John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 26:19

"Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is [as] the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead." — Isaiah 26:19 (ASV)

Your dead men shall live. Isaiah continues the same consolation and addresses his discourse to God, thus showing that there is nothing better for us than to bring our thoughts to meet in God whenever we must struggle with temptations.

There is nothing more dangerous than to wander in our thoughts and to give way to them, since they can do nothing else than toss us up and down and drive us into error.

Nothing, therefore, is safer for us than to turn to God, on whom alone our hearts can rest; for otherwise, we will encounter many things that tend to shake our faith.

The general meaning is that as God guards believers, though they are like dead men, yet they shall live amidst death itself, or shall rise again after their death.

But it may be asked, of what time does Isaiah speak? Many interpret this passage as relating to the last resurrection.

The Jews refer it to the Messiah's kingdom, but they are mistaken in thinking that it is immediately fulfilled by the Messiah’s first coming. Christians are also mistaken in limiting it to the last judgment.

The Prophet includes the whole reign of Christ from the beginning to the end, since the hope of living, as we shall immediately see, goes beyond this world.

Now, to understand the Prophet's meaning more fully, we should first consider that life is promised, not indiscriminately, but only to God's dead men. He speaks of believers who die in the Lord and whom He protects by His power.

We know that God is the God of the living, and not of the dead (Matthew 22:32). Accordingly, if we are God's people, we shall undoubtedly live. However, in the meantime, we must be no different from dead men, for our life is hidden (Colossians 3:3), and we do not yet see those things for which we hope (Romans 8:23–24).

So he speaks simply of the dead—that is, of the condition of believers, who lie in the shadow of death on account of various afflictions they must continually endure. It is therefore evident that this must not be limited to the last resurrection.

On the contrary, we say that the reprobate, even while they live, are dead because they do not taste God's fatherly kindness, in which life consists, and therefore perish in their brutal stupidity. But believers, by fleeing to God, obtain life in the midst of afflictions, and even in death itself.

However, because they have in prospect that day of the resurrection, they are not said literally to live until that day when they shall be free from all pain and corruption and shall obtain perfect life. Indeed, Paul justly argues that it would be a subversion of order if they were to enjoy life until the appearance of Christ, who is the source of their life (Colossians 3:3–4).

Thus, we have said that Isaiah includes the whole reign of Christ. Although we begin to receive the fruit of this consolation when we are admitted into the Church, we shall not enjoy it fully until that last day of the resurrection has come, when all things shall be completely restored.

For this reason also it is called the day of restitution (Acts 3:21). The only remedy for soothing the grief of the godly is to fix their eyes on the outcome by which God distinguishes them from the reprobate.

As death naturally destroys all the children of Adam, so all the miseries to which they are liable are forerunners of death, and therefore their life is nothing other than mortality.

But because the curse of God, through the kindness of Christ, is abolished—both in the beginning and in the end of death—all who are engrafted into Christ are justly said to live in dying; for to them, all that is evil is the instrument of good (Romans 8:28).

Therefore, it follows that out of the depths of death they always come forth conquerors until they are perfectly united to their Head. And therefore, so that we may be counted among God's dead men, whose life He faithfully guards, we must rise above nature. This is more fully expressed by the word נבלה, (nĕbēlāh), or dead body.

My dead body, they shall arise. It is as if he had said, “The prolonged putrefaction, by which they appear to be consumed, will not prevent the power of God from causing them to rise again entire.”

Regarding the phrase, some translate it, “With my dead body.” Others explain it, “Who are my dead body.” Others add the particle of comparison, “Just as my dead body.”

But as the meaning is most fully brought out if, without adding or changing anything, we simply understand the words as they are, I choose to view them as standing in immediate connection. At least, this word is inserted specifically so that the Prophet may join himself to the whole Church, and thus may count himself in the number of God's dead men in the hope of the resurrection.

Regarding his mentioning himself in particular, he does so to more fully confirm this doctrine. In this way, he testifies to his sincerity and shows that this confession is the result of faith, according to that saying, I believed, therefore I spake (Psalms 116:10; 2 Corinthians 4:13).

Otherwise, irreligious men might speak about the mercy of God and eternal life, even if they had no sincere belief in them. For even Balaam knew that he spoke what was true, yet he derived no benefit from his predictions (Numbers 23:19; Numbers 24:13).

The Prophet speaks very differently in this passage. He professes to belong to the number of those who shall obtain life, and then declares that he willingly endures all the troubles and calamities by which the Lord humbles and slays him, and that he chooses to endure them rather than to flourish with the wicked.

In this way, he testifies that he does not speak of things unknown to him, or in which he has no personal stake, but of those things which he has learned by actual experience.

He shows that his confidence is so great that he willingly counts himself among those dead bodies which, he firmly believes, will be restored to life. Therefore, he chooses to be a dead body, and to be so considered, as long as he is accounted a member of the Church, rather than to enjoy life separated from the Church.

This gives greater force to his doctrine, and he contrasts it with the statement he previously made (verse 14) about wicked men: they shall not live. For the hope of rising again is taken from them.

If it is objected that resurrection will be common not only to believers but also to the reprobate, the answer is easy. Isaiah does not speak only of the resurrection, but of the happiness which believers will enjoy.

Wicked men will indeed rise again, but it will be to eternal destruction. Therefore, the resurrection will bring ruin to them, while it will bring salvation and glory to believers.

Awake and sing, you inhabitants of the dust. He gives the name inhabitants of the dust to believers, who are humbled under the cross and afflictions, and who even during their life keep death constantly before their eyes.

It is true that they enjoy God's blessings in this life. However, by this metaphor, Isaiah declares that their condition is miserable because they bear the image of death. For the outward man must be subdued and weakened until it utterly decays, that the inward man may be renewed (2 Corinthians 4:16).

We must therefore be willing to be humbled and to lie down in the dust if we want to share in this consolation.

Accordingly, he tells the dead men to “awake and sing,” which appears to be very inconsistent with their condition, for among them there is nothing but mournful silence (Psalms 6:5; Psalms 88:11). He thus draws a clear distinction between God's elect—whom the corruption of the grave and the habitation in the dust will not deprive of that heavenly vigor by which they shall rise again—and the reprobate, who, separated from God the source of life and from Christ, fade away even while they live, until they are wholly swallowed up by death.

For your dew is the dew of herbs. He now promises “the dew of herbs” and thus illustrates this doctrine with an elegant and appropriate comparison.

We know that herbs, especially those of the meadows, are dried up in winter, so that they appear to be wholly dead; outwardly, no other judgment could be made about them. Yet the roots are concealed beneath, which, when they have imbibed the dew at the return of spring, show their vigor, so that herbs which formerly were dry and withered grow green again.

In this manner, the nation will regain its former vigor after being plentifully watered with the dew of the grace of God, though formerly it appeared to be altogether withered and decayed.

Such comparisons, drawn from well-known objects, have great influence in producing conviction. If herbs watered by dew revive, why should we not also revive when watered by the grace of God? Why should not our bodies, though dead and rotten, revive?

Does God not take more care of us than of herbs? And is the power of the Spirit not greater than that of dew?

Paul employs a similar argument in writing to the Corinthians when he treats of the resurrection. But as he applies his comparison to a different purpose, I think it better to leave it for the present, so that we do not confuse the two passages. It is enough that we understand the plain meaning of the Prophet.

And the earth shall cast out the dead. Others translate the clause in the second person: “You will lay low the land of giants,” or “You will lay low the giants on the earth.”

I do not reject this interpretation, for the words allow for that meaning. However, the former appears to agree better with the context of the passage, though it makes little difference to the substance of the doctrine. These words must relate to that consolation of which we have previously spoken.