Let us turn then again to the
Word of God in that portion that we read, the 66th chapter in
the Book of the Prophets, Isaiah. Drawing your attention this morning
to the verses 7, 8 and 9. In Isaiah chapter 66 verses 7,
8 and 9, before she prevailed, she brought forth Before her
pain came, she was delivered of a man-child who had heard
such a thing, who had 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 the womb, saith thy God? These words were surely fulfilled
on the day of Pentecost. Here at the end of verse 8, As
soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. And on that
day, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ, having accomplished that
great work of redemption that was given him by the Father in
the eternal covenant, was pleased to shed abroad the Holy Ghost,
and with the coming of the Holy Ghost there was a great work
of regeneration, new birth accomplished in the souls of many sinners,
as we see there in that second chapter of the Acts of the Apostle,
the effect of the preaching of Peter when they heard this they
were told 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 we are told again at
verse 41 they that gladly received his word were baptized and the
same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls
And then again subsequently in chapter 4 of the Acts we read
of another 5,000 being converted, albeit many of them which heard
the word believed and the number of men was about 5,000. Here
we see Zion prevailing and bringing forth children. It is the fulfilment, I say,
of these words that I've read for our text this morning. It's those greater works that
Christ himself had said that his apostles would perform. Remember how he tells them there
in the 14th chapter of John's Gospel, Verily, verily, he that
believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do, and greater
works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father greater
works than these. And interestingly in that verse,
in John 14 verse 12, that word works is in italics, in other
words, it's one of those words that's been introduced, interpolated
in the translation, it's not the translation of a word that
is there in the original Greek literally, he said, and greater
than these, greater than these shall he do, because I go unto
my Father. It's not so much the works that
they are doing. The Lord Jesus Christ had performed
many great works, many remarkable works, miracles, healings, but
it's not those sort of things that are being spoken of there
in that verse in John Chapter 14, the reference surely is to
Pentecost and the success of the preaching of the Gospel,
and that after Christ had accomplished that work that was given to him
in the Eternal Covenant, having returned to the Father, I go
unto my Father, he said. And as a result of his resurrection
and his ascension on high and his session there at the Father's
right hand and the outpouring of the Spirit, so there will
be these greater things done. The success of the Gospel then. This is what we read of in this
prophetic word here at the end of Isaiah's book. Before she
travailed, 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 travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring
to the birth, and not cause to bring forth, set the law. Shall
I cause to bring forth and shut the womb, saith thy God? What is spoken of here then ultimately
is the greatest of all the works of God, that great work of salvation
that was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that work
that is applied to the soul of the sinners brought into the
sinner's hearts by the spirit that Christ shed abroad there
on the day of Pentecost. In his highest work, redemption,
see his glory in a blaze. Nor can angels ever mention aught
that more of God this blaze, says William Gadsby in The Hymn. That is what is ultimately being
spoken of here in the words of our text this morning. But is there not also some reference
here to other works of God, when we take account of the immediate
context, when we take account of what they call the analogy
of five, the whole context of this statement in view of all
that we read previously with regards to God and the works
and the ways of God. There are other things that are
spoken of here besides that greatest of all the works of God. There's
deliverance here from captivity. We're certainly to recognize
that in the context in which Isaiah himself was preaching. It was some 100 years before
the Babylonian captivity. And here is the promise, you
see, that there will be a restoration. What had happened to the Jewish
nation, in a sense it was lost when they were taken into exile
there in Babylon, but the nation will be born again. There will
be a return from the captivity. that promising, that promise
of deliverance. But there's also here surely
some reference to that work that God did at the beginning, that
great work of creation. And in creation, what do we see? Do we not there see the great
power of God or the majesty of God in the way in which He was
pleased to make all things? Who have heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall
the earth be made to bring forth in one day?" Now, the earth was
not brought forth in one day. God could have accomplished His
creation in one moment of time, had that pleased the Almighty.
But we know from the biblical record there in the opening chapters
of the book of Genesis that creation was accomplished in six days. And they were literal days. We see that from Genesis chapter
1 with regards to each of the days it is stated that the evening
and the morning were the first day, or the evening and the morning
were the second day, and so on through those six days of creation. They were literal days as we
know them, days of 24 hours. Men might try to marry the biblical
account with so-called modern scientific theories and so want
to say that those six days refer to great periods of time, but
that's not the way in which the Word of God declares the truth. No, those days were made up of
24 hours. The evening and the morning,
the evening and the morning, and so forth. And God's power
is seen there, of course, in those six days of creation, because
we see how it acts. How does he bring everything
into being? Simply by his word, by his fiat. He said, let there be light. And there was light. He said,
let the dry land appear and the dry land appeared. He just sang those words in the
metrical version of the 33rd psalm and remember what it actually
says as we have the psalm recorded here in the scriptures by the
word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them
by the breath of his mouth that's how God created he breathed he
spoke and creation appeared He spake and it was done, says the
Psalmist. He commanded and it stood fast. Shall the earth be made to bring
forth in one day? Now there is a sense in which
the earth did bring forth in one day, if we turn back there
to What's recorded in that first chapter of the book of Genesis,
in Genesis chapter 1, the verse 9 following, we read
of the third day of creation. And was it not on that third
day that God caused the earth to bring forth? Verse 9, God said, Let the waters
under the heaven be gathered together unto 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
each 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. Here is the third day of creation.
Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? It was so,
was it not? What a remarkable demonstration
is this of the power of God and the majesty of God. The psalmist
tells us, we're looking at Psalm 19, only last Thursday, remember
the opening words of that particular psalm, the heavens declare the
glory of God and the firmament show us His handiwork. God has revealed to us in something
of His greatness and His glory and He has done it, has He not,
in that remarkable work of creation and so men are without any excuse
so they be ignorant of the word of God though there are peoples
who might never have heard the scriptures of truth yet there
is that revelation about all of us in the works that God has
made the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world says Paul are clearly seen being understood by the things
that are made even his eternal power and God There in Romans
chapter 1 Paul is speaking of God's creation and how God's
creation as a voice, it's a testament to me. And how foolish then are
those who deny God. The fool has said in his heart
there is no God. There is that revelation then
here of the great power of God but there is also the faithfulness
of God in his providence. after he had destroyed the world
in the days of Noah, after he had sent that judgment upon men
in the universal flood, and just preserved Noah and his wife and
his sons and their wives. Remember how God then gives the
promise that he will not destroy the world in that fashion again.
While the earth remaineth, he said, seed time and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter day, and night shall not cease. Now the returning seasons of
the year remind us of God's faithfulness. He is the God of Providence.
He is that God who is still in this world working out his own
purpose He has decreed the seasons, He has decreed day and night.
As we come to a new day, do we remember God and the faithfulness
of God? Day and night shall not cease,
He says. As the minutes and the hours pass and the night comes
on, we are to remember God, the Creator, the Sustainer of all
things, the One who is faithful and true to his word and this
is of course the time of harvest, is it not? We are far removed
of course from these things in the day in which we live, in
a certain sense that is a fact. We simply go to the shops and
the shelves are loaded with food. But our fathers lived much nearer
to nature, they were very much mindful then of God's goodness.
as he was pleased to clothe the fields and to grant man that
necessary food. The Psalmist in Psalm 65 says,
Thou visitest the earth 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 my parts drop flatness. Can we not see a reference to
these things also here in the opening words of verse 8? Who
has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall
the earth be made to bring forth in one day? For God does it. He is not only the one who is
all-powerful in his acts of creation, he is that God who is kind, that
God who is faithful in his providential dealings, the way in which he
works through nature and replenishes the earth and grants us that
which is necessary for our earthly sustenance. I say then that here in our text
are these references as it were to the works of God, the God
that he is in creation and in providence. But here of course
in the immediate context what we have is a promise that the
Jews will be restored to their own life As I said it was about a hundred
years previous to the Babylonian captivity that Isaiah was called
to minister God's word. But that judgment would come
and the people because of their sins, because of their idolatry
would fall to the armies of Nebuchadnezzar and they'd be transported and
taken away from Jerusalem. Jerusalem would be left in ruins
and there they would languish for some 70 years in Babylon. And then, of course, we have
those historic books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the restoration,
the rebuilding of the temple, the rebuilding of the walls of
Jerusalem. The words that I've read here
for our text this morning have reference historically to that
restoration. Before she travailed 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 travailed
she brought forth her children." Mark those words. Here is the
nation reborn as it were. Zion, Jerusalem, travailing and
bringing forth her children. Now we have a similar word of
promise previously here in Isaiah in chapter 49 and verse 19 God says through
the prophet 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 other shall say again in thine ears the place is too straight
for me give place that I may dwell then shall they say in
thine heart who has begotten me these seeing I have lost my
children and am desolate a captive and removing to and fro and who
has brought up these behold I was left alone these where have they
been? all that destruction that terrible
destruction that came with the Babylonians boy it will be forgotten
there will be such a glorious restoration of the Jews. It's a similar promise then there
in chapter 49 to what we have here in our text this morning. A nation born at once, Zion prevailing
and again bringing forth her children. Isaiah was very much
concerned, of course, to minister to that remnant. When God sent
his judgments upon the land, it was those who were taken away,
not those that were destroyed, those who were taken into exile,
that remnant, that was going to be restored. These were the
ones that Isaiah was called to minister to. We see it when he
received his call from God, In chapter 6, the vision of Isaiah, he sees
the glory of God, he receives his commission as the Lord's
prophet. And then at the end of chapter
6, Isaiah writes then, said, I, Lord, how long? And the eye
said, until the cities be wasted, without inhabitants, and the
houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the
Lord hath removed men far away and there be a grave forsaking
in the midst of the land that's the captivity, that's the exile
and 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 so the holy seed shall be the
substance thereof and it's that remnant you see who are going
to be restored, who are going to flourish yet under the good
and gracious hand of God. And Isaiah is ministering to
those. But ultimately we know that this
prophet Isaiah speaks of God's dealings with sinners in the
Gospel. He speaks of God's dealings,
does he not, with sinners under the gospel. He deals with those, you see,
who are Catholics. He speaks not so much of the
Babylonian captivity, but he speaks, does he not, of that
spiritual captivity that the sinner is made to feel. He speaks
very much of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter
61, the words of the Prophet are taken up by Christ when we
see Him in the synagogue in Nazareth. In Luke chapter 4, remember after
the temptations in the wilderness when He returns in the power
of the Spirit and He goes into the synagogue and the minister
gives Him the book of the Prophet and Christ reads these words.
Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord
hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath
sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to
the captives and the opening of prison to them that are bound.
Liberty to the captives. Who are these captives? These
are the ones that Christ came to minister to. Those who are
bound in their sin. Those who are made to feel what
they are as sinners before God and they are shut up and they
cannot free themselves. They are those who are brought
under the conviction of their sins. These are the ones that
Isaiah ultimately is called to minister to. His book is a spiritual
book in that sense. It speaks of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks of the calling of the
Gentiles. Clearly this is speaking of Christ's
ministry. Look at verse 12, Thus saith
the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and
the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. Then shall
ye suck, and ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dangled
upon her knees. It's the Gentiles who are going
to be blessed under the Gospel. The game is not only here, it's
previously in this book, in chapter 49, Thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles. The Gospel is
to go out into all the world, even to the ends of the world,
this word is to be preached, is it not? But now we see here that even
this ministry of the Gospel is so discriminated. Previously in the chapter, at
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. The
voice of noise from the sitter The voice from the temple, the
voice of the Lord that renders recompense to his enemies. Oh, it's the words of him that
tremble. They tremble at the word of God.
These captives, you see, who are made to feel what they are,
and the awful bondage of their sins, and their utter impotence,
their inability to ever deliver themselves. But the word is clearly
directed to them. It's a discriminating word, is
it not? It's to be proclaimed, as I said, throughout the world. Going into all the world, said
Christ in the Great Commission to his disciples, going into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. But the words Though it preached
to all, how many reject it? How many reject it, refuse it? Verse 4, Because when I called,
none did answer. When I spake, they did not hear. You see, the whole chapter really
is to be understood in terms of the preaching of the Gospel,
as I said at the beginning. It's fulfilled really, our text,
on the day of Pentecost. It's the success of the gospel
ministry, the preaching of the gospel, and yet how discriminating
it is. There are those who refuse it.
There are those who reject it. They close their ears, they will
not hear. They don't want to know about
these things. And it's not just those who never
enter a place of worship, of course. We have to look to ourselves,
we have to examine ourselves, prove ourselves, know ourselves.
When we come under the sound of God's word, are we really
desirous of hearing His word, hearing His voice? Or are we
those who simply come out of habit? The word I say is a discriminating
word. Another of the prophets, Jeremiah,
is told what his ministry is to be if they take forth the
precious from the vial, says God to Jeremiah. Thou shalt be
as my mouth. All that separation, you see.
We see it in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
do we not? How many times in John's Gospel
are we told of a division? The division among the people
because of him. The division among the Jews because
of his sayings. How Christ's word you see is
that separating word. We have to follow then God's
line of division. Who are those who really hear
the word of the Lord? It's those that tremble. Those
that tremble. In verse 2 God says quite plainly,
to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit and trembler at my word. Hear the word of
the Lord, ye that tremble at his word. All friends do we tremble
at the word of God when we hear of it, the greatness of God,
the glory of God as we see it revealed in his works of creation,
the great power that belongs to God. And how God is that one
who is faithful and his faithfulness is seen in all his providences,
what God has said concerning the realm of nature, while the
earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer
and winter, day and night, shall not cease, that word is fulfilled
before our very eyes, but all God's word will be fulfilled
before our eyes. He is faithful to what he has
spoken. He is not a man that he should lie nor the son of
man that he should repent. Hath he said it, shall he not
do it? Hath he spoken it, shall he not
make it good? and those solemn warnings and
threatening him, we have to take account of them, we have to tremble
before such a God as this. But those who do reverence his
word, and we sought to say something with regard to that only last
Thursday. Remember that name that he's
given to God's word there in that psalm, the fear of the Lord.
He's clean, he says, or do we tremble then at the
word of God. But as we tremble at that word
we have cause to be encouraged because God's word is not only
a word of warning or a word of threatening, it's also a word
of gracious promise and that's what we have here in our text,
it's a promise of God. God performs his work. We see God here as that one who
will accomplish his great work of salvation. Look at verse 9,
he says, Shall I bring to the mirth, and not cause to bring
forth? Shall I cause to bring forth
and shut the womb? This is the work of God. This
is that great work of God in salvation, where God begins the
work. That work is not aborted. Now, there's a similar word to
this previously here in chapter 26 and verse 18. We read, 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. It's a similar word but it is
really saying the complete opposite to what we have there at the
end in this 66th chapter of verse 9. God says he brings to the
birth and he will bring forth. His word is For his work is not
aborted, you see, it's accomplished. That's the difference between
what we have here in our text this morning and those words
that I just read back in chapter 26 and verse 18. But notice back in that 26th
chapter it's the plural word. We have been with child. We have
been in pain. We have, as it were brought forth
when we have not brought any deliverance in the earth. Whereas here it's the singular
I, it's the contrast between what men would do and what God
does. All we need to be aware, do we
not, of being self-made Christians. To imagine that we can make ourselves true believers. Joseph Hart says in the preface
to his hymn book, only he that made the world can make a Christian.
We need to remember that. Beware of being a self-made so-called
Christian. Do we not read as such, the day
here in Isaiah, the end of chapter 15, 11th verse, Behold all ye that
kindle a fire, that accomplish yourselves about with sparks
walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have
kindled shall ye have at mine hand ye shall lie down in sorrow
those who try to kindle a fire in their own heart and make themselves
the people of God The contrast there, of course, in the previous
verse, is with those who fear God, those who tremble at His
Word. Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice
of His servant, that walketh in darkness and have no light,
that entrust in the name of the Lord and stay upon His God. Or that God would bring us to
recognise, dear friends, that salvation in its totality is
the work of God. It's the work of God. God the
Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It is God the Father
who has appointed salvation, who has made choice of the people
to be saved, has he not? And in the eternal covenant he
has committed that people into the hands of his Son. And it
is God the Son who became incarnate in order that he might redeem
that people. It was when the fullness of the time was come
that God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under the law. Oh, He came to
redeem them that they might receive the adoption of sons. They were
God's sons in the eternal covenant, but how they needed to receive
that adoption, and receive it how? By the work
of the Spirit, because it is God the Holy Ghost who came on
the day of Pentecost and what does the Spirit do? He applies
that glorious work that the Lord Jesus Christ wrought. He saves the sinner, you see.
He makes salvation a blessed reality in the soul of the sinner. Behold the Lord God will come
with strong hand we read in chapter 14 verse 10 and his arm shall
rule for him behold his reward is with him and his work before
him. All that work of the Spirit it
is before him he comes and he accomplishes that work in the
soul of the sinner. Again in chapter 59 we are told
the Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot say, neither is
ear heavy that he cannot hear. God's hand is not shortened. And the hand of God or the finger
of God is identified with the Holy Spirit by the Lord Jesus
Christ. When they accuse him of casting
out demons by the spirit of Beelzebub, what does he say? That he is
casting out demons by the finger of God, it says in Luke's account,
in Luke 11, whereas in Matthew chapter 12, the parallel passage,
he speaks of the Spirit of God. If I by the Spirit of God cast
out demons, the finger of God, the Spirit of God, the hand of
God, all of this is a reference to that good and gracious work
of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who comes and he
is the one who works in the soul and so Paul having preached the
gospel at Philippi remember he preached it there at Philippi
and the Lord was pleased to open the heart of Lydia and she received
those things that were spoken by Paul and Simon when Paul is
cast into the prison Doesn't the Lord come and visit that
prison? And even the jailer is converted? And so when Paul writes his epistle
to the Philippians, he speaks of his confidence, being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Shall I bring
to the fore, says God, and not cause to bring forth? Shall I
cause to bring forth and shut the womb, saith thy God? It is
that great work of the Holy Spirit then that is being spoken of.
The great performance of salvation. As I said, it involves all the
persons of the body. The electing love of the Father,
the redeeming work of the Son. And that work of regeneration,
that new birth that the Spirit himself accomplishes in the soul
of the sinner. But here we read of Zion prevailing. Oh, you see, when the Spirit
comes into the soul, what is the evidence? It's prevailing.
There's pain. There's crying out. There's calling
upon God. But we have it here, before she
travailed she brought forth, before her pain came she was
delivered of her 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 travailed, she brought forth her children. Zion has
to travail. We have to travail in prayer.
That is the evidence of the Spirit working in us. We have to prevail
in prayer if we would see that work of God in the souls of others.
But what does God say in that previous chapter here? At the
end of chapter 65, it shall come to pass that before they call
I will answer. While they are yet speaking I
will hear. We have every encouragement.
Encouragement then to cry, to call, to seek the face of God
in prayer. Before they call, He says, I
will answer. As soon as I am prevailed, she
brought forth her children. Oh friends, that we might be
pleased then to labour to that end, that the Gospel might be
blessed, that there might be that evidence of the Spirit's
work in and through the preaching of the Gospel. This is the promise,
I say, that stands out so clearly in these words that we've considered
as our text this morning. It was fulfilled initially on
the day of Pentecost. But is not this whole dispensation
of the Gospel the day of the Spirit of God? or that the spirit
then might be pleased to take the word of God and apply it
to our souls. The Lord bless to us his own
word.