52. The Wells of Salvation (1)

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Hymn: RHC 284 Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus 100 He Lifted Me 101 Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

Isaiah 12:1-6

1 And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. 2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. 3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. 5 Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. 6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

The Wells of Salvation (1)

OUTLINE

  • Comfort (v1)
  • Faith (v2)
  • Joy (v3)
  • Praise (v4)
  • Sing (v5)
  • Shout (v6)

INTRODUCTION

In this life, nothing is more necessary than water, so that there is no kind of scarcity that gives us more uneasiness or more distress than a scarcity of water. Thus, by a figure of speech, in which a part is taken for the whole, the prophet Isaiah declares that everything necessary for supporting life flows to us from the undeserved goodness of God when a man is saved. As if he had said, “The salvation of God hath been set before you, as if it were a constant running fountain, from which you can draw waters in abundance.”  And since we are empty and destitute of everything good, Isaiah compares the mercy of God to a fountain, which satisfies those who are thirsty and dry, refreshes those who are parched with heat, and revives those who are worn out with fatigue (Calvin). Isaiah terms it “the wells of salvation in verse 3.

Isaiah 12:2-3 (KJV) Behold (Look with amazement and gratefulness), God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

From the fountains of the Savior. This word is more appropriate to this passage than if he had said, “from the fountains of God;” for it yields more consolation when we know that He is the Author of our salvation, and therefore the Prophet has skilfully adapted this term to the situation in which it is placed. Now, if this promise includes the whole of Christ’s reign, we ought constantly to apply it to our use.

Let us therefore know that the goodness of God is held out to us, that we may be satisfied with it; for we ought to be like a dry and thirsty land, as the Psalmist says, that we may desire the waters of the Lord. (Calvin)

Psalm 143:6 (KJV) I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.

This goodness of God is wonderful and beyond what could have been believed, that He does not suffer us to burn with unsatisfied desire, but presents a fountain from which we may draw abundantly. That fountain is Christ, in whom all God’s benefits are imparted to us; for out of his fullness, as John says, we all draw. (John 1:16.) It remains, therefore, that whenever we feel our want we go directly to him.

John 1:16 (KJV) And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

Redemption results in praise. As once the Israelites sang the praise of God for the mighty deliverance from Egypt, so in the future the people of God as one man will again praise God for His wondrous redemption. Isaiah is speaking as though his own contemporaries would experience the redemption. Actually, he is depicting the people of the future in terms of his own contemporaries. He does this by using the singular and writing as though the entire nation were but one man. The people are thus seen to be united in their praise of God. So it is that Paul enjoins Christians, “That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:6). To praise God is to acknowledge Him as worthy and to bless Him for what He is and what He has done. Here is one voice that acknowledges the worth and greatness of the redeeming God. [Edward J. Young]

  • Comfort (v1)

1 And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.

This gratitude or praise is expressed to the LORD not because He was angry, but because He had been angry, and yet turned His wrath aside from the supplicant and instead showed comfort. Yet we must not misunderstand the expression. The Bible never teaches that the wrath of God is removed and is simply turned to love.

The wrath of God was not removed and turned into comfort. If that were the case it would present a low picture of the integrity of God. God is wrathful against sin, and that wrath must be visited upon sin. “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” That wrath of God will fall upon the guilty one and he will be punished. If, the punishment of sin is not in that particular man but on One who in his place bears the guilt of that man’s sin. Then, God may justly show His comfort to the man upon whom His wrath had formerly rested. Although God had indeed been angry and rightly so, His anger has turned, but turned from me to Christ. And I who deserved the anger of God to be poured out upon me have received His comfort instead. [Edward J. Young]

The remedy for sin is in Christ and the prophet is pointing the people to Christ, the triumphant Saviour who suffered for sin on our behalf and who reigns to judge righteously the world that turns not from their sin nor turn to the Saviour.

Our Lord has to be sent by the Father to personally bring comfort and rest to sinners as He lovingly persuades them to forsake their sin and come to Him for true freedom and riches when He saidin Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

From wrath to comfort is the experience of Adam and Eve who received the coats of skin that the LORD made to cover their guilt and shame after they disobeyed Him by partaking the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 3:22-24 (KJV) And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Nonetheless, they had to be banished from Eden lest they would live forever in their sinful state, proliferating perpetual evil!

The earth was never the same again after the fall of man. It was cursed.

Romans 8:22 (KJV) For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

But restoration came to the redeemed in Christ. For the redeemed, the curse is turned to comfort as we await the day of restoration, the day of resurrection!

Romans 8:18-21 (KJV) For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God (for the redemption of the body when Christ returns). For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

There is great joy in the believer’s heart yet he mourned for the corruption without and within that they may be mortified.

The regathering of Israel in the Promised Land the second time attested to the veracity of God’s Word. A step nearer to the redemption that comes when Christ returns to restore the cursed earth into her former Edenic state. That was the thought at the close of chapter 11.

His promise to restore them to the land again after their dispersal in It the diaspora for more than 1900 years is a fulfilment of prophecy and points to the nearness of coming restoration when Christ returns. Righteousness will fill the earth, with ensuing peace because Christ the righteous Ruler presides over the earth. And this begins first with Israel’s return to the land albeit, in their sinful state!

Isaiah 11:11-12 (KJV) And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

The historical setting of a prophecy is of the greatest importance. The prophecies enshrine, indeed, moral and spiritual truths, the value of which is quite independent of their historical setting: they exhibit ideals of conduct and belief which are valid for all time; they insist with an earnestness and eloquence, which can never lose their spell, upon the great principles of man’s duty towards God and his neighbour, which remain the same in whatever society he is placed.

But the prophets were more than the teachers of an abstract religion or morality: almost everything that they wrote had some reference to the age in which they lived — the religious, moral, and social needs of the people among whom they moved, their relation to foreign nations, or contemporary circumstances and events; they took a keen interest in affairs of national importance; they came forward as statesmen and advisers of the king and people, upon critical occasions of the national history.[1]

The Word of God helps us to interpret and understand the behaviours of men in our time from a Biblical perspective or God’s perspective which matters ultimately, especially in these last of the last days when Israel is back in the land, the prophetic word given 2600 years earlier has been fulfilled in our generation. Christ’s return is imminent. The restoration is coming.

And He shall set up an ensign for the nations … the word “ensign” means a flag, a banner, more so a standard. Israel coming together as a nation, the resurrection of the nation from the death keel of the Romans in A.D. 70, their dispersal and regathering is a divine message to the nations of the existence of the God of Israel. The flag signifies that it is indeed a nation amongst all the nations of the world. It brings forth more than the national existence of a nation to view but its language and culture resurrected with the reinstatement of the Hebrew Bible as the Source of its origin, is the backbone of modern Hebrew language and culture. More than that, it is the reinstating of God’s Laws as a reflection its veracity throughout human history.

Deuteronomy 4:5-10 (KJV) Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

Israel’s failures reinforce the truth of God’s Word, the blessings of obedience and cursings of disobedience. At this juncture we see the events leading to their destruction by the Assyrians and later by the Babylonians, proves the truth of God’s good Word. The blessings of keeping His precepts. Despite Israel’s waywardness, God did not forsake them. He chastises them so that He may restore them. God does not forsake His people. There has always been a remnant in Israel who loves the Lord and are obedient to His commandments.

Wherever God’s laws are upheld, there is righteousness and God’s blessing. We can see this throughout human history with the gospel reaching the heart of the Roman empire, it was Christianized. Decline came when man took over and displaced God, giving rise to the Dark Ages (500 A.D. to 1500 A.D) before the Renaissance and the 16th Century Reformation in Europe when gospel light was lit up once again. When persecution came to Europe, the gospel torch was lit in America in the past 200 years. Today, persecution has come to the Christians in America especially the past three years with the constitution attacked so that it can be suspended, bringing tyranny to the land. There are now approximately 100 million Christians in China in underground churches. As it exceeded the Christians in America? Is God going to give them to hold the gospel torch in this last leg across the Middle East back to Jerusalem? The world is teetering in this unstable state, groaning more in sin!

The Jews are back in the land. And the persecution of the Jews is a picture of the battle for the fulfilment of prophecy to set the stage for Christ’s return. Israel must be in the land again!

Today, the Jewish people not only remember as a historical event the first Passover but also celebrate in a larger sense, their freedom as Jews, having come together as a nation. The first Passover, according to the Biblical Timeline, occurred on May 4, 1451 B.C.

Israel was established as a nation on 14 May 1948. It is now 75 years that Israel is back in the land. Why is Israel back in the land? It is in preparation of Christ’s rule upon earth in the Millennium. For this to be fulfilled, there must be a nation of Israel and their capital Jerusalem.

On December 6, 2017, President Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and stated that the American embassy would be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

These events must come to pass to bring forth the fulfilling of prophecy.

When Christ returns, He will rule from Israel. As we saw in the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 11 the scene leading to the establishment of Christ’s rule (Rev. 16-19) in the Millennium where the Edenic state will be restored (Rev. 20:1-6).

Isaiah 11:4-9 (KJV) But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

The nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord Jesus. He will reign on earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords. There will be true righteousness on earth.

Daniel 2:44-45 (KJV) And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Daniel 7:24-26 (KJV) And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

Daniel 7:27 (KJV) And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

  • Faith (v2)

2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

As the remnant in Israel saw the impending war arising in their land, the looming Assyrian invasion and then the Babylonian invasion, the people of God are jolted to see the salvation that is in Christ, Israel’s Messiah. The exhortation is to have faith to follow Him though there was a great falling away in Israel.

It is the same picture in the church, plagued with apostasy, the falling away of the church, the ecumenical movement taking shape, uniting the religions of the world under Rome, the church is exhorted to trust God and remain true to His Word. Be not afraid, the LORD is still on the throne. He is working out His redemption plan and everything is on schedule.

There is cause for joy and rejoicing and singing, the songs of victory, of triumph in Christ, the only hope for the world. The people of God are exhorted to keep faith and let faith prevail and press on with the gospel work.

We are much encouraged with someone coming to church because she received a gospel invitation from our tracting team. She is not a believer thank God we had the opportunity to share the gospel with her. We pray that we will come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We rejoice as the angels in heaven rejoice with us at every blessing of being a part of the gospel work on earth.

We are told to “Behold, God is our salvation.” Look to Christ and the things of earth will grow strangely dim.

Now the brightness of the Lord God’s reconciled face shines forth. Behold! The long awaited deliverance has arrived. My salvation is God Himself. Now the great truth is clearly stated. How wondrous had the preparation been for its announcement. With us is God; ‘el is my salvation! A remnant will return unto mighty God! Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord. How happy that one who can say, “God is my salvation. I shall trust and not be afraid.” If God is one’s salvation, there is need only of trusting; no need of fearing.

Psalm 27:1-6 (KJV) A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.

What is meant when the prophet states that God is his salvation? It means that God is the Author, Cause, the Agent, the Accomplisher of that salvation. Salvation apart from God is unthinkable. In the counsels of eternity, God the Father ordained unto life and salvation His people; in time God the Son wrought that salvation by His death upon Calvary’s cross, and also in time God the Holy Spirit applies to the hearts of His own the blessings which Christ has obtained for them by His death. In obtaining salvation for man God was active. In salvation we are delivered from the guilt and pollutions of our sins, and we receive the wondrous and blessed righteousness of the eternal Christ. God is our Father, and by an act of His omnipotent grace adopts us as His children. In the fullest and deepest sense, we receive God. What more can we have – what more do we need than God Himself? He is our salvation. [Edward J. Young]

“If God were not my salvation, the people of God might reason, “there would be everything to fear.” Man is lonely, man is despondent; he lives in the blackness of long night. There is everything to fear until God becomes his salvation. Then there is nothing to fear. Only one may speak with much boldness and confidence; he is the one to whom God has become salvation. With full security and assurance, he may exclaim, “I will trust and not be afraid.” This is a God-given certainty of hope which may be possessed only by the redeemed. [Edward J. Young]

To be continued…

[1] Box, G. H., & Driver, S. R. (1909). The Book of Isaiah: Translated from a Text Revised in Accordance with the Results of Recent Criticism (pp. vii – viii). The Macmillan Co.