Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 50:7

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 50:7. Therefore have I set my face like a flint — The Prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel 2:8-9, has expressed this with great force in his bold and vehement manner:

"Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces,

And thy forehead strong against their foreheads:

As an adamant, harder than a rock, have I made thy forehead;

Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks,

Though they be a rebellious house."

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

The servant’s patient endurance (50:4-11)

In this, the third Servant Song, the words again may have an application to the experiences of Israel among the nations. In particular they reflect the experiences of the few faithful Jews who tried to teach, warn and comfort their ungodly fellow exiles in Babylon. The song becomes even more meaningful when applied to the experiences of the Messiah himself.
The servant is taught by God day by day, so that he can give teaching and encouragement to those who need it. Although people respond with opposition and physical violence, the servant does not give up. He learns the meaning of obedience by the things he suffers (4-6). He perseveres because he knows that he has acted blamelessly and that God is with him. And if God is on his side, no one can triumph over him. Those who make accusations against him will not prove him guilty, but will themselves be put to shame (7-9).
In a world of darkness faithful believers walk confidently and do not fall, because they trust in God. Others, who do not trust in God but who make their own ‘fire’ to give them light, will find in the end that the fire burns them. In other words, when people depend on human scheming instead of depending on God, they will find in the end that their scheming is the cause of their downfall (10-11).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"For the Lord Jehovah will help me; therefore have I not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame."

Cheyne compared Jesus and Job, noting that, "Whereas Job, the type of a righteous man, shrinks in terror from the issue (of terrible suffering), the Servant, human and yet superhuman in nature, has no doubt as to a favorable result."Ibid., p 27. He set his face like a flint to do God's will. Luke, especially, was impressed with this trait in our Lord's personality. See Luke 9:51.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

For the Lord God will help me - That is, he will sustain me amidst all these expressions of contempt and scorn.

Shall I not be confounded - Hebrew, ‘I shall not be ashamed;’ that is, I will bear all this with the assurance of his favor and protection, and I will not blush to be thus treated in a cause so glorious, and which must finally triumph and prevail.

Therefore have I set my face like a flint - To harden the face, the brow, the forehead, might be used either in a bad or a good sense - in the former as denoting shamelessness or haughtiness (see the note at Isaiah 48:4); in the latter denoting courage, firmness, resolution. It is used in this sense here; and it means that the Messiah would be firm and resolute amidst all the contempt and scorn which he would meet, and would not shrink from any kind or degree of suffering which should be necessary to accomplish the great work in which he was engaged. A similar expression occurs in Ezekiel 3:8-9 : ‘Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant, harder than a flint, have I made thy forehead; fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks.’

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

7.For the Lord Jehovah will help me. The Prophet declares whence comes so great courage, which he and the other servants of God need to possess, in order to withstand courageously the attacks of every one. It comes from God’s assistance, by relying on whom he declares that he is fortified against all the attacks of the world. After having, with lofty fortitude, looked down contemptuously on all that was opposed to him, he exhorts others also to maintain the same firmness, and gives what may be called a picture of the condition of all the ministers of the word; that, by tuming aside from the world, they may tum wholly to God and have their eyes entirely fixed upon him. There never will be a contest so arduous that they shall not gain the victory by trusting to such a leader.

Therefore I have set my face as a flint. By the metaphor of “a flint” he shews that, whatever may happen, he will not be afraid; for terror or alarm, like other passions, makes itself visible in the face. The countenance itself speaks, and shews what are our feelings. The servants of God, being so shamefully treated, must inevitably have sunk under such attacks, had they not withstood them with a forehead of stone or of iron. In this sense of the term, Jeremiah also is said to have been “set for a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a brazen wall, against the kings of Judah, and the princes, and the people,” (Jeremiah 1:18;) and to Ezekiel is said to have been given “astrong forehead, and even one of adamant, and harder than that, that he might not be dismayed at the obstinacy of the people.” (Ezekiel 3:9.)

Therefore I was not ashamed. The word “ashamed” is twice used in this verse, but in different senses; for in the former clause it relates to the feeling, and in the latter to the thing itself or the effect. Accordingly, in the beginning of the verse, where he boasts that he is not confounded with shame, because God is on his side, he means that it is not enough that God is willing to help us, if we do not also feel it; for of what advantage to us will the promises of God be, if we distrust him? Confidence, therefore, is demanded, that we may be supported by it, and may assuredly know that we enjoy God’s favor.

I shall not be confounded. In the conclusion of the verse he boldly declares his conviction that the end will be prosperous. Thus “to be confounded” means “to be disappointed;” for they who had entertained a vain and deceitful hope are liable to be mocked. Here we see that some special assistance is promised to godly teachers and ministers of the word; so that the fiercer the attacks of Satan, and the stronger the hostility of the world, so much the more does the Lord defend and guard them by extraordinary protection. And hence we ought to conclude, that all those who, when they come to the contest, tremble and lose courage, have never been duly qualified for discharging their office; for he who knows not how to strive knows not how to serve God and the Church, and is not fitted for administering the doctrine of the word.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 50

Now in chapter 50 another marvelous prophecy of Jesus Christ and of the humiliation that He would receive from His own people.

Thus saith the LORD ( Isaiah 50:1 ),

Talking to Israel now.

Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away ( Isaiah 50:1 ).

So God is declaring that the nation was divorced. It was put away because of the transgressions. And that God did not sell them to their enemies. They sold themselves by their own iniquities. They had turned from God, the fountain of living water. They worship the other gods; they sold themselves.

Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? ( Isaiah 50:2 )

God said, "I called but you didn't answer. I came but no one met Me." And so Jesus came to His own, His own received Him not. He called unto them; they would not respond. "Have I no power to deliver?"

behold, at my rebuke I can dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and they die for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. The Lord GOD ( Isaiah 50:2-4 )

And, of course, here's the prophecy now directly of Jesus Christ.

The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back ( Isaiah 50:4-5 ).

Now here is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking as the servant and as the obedient servant of the Father. You remember He said, "I came not to do My will but the will of Him who sent Me" ( John 5:30 ). I do always those things that please the Father" ( John 8:29 ). Here he said, "The Lord God hath opened my ear, I was not rebellious, neither turned away back."

In the Old Testament time if you were a slave, you served a six-year term of slavery. It was the responsibility of your master to take care of all of your needs. If you were of marriageable age, he could give to you a bride. But in reality, you could own nothing for yourself. And so the bride, you really didn't own her nor the children that were born. They still belong to your master though you be married to her and you have children by her. Now in the sixth year, after the six years of service, in the seventh year, you could go forth free. But if you say, "But I love my wife. And I love my children. And I love serving here. I want to stay on and I want to serve you." Then he would bring you... He would call the elders of the city. He would bring you to the doorpost of his house. He'd take an awl and drive it through the lobe of your ear. He would open your ear with the awl. He would pin your ear. You'll be pinned to the doorpost by your ear. And then they would put a gold ring through that pierced ear and you would then be a bondslave, a servant by choice for life. Now the Lord said, "He hath opened mine ear that I was not rebellious." That is, He submitted Himself to the Father's will. It's a beautiful picture of the submission of Jesus Christ unto the Father, even to the death of the cross.

I gave my back to the smiters ( Isaiah 50:6 ),

We are told in the scripture that Pilate had Him scourged. Now the scourging was a beating of thirty-nine stripes laid across the back of a prisoner with a whip that they call the cat-of-nine-tails whip. It was a leather whip with little bits of cut glass and lead imbedded in it that would rip open the flesh. The purpose of the scourging was to elicit confessions. It was the third-degree techniques of the Roman government in order to get confessions from convicted felons. In order that they might clear up much of the crime. And a few licks on the back and anybody would confess, even the hardest of criminals. And the idea was with each confession, the next lick would be a little easier and so it sort of encouraged confession. A refusal to confess, each lick would be a little harder, again, to encourage confession. "And as the lamb before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth" ( Isaiah 53:7 ). He said, "I gave my back to the smiters." But He had no sins or crimes against man to confess. And Jesus was scourged by the Roman government. He received thirty-nine stripes, laid across His back. We will read more about this and study more about this next Sunday night as we get into the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah and we discover there the purposes of God in His being smitten.

my cheeks also ( Isaiah 50:6 )

We are told that they covered His face and they began to buffet Him. They began to hit Him. And they said, "Prophesy, who was it that hit You?" Now when you can see a blow coming, you have certain natural reflexes of fainting with that blow so that you more or less cushion the blow by an automatic reflex of pulling your head back as you see the blow coming. Our bodies are marvelously coordinated. And you can step off of a curb very smoothly because of the coordination of your body. However, if you've ever stepped off and you didn't know the curb was there, and your mind was not coordinating the activities of the body to step off gracefully, just six inches can be a horrible jar.

When we were over in Israel this last trip, we stayed in the King David Hotel. And in this one fire escape kind of an exit, which we oftentimes used because the elevators were slow, there is one step that is about an inch-and-a-half deeper than the other steps. And we had a lady on our trip who was coming down the steps and when she came to the one step that was just an inch-and-a-half deeper than the other steps, because her mind was not coordinating, it was coordinating for a six-inch step, when she came to the seven-and-a-half inch step, just that extra inch-and-a-half broke her ankle in two places. Because her mind wasn't coordinating to cushion the blow.

So our minds have an automatic reflex action, even as you blink your eyes there is a certain pulling back reflex when you see a blow coming that cushions the blow. Otherwise, boxers would kill each other all the time in the ring. But you see how they are moving and you do that instinctively and automatically. Now they covered the face of Jesus so He could not see the blows coming. So that He could not instinctively pull back. So that the blows landed on His face with full force until they had beaten Him to the place where His face was so bloated and so marred that you look at Him and you would not even know that He was a human being. We'll get to that in Isaiah 52:1-15 next Sunday.

Now here is the prophecy, "I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks,"

to those that plucked off the hair ( Isaiah 50:6 ):

They evidently pulled out His beard by the fistful. And with these beatings, His face was so distorted that you could not even recognize Him as a human being.

I hid not my face from shame and spitting ( Isaiah 50:6 ).

Spitting is a sign in the oriental culture of total disdain and disgust. The Arabs have quite a disdain many times for American tourists. And we have been spit upon or at (good dodger), but they oftentimes disdain the American tourists there. And especially if they try to sell you something and you say, "No, I don't want it." Many times they'll spit at you, just to show their absolute disgust and disdain. It's just a part of their oriental culture. And thus, the Jews not only rejected Him, but they spit upon Him. "My cheeks to the smiters, and I did not hide my face from their shame and their spitting."

Isaiah, in chapter 52, we'll get there next week also, really this all comes together. Chapter 50 begins with the humiliation of Christ and goes on through. It said, "And as many as saw Him were astonished, shocked, and we hid as it were our faces from Him" ( Isaiah 53:3 ). Jesus was not a pretty picture when He redeemed you from your sin. His face was a bloody, bloated mass, swollen and distorted beyond recognition. Covered with spit. His back laid open by the beating. A crown of thorns upon his head. And Pilate said, "Behold the man!" But you couldn't even recognize that He was a man. And yet He did it. He endured it. He did not turn away. His ear was open. He submitted to the will of the Father because He loved you. "And who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross" ( Hebrews 12:2 ), though He despised the spitting, even as you would. And the shame of the whole thing. He despised it. But yet He endured it because His love for you was stronger than anything else. And the joy of being able to wash you and redeem you and to cleanse you from all of your sins was the thing that kept Him going in that moment of disgrace and ignominy. How much He loved us. Oh, God, help us to respond to that love.

For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore I will not be confounded: therefore have I set my face as flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed ( Isaiah 50:7 ).

His trust was in the Father. He had committed Himself unto God and to the will of God completely.

He is near that justifies me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and put his trust upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire ( Isaiah 50:8-11 ),

In the last verse he refers to a little pagan ceremony that they went in, that they did.

All ye that kindle a fire put a circle of sparks around you: that you might walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that you have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow ( Isaiah 50:11 ).

You that have gone after the false gods. You that are worshipping these false idols. You that are worshipping in this false system. This you're going to have from me. You're going to go down in sorrow.

I do not know how a Jew can read these scriptures and not recognize that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. I do not know how they can look at these and deny the prophecy of Jesus Christ or the fulfillment of Jesus Christ of these prophecies.

Father, we thank You for the great love that You have for us, though we realize how unworthy we are and undeserving. Yet, Lord, You have loved us with an everlasting love. And You have drawn us with Your cords of kindness. And Lord, You sent Your Son, how thankful we are. And now, Lord, we receive Your love. And Father, we love You and we thank You that You chose us that we should be Your disciples, that we should bring forth fruit. That we should serve You and that we should be with You in Your kingdom. We thank You, Lord, that You called us. We thank You, Lord, that You have redeemed us in the blood of Jesus Christ. And that You have accepted us in Him. And now, Lord, we are Your children. May we walk as children in this dark and perverse world. In Jesus' name. Amen.

And now may the Lord be with you. And may the Lord bless you and keep you through this week. May the grace of God abound towards thee in all things. That you might experience the full richness of His love and of His grace towards you in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in His name. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The Servant’s confidence 50:4-9

This is the third Servant Song (cf. Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 49:1-6; Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12). Like the second song, this one is autobiographical, but unlike the first and second songs it contains no reference to the Servant. That it is the Servant who is speaking becomes unmistakable in Isaiah 50:10-11, the "tailpiece" of this song. But what the Servant says, even without that specific identification, leaves little doubt that it is He who is speaking. The obedient and faithful Servant, though deeply troubled, expresses confidence in His calling to proclaim the Lord’s Word and in His ultimate vindication. The reason for the Servant’s uneasiness becomes clearer in this passage. It is because obedience to God would lead to physical and emotional suffering (Isaiah 50:5-6). The extent of this suffering comes out most clearly in the fourth song. [Note: See also, F. Duane Lindsey, "The Commitment of the Servant in Isaiah 50:4-11," Bibliotheca Sacra 139:555 (July-September 1982):216-27.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The Servant counted on the help of Almighty God and so refused to feel disgraced; He knew that God would vindicate Him for being faithful to His calling. He had not suffered because He was guilty, as submitting to public humiliation meekly might suggest to observers, but in spite of His innocence. Earlier in this book, Isaiah instructed the Israelites to trust God, rather than the nations, when faced with attack by a hostile enemy (chs. 7-39). The Servant modeled that trust for God’s servant Israel and for all God’s servants. The belief that God would not allow Him to be disgraced in the end, emboldened the Servant to remain committed to fulfilling the Lord’s will (cf. Luke 9:51). God would eventually show that the Servant had not taken a foolish course of action.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

For the Lord God will help me,.... As he promised he would, and did, Psalms 89:21, which is no contradiction to the deity of Christ, nor any suggestion of weakness in him; for he is the true God, and has all divine perfections in him; is equal to his Father in power, as well as in glory, and therefore equal to the work of redemption, as his other works show him to be; but this is to be understood of him as man, and expresses his strong faith and confidence in God, and in his promises as such; and in his human nature he was weak, and was crucified through weakness, and in it he was made strong by the Lord, and was held and upheld by him: and this shows the greatness of the work of man's redemption, that it was such that no mere creature could effect; even Christ as man needed help and assistance in it; and also the concern that all the divine Persons had in it:

therefore shall I not be confounded; or "made ashamed" z; though shamefully used, yet not confounded; so as to have nothing to say for himself, or so as to be ashamed of his work; which is perfect in itself, and well pleasing to God:

therefore have I set my face like a flint: or like "steel" a; or as an adamant stone, as some b render it; hardened against all opposition; resolute and undaunted; constant and unmoved by the words and blows of men; not to be browbeaten, or put out of countenance, by anything they can say or do. He was not dismayed at his enemies who came to apprehend him, though they came to him as a thief, with swords and staves; nor in the high priest's palace, nor in Pilate's hall, in both which places he was roughly used; nor at Satan, and his principalities and powers; nor at death itself, with all its terrors.

And I know that I shall not be ashamed, neither of his ministry, which was with power and authority; nor of his miracles, which were proofs of his deity and Messiahship; nor of his obedience, which was pure, and perfect, and pleasing to God; nor of his sufferings, which were for the sake of his people; nor of the work of redemption and salvation, in which he was not frustrated nor disappointed of his end.

z לא נכלמתי "non erubui", Pagniuus, Montanus; "non afficior ignominia", Junius Tremellius, Piscator "non pudefactus", Syr. a כחלמיש "at chalybem". Forerius. b "Tanquam saxum adamantinum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      4 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.   5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.   6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.   7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.   8 He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.   9 Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.

      Our Lord Jesus, having proved himself able to save, here shows himself as willing as he is able to save, here shows himself as willing as he is able. We suppose the prophet Isaiah to say something of himself in these verses, engaging and encouraging himself to go on in his work as a prophet, notwithstanding the many hardships he met with, not doubting but that God would stand by him and strengthen him; but, like David, he speaks of himself as a type of Christ, who is here prophesied of and promised to be the Saviour.

      I. As an acceptable preacher. Isaiah, a a prophet, was qualified for the work to which he was called, so were the rest of God's prophets, and others whom he employed as his messengers; but Christ was anointed with the Spirit above his fellows. To make the man of God perfect, he has, 1. The tongue of the learned, to know how to give instruction, how to speak a word in season to him that is weary,Isaiah 50:4; Isaiah 50:4. God, who made man's mouth, gave Moses the tongue of the learned, to speak for the terror and conviction of Pharaoh, Exodus 4:11; Exodus 4:12. He gave to Christ the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season for the comfort of those that are weary and heavily laden under the burden of sin, Matthew 11:28. Grace was poured into his lips, and they are said to drop sweet-smelling myrrh. See what is the best learning of a minister, to know how to comfort troubled consciences, and to speak pertinently, properly, and plainly, to the various cases of poor souls. An ability to do this is God's gift, and it is one of the best gifts, which we should covet earnestly. Let us repose ourselves in the many comfortable words which Christ has spoken to the weary. 2. The ear of the learned, to receive instruction. Prophets have as much need of this as of the tongue of the learned; for they must deliver what they are taught and no other, must hear the word from God's mouth diligently and attentively, that they may speak it exactly, Ezekiel 3:17. Christ himself received that he might give. None must undertake to be teachers who have not first been learners. Christ's apostles were first disciples, scribes instructed unto the kingdom of heaven,Matthew 13:52. Nor is it enough to hear, but we must hear as the learned, hear and understand, hear and remember, hear as those that would learn by what we hear. Those that would hear as the learned must be awake, and wakeful; for we are naturally drowsy and sleepy, and unapt to hear at all, or we hear by the halves, hear and do not heed. Our ears need to be wakened; we need to have something said to rouse us, to awaken us out of our spiritual slumbers, that we may hear as for our lives. We need to be awakened morning by morning, as duly as the day returns, to be awakened to do the work of the day in its day. Our case calls for continual fresh supplies of divine grace, to free us from the dulness we contract daily. The morning, when our spirits are most lively, is a proper time for communion with God; then we are in the best frame both to speak to him (my voice shalt thou hear in the morning) and to hear from him. The people came early in the morning to hear Christ in the temple (Luke 21:38), for, it seems, his were morning lectures. And it is God that wakens us morning by morning. If we do any thing to purpose in his service, it is he who, as our Master, calls us up; and we should doze perpetually if he did not waken us morning by morning.

      II. As a patient sufferer, Isaiah 50:5; Isaiah 50:6. One would think that he who was commissioned and qualified to speak comfort to the weary should meet with no difficulty in his work, but universal acceptance. It is however quite otherwise; he has both hard work to do and hard usage to undergo; and here he tells us with what undaunted constancy he went through with it. We have no reason to question but that the prophet Isaiah went on resolutely in the work to which God had called him, though we read not of his undergoing any such hardships as are here supposed; but we are sure that the prediction was abundantly verified in Jesus Christ: and here we have, 1. His patient obedience in his doing work. "The Lord God has not only wakened my ear to hear what he says, but has opened my ear to receive it, and comply with it" (Psalms 40:6; Psalms 40:7, My ear hast thou opened; then said I, Lo, I come); for when he adds, I was not rebellious, neither turned away back, more is implied than expressed--that he was willing, that though he foresaw a great deal of difficulty and discouragement, though he was to take pains and give constant attendance as a servant, though he was to empty himself of that which was very great and humble himself to that which was very mean, yet he did not fly off, did not fail, nor was discouraged. He continued very free and forward to his work even when he came to the hardest part of it. Note, As a good understanding in the truths of God, so a good will to the work and service of God, is from the grace of God. 2. His obedient patience in his suffering work. I call it obedient patience because he was patient with an eye to his Father's will, thus pleading with himself, This commandment have I received of my Father, and thus submitting to God, Not as I will, but as thou wilt. In this submission he resigned himself, (1.) To be scourged: I gave my back to the smiters; and that not only by submitting to the indignity when he was smitten, but by permitting it (or admitting it rather) among the other instances of pain and shame which he would voluntarily undergo for us. (2.) To be buffeted: I gave my cheeks to those that not only smote them, but plucked off the hair of the beard, which was a greater degree both of pain and of ignominy. (3.) To be spit upon: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. He could have hidden his face from it, could have avoided it, but he would not, because he was made a reproach of men, and thus he would answer to the type of Job, that man of sorrows, of whom it is said that they smote him on the cheek reproachfully (Job 16:10), which was an expression not only of contempt, but of abhorrence and indignation. All this Christ underwent for us, and voluntarily, to convince us of his willingness to save us.

      III. As a courageous champion, Isaiah 50:7-9; Isaiah 50:7-9. The Redeemer is as famous for his boldness as for his humility and patience, and, though he yields, yet he is more than a conqueror. Observe, 1. The dependence he has upon God. What was the prophet Isaiah's support was the support of Christ himself (Isaiah 50:7; Isaiah 50:7): The Lord God will help me; and again, Isaiah 50:9; Isaiah 50:9. Those whom God employs he will assist, and will take care they want not any help that they or their work call for. God, having laid help upon his Son for us, gave help to him, and his hand was all along with the man of his right hand. Nor will he only assist him in his work, but accept of him (Isaiah 50:8; Isaiah 50:8): He is near that justifieth. Isaiah, no doubt, was falsely accused and loaded with reproach and calumny, as other prophets were; but he despised the reproach, knowing that God would roll it away and bring forth his righteousness as the light, perhaps in this world (Psalms 37:6), at furthest in the great day, when there will be a resurrection of names as well as bodies, and the righteous shall shine forth as the morning sun. And so it was verified in Christ; by his resurrection he was proved to be not the man that he was represented, not a blasphemer, not a deceiver, not an enemy to Cæsar. The judge that condemned him owned he found no fault in him; the centurion, or sheriff, that had charge of his execution, declared him a righteous man: so near was he that justified him. But it was true of him in a further and more peculiar sense: the Father justified him when he accepted the satisfaction he made for the sin of man, and constituted him the Lord our righteousness, who was made sin for us. He was justified in the Spirit,1 Timothy 3:16. He was near who did it; for his resurrection, by which he was justified, soon followed his condemnation and crucifixion. He was straightway glorified, John 13:32. 2. The confidence he thereupon has of success in his undertaking: "If God will help me, if he will justify me, will stand by me and bear me out, I shall not be confounded, as those are that come short of the end they aimed at and the satisfaction they promised themselves: I know that I shall not be ashamed." Though his enemies did all they could to put him to shame, yet he kept his ground, he kept his countenance, and was not ashamed of the work he had undertaken. Note, Work for God is work that we should not be ashamed of; and hope in God is hope that we shall not be ashamed of. Those that trust in God for help shall not be disappointed; they know whom they have trusted, and therefore know they shall not be ashamed. 3. The defiance which in this confidence he bids to all opposers and opposition: "God will help me, and therefore have I set my face like a flint." The prophet did so; he was bold in reproving sin, in warning sinners (Ezekiel 3:8; Ezekiel 3:9), and in asserting the truth of his predictions. Christ did so; he went on in his work, as Mediator, with unshaken constancy and undaunted resolution; he did not fail nor was discouraged; and here he challenges all his opposers, (1.) To enter the lists with him: Who will contend with me, either in law or by the sword? Let us stand together as combatants, or as the plaintiff and defendant. Who is my adversary? Who is the master of my cause? so the word is, "Who will pretend to enter an action against me? Let him appear, and come near to me, for I will not abscond." Many offered to dispute with Christ, but he put them to silence. The prophet speaks this in the name of all faithful ministers; those who keep close to the pure word of God, in delivering their message, need not fear contradiction; the scriptures will bear them out, whoever contends with them. Great is the truth and will prevail. Christ speaks this in the name of all believers, speaks it as their champion. Who dares be an enemy to those whom he is a friend to, or contend with those for whom he is an advocate? Thus St. Paul applies it (Romans 8:33): Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? (2.) He challenges them to prove any crime upon him (Isaiah 50:9; Isaiah 50:9): Who is he that shall condemn me? The prophet perhaps was condemned to die; Christ we are sure was; and yet both could say, Who is he that shall condemn? For there is no condemnation to those whom God justifies. There were those that did condemn them, but what became of them? They all shall wax old as a garment. The righteous cause of Christ and his prophets shall outlive all opposition. The moth shall eat them up silently and insensibly; a little thing will serve to destroy them. But the roaring lion himself shall not prevail against God's witnesses. All believers are enabled to make this challenge, Who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ that died.