SPECIMENS OF SKETCHES ON ISA 48:18 - Robert Murray Mcchene

“Oh, that thou hardest hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.”

I. Their peace would have been like a river. — 1 It has a source. It begins at the fountain of Christ’s blood 2 It is fed from above. Rains and showers feed the rivers: the shower of grace swells the rivers of peace 3 It has inundations, as the Nile. An awakening providence often makes it overflow. Afflictions and the consolations under them always, if the sufferings are the sufferings of Christ. Sacramental times also; hence the desirableness of frequency in the administration of the Lord’s Supper 4 It gets broader and broader to the sea. The Tay. “The path of the just is like the shining light.” Try yourselves by this text 5 It is fertilizing. It conveys nourishment. Egypt owes all its fertility to the Nile. The peace of Christ makes every grace grow. Holiness always grows out of a peaceful breast.

II. Their righteousness would have been as the waves of the sea. —The righteousness of Christ is compared to the waves of the sea. Because 1 It covers over the highest sins 2 It covers again and again 3 It is infinite righteousness. You cannot count the waves of the sea.

Inference. —God wishes men to be saved. God sometimes pleads with men to be saved for his own pleasure: it would be pleasant to Him; it would make Him glad; as in the parable of the lost sheep. Sometimes He pleads for his own glory. Jer. 13:16; Mal. 2:1. But here it is for the happiness of sinners themselves. So Ps. 81:13. Once more, He pleads with men, because unwilling that any should perish. 2Pet. 3:9.