THE GOSPEL CALL;

OR,

LOOK AND BE SAVED.

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else.-Isa. xlv. 22.

THIS chapter opens with a prophecy respecting Cyrus and the conquest of Babylon. The Lord Jehovah would deliver that proud and wicked city into his hands, that the Jews might be delivered from their long captivity. From their deliverance occasion is taken to speak of the enlargement and prosperity of the church. As it is God who, by the hand of Cyrus, delivered Israel from captivity; and as it is God who enlarges and prospers his church, and dwells in her, and reigns over her; so the prophet denounces the folly of idolatry and the destruction of idolaters. There is but one living and true God. They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. There is no God else besides me, saith Jehovah; a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides me. Isa. xlv. 5, 6, 16, 17, 20, 21. Salvation from Babylon by divine interposition suggests another and a still greater salvation; and it is in reference to this especially that Jehovah styles himself a just God and a Saviour. He is just while he saves: just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Rom. iii. 26. Hence it is declared, Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. And this gospel call is added, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. Isa. xlv. 17, 22, 25.

The first inquiry that arises is, Who utters this call,

saying, Look unto me? And it will be perceived that he claims to be a divine person-the Supreme Being-I am God, and there is none else. If the Scriptures be not intended to deceive us-and this thought cannot be entertained for a moment-then there can be no doubt that it is Jehovah who speaks, the great I AM, the Supreme and Infinite God. He styles himself God several times in this chapter; and the name Lord here occurs no less than sixteen times printed in small capitals, and wherever that is the case in our Bibles, the original word is JEHOVAH, the incommunicable name of God. And there can be no certainty in language if the speaker in this place be not the blessed and eternal God. He expressly declares in the fifth verse, I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me. Isa. xlv. 5. Now every one must be struck, I think, with the similarity of the call in the passage before us, with that gracious invitation in Matt. xi. 28—30, Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, &c. And as he uses in substance the same language and promises the same blessings, we might infer that he who gives that precious invitation is the same Divine Being who speaks in the text. But we are not left to inference; for the passage from which the text is selected, is, in the New Testament, expressly applied to Jesus Christ; and hence we have here an unanswerable argument for the divinity of the blessed Redeemer. Thus, in the verse following the text, I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear; and in Phil. ii. 9-11, the apostle Paul applies this passage to Jesus Christ; Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And in Rev. v. 13, the beloved disciple writes, And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Here, then, is a demonstration of the divinity of our Saviour. He assumes the name of God, and that name is given him by inspired writers; he claims the honour and worship due to God, and these are given

him by all intelligent beings in heaven and on earth. He, then, is God, as well as man; and it is he, the second person of the adorable Trinity, who should afterwards become incarnate, that speaks in the text. He speaks as a Divine Redeemer, as a Saviour who is over all, God blessed for ever. Rom. ix. 5. And he is also man-God manifest in the flesh-for he took our nature into personal union with his divinity," and so was, and continueth to be, God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person for ever." 1 Tim. iii. 16.

Hence he can speak with authority. He has a right to speak. In regard to his essential divinity, he has a right to say, Look unto me. He may speak as God, and utter his commands with authority. As Mediator, too, he has a right thus to speak. Hence it is recorded that he taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Matt. vii. 29. It is as Mediator that he says in Matt. xxviii. 18, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth; and in Matt. xi. 27, All things are delivered unto me of my Father. And it is as God-man, Mediator, possessing all power in heaven and on earth, that he cries, Look unto me, and be ye saved. Hence he adds, Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory. Isa. xlv. 22—25. And he knows the extent of his merits and ability, and the propriety of this invitation. It must be proper, or he would not give it; and its propriety is based upon the sufficiency of his merits and his power to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him. Heb. vii. 25. It has been shown that he is the mighty God; he is therefore able to save. And being divine, he is possessed of infinite perfection and excellence; and therefore his sacrifice is of infinite value. It must of course be sufficient for all the ends of the earth. "The dignity of his person imparted to his sufferings a worth above all price." His obedience and death are infinitely meritorious. They constitute an all-sufficient righteousness. He knows the sufficiency of his atonement and the whole extent of his ability to save; and as there can be no doubt on these points, the propriety of the invitation is unquestionable.

The second point demanding attention is the call or invitation itself, Look unto me, and be ye saved. But what is

it to look? What does the Saviour mean when he calls upon sinners to look unto him? It is such a look as is connected with salvation. It is more than to look with the bodily eyes; it is the same as to believe; it is faith. Different terms are used in the Scriptures to describe faith, according to the various aspects in which the Lord Jesus is there held up to view. "When the flesh and blood of Christ (or his incarnation and satisfaction) are exhibited as meat indeed, and drink indeed; faith, in conformity to this, is called eating and drinking of the same, John vi. 55, 56; when Christ is held forth as a refuge, faith is a flying to him for safety, Heb. vi. 18; and when he is represented as a door, faith is an entering in by him," John x. 9. Faith* is a receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ and a resting upon him for salvation. We receive him as the gift of God freely offered; we rest upon him as the foundation of our hope. So we are invited to look to him as the Author and Finisher of our faith; and we are to look to him as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, John i. 29; we are to look to him as the one who came to seek and to save the lost, and who is able and mighty to save, Luke xix. 10; Isa. lxiii. 1; and to look is to believe; it is to receive and rest upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation, as he offers himself to us; it is to commit our souls and our all to him for time and eternity.

There may be here an allusion to the brazen serpent erected by Moses, as recorded in the 21st chapter of Numbers. The Israelites murmured, and the Lord sent fiery serpents among them. Many were bitten, and much people of Israel died. Moses was commanded to make a fiery serpent of brass; he did so, and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. Num. xxi. 4—10. Here was a type of Christ. Hence the Saviour says, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. John iii. 14, 15. And again, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he. John viii. 28. And yet again, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. John xii. 32. Jesus has been lifted up upon

* See Fisher's Catechism, Part 2, page 151, published by the Presbyte rian Board.

the cross; his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, 1 Pet. ii. 24; he hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, 1 Pet. iii. 18; and now he invites us to look unto him and be saved. Sin, like a fiery serpent, has pierced us; we are dying of our wounds; and we are to look to Christ for life.

Hence, in the third place, it is worthy of attention to whom we are to look. We have seen who it is that speaks: it is Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners. To him we are to look. There is no Saviour besides him. It is vain to look any where else for salvation. This point is settled by inspiration itself. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts iv. 12. It is happy for our race that there is salvation in him. We have reason to rejoice that this blessed invitation is given unto us. We might have been left with no salvation provided; or we might have been suffered to live and die in ignorance of the gospel. But the Lord has pitied and provided. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. John iii. 16.

And, in the fourth place, we see for what we are to look to Christ. It is salvation-look and be saved - just the blessing we need, for we are perishing in our sins. And as there is no Saviour but Jesus, so there is no salvation but by looking to him for it. We must look to him to be saved, or we can never be saved at all. And salvation is deliverance from sin. This is the direful evil which is working our ruin. It has corrupted us in all the parts and faculties of our souls and bodies and rendered us unfit for the holy society and employments of heaven. Happiness does not depend so much upon place as upon character. To be prepared for heaven our corrupt natures must be renovated; sin must be removed; we must not only be delivered from condemnation, but from corruption. Jesus saves from sin, and in so doing delivers from wrath. Matt. i. 21. 1 Thess. i. 10. And they who do look to Jesus Christ by faith, are saved. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. John iii. 36. He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life. 1 John v. 12. And the Saviour declares, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not