The Argument from the Past
W. Clarkson Isaiah 26:12-18 LORD, you will ordain peace for us: for you also have worked all our works in us. Great things are represented, by the prophetic voice, to have been done, and these furnish the strongest reason to expect great things in the future. I. THE GREAT THINGS GOD HAS DONE FOR US. 1. He has heard our cry in the day of distress (vers. 16, 17). Few things go home to our hearts more readily than the words of the psalmist, "I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me." It is a great thing to have been heard of God, to have gained his pitiful ear, and to have enjoyed his merciful consideration; that amid the millions of his children he has distinguished us and bent on us his benign regard. 2. He has granted full deliverance. "Other lords... have had dominion... but [now] thee only will we celebrate; they are dead;" their very memory is perishing (vers. 13, 14). We may have been under the dominion of some cruel vice (lust, or avarice, or intemperance), or of "the world" (1 John); but in the mercy of God these spiritual adversaries have been defeated, have been slain, they are no more to be dreaded, and now a Divine Redeemer is the Object of our adoration; for him we live, his honor we seek, his Name we strive to glorify (ver. 15), in his holy and ennobling service we spend our days and our powers. 3. He has granted spiritual enlargement. (Ver. 15.) "Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord." To some, especially to those whom he redeems from the bondage of vice or crime, God grants material enlargement, the improvement of their estate, the brightening of their life, the broadening of their sphere. To all who, at the touch of his liberating hand, come out of spiritual captivity into the freedom of his children, he gives spiritual advancement, increase of knowledge, of joy, of love, of influence, of hope. As we love and serve Christ, we are enlarged on every hand - the horizon of our souls is removed beyond its former bounds. II. THE ARGUMENT THEREFROM. The fact, that God has done such great things for us - and all that has been done for us has been wrought by him (ver. 12; and see Psalm 87:7) - is a strong reason to expect other gracious things in the future. "Thou wilt ordain peace for us" (ver. 12). It is a scriptural argument that the conferring of greater blessings is a security to us for the possession of smaller ones (see Matthew 6:25; Romans 8:32; Psalm 56:13). The gifts of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ, (1) his most costly gifts, (2) his most valuable gifts, may be to us a strong assurance that God will not only "ordain peace" in life and at death, but also lead us along all the path of life, and receive us to his presence and glory when our earthly course is run. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. WEB: Yahweh, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also worked all our works for us.