Isaiah 42:11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar does inhabit… I. SHOW IN WHAT RESPECT CHRIST MAY BE COMPARED TO A ROCK. 1. Christ is a Rock, in regard of His omnipotent power. 2. Christ is a Rock, in regard of that ineffable glory to which He is now exalted. Rocks may lie low and deep in the ground, but rise with artless grandeur and inimitable beauty, and their lofty heads divide the clouds. 3. Jesus Christ is a Rock in regard of His faithfulness, and the unchangeable nature of His perfections. Those storms and tempests which spread desolation, and bury whole islands and countries in ruins, remove not the rocks out of their place. But Jesus is firmer than they. 4. Christ is a Rock, in regard of His majesty and beauty. II. SHOW HOW GOOD MEN MAY BE CALLED INHABITANTS OF THE ROCK 1. Because that is their dwelling-place. 2. They are inhabitants of the Rock, as that is the place of their nativity. All the inhabitants of this Rock are born in the image of the Son of God; a new and peculiar race. 3. They may be called inhabitants of the Rock, as they are a people who dwell on high. Their souls and all their nobler powers soar above the mean pursuits of this world. 4. They may be called inhabitants of the Rock, as they are to abide there for ever. 5. They are inhabitants of the Rock, as all their supplies come from Christ. From this doctrine we may learns(1) The infinite wisdom of God in laying our help upon Christ. (2) That the figurative expression of Christ, trader the notion of a rock, magnifieth the power of God on which our faith may rest. (3) The wickedness and folly of all who oppose the Son of God. (4) The folly and wickedness of those who build their hopes of eternal life upon any other foundation than Christ, the Rock. (5) The great duty of all who hear the Gospel's joyful sound, to fly to Christ, the Rock. (J. Johnston.) Parallel Verses KJV: Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. |
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