Fresh Joy
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17 Is it not yet a very little while
until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18 In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless shall come to nothing
and the scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21 who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction.”
Children’s message:
Children’s message:
blindfold, locked foreign Bible, plugging ears, and holding tongue
Jesus spitting and healing
Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
introduction
introduction
The Great reversal
The Great reversal
17 Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
17. Is it not yet a very little? He is making a threat, as if to say, “No teaching, admonition, or threat avails for you. In the name of God, the situation must be changed.”
In a very little while Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field into a forest, that is: “I will change things by a wonderful change, so that the Jewish people is not a people and the Gentiles, who are not a people, are a people, as a field is physically changed into a forest and a forest into a field.”
Carmel. A region completely given to agriculture is used figuratively to denote a fruitful field. Lebanon, that is Jerusalem, which was built with materials from Lebanon, as also the whole temple was constructed out of wood from Lebanon. “This city is to become ‘Carmel,’ that is, a fruitful field, and I will change ‘Carmel,’ or the fruitful field, into a city.” Thus by means of this simile he indicates the fall of the Jews and the reception of the Gentiles. So your papistic church will be changed into a field; and the field, that is, where there is no appearance of a church, there will be the church. As these papists, the most ignorant braggarts of the church, could not explain one little verse of a psalm, so these Lebanese braggarts of love are now Carmel, and we are Carmel. We Lebanese have attained to glory before God, although this is not apparent to the world.
Martin Luther
18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
“meek”
The Hebrew word עֲנָוִים means wretched, afflicted, and extremely unfortunate. It does not, strictly, mean meek. From such all boasting and bragging about works and merits has been removed, and they boast only in the Lord. These very people accept the Gospel, saying: “Although I am poor, wretched, and lost, Christ is nevertheless my rich man and my Savior.” So it always follows that such people have tribulation in the world, but they have peace before God the Father. These are the עֲנָוִים, that is, the poor. The afflicted in spirit, those who upon self-examination cry out that they are poor and afflicted—these alone boast of the glory, power, and riches of the Lord, not of their own resources, as Is. 9:3 says, that the ungodly do not rejoice in the Lord, but only the wretched and afflicted glory in Him. Therefore this text drives out all merits and every reliance on our righteousness
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 16: Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 1-39, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 16 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 248.
V20
When the tyrant will have come to naught, etc. By the light of the Gospel men learn to trust in Christ alone, when they have been liberated from the tyrants of their souls and have been made subject to their Shepherd, Christ. This was done in the time of the apostles when the synagog was repudiated and the church came into being. עָרַץ properly means to be terrible, and from it is derived the verbal noun עָרִיץ, which means tyrant. Thus Ps. 10:15 and Ps. 37:35 refer to the ungodly man who is exalted. He calls the pope and the bishops עָרִיץ, because they harass the consciences of the lowly with snares. Christ promises that these will bring oppression and that He will set His own people free. -Martin Luther,
martin Luther’s Summary: “I will root out all tyrants, teachers, pastors, and scribes who are nothing but ‘watchers for evil.’
v22
Abraham’s redemption was his “exodus” from his homeland, away from its idols and false gods (Jsh 24:2). The Lord brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give him the Promised Land (Gn 15:7). In like manner, the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt to give them the same land (cf Ex 20:1–2). Exodus imagery runs throughout Is (e.g., Is 12:2; 43:16–17
Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 1137.
Jacob shall no more be ashamed. This is the greatest comfort of the godly. It is as if he were saying: “Until now, while the ungodly teachers were in control, there was nothing but confusion, sadness, and constant fear. But now that Christ the Shepherd and the Gospel have been revealed and the ungodly have been rooted out, we stand justified and have peace with God in our hearts through Him, as Paul exquisitely depicts that glory and joy in Rom. 5:1. -Martin Luther, .
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.