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Studies in Isaiah - Part 4
Harry Ironside

Henry Allan “Harry” Ironside (1876–1951). Born on October 14, 1876, in Toronto, Canada, to John and Sophia Ironside, Harry Ironside was a prolific Bible teacher, pastor, and author in the Plymouth Brethren and dispensationalist traditions. Converted at age 12 through his mother’s influence and his own Bible reading, he began preaching at 14 with the Salvation Army in California after moving there in 1886. Largely self-taught, he never attended seminary but memorized much of Scripture, earning an honorary D.D. from Wheaton College in 1942. Joining the Plymouth Brethren in 1896, he itinerated across North America, preaching at revival meetings and Bible conferences, known for clear, anecdotal sermons. In 1930, he became pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, serving until 1948, growing its influence through radio broadcasts. Ironside authored over 100 books and commentaries, including Holiness: The False and the True (1912), Lectures on Daniel the Prophet (1911), and The Minor Prophets (1904), emphasizing practical biblical application. Married to Helen Schofield in 1898 until her death in 1948, then to Ann Hightower in 1949, he had two sons, Edmund and John. He died on January 15, 1951, in Cambridge, New Zealand, while preaching, saying, “The Word of God is living and powerful—trust it fully.”
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, Dr. McCabe talks about the importance of awakening and rising up in the Lord. He refers to three calls to awake: one to the arm of the Lord, one to Jerusalem in its suffering, and one to Zion in its future blessing. Dr. McCabe emphasizes the need to put on strength and rely on the Lord's power. He also mentions passages from the Bible, including Isaiah 52, where the prophet calls for awakening and redemption.
Sermon Transcription
that even from Africa, even African prince came to visit Great Britain and was presented to the Queen. He made the... he inquired Your Majesty, so what do you attribute the great prosperity of the British Empire? And she handed him a Bible, and she said, to this book. And he carried that book back to his people in Uganda to tell them that it was, in fact, the prosperity of the British Empire was saved. And I remember reading, you probably read, how Queen Victoria, on one occasion, made public the statement, when she was quite well on in years, she said, I'm a firm believer in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I've sometimes thought he has permitted me to reign so long that perhaps I will never lay down my crown until I lay it down at his feet when he comes again. It was a lovely expression of subjection to the Lord. Of course, the Lord took her home before that time. But the kings of the earth and the rulers, there have been many of them who have outwardly, at least, owned the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. As to Victoria, she evidently truly knew Christ as her savior. I remember the story of when she used to go to Balmoral every year, you know, up in Scotland, a lovely place. I've been all through it. They didn't invite me in to take dinner with the king somewhere. But the queen used to go around visiting the highland women living in the little cottages in the hills around. She got acquainted with all of them, and would go from one to another and chat with them. And of course, they were delighted to think that the queen would take that notice of them. And finally, she came to bid one old cottager goodbye as she was returning to London. The old lady said, well, your majesty, I may never see you on earth again. May I ask your gracious majesty a question? She said, yes, as many as you like. Well, she said, will your majesty meet me in heaven? And Queen Victoria said, yes, through the all-availing blood of Jesus. So, that's a good testimony to come from the ruler of a mighty empire. So, the kings have bowed down before the Lord Jesus Christ. The nation of Israel at the time rejected him. They didn't understand. But God has made his name glorious throughout the world. And the passage, of course, looks on to complete fulfillment in millennial days, when all the kings of the earth will bring their riches of glory into the new Jerusalem. 8-11. Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee. And I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the decimate heritage. That thou mayest grace the prisoners go forth, to them that are in darkness, show yourself. They shall feed in the ways, and their pasture shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them. For he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Now, here is the passage, two parts of which are clearly brought before us in the New Testament. In an acceptable time have I heard thee, that we read in the New Testament. Behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation, so that God takes up these words and applies them at the present time, while the gospel of the grace of God is going out into all the world. And then, the latter part of this scripture carries us on to the time of the great awakening, when all over the world men will be brought to recognize the Lord Jesus Christ. And you have that pictured in the ninth and the seventh chapter of the book of Revelation. I want this read in a moment or two. This in the seventh chapter of the book of Revelation, after giving us the vision of the 144,000 of Israel, John says, I saw a great multitude that no man could number, clothed in white robes and with palms in their hand, and they stood before the throne of God and of the Lamb. Now, before the throne, many have thought of these. Many commentators look upon these as saints in heaven, and many interpreters of the book of Revelation say that they're the martyred saints who will be slain under the beast and the false prophet, but that now they're seen up in heaven, the same as those referred to under the fifth seal. But, as you read on, it seems very evident that that's not a mistake, that this is the great multitude who will form the nucleus of the coming glorious kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ right here on the earth, because one of the elders turns to John and says, Who are these who are arrayed in white robes? Whence came they? And John says, Sir, thou knowest. Just another way of saying, I give it up. Tell me. And so the other replied, These are they which have come up out of the great tribulation. Literally, you know, there are two definite articles there. They've come out of the tribulation, the great one, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Here's a great blood-washed multitude who have come up out of the great tribulation. Not ascended to heaven, but they've gone through all that period of trial, and been preserved by God. And now, see what the Lord says of them. Now, will you go back again and read the kindred passage in Isaiah, to show how exactly the one fits the other. Yeah, you see, the two passages are part of exactly the same group. It's an earthly group. It's people who will be saved for the glorious millennial kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, primarily the remnant of Israel, associated with them a great company from among the Gentiles, who will be brought to acknowledge the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, the once rejected Messiah, now as their Savior and their Lord. So that the Spirit of God is saying, as it were, to the Lord Jesus Christ, it's true the nation didn't recognize you, it's true that you seem to have labored in vain and spent your strength for naught, but the coming day will show what a tremendous harvest will result from your labors of love when you were down here unrecognized and misunderstood. Now, when we come to chapter 50, God shows us why Israel has been set to one side during all the present age. In the first verse, the question is put, where is the bill of your mother's divorcement? That is, now why is God divorced his earthly bride, his earthly wife, Israel? Israel, spoken of as the wife of Jehovah, but during the present time she's divorced. She's like a divorced wife. God no longer recognizes her as in covenant relation with himself, and the question arises, well why? Where's the bill of your mother's divorcement? On what ground did God set her aside? On what ground was she divorced? Then the answer comes, wherefore when I came was there no man? This passage is so wonderful. I want it read. I'm afraid to crush my memory. I think I could quote it all, but I might miss it. Verse two, wherefore when I came was there no man? When I called was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem, or have I no power to deliver? The whole of my rebuke I drive to sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish sink it because there is no water, and die for three. I close the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. I gave my back. I gave, verse six, I gave my back to the smithers, and I teach to them that plucked off the hay. I hid not my face from shame and sin. Now, what a wonderful passage we have here. I've sat down also many times with a thoughtful Jew, several times with Jewish rabbis, and I've just said to them, now let's just consider this passage carefully. Here's Jehovah telling why he set Israel to one side. He says, wherefore when I came was there no man? When who came? Well, they look at it, you know, and they have to say, well, it was when Jehovah visited Israel. All right, there's no question about that. He says, I'm the one that took, there was no one to welcome me. I'm the one that closed the heavens with blackness. I make sackcloth their covering. I dry up the waters. Their fish sinketh and dieth for thirst. He's going back to the time when he dried up the waters of the Red Sea, and dried up the waters of the Jordan for Israel to go through. It's the Eternal God speaking, the God of creation, and there's no change in the person as he goes right on speaking, and he tells how he came down to earth in humiliation. He says, he wake, wakeneth, is that the next part? He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth. Oh, that means, that's what I want. Now, here's one who says himself that he closed the heavens with blackness, and he dries up the waters, and so on, and he goes right on speaking. You've got an indication here of the Trinity, but he says, Jehovah, God, hath given me the tongue of the learned, or the disciple. I who close the heavens with blackness, I have taken the place of a disciple. I've come down to earth and taken the place of a learner. It was the Lord Jesus Christ, in infinite grace, coming down here in his humiliation, choosing to lay aside, as it were, his claims to full deity. Not that he laid aside his deity, he couldn't do that, but he refused to act in the power of his own omnipotence, but he chose on earth to learn from the word of God, and to be subject to the Holy Spirit. He increased, we're told, in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man, and he said to the Lord, God, hath given me the tongue of the disciple, that I might learn how to... I like Lieser's translation. Lieser is a Jewish translation, very beautifully, that I might learn how to comfort the weary with the word. How that fits in with the Savior's own invitation, coming to me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who is tempted in all points like as we, therefore able to succor those that are tempted. He comes down to earth and goes through all human experiences apart from sin, entering fully into our sorrows, and our griefs, and our troubles, and thus learning in a practical way how to comfort the weary with the word. And what treatment did he get for it? I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and that lowly man in Pilate's judgment hall, or delivered over to the soldiers who gathered about him, and in their ribaldry mocked him, and smote him, and exposed him to all kinds of vulgarities and indecencies, was God manifest in the flesh. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. This then tells us why the divorce came, why Israel has been for the present set to one side, they rejected their Messiah when he came in lowly grace. So, the Lord says, Now behold, all ye that kindle a fire, walk in the light of the fire that you have kindled, but this shall you have of my hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. And, oh, how terribly that has been fulfilled! They turned away from him who is the light of life, and they tried to kindle a fire of their own, and to walk in the light of their own fire. And, what has been the result? This shall you have of my hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. Who have ever suffered? Who have ever known the sorrows nationally that the people of Israel have known? And, we who, through grace, once rejected Christ too, but who have had our eyes open and brought to receive him as our Savior, how our hearts ought to go out in yearning love and compassion to Israel with their eyes still blinded. How we need to pray for them. You know, I think sometimes that, oh, we're so forgetful. I used to notice this when I was pastor at the Moody Church. If there came to speak to us some Hebrew Christian, like our brother Bern Baum, who sat at the Institute, or Dr. Max Isaac Wright, or somebody like that, and different ones were taking part in prayer. My, how they prayed for Israel! See, when the Hebrew Christian was there, but I noticed that if it wasn't there, unless I called special attention to it, you could go through prayer meeting after prayer meeting, and nobody ever prayed for Israel. They prayed for everything else, and everybody else, but nobody ever voiced a prayer for Israel unless special attention was called to it. I used to try from time to time to remind my brethren, don't let us forget, brethren, we haven't heard any prayer in this meeting yet for Israel, and God has said, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper, that lovely. Alas, alas, poor Israel, have kindled their own fire. They're trying to walk in the light of the teachings of the rabbis, and so on, but they've found sorrow upon sorrow, and there'll never be relief, full relief from it, until they look upon him whom they've pierced, and they mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and as one that's in bitterness for his firstborn. Now, in the next chapter, chapter 51, God stresses the disobedience of Israel, and their suffering because of it, but also emphasizes the coming day when Messiah will be recognized, and they'll be brought in the fullness of blessing. Harken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and on Saul that bore you. For I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." So, that God is going to fulfill every promise. Now, he says, look unto Abraham. God had said to Abraham, in thee and in thy feet shall all nations the earth be blessed, but Israel failed at that blessing. But, still, the promise abides, and the day is coming when they themselves will enter in the fullness of blessing through the son of Abraham, and when they will be made a blessing to the whole earth, because they'll become like a nation of priests in the coming day, and be used of God to bless all the Gentile nations. The nations that once persecuted them will have to suffer, but after God has destroyed the enemies, those who are taken in red-handed opposition to his word, yet the nations who have never been guilty of all these things will find the Lord as their savior, and enter into the blessing of the millennial day. Now, in the rest of this chapter, and also in the first part of chapter 52, we have three calls to awake. First, you have a call addressed to the arm of the Lord. Awake! Awake! Then, you have a call addressed to Jerusalem, as she now is in her suffering and her sorrow, calling her to arise. And then, you have a call to Zion and to Jerusalem, as she will be in the coming day when the Lord leads her into blessing. Now, sir, awake! Awake! Put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake! As in the ancient days, in the generations of old, I found not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon. Just a moment there. Let's not forget it. Rahab, the dragon, there refers to Egypt. It's a term used for Egypt. Go right on. 17th verse is the second awake. Awake! Awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, which hath drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury, that hath drunken the grapes of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. And then, awake is the first verse of chapter fifty-two. Awake! Awake! Put on thy strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for henceforth shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unseen. Shake thyself from the cup. Arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bonds of thy lips, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus saith the Lord, ye have sold yourselves for naught, and ye shall be redeemed without money. These three calls to awake, as they come in consecutively in a very clear, definite way. First, it's the call of the people in their sorrow and their trouble. Awake! Awake, O arm of the Lord. Looking back and remembering how the arm of the Lord has been manifested on their behalf in ancient times, they cry now from the depths of their heart, O God, come in and undertake for us awake, arm of the Lord. What is the arm of the Lord? One of our hymns takes this one, Awake! Awake! O arm of the Lord, awake! Awake! When I was a little boy, they'd sing that. You know, I used to kind of wonder what that arm was. I used to, my arm used to go to sleep sometimes, and I thought, has the arm of the Lord been asleep? What does it mean? I couldn't understand it. Children think queer things about some of these hymns, you know. They don't know just what they're singing about. But, the arm of the Lord is what? Well, the arm of the Lord is a person. When you come to the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, you see that he's a person, and it's the Jesus Christ himself, so that it's he who is really being addressed, though the people may not know it. Arm of the Lord, awake! Awake! They're calling on him to rise for their defense, for their deliverance, and thank God in due time he will. And this is one of the first things that will take place. There will be a moving in the heart and the part of a remnant of Israel, a recognition of their past failure and sin, and a turning back to the Lord. That's where those words apply. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God for you will abundantly pardon. Well, now, in response to the cry, awake! Awake! O arm of the Lord, God addresses Israel in her present broken condition, and he says, awake! Awake! O Jerusalem, arise from the dust. Cleanse yourself from your iniquity. Acknowledge your sin. Confess your transgressions. Repent, and when you do, then deliverance will come. He goes on to show that the Lord in his own time is going to bring them back to Mount Zion. The ransom to the Lord shall return with everlasting joy upon their heads, and so on. Then, in chapter 52, God is addressing the restored people when at last the work of repentance has been wrought in their souls, and they've turned back to God, and now the day of their blessing has come. He says, awake! Awake! O Zion, calls upon them to sing with gladness as they come forth from the lands of the Gentiles, and to enter again into their own land, and to come into happy reconciliation with God, and in subjection to the Savior that he has provided. There are a few additional verses there I wanted out, weren't there? Verse 7. You have beautiful upon the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publishes peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publishes salvation, that sayeth unto Zion, by God reigns. Here's the, what shall I call it, the remnant company of the last days going out over the mountains, going out through the world to proclaim the gospel of peace. We speak of it as the gospel of the kingdom, but let us remember that while it is distinguished in that sense, it's not a different gospel to that which we preach today. There's only one gospel. The Apostle Paul says, though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached. Let him be accursed, and unless any of them should think he was just that tempered and speaking in with a lack of self-control, he says, as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed. There's only one gospel, and that's the gospel of God concerning his son. But that gospel takes on different aspects at different times according to God's dispensational dealings. When John the Baptist began to preach, he proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom of God, but that doesn't mean that he didn't tell sinners how to be saved. Remember, it was John the Baptist who said, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. But the great emphasis of his message was on the responsibility of Israel to receive the king, and so enter into the kingdom. And when the Lord Jesus began to preach, he went from city to city proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and he sent his disciples out to all the land of Israel to preach the gospel of the kingdom. But when the kingdom was rejected, then a new thing came in, and now we're preaching the gospel of the grace of God. But does that mean that we are to be silent in regard to the king and kingdom? Surely not, because the Lord Jesus, during the forty days he appeared on earth in resurrection, has told talk to his disciples about things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And in the last verse of Acts, we're told that Paul abode two years in his own hired house in Rome, preaching and teaching the kingdom of God. So, we still preach the gospel of the kingdom, but the emphasis now is on the gospel of the grace of God. We're dealing particularly with God's grace to a lost, ruined world. By and by, when this age has come to an end, and the church has been taken home, and God takes up, calls out a little company called in Daniel, the masculine, they that are wise who shall understand. They'll be the ones with beautiful feet to go forth proclaiming glad tidings of peace, telling the people that the time has drawn near when the Prince of Peace is going to return, and there'll be blessing for all the world through him. Now, how fitting it is that these words should come in right here where they do, immediately before Isaiah presents the greatest Messianic prophecy in all the Old Testament, that wonderful 53rd chapter of Isaiah, with which we're linking the last three verses of chapter 52. So, we'll begin there this afternoon, if you would follow. Very holy of holies, I might say, in this wonderful book of the Prophet Isaiah, in which we are to consider the most complete Messianic prophecy that we have anywhere in the Old Testament. To those of us who were brought up in Christian homes, and have always had the Christian viewpoint of this chapter, we thought it's a matter of amazement that anybody could ever seek to apply it to others, to anyone else than the Lord Jesus Christ. But, it's well for us to remember that those who haven't had such instruction as many of us have had from our childhood up, and had great difficulty with this passage, the Jewish people almost as a whole apply it to the nation itself. And, in olden days, while it was recognized by the Messiah, it was a puzzle for them, because they read in certain scriptures of the glories of Messiah's reign, and then here they read of the suffering Messiah, and so many of them thought that there would be two Messiahs. One they called Messiah ben Javi, Messiah the anointed, the son of David, and the other Messiah ben Yosef, the son of Joseph. You remember how Jacob had read the teaching of Joseph's suffering, the one who was separated from his brethren, and so on. He says from strength, from strength is the shepherd the soul of Israel, and so many of the rabbis attributed considered the sufferer of Isaiah 13 was the one who would spring from the house of Joseph, while the glorified Messiah, the one reigning in power and glory, would come from the house of David. But, almost unanimously before the Christian era, all the Jewish teachers whose writings had come down to us either by quotation or indirect form, were agreed that the passage did refer to Messiah in some way. But, it was after the Lord Jesus came and fitted in so exactly to this picture that the Jews, having rejected Christ, the teachers of the Jews, I should say, having rejected Christ, found it necessary to apply the passage in some other way, to give another interpretation to it. And so, today, if you talk with a Jew who is reasonably familiar with his scriptures, many of them are not so. We just now take for granted that every Jew knows the Old Testament, but many have never read it at all. They're not familiar with it. If you find one who is, you will generally find in talking with him that he has tried to make out that the sufferer here is the Jewish nation itself, and not any one individual. And, you go back in the book of the prophet Isaiah, and show how Israel is called a servant of Jehovah and so on, and so here it says, Behold, my servants are his fathers, and so on, and so forth. And, they take it for granted that's the same as Israel as a nation, as a servant, and as Jesus the sufferer. And, since this is a man who's named at the brink, as a root out of a dry ground, grew up out of the dry ground of poor Melchizedek, he prayed for one lovely plant that Jehovah laid down upon his approval, so that he could render heavens upon him, that this is my beloved plant, into whom I found a home at the end of time. A lovely plant, and a root out of a dry ground. But, so far here it concerns the next verse, it says, He has no form nor complex, and when he shall see there is no beauty that he should desire. I think that sometimes some Christian teachers have misused that expression. They have no form. They have understood that expression. They have no form nor complex. One dear friend of mine, good friend of mine, that's a very fine guy that he's had a look at, I'm not going to mention his name, although I might see that his type is critical, but he teaches, both in a book he has written and often over the radio, that he believes that Christians have been all wrong down through the centuries in thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ as a person of beautiful faith, handsome faith, as he's often portrayed by different painters. This dear brother even goes so far as to say that he believes that the Lord Jesus Christ as man was thought to be repulsive in appearance, no form, no complex, absolutely repulsive, so that nobody would like to look at him. But, that's not in accordance with what it says. In the 45th Psalm, we read of our blessed Lord, thou art fairer than the sons of men. And, I think we've every reason to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, being the only sinless child that was ever born into the world, came into this world with a perfect human body, and he is a perfectly decent man. And, as he grew up as a young man, and later matured, he would be a lovely appearance, friendly appearance. But, those who loved their sin and listened to his teaching, and were angered by it, saw in him no beauty the face of society. It wasn't a question of physical characteristics. Because of the suffering he endured, his physique became marred more than any man, and he formed more than the sons of men. But, I think we're right in believing that, as man, here on earth, the second man, the last father, he was, as through his human form, face to face, absolutely perfect. But, men looked upon him with disgust and disdain, because he interfered, his teaching interfered, with the lives that they loved to live. But, he contained no beauty, the least of desire. Well, the prophet goes on to say in the next two verses. He was despised, and we esteemed him. Am I quoting correctly? A man, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, it were. Our faces saw him. He was despised, and we esteemed him. For our faces, and the eyes of his townsmen, as to our peace was made, fell upon him. And, the result that is quite clear, he was. Then, in the next verse, you have God, as it were, balancing the books of the world. Two debit entries, and one credit entry. The two debit entries, all we like sheep have gone astray, says the whole fallen human race. He has turned everyone to his own ways, as each individual's own personal thing. Then, the credit entry that is clearly all in the books of God, is men with utter sin. Jehovah hath laid them in the iniquity of us all. What a wonderful thought. You know, to me, that's the most wonderful text in the Bible. I've been trying to preach for 60 years, and that's the first text I ever preached on. I was just a boy, 14 years old, and got out in the streets of Los Angeles in 1999, and I started speaking that text, and I only meant to speak five minutes. About a half an hour later, the captain leaned over and said, my boy, we should have been in the hall. That's what I meant to quote. You'll have to tell us the rest of what it says, and so I've been trying to tell the rest all through the years, but it's the text I never get beyond. All we like sheep have gone astray. Remember the story of the young man who was so troubled about his soul, and he's been listening to Dr. W.E.B. Mackay, the author of Great and True, and he was preaching a large hall in London, and Dr. Mackay had to hurry to get a underground train to go to the place where he was staying at the close of meeting each night. So, he was hurrying along one night, when this young man came behind him and called out, Doctor, can't you wait a minute? I want to talk to you. I'm in this trouble about my soul. Doctor, come along. Why don't you try to get me free? Well, he said, Doctor, I've been listening to you, but I don't seem to get it clear. I want to be saved. Can't you make it clearer to me, and be fair to me? Well, I'm sorry I can't talk tonight, but if you've got a Bible, know that I haven't. Well, he said, will you be for me tomorrow night? Well, he said, I'm coming every night. Well, he said, take my Bible then. Now, listen to me. Go close to nearest lamp post. Turn to Isaiah 53 and 6. Stand low down, and go in at the first hall, and stand up straight, and come out to the last. Good night. Now, he went to get the underground train. He went, so listen to this. There was a Bible, and he stands up. Well, I'm very pleased to be saved. And, turn to Isaiah 53 and 6. I'll write you home. This is the Bible of God. Go close to every... First, he said, go to the nearest lamp post. Remember, the light is back on. Then, turn to Isaiah 53 and 6. Now, listen to me. Stand low down, and go in at the first hall. You look at each other, and up, and stand up straight. Now, we like to keep us on this train. We have turned every one of you home. In a moment, at first, you're going to be told, just take this, and go in at that hall. Acknowledge that you've gone astray. Then, what else did Dr. McKay say? Stand up straight, and come out to the last. He looked at it again, but not again. The Lord has laid in the initiative of God. Dr. McKay came to the platform the next night. He looked around, to see if anybody could look. Suddenly, he came hurrying up to the army handkerchief. He said, all right, doctor. I got in at the first hall, and got out at the last. So, he knew that his pose was OK. Then, it goes on to speak of the trial of the Lord. He was taken from prison to judgment. I could say it all over, but I don't know. Oh, yes. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted. Yet, he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison to judgment. He was lathered, and as it seems before, he appears as dumb. So, he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison to judgment, and his repairs generated. He was cut off of the land of the living. He was transferred to a mighty militant prison. This brings before us his mock trial. He was taken from one place to another, and his case was heard, but there was nobody to speak for him. He had all conquered the law, but yet got from it. He didn't have anything to say for himself. Pilate wondered that he had anything to say. Herod Triton, at least, was refused to do as a lamb dumbed before his hearers. So, he opened not his mouth. Then, in this section, comes a detail that flares his generation. Sometimes, some have translated each of the failures manner of life, and rather notice how careful God was to see that his manner of life was to fail. He was condemned to die on false evidence as a felon. He was condemned to die as though guilty of sedition against Jesus, against imperial rule. But, God saw to it that his manner of life was fully displayed, so that actually he was justified even before Pilate. Pilate's wife, St. Anneti, had now nothing to do with the blood of this just man. But, I've suffered many things today in the dream because of this. Pilate himself, took water and washed his hands, and said, I find no fault in this. Then, as he hung up a mattress, lest to die as a felon, the feet by his side, turn to his fellow and say, shut down our fear, God, seeing we are in the same condemnation. But, this man has done nothing so God saw to it that that declaration was made even on the very spot. This man has done nothing, yet he has allowed himself to die because he is a great sin offender. Take him to prison, he says. He is a great sinner, but offers the land of the transgression of my people for his sins. Therefore, God, that he shall be come back from the grave in resurrection life. And, how wonderful that is, I say. I know that when I say that, somebody wants this from the church and the disciples. Now, there are a few that will say, but remember, that was a question. The Lord says, man of power, but power and iniquity. If that is what those of us who try to preach to God, we shall get by. He did say, pride can enter into this place. Yes, but the will of these few say, there'll be far more in heaven than there'll ever be in hell, because all the little ones are going to be in hell. All the millions and millions of those who have died in immaturity, before coming to years of countenances, are all in hell. But, Jesus said, it's not the will of this father in heaven that one of these little ones should have. And, of course, all those who've never had, who've been mentally defective, and never been capable of accepting or rejecting Christ, will all become a part of Christ. And, then, it's all those who have turned to him in repentance and trusted in his presence, for his eyes have foiled Christ. And, God is going to reward the lowest of them, according to his own thought of that which his son is a part of. Men may think like that, but God never does. I've often told that incident that a friend of mine, Mr. Joseph Parker, a friend who's a surgeon, who was visiting in a hospital, and he said to me when I met him on the Monday, this was on the Sundays in the hospital, on the Monday. Oh, that I had such a good time yesterday. I said, what was it, Mr. Parker? Well, he said, you know, I work so steadily all week long that I just have to use Sunday afternoon for recreation. And so, he said, I just leave my home and get out, and I go over to the hospital to have recreation every Sunday afternoon. I go from bed to bed, talk to the people about what's going on. And, he said, you know, yesterday I came in to the hospital, and they were just putting the... they had pulled the street out around one day, and I said to the nurse, somebody's dying there. She said, yes, Mr. Parker, and the priest has just said he's given him the last right to return. He won't last many days. Mr. Parker said, could I, could I look in, see him? She said, well, you know, we're not supposed to let anybody see a patient unless his own relatives after the priest has given him the last right. But, I know you said, well, I'm sure it'll be all right to let you look in. So, he went behind the street. There the man lay, just gasping for breath. Mr. Parker said, I thought, oh, first, if he doesn't know Christ, he's going out into a lofty church. He said, I just prayed, Lord, Lord, if he's not saved, give him consciousness, and help me to say a word that would point him to Christ. And then, said involuntarily, I said, somewhere, another something moved that roof down, picked up that roof, and the man kind of stirred and opened his eyes, glimpsed at it, and as I held the crucifix up, he looked kind of anxious and worried, and I said to him, he's a wonderful man. I just pointed to the figure of a man. He's a wonderful man. And the man exaggerated, yes, yes, I love, I love the crucifix. I want to die with it on my breast. Put it back, please. I hope it will help me to get through purgatory. I hope it will help me. And Mr. Parker said, not the crucifix, but the one that dies. The man that dies in the cross, he's the savior. God's own blessed son. Oh, the pain is not over. Oh, oh, I never understood this moment. Not the crucifix. The man that dies comes from the cross. He dies, yes, he dies, the thing he dies to, and if you look at him and say, Jesus, is he there? Oh, yes, but I never understood this moment. All right.
Studies in Isaiah - Part 4
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Henry Allan “Harry” Ironside (1876–1951). Born on October 14, 1876, in Toronto, Canada, to John and Sophia Ironside, Harry Ironside was a prolific Bible teacher, pastor, and author in the Plymouth Brethren and dispensationalist traditions. Converted at age 12 through his mother’s influence and his own Bible reading, he began preaching at 14 with the Salvation Army in California after moving there in 1886. Largely self-taught, he never attended seminary but memorized much of Scripture, earning an honorary D.D. from Wheaton College in 1942. Joining the Plymouth Brethren in 1896, he itinerated across North America, preaching at revival meetings and Bible conferences, known for clear, anecdotal sermons. In 1930, he became pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, serving until 1948, growing its influence through radio broadcasts. Ironside authored over 100 books and commentaries, including Holiness: The False and the True (1912), Lectures on Daniel the Prophet (1911), and The Minor Prophets (1904), emphasizing practical biblical application. Married to Helen Schofield in 1898 until her death in 1948, then to Ann Hightower in 1949, he had two sons, Edmund and John. He died on January 15, 1951, in Cambridge, New Zealand, while preaching, saying, “The Word of God is living and powerful—trust it fully.”