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Isaac
So far as fame is concerned, Isaac had the misfortune to come between two of the greatest and most striking personalities of the Bible, Abraham, who was his father, and Jacob, who was his son. Isaac was not an innovator. There is nothing striking or dramatic or thrilling in his life, with the exception of his father Abraham offering him up on Mount Moriah…. Yet Isaac carried on the great tradition of faith in God, and was a necessary link in the chain of the divine purpose and destiny. Some men are great in what they initiate and discover; others are great in what they preserve or rediscover. The last was preeminently true of Isaac.
CEM, The Wisest Fool and Other Men of the Bible, p. 21
Isaac’s chief characteristic is a fine sensibility. He is keenly alive both to the joys and the sorrows of life.
Strahan, Hebrew Ideals, p. 194
Abraham is more interesting than Isaac, and Jacob is more interesting than Isaac, to us, but not to God.
GCM, 26 Sermons, 3:78–79
At Gerar (Genesis 26)
Abraham would have reproved Abimelech (Gen. 21:25).… Jacob would have outwitted them…. Isaac won by non-resistance, by quiet persistence, quiet patience.
GCM, 26 Sermons, 3:83
Isaiah (chapter 6)
The young prophet was a hero worshipper and King Uzziah was his hero…. The young prophet was shocked by the king’s death but he was challenged and his faith was strengthened by the vision he had in the temple. He was pointed to the truth that God is the true source of the people’s help.
Truett, The Prophet’s Mantle, pp. 171–72
He found that God in His providence includes and utilizes the dark days and hours of the experiences of life, just as He does the bright sunshine.
Truett, The Prophet’s Mantle, p. 176
He saw the people as he had never seen them before. He was a fortunate young man, according to worldly standards. He moved in the upper strata of society. He was at home in the king’s palace. He was in that group which had prestige and prominence and power. But when his beloved king died, he “saw the Lord high and lifted up.” Then his whole view of life was changed. Then he saw the people in their downtrodden state.… He saw human needs. He saw human responsibility. He saw human anguish and suffering as he had never seen them before.
Truett, The Prophet’s Mantle, p. 178
The prophet’s call in Isaiah 6 preceded what he wrote in the first five chapters of the book. Isaiah said “Woe is me!” (6:5) before he pronounced the six woes upon the sinners in the land as recorded in Isaiah 5.
WWW
Behind the empty throne, there is a throne that is never empty. Over the chaos that appalls the heart there is a God of order and government.
GCM, 2:298
The Lord is always upon a throne; even when He is nailed to the Cross, this Lord and His throne are inseparable.
Joseph Parker, The People’s Bible, 14:283
It is the throne of absolute sovereignty; of resistless, questionless supremacy over all. The Lord reigneth; Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.
R. S. Candlish, Sermons, p. 88
It is a signal instance of grace on the part of the Lord that I am allowed to be a volunteer…. His servant is not coerced or constrained, as with bit and bridle. He has the unspeakable privilege and happiness of giving himself voluntarily … to the Lord, who willingly gave Himself for him.
Candlish, Sermons, p. 98
But the most stupendous evidence of God’s grace is that when He saves me He consents to use me. And, my brethren, one of the first qualifications for being ready is to have stood in the presence of His glory, and to have found out how unworthy I am to utter His message…. Every day I am more astonished that God should use me at all.
GCM, 2:303
Men are never duly troubled and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.
John Calvin