June 7

And it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. - Isaiah 55:13.

WE may observe four things with regard to the results of this moral transformation. First, That it is supposed that this effect is the work of God. And it is and it must be so, and the very quality of the effect shows its origin and its author. “He that hath wrought in us for the selfsame thing is God.” God it is who “works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure.” This is the promise which he has given us-“A new heart also will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you;” and all the subjects of Divine grace will readily avow, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”

Secondly, This is to be to him for a name, that is, a praise; both these words are used together in another passage-“They shall be to me for a name and a praise.” The latter is explanatory of the former. While all God’s works praise him, he derives his praise principally from his people. “This people,” says he, “have I formed for myself, and they shall show forth my praise.” And again, “I have placed salvation in Zion for Israel my glory;” the people from whom I principally derive the revenue of my praise in the world. And God does derive more glory from the common actions of his people, who, whether they eat or drink, do all to the glory of God, than from the very religion and all the works of other men. If Christians are to be to the Lord for a name, let us take care it be a good one, a becoming one, and that we “walk worthy of God, who has called us unto his kingdom and glory.” And as we are charged with a portion of the Divine glory and praise, let us carry it down unsullied to the grave, “harmless and blameless, the children of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom we are to shine as lights in the world.”

Third, This moral transformation is to be unto the Lord for a “sign.” A sign is a manifestation or token. In the Scripture it is commonly used to indicate a kind of external evidence or pledge. As God said to Moses, “If they will not believe the first sign, show them a second sign.” “Now the conversion of souls to God is a moral miracle; it is a striking display on God’s part to save. It is truly a sign-a sign that God is not unmindful of his covenant- that he has not forgotten to be gracious-that he has not forsaken the earth-that he has not abandoned the country where such conversions take place. Such converts are the greatest blessings to the community, by their prayers, their influence, and their examples-a sign that with him is “no variableness nor shadow of turning,”-that “his ear is not heavy that it cannot hear, nor his arm shortened that it cannot save”-a sign to encourage hope with regard to ourselves, and to preclude despair with regard to any of our fellow-creatures, however abandoned they may become; that “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is exceeding abundant with faith and love,” and that he “is able to save unto the uttermost.”

Observe, fourthly, The duration of all this. It is “to be to the Lord for an everlasting sign, that shall not be cut off.” Towers, temples, pillars, statues, whatever has been designed to perpetuate the praise or fame of distinguished men in our world, are exposed to the ravages of time, and will perish; but the people whom the Lord hath set apart for himself shall remain for ever the triumphs of his faithfulness, and the monuments of his mercy and grace, that he may be admired in them and glorified by them.