Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 42:16

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 42:16. In paths — The Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and nine MSS., (two ancient,) read ובנתיבות ubenotiboth.

Will I do unto them — עשיתם asitem. This word, so written as it is in the text, means "thou wilt do," in the second person. The Masoretes have indeed pointed it for the first person; but the י yod in the last syllable is absolutely necessary to distinguish the first person; and so it is written in forty MSS., עשיתים asithim.

Jarchi, Kimchi, Sal. ben Melec, c., agree that the past time is here put for the future, עשיתי asithi for אעשה and indeed the context necessarily requires that interpretation. Farther it is to be observed that עשיתים asithim is put for עשיתי להם asithi lahem, "I have done them," for "I have done for them;" as עשיתני asitheni is for עשיתי לי asiti li, "I have made myself," for "I have made for myself," Ezekiel 29:2; and in the celebrated passage of Jephthah's vow, Judges 11:31, והעליתיהו עולה veheelitihu olah for העליתי לו עולה heelithi lo olah, "I will offer him a burnt-offering," for "I will offer unto him (that is, unto JEHOVAH) a burnt-offering;" by an ellipsis of the preposition of which Buxtorf gives many other examples, Thes. Grammat. lib. ii. 17. See also Clarke's note on "Isaiah 65:5". A late happy application of this grammatical remark to that much disputed passage has perfectly cleared up a difficulty which for two thousand years had puzzled all the translators and expositors, had given occasion to dissertations without number, and caused endless disputes among the learned on the question, whether Jephthah sacrificed his daughter or not; in which both parties have been equally ignorant of the meaning of the place, of the state of the fact, and of the very terms of the vow; which now at last has been cleared up beyond all doubt by my learned friend Dr. Randolph, Margaret Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford, in his Sermon on Jephthah's Vow, Oxford, 1766. - L.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Success and failure of God’s servant (42:1-25)

In the previous chapter the servant of Yahweh was identified with Israel (see 41:8). Israel is probably again the servant who is identified here, but the ideals outlined in this song never became a reality in the nation. They did, to some extent, characterize the faithful remnant, but they found their perfect expression only in the one who embodied the ideals God desired, Jesus Christ. The prophet foresees that this servant of Yahweh, though empowered by God’s Spirit and concerned with establishing God’s justice in the world, will never make a show to attract attention to himself, never hurt those who sorrow, and never turn away from those of even the weakest faith (42:1-4).
The result of the servant’s work will be the salvation of people from many nations. Through his servant, the Creator will send the message of his salvation to the people of his creation, to turn them from darkness to light, from bondage to freedom (5-7). Yahweh, the eternal God and all-powerful redeemer, needs no help from idols in this. He will bring his purposes to fulfilment through his servant. The Jews’ salvation out of bondage in Babylon will be a sign and a guarantee of a much wider salvation that is yet to come (8-9).
This statement of God’s purposes brings forth an outburst of praise. From various parts of creation and from various nations of the world, people join in singing praises to the merciful God (10-12). This same God, however, will destroy those who fight against him (13).
God himself then speaks. He had appeared to be inactive and silent during the time of the Jews’ captivity in Babylon, but now he will act decisively. He will lead his people out of the blindness and darkness of captivity back to the land of their ancestors (14-16). At this demonstration of God’s power, all those who trusted in idols will feel foolish and ashamed (17).
Having set out his ideal purposes for Israel (see v. 1-4), God now displays the condition of Israel that brought about its captivity in Babylon. Spiritually the people were blind and deaf, and stubbornly refused to see God’s truth or listen to his voice (18-20). God had given them his law so that they might bring other nations to know him and praise him. Instead they disobeyed his law and were plundered by those nations (21-22). The calamities that befell Israel were not accidental; they were sent by God. But because the people did not know God, they did not know the meaning of the events that brought about their defeat and captivity (23-25).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself; now will I cry out like a travailing woman; I will gasp and pant together. I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools. And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; in paths that they know not will I lead them; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things will I do, and I will not forsake them. They shall be turned back, they shall be utterly put to shame, that trust in graven images, that say unto molten images, Ye are our gods."

This paragraph is not limited to God's judgment of pagan nations but applies to all mankind, Jew and Gentile alike. "I have long time" refrained myself reminds us of Paul's words in Romans 9:22 ff, where is mentioned the "longsuffering" of God in putting up with the repeated rebellions of the Jews. This paragraph shows that God's grace, just mentioned, is not a mere relaxing of God's requirements, or a softening of his attitude toward evil. On the other hand, "This paragraph shows God's fury against evil (Isaiah 42:13-14) and his pent-up zeal to redress it… salvation will only come through judgment, and will not be for the impenitent (Isaiah 42:17). Compare Isaiah 63:1-6."Ibid.

There are certainly overtones of the final judgment in this paragraph, another instance where temporal judgment to be executed upon some earthly situation is to be understood typically of the Great Judgment at the second advent of Christ. Other examples are the judgments against Sodom, Gomorrah, Nineveh, Babylon, Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the Locust Plague in Joel and many others. Although the particular judgment referred to here may not be clearly identifiable, it appears likely that the judgment of the blind and deaf servant (the fleshly Israel) could very well be the one indicated.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

And I will lead the blind - Having said in the previous verses what he would do to his enemies, God now speaks of his people. He would conduct them to their own land, as a blind people that needed a guide, and would remove whatever obstacle there was in their way. By the ‘blind’ here, he refers doubtless to his own people. The term is applied originally to his people in captivity, as being ignorant, after their seventy years’ exile, of the way of return to their own land. It is possible that it may have a reference to the fact, so often charged on them, that they were characteristically a stupid and spiritually blind people. But it is more probable that it is the language of tenderness rather than that of objurgation; and denotes their ignorance of the way of return, and their need of a guide, rather than their guilt, and hardness of heart. If applied to the people of God under the New Testament - as the entire strain of the prophecy seems to lead ns to conclude - then it denotes that Christians will feel their need of a leader, counselor, and guide; and that Yahweh, as a military leader, will conduct them all in a way which they did not know, and remove all obstacles from their path.

By a way that they knew not - When they were ignorant what course to take; or in a path which they did not contemplate or design. It is true of all the friends of God that they have been led in a way which they knew not. They did not mark out this course for themselves; they did not at first form the plans of life which they came ultimately to pursue; they have been led, by the providence of God, in a different path, and by the Spirit of God they have been inclined to a course which they themselves would never have chosen (compare the note at Isaiah 30:21).

I will make darkness light before them - Darkness, in the Scriptures, is the emblem of ignorance, sin, adversity, and calamity. Here it seems to be the emblem of adverse and opposing events; of calamities, persecutions, and trials. The meaning is, that God would make those events which seemed to be adverse and calamitous, the means of furthering his cause, and promoting the spirit of the true religion, and the happiness of his people. This has been eminently the case with the persecutions which rite church has endured. The events which have been apparently most adverse, have been ultimately overruled to the best interests of the true religion. Such was the case with the persecutions under the Roman emperors, and in general such has been the case in all the persecutions which the church has been called to suffer.

And crooked things straight - Things which seem to be adverse and opposing - the persecutions and trials which the people of God would be called to endure.

And not forsake them - (See Isaiah 41:10, note, Isaiah 41:13, note).

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

16.And I will lead the blind. After having shewn that the strength of the enemies cannot prevent God from delivering his people, he proceeds with that consolation to which he had formerly adverted. He describes by the word blind those whose affairs are so difficult, and intricate, and disordered, that they know not to what hand to turn, or in what direction to flee, and, in short, who see no means of escape, but deep gulfs on every hand. When our affairs proceed smoothly enough, a plain and easy path is placed before our eyes; and, in like manner, when our affairs are painful and distressing, and especially when they hold out no hope of relief, but threaten destruction to us, and are covered with deep and melancholy darkness, we are blinded. When we have thus no means of escape, the Prophet tells us that at that very time we ought, especially to hope and to look for assistance from the Lord.

It is often advantageous to us also to have no way open to us, to be straitened and hemmed in on every hand, and even to be blinded, that we may learn to depend solely on God’s assistance and to rely on him; for, so long as a plank is left on which we think that we can seize, we turn to it with our whole heart. While we are driven about in all directions, the consequence is, that the remembrance of heavenly grace fades from our memory. If, therefore, we desire that God should assist us and relieve our adversity, we must be blind, we must turn away our eyes from the present condition of things, and restrain our judgment, that we may entirely rely on his promises. Although this blindness is far from being pleasant, and shews the weakness of our mind, yet, if we judge from the good effects which it produces, we ought not greatly to shun it; for it is better to be “blind” persons guided by the hand of God, than, by excessive sagacity, to form labyrinths for ourselves.

And will turn darkness before them into light. When he promises that he will give “light” instead of “darkness,” he confirms what has been already said; and therefore, although we see not even a ray of light in adversity, yet we ought not to despair of God’s assistance, but at that very time we ought especially to embrace his promises; for the Lord will easily change darkness into light, make straight the crooked windings, and lead us into the path, that we may walk with safety. Yet let us perceive that these things are promised to believers alone, who intrust themselves to God, and allow themselves to be governed by him; and, in short, who have known their blindness, and willingly follow him as their leader, and amidst the darkness of afflictions patiently wait for the dawn of grace. To those only who abide by his promises does he stretch out his hand, and not to the wise men ⁽¹⁵⁹⁾ who wish to see in spite of him, or who are carried headlong by unlawful schemes.

(159) “Non pas a ces sages mondains.” “Not to these worldly wise men.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 42

Now God speaks of another servant. This is His righteous servant, even Jesus Christ. And now Isaiah begins to prophesy concerning Christ, the servant of God.

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth ( Isaiah 42:1 );

You remember when Jesus was baptized that there came the voice from heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him" ( Matthew 17:5 ). God declares, "In whom my soul delights."

I have put my Spirit upon him ( Isaiah 42:1 ):

And at the time of the baptism, you remember the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended as a dove and lighted upon Him and the voice of the Father said, "This is My beloved Son." But here's a prophecy of the baptism of Jesus and those events that would take place. "My servant, in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him."

he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles ( Isaiah 42:1 ).

So the gospel coming unto the Gentiles through Jesus Christ is predicted.

He will not cry, nor lift up, his voice to be heard in the street ( Isaiah 42:2 ).

Israel, which at the time of His coming was,

A bruised reed will he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: till he bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he has set judgment in the earth: and the coast shall wait for his law ( Isaiah 42:3-4 ).

Now we are told that Jesus is sitting there at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the kingdom to be given unto Him. In Hebrews it said, "God has put all things in subjection under Him. But we do not yet see all things in subjection unto Him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor" ( Hebrews 2:8-9 ). Waiting until the kingdom really will be given unto Him, until this expectation is fulfilled. So God's promise that He has set Him for judgment in the earth.

Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein ( Isaiah 42:5 ):

God declaring now Himself. As Francis Schaeffer said the time has come when we shouldn't just speak of God, because there are so many different gods the people worship. Or people have so many different concepts of God that when you talk about God, unless you define the god that you are talking about, they really don't know who you are talking about. So we need to define God as the eternal, living God who created the heavens and the earth. Well, it is interesting when God defines Himself He goes a little bit further. "He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and all that comes out of it; He that gives breath to the people upon it."

You remember when Daniel came in to Belshazzar, who had ordered that the golden vessels that his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought in that they might drink their wine out of those vessels that had been dedicated unto God's service. And as they were drinking the wine, the handwriting came on the wall and his knees began to smote one against another. We're going to have a prophecy of this, of his knees here in Isaiah when we get to chapter 45 tonight. He prophesies this guy's knees shaking. And Daniel said... The fingers of the hand appeared and the writing on the wall, and the king called for the counselors to interpret and none of them could. So the queen mother said, "Well, there's a man in the kingdom from among the Jews and God has given to him wisdom in the time of your grandfather. He told of dreams and visions." And so they called Daniel in and Daniel gave a lecture to Belshazzar before he interpreted the writing. He said, "When your father was really nothing, God raised him up and gave him this great kingdom of Babylon. And when he exalted his heart against God, God allowed him the madness and he lived like an animal until seven seasons had passed over. Then God restored the kingdom and his sanity to him. But this God," he said, "you have not glorified. And the God in whose very hand your breath is." And that was the indictment against him. Here he had been taking his breath from God and yet using that breath to profane God. But God in whose very hand...

Did you ever realize how totally dependent you are upon God? And here God declares the dependency of man. "I've created all of the things that are in the earth. In fact, I've given breath to them all."

I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and to them that sit in darkness out of the prison house ( Isaiah 42:6-7 ).

When Paul was talking to Agrippa, and more or less giving his defense before king Agrippa, in Acts chapter 26 beginning with verse Isaiah 42:17 , Paul declared to Agrippa how that the Lord had appeared unto him and said unto him that he had sent Paul. "Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee. To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and the inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" ( Acts 26:17-18 ). Paul's commission from the Lord was to go to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, to turn them from their darkness to the light of God, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive the forgiveness of their sins. And so Paul is really taking a part out of Isaiah here where God speaks of Him going to set His people as a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners from the prison, and those that sit in darkness out of the prison house. To deliver us from that prison of sin, that power that sin has upon a person's life.

I am the LORD; that is ( Isaiah 42:8 )

I am. And, of course, you've got to really translate. I mean, you've got to. I am Yahweh or Yahovah, whatever the pronunciation is.

That is my name ( Isaiah 42:8 ):

You see, LORD in all capitals is not a title. In the New Testament the term Lord is a title. It is the Greek word kurios. But in the Old Testament, there is adonahai, the Hebrew which is a title, Lord. And when you find that, it is capital "L," small o-r-d. But when the name of God, the Yahweh, the consonants Y-H-V-H which are in the text, that stands for the name of God. And only the consonants were written so a man would not pronounce the name in his mind. But God declares, "I am Yahweh. That is My name."

and my glory will I not give to another, and neither will I give praise to graven images ( Isaiah 42:8 ).

Now this is heavy-duty stuff. And anyone, anyone who ever seeks to serve God and to minister for God must remember that God will not give His glory to another. There are many people who seek to bring glory to themselves in their service to God. "Let your light," Jesus said, "so shine before men, that when they see your good works, they glorify your Father which is in heaven" ( Matthew 5:16 ). We must take care that we do not serve God in such a way as to bring personal glory or honor to ourselves. And that is a constant danger because of our flesh which delights in glory and recognition and fame and honor. But God said, "I will not give My glory to another." And the minute we start taking God's glory for ourselves, we're in big trouble with God.

"I will not give it to another, neither My praise to graven images." God really takes off on the images that these people were making. The likenesses and the stupidity of making their own gods. How it is so totally illogical for a man to make his own god, and you'll get into that pretty soon.

He said,

Behold, the former things are come to pass, and the new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them ( Isaiah 42:9 ).

This was what He was challenging the other gods to do. But He said, "I'm doing it. I've told you of the former things and I'm declaring to you things before they ever happen."

Sing unto the LORD a new song, sing his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the coast, and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock [that is, Petras] sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the coast. For the LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies ( Isaiah 42:10-13 ).

Now in many places in the Old Testament, there is a reference to the Lord when He comes in His glory roaring like a lion. This is one of them. "He shall cry, yea, He'll roar like a lion roaring over its prey that it has subdued." And in Revelation, chapter 10, the description of the coming again of Jesus Christ, it said, "And He shall roar as a lion" ( Revelation 10:3 ). So I am so anxious to hear that roar. The next reference in the Old Testament Isa 25:30 ,but all the way through the Old Testament there are many references and we'll follow them through as we go through this time. This is one of the first of them.

I have held my peace for a long time; I have been still, I have refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once ( Isaiah 42:14 ).

How patient God has been as He allowed the earth to go on in this condition since Christ, 2,000 years almost. God said, "I've held My peace for a long time." I've wondered how God could hold His peace for so long. I wondered how God could let things go by. He said, "I've been still; I've refrained Myself." But now the time has come.

I will make waste mountains and hills, I will dry up their vegetables; I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and the crooked things straight ( Isaiah 42:15-16 ).

Notice the desolation will come before the rebuilding.

You remember when God commissioned Jeremiah to prophesy. God said to Jeremiah that, "I have called thee to root out, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down, to build, and to plant" ( Jeremiah 1:10 ). You see, sometimes things get so corrupt, before you can build you just got to wipe out what's there. And so with Jeremiah. The nation had become so corrupt. He had to root out, pull down, destroy before he began to build and to plant. Now here again is the same thing. God's judgment is first going to come, making waste the earth in the Great Tribulation period. And then He will begin His work of restoration, opening the eyes of the blind. "Making darkness light before them, straightening the crooked paths."

These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in their graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods. Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servant? ( Isaiah 42:16-19 )

Israel was so blind to the things of God. And Jesus said, "Well did Isaiah the prophet testify of you, saying, 'Having eyes to see, you will not see; having ears to hear, you will not hear'" ( Matthew 13:14 ). God's nation, God's people were blind when the Messiah came. They did not recognize Him. It said, "He came to His own, and His own received Him not" ( John 1:11 ). And Jesus spoke of their blindness to them. "Who is blind, but my servant?"

or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant? Seeing many things, but you don't observe them; opening your ears, but yet you're not hearing. The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable. But this is a people that are robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? ( Isaiah 42:19-24 )

Who turned the nation over?

did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he didn't lay it up to heart ( Isaiah 42:24-25 ).

And so they were destroyed. They were driven out of the land. And yet they didn't consider that it was because of their rejection of God's promised Messiah that these things came upon them. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

However, He would lead His own people, those unable to find their way through the blinding storm of His judgment, to safety (cf. Revelation 12:14). The people of Israel were blind and could not bring the Gentiles into the light, but God would lead His blind servants (cf. Isaiah 42:7). He promised definitely to do this.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not,.... The Targum interprets this of the people of Israel, thus,

"I will lead the house of Israel, which are like to the blind, in a way which they knew not.''

But it is better to understand it of the Gentiles, who, before the light of the Gospel came among them, were blind as to the true knowledge of God, and especially as in Christ; and of Christ, and the way of peace, life, and salvation by him; and of themselves, and their miserable estate and condition; and of the Spirit of God, and his operations; and of the Scriptures, the Gospel, and the doctrines of it; and which is the case of all men in a state of nature: but the Lord, by his Spirit, opens the eyes of their understandings, and shows them those things they were blind in, and ignorant of, and brings them by a way they knew not before; which way is Christ, the only way to the Father; the way of peace, righteousness, and life; the way to heaven, and eternal happiness: this they knew not before, but thought they must make their own way to God, and their peace with him; must be justified by their own works, and work out their own salvation; but, in conversion, this way to Christ is made known and plain unto them; and in this way the Lord brings all his people to eternal glory:

I will lead them in paths that they have not known; in the paths of duty and truth; in the paths of faith, righteousness, and holiness, and in the ordinances of the Gospel; which they were aliens and strangers to before:

I will make darkness light before them; by going before them himself, as before the children of Israel in a pillar of fire by night; by giving his word to enlighten them; by granting his good Spirit, as a spirit of illumination to them; and by lifting up the light of his countenance on them:

and crooked things straight; remove all obstructions, bear them up under all discouragements, and carry them through all difficulties:

these things will I do unto them, and not forsake them; which may be depended upon, being promised by him that is able to perform, is true, and faithful, and changes not; and, when done, shall not be the last done for them; he will never leave them, nor forsake them, till he has brought them safe to glory.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.   14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.   15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.   16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.   17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

      It comes all to one whether we make these verses (as some do) the song itself that is to be sung by the Gentile world or a prophecy of what God will do to make way for the singing of that song, that evangelical new song.

      I. He will appear in his power and glory more than ever. So he did in the preaching of his gospel, in the divine power and energy which went along with it, and in the wonderful success it had in the pulling down of Satan's stronghold,Isaiah 42:13; Isaiah 42:14. He had long held his peace, and been still, and refrained himself, while he winked at the times of the ignorance of the Gentile world (Acts 17:30), and suffered all nations to walk in their own ways (Acts 14:16); but now he shall go forth as a mighty man, as a man of war, to attack the devil's kingdom and give it a fatal blow. The going forth of the gospel is thus represented, Revelation 6:2. Christ, in it, went forth conquering and to conquer. The ministry of the apostles is called their warfare; and they were the soldiers of Jesus Christ. He shall stir up jealousy, shall appear more jealous than ever for the glory of his own name and against idolatry. 1. He shall cry, in the preaching of his word, cry like a travailing woman; for the ministers of Christ preached as men in earnest, and that travailed in birth again till they saw Christ formed in the souls of the people, Galatians 4:19. He shall cry, yea, roar, in the gospel woes, which are more terrible than the roaring of a lion, and which must be preached along with gospel blessings to awaken a sleeping world. 2. He shall conquer by the power of his Spirit: He shall prevail against his enemies, shall prevail to make them friends, Colossians 1:21. Those that contradict and blaspheme his gospel, he shall prevail to put them to silence and shame. He will destroy and devour at once all the oppositions of the powers of darkness. Satan shall fall as lightning from heaven, and he that had the power of death shall be destroyed. As a type and figure of this, to make way for the redemption of the Jews out of Babylon, God will humble the pride, and break the power, of their oppressors, and will at once destroy and devour the Babylonian monarchy. In accomplishing this destruction of Babylon by the Persian army under the command of Cyrus, he will make waste mountains and hills, level the country, and dry up all their herbs. The army, as usual, shall either carry off the forage or destroy it, and by laying bridges of boats over rivers shall turn them into islands, and so drain the fens and low grounds, to make way for the march of their army, that the pools shall be dried up. Thus, when the gospel shall be preached, it shall have a free course, and that which hinders the progress of it shall be taken out of the way.

      II. He will manifest his favour and grace towards those whose spirits he had stirred up to follow him, as Ezra 1:5. Those who ask the way to Zion he will show the way, and lead in it, Isaiah 42:16; Isaiah 42:16. Those who by nature were blind, and those who, being under convictions of sin and wrath are quite at a loss and know not what to do with themselves, God will lead by a way that they knew not, will show them the way to life and happiness by Jesus Christ, who is the way, and will conduct and carry them on in that way, which before they were strangers to. Thus, in the conversion of Paul, he was struck blind first, and then God revealed his Son in him, and made the scales to fall from his eyes. They are weak in knowledge, and the truths of God at first seem unintelligible; but God will make darkness light before them, and knowledge shall be easy to them. They are weak in duty, the commands of God seem impracticable, and insuperable difficulties are in the way of their obedience; but God will make crooked things straight; their way shall be plain, and the yoke easy. Those whom God brings into the right way he will guide in it. As a type of this, he will lead the Jews, when they return out of captivity, in a ready road to their own land again, and nothing shall occur to perplex or embarrass them in their journey. These are great things, and kind things, very great and very kind; but lest any should say, "They are too great, too kind, to be expected from God by such an undeserving people as that of the Jews, such an undeserving world as that of the Gentiles," he adds, These things will I do unto them, take my word for it I will, and I will not forsake them; he that begins to show this great mercy will go on to do them good.

      III. He will particularly put those to confusion who adhere to idols notwithstanding the attempts made by the preaching of the gospel to turn them from idols (Isaiah 42:17; Isaiah 42:17): They shall be turned back, and greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images. The Babylonians shall when they see how the Jews, who despise their images, are owned and delivered by the God they worship without images, and the Gentiles when they see how idolatry falls before the preaching of the gospel, is scattered like darkness before the light of the sun, and melts like snow before its heat. They shall be ashamed that ever they said to these molten images, You are our gods; for how can those help their worshippers who cannot help themselves, nor save themselves from falling into contempt? In times of reformation, when many turn from iniquity, and sin, being generally deserted, becomes unfashionable, it may be hoped that those who will not otherwise be reclaimed will be wrought upon by that consideration to be ashamed of it.

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

Joyful Transformations

"I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight."--Isaiah 42:16 .

In the pursuit of holiness the pilgrim is often surrounded with darkness: while in the pathway of evil the traveller is dazzled with a glare of light. It is the way of the tempter to make the downward path as attractive as possible with the flaring splendour of carnal pleasure. Sin is surrounded with a fascinating lustre which enchants the unwary seeker of pleasure, and leads him to his own destruction. Look at the palace of firewater, dedicated to the demon of drunkenness; it is brighter than any other house in the street! see how it glitters with abundant lamps, and mirrors, and burnished brass! Rich with colour are the flowers which bloom at

the mouth of the old serpent's den. As the sirens in the old classic fable enchanted mariners with their songs, so that, beneath the spell of their music, they turned the prows of their vessels towards the rocks of sure destruction, even so sin constrains the sons of men to make shipwreck of their souls. Evil seemeth to be surrounded evermore with a light that dazzles and fascinates, even as the brightness of the candle attracts the fly to its destruction. As for the way of righteousness and truth, it appears from the text that murky clouds frequently rest upon it, and the way appears rough and crooked, otherwise it were not necessary to say, "I will make darkness light before them;" neither were it needful that a divine hand should interfere to make the crooked straight. Brethren, the

day of evil commences with a flattering morning and changes into tenfold night, but God's day, the day of good, begins at eventide, like the primeval days of the creation, the evening and the morning were the first day. We who follow the Lord Jesus have our night first, and our day has yet to dawn, the sun of which shall no more go down. God for us keepeth the best wine until the last, while at the banquet of Satan they set forth the best wine, and afterwards that which is worse; yea, the dregs are wrung out in the end for the wicked of the earth to drink. As for the righteous, they have their draughts of wormwood here, before their high festival begins, to give them appetite and zest for the banquets where wines on the lees well refined shall satiate their souls.

The subject of this morning is the great promise of God that, although his people shall sometimes be enveloped in gloom, their darkness shall be turned to light. Before the advance of faith the most terrible things lose their terror. We shall use this one truth in reference to believers first, and then briefly turn it to the encouragement of earnest seekers.

I. First, in addressing The Believer, let us ring the bell of the text again, it has a sweet silver voice: "I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight."

Believer, observe that before you often lies a grim darkness. Upon that darkness let us make these comforting observations--first, that much of the darkness is of your own imagining. As we feel a thousand deaths in fearing one, so do we feel a thousand afflictions in the fear of sorrows which will never come. Probably the major part of our griefs are born, nourished, and perfected, entirely in an anxious, imaginative brain. Many of our sorrows are not woven in the loom of providence, but are purely homespun, and the pattern of our own invention. Some minds are specially fertile in self-torture; they have the creative faculty for all that is melancholy, desponding, and wretched. If they were placed in the brightest isles of the blessed beneath unclouded skies, where birds of fairest wing poured out perpetual melody, and earth was rich with colour and perfume, they would not be content til they had imagined for

themselves a sevenfold Styx, an infernal Tartarus, a valley of deathshade. Their ingenuity is stimulated even by the mercies of God; and that which would make others rejoice causes them to tremble lest the enjoyment should prove shortlived. Like certain painters, they delight in heavy masses of shade. My brother, you may, perhaps have before your mind this very morning what seems a thick wall of horror, and yet it is nothing but a cloud. Waiting, you imagine the obstruction to increase, but plucking up courage and advancing to meet the imaginary horror, you will yet laugh at yourself, and at your foolish fears, and wonder how it was that you ever could have been cast down at nothing at all, and distressed by that which had no existence except in your dreams. I remember well, one night, having been preaching the word in a country village, I was walking home alone along a lonely footpath. I do not know what it was that ailed me, but I was prepared to be alarmed, when of a surety I saw something standing in the hedge, ghastly, giantlike, and with outstretched arms. Surely, I thought, for once I have come across the supernatural; here is some restless spirit performing its midnight march beneath the moon, or some demon of the pit. I deliberated with myself a moment, and having no faith in ghosts, I plucked up courage, and resolved to solve the mystery. The monster stood on the other side of a ditch, right in the hedge. I jumped the ditch, and found myself grasping an old tree, which some waggish body had taken pains to colour with a little whitewash, with a view to frighten simpletons. That old tree has served me a good turn full often, for I have learned to keep at difficulties, and find them vanish or turn to triumphs. Half our afflictions are only appalling in prospect because we do not know what they are; and if we will but in faith patiently await them, they will be but light and transient. Thus, by chasing away the gloom of our dark imagination, God often makes darkness light before us.

Much, again, of the darkness which does really exist is exaggerated. There is some cause for alarm, but not one half the cause which your fancy pictures. "All these things are against me," says Jacob: "Joseph is not, Simeon is not; and now ye will take Benjamin away." There was something in this complaint. Joseph was not with his father, Simeon was kept in ward; but the old man had pictured Joseph devoured of an evil beast, and Simeon given up to be a perpetual slave in a foreign land. His fears had magnified the trouble which existed. And, believer, so probably it is with you. You shall find that the load which seems now to be far too ponderous for you to lift, shall be easily carried on the shoulders which divine grace shall strengthen if you have but confidence enough to venture upon the task. That cross is not made of iron, it is only a wooden one; it may be painted with iron colours, but iron it is not; it has been carried, ay, and a weightier one by far, has been carried by other men aforetime--shoulder it like a man, shoulder it like a man of God. Take up your cross daily, and go forward with your Master, and you shall find that mountains shrink to molehills, giants are seen to be but dwarfs, dragons and griffins are but bats and owls, and the leviathan himself a defeated foe.

Remember, too, that in many cases, troubles disappear at the very moment when we expect them to be overwhelming. While we are anticipating them, they seem to block up the pathway completely, and leave no door of escape, but on our venturesome advance to them, they are not there at all, they have fled before us. See the host of Israel--they have escaped out of Egypt, but they are pursued by their taskmasters. They come to a spot where they are enclosed on either hand by mountains, while the chariots of Egypt are in the rear. How is it possible for them to escape? They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. "Forward," cries the prophet, "forward, hosts of God!" But how can they advance? The Red Sea rolls right in their path; but no sooner do the feet of the priests touch the waters of the sea than the depths are divided, the waters stand upright as a heap, for God has made a pathway for his people through the heart of the sea. No better road could be desired than that which they found in the sandy bed of the sea. The trouble, which certainly did appear insurmountable, became the subject of unwonted triumph; Miriam's song and the voices of the daughters of Israel had in them a higher exultation than they could ever have known if they had not been able to cry aloud, "Sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." Brethren, your trials may, in a like case, vanish so soon as you arrive at them; you do not know what plan God has in store. He has an unused shaft which shall be the arrow of the Lord's deliverance for you. The Lord has a counterplot for the plots of your enemies. You see but a part of his scheme, you have not as yet discovered the whole of his resources; and when he brings out his wonderful plan more fully, you will stand in amazement and even bless his name for the trial, because it furnished so noble an opportunity for revealing to you the faithfulness and the power of your God. The same thing which occurred at the Red Sea happened also to the hosts of God when they came to the Jordan, for Jordan was driven back, and fled at the presence of the God of Israel. If you should suffer trouble upon trouble, you too, shall experience deliverance upon deliverance. Think of that mighty instance in which it was proved that God can clear the darkest skies, and give us day for night! I refer to the case of Hezekiah. What a blasphemous and insulting letter was that which came from Rabshakeh! what reviling language was that which the foul-mouthed lieutenant of Sennacherib hurled at Judah's king! Poor Hezekiah was a man of a holy and tender spirit, and was sore dismayed; but when he spread that wretched letter before the Lord, and bowed himself in sackcloth, little did he know how graciously God would prevent the sorrow from ever coming to him in any other shape but in that of talk and boasting. "Thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into their city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord." And so it was; and so, O child of God, may it be with the troubles which now block up your pathway--they shall vanish as you advance.

Reflect, again, that where this does not exactly occur, and the trial does really come, yet the Lord has a way of making the trials of his people to cease when they reach their culminating point. As the sea, when it reaches the highest mark of flood, can advance no further, but after pausing for awhile to enjoy the fulness of its strength, must then return to its ebb, so with our most desperate sorrows, they reach the point designed, and then they recede. See Abraham, God had bade him sacrifice his son. Abraham probably mistaking the Lord's meaning, thought that he was to slay the child of promise. He proceeds to Mount Moriah, piles the altar, takes with him the wood, binds his son, and places him upon the altar; but just as he has unsheathed the knife, and is about to perform the act of solemn obedience by sacrificing that which he held most dear, a voice is heard, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." At the nick of time God intervenes; but mark when that is--namely, when the patriarch has proved the complete renunciation of his own will, and given up everything to the will of God, then deliverance comes. So shall it be with you, O tried believer! When the trial has been submitted to in your own heart, and you have laid aside your self-will and obstinacy, and are no longer murmuring and repining and rebelling, then shall God take away the coals of the furnace, because the gold is purified. That is a grand story of Alexander's confidence in his friend and physician. When the physician had mixed him a potion for his sickness, a letter was put into Alexander's hand, warning him not to drink the medicine, for it was poisoned. He held the letter in one hand and the cup in the other, and in the presence of his friend and physician, he drank up the draught, and after he had drained the cup, he bade his friend look at that letter, and judge of his confidence in him. Alexander had unstaggering faith in his friend, which did not admit of doubt. "See now," said he, "how I have trusted you." This is the assurance which the believer should exercise towards his God. The cup is very bitter, and some tell us it will prove to be deadly; that it is so nauseous that we shall never survive the draught. Unbelief whispers in our ear, "Your coming tribulation will utterly crush you." Drink it, my brother, and say, "If he slay me, yet will I trust in him." It cannot be that God should be unfaithful to his promise, or unmindful of his covenant. Your trial, then, will cease when it culminates: he will make darkness light before you when the darkest hour of the night has struck.

Brethren, there is one most encouraging reflection concerning the adversity which lies before us, namely, that every trial of our pilgrimage life was foreseen of God, and we may depend upon it that it has been forestalled. Many a besieged city has been captured because the siege was not expected, and therefore stores of provision and ammunition were not laid up for the evil day. But God who laid up seven years of food in Egypt against the seven years of famine which he foresaw, takes care to lay by in store for his saints against coming emergencies. How readily might Moses have been anxious about the commissariat of the tribes in the desert! "How shall such a host be fed? Where shall we find water? Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" But in simple faith Moses led the chosen people into the wilderness, and lo, the heavens dropped with a rain of plenty, and the flinty rock gave forth its cooling streams, so that the host knew no lack for forty years, though they had neither gathered harvests nor vintage in all that space of time.

Once more be it remembered, that if trial should come upon any one of us in its fullest force, and in no way should God mitigate the fury of the storm, yet we have his promise for it, and may rest confidently therefore therein, that as our days our strength shall be. I think I have aforetime remarked to you, that to be exempt from trouble would not be a desirable thing, for the life of a man who has no trial is uneventful, poor of incident, uninteresting, ignoble, barren; but the life of a man who has done business in great waters, hath something noble and manly in it; and considering that the grace is always proportioned to the trial, I think it were wise to choose the trial, for the sake of obtaining the grace which is promised with it. I noticed in a shop window last week, a little invention of singular interest. A small metal wire, with a circular disk at each end, was suspended by a thread, and continued without ceasing to oscillate between two small galvanic batteries, first touching one and then the other. A little card informed me that this piece of metal had continued to move to and fro between those two batteries for more than thirty years, and had during that time passed over six thousand miles. The whole affair was so inclosed with a glass case that nothing was likely to disturb it, and so it kept the even tenor of its way with a history which could be summoned up in two lines of plainest prose. To and fro, to and fro, for thirty years, and that was its whole monotonous history. Men's quiet lives are much after the same order, they have gone to business on Monday morning and home at night, the same on Tuesday and all the days of the year; no dire struggles, no fierce temptations, no gracious victories, no divine experiences of heavenly love; their whole inner life meagre of interest, because so free from every trial. But look at the man who is subject to trials, temporal and spiritual, and acquainted with difficulties of every sort! he is like yon mass of iron on the prow of a gallant bark, which has crossed the Pacific, and bathed itself in the Atlantic; storms have dashed upon it, a myriad waves have broken over it; it has seen the terrors of all the seas, and gleamed in the sunlight of both hemispheres. It has served its age most gloriously, and when old and worn with rust, a world of interest surrounds it.

Let us, if our trials multiply, recollect that grace abounding will be given with them, and the mingled trial and the grace will make our lives sublime, prevent our being mere dumb driven cattle, and give us kinship with those who through much tribulation have ascended to their thrones. The battle and the storm, the strife and the victory, the depression and the uplifting, and all else that betides us in a varied and eventful life, shall help to make our eternal rest and glory the more sweet to us. Let us leave these musings upon expected glooms, relying undoubtingly upon the promise that the Lord will make darkness light before us, by some means or other, and will in no wise fail us in the hour of need.

For a minute or two, let me more especially invite you again, children of God, to dwell upon the promise, that the Lord will make your darkness light. How soon can Omnipotence accomplish this! It takes us much time to create light; we must form companies and erect machineries before we can turn the night of our great cities into a partial day; but to-morrow morning, however black the previous night may have been, the great Father of Lights will illuminate our whole nation in a few minutes, and make each wave of the sea, and each dewdrop of the lawn to gleam with silvery sheen. God has but to bid the sun accomplish his course, and the world is lit up and the shadows flee away. How perfectly the work is done! The illumination is unrivalled in lavish glory. All our means of enlightenment are poor when compared with the sunlight; and so scant that we must needs measure its cubic feet, and dole it out for gold, while the Lord pours his infinitely superior illumination in measureless oceans over hill and dale, field and city, gladdening the cottage as well as the palace, and burnishing the beetle's wing as well as the eagle's pinion. Even thus our heavenly Father can readily enough turn the deepest sorrows of his people into the sublimest joys, and he needs not to vex the sons of men with labour in order to achieve his purpose of pity; his own right hand, his own gracious Spirit, can pour forth a fulness of consolation in a moment.

Notice for your comfort some of the ways in which the Lord of Love banishes the midnight of the soul. Sometimes he removes all gloom by the sun of his providence. He bids prosperity shine into the window of the hovel, and the poor grow rich; he lifts the beggar from the dunghill, and sitteth him among princes. The wings of angels bear healing to the sick, and the man long tossing on his bed walks forth to breathe the pure sweet air so long denied him. The great Arbiter of all events doth but turn the wheel of fortune, and those who were lowest are highest--the last are first and the first last. He can do the same for any of us, both in temporals and in spirituals, if so it seemeth him good. He hath but to ordain it so, and our poverty will be exchanged for plenty. Our Lord often cheers his people with the moon of their experience, which shines with borrowed light, but yet with a brightness calm and tranquil, well-beloved of the sons of sorrow. He bids us recollect the days of old, and our spirit maketh diligent search; we find that he has never left his people, neither to ourselves hath he been treacherous. We remember when we were in a like case to the present, we note that we were well sustained, and ultimately delivered, and so we are encouraged to believe that to-day shall be as the past, and yet more abundantly. Frequently our heavenly Father cheers his children by a sight of Jesus going before. That defile between overhanging rocks is so dark. I, a poor timid child, shrink back from it; but how is my courage restored as I see Jesus bearing the lantern of his love and going before me into the thick darkness! Hark! I hear him say, "Follow me;" and while he speaks I perceive a light streaming from his sacred person; every thorn of his crown gleams like a star; the jewels of his breast-plate flash like lamps, and his wounds gleam with celestial splendour. "Fear not," saith he, "for in all your afflictions I have been afflicted. I was tempted in all points like as you are, though without sin." Who can tell the encouragement given to the heir of heaven by the fact that the elder Brother has passed through all the dark passage which leads to the promised rest! God had one Son without sin, but he never had a son without chastisement. He who always did his Father's will, yet had to suffer. Courage, my heart, courage; for if Jesus suffered--if that pang which tears thy heart, first was felt by him, thou mayst be of good cheer indeed.

Better still is the comfort derived from the grand truth that Jesus is actually present in the daily afflictions of believers. Jesus knocks at my door, and says, "Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards!" I look forth from the window into the cold and dreary night, and I answer him, "The night is black and cheerless. I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them? I cannot arise and follow thee." But the Beloved is not thus to be refused; he knocks again, and he saith, "Come forth with me into the fields, let us lodge in the villages; there will I give thee my loves." Overcome by his love, I arise, and go with my heavenly Bridegroom. If the raindrops fall pitilessly upon me, yet it is most sweet to see that his head also is filled with dew, and his locks with the drops of the night. The howling wind tosses his garments as well as mine; his feet tread the same miry places as my own; and all the while he calls me his beloved, his love, his dove, his undefiled, and tells me of the land which lies beyond the darkness, and speaks of the mountains of myrrh and of the beds of spices, the top of Amana, Shenir, and Hermon. My soul is melted while my Beloved speaks, and my heart feels it sweet beyond expression to walk with him; for lo, while he is near me, the night is lit up with innumerable stars, the sky is aglow with glory, every cloud flames like a seraph's wing, while the pitiless blast is all unable to chill the heart which burns within while he talketh with me by the way. In after years we are wont to speak to one another of that dark night and its marvellous brightness; of that cold wind that was so strangely tempered, and we even say to one another, "I would fain pass through a thousand nights in such company; I would be willing to go on a midnight journey evermore with that dearest of friends, for oh! where he is night is day; in his presence suffering is joy; when he reveals himself pains are pleasures, and earth blossoms with flowers of Eden." Thus doth the Wellbeloved by his presence make our darkness light.

Oftentimes you and I have known by experience how the Lord has made our darkness light, when in a moment a text of Scripture has flashed up before our eyes like a beacon fire. I bless God there are parts of this precious book which I do not only retain in my memory, but in my heart.

They have been so applied to my soul in times of need, that to forget them would be utterly impossible; they have burned their way into my

inner nature, and have become part and parcel of my consciousness. You cannot, of yourself, make a text so full of life and power by merely

thinking of it, nor by praying over it, nor by studying the original, but the Holy Ghost quickens the word even as he quickens us. A word from

the Lord will at times rise up from the page, as though it had lain there like a sleeping angel; it will grasp us by the hand, embrace us and revive

us, till in wonder we cry out, "Oh, precious and inexhaustible word of God! Oh, sweet word fresh from the lip of Jesus, how is it I could have

read thee so often, but never understood thy fulness and preciousness till now?" This is one of the ways of the Lord by which he maketh darkness

light, by snatching a firebrand from the altar of his word and waving it as a torch before us, that we may advance in its light.

Thus you see, beloved, God can readily turn our darkness into light. Now the text leads us a little further, and speaks of "crooked things." So,

Christian, for a moment think of the crooks of your lot. Like the pathway of the children of Israel through the wilderness, your course appears to

be backward and forward, like the path which winds deviously through the wood among briers and thorns. The faithful Friend of pilgrims knows

the way that you take--all your steps are ordered of the Lord, and in due time according to his word he will make them all straight for you.

Perhaps the crookedness of your lot lies in your poverty. You never have more than barely enough. Food and raiment you have had, but still it has

been dry bread, and scant raiment. So far from faring sumptuously, you have almost known the want of Lazarus at the rich man's gate. You have

reached thus far on your journey, but still yours has been a life of want and great distress. You thank God, you do not repine, still you know well

that want is a crooked thing.

Or, perhaps you have suffered some very crooked calamity. Your dear husband was taken away when the children needed most his training

care, and when the labour of those strong arms was wanted to find sustenance for the little ones. Alas! poor widow, that was a very crooked

loss for you. Or, perhaps yonder husband has buried his beloved wife, and feels that his loss is irreparable--a crooked thing which he cannot

understand. He cannot guess why the all-wise God has permitted such a mother to be taken from children who needed her moulding hand. If

some other people had died you could have comprehended the reason--they were ripe and ready; but here were the young and active, whose life

appeared so necessary, and these have been taken away from you, leaving behind a fountain of perennial tears. This is the crooked thing in

your lot. Perhaps during the late panic you suffered very severely; you had not been one of the speculators, and had not ventured beyond your

depth, but still, incidentally, the fall of others dragged you down. You do not quite understand the reason for that heavy blow, it is a crooked thing

altogether; you have looked at it this way and that way, but you cannot see the why and the wherefore; you believe that God is wise, but it

remains a matter of belief in this case; you cannot as yet see it to be a wise thing. Possibly your crook lies in a trying family at home. Woe to

those who have crooked sons; for sharper than an adder's tooth is an unthankful child. Have you a graceless daughter? Alas, what a trial is

yours! Have you an ill-tempered, vixenish wife, or a harsh, unchristian husband? Do you yourself love the truth of God, and have you a partner

who hates good things? Will you go home to-day to hear the voice of blasphemy from your next of kin? Yours is a crook indeed.

Worse than all, if you have no other crook, I am sure you will confess to a crooked self. If your own heart were not your plague, all the rest would

matter little; but oh! what with our pride, our sloth, our evil desires, our angry temper, our doubts, and fears, and despondencies, self is the worst

crook a man hath to carry. Then it may be you have crooked temptations, too. You are tempted to profanity; you hate the very thought of it, yet

will the horrible suggestion haunt you; you are tempted to vices from which by grace you have been preserved, but towards which, as with a

hurricane, Satan would whirl you. Your temptations abound day by day, you appear to yourself to be like a man beset with ten thousand bees; they

compass you about, yea, they compass you about, and you know not how to destroy them. As many as your thoughts, so many your temptations

seem to be. Well, these are all crooked things, and in such a fallen world as this, crooked things will always be very common.

Now comes the promise, "God will make all the crooked things in the way of his people straight." It may be that they are straight now, and that

the making straight is only to make them seem so to us; for oftentimes that which we thought to be a misfortune was the best thing that could

ever occur to us. We complain of our crosses, yet are not our crosses our best estates? How often we kick against our highest good! we tear up that

herb in the garden which hath the noblest medicine in every leaf. O for grace to know that there is much real good in sorrow, and that our trials

are only crooked because our eyes are asquint.

The Lord also can bend the crooked straight, and what will not bend he can break. How often in a family the ungodly Saul has been made into a

holy Paul! the crooked character has been bent straight; and where the man would not bend straight, the terrible judgment of God has taken

away the crook out of the household, so that the righteous might have peace and comfort! Do not be afraid, believer, the Lord's great axe can

clear a way through the thick forests of your greatest trials. Do you not see the great Pioneer going before you; his goings forth were of old, and

by the name of "The Breaker" is he known, since he breaks down all that can hinder the march of his people. Like the engineers in the advance of

an army, those grand old sappers and miners who clear the way for the host, even so will the Lord cast up a highway for all his saints, until he

shall bring them to the city that hath foundations whose builder and maker he is.

If he do not this, he will give you power to overleap the difficulty, he will bid you, his servant, go straight on in the path of duty, and strength not your own shall be given you: so that you shall say with one of old, "By my God have I gone through a troop; by my God have I leaped over a wall." You shall cry like Deborah, "O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength." If our pathway were always clear in the way of duty, where were our faith? but when we force our way to heaven through crowds of enemies, hewing a lane by main force through the squadrons of hell, then is our great Captain glorified, and his grace made resplendent. Let us be of good courage, then, for the Lord will make the crooked straight at the end.

Two lessons, and then I shall turn to address a few words to the seeker. One is to the child of God. If God will thus make all your darkness light,

and all your crooked things straight, do not forestall your troubles. They are darkness now; leave them alone man, they will turn to light. They

are crooked now; well, leave them to ripen, and God will make them straight. Some fruit which you gather from your trees is of such a nature

that if you were to try and eat it in the autumn, it would be very sour, and would make you very unwell; but just store it up a little, and see how

luscious and juicy it becomes! It is a pity to destroy the fruit and pain yourself by premature use! It is just so with your troubles, they are all

darkness now, do not meddle with them, leave them till God has ripened them and turned them into light. Yonder man is employed in carrying

sacks of flour every day. He carries so many hundredweight each time, and in the day it comes to tons; and so many tons a day will come to an

enormous mass in a year. Now, suppose, on the first of January, this man were to calculate the year's load, and say, "I have all that immense mass

to carry; I cannot do it:" you would remind him that he has not to carry it all at once; he has all the workdays of the year to carry it in. So we put

all our troubles together, and we cry, "However shall I get over them?" Well, they will only come one at a time, and as they come, the strength

will come with them. A man who has walked a thousand miles did not traverse the thousand miles at a step, nor in a day, but he took his time

and did it; and we also must take our time, and with patience we shall accomplish our work. A fine lesson for us all is that word wait, WAIT, WAIT.

Our second remark is this, always believe in the power of prayer, for if God promises to make your darkness light, he will be enquired of to do it for you; and when you enquire of him to do it he will do it because he has so promised. I wish we did believe in prayer, I am afraid most of us do not. People will say "What a wonderful thing it is that God hears George Muller's prayers!" But is it not a sad thing that we should think it wonderful for God to hear prayer? We are come to a pretty pass certainly when we think it wonderful that God is true! Much better faith was that of a little boy in one of the schools at Edinburgh, who had attended the prayer meetings, and at last said to his teacher who conducted the prayer meeting, "Teacher, I wish my sister could be got to read the Bible; she never reads it." Why, Johnny, should your sister read the Bible?"

"Because if she should once read it, I am sure it would do her good, and she would be converted and be saved." "Do you think so, Johnny?" "Yes,

I do, sir, and I wish the next time there's a prayer meeting you would ask the people to pray for my sister, that she may begin to read the Bible."

"Well, well, it shall be done, John." So the teacher gave out that a little boy was very anxious that prayers should be offered that his sister might

begin to read the Bible. John was observed to get up and go out. The teacher thought it very unkind of the boy to disturb the people in a

crowded room and go out like that, and so the next day when the lad came, he said, "John, I thought that was very rude of you to get up in the

prayer meeting and go out. You ought not to have done it." "Oh! sir," said the boy, I did not mean to be rude, but I thought I should just like to

go home and see my sister reading her Bible for the first time." That is how we ought to believe, and wait with expectation to see the answer to

prayer. The girl was reading the Bible when the boy went home. God had been pleased to hear the prayer; and if we could but trust God after

that fashion we should often see similar things accomplished. Do not say, "Lord, turn my darkness into light," and then go out with your

candle as though you expected to find it dark, but after asking the Lord to appear for you, expect him to do so, for according to thy faith so be it

unto you.

II. And now, just a few words, before we depart, To the Seeker.

Some here, have long been desirous of finding peace with God, but dear friend, we have felt great joy in seeing your anxiety, but we are

beginning to feel great sorrow to think that that anxiety should last so long, and that you should be so unbelieving as not at once to put your

trust in the blessed Lord Jesus. He is able to save you, and he will save you now, if you trust him. It seems a very simple thing to rest alone on

him: simple as it is, it is most effectual for the soul's peace and joy. We are grieved to think that you have been so long refusing to give Christ

the credit which he so richly deserves. Now, perhaps, it may be you are puzzled about some doctrinal question. You have been asking your

friends to explain this and that to you, and you have not yet had all cleared up. Let me say, I am afraid you never will, for there are

difficulties about our holy religion which will never be explained on this side the grave, and, perhaps, not on the other; for if our religion were

within our comprehension, we should feel it did not come from God, but being greater than our brain can grasp, we see in this some traces of the

infinite God, who in revealing himself, does not display all his glory, but only a part of it, to the sons of men. Dear friend, believe that God's dear

Son is able to save you, and trust in him, and when you have done that, all these doctrinal difficulties, so far as they are at all important, will

vanish. He has said it, and you shall prove it true, "I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight." You shall say to

yourself, "How could I have raised so many quibbles? How foolish it was of me to be always debating and questioning, when eternal mercy was

freely presented to me!"

Perhaps your darkness today arises from a very deep depression of mind. Your notion is that you can never believe in Jesus Christ till this depression is removed; but let me tell you your notion is wide of the truth, for the fact is, you are not at all likely to rise out of your depression until you first believe in Jesus. Sad and sorrowful as you are, what doth hinder you to believe in the infinite Son of God as able to put away your sin? He must be able. The death of such a one must have an amount of merit in it not to be limited. Oh! if thou canst do him the honour to trust him, though thou be like a poor smoking flax, he will not quench thee, though thou be worthless and weak as a bruised reed, yet if thou canst trust him thou art saved. O rely on him, I pray thee, for thy soul's sake rest in the precious blood, and thou shalt find thy depression vanish, thy darkness shall be light, thy crooked things shall be made straight. "Ah," sayest thou, "but I labour under a load of sin!" Truly there is enough in thy sin to make thee troubled were it not that for this purpose was Christ born and came into the world, that he might take away sin. Wherefore that great sacrifice on Calvary's tree if not for great offences? Seest thou not that it is the very blackness of thy sin that makes thee need a Saviour; knowest thou not that Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance? In due time he died for the ungodly, such as thou art. O throw thy weary soul into his arms. Why dost thou look about after this and that? Why art thou deceived with "Lo here, and lo there!" looking to this and that for comfort? Come thou to him, empty, naked, filthy, come to be made everything that is good through him. "Ay, but," you say, "my nature is so evil," well, but your depravity is known, and provided for in the text. Your sinfulness, like the crookedness mentioned in the text, shall be made straight. The Lord can overcome your natural disposition. Whatever the peculiar form of your besetting sin, the Holy Ghost is more than a match for it. Though you have sinned very foully, he can forgive; and though you feel a strong temptation to sin in the same way again, he can correct the tendency in your nature, and give you new longings which shall overcome the old. O that my Lord had his due of you, then would you not doubt him! Blessed Saviour, King of kings, and Lord of lords, deigning to stoop to suffer and to die, how can men doubt thee? How can they look into thy dear face, and yet distrust thee? See thy blessed hands and feet and riven side, and yet suspect thee? O sinner, cast thyself on Jesus, and thou shalt have joy and peace given thee today.

Three things I want you to notice in the text, and I have done. That which saves us is not what is, but what will be. "I will make darkness light." "I will make crooked things straight." The crooked thing is really crooked now, but there is a transformation in store. Sinner, it is not what you are now that is to be your salvation; you are dark and crooked, but your salvation shall yet be given you. You shall be light in the Lord, and upright through his grace.

Note, secondly, it is not what you can do, but what God can do. "I will make darkness light;" not the sinner shall turn his darkness into light, but "I", Jehovah; I who can do all things. I, who can create and can destroy, "I will make darkness light before thee, and crooked things straight."

Notice again, that this work may not be yours at once, but it shall be soon. It does not say "I will make darkness light today," still it does say "I will." Ah! then, let us look forward to the brightness which we cannot yet see, and rejoice in the straightness which as yet we do not discern; for God will keep his word to the minute, and his eternal "shalls" and "wills" shall never fall to the ground.

I pray God bless the word to you who are tried believers, to give you peace and confidence; and to you who are seeking sinners, that you may trust in Christ and find salvation. The Lord bless you richly, for his name's sake. Amen.