Isaiah 12:1-3 And in that day you shall say, O LORD, I will praise you: though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away… God, in His infinite mercy, has addressed the most various motives to sinners in general, to induce them to turn to Him. He has been pleased to set before sinners in His Word the immediate happiness that they may enjoy in His service, as incomparably greater than any they can hope to have in this world while absent and alienated from Him And this truth is not before us most strikingly in these words. I. We have to consider THE JOY THAT FLOWS FROM THE SENSE OF PARDONED SIN. 1. The first thing here declared to us is, that God does pardon the penitent believer. He was originally angry with him. God is, and must be, according to His Divine perfections, angry with those who are living in a state of rebellion against Him. But when a person is brought to believe in Christ that anger is gone. 2. And as this is the blessing itself, so is the believer, when faith is strong, assured of that blessing. But when I speak of this as a constraining motive why sinners in general should turn to God, they may feel that ungodly persons have no such burden. Yet though now the sinner may not feel his need of such a consolation, he may be assured that it is a consolation surpassing in value and in peace and in joy all that he has ever experienced in a life of indifference and ungodliness. II. THERE IS A JOY ARISING FROM TRUST IN GOD FOR FUTURE BLESSINGS. "Behold, God is my salvation," etc. 1. God is become the "salvation" of a penitent believer. That is, He accomplishes His entire deliverance from sin and its consequences. 2. God is his "salvation" from all present evil, and introduces him to the possession of all real good (Psalm 121:7; Psalm 84:11; Romans 8:28). Hence, then, the Lord does not reserve all the blessings of His people for the eternal world, but pours out His treasures of mercy upon them even now. And as God bestows upon His people this assurance that He is "their strength and their salvation," it must fill them with abiding joy. (B. W. Noel, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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