We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were given birth to wind; we have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
All Commentaries on Isaiah 26:18 Go To Isaiah 26
Bede
AD 735
“When a woman gives birth, she is sorrowful because her hour has come.” He refers to holy church as a woman on account of her fruitfulness in good works and because she never ceases to beget spiritual children for God. He says also in another place about this, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until the whole [mass] was leavened.” A woman took some yeast when the church, by the Lord’s generosity, secured the energy of love and faith from on high. She hid this “in three measures of flour until the whole [mass] was leavened” when she performed her ministry of imparting the word of life to parts of Asia [Minor], Europe and Africa, until all the bounds of the world were on fire with love for the heavenly kingdom. The one who said sadly to those who were departing from the purity of the faith, “My little children, for whom I am again in travail, until Christ be formed in you,” was indicating that he was among this woman’s members. They testified that they were among her members who were enkindled with heavenly desires, who cried out in praise of their Maker, “It is out of fear of you, Lord, that we have conceived and been in travail and given birth to the Spirit.”
