'Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing;
go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of
the Lord. 12. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for
the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your
reward.'--ISAIAH iii. 11, 12.
These ringing notes are parts of a highly poetic picture of that great
deliverance which inspired this prophet's most exalted strains. It is
described with constant allusion to the first Exodus, but also with
significant differences. Now no doubt the actual historical return of
the Jews from the Babylonish captivity is the object that fills the
foreground of this vision, but it by no means exhausts its
significance. The restriction of the prophecy to that more immediate
fulfilment may well seem impossible when we note that my text follows
the grand promise that 'all the ends of the earth shall see the
salvation of our God,' and immediately precedes the Messianic prophecy
of the fifty-third chapter. Egypt was transparent, and through it shone
Babylon; Babylon was transparent, and through it shone Christ's
redemption. That was the real and highest fulfilment of the prophet's
anticipations, and the trumpet-calls of my text are addressed to all
who have a share in it. We have, then, here, under highly metaphorical
forms, the grand ideal of the Christian life; and I desire to note
briefly its various features.