Bible Commentaries

CLEAN CARRIERS

‘Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.’

Isaiah 52:11

I. The chosen people are at the end of the seventy years’ captivity; the time of their deliverance has come. Their Almighty Deliverer, throwing back the loose sleeve of His robe, to leave His arm free, makes ready for an unusual exercise of power. There will be no need of haste as when the people fled at night from Egypt. They may not go out with haste, nor go by flight, for their Divine Leader would precede them, and His escort would be their rearguard.

II. This is the summons to us all who may have been in captivity to Babylon in any form.—We are to arise and depart, shaking loose the bonds of our captivity. Let us follow the cloudy pillar of God’s presence guiding us continually, and let us not be always looking behind, as though dreading the recurrence of past sins and mistakes. They shall not pursue those whom God has delivered; or, if they do, they shall not overtake. It is an unspeakable comfort to those who have sinned to know that the old temptations and forms of bondage are intercepted by the presence of the Eternal God, just as His cloud intercepted Pharaoh’s host.

III. The one matter about which we must be scrupulously careful is our cleanliness.—The Apostle bids us keep, through the Holy Ghost, that deposit which was committed to our care. But so holy a commission from so holy a God demands holiness in those whom He entrusts. We must not touch the unclean thing, but come out, be separate, and He will receive us and be a Father unto us.