I appoint thee my
speaker whom, as such, I will keep and protect in order that thou,
etc.;--for that which follows is that which the Servant of God is to
_perform_ as His Speaker. By the word of Omnipotence committed to Him,
He plants a new heaven, and lays the foundation of a new earth, and
invests Zion with the dignity of the people of God.--To plant the
heaven and lay the foundation of the earth, is equivalent to founding a
_new_ heaven, a _new_ earth; comp. chaps. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22; Rev. xxii.
For, as long as the old heaven and the old earth exist, a planting and
founding activity cannot take place in reference to heaven and earth.
All that is created, in so far as it opposes the Kingdom of God, is
unfit for being an abode of the glorified Kingdom of God, and must be
shaken and broken to pieces, in order that this Kingdom may enter into
its natural conditions, and find a worthy abode. The activity of God
and His Servant, necessary for this purpose, will most completely take
place at the end of days, at the [Greek: palingenesia] announced by the
Lord, Matt. xix. 28; compare what is said in chap. xi., in reference to
the entire change of the conditions of the earth. But in a preparatory
manner, this activity pervades all history. The heaven, according to
the _usus loquendi_ of Scripture, and also of Isaiah, is not only the
natural heaven, but also the heaven of princes, the whole order of
rulers and magistrates, (comp. my remarks on Rev. vi. 13), whose form
and relation to the Kingdom of God underwent a great change, even at
the first appearance of Christ.--The _saying_, according to the
preceding: That thou mayest plant, &c., is not to be referred to the
mere announcing; but, according to the frequent _usus loquendi_, it
includes the performing also, just as _e.g._, in ver. 12, the [Pg 260]
comforting is effected by a discourse _in deeds_. The distinction
between, and separation of word and deed belongs to human weakness. God
speaks and it is done; and what holds true of His word, applies also to
the word of His Servant, which he has put into His mouth.

CHAPTERS LII. 13-LIII. 12.

This section forms the climax of the prophecies of Isaiah, of
prophetism in general, of the whole Old Testament, as appears even from
the circumstance that the Lord and His Apostles refer to no part of the
Old Testament so frequently and so emphatically as to this,--a section
which, according to _Luther's_ d