For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
The forsaking is only for a small, brief moment, while the gathering again is with great mercy. The next verse carries the contrast further, that anger lasts only a moment, while kindness is everlasting and mercy endures. In grief and dread about the future, sorrow is not forgotten and the servant will not be left to the will of enemies, and laying burdens on Jesus brings peace. A sinner is assured by this that God has not given him up, but sins can be brought to Christ as burden-bearer in trust in mercy and pardon.
As Christ's assurance to burdened people, it offers comfort and refuge amid danger and distress, and comfort and rest to one overwhelmed by suffering. It belongs to the prophecies of Isaiah 52-54 about Christ's work for the help and blessing of His people. It applies when the liberty of the church is endangered and oppression by Sabbath transgressors threatens apparent victory to evildoers, and it promises that the brief forsaking ends in gathering with great mercies and victory for God's people.
The mercy and gathering promised are sought by doing the work God lays out in this world. The blessing rests not on doing nothing but on taking hold of the Word and its encouragement and wrenching souls from Satan's grasp. With Isaiah 55, studied carefully with Isaiah 58, it shows a precious and extended work for God's people in the last days of earth's history. Instead of only sitting in churches Sabbath after Sabbath listening to preaching, they are to work intelligently with God for salvation by visiting friends, neighbors, and families, creating interest in present truth, planting the Word in many hearts, giving the bread of life to hungering souls, and lifting up Christ before the world.
There is to be no discouragement but true missionary work in public ministry and house-to-house labor. There are to be wide-awake watchmen who arouse others, and earnest faithfulness that separates selfishness from the life, with unity in seeing eye to eye. Present truth is to be proclaimed in neglected cities in clear lines and in the power of the Spirit, when the efficacy of Christ's grace will be seen.
The forsaking is only for a small, brief moment, while the gathering again is with great mercy. The next verse carries the contrast further, that anger lasts only a moment, while kindness is everlasting and mercy endures. In grief and dread about the future, sorrow is not forgotten and the servant will not be left to the will of enemies, and laying burdens on Jesus brings peace. A sinner is assured by this that God has not given him up, but sins can be brought to Christ as burden-bearer in trust in mercy and pardon.
As Christ's assurance to burdened people, it offers comfort and refuge amid danger and distress, and comfort and rest to one overwhelmed by suffering. It belongs to the prophecies of Isaiah 52-54 about Christ's work for the help and blessing of His people. It applies when the liberty of the church is endangered and oppression by Sabbath transgressors threatens apparent victory to evildoers, and it promises that the brief forsaking ends in gathering with great mercies and victory for God's people.
The mercy and gathering promised are sought by doing the work God lays out in this world. The blessing rests not on doing nothing but on taking hold of the Word and its encouragement and wrenching souls from Satan's grasp. With Isaiah 55, studied carefully with Isaiah 58, it shows a precious and extended work for God's people in the last days of earth's history. Instead of only sitting in churches Sabbath after Sabbath listening to preaching, they are to work intelligently with God for salvation by visiting friends, neighbors, and families, creating interest in present truth, planting the Word in many hearts, giving the bread of life to hungering souls, and lifting up Christ before the world.
There is to be no discouragement but true missionary work in public ministry and house-to-house labor. There are to be wide-awake watchmen who arouse others, and earnest faithfulness that separates selfishness from the life, with unity in seeing eye to eye. Present truth is to be proclaimed in neglected cities in clear lines and in the power of the Spirit, when the efficacy of Christ's grace will be seen.