Listen and Wake Up! (6): The Prophetic Church and the New Creation (Isaiah 51:16) by Rev. Angus Stewart
I. The Equipped Prophet
II. The Gracious Protection
III. The Creative Purpose
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 51:12: “Our inordinate fear of man is a tacit forgetfulness of God. When we disquiet ourselves with the fear of man we forget that there is a God above him, and that the greatest of men have no power but what is given them from above; we forget the providence of God, by which He orders and overrules all events according to the counsel of His own will; we forget the promises He has made to protect His people, and the experiences we have had of His care concerning us, and His seasonable interposition for our relief many a time, when we thought the oppressor ready to destroy; we forget our Jehovah-jirehs, monuments of mercy in the mount of the Lord. Did we remember to make God our fear and our dread, we should not be so much afraid as we are of the frowns of men ...”
John Calvin on Isaiah 51:13: “Thus, if we remember our creation and adoption, these beginnings may encourage us to hope for continued progress, that we may not be ungrateful to God, when He has proved His veracity by undoubted experience. To the special kindness which God had exercised towards His people He likewise adds His boundless power, which He contrasts with the weakness of men, whom He formerly compared to withered grass (Isa. 40:7). He demonstrates that power by His works, so that they who do not perceive it must be exceedingly stupid; for we cannot turn our eyes in any direction without perceiving very abundant testimonies of divine goodness and power, which, however, are briefly described by a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, when He says that it is ‘He who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth.’ It is therefore the greatest folly and indolence to forget Him, for so numerous are the signs and testimonies which recall him to the remembrance of men.”