(14) They shall cry aloud from the sea . . .--The utterers of the praise are obviously the remnant of the saved, whether of the "Jews of the dispersion," or of the Gentiles. To them there appears in the midst of the desolation, the vision of the glory of the Lord, and far off, from the sea (the Mediterranean, as the great sea of the ancient world) they raise their song of praise.Verse 14. - They shall lift up their voice. Even in this time of depression and ruin there shall he a "remnant," which will be faithful to God, and which, from the midst of the sufferings and calamities of the period, will "lift up its voice," in songs of adoration and praise, to Jehovah, and sing, or "send forth a cry." This chorus of praise will go forth - to a large extent - from the sea; i.e. from the Mediterranean. 24:13-15 There shall be a remnant preserved from the general ruin, and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. These few are dispersed; like the gleanings of the olive tree, hid under the leaves. The Lord knows those that are his; the world does not. When the mirth of carnal worldlings ceases, the joy of the saints is as lively as ever, because the covenant of grace, the fountain of their comforts, and the foundation of their hopes, never fails. Those who rejoice in the Lord can rejoice in tribulation, and by faith may triumph when all about them are in tears. They encourage their fellow-sufferers to do likewise, even those who are in the furnace of affliction. Or, in the valleys, low, dark, miry places. In every fire, even the hottest, in every place, even the remotest, let us keep up our good thoughts of God. If none of these trials move us, then we glorify the Lord in the fires.They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing,.... That is, as the Septuagint version adds, "they that are left upon the earth;'' these shall lift up their voice, in singing the praises of God, for his judgments on Babylon, and avenging the blood of his saints; and for their deliverance and salvation, and the inestimable blessings they are now put into the possession of; these are they, who, having gotten the victory over the beast and his image, sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, Revelation 15:2, for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea: so the Hebrew accents distinguish these clauses; and the sense is, that from the west, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it, from the western nations, where Protestantism chiefly prevails; or from the Mediterranean Sea, which lay west of Judea; from the maritime countries, the countries bordering upon it, where at this time will appear many that will embrace the Gospel of Christ; or from the isles of the sea, as the phrase is explained in the next verse Isaiah 24:15, such as our isles of Great Britain and Ireland; great acclamations will be made unto the Lord, on account of his glorious majesty, seen in the destruction of antichrist, and in setting up his own kingdom and glory: these are the four and twenty elders, who will fall down, and give thanks to Christ, for taking to himself his great power, and reigning; and these triumphant and victorious persons are represented as standing on a sea, while they make their shouts and hallelujahs; see Revelation 11:16 this, with what follows in the two next verses Isaiah 24:15, belong to the Philadelphian church state, or spiritual reign of Christ, and express the light and joy that will attend that. |