This, too, was fulfilled, was clearly fulfilled, by our Savior’s miraculous works after John’s preaching. Notice therefore how he bears good tidings to the desert, not generally or to any desert but to one particular desert by the bank of the Jordan. This was because John lived there and baptized there, as Scripture says, John was in the desert baptizing.^[1] . . . I think the desert here is a symbol of that which of old was void of all God’s good things, I mean the church of the Gentiles. And the river by the desert that cleanses all that are bathed therein is a figure of some cleansing spiritual power, of which the Scriptures speak, saying, The movements of the river make glad the city of God.^[2] And this means the ever-flowing stream of the Holy Spirit welling from above and watering the city of God, which is the name for life according to God. This river of God, then, has reached even to the desert, that is the Gentile church, and even now supplies it with the living water that it bears.

Here also the coming of God for salvation, bringing many blessings, is precisely foretold. The prophet says that there will be a cure for the deaf, sight for the blind, yes, even healing for the lame and tongue-tied, and this was fulfilled only at the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, by whom the eyes of the blind were opened, and the deaf regained their hearing.^[1] Why need I say, how many palsied and deaf and lame also received physical cure by the hands of his disciples? And how many others, afflicted with various diseases and maladies, received of him healing and salvation, according to the inspired prediction of prophecy and according to the unimpeachable testimony of the holy Gospels? And the prophecy here disguises under the name of desert the church of the Gentiles,^[2] which for long years deserted of God is being evangelized by those of whom we are speaking, and it says that besides other blessings the glory of Lebanon will be given to the desert. Now it is customary to call Jerusalem Lebanon allegorically, as I will show, when I have time, by proofs from holy Scripture. This prophecy before us, therefore, teaches that by God’s presence with men the glory of Lebanon will be given to that which is called desert, that is to say, the church of the Gentiles.

And where shall we place that oracle of Isaiah, which cries to the wilderness, Be glad, O thirsty wilderness. Let the desert rejoice and blossom as a lily, and the desolate places of Jordan shall blossom and shall rejoice? For it is clear that it is not to places without soul or sense that he proclaims the good tidings of joy, but he speaks, by the figure of the desert, of the soul that is parched and unadorned.

And the excellence of Carmel is given to the soul that bears the likeness to the desert, that is, the grace bestowed through the Spirit. For since Elijah dwelt in Carmel, and the mountain became famous and renowned by the virtue of him who dwelt there, and since moreover John the Baptist, illustrious in the spirit of Elijah, sanctified the Jordan, therefore the prophet foretold that the excellence of Carmel should be given to the river.

And the glory of Lebanon, from the similitude of its lofty trees, he transfers to the river. For as great Lebanon presents a sufficient cause of wonder in the very trees that it brings forth and nourishes, so is the Jordan glorified by regenerating people and planting them in the paradise of God. And of them, as the words of the psalmist say, ever blooming and bearing the foliage of virtues, the leaf shall not wither,^[1] and God shall be glad, receiving their fruit in due season, rejoicing, like a good planter, in his own works.

Moreover, it is said in this prophecy that the glory of Lebanon and the honor of Carmel shall be given to this wilderness. What is the glory of Lebanon but the worship performed through the sacrifices of the Mosaic law, which God refused in the prophecy which says, Why do you bring me Lebanon from Sheba? And of what service to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?^[1] He has transferred the glory of Jerusalem to the desert of Jordan, since, from the times of John, the ritual of holiness began to be performed not at Jerusalem but in the desert. In like manner, too, the honor of the law and of its more external ordinances was transferred to the wilderness of Jordan for the same reason, namely, that they who need the healing of their souls no longer hastened to Jerusalem but to that which was called the wilderness, because there the forgiveness of sins was preached.

After John was killed, the Lord saw the time drawing near and withdrew to a deserted place called Bethsaida.^[1] This teaches mystically that a deserted Judah, which had beheaded its prophets by not believing them, would later become fruitful in the desert of a church that possessed no man of the Word. Hence, the beautiful Bethsaida means house of fruitfulness. For it was about it that Isaiah said, The desert and the dry land will rejoice, and the wilderness will exult and bloom like the lily, and again, they will see the glory of the Lord and the beauty of our God.

Observe how he names him Lord and calls him God, seeing that he speaks in the Spirit; note that he knew the Emmanuel^[1] would not be simply a man bearing God nor, of a truth, as one assumed as an agent. But he knew that he was truly God and incarnate. . . . For our Lord Jesus Christ showed himself to us having divine strength, and his arm with authority, that is, with power and dominion.

I believe the passage, And my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of God, refers to the presence of our Savior at the baptism, because it was there that the glory of the Savior was seen.

Because a multitude of Gentiles followed it after Judah came to faith in the Lord’s incarnation and an astonished partaker of the same grace hastened its own unexpected conversion, Judah exclaimed in surprise, Who is this that ascends from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon my beloved?^[1] The church of the Gentiles ascends from the desert because the one who was deserted by its Creator for a very long time now arrives at his grace by the incremental steps of faith and good works, thus fulfilling what the prophet Isaiah said: The desert and the dry land will rejoice, and the wilderness will exult and bloom like the lily. Indeed, she is truly flowing with those delights about which the spouse spoke above: How beautiful you are, and how lovely, my dear, with delights,^[2] that is, with the delights of heavenly life. Leaning upon my beloved means leaning upon him without whose assistance she would be able neither to ascend above nor to rise again, for we are unable to possess either advancement in the virtues or the beginning of faith itself unless the Lord bestows them upon us.

Therefore, Judah was even more awestruck by this grace of the Gentiles’ new conversion, a grace that it believed pertained only to itself and to those who were received in its rite through the mystery of circumcision, as the Acts of the Apostles made abundantly clear.

The sick of the palsy is healed,^[1] and that in public, in the sight of the people. For, says Isaiah, they shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellence of our God. What glory, and what excellence? Be strong, you weak hands and feeble knees refers to the palsy. Be strong; fear not. Be strong is not vainly repeated, nor is fear not vainly added; because with the renewal of the limbs there was to be, according to the promise, a restoration also of bodily energies: Arise, and take up your couch;^[2] and likewise moral courage not to be afraid of those who should say, Who can forgive sins, but God alone?^[3]

Therefore the traders came from Gilead,^[1] that is, from their possessions of or dwelling in the law, and brought their wares to the church, so that that balm might heal the sins of the nations. Of them it is said, Be strong, you hands that are feeble and you knees that are without strength. The balm is unspoiled faith. Such a faith Peter exhibited when he said to the lame man, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk.^[2] And he arose and walked, as was right. Such a faith Peter had when he said to the paralytic, Aeneas, the Lord Jesus heals you; get up and make your bed.^[3] And he got up and made his bed. Such a faith he had when he said to the dead woman, Arise in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.^[4] And the departed woman arose. With the mortar made from this cement those stones are fastened together from which God is able to raise up children to Abraham.^[5]

The grace of this time in which John was exhorting sinners to repentance and baptizing those who confessed their sins in the desert, Isaiah previously witnessed when he said, The desert will rejoice and blossom like the lily. The desert of the Jordan will bloom and exult. Strengthen the hands of the abandoned and bolster their weak knees. You who are lowly of soul, be encouraged and do not fear.

Then let us flee the wickedness of this world, in which the very days are evil,^[1] and flee it relentlessly. On that account Isaiah cries out, Be strong, you hands which are feeble and you knees which are without strength. This means: Be strong, you knees, not of the body but of the soul, so that the footstep of the spirit can rise up straightway to the heights of heaven. Thus conduct will be more stable, life more mature, grace more abundant and discretion more guarded.

Now we have this prophecy fulfilled in the Gospels, partly, when they brought to our Lord and Savior a paralytic lying on a bed, who he made whole with a word;^[1] and partly, when many that were blind and possessed with demons, yes, laboring under various diseases and weaknesses, were released from their sufferings by his saving power. Nor should we forget how even now throughout the whole world multitudes bound by all forms of evil, full of ignorance of Almighty God in their souls, are healed and cured miraculously and beyond all argument by the medicine of his teaching. Except that now we call him God as we should, as one who can work thus, as I have already shown in the evidence of his divinity. Yes, surely it is right now to acknowledge him to be God, since he has given proof of power divine and truly inspired.

For it was specifically God’s work to give strength to the paralyzed, to give life to the dead, to supply health to the sick, to open the eyes of the blind, to restore the lame and to make the tongue-tied speak plainly, all of which things were done by our Savior Jesus Christ, because he was God. And they have been witnessed to by many throughout all the world that preach him—whose evidence unvarnished and truthful is confirmed by trial of torture, and by persistence even to death, which they have shown forth before kings and rulers and all nations, witnessing to the truth of what they preach.

This is the divine arrangement, as far as any human being can investigate it, better minds in a better way, lesser minds less effectively; this divine arrangement is giving us hints of a great and significant mystery. Christ, you see, was going to come in the flesh, not anyone at all, not an angel, not an ambassador; but he himself will come and save you. It wasn’t anyone who was going to come; and yet how was he going to come? He was going to be born in mortal flesh, to be a tiny infant, to be laid in a manger, wrapped in cradle clothes, nourished on milk; going to grow up, and finally even to be done to death. So in all these indications of humility there is indeed a pattern of an extreme humility.

This is the will of my Father, he said, that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life.^[1] But notice that he who was sent also came by his own will, as the prophet Isaiah said: Be encouraged, you who are lowly of soul, and do not fear. Behold, our God will bring judgment. God himself will come and save us.

Christ said, I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, and Whoever sees me, sees the Father.^[1] The inclusion of just one syllable, and, distinguishes the Father from the Son. It also demonstrates that you possess neither the Father nor the Son.^[2] Tell me, Arian, do you refer to the Father as God? And how! But what about the Son? Him too I profess to be God. You will do well to acknowledge this also, for when his coming in the flesh was announced beforehand, the prophet said about him, Be encouraged, you who are lowly of soul, and do not fear. Behold, your God will bring the vengeance of retribution. God himself will come and save us.

The actions of Christ must be seen alongside the rule of the Scriptures.^[1] Unless I am mistaken, we see that Christ’s work consisted of two actions: preaching and power. Let us look at each of these in the order we have just listed them. First, Christ was announced as a preacher. Isaiah said, Cry out loud, and do not hold back. Lift up your voice as a trumpet, and declare to my people their crimes and to the house of Jacob their sins. Then seek me day by day and desire to learn my ways, as a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the judgment of God, and so forth.^[2] Second, it was announced that Christ would do acts of power from the Father. Isaiah said, Behold, our God will come with judgment; he will come and save us. Then the sick will be healed, the eyes of the blind will see, the ears of the deaf will hear, the mute will speak, and the lame will leap as a deer.

Isaiah also alludes to him: There shall go forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall grow up from his root.^[1] The same also when he says, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.^[2] He refers to him when he enumerates the healings that were to proceed from him, saying, Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall be eloquent. Him also, when he sets forth the virtue of patience, saying, His voice shall not be heard in the streets; a bruised reed shall he not destroy, and the smoking flax shall he not quench.^[3]

And Isaiah went on to tell of other marvels and showed how Christ cured the lame, how he made the blind to see, and the mute to speak: Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, then will the ears of the deaf hear. And thereafter he spoke of the other marvels: Then will the lame man leap like a stag, and the tongue of those with impediments of speech will be clear and distinct. And this did not happen until his coming.

Although these blind men^[1] had no bodily eyes, they had the vision of faith and heart with which they were able to see the true and eternal Light, the Son of God, about whom it is written: He was the true light which illumines everyone, coming into the world.^[2] It was he who had predicted through the prophet Isaiah that he would come to give sight to the blind: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me. He has sent me to evangelize the poor and to restore sight to the blind.^[3] Again Isaiah testified about the same one elsewhere: Behold, our God will restore justice; he will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will hear. David also bore witness to him, saying through the Holy Spirit: The Lord raises up the downcast, the Lord frees the imprisoned, the Lord gives sight to the blind.^[4]

God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself,^[1] and the Creator himself was wearing the creature which was to be restored to the image of its Creator. And after the divinely miraculous works had been performed, the performance of which the spirit of prophecy had once predicted, then shall the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf shall hear; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall speak plainly.

But that these five thousand men are signs of divine power,^[1] the Lord himself predicted through the prophet, saying, Behold, I and the children whom God has given me will be signs in the house of Israel from the Lord of hosts on Mount Zion.^[2] The same prophet later revealed the nature of these future signs when he said, Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear, and the lame will leap like deer. We can recognize the fulfillment of this prophecy in the lame man who had been unable to walk since birth.^[3]

If we look closely, we can also recognize the sacraments prefigured mystically in him, for the lame man received healing while looking toward Peter and John when he was at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. We too were lame prior to coming to the knowledge of Christ, in the sense that we were limping along the way of righteousness. Our halting strides were not those of the body, however, but those of the interior life. Whoever has gone astray from the way of righteousness or from the way of truth is altogether lame, even if his feet and legs are healthy, since he limps with his mind and soul. For the journey of faith and truth is traveled not with bodily steps but with strides of the interior life.

Now what can they [i.e., those who deny the incarnation] say to this, or how can they dare to face this at all?^[1] For the prophecy not only indicated that God is to sojourn here but also announces the signs and the time of his coming. For they connect the blind recovering their sight, and the lame walking, and the deaf hearing, and the tongue of the one who stammers being made plain, with the divine coming which is to take place. Let them say, then, when such signs have come to pass in Israel, or where in Judah anything of the sort has occurred. Naaman, a leper, was cleansed,^[2] but no deaf man heard nor lame walked. Elijah raised a dead man;^[3] so did Elisha;^[4] but none blind from birth regained his sight. For in good truth, to raise a dead man is a great thing, but it is not like the wonder wrought by the Savior. Only, if Scripture has not passed over the case of the leper and of the dead son of the widow, certainly had it come to pass that a lame man also had walked and a blind man recovered his sight, the narrative would not have omitted to mention this also.^[5] Since, then, nothing is said in the [Old Testament] Scriptures, it is evident that these things had never taken place before. When, then, have they taken place, save when the Word of God himself came in the body? Or when did he come, if not when lame men walked,^[6] and those who stammer were made to speak plainly,^[7] and deaf men heard,^[8] and men blind from birth regained their sight?^[9]

Let me dispel at once the . . . assertion that the prophets make all their announcements in figures of speech. Now, if this were the case, the figures themselves could not possibly have been distinguished, inasmuch as the verities would not have been declared, out of which the figurative language is stretched. And, indeed, if all are figures, where will be that of which they are the figures? How can you hold up a mirror for your face, if the face nowhere exists? But, in truth, all are not figures, but there are also literal statements; nor are all shadows, but there are bodies too. We have prophecies about the Lord himself even, which are clearer than the day. For it was not figuratively that the Virgin conceived in her womb. . . . Not even of his mighty works have [the prophets] used parabolic language. Or else, were not the eyes of the blind opened? Did not the tongue of the mute recover speech? Did not the relaxed hands and palsied knees become strong, and the lame leap like a deer? No doubt we are accustomed also to give a spiritual significance to these statements of prophecy, according to the analogy of the physical diseases that were healed by the Lord. But still they were all fulfilled literally, thus showing that the prophets foretold both senses, except that very many of their words can be taken only in a pure and simple signification and free from all allegorical obscurity.

How it was prophesied that our Christ would heal all diseases and raise the dead, hear what was spoken, as follows: At his coming the lame will leap like a deer, and the stammering tongue will be clear; the blind will see and lepers be cleansed, and the dead will arise and walk. That he did these things you can learn from the Acts of Pontius Pilate.^[1]

Isaiah bears witness to him when he sets before us the works of healing that were to be done by him.

That [Jesus] healed the lame and the blind, and that therefore we hold him to be the Christ and the Son of God, is manifest to us from what is contained in the prophecies: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened.

You can easily perceive how the Scriptures foretold that they who were destitute of the knowledge of God (I allude to the Gentiles who had eyes and saw not, hearts and understood not, but worshiped material idols) should abandon their idols and place their hope in Christ. . . .

The fountain of living water that gushed forth from God upon a land devoid of the knowledge of God (that is, the land of the Gentiles) was our Christ, who made his appearance on earth in the midst of your people and healed those who from birth were blind and deaf and lame. He cured them by his word, causing them to walk, to hear and to see. By restoring the dead to life, he compelled the people of that day to recognize him.

The Lord makes a promise about holy church through another prophet, saying, The reed and the rushes will become green and luscious. I remember explaining elsewhere that reeds must be interpreted as scribes and rushes surely as hearers. But because both rushes and reeds are apt to grow beside the moisture of water and both benefit from the same water, and a reed is indeed used for writing while it is impossible to write with a bulrush, what must we understand by the bulrush and the reed except that there is one doctrine of truth which nourishes many hearers?

What about hope? Will that be there [i.e., in heaven]? Hope will not continue when the thing hoped for is there. Certainly hope is very necessary for us in our exile. It is what consoles us on the journey. When the traveler, after all, finds it wearisome walking along, he puts up with the fatigue precisely because he hopes to arrive. Rob him of any hope of arriving, and immediately his strength for walking is broken. So the hope also which we have here is part and parcel of the justice of our exile and our journey. Listen to the apostle himself. Awaiting the adoption,^[1] he says, we cannot yet say there is the bliss of which Scripture says, ‘Toil and groaning have passed away.’

I ask you to consider the condition of the other life, so far as it is possible to consider it; for no words will suffice for an adequate description. But from the things which are told us, as if by means of certain riddles, let us try and get some indistinct vision of it. Pain and sorrow and sighing, we read, have fled away. What then could be more blessed than this life? It is not possible there to fear poverty and disease. It is not possible to see any one injuring or being injured, provoking or being provoked, or angry, or envious, or burning with any outrageous lust, or anxious concerning the supply of the necessities of life, or bemoaning himself over the loss of some dignity and power. For all the tempest of passion in us is quelled and brought to nothing, and all will be in a condition of peace and gladness and joy, all things serene and tranquil, all will be daylight and brightness, and light, not this present light but one excelling this in splendor as much as daylight is brighter than a lamp. For things are not concealed in that world by night or by a gathering of clouds. Bodies there are not set on fire and burned. For there is neither night nor evening there, nor cold nor heat, nor any other variation of seasons. But the condition is of a different kind, such as only they will know who have been deemed worthy of it. There is no old age there, nor any of the evils of old age, but all things relating to decay are utterly removed, and incorruptible glory reigns in every part. But greater than all these things is the perpetual enjoyment of relationship with Christ in the company of angels and archangels and the higher powers.

The world is indeed harassed by the evil lives and statements of many people. This attack upon the good and the bad is just like when mud and an ointment are blown on the same wind; the one exhales a foul odor, while the other has a sweet fragrance. In order that everyone may understand this, I will reveal it more explicitly to you, my friend. Good and bad people are two urns, one of which contains rottenness, the other precious spices. When they are blown by the same fan, the urn that has spices gives forth a desirable fragrance, while the one that is a sewer returns an unbearable stench. Similarly, both good and bad people are troubled but are distinguished by the penetrating judgment of God. Whenever tribulation comes to the world, the good like a holy vessel thank God who has deigned to chastise them; those who are proud, dissolute or avaricious on the contrary blaspheme and murmur against God, saying, O God, what great evil have we done that we should suffer such calamities? Therefore, even if the good die in the midst of adversities, they will end a life full of labors and miseries but will receive eternal life from which sorrow and mourning shall flee away. Unfaithful souls refuse to believe this, and while fettered with love for this life, they cannot keep it but lose it by their infidelity.

You are about to journey a long road, and you need many supplies. You shall arrive at the place eternal that has two regions, wherein are many mansions; one of which places God has prepared for them that love him and keep his commandments, full of all manner of good things. And they that attain to it shall live for ever in incorruption, enjoying immortality without death, where pain and sorrow and sighing are fled away. But the other place is full of darkness and tribulation and pain, prepared for the devil and his angels. In it also they shall be cast who by evil deeds have deserved it, who have bartered the incorruptible and eternal for the present world and have made themselves fuel for eternal fire.

Everlasting joy, says Isaiah, shall be upon their heads. Well, there is nothing eternal until after the resurrection. And sorrow and sighing, he continues, shall flee away. The angel echoes the same to John: And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,^[1] from the same eyes indeed which had formerly wept and which might weep again if the loving kindness of God did not dry up every fountain of tears. And again: God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, and therefore no more corruption, it being chased away by incorruption, even as death is by immortality.

And in fact, if we look with the elevated gaze of our mind at the condition wherein the heavenly and supernal virtues that are truly in the kingdom of God make their home, what else should it be thought to be than perpetual and continual joy? For what belongs so much to true blessedness and so befits it as continual tranquility and everlasting joy? . . . They shall receive joy and gladness; sorrow and groaning shall flee away.

[God] is the same one who said to Jeremiah, Behold, I place my words in your mouth as a fire.^[1] David, therefore, also received this tongue of fire, so that he could speak of divine knowledge while enkindled with zeal: Make known to me my end, O Lord.^[2] He was not here asking about his own death or about the final resurrection. He was inquiring into that end of which the apostle spoke: For the end will come when the Lord Jesus hands over the kingdom to God the Father and when he destroys every principality and power and when death is the last of all things to be destroyed,^[3] such that evil is defeated and eternal goodness is ignited. Therefore it was said, Pain and wailing will flee.

For by these tokens the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil are distinguished: and in truth if lifting up our mental gaze on high we would consider that state in which the heavenly powers live on high, who are truly in the kingdom of God, what should we imagine it to be except perpetual and lasting joy? For what is so specially peculiar and appropriate to true blessedness as constant calm and eternal joy? And that you may be quite sure that this, which we say, is really so, not on my own authority but on that of the Lord, hear how very clearly he describes the character and condition of that world. Behold, he says, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered nor come into mind. But you shall be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create.^[1] And again joy and gladness shall be found therein: thanksgiving and the voice of praise, and there shall be month after month, and sabbath after sabbath.^[2] And again: They shall obtain joy and gladness; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. And if you want to know more definitely about that life and the city of the saints, hear what the voice of the Lord proclaims to the heavenly Jerusalem: I will make, he says, your officers peace and your overseers righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in your land, desolation nor destruction within your borders. And salvation shall take possession of your walls, and praise of your gates.^[3]

When death is swallowed up in victory,^[1] therefore, there will be no corruption of body or soul, for when all iniquity has been removed from us, no infirmity will remain. Indeed, it is about such matters that Isaiah said, They will obtain joy and gladness; and pain and moaning will flee from them.

The one who endures to the end will be saved.^[1] By still referring to this the text goes on reading: On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore.^[2] In the twelve months he suggests the idea of all times and designates eternity. Therefore where there is eternal greenness, no aridity will ever be allowed to exist. Where there is perfect and sound health, no infirmity is ever admitted, and also the prophet promises this by saying, They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. The tree is the one that we read to be planted by streams of water, about which also Jeremiah says that it sends out its roots by the stream,^[3] that is, places its hope and confidence in the Lord. In another sense the river of the water of life is recognized to signify rightly the fountain itself of life, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, about whom we read, For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.^[4]