Isaiah 12:1 - Meaning and Application

This is the first part of a hymn of praise prepared for the church. It was meant for the Jewish church when God would bring them great deliverance, and for the Christian church when the Messiah’s kingdom would be established in the world, despite all the power of darkness. “In that day you will say, O Lord, I will praise you.” When the scattered church is brought together as one body, it will praise God with one mind and one voice, because he is one and his name is one.

“In that day,” when the Lord does these great things for you, “you will say, O Lord, I will praise you.” This means, first, that you will have good reason to say it. The promise is certain, and the blessings in it are rich. When God gives them, they will give the church plenty of reason to rejoice, and so plenty of reason to give thanks. The Old Testament’s promises about gospel times are often described through the joy and praise they will produce, because the priceless gifts we receive through Jesus Christ deserve the highest thanksgiving.

It also means that you will have a heart to say it. God’s other gifts to his people are meant to lead them to this, to give him all the glory and to speak of his goodness with gratitude whenever they can. “You will say” also means, “You ought to say.” When many are brought to Jesus Christ and come flocking to him like doves to their windows, we should not envy the welcome they receive, as the Jews once resented the grace shown to the Gentiles. Instead, we should say, “O Lord, I will praise you.” We ought to rejoice in God’s grace to others as well as to ourselves.

Believers are taught here to thank God for turning away his displeasure and bringing back his favor. “O Lord, I will praise you, though you were angry with me.” Even God’s frowns must not keep us from praising him. Though he be angry with us, and though he slay us, we must still trust him and give him thanks. God often has good reason to be angry with us, but we never have reason to be angry with him or speak badly of him. Even when he corrects us, we must praise him.

“You were angry with us, but your anger is turned away.” God is sometimes angry with his own people, and the results of that anger are plain. They should notice this and humble themselves under his mighty hand. Yet though God may be angry with his people for a time, his anger will not last forever. It lasts only for a moment, and he will not keep contending forever. Through Jesus Christ, the root of Jesse, God’s anger against mankind was turned away, because he is our peace.

Those with whom God is reconciled are comforted by him. Even the turning away of his anger is a comfort, but there is more. Those who are at peace with God may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1, Romans 5:2). At times God even brings his people into a wilderness so that he may speak comfort to them there (Hosea 2:14). So the turning away of God’s anger, and the return of his comfort to us, should become the matter of our joyful thanksgiving.

They are also taught to rejoice in God and in their share in him. “Behold, God is my salvation.” That means not only that he saves me, but that he himself is my salvation, the one in whom I am safe. I depend on him as my salvation, because I have found him to be that. He will have the glory of all the deliverances he has worked for me, and I will look to him alone for the salvation I still need, not to hills or mountains. If God is my salvation, and if he is to bring me to eternal life, then I will trust him to prepare me for it and keep me until I reach it. I will also trust him with all my earthly concerns, believing that he will make everything work for my good. I will be confident, that is, I will be calm in my own mind.

Those who have God for their salvation may live with holy safety and peace of mind. Faith in God as our salvation should do two things. First, it should silence our fears. We must trust and not be afraid, not afraid that the God we trust will fail us, because there is no danger of that. We should also not be afraid of any creature, however strong or threatening it may seem. Faith in God is a powerful cure for troubling, painful fears.

Second, it should support our hopes. If the Lord Jehovah is our salvation, then he will be our strength and our song. We have work to do and temptations to resist, and we can depend on him to help us with both. He will strengthen us with might by his Spirit in the inner person, because he is our strength. His grace is enough for us. We also have many sorrows to endure in this world of tears, and we can depend on him to comfort us in every trouble, because he is our song. He gives songs in the night.

If we make God our strength and trust him, he will prove himself to be our strength. If we make him our song and place our comfort in him, he will prove himself to be our song. Many sincere Christians have God as their strength, but not yet as their song, and they still walk in darkness. Yet light is stored up for them. Those who have God as their strength should also make him their song, giving him the glory for it (see Psalm 68:35) and taking comfort in it themselves, because he will become their salvation. The name here given to God is Jah, Jehovah. Jah is a shortened form of Jehovah, and both names speak of his eternal nature and unchanging faithfulness, which are a great comfort to those who rely on him as their strength and song. Some understand Jah to point to the Son of God made man. He is Jehovah, and in him we may glory as our strength, our song, and our salvation.

They should also draw comfort from the love of God and every sign of that love. “Therefore, because the Lord Jehovah is your strength and song, and will be your salvation, you shall draw water with joy.” The promises God has given us, and the comfort and help we have already found in his grace, should greatly encourage our faith and our hopes. From the wells of salvation in God, the fountain of all good for his people, you will draw water with joy. God’s favor will flow out to you, and you will enjoy its comfort and make use of its blessed fruit.

God’s promises, as they are revealed, confirmed, and given to us in his ordinances, are wells of salvation, or wells of the Savior, as some read it. In them the Savior and salvation are made known to us and given over to us. It is our duty, by faith, to draw water from these wells and take the comfort and benefit stored up for us there, recognizing that all our fresh springs are in him and all our fresh streams come from him (Psalm 87:7). And this water is to be drawn out of the wells of salvation with great joy and satisfaction.

It is God’s will that we rejoice before him and in him (Deuteronomy 26:11). He wants us to be glad in his house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7), and to keep his feasts with joy (Acts 2:46).