Charles Spurgeon Commentary Isaiah 49:23

"And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah; and they that wait for me shall not be put to shame." — Isaiah 49:23 (ASV)

And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers:

It will take a long time before they learn that art, for kings and queens have generally been destroyers of the Church of Christ.

Those will be grand days when kings shall be the nourishers of the Church, and queens her nursing mothers.

For they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

Glory be to his holy name; none that wait for him shall ever have cause to be ashamed; may we all be of that blessed number, for Christ's sake! Amen.

They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet:

I have heard the first part of this verse quoted as an argument for the union of Church and State: Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers. I have not the slightest objection, if they will bow down to the Church with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of her feet. What is proposed to us is that the Church should bow down to the State, with her face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of the feet of the state, by becoming obedient to rules and regulations made by princes and parliaments.

This is not according to the mind of God, nor according to the heart of his people.

And you will know that I am the LORD.

"Jehovah." "You will understand the greatness of your God, his infiniteness, his majesty, his all-sufficiency. 'You will know that I am the I AM.'"

And you shall know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

If we wait for Christ, for his coming, for the help which he brings, for the salvation that is wrought by him, we shall not be ashamed.