Isaiah by J. Alec Motyer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Motyer’s commentary on Isaiah was marvelous. Commentaries, at least in some circles, often carry a negative connotation. And, to be fair, there are some commentaries out there that fit the caricature of a stale & lifeless outline of the mere words of Scripture.
Motyer, however, overwhelmingly soars with an aim to exalt the heart of the text of Isaiah: a coming King, a promised Servant, an Anointed One. He was indeed very exact and thorough in his overview of this wonderful section of Scripture, but he was rarely needlessly tedious, and overall was profound, useful and best of all Christ-centered.
One quote to whet your appetite for more:
“The particular value of the doctrine of God the Creator is, of course, that it brings all that is true about God to bear on this world. Consider, then, the absurdity of losing faith in One who, in relation to the earth, is all-powerful, all-wise, dominant, wit no god to challenge, check or rival Him, King of kings, sovereignly in charge of His world down to the smallest detail so that everything is in its place, nothing overlooked, nothing lost.”
Such chapters are easy to skip. Yet we do ourselves no favors by treating them as “lesser-thanâ€; these chapters require us to do the hard spade work of mining what principle, truth, or instruction is to be found. So, let’s “spelunk” right into the deep caverns of the typological gem I think is being shown to us here.
life, is a great reason for gratitude but much more when we are called to undergo extreme trials, which of themselves would crush our being. Blessed be God, who, having put our souls into possession of life, has been pleased to preserve that heaven given life from the destroying power of the enemy. And suffereth not our feet to be moved. This is another and precious boon. If God has enabled us not only to keep our life, but our position, we are bound to give him double praise. Living and standing is the saint’s condition through divine grace. Immortal and immoveable are those whom God preserves. Satan is put to shame, for instead of being able to slay the saints, as he hoped, he is not even able to trip them up. God is able to make the weakest to stand fast, and he will do so.
revolutionary fervor throughout history. When discontented and hasty fools band together in sufficient numbers, a revolt against the status quo is almost inevitable. The likelihood of achieving their intended end is questionable, because they didn’t think that far ahead, and probably have a thousand different definitions of what the intended end is.
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