'For the Lord God will help Me; therefore shall I not be confounded:
therefore have I set My face like a flint.'--ISAIAH l. 7.
What a striking contrast between the tone of these words and of the
preceding! There all is gentleness, docility, still communion,
submission, patient endurance. Here all is energy and determination,
resistance and martial vigour. It is like the contrast between a priest
and a warrior. And that gentleness is the parent of this boldness. The
same Will which is all submission to God is all resistance in the face
of hostile men. The utmost lowliness and the most resolved resistance
to opposing forces are found in that prophetic image of the Servant of
the Lord--even as they are found in the highest degree and most
perfectly in Jesus Christ.
The sequence in this context is worth noting. We had first Christ's
communion with God and communications from the Father; then the perfect
submission of His Will; then that submission expressed in His voluntary
sufferings; and now we have His immovable steadfastness of resistance
to the temptation, which lay in these sufferings, to depart from His
attitude of submission, and to abandon His work.
The former verse led us up to the verge of the great mystery of His
sacrificial death. This gives us a glimpse into the depths of His human
life, and shows Him to us as our example in all holy heroism.