xxxv. 1, 2, 7. _The wilderness and the solitary place, &c._
Chapters xxxiv., xxxv., form one prediction, first announcing the
doom of Edom, and then taking us into a new sphere where all is
light, beauty, and gladness; a prediction which had a fulfilment in
the return of the Jews from the captivity of Babylon to Jerusalem,
which they set above their chiefest joy. But the prophecy is one of
those in which the so-called secondary meaning is, in truth, the
primary; the spiritual takes precedence to the natural, and the
fulfilment is to be looked for, not in a remnant of Israel returning
to the land of their fathers, but in these grand Gospel times, in
which humanity, cursed and bloated by sin, is blessed, saved, and
dignified by the influences that stream from the Cross of Calvary.
+I. The end condition of the localities on which the Gospel is
intended to operate.+
How suggestive the descriptive symbols: a "wilderness," a "solitary
place," "parched ground," a "habitation of dragons." The desolation
turns mainly on the absence of water. No other similes could so
vividly depict moral barrenness and death. The unregenerate heart is
desolate, weary, solitary. Moreover, it is "a habitation of dragons,"
a foul serpent-brood of uncontrolled passions.
This true of the world as well as of the individual. Think of the
great unreclaimed wastes of heathendom. Can civilisation renew them?
It has been tried and found wanting.[1] Only the Water of Life,
gushing from the smitten Rock, can give moral life.
+II. The effects produced by the kingdom of Jesus.+[2]
Even we can appreciate the value of water and the beauty of its
effects. But to Orientals water is a matter of life and death. Hence
as an emblem it is employed to bring before the mind the blessed and
joy-giving results of the kingdom of Christ. Note these results as
they are brought before us in our text. 1. _Gladness._ "The
wilderness and the solitary place," &c. Music of Nature after copious
rains following on scorching heat. This an emblem of the joy brought
to human hearts by the Gospel. The wilderness state one of sorrow;
the river of the water of life running through the heart makes it
glad. This is seen in cases where sin and terror are cast out of the
heart by the love of God. How this result has been manifested in
modern times in nations converted from idolatry to Christianity
(H. E. I. 1134). 2. _Fertility._ "It shall blossom," &c. The desert
is barren. The Gospel changes moral wilderness into fruitful gardens;
the individual, the nation. 3. _Beauty._ Think first of a part of the
earth's surface parched, desert, and barren, and then of it as a
garden covered with the fairest flowers. The first and most striking
impression made upon the mind by such a transformation would not be
so much that of fertility as of surpassing beauty. So with this moral
transformation. Contrast the state of a country before with its
condition after having received the Gospel (H. E. I. 1126, 1127).
Look at the annals of missionary effort: Madagascar, Samoa, the Fiji
Islands, &c. The same change occurs in individual character.
4. _Glory and majesty._ "The glory of Lebanon," &c. Symbols of all
that is glorious and majestic. To live by the power of Jesus the
secret of a noble life. Alliance with heaven raises men to regal
dignity. The Gospel elevates the character and dignifies the pursuits
of men. Our lower pursuits are ennobled by a Christian aim, whilst
the higher life has the very glory of God resting on it. 5. A vision
that extends into the Holy of Holies. "They shall see the glory of
Jehovah," &c. Only in Christ can we see this. He is the glory of God.
The Shekinah is seen above the blood-besprinkled mercy-seat.--_John
Key in the Modern Scottish Pulpit,_ vol. i. pp. 133-143.
This chapter is an anticipation of the great prophecy of the
restoration (xl.-lxvi.) The firm confidence in God, the boundless
hopefulness, the glowing visions of the future, the vigour and
joyousness that spread so broad a splendour over that famous
Scripture are here in a brief compendium. It has been assigned to the
state of Judah under Hezekiah, to the return from the exile, to the
Christian dispensation, to a future condition of Palestine, to some
future state of the Church or of the world, as well as to some other
occasions. Two plain facts are before us--1. At no period of Jewish
history was there any approach to a perfect realisation of the
magnificent promises of this and allied predictions. 2. God has
already given to us so substantial a foretaste of the blessings here
promised, that we may rest assured that the one satisfying fulfilment
of the prophecy will be in the triumph of the kingdom of heaven
through the power of the Gospel of Christ.
Let us look at the picture in the light of its glowing fulfilment.