nature of God, must demand perfect obedience. It says: “Do this, and live,” and “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” No man since the fall is able to fulfil these demands, yet he must fulfil them or perish. The only possible method, according to the Scriptures, by which men can be saved, is that they should have a substitute to meet this obligation of perfect obedience. This, the Apostle teaches, as being effected by Christ. He was “made under the law to redeem them that were under the law” (Gal. iv. 4, 5). Therefore, in Romans vi. 14, he says to believers: “Ye are not under the law, but under grace.” This redemption from the law in Romans vii. 4, is said to be “by the body of Christ.” Hence we are justified not by our own obedience, but “by the obedience” of Christ (Rom. v. 18, 19). Redemption in this
case is not mere deliverance, but a true redemption, a deliverance effected by satisfying all the just claims which are against us. The Apostle says, in Galatians iv. 5, that we are thus redeemed from the law, in order “that we might receive the adoption of sons;” that is, be introduced into the estate and relation of sons to God. Subjection to the law, in our case, was a state of bondage. Those under the law are, therefore, called slaves, and from the estate of bondage they are redeemed, and introduced into the liberty of the sons of God. This redemption includes freedom from a slavish spirit which is supplanted by a spirit of adoption filling the heart with reverence, love, and confidence in God as our reconciled Father. (3) Redemption from the power of sin. As deliverance from the curse of the law secures restoration to the favour of God, and as the love of God is the life of the soul and restores us to His image, therefore in redeeming us from the curse of the law, Christ redeems us also from the power of sin. “Whosoever committeth sin,” saith our Lord, “is the servant of sin.” This is a bondage from which no man can deliver himself. To effect this deliverance was the great object of the mission of Christ. He gave Himself that He might purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. He died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. He loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might present it unto Himself a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. This deliverance from sin is a true redemption. A deliverance effected by a ransom, or satisfaction to justice was the necessary condition of restoration to the favour of God; and restoration to His favour was a necessary condition of holiness. Therefore, it is said, Galatians i. 3, “Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world.” Titus ii. 14, “Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity.” I. Peter i. 18, 19, “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Deliverance by sacrifice was deliverance by ransom. Therefore, here as elsewhere, the two modes of statements are combined. Thus our Lord in Matthew xx. 28; Mark x. 45, says, “The Son of Man came . . . to give His life a ransom for many.” The idea of substitution cannot be more definitely expressed. In these passages our deliverance is said to be effected by a ransom. In Matthew xxvi. 28, our Lord says that His blood was “shed for many for the remission of sins.” Here his death is presented in the light of a sacrifice. The two modes of deliverance are therefore identical. A ransom was a satisfaction to justice, and a sacrifice is a satisfaction to justice. (4) Redemption from the power of Satan. The Scriptures teach that Christ redeems us from the power of Satan. Satan is said to be the prince and god of this world. His kingdom is the kingdom of darkness, in which all men, since Adam, are born, and in which they remain, until translated into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. They are his subjects “taken captive by him at his will” (II. Timothy ii. 26). The first promise was that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil; to cast him down from his place of usurped power, to deliver those who are subject to his dominion (Heb. ii. 14; Col. ii. 15). The fact of this redemption of His people from the power of Satan, and the mode of its accomplishment are clearly stated in Hebrews ii. 15. The eternal Son of God, who in the first chapter of that epistle, is proved to be God, the object of the worship of angels, the Creator of heaven and earth, eternal and immutable in verse 14 of the second chapter, is said to have become man in order “that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” It is here taught (i.) that men are in a state of bondage through fear of the wrath of God on account of sin. (ii.) That in this state they are in subjection to Satan who has the power of death over them; the
ability and opportunity of inflicting on them the sufferings due to them as sinners. (iii.) That from this state of bondage and of subjection to the power of Satan, they are delivered by the death of Christ. His death, by satisfying the justice of God, frees them from the penalty of the law; and freedom from the curse of the law involves freedom from the power of Satan to inflict its penalty. “The strength of sin is the law” (1. Cor. xv. 56). What satisfies the law deprives sin of the power to subject us to the wrath of God. Thus redemption from the law, is redemption from the curse, and consequently, redemption from the power of Satan.
III. In returning with songs, as redeemed from bondage and captivity they express their joy by singing. The song of the redeemed is, “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Rev. i. 5, 6). In other words it is called a new song for it is only the redeemed that can sing it. While natural men and women sing the vain songs of this world the redeemed sing the everlasting song. It is a song of victory, obtained through the blood of Christ. It is begun in time and will be sung on Mount Zion above, throughout the endless ages of eternity. It is the song of love, and as Christ’s love is eternal, the redeemed’s song will also be eternal. It is a joyous song through which they express their joy for the great deliverance from the powers of sin and satan. It is the song of the justified. They are justified by God who has pardoned their sins by laying them on Christ. It is the song of the righteous. Like the Apostle Paul they say: “Not having my own righteousness which is by the law, but the righteousness of Christ which is through faith.” They have no righteousness to glory in but Christ’s righteousness which is imputed to them, and received by faith.
It is a family song. They are now heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. They have been received into the number
and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. They are looking forward to the day when they will be inhabitants of glory when their sun shall never set and where their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. It is the song of the sanctified, for they are sanctified, through the work of God’s free grace, whereby they are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness.
As seen from the song they sing it expresses joy for it says “everlasting joy.” This joy is not merely an outward joy, it is joy in the heart, and like the Psalmist when he saith, “Restore me thy salvation’s joy, with thy free Spirit me stay.” It is the Holy Spirit that makes them a willing people in a day of His power. Now as already stated previous to this they are groaning under bondage and they know not any joy. Like the publican in the temple when he was brought to see his lost condition we are told that he smote upon his breast and could not so much as raise his head but cried: “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” This was the condition of the redeemed previous to their redemption but in the day of their deliverance they experience a joy that cannot be surpassed. Now they approach God in the attitude of a child and address Him as Father, whereas previous to their deliverance they could not approach Him but as a judge. Their relationship is now changed, and what a joyous change! Those that were condemned being set free, as it is written: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” (Rom. viii. 1). This joy cannot be hid for their very attitude declares it for it says that “they shall return with everlasting joy upon their heads.”
While in captivity they were a sorrowful people. This sorrow was in the first place caused through their own sins and transgressions, they, like the Psalmist could say: “Because gone up above mine head, my great transgressions be, and as a weighty burden they, too heavy are for me” (Psalm xxxviii.
4, metrical version). Their sorrow is caused through the reproach of their enemies like the literal Israel in Babylon where they expressed their grief as we have it in the Psalm cxxxvii., metrical version :
“ By Babel streams we sat and wept
When Zion we thought on.
In midst thereof we hanged our harps,
The willow trees upon.
For there a song required they,
Who did us captive bring,
Our spoilers called for mirth and said,
A song of Zion sing.
Oh, how the Lord’s song shall we sing
Within a foreign land,
If thee Jerusalem I forget
Skill part from my right hand.”
As redeemed they express their joy like the Psalmist in the 122nd Psalm :
“ I joy’d when to the house of God
Go up they said to me.”
In the day when Christ is being made precious to their souls and reveals Himself to them as their Redeemer, their joy finds no bounds, and their sorrows and sighings flee away. The trials, sorrows, and temptations which they had when in captivity are now forgotten.
IV. Let us observe under the last head the termination of their journey. As we have seen from the text, they are redeemed pilgrims. From the song they sing and their conversation they declare plainly that they seek a city, whose Maker and Builder is God. In our text it is named Zion. We understand Zion to mean a citadel. The literal Zion was known to be the place where the kings of Judah resided. From it the declaration of war or peace went forth. In the spiritual Zion the King of Glory resides, namely Christ. He is the King and Ruler of this great City. His throne is established there which is a throne of peace. The inhabitants of the City are those that have been redeemed through His blood.
As we have observed, Zion, to the literal Israel was the headquarters of their king, and in all their affairs, particularly connected with their civil rites, they appealed to the king when all other sources failed them. The spiritual Zion comprises the Church of God and it is likened unto a city, first, because of its security. It is closed in by the walls of salvation; secondly, it is a place of society. What one wants another supplies. There is mutual fellowship; thirdly, it is a place of unity in order that people may therein live in peace and concord; fourthly, it is a place of trade or traffic for therein is the market of free grace—”Ho! everyone that thirsteth” (Is. Iv. 1). Here is the pearl of great price exposed for sale (Matt. xiii. 45, 46). Fifthly, it is a place of freedom and liberty; freedom from the guilt of sin, wrath of God, curse of the law, present evil world, bondage to Satan, etc. Sixthly, a place of rest, and commodious to live in. Seventhly, a place of privileges. Eighthly, a place of pleasure and beauty.
“Mount Zion stands most beautiful,
The joy of all the land.”—Ps. xlviii. 2.
It is a city that is built by God Himself. He dwells in it—”The holy place wherein the Lord, Most High, hath His abode.” He founded it and built it and He is the chief Ruler or Governor there. This is the city to which the redeemed are travelling. The way may be long and tedious and many a time they feel faint and worn out, but by the Mount of Zion there are flowing streams of living water, issuing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. The weary-worn traveller often delights to refresh himself at these streams, and, therefore, “they go from strength to strength until in Zion they appear before the Lord at length.” “They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Rev. vii. 16, 17).