through our Lord Jesus Christ. When from the Cross there comes to all
our hearts the merciful invitation, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved,' why should not we each answer,

'Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee'?




THE GRASP THAT BRINGS PEACE

'Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; yea,
let him make peace with Me.'--ISAIAH xxvii. 5.


Lyrical emotion makes the prophet's language obscure by reason of its
swift transitions from one mood of feeling to another. But the main
drift here is discernible. God is guarding Israel, His vineyard, and
before Him its foes are weak as 'thorns and briers,' whose end is to be
burned. With daring anthropomorphism, the prophet puts into God's mouth
a longing for the enemies to measure their strength against His, a
warrior's eagerness for the fight. But at once this martial tone gives
place to the tender invitation of the text, and the infinite divine
willingness to be reconciled to the enemy speaks wooingly and offers
conditions of peace. All this has universal application to our relations
to God.

I. The Hostility.