John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 12

And you shall say in that day. Isaiah now exhorts all the godly to thanksgiving. Yet the exhortation also has this purpose: that the promise may be more fully believed. For He seals it with that exhortation, so that they may be convinced that it is certain and may not think they are deluded by unfounded hope, when a form of thanksgiving is now given and, as it were, put into their mouth. This would not have been the case if there had not been just and solid grounds.

At the same time, he points out the purpose the Lord has in view in doing good to His Church. This purpose is that the remembrance of His name may be extolled—not that He needs our praise, but it is profitable for us. We should also consider the honor He bestows upon us when He condescends to use our services for extolling and spreading the glory of His name, though we are altogether useless and of no value.

You shall say. He addresses the whole people as if he were addressing one man, because it was their duty to be so united as to be one. We are also taught by this same example that we ought to be united together, so that there may be one soul and one mouth (Romans 15:6), if we desire our prayers and thanksgivings to be accepted by God.

Though you were angry with me. The leading thought of this song is that God, though He was justly offended at His people, yet was satisfied with inflicting a moderate chastisement and showed that He was willing to be pacified. The particle כי (ki), being sometimes expressive of a cause, some render it, I will praise you, O Lord, because, having been angry with me, still you are immediately reconciled; but as it sometimes signifies though, I have adopted the rendering which I considered to agree best with this passage.

Believers, therefore, first acknowledge their guilt and next ascribe their freedom from their distresses to the mercy of God. The words being in the future tense, the following interpretation might also be adopted: “The temporal chastisement will not prevent You from at length having compassion on me and from giving me ground for joy and comfort.”

Whichever of these views is taken, this sentiment ought to be carefully observed. For as soon as a conviction of God’s anger seizes our minds, it prompts us to despair, and if it is not promptly counteracted, it will speedily overwhelm us. Satan also tempts us by all methods and employs every expedient to compel us to despair. We should, therefore, be fortified by this doctrine: that though we feel the anger of the Lord, we may know that it is of short duration (Psalms 30:5), and that we shall be comforted as soon as He has chastened us.

When we have been relieved from distresses, let us remember that our punishment has ended, not because we have paid to the justice of God what we deserved, but because through His fatherly love He spares our weakness. This confession belongs properly to the godly and elect, for though the chastisements of the godly and ungodly appear to be the same, yet the reasons for them are exceedingly different.

The wrath of the Lord against the ungodly is perpetual, and the chastisements inflicted on them are forerunners of everlasting destruction; no alleviation or consolation is promised to them. But the godly feel that the wrath of God is of short duration and encourage their hearts with hope and confidence, for they know that God will be gracious to them, since He has declared that He punishes their sins for no other reason than to train them to repentance, that they may not perish along with the world (1 Corinthians 11:32).

Behold, God is my salvation. Although it is proper to perceive by faith the salvation of God in the midst of our afflictions, here Isaiah speaks of knowledge derived from experience. He presents a form of a joyful song, in which God shows by outward signs that He is reconciled towards His Church. Such is also the meaning of the phrase הנה (hinneh), Behold; for now the brightness of God’s countenance, which had been hidden for a time, shines forth, so that they can point to it as with the finger.

Since, therefore, our punishments fill us with dread, and it is impossible for our minds not to be clouded by our sins—as if we had no share in God’s salvation, or as if it were withdrawn from us—the Prophet describes here a change of feeling when God is reconciled to us.

But this prediction relates chiefly to the coming of Christ, which first fully displayed the salvation of God.

I will trust and not be afraid. He adds that when we are fully convinced that salvation is laid up for us in God, this is a solid foundation for full confidence and the best remedy for calming fears. Without this conviction, we would have trembled, been uneasy and distressed, and tortured by painful emotions. Hence, we conclude that confidence proceeds from faith, as an effect from its cause. By faith we perceive that salvation is laid up for us in God, and a calm and peaceful state of mind arises from it; but when faith is lacking, there can be no peace of conscience. Let us therefore know that we have made good progress in faith when we have been granted such confidence as the Prophet describes.

Besides, this confidence should have the chief place in our hearts (Colossians 3:15), so as to banish all fear and dread; not that we are free from all distress and uneasiness, but that assurance will eventually be victorious. Yet we must keep in mind what I have said: that the Prophet here speaks of the cheerfulness which believers—who had formerly been almost overwhelmed under the load of temptations—obtain when God is reconciled to them.

For the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength. He states more clearly and explicitly that believers will have good reason to sing, because they will have known by experience that they are strong in their God, as indeed redemption was an illustrious display of the power of God.

Since Isaiah does not describe the benefit of a single day, but that which God had determined to carry forward until the coming of Christ, it follows that only those who, convinced of their weakness, seek to obtain strength from God alone in answer to prayer, sincerely and heartily sing the praises of God.

Nor is He here called a part or an aid of our strength, but our complete strength; for we are strong only to the extent that He supplies us with strength.

And my song. The reason why He is called The song of the godly is that He bestows on them so much kindness to inspire them to perform the duty of thankfulness. Hence we conclude that the beginning of joy springs from the favor of God, and that its end is the sacrifice of praise (Psalms 50:23; Hosea 14:2; Hebrews 13:15).

Thus, the hearts of the godly should be trained to patience, so that they may not cease to bless God. In a state of joy and prosperity, however, their mouth is opened, so that they loudly proclaim God’s benefits.

But since the ungodly freely indulge in despising God and, having lulled their consciences to sleep, revel like brutes in drunken mirth and never awaken to praise God, Christ justly curses their joy.

Woe to you that laugh, for ye shall mourn; your joy shall be turned into grief, and your laughter into gnashing of teeth.
(Luke 6:25)

And he hath become my salvation. If it is considered better to take this clause in the past tense, the meaning will be that believers sing joyfully, because God has saved them. But it will be most appropriate to take it in the future tense, and he will become my salvation; that is, God not only has been salvation to His people, but will be so to the end. For believers should not confine their attention to the present benefit, but extend their hope to the uninterrupted progress of His favor.

You shall draw waters with joy. In this verse he confirms what we have already noticed, that this chapter may be regarded as a seal to confirm the promise that He gave about the redemption of His people. As if he had said, “The salvation of God has been set before you, like a constantly running fountain, from which you can draw waters in abundance.” This is a very beautiful metaphor; for in this life nothing is more necessary than water; indeed, no kind of scarcity causes us more uneasiness or distress than a scarcity of water.

Thus, by a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, he declares that everything necessary for supporting life flows to us from the undeserved goodness of God. And since we are empty and destitute of everything good, he appropriately compares the mercy of God to a fountain, which satisfies those who are thirsty and dry, refreshes those who are parched with heat, and revives those who are worn out with fatigue.

From the fountains of the Savior. This wording is more appropriate to this passage than if he had said, “from the fountains of God”; for it yields more consolation when we know that He is the author of our salvation, and therefore the Prophet has skillfully adapted this term to the situation in which it is placed.

Now, if this promise includes the whole of Christ’s reign, we ought constantly to apply it to our use. Let us therefore know that the goodness of God is held out to us, that we may be satisfied with it; for we ought to be like a dry and thirsty land, as the Psalmist says (Psalms 143:6), that we may desire the waters of the Lord.

This goodness of God is wonderful and beyond what could have been believed: He does not allow us to burn with unsatisfied desire, but presents a fountain from which we may draw abundantly. That fountain is Christ, in whom all God’s benefits are imparted to us; for out of his fullness, as John says, we all draw (John 1:16). It remains, therefore, that whenever we feel our need, we go directly to Him.

And in that day you shall say. He now exhorts them not only to sing praise and give thanks to God individually, but to excite others to do the same. As he had formerly said, Many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up into the mountain of the Lord (Isaiah 2:3), that is, exciting each other by mutual exhortation to embrace the pure worship of God. So after having enjoined them individually to be thankful to God, he now also commands them mutually to excite each other to thanksgiving. He means that they ought to speak not to one, but to all, and not at one time only, but during their whole life.

Call upon his name. He now gives a short description of the manner in which praise is properly rendered to God, when he enjoins us to call upon him, that we may not glory in any other (Jeremiah 9:23–24).

Hence also, by taking a part for the whole (συνεκδοχικῶς), Scripture frequently describes the whole of worship under the designation of calling upon God. In this way we show that our confidence is placed in God; and this is also what he chiefly demands from us. In like manner, I think that here the Prophet connects calling upon God with praises, in order to include the whole of the worship of God.

Make known his works among the peoples. He means that the work of this deliverance will be so excellent that it ought to be proclaimed, not in one corner only, but throughout the whole world. He wished, indeed, that it should be first made known to the Jews, but that it should afterwards spread abroad to all people.

This exhortation, by which the Jews testified their gratitude, might be regarded as a forerunner of the preaching of the gospel, which afterwards followed in the proper order. As the Jews proclaimed among the Medes and Persians, and other neighboring nations, the favor which had been shown to them, so, when Christ was manifested, they ought to have been heralds to sound aloud the name of God through every country in the world.

Hence it is evident what is the desire which ought to be cherished among all the godly. It is, that the goodness of God may be made known to all, that all may join in the same worship of God. We ought especially to be inflamed with this desire, after having been delivered from some alarming danger, and most of all after having been delivered from the tyranny of the devil and from everlasting death.

Sing to the Lord. He continues his exhortation, showing what is the feeling from which this thanksgiving should proceed; for he shows that it is our duty to proclaim the goodness of God to every nation. While we exhort and encourage others, we must not at the same time sit down in indolence, but it is proper that we set an example before others; for nothing can be more absurd than to see lazy and slothful men who are urging other men to praise God.

For he has done glorious things. When he asserts that God has done gloriously, he means that there is abundant ground for singing. The Lord does not wish that his praises should be proclaimed without any reason, but holds out a very rich and very abundant subject of praise, when he frees his people from very hard bondage. We have said that this song is not limited to a short period, but, on the contrary, extends to the whole of Christ’s reign. This work therefore is truly glorious, that God sent his Son to reconcile us to himself (John 3:16, 17) and to destroy the dominion of death and the devil (Hebrews 2:14). If, therefore, we consider the work of our deliverance as we should, we will have very abundant ground for praising God.

And this has been made known through all the earth. When he says that this has been made known, he alludes to the calling of the Gentiles, and confirms what has already been stated: that the work is such as should not be concealed in a corner, but should be proclaimed everywhere.