The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 51:12-16

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

A just confidence in God is a security against cowardly fears.

Men "fear continually every day" because of the emnity, or fury, or malignity, or cunning, of those who oppress them, or of those who would fain oppress them. They tremble before the wrath of men; they give little thought to the wrath of God. Half the sins that are committed spring from cowardice—a short-sighted cowardice, which consists in fearing those who can, at most, "kill the body," and not fearing him who after death can "destroy both body and soul in hell" (Matthew 5:28). A just confidence in God will secure us against such cowardice, since it will make us feel—

I. RELIANCE UPON GOD'S WILL TO SAVE US. God's mercy is "over all his works," over man especially; in a peculiar manner over such as love him and trust in him. He will not suffer them to be tried "above that they are able." He loves them, and watches over them, and sympathizes with their sufferings, and counts their wrongs, and hears their groans (Exodus 2:23), and "knows their sorrows" (Exodus 3:7). Oppressors are hateful to him (Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 3:15; Isaiah 5:7, etc.). They provoke him to send upon them "swift destruction." The greater their fury, the more they rouse against them God's indignation, and the closer their destruction draws nigh.

II. RELIANCE UPON GOD'S POWER TO SAVE US. Men are finite; God is infinite. Man is the creature of a day; God is "from everlasting to everlasting." Man fades as grass; God is "strong in power" (Isaiah 40:26), unwearied, unfailing. The "fierceness of man turns to God's praise," for that fierceness he is able at any moment to "refrain" (Psalms 76:10). He who "has stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth," and created man and placed him on the earth, and alone sustains him in life, can at any time sweep him into nothingness, destroy him, and make "all his thoughts perish."

More for Isaiah 51:12-16

Continue with other commentaries and DiscipleDeck content connected to this verse, chapter, or topic.

Other commentaries

The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 51:1-23Isaiah 51:1-23 · The Pulpit CommentaryEXPOSITION Matthew Henry on Isaiah 51:9-16Isaiah 51:9-16 · Matthew Henry Concise CommentaryThe people whom Christ has redeemed with his blood, as well as by his power, will obtain joyful deliverance from every enemy. He that designs such joy for us at last, will he not work such deliverance in the mean time,…Prayer in Behalf of Israel; Encouragement to the People of God. (b. c. 706.)Isaiah 51:9-16 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BiblePRAYER IN BEHALF OF ISRAEL; ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD. (B. C. 706.) In these verses we have, I. A prayer that God would, in his providence, appear and act for the deliverance of his people and the mortification…The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 51:12-16Isaiah 51:12-16 · The Pulpit CommentaryExpostulation against unbelief. If the Eternal be the Pastor and the Comforter of Israel, what has Israel to fear? I. THE NATURAL TIMIDITY OF THE HEART. We are cravens, all of us. We stand in dread of our own image; we…The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 51:12Isaiah 51:12 · The Pulpit CommentaryGod the Comforter. "I, even I, am he that comforteth you." All depends upon who it is that comforts us in the great crises of life. We are so apt to lean on those that excuse our weaknesses and comfort us in our sins. I…The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 51:12-16Isaiah 51:12-16 · The Pulpit CommentaryAN ADDRESS OF GOD TO HIS CAPTIVE PEOPLE. There is no very clear connection between this passage and the preceding, to which it is certainly not an answer. God comforts the captives under the oppression which they are su…

commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 51:1-23EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryMatthew Henry on Isaiah 51:9-16The people whom Christ has redeemed with his blood, as well as by his power, will obtain joyful deliverance from every enemy. He that designs such joy for us at last, will he not work such deliverance in the mean time,…Matthew Henry commentaryPrayer in Behalf of Israel; Encouragement to the People of God. (b. c. 706.)PRAYER IN BEHALF OF ISRAEL; ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD. (B. C. 706.) In these verses we have, I. A prayer that God would, in his providence, appear and act for the deliverance of his people and the mortification…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 51:12-16Expostulation against unbelief. If the Eternal be the Pastor and the Comforter of Israel, what has Israel to fear? I. THE NATURAL TIMIDITY OF THE HEART. We are cravens, all of us. We stand in dread of our own image; we…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 51:12-16AN ADDRESS OF GOD TO HIS CAPTIVE PEOPLE. There is no very clear connection between this passage and the preceding, to which it is certainly not an answer. God comforts the captives under the oppression which they are su…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 51:12I am he that comforteth you (comp. Isaiah 51:3, and the comment ad loc). Who art thou? Art thou a poor, weak, powerless, unprotected people, which might well tremble at the powerful Babylonians: or art thou not rather a…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 51:12God the Comforter. "I, even I, am he that comforteth you." All depends upon who it is that comforts us in the great crises of life. We are so apt to lean on those that excuse our weaknesses and comfort us in our sins. I…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 51:13The nervous temperament. "Hast feared continually every day." We are not all constituted alike. The instrumentalities by which the great soul within us does its work are diverse in quality. In a material sense we are bu…Joseph S. Exell and contributors