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"The last verse is a picture of the thronging of the city of the prophets by the prophets
again--so close, that they shall look each other in the face . . . . . The exile had scattered
the prophets and driven them into hiding. They had been only voices to one another, like
Jeremiah and Ezekiel with the desert between the two of them" (Geo. A. Smith).
And so, with a call to the people to come out of their captivity to leave the unclean
behind, with the assurance that this great exodus would not be with haste or flight, the
great section of Isaiah's prophecy which has been before us comes to an end.
We have already seen that the opening words of comfort and assurance with which
Isa. 40: introduces the theme of restoration, are in measure repeated in the closing portion
just studied. In Isa. 40: the glorious restoration was not to be accomplished by any
power of man who was as `grass' but by the Word of the Lord that endured for ever.
This restoration can have but one unquestioned basis, the Atonement; for Israel, like all
men, have sinned and come short of the glory of God. To this, the prophecy of Isaiah has
steadily pointed from the opening chapter, and we now arrive at its mightiest exposition.
Isa. 53: is worthy of all the sanctified energy of our being in order that its blessed truth
may be appraised at its true worth. But who is sufficient for this? Only the grace of God
in unstinted measure can equip either writer or reader for the task. Our prayer is that He
Who shall see the travail of His soul and be satisfied in the great issues of His mighty
work, may in some degree be satisfied with the effort put forth in these pages to
understand and appreciate what it means when we read:
"It pleased the Lord to bruise Him."
Editor: As we indicated in the first of this series of nine studies on Isaiah, these
manuscripts of the late Mr. Welch turned up unexpectedly amongst old papers. It
would seem that much that Mr. Welch was anticipating at the end of this article
has been included in volumes XXXIV and XXXV of The Berean Expositor, but
to what extent other material has been lost we cannot say.