Isaiah 62 commentary

ISAIAH 62 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Zion’s New Name
1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,
till her vindication shines out like the dawn,
her salvation like a blazing torch.
1.BARNES, “For Zion’s sake - (See the notes at Isa_1:8). On account of Zion; that is, on
account of the people of God.
I will not hold my peace - There have been very various opinions in regard to the person
referred to here by the word ‘I.’ Calvin and Gesenius suppose that the speaker here is the
prophet, and that the sense is, he would not intermit his labors and prayers until Zion should be
restored, and its glory spread through all the earth. The Chaldee Paraphrast supposes that it is
God who is the speaker, and this opinion is adopted by Grotius. Vitringa regards it as the
declaration of a prophetic choir speaking in the name of the officers of the church, and
expressing the duty of making continual intercession for the extension of the Redeemer’s
kingdom. Estius supposes it to be the petition of the Jewish people praying to God for their
restoration. Amidst such a variety of interpretation it is not easy to determine the true sense. If it
is the language of God, it is a solemn declaration that he was intent on the deliverance of his
people, and that he would never cease his endeavors until the work should be accomplished.
If it is the language of the prophet, it implies that he would persevere, notwithstanding all
opposition, in rebuking the nation for its sins, and in the general work of the prophetic office,
until Zion should arise in its glory. If the former, it is the solemn assurance of Yahweh that the
church would be the object of his unceasing watchfulness and care, until its glory should fill the
earth. If the latter, it expresses the feelings of earnest and devoted piety; the purpose to
persevere in prayer and in active efforts to extend the cause of God until it should triumph. I see
nothing in the passage by which it can be determined with certainty which is the meaning; and
when this is the case it must be a matter of mere conjecture. The only circumstance which is of
weight in the case is, that the language, ‘I will not be silent,’ is rather that which is adapted to a
prophet accustomed to pray and speak in the name of God than to God himself; and if this
circumstance be allowed to have any weight, then the opinion will incline to the interpretation
which supposes it to refer to the prophet. The same thing is commanded the watchman on the
walls of Zion in Isa_62:6-7; and if this be the correct interpretation, then it expresses the

appropriate solemn resolution of one engaged in proclaiming the truth of God not to intermit
his prayers and his public labors until the true religion should be spread around the world.
I will not rest - While I live, I will give myself to unabated toil in the promotion of this great
object (see the notes at Isa_62:7).
Until the righteousness thereof - The word here is equivalent to salvation, and the idea
is, that the deliverance of his people would break forth as a shining light.
Go forth as brightness - The word used here is commonly employed to denote the
splendor, or the bright shining of the sun, the moon, or of fire (see Isa_60:19; compare Isa_4:5;
2Sa_23:4; Pro_4:18). The meaning is, that the salvation of people would resemble the clear
shining light of the morning, spreading over hill and vale, and illuminating all the world.
As a lamp that burneth - A blazing torch - giving light all around and shining afar.
2. TEED, “As we start to look at chapter 62, we need to keep in mind that the Lord Himself
is the
speaker. We know that from verse 6. God promises to keep speaking and working till His
purposes for Jerusalem are fulfilled. This is not only for the sake of Zion but also for the
sake of the nations of the world. There will be no righteousness and peace on this earth
till Jerusalem gets her new name and becomes a crown of glory to the Lord.
Once again we see the use of marriage as an analogy for the relationship between God
and His people. As an unfaithful wife, Israel was “forsaken” by the Lord, but not
“divorced” (Isaiah 50:1-3). Her trials will all be forgotten when she receives her new
name, “Hephzibah,” which means, “my delight is in her.” God delights in His people
and enjoys giving them His best. The old name, “Desolate,” will be replaced by
“Beulah,” which means “married” (see also Isaiah 54:1). When a bride marries, she
receives a new name. In the case of Israel, she is already married to Jehovah; but she will
get a new name when she is reconciled to Him.
3. GILL, “For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will
not rest,.... By Zion and Jerusalem, the church in Gospel times is meant, as it often is in this
book, and elsewhere; see Heb_12:22, for whose glory, prosperity, and safety, a concern is here

expressed. Some take them to be the words of God himself, as the Targum and Kimchi; who
seems to be silent and at rest, and even as it were asleep, when he does not arise and exert
himself on the behalf of his people; but here he declares he would not be as one silent and at
rest, nor let the kingdoms and nations of the world be at rest until the deliverer of his people was
come, either Cyrus the type, or Christ the antitype: others take them to be the words of Israel in
captivity, as Aben Ezra; though he afterwards observes they are the words of God, or of the
church of God, soliciting her own restoration, prosperity, and glory: but they are the words of
the prophet, expressing his great love and affection for the church, and his importunate desire of
her happiness, intimating that he would never leave off praying for it till it was completed; not
that he expected to live till the Messiah came, or to see the glory of the latter day, and of the
church in it; but the sense is, that he would continue praying for it without ceasing as long as he
lived, and he knew his prayers and his prophecies would live after he was dead; and that there
would be persons raised up in the church that would succeed him in this work, till all the
glorious things promised and prophesied of should be accomplished:
until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness; meaning either till the church's
innocence is made as clear as the brightness of the sun at noonday, and she is vindicated from
the calumnies and reproaches cast upon her, and open vengeance is taken on her enemies by the
Lord, from whom her righteousness is, and by whom her wrongs will be righted; or until the
righteousness of Christ, which is by imputation her righteousness, is wrought out by him and
revealed in the Gospel, and she appears to all to be clothed with it, as with the sun, Rev_12:1,
which will be the case when to her shall be given to be arrayed openly with that fine linen, clean
and white, which is the righteousness of the saints, and will be the time of her open marriage to
the Lamb, Rev_19:7,
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth; which gives light, and is seen afar off;
her open deliverance from all her enemies, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan; and her salvation by
Jesus Christ, which will be more clearly published in the Gospel ministry in the latter day, and
more openly seen and enjoyed in the effects of it. The Vulgate Latin version of this and the
preceding clause is,
"until her righteous one goes forth as brightness, and her Saviour as a lamp that burneth;''
meaning Christ the righteous, and the Saviour of his body the church, who in his first coming
was as a burning and shining light, even like the sun, the light of the world; and whose spiritual
coming will be in such a glorious manner, that he will destroy antichrist with the brightness of it,
and is therefore very desirable, 2Th_2:8. The Targum of the whole is,
"till I work salvation for Zion, I will give no rest to the people; and till consolation comes to
Jerusalem, I will not let the kingdoms rest, till her light is revealed as the morning, and her
salvation as a lamp that burneth.''
4. HENRY, “The prophet here tells us,
I. What he will do for the church. A prophet, as he is a seer, so he is a spokesman. This
prophet resolves to perform that office faithfully, Isa_62:1. He will not hold his peace; he will
not rest; he will mind his business, will take pains, and never desire to take his ease; and herein
he was a type of Christ, who was indefatigable in executing the office of a prophet and made it
his meat and drink till he had finished his work. Observe here, 1. What the prophet's resolution
is: He will not hold his peace. He will continue instant in preaching, will not only faithfully
deliver, but frequently repeat, the messages he has received from the Lord. If people receive not

the precepts and promises at first, he will inculcate them and give them line upon line. And he
will continue instant in prayer; he will never hold his peace at the throne of grace till he has
prevailed with God for the mercies promised; he will give himself to prayer and to the ministry
of the word, as Christ's ministers must (Act_6:4), who must labour frequently in both and never
be weary of this well-doing. The business of ministers is to speak from God to his people and to
God for his people; and in neither of these must they be silent. 2. What is the principle of this
resolution - for Zion's sake, and for Jerusalem's, not for the sake of any private interest of his
own, but for the church's sake, because he has an affection and concern for Zion, and it lies near
his heart. Whatever becomes of his own house and family, he desires to see the good of
Jerusalem and resolves to seek it all the days of his life, Psa_122:8, Psa_122:9; Psa_118:5. It is
God's Zion and his Jerusalem, and it is therefore dear to him, because it is so to God and
because God's glory is interested in its prosperity. 3. How long he resolves to continue this
importunity - till the promise of the church's righteousness and salvation, given in the foregoing
chapter, be accomplished. Isaiah will not himself live to see the release of the captives out of
Babylon, much less the bringing in of the gospel, in which grace reigns through righteousness
unto life and salvation; yet he will not hold his peace till these be accomplished, even the utmost
of them, because his prophecies will continue speaking of these things, and there shall in every
age be a remnant that shall continue to pray for them, as successors to him, till the promises be
performed, and so the prayers answered that were grounded upon them. Then the church's
righteousness and salvation will go forth as brightness, and as a lamp that burns, so plainly
that it will carry its own evidence along with it. It will bring honour and comfort to the church,
which will hereupon both look pleasant and appear illustrious; and it will bring instruction and
direction to the world, a light not only to the eyes but to the feet, and to the paths of those who
before sat in darkness and in the shadow of death.
4B. PULPIT COMMENTARY, “For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace. In the past God has kept
silence (Isa_42:14; Isa_57:11). "The Servant" has not caused his voice to be heard. Babylon has been
allowed to continue her oppression unchecked. But now there will be a change. God will lift up his voice,
and the nations will hear; and the "salvation" of Israel will be effected speedily. For Jerusalem's sake.
"Zion" and "Jerusalem" are used throughout as synonyms (Isa_2:3; Isa_4:3, Isa_4:4; Isa_31:4, Isa_31:5,
and Isa_31:9; Isa_33:20; Isa_40:9; Isa_41:27; Isa_52:1; Isa_64:10, etc.), like "Israel" and Jacob." Strictly
speaking, "Zion" is the mountain, "Jerusalem" the city built upon it. Until the righteousness thereof go forth
(comp. Isa_54:17; Isa_61:10, Isa_61:11). As brightness; or, as the
dawn (comp Isa_60:3; Pro_4:18; Dan_6:19). Salvation … as a lamp that burneth; rather, as a torch that
blazeth (comp. Jdg_15:4; Nah_2:1-13 :14; Zec_12:6). Israel's "salvation'' would be made manifest;
primarily by her triumphant return from Babylon, and more completely by her position in the final kingdom
of the Redeemer.
5. JAMISON, “Isa_62:1-12. Intercessory prayers for Zion’s restoration, accompanying God’s
promises of it, as the appointed means of accomplishing it.
I — the prophet, as representative of all the praying people of God who love and intercede for
Zion (compare Isa_62:6, Isa_62:7; Psa_102:13-17), or else Messiah (compare Isa_62:6). So
Messiah is represented as unfainting in His efforts for His people (Isa_42:4; Isa_50:7).
righteousness thereof — not its own inherently, but imputed to it, for its restoration to
God’s favor: hence “salvation” answers to it in the parallelism. “Judah” is to be “saved” through
“the Lord our (Judah’s and the Church’s) righteousness” (Jer_23:6).
as brightness — properly the bright shining of the rising sun (Isa_60:19; Isa_4:5; 2Sa_23:4;
Pro_4:18).
lamp — blazing torch.

5B, COFFMAN, “The big thing in this chapter is the New Name God promised to give his people
in Isaiah 62:2; and much to the surprise of this writer, none of the writers we have consulted on this
subject has anything convincing to say about it. Only one writer, namely, the 19th-century Adam Clarke,
knew what it was (and is); and his total comment was less than four short lines; but he did tell us what the
new name is, CHRISTIAN.[1]
True to Isaiah's pattern of "here a little and there a little" (Isaiah 28:10,13), the prophet here returns to the
revelation regarding that new name, mentioned also in Isaiah 56:5, where the passage affirms that: (1)
the name will be given by God Himself, (2) within his walls and in his house, in his Church, (3) a memorial
name, (4) a name better than that of sons and of daughters, and (5) an ever-flaming name that shall
never be cut off.
We find ourselves absolutely astounded that so many present-day commentators profess not to know
what God's name for his people really is. We shall certainly attempt to clarify that.
This chapter, of course, is a continuation of the same theme which has dominated several of the
preceding chapters, namely, the blessings of God under the New Covenant. The speaker is thought to be
Jehovah, the Servant, or the prophet Isaiah; but regardless of which is correct, the message is that of
God Himself. "The close connection with the preceding chapter is evident.
6. K&D 1-3, “Nearly all the more recent commentators regard the prophet himself as
speaking here. Having given himself up to praying to Jehovah and preaching to the people, he
will not rest or hold his peace till the salvation, which has begun to be realized, has been brought
fully out to the light of day. It is, however, really Jehovah who commences thus: “For Zion's sake
I shall not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I shall not rest, till her righteousness breaks forth
like morning brightness, and her salvation like a blazing torch. And nations will see they
righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and men will call thee by a new name, which the mouth
of Jehovah will determine. And thou wilt be an adorning coronet in the hand of Jehovah, and a
royal diadem in the lap of thy God.” It is evident that Jehovah is the speaker here, both from
Isa_62:6 and also from the expression used; for châshâh is the word commonly employed in
such utterances of Jehovah concerning Himself, to denote His leaving things in their existing
state without interposing (Isa_65:6; Isa_57:11; Isa_64:11). Moreover, the arguments which may
be adduced to prove that the author of chapters 40-66 is not the speaker in Isa_61:1-11, also
prove that it is not he who is continuing to speak of himself in Isa_62:1-12 Jehovah, having now
begun to speak and move on behalf of Zion, will “for Zion's sake,” i.e., just because it is Zion, His
own church, neither be silent nor give Himself rest, till He has gloriously executed His work of
grace. Zion is now in the shade, but the time will come when her righteousness will go forth as
nōgah, the light which bursts through the night (Isa_60:19; Isa_59:9; here the morning sunlight,
Pro_4:18; compare shachar, the morning red, Isa_58:8); or till her salvation is like a torch which
blazes. ‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫ב‬ִ‫י‬ belongs to ‫יד‬ ִ‫פּ‬ ַ‫ל‬ ְ‫כ‬ (mercha) in the form of an attributive clause = ‫ר‬ ֵ‫ֹע‬‫בּ‬, although it might
also be assumed that ‫יבער‬ stands by attraction for ‫תבער‬ (cf., Isa_2:11; Ewald, §317, c). The verb
‫ר‬ ַ‫ע‬ ָ‫,בּ‬ which is generally applied to wrath (e.g., Isa_30:27), is here used in connection with

salvation, which has wrath towards the enemies of Zion as its obverse side: Zion's tsedeq
(righteousness) shall become like the morning sunlight, before which even the last twilight has
vanished; and Zion's ye
shū‛âh is like a nightly torch, which sets fire to its own material, and
everything that comes near it. The force of the conjunction ‫ד‬ ַ‫ע‬ (until) does not extend beyond
Isa_62:1. From Isa_62:2 onwards, the condition of things in the object indicated by ‫עד‬ is more
fully described. The eyes of the nations will be directed to the righteousness of Zion, the impress
of which is now their common property; the eyes of all kings to her glory, with which the glory of
none of them, nor even of all together, can possibly compare. And because this state of Zion is a
new one, which has never existed before, her old name is not sufficient to indicate her nature.
She is called by a new name; and who could determine this new name? He who makes the
church righteous and glorious, He, and He alone, is able to utter a name answering to her new
nature, just as it was He who called Abram Abraham, and Jacob Israel. The mouth of Jehovah
will determine it (‫ב‬ ַ‫ק‬ָ‫,נ‬ to pierce, to mark, to designate in a signal and distinguishing manner,
nuncupare; cf., Amo_6:1; Num_1:17). It is only in imagery that prophecy here sees what Zion
will be in the future: she will be “a crown of glory,” “a diadem,” or rather a tiara (tse
nı̄ph; Chethib
tse
nūph = mitsnepheth, the head-dress of the high priest, Exo_28:4; Zec_3:5; and that of the king,
Eze_21:31) “of regal dignity,” in the hand of her God (for want of a synonym of “hand,” we have
adopted the rendering “in the lap” the second time that it occurs). Meier renders ‫יהוה‬ ‫ד‬ַ‫י‬ ְ‫בּ‬ (‫ף‬ ַ‫כ‬ ְ‫)בּ‬
Jovae sub praesidio, as though it did not form part of the figure. But it is a main feature in the
figure, that Jehovah holds the crown in His hand. Zion is not the ancient crown which the
Eternal wears upon His head, but the crown wrought out in time, which He holds in His hand,
because He is seen in Zion by all creation. The whole history of salvation is the history of the
taking of the kingdom, and the perfecting of the kingdom by Jehovah; in other words, the
history of the working out of this crown.
7. CALVIN, “1.On account of Zion I will not be silent. That sad captivity being at hand, which was
almost to blot out the name of the whole nation, it was necessary to confirm and encourage believers by
many words, that with strong and assured confidence they might rely on these promises under the burden
of the cross. Here, therefore, the Prophet, discharging that office which had been entrusted to him, openly
declares that he will not be slack in the performance of his duty, and will not cease to speak, till he
encourage the hearts of believers by the hope of future salvation, that they may know and be fully
convinced that God will be the deliverer of his Church. He too might have been dismayed by the unbelief
of that people, and might have lost courage when he saw that matters were every day growing worse,
and when he foresaw that terrible vengeance. But, notwithstanding so great difficulties, he will still persist
in his duty, that all may know that neither the massacre of the people nor their unbelief can prevent God
from executing his promises at the proper time.
And on account of Jerusalem I will not rest. It was necessary that these things should be frequently

repeated, because such is the depravity of our mind that we speedily forget God’ promises. When he
says that he will not cease to speak, he likewise reminds others of their duty, that they may take courage,
and expect with assured confidence their restoration, though it be long delayed, and even that their
unwearied attention may answer to the voice of God which constantly addresses them. We know by
experience every day how necessary this is, while Satan endeavors by every method to turn us aside
from the right course.
At the same time he shews what ought to be the aim of godly teachers, namely, to spend and devote
themselves entirely for the advantage of the Church; for when he says “ account of Zion,” he means that
our chief care ought to be that the Church may be preserved, and that none are good and faithful
teachers but they who hold the salvation of the Church so dear as to spare no labors. Some explain this
as relating to prayer, but I choose rather to refer it to doctrine; and it is more natural to view it as meaning’
that no inconvenience or annoyance shall wear out his patience, and no opposition shall retard him from
proceeding in the office of teaching which God has enjoined on him concerning the redemption of the
Church. For if he had survived that very sad calamity, the unbelieving multitude would undoubtedly have
persecuted him, as well as the other Prophets, by many reproaches; but whatever may happen, he says
that he is fortified by unshaken firmness, never to be dumb through shame, but to proceed with
unremitting eagerness in his course. Besides, by this form of expression he procures credit to his
predictions, and maintains their authority, so that, even when he is dead, they do not cease to resound in
the ears of believers.
Till her righteousness go forth as brightness. By “” he means the rights of the Church; for during the
period of calamity, she appeared to be condemned. Her “” therefore, “ forth” when she is perfectly
restored, and regains her former condition; for that righteousness lay concealed during the captivity.
And her salvation. To “” he adds “” because they whom God justifies, or to whom he re-restores their
rights, do likewise regain their “” Hence we infer that we are wretched and without assistance, so long as
God withholds his grace from us on account of our sins; and therefore in other passages he frequently
gave the appellation of “ righteousness of God” to that which he here affirms to be the righteousness of
the Church. Thus we are undone while we are destitute of the righteousness of God; that is, while we
slumber in our sins, and God shews himself to be a severe judge by punishing us for them.
The phrase “ forth” means that the righteousness of the Church was hidden and, as it were, buried for a
time: she deserved in the sight of God no favor; but, on the contrary, her unspeakable iniquities prevailed
to such an extent that there remained nothing but God’ righteous vengeance. But here the Prophet has
his eye on men who already looked upon the afflicted Church as lost, and by their pride and reproaches

almost cast her down to hell.
May burn like a lamp. Finally, he compares her to the world, and says, that with respect to the world she
shall be righteous, when God shall have purged away her sins and undertaken her cause. By these
words the Prophet teaches that we ought always to entertain favorable hopes of the restoration of the
Church, though she be plunged under thick darkness and in the grave; for although for a time she is
overwhelmed and hidden, yet she has God for her avenger in heaven, who, after having chastised her
moderately, will at length shew that she was the object of his care. And indeed his righteousness must be
illustrious and manifest, and that for the salvation of those whom he hath chosen to be his people and
heritage.
8. BI, “The Church blessed and made a blessing
(Isa_62:1-12):—The words of the great Deliverer are continued from the foregoing chapter.
1. He will not rest until the glorious change in the condition of His people is accomplished
(Isa_62:1).
2. They shall be recognized by kings and nations as the people of Jehovah (Isa_62:2-3).
3. She who seemed to be forsaken is still His spouse (Isa_62:4-5).
4. The Church is required to watch and pray for the fulfilment of the promise (Isa_62:6-7).
5. God has sworn to protect her and supply her wants (Isa_62:8-9).
6. Instead of a single nation, all the nations of the earth shall flow into her (verse ,10).
7. The good news of salvation shall no longer be confined, but universally diffused
(Isa_62:11).
8. The glory of the Church is the redemption of the world (Isa_62:12). (J. A. Alexander.)
The gradual development of the glory of Jerusalem
“For Zion’s sake I shall not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I shall not rest, until her
righteousness breaks forth like morning-splendour, and her salvation like a burning torch.” (F.
Delitzsch, D. D.)
The moral illumination of the world
I. THE PRESENT IMPLIED OBSCURITY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. “The righteous One
and the Saviour” (Vulgate). Whenever the righteous One and Saviour are hidden there is
obscurity.
II. HER ANTICIPATED GLORY. The burning lamp is a symbol of the presence of Jehovah.
Jesus is termed “the brightness of His Father’s glory and the express image of His person.”

Connect both the figures in the text. The Sun of Righteousness shall go forth like the light of the
morning.
1. Manifestly. Light maketh manifest.
2. Irresistibly, as the light of the morning.
3. Universally. As all the earth turns to the sun, all are visited by the morning light.
“Righteousness shall go forth as brightness” in all the earth.
III. THE MEANS BY WHICH THE WORK IS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED. “For Zion’s sake I will
not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.” Some think these are expressions of
Jehovah. Correct or not, it is a Scriptural truth; it has long lain near the heart of God! Others,
that Jesus is the speaker. The world is His purchased property, but His own world received him
not. Yet the Father has pledged Himself to vindicate His right: “Ask of me.” The most common
opinion is that these words are Isaiah’s, as a man of God and as a minister of God. It is proper to
be used by all who mention the name of the Lord. Human agency, then, is the means employed.
In providence God helps man by man. In grace the same. The Word of God is to be carried and
held forth as light. The text indicates the manner also.
1. It shall be consistent—prayer and exertion. “Not hold my peace, not rest.”
2. Affectionate exertions also—from a principle of love. “For Zion’s sake.”
3. Persevering. “Until the righteousness go forth.” (J. Summerfield, M. A.)
The extension of the Gospel
I. THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL AS APPLIED TO YOUR OWN SOULS. Two inclusive
blessings, righteousness and salvation.
II. THE EXTENSION OF THIS BLESSING THROUGHOUT THE EARTH. It is evident that it is
in the promise of God that it shall be so, because it is made the subject of the persevering
intercession of Christ. “For Zion’s sake will I,” etc.
III. THE GROUND OF OUR ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE EXTENSION OF THIS
BLESSING. What can be stronger? It is the grace of the intercession of the Son of God. (C.
Bridges, M. A.)
Divine unrest
(with Isa_62:6-7):—
I. THE CAUSE OF DIVINE UNREST. The needs of the Church, Zion; the condition of the city,
Jerusalem. It is in the lack of “righteousness,” the need of “salvation.” This is still true of our
Churches and cities. The sin is pro found, the sorrow unfathomable. Yet there is not total
darkness. There is twilight; but all the Divine yearning is, that the twilight may brighten into
noon.
II. THE NATURE OF THIS DIVINE UNREST. It is not chiefly that of indignation at wrong, but
it is the unrest of anxiety for others, the unrest of pity. It is—
1. Unselfish.
2. Universal. Even God will share it.
III. THE MANIFESTATION OF THIS DIVINE UNREST.

1. In loud human proclamation of the truth.
2. In prayer to God.
3. In God’s unrest, in which He gives Jesus to save and bless. Christ’s piercing cry of grief,
“O Jerusalem,” utters the unrest in God. Learn—
(1) The remedy for all the unrest of the universe. “Righteousness,” “Salvation.”
(2) The opportunity good men have for communion with God. Be unhappy because of
the sin and sorrow in the world. Have fellowship with Christ. Share the Divine unrest.
(U. R. Thomas, B. A.)
The heavenly workers and the earthly watchers
(with verses6, 7)—
1. The preceding chapter brings in Christ as proclaiming the great work of deliverance for
which He is anointed of God; the following chapter presents Him as treading the wine-press
alone, which is a symbol of the future judgment by the glorified Saviour. Between these two
prophecies of the earthly life and the still future judicial energy, this chapter lies, referring,
as I take it, to the period between these two—i.e to all the ages of the Church’s development
on earth. For these Christ here promises His continual activity, and His continual
bestowment of grace to His servants who watch the walls of Jerusalem.
2. Notice the remarkable parallelism in the expressions: “I will not hold My peace;” the
watchmen “shall never hold their peace.” And His command to them is literally, “Ye that
remind Jehovah—no rest (or silence) to you! and give not rest to Him.” So we have here
Christ, the Church and God, all represented as unceasingly occupied in the one great work of
establishing “Zion ‘ as the centre of light, salvation and righteousness for the whole world.
I. THE GLORIFIED CHRIST IS CONSTANTLY WORKING FOR HIS CHURCH. We are too apt
to regard our. Lord’s real work as all lying in the past, and, from the very greatness of our
estimate of what He has done, to forget the true importance of what He evermore does.. He was
received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. In that session on the throne
manifold and mighty truths are expressed. It proclaims the full accomplishment of all the
purposes of His earthly ministry; it emphasizes the triumphant completion of His redeeming
work by His death; it proclaims the majesty of HIS nature, which returns to the glory which He
had with the Father before the world was; it shows to the world, as on some coronation day,
their King on His throne, girded with power. But whilst on the one side Christ rests as from a
perfected work which needs no addition nor repetition, on the other He rests not day nor night.
When the heavens opened to the rapt eyes of John in Patmos, the Lord whom he beheld was not
only revealed as glorified in the lustre of the inaccessible light, but as actively sustaining and
guiding the human reflectors of it. He “holdeth the seven stars in HIS right hand,” and “walketh
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.” Not otherwise does my text represent the present
relation of Christ to His Church. “I will not rest.” Through all the ages His power is in exercise.
He inspires in good men all their wisdom: and every grace of life and character. Nor is this all.
There still remains the wonderful truth of His continuous intercession for us. In its widest
meaning that word expresses the whole of the manifold ways by which Christ undertakes and
maintains our cause. So we have not only to look back to the cross, but up to the throne. From
the cross we hear a voice, “It is finished.” From the throne a voice, “For Zion’s sake I will not
hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.”
II. CHRIST’S SERVANTS ON EARTH DERIVE FROM HIM A LIKE PERPETUAL ACTIVITY
FOR THE SAME OBJECT. “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never

hold their peace day nor night. On the promise follows, as ever a command “Ye that remind
Jehovah, keep not silence.” There is distinctly traceable here a reference to a twofold form of
occupation devolving on these Christ-sent servants. They are watchmen, and they are also God’s
remembrancers. In the one capacity as in the other, their voices are to be always heard. The
former metaphor is common in the Old Testament, as a designation of the prophetic office, but,
in accordance with the genius of the New Testament, as expressed on Pentecost, when the spirit
was poured out on the lowly as well as on the high, on the young as on the old, and all
prophesied, may be fairly extended to disignate not some select few, but the whole mass of
Christian people. The remembrancer’s priestly office belongs to every member of Christ’s
priestly kingdom, the lowest and least of whom has the privilege of unrestrained entry into
God’s presence-chamber, and the power of blessing the world by faithful prayer.
1. Our voices should ever he heard on earth. A solemn message is committed to us by the
very fact of our belief in Jesus Christ and His work.
2. Our voices should ever be heard in heaven. They who trust God remind Him of His
promises by their very faith; it is a mute appeal to His faithful love, which He cannot but
answer. Beyond that, their prayers come up for a memorial before God and have as real an
effect in furthering Christ’s kingdom on earth as is exercised by their entreaties and
proclamations to men.
3. These two forms of action ought to be inseparable. Each, if ,genuine, will drive us to the
other, for who could fling himself into the watchman’s work, with all its solemn
consequences, knowing how weak his voice was, and how deaf the ears that should hear,
unless he could bring God’s might to his help? And who could honestly remind God of His
promises and forget his own responsibilities?
4. The power for both is derived from Christ. He sets the watchmen; He commands the
remembrancers. And, as the Christian power of discharging these twofold duties is drawn
from Christ, so our pattern is His manner of discharging them, and the condition of
receiving the power is to abide in Him. Christ asks no romantic impossibilities from us, but
He does ask a continuous, systematic discharge of the duties which depend on our relation
to the world, and on our relation to Him.
III. THE CONSTANT ACTIVITY OF THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST WILL SECURE THE
CONSTANT OPERATION OF GOD’S POWER. “Give Him no rest: “ let there be no cessation to
Him. These are bold words. Those who remind God are not to suffer Him to be still. The prophet
believes that they can regulate the flow of Divine energy, can stir up the strength of the Lord. It
is easy to puzzle ourselves with insoluble questions about the co-operation of God’s power and
man’s; but practically, is it not true that God reaches His end, of the establishment of Zion,
through the Church? The great reservoir, is always., full to the brim; however much may be
drawn from it, the water sinks not a hair’s breadth; but the bore of the pipe and the power of the
pumping-engine determine the rate at which the stream flows from it. “He could there do no
mighty works because of their unbelief.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.
Hindrances to the spread of the Gospel
Our particular inquiry is, What obstacles to the conversion of the world are found among those
who, in different ways, are enlisted in the cause of foreign missions?
I. THE DEFECT OF OUR CHRISTIAN CHARACTER, OR THE WANT OF A HIGHER DEGREE
OF HOLINESS.
II. THE DIRECT INDULGENCE OF AFFECTIONS WHICH ARE SELFISH AND EARTHLY.
III. DIVISION AND STRIFE AMONG CHRIST’S FOLLOWERS.

IV. THE UNNECESSARY EXCITEMENT OF POPULAR PREJUDICE.
V. FALLING SHORT IN OUR DUTY IN REGARD TO THE BENEVOLENT USE OF
PROPERTY.
VI. THE WANT OF A PROPER FEELING AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF OUR
DEPENDENCE ON GOD FOR THE SUCCESS OF OUR EFFORTS. (Leonard Woods, D. D.)
I. ENCOURAGEMENTS.
The encouragements and duties of Christians
1. There are declarations respecting the character and essential attributes of God, as, for
example, His sovereignty, His power, His justice, His wisdom, His love; even from which, if
we had no express or specific direction, we might justly and safely infer that the Almighty
cannot always permit His own world to remain the almost unmitigated form of general
apostasy and wretchedness; and that for the sake of His own glory He will cause a vast and
mighty change, by which the revolt of the world shall be terminated, and by which it shall be
recovered and reclaimed to Himself.,
2. There are declarations with regard to the sufficiency and design of our Saviour’s sacrifice
(Joh_1:29; Joh_12:32; Heb_2:9; 1Jn_2:2). That the sacrifice of Christ, of which such is the
declared sufficiency and design has hitherto but very partially and imperfectly accomplished
its object is plain; that, so long as the world continues as it is, that partiality and
imperfection must still continue is plain also; and we must therefore judge that it never can
fulfil the objects for which it was originally offered, except in the final effusion of the Divine
Spirit among all the nations of the earth.
3. There are declarations in regard to thee majesty and extent of the Saviour’s exaltation and
royalty. As the reward and the recompense of His sufferings, He has been made the
possessor of a wonderful mediatorial kingdom, a kingdom in the gaining and maintaining of
the authority of which the Spirit is the agent, and the Word is the instrument—that kingdom
in which the Spirit, through the Word, is destined to maintain a universal sway (Psa_2:7-8;
Isa_9:6; Psa_62:8, etc.).
4. There are those declarations with regard to the final and renovating change, as we find
them expressed throughout the general structure of the prophetical writings. Because He
who cannot lie has promised, therefore we believe.
II. OBLIGATIONS.
1. There are peculiar duties pressing upon the ministers and other public officers of the
Church of Christ. The ministers are called upon to cultivate peculiar eminence in personal
holiness; they ought to cultivate an enlarged and most accurate acquaintance with
evangelical truth, an ardent zeal for the glory of God, a tender compassion for the souls of
men! They ought to give themselves up wholly to their high vocation. They ought to labour
with quenchless ardour and perseverance, while prayer ought to be, as it were, their very
food, their very air, and their very being. As to the other public officers of the Church, their
special duty appears to be the following—exemplary firmness in the belief of Christian
doctrine, in the practice ofChristian precepts, and in the manifestation of a Christian spirit;
fervent, brotherly love amongst themselves, towards all their fellow-Christians, and
especially towards the poor, whose interest they are invoked to superintend; cheerful
assistance to the pastors of the flock, in all measures which may be deemed proper for
preserving the purity of the Church, and for the conversion of the ungodly; and an earnest

endeavour with regard to all departments of Christian character, that they may shine as
lights in the world.
2. But there are general duties which press upon all the members of a Christian Church.
(1) A careful avoidance of all worldly conformity.
(2) The practice of sincere brotherly affection towards all other followers of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
(3) Increased zeal in maintaining and extending that ministry which has been ordained
for the conversion of men.
(4) A strong mental confidence in the fact that the change upon which our aspirations
have been fixed shall actually be accomplished. There is nothing by which God is so
much dishonoured as unbelief.
(5) There must also be the spirit of importunate prayer (Isa_62:1; Isa_62:6). (James
Parsons.)
Intercessory prayer and the Divine reapers
The prophet here tells us—
I. WHAT HE WILL DO FOR THE CHURCH (Isa_62:1).
II. WHAT GOD WILL DO FOR THE CHURCH (Isa_62:2-5).
1. The Church shall be greatly admired. “And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness” etc.
2. She shall be truly admirable. “Thou shalt be called by a new name, etc. Two names God
shall give her.
(1) He shall call her His crown (Isa_62:8).
(2) He shall call her His spouse (Isa_62:4-5). (M. Henry.)
9. MACLAREN, “THE HEAVENLY WORKERS AND THE EARTHLY WATCHERS
Isa_62:1, Isa_62:6-7
Two remarks of an expository nature will prepare the way for the consideration of these words.
The first is that the speaker is the personal Messiah. The second half of Isaiah’s prophecies
forms one great whole, which might be called The Book of the Servant of the Lord. One majestic
figure stands forth on its pages with ever-growing clearness of outline and form. The language in
which He is described fluctuates at first between the collective Israel and the one Person who is
to be all that the nation had failed to attain. But even near the beginning of the prophecy we read
of ‘My servant whom I uphold,’ whose voice is to be low and soft, and whose meek persistence is
not to fail till He have ‘set judgment in the earth.’ And as we advance the reference to the nation
becomes less and less possible, and the recognition of the person more and more imperative. At
first the music of the prophetic song seems to move uncertainly amid sweet sounds, from which
the true theme by degrees emerges, and thenceforward recurs over and over again with deeper,
louder harmonies clustering about it, till it swells into the grandeur of the choral close.
In the chapter before our text we read, ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord
hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.’ Throughout the remainder of the
prophecy, with the exception of one section which contains the prayer of the desolate Israel, this

same person continues to speak; and who he is was taught in the synagogue of Nazareth. Whilst
the preceding chapter, then, brings in Christ as proclaiming the great work of deliverance for
which He is anointed of God, the following chapter presents Him as ‘treading the wine-press
alone,’ which is a symbol of the future judgment by the glorified Saviour. Between these two
prophecies of the earthly life and of the still future judicial energy, this chapter of our text lies,
referring, as I take it, to the period between these two-that is, to all the ages of the Church’s
development on earth. For these Christ here promises His continual activity, and His continual
bestowment of grace to His servants who watch the walls of His Jerusalem.
The second point to be noticed is the remarkable parallelism in the expressions selected as the
text: ‘I will not hold My peace’; the watchmen ‘shall never hold their peace.’ And His command
to them is literally, ‘Ye that remind Jehovah-no rest (or silence) to you, and give not rest to
Him.’
So we have here Christ, the Church, and God all represented as unceasingly occupied in the one
great work of establishing ‘Zion’ as the centre of light, salvation, and righteousness for the whole
world. The consideration of these three perpetual activities may open for us some great truths
and stimulating lessons.
I. First, then, The glorified Christ is constantly working for His Church.
We are too apt to regard our Lord’s real work as all lying in the past, and, from the very
greatness of our estimate of what He has done, to forget the true importance of what He
evermore does. ‘Christ that died’ is the central object of trust and contemplation for devout
souls-and that often to the partial hiding of Christ that is ‘risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.’ But Scripture sets forth the present glorious
life of our ascended Lord under two contrasted and harmonious aspects-as being rest, and as
being continuous activity in the midst of rest. He was ‘received up into heaven, and sat on the
right hand of God.’ In that session on the throne manifold and mighty truths are expressed. It
proclaims the full accomplishment of all the purposes of His earthly ministry; it emphasises the
triumphant completion of His redeeming work by His death; it proclaims the majesty of His
nature, which returns to the ‘glory which He had with the Father before the world was’; it shows
to the world, as on some coronation day, its King on His throne, girded with power and holding
the far-reaching sceptre of the universe; it prophesies for men, in spite of all present sin and
degradation, a share in the dominion which manhood has in Christ attained, for though we see
not yet all things put under Him, we see Jesus crowned with glory and honour. It prophesies,
too, His final victory over all that sets itself in unavailing antagonism to His love. It points us
backward to an historical fact as the basis of all our hopes for ourselves and for our fellows,
giving us the assurance that the world’s deliverance will come from the slow operation of the
forces already lodged in its history by Christ’s finished work. It points us forwards to a future as
the goal of all these hopes, giving us that confidence of victory which He has who, having
kindled the fire on earth, henceforward sits at God’s right hand, waiting in the calm and sublime
patience of conscious omnipotence and clear foreknowledge ‘until His enemies become His
footstool.’
But whilst on the one side Christ rests as from a perfected work which needs no addition nor
repetition, on the other He ‘rests not day nor night.’ And this aspect of His present state is as
distinctly set forth in Scripture as that is. Indeed the words already quoted as embodying the
former phase contain the latter also. For is not ‘the right hand of God’ the operative energy of
the divine nature? And is not ‘sitting at the right hand of God’ equivalent to possessing and
wielding that unwearied, measureless power? Are there not blended together in this pregnant
phrase the ideas of profoundest calm and of intensest action, that being expressed by the
attitude, and this by the locality? Therefore does the evangelist who uses the expression expand
it into words which wonderfully close his gospel, with the same representation of Christ’s swift

and constant activity as he had been all along pointing out as characterising His life on earth.
‘They went forth,’ says he, ‘and preached everywhere’-so far the contrast between the Lord
seated in the heavens and His wandering servants fighting on earth is sharp and almost harsh.
But the next words tone it down, and weave the two apparently discordant halves of the picture
into a whole: ‘the Lord working with them.’ Yes! in all His rest He is full of work, in all their toils
He shares, in all their journeys His presence goes beside them. Whatever they do is His deed,
and the help that is done upon the earth He doeth it all Himself.
Is not this blessed conviction of Christ’s continuous operation in and for His Church that which
underlies, as has often been pointed out, the language of the introduction to the Acts of the
Apostles, where mention is made of the former treatise that told ‘all which Jesus began both to
do and teach’? The gospel records the beginning, the Book of the Acts the continuance; it is one
biography in two volumes. Being yet present with them He spoke and acted. Being exalted He
‘speaketh from heaven,’ and from the throne carries on the endless series of His works of power
and healing. The whole history is shaped by the same conviction. Everywhere ‘the Lord’ is the
true actor, the source of all the life which is in the Church, the arranger of all the providences
which affect its progress. The Lord adds to the Church daily. His name works miracles. To the
Lord believers are added. His angel, His Spirit, bring messages to His servants. He appears to
Paul, and speaks to Ananias. The Gentiles turn to the Lord because the hand of the Lord is with
the preachers. The Lord calls Paul to carry the gospel to Macedonia. The Lord opens the heart of
Lydia, and so throughout. Not ‘the Acts of the Apostles,’ but ‘the Acts of the Lord in and by His
servants,’ is the accurate title of this book. The vision which flashed angel radiance on the face,
and beamed with divine comfort into the heart, of Stephen, was a momentary revelation of an
abiding reality, and completes the representation of the Saviour throned beside Almighty power.
He beheld his Lord, not seated, as if careless or resting, while His servant’s need was so sore, but
as if risen with intent to help, and ready to defend-’standing on the right hand of God.’
And when once again the heavens opened to the rapt eyes of John in Patmos, the Lord whom he
beheld was not only revealed as glorified in the lustre of the inaccessible light, but as actively
sustaining and guiding the human reflectors of it. He ‘holdeth the seven stars in His right hand,’
and ‘walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.’
Not otherwise does my text represent the present relation of Christ to His Church. It speaks of a
continuous forth-putting of power, which it is, perhaps, not over-fanciful to regard as dimly set
forth here in a twofold form-namely, work and word. At all events, that division stands out
clearly on the pages of the New Testament, which ever holds forth the double truth of our Lord’s
constant action on, in, through, and for His Zion, and of our High Priest’s constant intercession.
‘I will not rest.’ Through all the ages His power is in exercise. He inspires in good men all their
wisdom, and every grace of life and character. He uses them as His weapons in the contest of His
love with the world’s hatred; but the hand that forged, and tempered, and sharpened the blade is
that which smites with it; and the axe must not boast itself against him that heweth. He, the
Lord of lords, orders providences, and shapes the course of the world for that Church which is
His witness: ‘Yea, He reproved kings for their sake, saying, Touch not Mine anointed, and do My
prophets no harm.’ The ancient legend which told how, on many a well-fought field, the ranks of
Rome discerned through the battle-dust the gleaming weapons and white steeds of the Great
Twin Brethren far in front of the solid legions, is true in loftier sense in our Holy War. We may
still see the vision which the leader of Israel saw of old, the man with the drawn sword in his
hand, and hear the majestic word, ‘As Captain of the Lord’s host am I now come.’ The Word of
God, with vesture dipped in blood, with eyes alit with His flaming love, with the many crowns of
unlimited sovereignty upon His head, rides at the head of the armies of heaven; ‘and in
righteousness doth He judge and make war.’ For the single soul struggling with daily tasks and
petty cares, His help is near and real, as for the widest work of the collective whole. He sends

none of us tasks in which He has no share. The word of this Master is never ‘Go,’ but ‘Come.’ He
unites Himself with all our sorrows, with all our efforts. ‘The Lord also working with them’ is a
description of all the labours of Christian men, be they great or small.
Nor is this all. There still remains the wonderful truth of His continuous intercession for us. In
its widest meaning that word expresses the whole of the manifold ways by which Christ
undertakes and maintains our cause. But the narrower signification of prayer on our behalf is
applicable, and is in Scripture applied, to our Lord. As on earth, the climax of all His intercourse
with His disciples was that deep yet simple prayer which forms the Holy of Holies of John’s
Gospel, so in heaven His loftiest office for us is set forth under the figure of His intercession.
Before the Throne stands the slain Lamb, and therefore do the elders in the outer circle bring
acceptable praises. Within the veil stands the Priest, with the names of the tribes blazing on the
breastplate and on the shoulders of His robes, near the seat of love, near the arm of power. And
whatever difficulty may surround that idea of Christ’s priestly intercession, this at all events is
implied in it, that the mighty work which He accomplished on earth is ever present to the divine
mind as the ground of our acceptance and the channel of our blessings; and this further, that the
utterance of Christ’s will is ever in harmony with the divine purpose. Therefore His prayer has in
it a strange tone of majesty, and, if we may so say, of command, as of one who knows that He is
ever heard: ‘I will that they whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.’
The instinct of the Church has, from of old, laid hold of an event in His earthly life to shadow
forth this great truth, and has bid us see a pledge and a symbol of it in that scene on the Lake of
Galilee: the disciples toiling in the sudden storm, the poor little barque tossing on the waters
tinged by the wan moon, the spray dashing over the wearied rowers. They seem alone, but up
yonder, in some hidden cleft of the hills, their Master looks down on all the weltering storm, and
lifts His voice in prayer. Then when the need is sorest, and the hope least, He comes across the
waves, making their surges His pavement, and using all opposition as the means of His
approach, and His presence brings calmness, and immediately they are at the land.
So we have not only to look back to the Cross, but up to the Throne. From the Cross we hear a
voice, ‘It is finished.’ From the Throne a voice, ‘For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, and for
Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.’
II. Secondly, Christ’s servants on earth derive from Him a like perpetual activity
for the same object.
The Lord, who in the former portion of these verses declares His own purpose of unwearied
action for Zion, associates with Himself in the latter portion the watchmen, whom He appoints
and endows for functions in some measure resembling His own, and exercised with constancy
derived from Him. ‘I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold
their peace day nor night.’ On the promise follows, as ever, a command (for all divine gifts
involve the responsibility of their use, and it is not His wont either to bestow without requiring,
or to require before bestowing), ‘Ye that remind Jehovah, keep not silence.’
There is distinctly traceable before a reference to a two-fold form of occupation devolving on
these Christ-sent servants. They are watchmen, and they are also God’s remembrancers. In the
one capacity as in the other, their voices are to be always heard. The former metaphor is
common in the Old Testament, as a designation of the prophetic office, but, in the accordance
with the genius of the New Testament, as expressed on Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured
out on the lowly as well as on the high, on the young as on the old, and all prophesied, it may be
fairly extended to designated not to some selected few, but the whole mass of Christian people.
The watchman’s office falls to be done by all who see the coming peril, and have a tongue to echo
it forth. The remembrancer’s priestly office belongs to every member of Christ’s priestly
kingdom, the lowest and least of whom has the privilege of unrestrained entry into God’s

presence-chamber, and the power of blessing the world by faithful prayer. What should we think
of a citizen in a beleaguered city, who saw enemy mounting the very ramparts, and gave no
alarm because that was the sentry’s business? In such extremity every man is a soldier, and
women and children can at least keep watch and raise shrill cries of warning. The gifts, then,
here promised, and the duties that flow from them, are not the prerogatives or the tasks of any
class or order, but the heritage and the burden of the Lord to every member of His Church.
Our voices should ever be heard on earth. A solemn message is committed to us, by the very fact
of our belief in Jesus Christ and His work. With that faith come responsibilities of which no
Christian can denude himself. To warn the wicked man to turn from His wickedness; to blow the
trumpet when we see the sword coming; to catch ever gleaming on the horizon, like the spears of
an army through the dust of the march, the outriders and advance-guard of the coming of Him
whose coming is life or death to all, and to lift up our voices with strength and say, ‘Behold your
God’; to peal into the ears of men, sunken in earthliness and dreaming of safety, the cry which
may startle and save; to ring out in glad tones to all who wearily ask, ‘Watchman, what of the
night? will the night soon pass?’ the answer which the slow dawning east has breathed into our
else stony lips, ‘The morning cometh’; to proclaim Christ, who came once to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself, who comes ever, through the ages, to bless and uphold the righteousness
which He loves and to destroy the iniquity which He hates, who will come at the last to judge the
world-this is the never-ending task of the watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem. The New
Testament calls it ‘preaching,’ proclaiming as a herald does. And both metaphors carry one
common lesson of the manner in which the work should be done. With clear loud voice, with
earnestness and decision, with faithfulness and self-oblivion, forgetting himself in his message,
must the herald sound out the will of his King, the largess of his Lord. And the watchman who
stands on his watch-tower whole nights, and sees foemen creeping through the gloom, or fire
bursting out among the straw-roofed cottages within the walls, shouts with all his might the
short, sharp alarm, that wakes the sleepers to whom slumber were death. Let us ponder the
pattern.
Our voices should ever be heard in heaven. They who trust God remind Him of His promises by
their very faith; it is a mute appeal to His faithful love, which He cannot but answer. And,
beyond that, their prayers come up for a memorial before God, and have as real an effect in
furthering Christ’s kingdom on earth as is exercised by their entreaties and proclamations to
men.
How distinctly these words of our text define the region within which our prayers should ever
move, and the limits which bound their efficacy! They remind God. Then the truest prayer is
that which bases itself on God’s uttered will, and the desires which are born of our own fancies
or heated enthusiasms have no power with Him. The prayer that prevails is a reflected promise.
Our office in prayer is but to receive on our hearts the bright rays of His word, and to flash them
back from the polished surface to the heaven from whence they came.
These two forms of action ought to be inseparable. Each, if genuine, will drive us to the other,
for who could fling himself into the watchman’s work, with all its solemn consequences,
knowing how weak his voice was, and how deaf the ears that should hear, unless he could bring
God’s might to his help? and who could honestly remind God of His promises and forget his own
responsibilities? Prayerless work will soon slacken, and never bear fruit; idle prayer is worse
than idle. You cannot part them if you would. How much of the busy occupation which is called
‘Christian work’ is detected to be spurious by this simple test! How much so-called prayer is
reduced by it to mere noise, no better than the blaring trumpet or the hollow drum!
The power for both is derived from Christ. He sets the watchmen; He commands the
remembrancers. From Him flows the power, from His good Spirit comes the desire, to proclaim
the message. That message is the story of His life and death. But for what He does and is we

should have nothing to say; but for His gift we should have no power to say it; but for His
influence we should have no will to say it. He commands and fits us to be intercessors, for His
mighty work brings us near to God; He opens for us access with confidence to God. He inspires
our prayers. He ‘hath made us priests to God.’
And, as the Christian power of discharging these twofold duties is drawn from Christ, so our
pattern is His manner of discharging them, and the condition of receiving the power is to abide
in Him. He proposes Himself as our Example. He calls us to no labours which He has not
Himself shared, nor to any earnestness or continuance in prayer which He has not Himself
shown forth. This Master works in front of His men. The farmer that goes first among all the
sowers, and heads the line of reapers in the yellowing harvest-field, may well have diligent
servants. Our Master ‘went forth, weeping, bearing precious seed,’ and has left it in our hands to
sow in all furrows. Our Master is the Lord of the harvest, and has borne the heat of the day
before His servants. Look at the amount of work, actual hard work, compressed into these three
short years of His ministry. Take the records of the words He spake on that last day of His public
teaching, and see what unwearied toil they represent. Ponder upon that life till you catch the
spirit which breathed through it all, and, like Him, embrace gladly the welcome necessity of
labour for God, under the sense of a vocation conferred upon you, and of the short space within
which your service must be condensed. ‘I must work the work of Him that sent me, while it is
day: the night cometh, when no man can work.’
Christ asks no romantic impossibilities from us, but He does ask a continuous, systematic
discharge of the duties which depend on our relation to the world, and on our relation to Him.
Let it be our life’s work to show forth His praise; let the very atmosphere in which we move and
have our being be prayer. Let two great currents set ever through our days, which two, like the
great movements in the ocean of the air, are but the upper and under halves of the one
movement-that beneath with constant energy of desire rushing in from the cold poles to be
warmed and expanded at the tropics, where the all-moving sun pours his directest rays; that
above charged with rich gifts from the Lord of light, glowing with heat drawn from Him, and
made diffusive by His touch, spreading itself out beneficent and life-bringing into all colder
lands, swathing the world in soft, warm folds, and turning the polar ice into sweet waters.
In the tabernacle of Israel stood two great emblems of the functions of God’s people, which
embodied these two sides of the Christian life. Day by day, there ascended from the altar of
incense the sweet odour, which symbolised the fragrance of prayer as it wreathes itself upwards
to the heavens. Night by night, as darkness fell on the desert and the camp, there shone through
the gloom the hospitable light of the great golden candlestick with its seven lamps, whose steady
rays outburned the stars that paled with the morning. Side by side they proclaimed to Israel its
destiny to be the light of the world, to be a kingdom of priests.
The offices and the honour have passed over to us, and we shall fall beneath our obligations
unless we let our light shine constantly before men, and let our voice rise like a fountain night
and day’ before God- even as He did who, when every man went to his own house, went alone to
the Mount of Olives, and in the morning, when every man returned to his daily task, went into
the Temple and taught. By His example, by His gifts, by the motive of His love, our resting,
working Lord says to each of us, ‘Ye that remind God, keep not silence.’ Let us answer, ‘For
Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.’
III. Finally, The constant activity of the servants of Christ will secure the constant
operation of God’s power.
‘Give Him no rest’: let there be no cessation to Him. These are bold words, which many people
would not have been slow to rebuke if they had been anywhere else than in the Bible. Those who

remind God are not to suffer Him to be still. The prophet believes that they can regulate the flow
of divine energy, can stir up the strength of the Lord.
It is easy to puzzle ourselves with insoluble questions about the co-operation of God’s power and
man’s; but practically, is it not true that God reaches His end, of the establishment of Zion,
through the Church? He has not barely willed that the world should be saved, nor barely that it
should be saved through Christ, nor barely that it should be saved through the knowledge of
Christ; but His will is that the world shall be saved, by faith in the person and work of Christ,
proclaimed as a gospel by men who believe it. And, as a matter of fact, is it not true that the
energy with which God’s power in the gospel manifests itself depends on the zeal and activity
and prayerfulness of the Church? The great reservoir is always full-full to the brim; however
much may be drawn from it, the water sinks not a hairsbreadth; but the bore of the pipe and the
power of the pumping-engine determine the rate at which the stream flows from it. ‘He could
there do no mighty works because of their unbelief.’ The obstruction of indifference dammed
back the water of life. The city perishes for thirst if the long line of aqueduct that strides across
the plain towards the home of the mountain torrents be ruinous, broken down, choked with
rubbish.
God is always the same-equally near, equally strong, equally gracious. But our possession of His
grace, and the impartation of His grace through us to others, vary, because our faith, our
earnestness, our desires, vary. True, these no doubt are also His gifts and His working, and
nothing that we say now touches in the least on the great truth that God is the sole originator of
all good in man; but while believing that, as no less sure in itself than blessed in its message of
confidence and consolation to us, we also have to remember, ‘If any man open the door, I will
come in to him.’ We may have as much of God as we want, as much as we can hold, far more
than we deserve. And if ever the victorious power of His Church seems to be almost paling to
defeat, and His servants to be working no deliverance upon the earth, the cause is not to be
found in Him who is ‘without variableness,’ nor in His gifts, which are ‘without repentance,’ but
solely in us, who let go our hold of the Eternal Might. No ebb withdraws the waters of that great
ocean; and if sometimes there be sand and ooze where once the flashing flood brought life and
motion, it is because careless warders have shut the sea-gates.
An awful responsibility lies on us. We can resist and refuse, or we can open our hearts and draw
into ourselves His strength. We can bring into operation those energies which act through
faithful men faithfully proclaiming the faithful saying; or we can limit the Holy One of Israel.
‘Why could not we cast him out?’ ‘Because of your unbelief.’
With what grand confidence, then, may the weakest of us go to his task. We have a right to feel
that in all our labour God works with us; that, in all our words for Him, it is not we that speak,
but the Spirit of our Father that speaks in us; that if humbly and prayerfully, with self-distrust
and resolute effort to crucify our own intrusive individuality, we wait for Him to enshrine
Himself within us, strength will come to us, drawn from the deep fountains of God, and we too
shall be able to say, ‘Not I, but the grace of God in me.’
How this sublime confidence should tell on our characters, destroying all self-confidence,
repressing all pride, calming all impatience, brightening all despondency, and ever stirring us
anew to deeds worthy of the ‘exceeding greatness of the power which worketh in us’-I can only
suggest.
On all sides motives for strenuous toil press in upon us-chiefly those great examples which we
have now been contemplating. But, besides these, there are other forms of activity which may
point the same lesson. Look at the energy around us. We live in a busy time. Life goes swiftly in
all regions. Men seem to be burning away faster than ever before, in an atmosphere of pure
oxygen. Do we work as hard for God as the world does for itself? Look at the energy beneath us:

how evil in every form is active; how lies and half-truths propagate themselves quick as the
blight on a rose-tree; how profligacy, and crime, and all the devil’s angels are busy on his
errands. If we are sitting drowsy by our camp-fires, the enemy is on the alert. You can hear the
tramp of their legions and the rumble of their artillery through the night as they march to their
posts on the field. It is no time for God’s sentinels to nod. If they sleep, the adversary does not,
but glides in the congenial darkness, sowing his baleful tares. Do we work as hard for God as the
emissaries of evil do for their master? Look at the energy above us. On the throne of the
universe is the immortal Power who slumbereth not nor sleepeth. Before the altar of the heavens
is the Priest of the world, the Lord of His Church, ‘who ever liveth to make intercession for us.’
Round Him stand perfected spirits, the watchmen on the walls of the New Jerusalem, who ‘rest
not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.’ From His presence come,
filling the air with the rustle of their swift wings and the light of their flame-faces, the
ministering spirits who evermore ‘do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word.’
And we, Christian brethren, where are we in all this magnificent concurrence of activity, for
purposes which ought to be dear to our hearts as they are to the heart of God? Do we work for
Him as He and all that are with Him do? Is His will done by us on earth, as it is heaven?
Alas! alas! have we not all been like those three apostles whose eyes were heavy with sleep even
while the Lord was wrestling with the tempter under the gnarled olives in the pale moonlight of
Gethsemane? Let us arouse ourselves from our sloth. Let us lift up our cry to God: ‘Awake,
awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord, as in the ancient days in the generations of old’; and
the answer shall sound from the heavens to us as it did to the prophet, an echo of his prayer
turned into a command, ‘Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion.’
10. MEYER, “THE LAND OF BEULAH
Isa_62:1-12
The Intercessor, Isa_62:1-4. Messiah is speaking here. Throughout the ages, He ever lives to
make intercession. He asks that His Church may be one, that the heathen may be given Him for
His inheritance, and that Israel may be restored. It is the cry of the unresting Savior. When
Jesus pleads for thee, poor soul, thou canst not be desolate and forsaken. God loves, though all
hate; God delights, though all abhor; God remains, though all forsake.
Intercessors, Isa_62:5-7. The Great High-Priest calls us to be priests. The unresting Lord calls
on us not to rest. He says, “Watch with me.” He gives us rest from sin and sorrow, that we may
not rest from prayer. We must take no rest and give God no rest. We are to become God’s
“remembrancers,” Isa_62:6, R.V.
The divine answer, Isa_62:8-12. To the prophet’s mind the prayer is already answered as soon
as spoken. Already the highway must be prepared for the return of the exiles. So to us, who have
lain among the ashes, salvation comes apace. Make ready to trail thy Deliverer! Then learn to
become the salt and benediction of others!
2
The nations will see your vindication,

and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.
1.BARNES, “And the Gentiles shall see - (see Isa_11:10 :÷ come a up I father me say
Isa_49:22; Isa_60:3, Isa_60:5, Isa_60:16).
And all kings thy glory - (See the notes at Isa_49:7, Isa_49:23; Isa_52:15; Isa_60:3,
Isa_60:10-11, Isa_60:16).
And thou shalt be called by a new name - A name which shall be significant and
expressive of a greatly improved and favored condition (see Isa_62:4). The idea is, that they
would not be in a condition in which a name denoting humiliation, poverty, and oppression
would be appropriate, but in circumstances where a name expressive of prosperity would be
adapted to express their condition. On the custom of giving significant names, see the notes at
Isa_7:3; Isa_8:1.
Which the mouth of the Lord shall name - Which shall be the more valuable because
Yahweh himself shall confer it, and which must therefore be appropriate (see the notes at
Isa_62:4, Isa_62:12.)
2. TEED 1-5, “God announces here that He will continue to work on Jerusalem’s behalf
until her righteousness, salvation, and glory are observed by the rest of the world (Isaiah
61:10-11) and the city is called by a new name. In the ancient Near East names often
signified one’s anticipated or present character. So Jerusalem’s having a new name means
it will have a Savior, you too have been given a new name to signify your new relationship
with God? (See Revelation 2:17 and 3:12.) When we receive Christ we become a brand new
person inside (2 Corinthians 5:17) and this new name seems to go along with that. Like a
crown, Jerusalem will be an adornment to the Lord. She will be a lighthouse to the world,
displaying His splendor; that is, her inhabitants will make evident Christ’s character by
their conduct. The beauty seen in Jerusalem’s reflection of Christ’s righteousness is seen in
these verses, as well as her new status as Christ’s holy bride. God will not be permanently
thwarted in his plan to create a holy nation, despite Israel’s sorry record of failure and
disobedience. In the last days of the Tribulation she will display Christ’s righteousness and
rather than being called Deserted (62:12) or Desolate, previous characteristics of the city,
Jerusalem will be named Hephzibah, meaning “My delight is in her,” and Beulah, meaning
“Married one.” The words “so will your sons marry you” imply that people again will live

in Jerusalem and God will be happy that His plan for the ages has been fulfilled.new
righteous character. Did you know that, if you have asked Christ to be your personal
3. GILL, “And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness,.... The innocence of her case, and
the justness of her cause, and the vengeance took on her enemies, all being so clear as before
declared; as well as her justifying righteousness, which being published in the Gospel to the
Gentiles, they shall see it, embrace it, and shall be justified by it, Rom_1:17 or "thy righteous
One", as the Vulgate Latin version, Christ:
and all kings thy glory; or, "thy glorious One", as the same version; her Lord in whom she
glories, and who is a glory to her, whom kings shall fall down before and worship, Psa_72:10 or
the glorious state of the church, which shall draw the eyes of kings unto it, and who shall
promote it by bringing their glory into it, Isa_60:1. Vitringa thinks all this refers to the times of
Constantine, before which kings had not seen the glory of the church, nor had she seen kings
subject to her; but now they began to see the glory of the kingdom of Christ: but it is better to
interpret it of the latter day, when not only kings begin to see, not a few of them, but all in
general shall see it:
and thou shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name;
either "Jehovah Shammah", "The Lord is there"; his presence being among his church and
people at this time in a remarkable manner, Eze_48:35 or Jehovah our righteousness; this being
most clearly revealed, as before observed, Jer_33:16 or Christ, to whom she is so closely united,
and so nearly allied, as to have his name on her, 1Co_12:12 or the church, and church of God,
and of Christ, names only to be met with in the New Testament, and under the Gospel
dispensation; or the name of Christians from Christ, Act_11:26, or, as is more commonly
received, the name of the sons of God, which the church of converted Jews shall have in the
latter day, when the name of "Loammi" is taken off from them, Hos_1:10, and to this passage
there may be an allusion in Rev_2:17. This name is a new name; a renewed one, at the time of
regeneration and faith, which was anciently provided in predestination, and bestowed in the
covenant of grace; a renowned one, better than that of sons and daughters of the greatest
potentates, and attended with various privileges; a wonderful name, an instance of marvellous
grace in God, who stood in no need of adopted ones, and to them so unworthy of it; and which is
ever new, and will always continue; this blessing of grace is of God, and not of men, and is to be
ascribed to the grace of God, Father, Son and Spirit. Kimchi makes this new name to be
"Hephzibah", Isa_62:4, not amiss.
3B. PULPIT COMMENTARY, “The Gentiles shall see, etc. A continuation of the account of Israel's
final glory, as given in Isa_61:6-9. What the Gentiles are especially to see and admire is Israel's
righteousness. This may point to those acknowledgments of the purity and excellence of the early Church
which were made by the heathen (Plin; 'Epist.,' 10.97), and which culminated in the saying, "See how
these Christians love one another!" The sceptic Gibbon acknowledges, among the causes of the success
of Christianity, "the virtues of the early Christians." All kings
(comp. Isa_49:7, Isa_49:23; Isa_60:3; Psa_50:22 :11). Thou shalt be called by a new
name (comp. Isa_61:4 and 12; and see also Isa_65:15). It is not altogether clear what the "new name" is,
since in the remainder of the present chapter more than one name is suggested. Rosenmuller supposes"
Hephzibah" to be meant. Dr. Kay suggests "the holy people," and notes that the title of "holy ones," or
"saints," is given by St. Paul to all Christians (Act_26:10; Rom_1:7; Rom_16:15;1Co_1:2, etc.). Mr.
Cheyne thinks that it is some unknown title of honour, akin to that mentioned by Jeremiah "Jehovah our
Righteousness" (Jer_33:16). "New names" will be given to individual saints in the heavenly kingdom
(Rev_2:17; Rev_3:12).

4. HENRY, “What God will do for the church. The prophet can but pray and preach, but God
will confirm the word and answer the prayers. 1. The church shall be greatly admired. When that
righteousness which is her salvation, her praise, and her glory, shall be brought forth, the
Gentiles shall see it. The tidings of it shall be carried to the Gentiles, and a tender of it made to
them; they may so see this righteousness as to share in it if it be not their own fault. “Even kings
shall see and be in love with the glory of thy righteousness” (Isa_62:2), shall overlook the glory
of their own courts and kingdoms, and look at, and look after, the spiritual glory of the church as
that which excels. 2. She shall be truly admirable. Great names make men considerable in the
world, and great respect is paid them thereupon; now it is agreed that honor est in honorante -
honour derives its value from the dignity of him who confers it. God is the fountain of honour
and from him the church's honour comes: “Thou shalt be called by a new name, a pleasant
name, such as thou wast never called by before, no, not in the day of thy greatest prosperity, and
the reverse of that which thou wast called by in the day of thy affliction; thou shalt have a new
character, be advanced to a new dignity, and those about thee shall have new thoughts of thee.”
This seems to be alluded to in that promise (Rev_2:17) of the white stone and in the stone a new
name, and that (Rev_3:12) of the name of the city of my God and my new name. It is a name
which the mouth of the Lord shall name, who, we are sure, miscalls nothing, and who will oblige
others to call her by the name he has given her; for his judgment is according to truth and all
shall concur with it sooner or later. Two names God shall give her: -
5. JAMISON, “(Isa_11:10; Isa_42:1-6; Isa_49:7, Isa_49:22, Isa_49:23; Isa_60:3, Isa_60:5,
Isa_60:16).
new name — expression of thy new and improved condition (Isa_62:4), the more valuable
and lasting as being conferred by Jehovah Himself (Isa_62:12; Isa_65:15; Rev_2:17; Rev_3:12).
6.SBC, “The speaker of these words is the personal Messiah. Notice the remarkable parallelism
in the expressions selected as the text: "I will not hold My peace;" the watchmen "shall never
hold their peace." And His command to them is literally, "Ye that remind Jehovah—no rest (or
silence) to you! and give not rest to Him." So that we have here Christ, the Church, and God all
represented as unceasingly occupied in the one great work of establishing Zion as the centre of
light, salvation, and righteousness for the whole world.
I. The glorified Christ is constantly working for His Church. Scripture sets forth the present
glorious life of our ascended Lord under two contrasted and harmonious aspects—as being rest,
and as being continuous activity in the midst of rest. Through all the ages His power is in
exercise. We have not only to look back to the cross, but up to the throne. From the cross we
hear a voice, "It is finished." From the throne a voice, "For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest."
II. Christ’s servants on earth derive from Him a like perpetual activity for the same object. The
Lord associates Himself with watchmen, whom He appoints and endows for functions in some

measure resembling His own, and exercised with constancy derived from Him. They are
watchmen, and they are also God’s remembrancers. In the one capacity, as in the other, their
voices are to be always heard. The watchman’s office falls to be done by all who see the coming
peril and have a tongue to echo it forth. The remembrancer’s priestly office belongs to every
member of Christ’s priestly kingdom, the lowest and least of whom has the privilege of
unrestrained entry into God’s presence-chamber, and the power of blessing the world by faithful
prayer. (1) Our voices should ever be heard on earth. (2) Our voices should ever be heard in
heaven. (3) The power for both is derived from Christ.
III. The constant activity of the servants of Christ will secure the constant operation of God’s
power. Those who remind God are not to suffer Him to be still. The prophet believes that they
can regulate the flow of Divine energy, can stir up the strength of the Lord. An awful
responsibility lies on us. We can resist and oppose, or we can open our hearts and draw into
ourselves His strength. We can bring into operation these energies which act through faithful
men faithfully proclaiming the faithful saying; or we can limit the Holy One of Israel. On all
sides motives for strenuous toil press in upon us. Look at the energy around, beneath, above us.
When are we in all this magnificent concurrence of energy, for purposes which ought to be dear
to our hearts, as they are to the heart of God?
Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester, 3rd series, p. 19.
6B. MACLAREN, “MAN’S CROWN AND GOD’S
Isa_28:5. - Isa_62:3.
Connection of first prophecy-destruction of Samaria. Its situation, crowning the hill with its walls and
towers, its fertile ‘fat valley,’ the flagrant immorality and drunkenness of its inhabitants, and its final ruin,
are all presented in the highly imaginative picture of its fall as being like the trampling under foot of a
garland on a reveller’s head, the roses of which fade and droop amid the fumes of the banqueting hall,
and are then flung out on the highway. The contrast presented is very striking and beautiful. When all that
gross and tumultuous beauty has faded and died, then God Himself will be a crown of beauty to His
people.
The second text comes into remarkable line with this. The verbal resemblance is not quite so strong in the
original. The words for diadem and crown are not the same; the word rendered glory in the second text is
rendered beauty in the first, but the two texts are entirely one in meaning. The same metaphor, then, is
used with reference to what God is to the Church and what the Church is to God. He is its crown, it is His.
I. The Possession of God is the Coronation of Man.
{a} Crowns were worn by guests at feasts. They who possess God sit at a table perpetually spread with
all which the soul can wish or want. Contrast the perishable delights of sense and godless life with the
calm and immortal joys of communion with God; ‘a crown that fadeth not away’ beside withered garlands.
{b} Crowns were worn by kings. They who serve God are thereby invested with rule over selves, over
circumstances, over all externals. He alone gives completeness to self-control.

{c} Crowns were worn by priests. The highest honour and dignity of man’s nature is thereby reached. To
have God is like a beam of sunshine on a garden, which brings out the colours of all the flowers; contrast
with the same garden in the grey monotony of a cloudy twilight.
II. The Coronation of Man in God is the Coronation of God in Man.
That includes the following thoughts.
The true glory of God is in the communication of Himself. What a wonderful light that throws on divine
character! It is equivalent to ‘God is Love.’
He who is glorified by God glorifies God, as showing the most wonderful working of His power in making
such a man out of such material, by an alchemy that can convert base metal into fine gold; as showing
the most wonderful condescension of His love in taking to His heart man, into whose flesh the rotting
leprosy of sin has eaten.
Such a man will glorify God by becoming a conscious herald of His praise. He who has God in his heart
will magnify Him by lip and life. Redeemed men are ‘secretaries of His praise’ to men, and ‘to
principalities and powers in heavenly places is made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.’
He who thus glorifies God is held in God’s hand.
‘None shall pluck them out of My Father’s hand.’
All this will be perfected in heaven. Redeemed men lead the universal chorus that thunders forth ‘glory to
Him that sitteth on the throne.’
‘He shall come to be glorified in His saints.’
‘Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.’
7. CALVIN, “2.And the Gentiles shall see. He now states more plainly the reason why he formerly said
that he would not be silent, namely, that believers may be fully convinced that salvation is not promised to
them in vain.
And all the kings of the earth thy glory. Here he employs the word “” as meaning “” We see here the
argument by which prophets must fortify themselves for perseverance, namely, that the Lord is faithful,
and will at length fulfill what he has once promised, though he delay for a time. The word kings serves for
amplification; as if he had said that not only mean persons and those of the lowest rank shall behold and
admire the glory of God, but even “” themselves, who commonly look down with contempt on all that was
worthy in other respects of being esteemed and honored; for they are blinded by their splendor, and
maddened by their high rank, so that they do not willingly behold any rank but their own.

And thou shalt be called by a new name. By a “ name” he means “ crowded assemblage;” for the people
were so completely scattered, that there was no visible body, and they appeared to be altogether ruined.
Although a vast multitude of persons were led into captivity, yet, having been scattered among the
Babylonians, they were driven about like the members of a body broken in pieces, and scarcely retained
the name of a people; which had also been foretold to them. After having been brought back from
captivity, they began again to be united in one body, and thus regained the “” of which they had been
deprived. Yet “” denotes what is uncommon; as if the Prophet had said that the glory of the people shall
be extraordinary and such as was never before heard of. We know that this took place in the progress of
time; for that small band of people, while they dwelt by sufferance in their native country, could not by any
extraordinary distinction arrive at so great renown; but at length, when the doctrine of the Gospel had
been preached, the Jewish name became known and renowned.
Which the mouth of Jehovah shall name. He confirms what would otherwise have been hard to be
believed, by promising that God will be the author of this glory; for it was not in the power of men thus to
raise a Church which had sunk low and was covered with dishonor, but to God, who “ up the poor from
the dunghill,” (Psa_113:7,) it was not difficult to adorn his Church by new celebrity. As there was no face
of a Church for forty years, and, although the Lord had some seed, yet it was in a state so disordered and
so ruinous that there was no visible people of God, he now restores to the Church its name, when he has
assembled it by the word of the Gospel. This majestic work of God, therefore, ought to confirm us on this
point, that we may know that he will never forsake his Church; and although wicked men tear us by their
slanders, and beat and spit upon us, and in every way endeavor to make us universally loathed, let us
remember that God is not deprived of his right to vindicate us in the world, whose names he has deigned
to write in heaven.
Others expound the passage in a more ingenious manner, namely, that instead of Israelites they shall be
called Christians. But I think that the former meaning is more agreeable to the context and to the Prophet’
ordinary language; and we ought carefully to observe those forms of expression which are peculiar to the
prophets, that we may become familiar with their style. In a word, the people shall be restored, though it
appears to be exterminated, and shall obtain, not from men but from God, a new name.
8. COFFMAN, “Terms like salvation, and righteousness, identify the period envisioned as that of the New
Covenant in Christ. Some very significant additional information about that `name' which God promised
his people appears in this passage: (1) it shall be a new name; (2) it will be given at a time when the
Gentiles have been accepted into the family of God, and when kings have become aware of God's
salvation, and (3) there is a repetition here of the fact that God Himself will give the name. These
statements, added to those in Isaiah 56:5, make seven earmarks by which that New Name may be
positively and unerringly identified. We shall discuss them in order, beginning with the five from Isaiah
56:5.

THE NEW NAME IS THE NAME "CHRISTIAN"
1. It was given by God Himself. This means that God assigned it, commanded it, and ordered his children
to wear it. Where? In the Holy Scriptures, where all the rest of his commandments are recorded. "Let
none of you suffer as a thief, or a murderer, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in other men's matters"; but if
a man suffer as a CHRISTIAN, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name (1 Peter
4:15,16). To be perfectly candid about it, this command of God through the apostle Peter is as plain,
definite, and binding upon the followers of Christ as are the other commandments in the same verses,
namely, "Thou shalt not kill"; and "Thou shalt not steal."
Since the name was given and commanded by God Himself, this means that the name "Christian" was
not invented and applied by the enemies of Christianity, as some vainly and erroneously assert. There is
no way that men could intelligently assert that Satan would have assigned any name to the followers of
Christ that contained a memorial to the Son of God as does the name Christian.
As to the question of how men can glorify God in the name Christian, the answer is "by wearing it,"
applying it to themselves, and using it to the exclusion of unauthorized, sectarian, and divisive names.
2. The name "Christian" was given by God "within his walls, within his house," This means that it was
assigned and worn first within the church of our Lord, that being the only "house" God ever had. And
where was that? It occurred at Antioch where, "The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" (Acts
11:26).
The appearance of the name Christian in Antioch was no casual, accidental, or insignificant occurrence. It
came as the result of a number of very impressive developments. God selected a very important person
to bring that name and bestow it upon the disciples, namely, Paul the mighty evangelist of the New
Testament, the reason for that choice evidently being the truth that the Twelve Apostles seemed unlikely,
at that time ever to meet the conditions under which the New Name would require to be given (see under
No. 7, below). (a) Thus Paul was converted in Acts 9; and in that very chapter God revealed that the
apostle Paul was that "chosen vessel unto me (God), to bear my (God's) name before the Gentiles and
kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15). The use in this passage of the very phraseology of this
chapter in Isaiah declares the evident truth that the apostle Paul was to be the "Name Bearer," who would
be the person through whom the New Name would be given to the church. (b) But as we shall see under
7, below, the Gentiles were first to be accepted into God's fellowship before the New Name would be
given. Very well, the basis of that general acceptance of Gentiles took place in Peter's baptism of the
house of Cornelius, as recorded in Acts 10. (c) Then in Acts 11, the New Name appears. Note the
remarkable progression: Acts 9, the name bearer was converted and designated; Acts 10, a great Gentile
congregation appeared in Antioch; and Acts 11, the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch! It is
simply impossible to believe that all of these events fell into such a pattern accidentally. Some will wonder
at our reference to Paul as the person "through whom" God delivered the New Name; but the last portion
of Acts 11 shows this to be the case. When the Church in Jerusalem heard of the Gentiles being
accepted into the faith in Antioch, they sent Barnabas, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Barnabas
immediately went to Tarsus and brought Paul to Antioch, where a great Gentile church was gathered in
about a year. Significantly, it was after Paul's arrival, that the New Name was given.
3. The name "Christian" is a memorial name, appropriately memorializing the holy Head and Redeemer of
the body of his Church. The mention of the marriage tie several times in this chapter is appropriate in
connection with the sublime truth that all of the members of the Bride of Christ should indeed wear the
name of their bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing could possibly be more appropriate in this
context than the New Name, CHRISTIAN!
4. The New Name was promised to be a name better than that of sons and of daughters; and whatever is
included in such a declaration, it has to mean that the New Name will be different from that of sons and of
daughters.

5. The New Name was to be "an everlasting name that would never be cut off." The name "Christian"
qualifies under this characteristic also, because followers of Christ are today wearing the name
"Christian," just as Paul attempted to persuade Herod Agrippa to do (Acts 26:28) during the first century
of our era.
6. It was promised to be a New Name, and this is a most important qualification. This means that it could
not be "Hephzibah," which Adam Clarke and others suggested as a possibility,[3]
or Beulah, as some Bible
concordances affirm; because neither of these was a new name. Hephzibah was the name of the mother
of Manasseh, and our text also declares that "Beulah" would be the name of "the land," not of the people
of God. This same qualification eliminates all thought of "disciples" being the New Name, because that is
a very old name. In the days before Christ, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, and the Herodians, and
John the Baptist all had their "disciples."
7. The appearance here, in conjunction with the promise of the New Name, of the declaration that the
kings and the Gentiles should see the righteousness of God, as well as the mention of the very same
things by Ananias upon the occasion of Paul's baptism when the "Name-bearer" was designated, is a
powerful indication that the New Name would never be given until Gentiles were generally accepted into
God's Church; and, as we have seen, the name was never given until a great Gentile congregation had
been gathered in Antioch. This accounts for the use of the term "disciples" as the name of Christ's
followers throughout the gospels and throughout most of Acts of Apostles. Significantly, after the Book of
Acts, no sacred writer ever used the word "disciples" again as a designation of the Lord's people. The
apostle John, for example, used "disciples" dozens of times in the Gospel, but never used it all in the four
other books that he wrote later!
We do not believe that "disciples" is a proper term at all when used in place of the word Christian. What is
wrong with the name God gave, commanded, and that he requested we should use to glorify God "in this
name"?
McGuiggan is an able writer; and his suggestion that this New Name might have something to do with the
name "Of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," into which Christians are baptized,"[4]
is
interesting. However, my own conviction is that the name "Christian" is indeed "the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," in the sense of being the name that originated with the Godhead,
was commanded by the Father, memorializes the name of Christ, and is received by the power of the
Holy Spirit.
3
You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
1.BARNES, “Thou shalt also be a crown of glory - On the application of the word
‘crown’ to a place, see the notes at Isa_28:1, where it is applied to Samaria. Some difficulty has
been felt by expositors in explaining this, from the fact that a crown or diadem was worn on the
head and not held in the hand, and some have supposed that the word ‘crown’ here is equivalent
to any ornament which might be either horne in the hand or worn on the head; others have
supposed that the reference is to the custom of carrying a chaplet or garland in the hand on
festival occasions. But probably the sense is this, ‘Thou shalt I be so beautiful and prosperous as

Isaiah 62 commentary

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Isaiah 62 commentary