n be granted to
those only whose hearts are prepared to receive it. Thus the
announcement of salvation is preceded by the [Greek: metanoeite], by
the call to remove all the obstacles which render impassable the path
through the desert into the land of promise; which render impossible
the transition from misery to salvation; which prevent the Lord from
coming to His people in their misery, and leading them out from it.
Then, to those who have complied with the exhortation, the
manifestation of the glory of the Lord is promised--He comes to them,
in a glorious manifestation, in the way which, in the power of His
Spirit, they have prepared and opened up to Him--and in, and with it,
all the glorious things which, according to ver. 2, the servants of the
Lord were to promise regarding the Future.

The comfort oftentimes moves in general terms, and consists in pointing
to a Future full of salvation and grace. But, in other passages, the
announcement of salvation is more individualised, becomes more special.
These special announcements [Pg 166] refer to a twofold object,
_First_--The Prophet comforts his people by announcing the deliverance
from the Babylonish captivity. This deliverance he describes by the
most lovely images, frequently taken from the deliverance of the people
from Egypt. But it is to be well observed that even those prophecies
which pre-eminently refer to the lower object, have something exuberant
and overflowing; so that, even after having been fulfilled, they cannot
be looked upon as antiquated. He states the name of the ruler,
_Koresh_, the king from the rising of the sun, who, sent by the Lord,
shall punish the oppressors of Zion, and bring back the people to their
land. The _second_ object is the deliverance and salvation by the
Servant of God, the Messiah, who, after having passed through
humiliation, suffering, and death, and having thereby effected
redemption, will remove from the glorified Kingdom of God all the evil
occasioned by sin. Of this higher salvation the soul of the Prophet is
so full, that the references to it are constantly pressing forward,
even where, in the first instance, he has to do with the lower
salvation. In the description of the higher salvation, the relation of
time is not observed. Now, the Prophet beholds its Author in His
humiliation and suffering; then, the most distant Future of the Kingdom
of Christ presents itself to his enraptured eye,--the time in which the
Gentile