Isaiah 12

And you will say in that day: I will confess to you, O Lord, for you were angry with me: your fury is turned away, and you have comforted me. Behold, God is my Savior; I will act confidently and will not fear, for my strength and my praise is the Lord God, and he has become my salvation. You who had formerly said in the wilderness, when you came up from the land of Egypt and the Red Sea was dried up: Let us sing to the Lord, for gloriously magnified is he (Exod 15:1), and the rest: now that the tongue of the sea of Egypt has been struck, and its river dried up and cut off and humbled, glorify the Lord and say: I will confess to you, O Lord: because I who deserved your wrath and fury have obtained mercy; for you are my Savior, that is, Jesus, and I have no confidence at all in idols, nor will I fear what is not to be feared; but you are my strength and my praise, who have become my salvation. Let the most wicked heresy hear that the Lord was made so for those who are being saved, and whose Lord he formerly was not, so that we may understand creation and making in the holy Scriptures to mean not always the bringing into being of things which were not, but sometimes the grace toward those who have deserved that God should become theirs.

384. I will confess. Here the thanksgiving for the benefit they received is set out, which indeed the prophet already saw by the prophetic spirit and promised to the people. Hence he does three things:

first, he sings a song,

second, he promises the benefit to the people: you shall draw waters (Isa 12:3),

third, he foretells that the people shall sing: and you shall say (Isa 12:4).

385. Now, they were then oppressed by three evils, namely, by divine wrath for past faults, by fear of enemies for future punishments, by sorrow of heart for present evils.

Against the first, he recalls the mercy of God. And therefore he says, I will confess to you, I myself, O Lord, from now on, that is, I will praise you, for the people do not yet see the benefit for which he gives thanks, for what follows: for, at first justly, you were angry with me, for my sins, and your wrath is turned, into mercy, and you have comforted me, as to the effect of mercy, using the past tense for the future; and this concerns the return of the people from Babylon, and most of all, the consolation wrought through Christ: as I purposed to afflict you, when your fathers had provoked me to wrath, says the Lord, and I had no mercy: so turning again I have thought in these days to do good to the house of Judah, and Jerusalem (Zech 8:14–15).

This fortitude is from God redeeming through the incarnation of the divine Word. Whence Isaiah says: "The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he has become my salvation; you shall draw waters with joy from the fountains of the Savior." These are the waters in which the soul is strengthened, purified, redeemed, sanctified, and snatched from the power of demons.

386. Against the second evil, he confesses confidence in God: behold, God is my savior, freeing the people from the slavery of Babylon, or more truly, who will save his people: for he shall save his people from their sins (Matt 1:21); fear you not, my servant Jacob, says the Lord, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save you from a country afar off (Jer 30:10).

Against the third evil, the power of divine strength: my strength, by which I subsist, and my praise, which I praise, having abandoned idols: I will love you, O Lord, my strength (Ps 17:2[18:1]).

Better is the foolishness that has eyes to see its own wounds than wisdom that does not have them. And therefore, with the gaze of his own foolishness, such a great king admits to being afflicted by miseries; so that he may find the remedy of repentance, which Judas, who possessed a field with the wages of iniquity, could not find. "I am afflicted and bowed down by miseries until the end; I go about in sorrow all day long." Until what end does he say he is bowed down? Is it the legitimate end of repentance? Or moreover, so that we may understand it mystically, until Christ, who is the end of the Law; who allowed himself to be scourged, allowed his body to be stoned to death? But those wounds emitted no smell of repentance, but rather the fragrance of all grace. Finally, death did not consume Him, as it does with other men; rather, the fountain of eternal life gushed forth, as Scripture teaches us, saying: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." Therefore, water sprang forth from His wound, so that we might drink salvation. All sinners of the earth will drink, so that they may cast off their sins. Consider each detail. Christ was afflicted with miseries in order to make blessed those who were in misery. Let no one call him who is just miserable, for he himself said: "You will make no one miserable." He was bent down so that we could be raised up; he was sad so that we could be made joyful; as it is written: "For if I cause you sorrow, who then will make me glad, unless the one who is made sad by me." Therefore, whoever is made sad by the Lord Jesus Christ, he himself makes Christ glad; and he himself is made joyful by Christ. Therefore, we also recognize that we must not be satisfied with superficiality. Let us bend until the end, that is, not only having faith in Christ, but also enduring our sufferings, and let us rejoice in our sufferings, just as Christ rejoiced in his sufferings. He took them upon himself for his servants, so let us undergo them for the Lord. This, therefore, is the end. 'I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which is the Church, of which I have become a minister.' We see what we must undertake, who have taken up the priestly ministry; that we ought to endure courageously not only the afflictions of the body for ourselves, but also for the Church of the Lord.

But perhaps you will say: How can Christ be rich in poverty? Although my intelligence may fail me, divine assistance does not fail in the reading of the Scriptures, for the Apostle says: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that being rich he became poor for your sakes; that through his poverty you might be rich." So what is this poverty that makes us rich? Let us consider it, let us focus on the sacred Sacrament itself. What can be purer and simpler than that? No one is drenched with the blood of bulls, as the sacrifices of the Gentiles are said to be; no sinner is washed with the blood of goats and rams (for no one is purified in this way; flesh is washed, not guilt diluted), but with water, as Isaiah says, with joy from the springs of the Savior; and a heavenly table is prepared before you, and what a splendid intoxicating cup it is! These are the riches of simplicity, in which is the precious poverty of Christ. Poverty is good in character; hence the Lord said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." And in the Psalms we find that the Lord will save the humble in spirit. There is also abundant poverty in humble fellowship, if faith abounds. Hence the Apostle says: "And their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their simplicity."

Between this rich man and the poor man there is a great chasm; because after death, merits cannot be changed, and therefore the rich man is led into hell, desiring to draw something of the poor man's refreshing spirit; for water is the nourishment of the soul in its afflictions, of which Isaiah says: "And water will be drunk with delight from the fountains of salvation." But why is he tormented before judgment? Because punishment is to be deprived of luxuries for the one indulging in them. For the Lord says: "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of heaven." And yet this late rich master begins to be; since he no longer has time for learning or teaching.

This fortitude is from God redeeming through the incarnation of the divine Word. Whence Isaiah says: "The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he has become my salvation; you shall draw waters with joy from the fountains of the Savior." These are the waters in which the soul is strengthened, purified, redeemed, sanctified, and snatched from the power of demons.

And so, two kinds of water are distinguished. For one knowledge is described as being external, and the more one drinks of it, the more he thirsts; the other, as being internal, of which it is said: "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture says, 'From within Him there shall flow rivers of living water.'" He said this, however, of the Spirit whom they who believed in Him were to receive. And these are the waters from the fountain of salvation, that is, awareness of those graces that sustain souls.

We say that God is … a fountain because he fills the thirsty and empty.

But after discussing this sermon of the venerable Bishop Paul, Saint Cyril addressed the people and said, "The blessed prophet Isaiah, preaching tenderly about future teachers in Christ, said, 'Draw water from the fountains of salvation with joy.' " Behold, therefore, we drew water from the holy font. But I say that our prophesying teacher, having been enlightened through feasts of the Holy Spirit, was drawing our attention to the great and sacred mystery of the Savior, through which we who believe in him were saved.

And who is this strong man, except him of whom the Lord says in the Gospel; No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, unless he first bind the strong man. The Lord, therefore, clave the fountains and the torrents, when He spread in the hearts of His Apostles the streams of truth. Of whom it is said again by another Prophet; With joy shall ye draw water from the fountains of the Saviour. For we go in our thirst to their teaching, that we may bring back the pitcher of our hearts full of truth. But He dried the rivers of Ethan by the springing forth of His own fountains, when He withered the doctrine of the mighty and malignant spirit by displaying the ray of His own truth.

You will draw waters in joy from the fountains of the Savior. He whom above he had called Emmanuel, then, Strip the spoils, make haste to plunder, and by the other names, now, lest he seem to be another besides him whom Gabriel announced to the Virgin, saying: And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people (Matt 1:21), he calls Savior, and proclaims that waters are to be drawn from his fountains, in no way from the waters of the river of Egypt, which have been struck, nor from the waters of the river of Rezin, but from the fountains of Jesus, for so Savior is expressed in the tongue of the Hebrews. Hence he himself also cried out in the Gospel: He who thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture says: Rivers of living water shall flow from his belly. This, says the Evangelist, he said of the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. And in another place of the Gospel he himself says: He who drinks of the water that I shall give him will not thirst for ever: but the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life (John 7:37-39; 4:13-14). By the fountains of the Savior let us understand the teaching of the Gospel, of which we read in Psalm 67 (68): In the churches bless God the Lord from the fountains of Israel (Ps 67 [68]:27).

387. You shall draw. Here he promises the benefit: waters, of comfort, cooling them against the heat of tribulation.

391. It is to be noted on the words, you shall draw waters (Isa 12:3), that there is

first, the water of doctrine, below: all you that thirst, come to the waters (Isa 55:1);

second, of grace: he that believes in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:38);

third, of baptismal purity: unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5).

392. Likewise, note that water is drawn from the fountain,

first, of divine wisdom: the word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom (Sir 1:5);

second, of eternal life: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water (Jer 2:13);

third, from the body of Christ: in that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David (Zech 13:1).

And you will say in that day: Confess to the Lord and call upon his name: make known among the peoples his devices: remember that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done magnificently: proclaim this in all the earth. These things are commanded by the Apostles and the remnant of Israel to those of the nations who have believed: that they confess to the Lord alone, and, forsaking idols, call upon his name, and proclaim all his works to unbelievers; that they may know that he alone is exalted: to whom they must sing that he has done magnificently, and that his mercy may be proclaimed in all the world.

388. And you shall say. Here he foretells that the people shall also sing, after the benefit has been received, and it contains the mutual exhortation of the people to divine praise. Exhortation to three things is set out:

to the confession of divine praise,

to thanksgiving: sing to the Lord (Isa 12:5),

to shared rejoicing: rejoice (Isa 12:6).

Concerning the first, four things are set out:

for we either confess the Lord through faith: confess the Lord: with the heart, we believe unto justice: but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10);

or we call upon him through prayer: and call upon, below: seek the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he is near (Isa 55:6);

or he is announced through preaching: make his works known, for he works many things to save them: hear the word of the Lord, O you nations, and declare it in the islands that are afar off (Jer 31:10);

or he is remembered through continual meditation, remember: remember his marvelous works (Ps 104[105]:5).

393. Note on the words, his works (Isa 12:4), that Christ found out

first, a brief word of salvation: he found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved (Bar 3:37);

second, a new mode of salvation: I have found wherein I may be merciful to him (Job 33:24);

third, a people to be saved: rejoice with me, because I have found the groat which I had lost (Luke 15:9).

389. Sing to the Lord. Here he exhorts them to thanksgiving;

and first, that they give thanks to God: sing to the Lord, for he has done great things, in freeing us: sing to the Lord a new canticle: because he has done wonderful things (Ps 97[98]:1);

second, that it be announced to the world: show this forth in all the earth: bless the God of heaven, give glory to him in the sight of all that live (Tob 12:6).

Exult and praise, O dwelling of Zion: for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. First it must be said according to the letter: O dwelling of Zion, exult and praise your God, because he who was formerly seen as your God, and was shut within the narrow bounds of the land of Judea, has now filled all the earth with his knowledge, and, rising from death, reigns among the nations, and the nations beseech and adore him; only so, however, that he sets his hand a second time to possess what is left of his people, and to gather the fugitives of Israel, and to collect the dispersed of Judah from the four quarters of the earth: because the seed-bed of the Gospel went forth from the fountains of Israel through the Apostles, who were of the Jews. But it is better that we interpret Zion, that is, a watchtower set on the heights, as the Church, of which Psalm 50 (51) too sings: Deal kindly, O Lord, in your good will with Zion, and let the walls of Jerusalem be built (Ps 50 [51]:20); so that in her the sacrifice of righteousness may become acceptable to God, oblations and holocausts, and the calf which the most merciful father sacrificed for his penitent son (Luke 15).

390. Rejoice. Here the exhortation to exultation is set out;

and first, that there be joy in their hearts: rejoice;

second, that there be songs of joy in their mouths, praise;

third, the reason for both is set out, for great is he, below: it shall rejoice with joy and praise (Isa 35:2).

394. Note on the words, in the midst of you, the Holy One of Israel (Isa 12:6), that Christ is in our midst:

first, as a light to illuminate: he shone in his days as the morning star in the midst of a cloud (Sir 50:6);

second, as a mediator to reconcile: Jesus stood in the midst of the disciples and said to them: peace be to you (Luke 24:36);

third, as a servant to distribute: but I am in the midst of you, as he that serves (Luke 22:27).