Let us turn to God's Word once
again. Having read the opening part
of this 65th chapter in the book of the Prophet Isaiah, I want
for a short while tonight to draw your attention to the verses
7, 8, and 9 concerning Zion. Isaiah 66, verses 7, 8, and 9,
Before she travailed She brought forth, before her
pain came, she was delivered of a man's child, who hath heard
such a thing, who hath seen such things. Shall the earth be made
to bring forth in one day, or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion prevailed, she brought forth her children.
Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth, saith
the Lord? Shall I cause to bring forth?
and shut up the womb saith thy God. May the Lord help us as we turn
to this portion of his holy word. Surely there's a sense in which
we have to recognize that the words that we've just read had
their fulfillment in the New Testament in particular on that
great day of Pentecost when we read of the remarkable consequence
of Peter's preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Three
thousand were so gloriously awakened. It was a real work of the Spirit
of God, the conviction of sin, the cry for mercy. And we're familiar with that
second chapter in the Acts. We're told at verse 37, that
when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said
unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,
what shall we do? And then subsequently we read
at verse 41 that they that gladly received his word and that word
of exhortation, repent and be baptized every one of you in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. They
that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day
they were added on to them about 3000 souls and then just a short
while after that in chapter 4 And verse 4, we read, Howbeit
many of them which heard the word believed, and the number
of the men was about five thousand. Remarkable outpouring then of
the Holy Ghost there on the day of Pentecost. And it's a fulfillment
of these words that we've just been reading here in the 66th
chapter of Isaiah. It's the accomplishment of what
Christ himself says in the Gospel. There in John 14, 12, Verily,
verily, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall
he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because
I go unto my Father. And remember the significance
of what he said there, because in the second part there, it's
simply greater than these. The word works is in italics. What the Lord is saying is, the
works that I do shall he do also, and greater than these. Those
works that were to be done by his apostles were greater than
the miracles that were such a mark of the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The greater works that shall
then be done are not to be understood in terms of the miracles, but
rather the glorious success of the preaching of the gospel,
with the coming of the Holy Ghost, because there in John 14 and
those following two chapters, it's very much that ministry
of the Comforter, the Spirit that was to come that the Lord
is speaking of. He that believeth on me, the
works that I do shall he do also, and greater than these shall
he do, because I go unto my Father, and going to the Father it was
Christ who then gloriously shed abroad the Holy Ghost. And so there was a remarkable
consequence at the outpouring of the Spirit in the conversion
of many sinners. Well, as we turn to this passage
here in Isaiah 66, one has to consider how God's works are
never abortive. Surely that's the theme that
runs through these verses. The works of God are never abortive. He says previously in chapter
46, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also
do it. What God purposes, what God speaks,
what God promises is never aborted, but always as its complete accomplishment. Well, let's look then at these
verses for a while. In verses 7 to 9, before she prevailed, she prevailed,
she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she
prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she
prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed,
she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed,
she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed,
she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she
prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed,
she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed,
she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed,
she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she
prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she prevailed, she
prevailed, she prevailed, the womb saith thy God. Now ultimately, it is referring
to that greatest of all the works of God, as we've said, in His
highest work, redemption. See His glory in a blaze. Those lovely words in the hymn
of Gatsby that we were singing. It's the highest and the greatest
of all the works of God, the salvation of sinners. But also
here, is there not some allusion to other works? Deliverance from
the captivity. And not only that, also surely
some reference to God's great work at the beginning when he
created all things out of nothing. here at the beginning of verse
8, who hath heard such a thing, who hath seen such things, shall
the earth be made to bring forth in one day. When we think of
the way in which God acted at the beginning in the work of
creation, how He accomplished that work in six days. And we know from the record that
we have there in Genesis 1 that those were 24-hour days, because
each time we read of the evening and the morning. The evening
and the morning were the first day, the evening and the morning
were the second day, and so on through those six days. It's
written in such a way that clearly Moses is referring to those literal
days. And how did God act on each of
those days? Well, we know that he created
simply by his word, by that fiat he spake. And it was done, he
commanded, and it stood fast in the language of Psalm 33. And we see there in that work
all the persons in the Godhead by the word of the Lord were
the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath or
by the spirit of his mouth. It's a work of God the Father,
God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is the Creator, the
Son is the Creator and the Holy Spirit is also the Creator. They're all involved in that
great work. And here we see that there's
surely some reference to that. Shall the earth be made to bring
forth in one day? Think of what we read in Genesis
chapter 1 concerning that third day of creation, as it's recorded
at verse 9 following. God said, let the waters under
the heaven be gathered together onto one place, and let the dry
land appear, and it was so. And God called the dry land earth,
and the gathering together of the waters called he seas. And
God saw that it was good. And God said, let the earth bring
forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth.
And it was so. and the earth brought forth grass,
and herb-yielding seed after his kind, and the tree-yielding
fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind. And God saw that
it was good, and the evening and the morning were the third
day. Surely there's some allusion
to this work here. Shall the earth be made to bring
forth in one day all vegetation? God spoke into being on that
very third day of His creation. And what is God doing? He is
revealing Himself. And He is declaring something
of His greatness, His glory, His power. We know how the heavens
do declare the glory of the Lord, as the psalmist says there in
Psalm 19. And the firmament, that is the
starry skies, the vast universe, is another revelation of Him.
All of these things have been made by God. The invisible things
from the creation of the earth are clearly seen being understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. Therefore they are without excuse,
says the apostle in Romans chapter 1. It's therefore meant to behold
the glories of God in the works of His hand, His works of creation
and so men are without any excuse so they may never hear the word
of God yet there's evidence of a creator to be witnessed all
about and not only is God the creator but he is the one who
preserves his creation and in that work of providence does
he not also reveal something more of his character he is the
faithful God while the earth remain, as he says. Seed time
and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall
not cease. Every new day reminds us of the
faithfulness of God and even as the night season comes on
we're reminded again of God who is faithful. And how God in and
by the various seasons causes the earth to be fruitful. Think
of the words again that we find in the book of Psalms and there
in Psalm 65 verse 9 following thou visitest the earth says
David and waterest it thou greatly enrichest it with the river of
God which is full of water Thou preparest them corn when they
were so provided for it, Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly,
Thou settlest the furrows thereof, Thou makest it soft with showers,
Thou blessest the springing thereof, Thou crownest the year with Thy
goodness, and Thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures
of the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side.
The pastures are clothed with flocks, The valleys also are
covered over with corn, they shout for joy, they also sing. What does it matter what men
might say about global warming and the like? I know men do abuse
God's creation because men are sinners. And there's much followed. We have to look higher than the
opinions of men and we have to look to that God who has given
his word of promise. He is the creator. and He is
the sustainer of all things. And I say that there is surely
some allusion to this in what we have here in this 8th verse. Who hath heard such a thing?
Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring
forth in one day? Some reference to creation and
when we in the second place think of the historical context there
must be some reference here to the time of the captivity, the
exile in Babylon and then eventually the restoration after 70 years
God would bring his people again to Jerusalem and the words that
we have in the text before she prevailed she brought forth before
her pain came she was delivered of a man child who has heard
such a thing who has seen such things shall the earth be made
to bring forth in one day or shall a nation be born at once
for as soon as Zion prevailed she brought forth her children
now that's God's promise by his servant Isaiah to the
people of Judah as he comes to the end of his ministry. And it's a similar promise to
what we find earlier in this book in chapter 49. We find very
similar words there at verse 19 following. thy waste and thy desolate places,
and the land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow
by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee
up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt
have after thou hast lost the others shall say again in thine
ears, The place is too straight for me, give place to me that
I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine
heart, Who hath begotten me these? seeing I have lost my children,
and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro, and who
hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone. These, where had they been? It's a similar word of promise
that Jerusalem is going to be peopled that there will be those
who are God's children dwelling again in the midst of Zion, in
the midst of Jerusalem. And we know that the ministry
of the Prophet is very much directed to that remnant. They were going
to be taken away, yes, but God would preserve the remnant. He
would not altogether forsake Jerusalem when the Prophet receives
his call in chapter 6. And he puts that question there
in verse 11, the Lord had spoken. Whom shall I send who will go
for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. Verse 11, Then said
I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities
be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and
the land be utterly desolate. That's the judgment of the exile
and the Lord hath removed men far away and there be a great
forsaking in the midst of the land but yet in it shall be a
tent and it shall return and shall be eaten as a tale tree
and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their
leaves for the holy seed shall be the substance thereof this
is that holy seed this is that birth of a nation as it were
in one day. God's promising that there would
be a restoring, not to overlook the historical context, but ultimately, Isaiah is a gospel book. Isaiah
speaks principally of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the scriptures
bear testimony to Christ and Isaiah has much to say of the
way in which God will deal with sinners in the gospel and even
goes on to speak of the calling of the Gentiles. And we have
it here in the chapter. Later at verse 12, Thou said
to the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and
the glory of the Gentiles. like a flowing stream then shall
you suck you shall be born upon her sides and be dandled upon
her knees these these children born in a day how the lord god
will provide for them and care tenderly for them and dandle
them there upon his knees he's speaking of the gospel he's speaking
of the calling of the gentiles and again we have it back in
that passage in chapter 49 that we referred to just now. And
there, at verse 22, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will
lift up mine hand to the Gentiles. So there's here surely the calling
of the Gentiles upon the accomplishment of that gracious ministry of
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But oh, we're reminded also that
that gospel of the grace of God is always a discriminating gospel. And again, look at what we have
previously here in the chapter, verse 5. Hear the word of the
Lord, ye that tremble at his word. Your brethren that hated
you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord
be glorified, but he shall appear to your joy and they shall be
ashamed." A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple,
a voice of the Lord that renders recompense to his enemies. And then we come to the words
that we are considering at verse 7, the following. We see that God's Word is a discriminating
word here. And that is ever the way, of
course, in the Gospel. And isn't another prophet Jeremiah
very much reminded of that? If thou take forth the precious
from the vial, thou shalt be as my mouth says the Lord God
to his servant there in Jeremiah 15, 19. The taking forth of the
precious from the vial of division. made amongst the people. And
we have it in the course of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. He
comes to His own. His own receive Him not. They
reject Him. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power, gave He authority to be the sons of God. And as He preaches, as we've
said many a time there in John, on at least three occasions we
see division. In John 7, 43, And again in chapter
9 at verse 16, and then at 10.19, a division amongst the people
because of him. A division amongst the people
because of his words. How discriminating! And we're to be those who would
follow this line of division that we see clearly in the Word
of God. What does he say in verse 2? and the end of that verse, to
this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite
spirit, and trembleth at my words. And then in verse 5, Hear ye
the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word. Well, these are the ones that
God speaks gracious words to. But then what of others? your
brethren that hated you that cast you out for my namesake
said let the Lord be glorified but he shall appear to your joy
and they shall be ashamed we know that God's word is to be
preached and proclaimed to the ends of the earth isn't that
the great commission of the Lord Jesus at the end of Mark going
into all the world he says and preach the gospel to every creature but how that gospel comes to
some the savour of life unto life to others the savour of
death unto death and here in verse 4 it says because when
I called none did answer when I spoke they did not hear how
there are those who shut their ears and will not hear the word
of God they rejected the natural man who will not receive those
things of the spirit of God who are those who hear the word? well they are those who are brought
to that place of conviction they tremble or they tremble before
the word of God as we see there at the end of
that second verse to this man will I look even to him that
is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word when
God's word comes with that gracious power and maybe we can look back
in our experience many times you may have heard the word of
God and it meant nothing to us but the appointed time rolls
on a pace not to propose but call by grace and when that time
comes how the word is applied. And so, thirdly here we see God's
sovereign performance of salvation. God's work, as it begins, is
never aborted, but is always completed. He says, shall I bring
to the birth and not cause to bring forth, saith the Lord,
shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb, saith thy
God." Now, observe here that we have the singular pronouns
throughout, of course. It's the work of God. God bringing
to the birth. I bring to the birth. I cause
to bring forth. In contrast, in an earlier chapter,
we have the plural way. If you turn back to chapter 26,
and verse 18 we find words that are quite similar. There in verse
18 of chapter 26, we have been with child, we have been in pain,
we have as it were brought forth wind, we have not wrought any
deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world
fallen. Now the contrast surely is this,
that what we have there in that 26th chapter is an abortive work,
but it's a work of men, it's what men do. It's worthy. We have been with child, we have
been in pain, we have, as it were, brought forth wind. It's
worthy, worthy, worthy. We're to beware of any thought
of self-made Christians. We cannot make ourselves Christians. Only he that made the world can
make a Christian. I do like that simple sentence
there in the lovely preface to Joseph Hart's volume of his hymns. Only he that made the world can
make a Christian. But there are those who think
that they can make themselves Christians. And we see it at
the end of chapter 50, the contrast. In verses 10 and 11, who is among
you that feeleth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant,
that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust
in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his guard. Behold,
all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with
sparks, walk in the light of your fire. And in the sparks
that ye have kindled, these shall ye have in mine hand, ye shall
lie down in sorrow. Oh, it's two characters. It's
the air of heaven and he's walking in darkness there in verse 10.
And then in verse 11 it's the air of hell. And he seems to
walk in light, but it's his own work. He's kindled a fire. He's compassed himself about
with sparks. It's like that character that
we read of in Hebrews chapter 6. He's not the work of God and
so it's an aborted work. but God's work is never aborted
and salvation of course is a work of the triune God it's the great
work of God in his highest work redemption it's the purpose of the father
and it's the accomplishment of the son and how the son by what
he accomplished has procured a great salvation and then there's
that glorious application of the Spirit, how the Spirit applies
the work. And again, look at what we've
seen in previous chapters. There in chapter 40, for example,
in verse 10, Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hands,
and His arms shall rule for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him,
and His work before Him. and again in 59 and at the beginning of
that chapter behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that he
cannot save and I was struck by these references to the hand
of the Lord in these two verses both in In verse 10 of chapter
14, the Lord God will come with strong hands, his arm will rule
for him, and then here in the opening words of chapter 59,
behold the Lord's hand is not shortened. And are we not to
associate God's hand in a sense with the ministry of the Holy
Spirit? The Lord Jesus does. in the course of his own ministry,
when the Pharisees accuse him of casting out demons by the
spirit of Beelzebub, how does the Lord answer them? In Luke
11.20, if I with the finger of God, he says, cast out demons,
then the kingdom of God is come among you. What is the finger
of God? Well, compare Scripture with Scripture. As we've said
many a time, the Bible is its own interpreter. And when we
compare those words in Luke 11 20 with the same account in Matthew
12, and there at verse 28, it's different. It says that Christ
said, if I with the Spirit of God cast out demons, the finger
of God, is the Spirit of God, the hand, the arm of God. When
God is active in salvation, it's the gracious work of the Spirit
to apply that that was purposed by the Father, that that was
procured by God the Son. It's the Spirit who does that
work of bringing to the birth. Shall I bring to the birth and
not cause to bring forth, saith the Lord? Shall I cause to bring
forth and shut the womb, saith thy God? No, God will do His
good and His gracious work. Oh, from where does that faith
come? That saving faith? It's faith of the operation of
God. It's the gracious work in the Spirit. It's faith that is
the gift of God. And that's what we have here
in verse 9. God's work is never an abortive work where the Spirit
is. How did the gospel come to those
Thessalonians? Not in word only, says Paul,
but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. So we need a Holy Ghost religion. Not that perversion of Holy Ghost
religion that the charismatics might climb, but that gracious
work of God. in the soul of the sinner, bringing
that sinner to all the blessings of salvation, regeneration, new
birth. It's the work of the Spirit of
God. And Paul tells us, doesn't he, we can be confident of this
very thing, that he that has begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. but are we not also reminded
here of how Zion travails there's a travailing in Zion and Zion
is but the figure of the church as we're aware I'm sure before
she travailed she brought forth before her pain came she was
delivered of a man-child it's travailing in prayer is it not?
think of the language that we have previously in chapter 65 and verse 24 He shall come to pass that before
they call I will answer while they are yet speaking I will
hear or we might travail but God is already working when His
people are in prayer while they are yet speaking He says I will
here but what travail we have here again in verse 8 who have
heard such a thing who have seen such things shall the earth be
made to bring forth in one day or shall a nation be born at
once for as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children
always to be those then who would be travailing in prayer agonizing
in prayers Isn't that how the Lord Jesus prayed in the garden? Being in an agony, it says. He
prayed more earnestly. I address myself, what do I know?
Of agonizing in prayer, of prevailing in prayer. And yet that's what
we're to do. Oh, that's what we're to do. We have it in the prayer of Moses,
the man of God. He prays there at the end of
Psalm 90, let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and
establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work
of our hands, establish thou it. All that we do, the Lord
must establish it. We have to plead with Him. But
we have His promises, as we see there at the end of 1 Corinthians
15. Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labour or your
travelling is not in vain in the Lord. That's the assurance
that we have. We have the Word of God. And we see something surely in
these verses of the greatness of our God, in His work of creation
at the beginning, in what He did for the children of Israel
when He brought them out of exile and restored them to Jerusalem.
But ultimately, it's that great work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All we must see of the travail of His soul. But God will have
His people come to inquire of Him. He will increase us with
men as a flock, He says. But we have to come and we have
to plead and pray. Well, the Lord help us. to heed
His Word and to draw some encouragement from it tonight. Before we do
come to pray, let us turn to God and sing His praises in the hymn
182. The tune is 797. If ever it could come to pass
that sheep of Christ might fall away, my feeble soul alas would
fall a thousand times a day. Were not thy love as firm as
free, thou soon wouldst take it, Lord, from me. I on thy promises depend, at
least I to depend desire that thou wilt love me to the end,
be with me in temptations fire. will for me work, and in me too,
and guide me right, and bring me through. 182 TUNE 797