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Isaiah Chapter
Two
Isaiah 2
Chapter Contents
The conversion of the Gentiles
Description of the
sinfulness of Israel. (1-9) The awful punishment of unbelievers. (10-22)
Commentary on Isaiah 2:1-9
(Read Isaiah 2:1-9)
The calling of the Gentiles
the spread of the gospel
and that far more extensive preaching of it yet to come
are foretold. Let
Christians strengthen one another
and support one another. It is God who
teaches his people
by his word and Spirit. Christ promotes peace
as well as
holiness. If all men were real Christians
there could be no war; but nothing
answering to these expressions has yet taken place on the earth. Whatever
others do
let us walk in the light of this peace. Let us remember that when
true religion flourishes
men delight in going up to the house of the Lord
and
in urging others to accompany them. Those are in danger who please themselves
with strangers to God; for we soon learn to follow the ways of persons whose
company we keep. It is not having silver and gold
horses and chariots
that
displeases God
but depending upon them
as if we could not be safe
and easy
and happy without them
and could not but be so with them. Sin is a disgrace to
the poorest and the lowest. And though lands called Christian are not full of
idols
in the literal sense
are they not full of idolized riches? and are not
men so busy about their gains and indulgences
that the Lord
his truths
and
precepts
are forgotten or despised?
Commentary on Isaiah 2:10-22
(Read Isaiah 2:10-22)
The taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans seems first
meant here
when idolatry among the Jews was done away; but our thoughts are
led forward to the destruction of all the enemies of Christ. It is folly for
those who are pursued by the wrath of God
to think to hide or shelter
themselves from it. The shaking of the earth will be terrible to those who set
their affections on things of the earth. Men's haughtiness will be brought
down
either by the grace of God convincing them of the evil of pride
or by
the providence of God depriving them of all the things they were proud of. The
day of the Lord shall be upon those things in which they put their confidence.
Those who will not be reasoned out of their sins
sooner or later shall be
frightened out of them. Covetous men make money their god; but the time will
come when they will feel it as much their burden. This whole passage may be
applied to the case of an awakened sinner
ready to leave all that his soul may
be saved. The Jews were prone to rely on their heathen neighbours; but they are
here called upon to cease from depending on mortal man. We are all prone to the
same sin. Then let not man be your fear
let not him be your hope; but let your
hope be in the Lord your God. Let us make this our great concern.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Isaiah》
Isaiah 2
Verse 1
[1] The
word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
The word —
Or
the matter or thing
as this Hebrew word commonly signifies; the prophecy
or vision.
Verse 2
[2] And it shall come to pass in the last days
that the mountain of the
LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains
and shall be
exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
In the last days — In
the times of the Messiah. For Christ's institutions were to continue to the end
of the world.
The mountain —
The temple of the Lord which is upon mount Moriah; which yet is not to be
understood literally of that material temple
but mystically of the church of
God; as appears from the flowing of all nations to it
which was not to that
temple
nor indeed was fulfilled 'till that temple was destroyed.
Exalted —
Shall be placed and settled in a most conspicuous and glorious manner
being
advanced above all other churches and kingdoms.
Verse 3
[3] And
many people shall go and say
Come ye
and let us go up to the mountain of the
LORD
to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways
and
we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law
and the word
of the LORD from Jerusalem.
The law —
The new law
the doctrine of the gospel
which is frequently called a law
because it hath the nature and power of a law
obliging us no less to the
belief and practice of it
than the old law did.
Verse 4
[4] And
he shall judge among the nations
and shall rebuke many people: and they shall
beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruninghooks: nation
shall not lift up sword against nation
neither shall they learn war any more.
He — Christ shall set up
his authority among all nations
not only giving laws to them
but doing what
no other can do
convincing their consciences
changing their hearts
and
ordering their lives.
Rebuke — By
his word and Spirit
convincing the world of sin; and by his judgments upon his
implacable enemies
which obstruct the propagation of the gospel.
Verse 5
[5] O house of Jacob
come ye
and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
The light —
Take heed that you do not reject that light which is so clear that even the
blind Gentiles will discern it.
Verse 6
[6]
Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob
because they be
replenished from the east
and are soothsayers like the Philistines
and they
please themselves in the children of strangers.
Therefore —
For the following reasons.
Thou —
Wilt certainly forsake and reject.
Thy people —
The body of that nation.
Because —
Their land is full of the idolatrous manners of the eastern nations
the
Syrians and Chaldeans.
Philistines —
Who were infamous for those practices.
They please —
They delight in their company
and conversation
making leagues
and
friendships
and marriages with them.
Verse 7
[7]
Their land also is full of silver and gold
neither is there any end of their
treasures; their land is also full of horses
neither is there any end of their
chariots:
Treasures —
They have heaped up riches
and still are greedily pursuing after more.
Verse 9
[9] And
the mean man boweth down
and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive
them not.
The great man —
Men of all ranks fall down and worship idols.
Verse 10
[10]
Enter into the rock
and hide thee in the dust
for fear of the LORD
and for
the glory of his majesty.
Enter —
Such calamities are coming upon you
that you will be ready to hide yourselves
in rocks and caves of the earth
for fear of the glorious and terrible
judgments of God.
Verse 12
[12] For
the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty
and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
The day —
The time of God's taking vengeance upon sinners.
Verse 13
[13] And
upon all the cedars of Lebanon
that are high and lifted up
and upon all the
oaks of Bashan
The cedars —
The cedars and oaks on the mountains shall be either thrown down by furious
winds or earthquakes
or torn in pieces by thunder and lightning; and the
stately houses built with cedars and oaks
shall be destroyed.
Verse 14
[14] And
upon all the high mountains
and upon all the hills that are lifted up
Hills — To
which men used to betake themselves in times of danger.
Verse 15
[15] And
upon every high tower
and upon every fenced wall
Wall — To
which you trusted for your defence.
Verse 16
[16] And
upon all the ships of Tarshish
and upon all pleasant pictures.
Tarshish —
The ships of the sea
as that word is used
Psalms 48:7
whereby you fetched riches from the
remote parts of the world.
Verse 19
[19] And
they shall go into the holes of the rocks
and into the caves of the earth
for
fear of the LORD
and for the glory of his majesty
when he ariseth to shake
terribly the earth.
They —
The idolatrous Israelites.
Verse 20
[20] In
that day a man shall cast his idols of silver
and his idols of gold
which
they made each one for himself to worship
to the moles and to the bats;
Shall cast —
Into the meanest and darkest places
in which moles and bats have their abode.
Verse 22
[22]
Cease ye from man
whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be
accounted of?
Cease ye —
Never admire or place your trust in man.
Breath —
Whose breath is quickly stopped and taken away.
Wherein —
What excellency is in him
considered in himself
and without dependence on
God?
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Isaiah》
02 Chapter 2
Verses 1-22
Verse 1
The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem
Heading to a small collection
(chaps.
2-4)
the contents of which are--
Isaiah 2:1-4) All nations shall yet
acknowledge the God of Israel. Isaiah 2:5-22; Isaiah 3:1-26; Isaiah 4:1) Through great judgments shall
both Israel and thenations be brought to the knowledge of Jehovah Isaiah 4:2-6) When these judgments are
overpast
all Zion’s citizens shall be holy. (A. B. Davidson
LL. D.)
A general view of the chapter
The Isaiah 2:2-4
it should be premised
recur with slight variations in the fourth chapter of Micah
and are supposed
by many to have been borrowed by both writers from some older source. The
prophet appears before an assembly of the people
perhaps on a Sabbath
and
recites this passage
depicting in beautiful and effective imagery the
spiritual preeminence to be accorded in the future to the religion of Zion He
would dwell upon the subject further; but scarcely has he begun to speak when
the disheartening spectacle meets his eye of a crowd of soothsayers
of gold
and silver ornaments and finery
of horses and idols; his tone immediately
changes
and he bursts into a diatribe against the foreign and idolatrous
fashions
the devotion to wealth and glitter
which he sees about him
and
which extorts from him in the end the terrible wish
“Therefore forgive them
not” (verses 5-9). And then
in one of his stateliest periods
Isaiah declares
the judgment about to fall upon all that is “tall and lofty
” upon Uzziah’s
towers and fortified walls
upon the great merchant ships at Elath
upon every
object of human satisfaction and pride
when wealth and rank will be impotent
to save
when idols will be cast despairingly aside
and when all classes alike
will be glad to find a hiding place
as in the old days of Midianite invasion
or Philistine oppression ( 6:2; 1 Samuel 13:6)
in the clefts and
caves of the rocks. (Prof. S. R. Driver
D. D.)
Isaiah’s citizenship in Jerusalem
Isaiah’s citizenship in Jerusalem colours all his prophecy. More
than Athens to Demosthenes
Rome to Juvenal
Florence to Dante
is Jerusalem to
Isaiah. She is his immediate and ultimate regard
the centre and return of all
his thoughts
the hinge of the history of his time
the one thing worth
preserving amidst its disasters
the summit of those brilliant hopes with which
he fills the future. He has traced for us the main features of her position and
some of the lines of her construction
many of the great figures of her
streets
the fashions of her women
the arrival of embassies
the effect of
rumours. He has painted her aspect in triumph
in siege
in famine
and in
earthquake; war filling her valleys with chariots
and again nature rolling
tides of fruitfulness up to her gates; her moods of worship and panic and
profligacy--till we see them all as clearly as the shadow following the
sunshine and the breeze across the cornfields of our own summers. (Prof. G.
A. Smith
D. D.)
Judah and Jerusalem
There is little about Judah in these chapters: the country forms
but a fringe to the capital. (Prof. G. A. Smith
D. D.)
The Word of the Lord “seen”
Though the spirit of man has neither eyes nor ears
yet when
enabled to perceive the supersensuous
it is altogether eye. (F. Delitzsch.)
Verses 2-4
And it shall come to pass in the last days
Isaiah’s description of the last days
The description of “the last days”--which in the Hebrew begins
“And it hath come to pass . . . the mountainof Jehovah’s house shall be
established
” etc.
is an instance of the use of the perfect tense to express the
certain future. Its explanation seems to be that the structure of such a
passage as that before us is imaginative
not logical--a picture
not a
statement. The speaker completely projects himself into “the last days”; he is there
he finds them come; he looks about him to see what is actually going on
and
sees that the mountain of Jehovah’s house is about to be--still in process of
being--established at the head of the mountains; he looks again
and the
nations have already arrived at the place prepared for them
yet so freshly
that they are still calling one another on; and as they come up they find that
the King they seek is already there
and has effected some of His judgments and
decisions before they arrive for their
turn. (Sir E. Strachey
Bart.)
An epitome of Isaiah’s vision
(verses 2-4):--Isaiah
“rapt into future times
” sees the throne
of the Lord of Israel established in sovereignty over all the nations of the
earth
and they becoming willing subjects to Him
and friendly citizens to each
other. The nations attain to true liberty
for they come to submit themselves
to the righteous laws and institutions
and to the wise and gracious word and
direction of that King whose service is perfect freedom; and to true brotherhood
for they leave their old enmities and conflicts
and make the same Lord their
Judge and Umpire and Reconciler. And all this
not by some newly invented
device of the nations
some new result of their own civilisation
but by the
carrying out of the old original purpose and plan of God
that His chosen
people of the Jews should be the ministers of these good things
and that in
them should all nations of the earth be blessed
--that “out of Zion should go
forth the law
and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.” This is the vocation of
the Hebrew people. This
says the prophet
is the key to all our duties as a
nation
this is the master light to guide us to right action. (Sir E.
Strachey
Bart.)
The supremacy of Mount Zion
Transport yourselves for a moment to the foot of Mount Zion. As
you stand there
you observe that it is but a very little hill. Bashan is far
loftier
and Carmel and Sharon outvie it. As for Lebanon
Zion is but a little
hillock compared with it. If you think for a moment of the Alps
or of the
loftier Andes
or of the yet mightier Himalayas
this Mount Zion seems to be a
very little hill
a mere molehill
insignificant
despicable
and obscure.
Stand there for a moment
until the Spirit of God touches your eye
and you
shall see this hill begin to grow. Up it mounts
with the temple on its summit
till it outreaches Tabor. Onward it grows
till Carmel
with its perpetual
green
is left behind
and Salmon
with its everlasting snow sinks before it.
Onward still it grows
till the snowy peaks of Lebanon are eclipsed. Still
onward mounts the hill
drawing with its mighty roots other mountains and hills
into its fabric; and onward it rises
till piercing the clouds it reaches above
the Alps; and onwards still
till the Himalayas seem to be sucked into its
bowels
and the greatest mountains of the earth appear to be but as the roots
that strike out from the side of the eternal hill; and there it rises till you
can scarcely see the top
as infinitely above all the higher mountains of the
world as they are above the valleys Have you caught the idea
and do you see
there afar off upon the lofty top
not everlasting snows
but a pure crystal
table land
crowned with a gorgeous city
the metropolis of God
the royal
palace of Jesus the King? The sun is eclipsed by the light which shines from
the top of this mountain; the moon ceases from her brightness
for there is now
no night: but this one hill
lifted up on high
illuminates the atmosphere
and
the nations of them that are saved are walking in the light thereof. The hill
of Zion hath now outsoared all others
and all the mountains and hills of the
earth are become as nothing before her. This is the magnificent picture of the
text. I do not know that in all the compass of poetry there is an idea so
massive and stupendous as this--a mountain heaving
expanding
swelling
growing
till all the high hills become absorbed
and that which was but a
little rising ground before
becomes a hill the top whereof teacheth to the
seventh heavens. Now we have here a picture of what the Church is to be. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
A vision of the latter day glories
Of old
the Church was like Mount Zion
a very little hill. What
saw the nations of the earth when they looked upon it? A humble Man with twelve
disciples. But that little hill grew
and some thousands were baptized in the
name of Christ; it grew again and became mighty. But still
compared with the
colossal systems of idolatry
she is but small. The Hindoo and the Chinese turn
to our religion
and say
“It is an infant of yesterday; ours is the religion
of ages.” The Easterns compare Christianity to some miasma that creeps along
the fenny lowlands
but their systems they imagine to be like me Alps
outsoaring the heavens in height. Ah
but we reply to this
“Your mountain
crumbles and your hill dissolves
but our hill of Zion has been growing
and
strange to say
it has life within its bowels
and grow on it shall
grow on it
must
till all the systems of idolatry shall become less than nothing before
it.” Such is the destiny of our Church
she is to be an all-conquering Church
rising above every competitor. The Church will be like a high mountain
for she
will be--
1. Preeminently conspicuous.
2. Awful and venerable in her grandeur.
3. The day is coming when the Church of God shall have absolute
supremacy.
The Church of Christ now has to fight for her existence; but the
day shall come when she shall be so mighty that there shall be nought left to
compote with her. How is this to be done? There are three things which will
ensure the growth of the Church.
1. The individual exertion of every Christian.
2. We may expect more.
The fact is
that the Church
though a mountain
is a volcano--not
one that spouts fire
but that hath fire within her; and this inward fire of
living truth
and living grace
expands her side
and lifts her crest
and
upwards she must tower
for truth is mighty
and it must prevail--grace is
mighty
and must conquer--Christ is mighty
and He must be King of kings. Thus
there is something more than the individual exertions of the Church; there is a
something within her that must make her grow
till she overtops the highest
mountains.
3. But the great hope of the Church is the second advent of Christ.
When He shall come
then shall the mountain of the Lord’s house be exalted
above the hills. We must fight on day by day and hour by hour; and when we
think the battle is almost decided against us
He shall come
the Prince of the
kings of the earth. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
“All nations shall flow unto it”
Observe the figure. It does not say they shall come to it
but
they shall flow unto it.
1. It implies
first
their number. Now it is but the pouring out of
water from the bucket; then it shall be as the rolling of the cataract from the
hillside.
2. Their spontaneity. They are to come willingly to Christ; not to be
driven
not to be pumped up
not to be forced to it
but to be brought up by
the Word of the Lord
to pay Him willing homage. Just as the river naturally
flows downhill by no other force than that which is its nature
so shall the
grace of God be so mightily given to the sons of men
that no acts of
parliament
no state churches
no armies will be used to make a forced
conversion.
3. But yet again
this represents the power of the work of conversion.
They “shall flow to it.” Imagine an idiot endeavouring to stop the river
Thames. The secularist may rise up and say
“Oh
why be converted to this
fanatical religion? Look to the things of time.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The mountain of the Lord’s house
The text calls our attention--
I. TO A PERIOD OF
TIME WHEN THE EVENTS OF WHICH IT SPEAKS ARE TO OCCUR. “The last days.” The
phrase means
generally
the age of the Messiah; and is thus understood by both
Jewish and Christian commentators. The apostle has put this meaning beyond all
doubt. “God
who spake in times past unto the fathers
hath in these last days
spoken unto us by His Son.”
1. The expression intimates
that the dispensations which the
prophets of the Old Testament lived
were but preparatory to one of complete
perfection. To the future all these ancient holy men were ever looking. The
patriarchal was succeeded by the Mosaic age. Prophet came after prophet; but
all were looking forward. All things around them
and before them
were typical
shadowy.
2. The emphasis which the of last days
intimates
also
the views
they had of the complete efficiency of that religious system which the Messiah
was to introduce. On that age all their hopes of the recovery of a world they
saw sinking around them rested; and in the contemplation of this efficient plan
of redeeming love
they mitigated their sorrows. They felt that the world
needed a more efficient system
and they saw it descend with Messiah from
heaven.
3. The days of the Messiah were regarded by the ancient Church as
“the last days
” because in them all the great purposes of God were to be
developed and completed.
II. TO THE STATE OF
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF GOD IN THE LAST DAYS. “The mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established in the top of the mountains
and shall be exalted above
the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” Some have considered this as a
prediction of the actual rebuilding of the temple
and the restoration of the
political and church-state of the Jews
in the close of the latter days of the
times of the Messiah. Such an interpretation
if allowed
would not at all
interfere with that in which all agree
that
whatever else the prediction may
signify
it sets forth
under figures taken from the Levitical institutions
the future state of the general Church of Christ. For the principle which leads
to such an interpretation
we have no less authority than that of the apostle
Paul
who uniformly considers the temple
its priests
and its ritual
as types
of heavenly things; and in one well-known passage
makes use of them to
characterise the true Church of Christ. “But ye are come unto Mount Zion
and
unto the city” of the living God
the heavenly Jerusalem. The mountain of the
Lord’s house is no longer covered with ruins
but established in the top of the
hills. We learn from it--
1. That the Church shall be restored to evangelical order and beauty:
it shall be as Mount Zion.
2. In this state the Church shall be distinguished by its zeal. “Out
of Zion shall go forth the law
and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” So it
was in the best estate of the Jewish Church. The Gospel is to be preached in
all nations; and till you send forth the law they will not say
“Come
and let
us go up to the mountain of the Lord.” We thus see the connection between the
best state of the Church and this holy zeal. All history proves it.
III. TO CERTAIN
SPECIAL OPERATIONS OF GOD BY WHICH THE EFFORTS OF HIS RESTORED CHURCH TO BLESS
AND SAVE THE WORLD SHALL BE RENDERED EFFECTUAL. Without God
not all the
efforts of the Church
even in her best state
can be effectual.
1. He shall judge among the nations. The word “judge” is not always
used in its purely judicial sense
but in that of government
--the exercise of
regal power both in mercy and judgment; and in this sense we here take it. He
shall so order the affairs of the world
that opportunities shall be afforded
to His Church to exert herself for its benefit. And thus is He judging among
the nations in our own day.
2. It is a part of the regal office to show mercy; and thus
too
shall He “judge among the nations.” This He shall do by taking off those
judicial desertions which
as a punishment for unfaithfulness
He has
inflicted. “He shall judge among the nations.” He shall do this judicially
yet
not for destruction
but correction. Then are two sorts of judgments; judgments
of wrath
and judgments of mercy. When grace is given with judgments
then do
they become corrective and salutary.
3. It is
therefore
added
“and shall rebuke many people”; or
according to Lowth’s translation
“work conviction among them.” And may we not
hope that this is approaching? Even while waiting for the glorious period
described and promised in the preceding prophecy
the Church is called to “walk
in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5).
1. Walk by this light of truth yourselves.
2. Set the glory of these splendid scenes before you
and let them
encourage you to increasing exertions for the spread of truth
holiness
and
love throughout the earth. (Richard Watson.)
The glorious exaltation and enlargement of Church
I. THE GLORY AND
EXALTATION. “The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established
” etc.
II. THE
ENLARGEMENT. “All nations shall flow unto it.”
III. THE PROSPERITY
of the Church begins to be described in Isaiah 2:4. (J. Mede
B. D.)
The Church’s visibility and glory
There are--
I. TIMES WHEN THE
CHURCH IS VISIBLE BUT NOT GLORIOUS.
II. TIMES WHEN IT
IS NEITHER VISIBLE NOR GLORIOUS.
III. TIMES WHEN IT
IS TO BE BOTH VISIBLE AND GLORIOUS. (J. Mede
B. D.)
The mountain of the Lord’s house
I. THE PERIOD
REFERRED TO. The reference is not to the Gospel era as a whole
but to an
advanced period of it
even the time of the great millennial prosperity. The
golden age of the Greeks and Romans was the past
but our golden age is yet to
come.
II. THE CHEERING
TRUTH DECLARED. “The mountain
” etc. Often has Zion languished
but she is to
become a praise in the whole earth. In this striking figure two things are
embraced--
1. Elevated position.
2. Permanent duration.
III. THE GENERAL
INTEREST AWAKENED. We have here--
1. The invitation given. “And many people shall go and say
Come ye
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord
to the house of the God of
Jacob.”
2. The considerations by which it is enforced. “And He will teach us
of His ways
and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the
law
and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” It is the seat of Divine
instruction on the one hand
and the centre of holy influence on the other.
IV. THE HAPPY
RESULTS DECLARED (verse 4). This is--
1. A consummation most devoutly to be desired.
2. Absolutely certain in its realisation. “They shall beat their
swords into ploughshares.”
3. The means whereby it win be accomplished. By God judging or ruling
among the nations
and rebuking or working conviction among them. (Anon.)
The future glory and amplitude of the Church
1. The Gospel dispensation was designed to supersede that which was
given by the hand of Moses; it was to be exalted above this hill.
2. The Gospel also was destined to triumph over all those corrupt
systems of religion which have ever been received among men.
3. The assertion before us is also understood as a prophecy relative
to the fulness of the Church when the Jews shall be called in. This important
event is foretold by the sacred writers. (S. Ramsey
M. A.)
Isaiah’s wideness of view
Consider what that prediction meant in Isaiah’s time. He lived
within well-defined boundaries and limitations: the Jew was not a great man in
the sense of including within his personal aspirations all classes
conditions
and estates of men; left to himself he could allow the Gentiles to die by
thousands daily without shedding a tear upon their fallen bodies; he lived
amongst his own people; it was enough for him that the Jews were happy
for the
Gentiles were but dogs. Here is a new view of human nature
great enlargement
of spiritual boundaries. (J. Parker
D. D.)
The Church of the future--Goethe and Isaiah
It is quite the fashion in these days for those who do not believe
in the Christian religion to bestow on it their patronage. The Bible is full of
delusion and falsehood
but they regard it
on the whole
as a book that
deserves notice; parts of it are almost as good as the Rig-Veda. The Church has
been the handmaid of bigotry and superstition
yet they find in the history of
the Church some passages that are inspiring. Jesus of Nazareth was a teacher in
whose doctrine they find many things to set right; yet
so rich were His
contributions to ethical science that they feel themselves justified in
bestowing on Him a qualified approval. This fashion of patronising Christianity
may have been set by Goethe. Into that temple of the future which he describes
in his Tale
the little hut of the fisherman
by which he symbolises
Christianity
was graciously admitted. “This little hut had
indeed
been
wonderfully transfigured. By virtue of the Lamp locked up in it [the light of
reason] the hut had been converted from the inside to the outside into solid
silver. Ere long
too
its form changed; for the noble metal shook aside the
accidental shape of planks
posts and beams
and stretched itself out into a
noble case of beaten
ornamented workmanship. Thus a fair little temple stood
erected in the middle of the large one; or
if you will
an altar worthy of the
temple.” This is Goethe’s view of the Church of the future. He has been magnanimous
enough to provide a niche for it in the perfected temple of the Great
Hereafter; it is to serve as a pretty decoration of that grand structure
as a
dainty bit of bric-a-brac. About twenty five centuries before Goethe’s day
another poet
dwelling somewhere in the fastnesses of Syria
had visions of the
future in form and colour quite unlike this of the German philosopher. In
Isaiah’s sight of the latter day
the Church of God is not merely a feature--it
furnishes the outline
it fills the whole field of vision. It is not merely a
trait of the picture--it is the picture. Instead of putting the Church into a
niche in the templeof the future
to be kept there as a kind of heirloom--a
well-preserved antique curiosity--Isaiah insists that the Church in the temple
and that all stores and forces of good are to be gathered into it
to celebrate
its empire and to decorate its triumph. The mountain of the Lord’s house
the
typical Zion on which the spiritual Church is builded
is to be exalted above
all other eminences. Toward that all eyes shall turn; toward that all paths
shall lead; toward that shall journey with joy all pilgrim feet. For the
heralds of its progress
for the missionaries of its glad tidings it shall have
many nations; it shall give to all the world the ruling law and the informing
word. This is Isaiah’s view of the Church of the future. When twenty-five
centuries more shall have passed it will be easier to tell whether the Hebrew
or the German was the better seer. (Washington Gladden
D. D.)
The Church of the future
Isaiah shows us the Church of the future only in outline; the
great fact which he gives us is that in the last days the spiritual Jerusalem
shall gather into itself all the kingdoms of the world and all the glory of
them. It may be possible for us in some indistinct way to fill in this outline;
to imagine
if we cannot prophesy
what the scope and character of the future
Church shall be.
I. WILL IT HAVE A
CREED? A creed is only a statement
more or less elaborate
of the facts and
principles of religion accepted by those who adhere to it. Religion is not
wholly an affair of the emotions; it involves the apprehension of truth. In the
future
as in the past
this truth must be stated
in order to be apprehended.
A man’s creed is what he believes; and there must be creeds as long as there
are believers. It is probable
however
that the creeds may be considerably
modified as the years pass. Certainly they have been undergoing modifications
continually
through the centuries gone by. It must be remembered
however
that the changes through which theological science has been passing have been
changes of spirit rather than of substance
of form more than of fact. The
essential truth remains. The great changes in theology are moral changes.
Theology is constantly becoming less materialistic and more ethical. This
progress will continue through the future. The creed of the future will
contain
I have no doubt
the same essential truth that is found in the creeds
of the present; but there may be considerable difference in the phrasing of it
and in the point of view from which it is approached.
1. Men will believe in the future in an infinite personal God
the
Creator
the Ruler
the Father of men. The abstract
impersonal Force to which
Agnosticism leads us has no relation to that which is deepest in man
and can
have none. Christ bade us love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and
soul. Can any man ever be perfectly happy until he has found some Being whom he
can love in this way? Must not the Being who is worthy to be loved in this way
be both perfect and infinite? And is it possible for a man to love with heart
and mind and soul
any being
however vast or powerful
that has neither heart
nor mind nor soul?
2. Concerning the mode of the Divine existence
men will learn in the
future to speak more modestly than they have spoken in the past. It will become
more and more evident that it is not possible to put the infinite into terms of
the finite. There is the doctrine of the Trinity; there is truth in it
or
under it; but can anyone put that truth into propositions that shall be
definite and not contradictory?
3. II one may judge the future by the past there is no reason to fear
that the person of Jesus Christ will be less commanding in the Church of the
future than it is in the Church of the present.
4. The fact of sin will not be denied by the Church of the future.
Doubtless organisation and circumstance will be taken into the account in
estimating human conduct; but the power of the human will to control the
natural tendencies
to release itself from entangling circumstances
and to lay
hold on the Divine grace by which it may overcome sin
will also be clearly
understood. The supremacy of the moral nature will be vindicated.
5. Punishment
as conceived and represented by the Church of the
future
will not be an arbitrary infliction of suffering
but the natural and
inevitable consequence of disobedience to law. It will be discovered that the
moral law is incorporated into the natural order
and that its sanctions are
found in that order; while
in the work of redemption
God interposes by His
personal and supernatural grace to save men from the consequences of their own
disobedience and folly. Law is natural; grace is supernatural Transgressors
will be made to see
what they now so dimly apprehend
that no effect can be
more closely joined to its cause than penalty to sin.
6. Whatever the creed of the future may be
however
it will not be
put to the kind of use which the creed of the present is made to serve. It will
not be laid down as the doctrinal plank over which everybody must walk who
comes into the communion of the Church. The Church
like every other organism
has an organic idea
and that is simple loyalty to Jesus Christ
the Head of
the Church. There will be but one door into that Church--Christ will be the
door.
II. WHAT WILL BE
THE POLITY OF THE FUTURE CHURCH? It is likely that
of the various sorts of
ecclesiastical machinery
each of the several religious bodies will freely
choose that which it likes best. Doubtless the Church will have some form of
government: it will not be a holy mob; lawlessness will not be regarded as the
supreme good
in Church or in State. In whatever ecclesiastical mould the
Church of the future may be cast
there will be no mean sectarianism in
existence then. The various families of Christians will dwell as happily
together as well-bred families now do in society. Though there be diversities
of form in the future
there will be real and thorough intercommunion and
cooperation among Christians of all names
and nothing will be permitted to
hold apart those who follow the same Leader and travel the same road.
III. WHAT KIND OF
WORK WILL BE DONE BY THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE? It will have many ways of
working that the Church of the present has not dreamed of. “The field is the
world
” Christ has told us; and in that better day the Church will have learned
to occupy the field.
1. Paul said that as a preacher of the Gospel he magnified his
office. There is no office more honourable. But it must not be inferred that
there is no other Way of preaching the Gospel except the formal utterance of
religious truth
in the presence of a congregation. The truth will be
disseminated
in that time
in many other ways. For though the living voice is
the best instrument for the proclamation of the truth
so far as it will reach
it cannot reach very far. The art of printing has been given to the world since
that day; and by that invention the whole business of instructing and
influencing men has been revolutionised. The Church has already appropriated
this agency; and it is doubtless true that it will be employed in the future
more effectively than in the past. Neither will the range of teaching be so
narrow as it has sometimes been in the past. To apply the ethical rule of the
New Testament to the conduct of individuals
and to the relations of men in
society
will be the constant obligation of the pulpit. Out of Zion must go
forth the law by which parents
children
neighbours
citizens
workmen
masters
teachers
pupils
benefactors
beneficiaries
shall guide their
behaviour. Science
long the nightmare of the theologians
will no more trouble
their dreams; it will be understood that there can be no conflict between
truths; that physical science has its facts and laws
and spiritual science its
facts and laws; that these are diverse but not contradictory
and that the one
is just as positive and knowable as the other. The unfriendliness now existing
between the scientists and the theologians will exist no longer
because both
parties will have learned wisdom.
2. But the work of teaching will not be the only work to which the
Church of the future will address itself. Large and wise enterprises for the
welfare of men will be set on foot; many of the instrumentalities now in use
will continue to be employed
under modified forms
and many new ones will be
devised. It will be understood that the law of the Church is simply this
“Let
us do good to all men as we have opportunity.” (Washington Gladden
D. D.)
The magnet which draws the nations
The Church is established on the top of the mountain
and all
nations are flowing unto it. Yes
flowing up hill! Yes
up the mountain side!
When I was a boy I said
“That is false rhetoric
a mistake--flowing to the top
of the mountain; it cannot be.” I went to the workshop of a friend
and I saw
in the dust a parcel of steel filings. And he had a magnet
and
as he drew it
near to the steel filings
they were attracted to it and kissed the magnet.
Then I said
Give me a magnet large enough
place it on the mountain top
and
it will draw all the nations unto it. That magnet is the Lord Jesus Christ
for
He said
“If I be lifted up from the earth
I will draw all men unto Me.” (Bp.
M. Simpson
D. D.)
Verse 3
Come ye
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord
“Many people”
For “people” read “peoples.
” So ver.
4.
(A. B. Davidson
LL. D.)
Desire for spiritual instruction
What I intend is to make use of the words as they express a
sincere desire in many people of being better informed in the mind and will of
God
by some particular revelation from Himself than they could be by the mere
natural light of their own minds
reflecting only upon the general works of
creation and providence.
I. EVERY RATIONAL
MAN
WHO BELIEVES A GOD AND A PROVIDENCE GOVERNING THE WORLD
IS UNDER A
NATURAL OBLIGATION TO INQUIRE WHETHER GOD HAS MADE ANY PARTICULAR REVELATION OF
HIS WILL TO MEN
WHICH THEY ARE ANY WAY CONCERNED TO TAKE NOTICE OF.
II. WHOEVER
SERIOUSLY MAKES THIS INQUIRY
WILL FIND IT REASONABLE TO CONCLUDE THAT SOME
REVELATION MAY JUSTLY BE EXPECTED FROM GOD
CONSIDERING THE GENERAL STATE OF
MANKIND.
1. In the nature of things
there is no impossibility that God should
make a particular revelation of His will to men. That God should communicate
His will to men in a particular manner
implies nothing contradictory
either
to the nature of man or God. For if we believe that God is the Maker of
mankind
and that from Him they received their reason and understanding
then
it is unreasonable to suppose that the mind of man is incapable of receiving
any impression of revelation or instruction from the Supreme mind
only because
that Supreme mind is of an invisible nature. And it is yet much more
unreasonable to suppose any incapacity in the Divine Being
of making such
discovery of His will to the mind of man
as His wisdom sees fit; for this
would
in effect
be to deny the perfection of His nature
and to make him a
Being not acting freely but by necessity
without liberty or choice and this in
the end comes to the same thing as denying His Being altogether.
2. Considering our natural notions of the goodness of God
there is
no reason to think it incredible that He should at some time or other make such
discovery of His will.
3. Considering the general condition of mankind
such revelation is
by no means unnecessary.
III. IF THIS BE SO
THEN IT IS EVERY MAN’S DUTY TO USE ALL THE PROPER MEANS HE CAN TO FIND OUT WHAT
IS TRUE REVELATION AND WHAT IS ONLY PRETENDED. (R. Boyle.)
“Let us go up”
Those that are entering into covenant and communion with God
themselves should bring as many as they can along with them. (M. Henry.)
He will teach us of His
ways
The ways of God
By the ways of God may be meant--
1. His purposes and counsels
so far as are proper and necessary for
His servants to be acquainted with
in order to promote their happiness and
salvation.
2. His providential dispensations
so far as is consistent with their
duty and interest to know them. That they may understand the loving kindness of
the Lord.
3. The ministration of His Spirit and the way of salvation
by which
the manifold wisdom of Jehovah is admirably displayed. These are
with great
propriety
called the ways of God
as He points them out to us in His Word
and
as they are intended to conduct to the enjoyment of Him in the land of
everlasting upright ness. (R. Macculloch.)
And we will walk in His
paths
Walking in God’s paths
The resolution before us--
1. Plainly implies a free choice of the precepts of the Gospel
in
preference to all other ways
and in opposition to every kind of compulsion
whatever.
2. It includes a fixed purpose of heart
a firm determination
to
cleave unto the Lord
notwithstanding every difficulty and discouragement that
may lie in the way.
3. And as walking is an uniform
progressive motion
it comprehends a
constant
persevering progress in the good ways of the Lord
wherein they are
instructed. (R. Macculloch.)
Verse 4
And He shall Judge among the nations . . . neither shall they
learn war any more
Christ’s kingdom upon earth
1.
When
it is said that He should “judge among the nations
” we must observe that the
term is continually used in the Old Testament of the rule of a chief
magistrate. Under the theocracy those who ruled the nation
as we read in 2:1-23
and in many other places
were
termed “judges.” Of one of these it is said--“The Spirit of the Lord came upon
Othniel
and he judged Israel
and went out to war
”--acted as their supreme
ruler. And the same language is employed continually of those who ruled in
Israel
under God their King. The prediction is very nearly parallel to one in
the seventy-second Psalm respecting the Messiah: “He shall judge”--or
rule--“the people with righteousness
and the poor with judgment.”Accordingly
in our text it is declared that the Messiah should be a Ruler “among the
nations.” This rule was to take place
according to the language of prophecy
when the Redeemer came into this world. Hence when our Lord was upon earth
He
Himself proclaimed that “the kingdom of heaven was at hand.” He directed His
disciples to preach the same truth. And we know that a time is to come
when
“the kingdoms of the world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His
Christ.” When our Saviour was upon earth He allowed the expression used by
Nathaniel--“Rabbi
Thou art the Son of God
Thou art the King of Israel.” When
He came in triumph into Jerusalem
and the people shouted out--“Hosannah! I
blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord
” our Lord did not repress
the exultation. All believers
then
have already become subjects of His
Kingdom
and He is stated in Scripture to be their King. He has a dominion
indeed
far more extensive than that of the Church; He has “all power given Him
in heaven and earth.” But the passage before us does not refer to this
universal dominion
which He exercises in providence
but it speaks of the
dominion of grace
His dominion limited to His Church--because it is a dominion
that was to result from the promulgation of His Word out of Zion
and a
dominion to be co-extensive with the exaltation of His Church of Zion. “Out of
Zion shall go forth the law
and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He
shall judge among the nations.”
2. It was added
as a contemporaneous act of His sovereignty
“He
shall rebuke many people.” By that word “rebuke” is evidently meant
He shall
reprove them for their sinfulness.
3. The effect of the Saviour’s reign is further described; it is to
be universal peace. “They shall beat
” etc. (B. W. Noel
M. A.)
Anomalies in the history of Christendom
An obvious reflection which occurs to us
when reading this
prediction--or at least which is likely to occur to anyone not well acquainted
wire Scripture--is
that the effect of the Gospel
going forth from Zion and
from Jerusalem
seemed from the very first to be quite the opposite of this
prediction. How can it be said that the effect of the Gospel has been to
introduce a universal peace
when it seems man fest from history that it has
introduced universal disturbance and confusion? Our Lord Himself
when on
earth
by His ministry and life
only led to a universal conspiracy against
Him; and when He ascended to His glory
and His disciples began to preach in
His name
it was the signal for general confusion. As that Gospel advanced
it
was the signal for more savage opposition
till every part of the Roman empire
was stained with the blood of Christ’s followers
till everywhere there was a
universal warfare among menu between those who were the advocates of the old
system
and those who proclaimed the new. At length
when the empire was
conquered
it was only to be the occasion of still wider and more sanguinary
disturbances. Many as had perished through popular fury
or by legal
interference
during the three first centuries
multitudes more perished
as
the indirect consequence of the Gospel in after ages. When the Roman empire was
shivered by the shock of barbarian invaders
and the feudal kingdoms of Europe
rose in its place
in each of those kingdoms the castle of the noble frowned
defiance upon the castle of every good and great man; the wars between
neighbouring nations became interminable; and when at last the monarchies were
consolidated
and the great modern monarchies rose out of that confusion
it
was only to see in every page of history an interminable war fare between
Christian nations. So that
for instance
in our own frontiers
the Border
warfare between Scotland and England was almost interminable; and yet these
were Christian nations; and the Christian nations of France and England were
termed hereditary foes
and there was not a monarch of Europe that did not join
in some sanguinary strife
to please a minister
or to gratify his own
ambition
or for some vain pretence
as corrupt as it was often false. But this
has not been the only way in which this prediction appears to have been
perpetually frustrated--for there have actually been sanguinary wars that have
arisen from no other cause than religion. The wars of Bohemia and the Low Countries
and the civil wars of France and many other countries which long raged in the
hearts of nations
for no other cause than a difference in Christian doctrine
seem to be a contradiction of the prophecy in our text
beyond all apology. And
even when the disturbances of nations have not risen to actual warfare
how
lamentable have been the cruelties exercised over a profession belief in
Christianity! See the dukes of Savoy soaking the valleys of Piedmont with the
blood of their best subjects; see the rage of the Roman Catholic persecutors
exhibiting itself in the massacre of St. Bartholomew; view the remorseless
Dragonades in the south of France; see the many enormities which were
perpetrated in our own country during the reigns of Henry the Seventh and
Eighth
and Charles the First and Second. Carry your views to the northern
parts of this island
and there see Claverhouse and his companions reeking with
the blood of the guiltless Covenanters; cross the Channel
and see the Roman
Catholics of Ireland massacring thousands of Protestants because they were
Protestants
and the equally bloody return secured to them by the iron-hearted
and relentless soldiers of Oliver Cromwell. So that everywhere massacre and
misery have followed the introduction of the Gospel. Is this the fulfilment of
the promise--“They shall beat their swords into ploughshares
and their spears
into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation
neither
shall they learn war any more”?
1. Let us first notice
that the Gospel is not responsible for the
acts of its enemies
--and in all the cases I have named its friends might still
be like sheep in the midst of wolves. They might “be wise as serpents
harmless
as doves
” and yet all this slaughter might take place under the name of
religion. They have been the enemies of the Gospel
and not its friends
who
have thus manifested such savage cruelty and unprincipled cupidity towards
their fellow men.
2. And let us notice
in the next place
that the prediction in our
text was manifestly not to be fulfilled immediately; it was to take place “in
the last days”--and those “last days” have not yet transpired. (B. W. Noel
M. A.)
War during the Christian centuries
though peace predicted
It may be said
that however guiltless the Gospel may have been of
these sanguinary results
yet they are facts of history. The prediction was
universal peace to follow from the Gospel
and the experience has been
universal war. Does not this seem to contradict the prediction? Nothing is more
conclusive than the answer which may be given to this objection.
1. The Gospel was declared to be of a pacific tendency. It forbids
all the causes of war in the world--pride
passion
cupidity
etc. It bids all
who become the subjects of Christ’s dominion to be mild and meek and patient as
their Master was.
2. There must be the same pacific tendency among nations that are in
any degree Christianised.
3. This tendency has not been and could not be wholly counteracted.
It is true there have been these shameful wars; but it is no less true that
under even the partial influence of the Gospel wars have in our day assumed a
humanity which they never before manifested.
4. The influence of each individual Christian and the tendency of
Christian institutions combine to secure the fulfilment of these prospects. And
if so
may we not reasonably exult in this blessed doctrine of Christ? And if
we look back with shame and pain on the history of the nations that call
themselves Christian
let us seek our selves to manifest a better spirit and be
men of peace. (B. W. Noel
M. A.)
God the Arbitrator
Here is a prediction of arbitration in case of war. “He . . .
shall rebuke many people.” Read the word “rebuke”--He shall arbitrate amongst
many people; He shall hear their cause; He shall redress their grievances; He
shall determine their controversies
and men shall accept His award as final. (J.
Parker
D. D.)
Learning war no more
Not learning war is something more than not continuing to practise
it (Calvin)
and signifies their ceasing to know how to practise it. (J. A.
Alexander.)
War
I. THE MISERIES
AND CRIMES OF WAR.
II. THE SOURCES OF
WAR. Many will imagine that the first place ought to be given to malignity and
hatred. But justice to human nature requires that we ascribe to national
animosities a more limited operation than is usually assigned to them in the
production of war.
1. One of the great springs of war is the strong and general
propensity of human nature towards the love of excitement
of emotion
of
strong interest.
2. Another powerful principle of our nature
which is a spring of
war
is the passion for superiority
for triumph
for power.
3. Another powerful spring of war is the admiration of the brilliant
qualities displayed in war.
4. Another cause of war is false patriotism.
5. Another spring of war
the impression (and false views of war)we
receive in early life. These principal causes of war are of a moral nature.
They may be resolved into wrong views of human glory
and into excesses of
passions and desires
which
by right direction
would promote the best
interests of humanity. From these causes we learn that this savage custom is to
be repressed by moral means
by salutary influences on the sentiments and
principles of mankind.
III. THE REMEDIES OF
WAR. Without taking an extreme position
we ought to assail war
by assailing
the principles and passions which gave it birth
and by improving and exalting
the moral sentiments of mankind.
1. Important service may be rendered to the cause of peace by communicating
and enforcing just and elevated sentiments in relation to the true honour of
rulers.
2. To these instructions should be added just sentiments as to the
glory of nations.
3. Another most important method of promoting the cause of peace is
to turn men’s admiration from military courage to qualities of real nobleness
and dignity.
4. Let Christian ministers exhibit
with greater clearness
the
pacific and benevolent spirit of Christianity. (W. E. Channing
D. D.)
Private war abolished
There was a time
not very long ago
when private war was even
more universal than public or international war is today. City against city!
Baron against baron! Even private persons were entitled to settle their
differences by judicial combat if they preferred. Right of trial by combat
still survives in some European countries in the form of duelling. But with
that solitary exception
private war has now been entirely abolished throughout
the civilised world. How has this immense improvement been achieved? The fact
to be specially remembered is that the barons of the Middle Ages submitted very
reluctantly and slowly to the substitution of judicial arbitration for private
war. Kings had not the power to compel
and the barons continually defied the
kings. Gradually a more enlightened and moral public opinion grew up in favour
of the rational and Christian method of settling disputes. At last the
supremacy of law and of courts of justice became established. Private war is
now impossible
so absolute is the triumph of Christianity in the internal
affairs of the nation. Now
a precisely similar slow and intermittent change is
evolving better order in international life. Barbarous and heathen governments
still defy the dictates of reason and of conscience as the cities and barons of
the Middle Ages did. But slowly and intermittently their ferocity is being
overcome. Arbitration has already been substituted for war in a large number of
important cases which
in any previous period of human history
would
inevitably have deluged the world with blood. (H. P. Hughes
M. A.)
War
I. THE TERRIBLE
EVILS OF WAR. There are many evils we have to endure in this life that we
cannot avoid. They are unforeseen
indirect
irresistible. Disease
domestic
sorrows
adversity
and other evils befall men; but none can equal war.
II. IT IS
IMPOSSIBLE TO SETTLE NATIONAL DISPUTES BY WAR. No argument is necessary to
prove that physical force can never settle the right or wrong of any question.
The most powerful battalions are not always on the side of the just cause. And
when a war is over
who accepts it as a final settlement of the question in
dispute? Often a bloody war is followed by conferences and treaties
and after
a vast expenditure of treasure and life
after the entrance of sorrow into many
homes
the measures which should have been resorted to at first are the
measures which decide the question How often one side accepts peace simply
because
for the present
it can no longer prosecute war. The only true method
of settling quarrels is by reason
the furnishing of explanations
the granting
of concessions
the manifestation of a desire and purpose to agree. Two nations
may thus settle their misunderstandings without calling in a third party
or
they may call in others to arbitrate between them and agree to abide by their
decision. A high court of arbitration is in full agreement with enlightened
reason and Christian teaching; it seems in the highest degree practicable
and
it would prove
in its operations and results
one of the greatest blessings to
the nations of the earth.
III. ONE OF THE MOST
PRESSING DUTIES OF CHRISTIAN MEN IS TO EMPLOY ALL POSSIBLE MEANS FOR THE
EXTINCTION OF WAR. We should steadfastly set ourselves against the maintenance
of large standing armies. We should leaven public opinion with the principles
of peace by the press
in social intercourse
and by using our power as
citizens in seeking to purge our Legislature as much as possible from warlike
influences. There is no cause in which woman’s influence may be more
appropriately exercised or can have greater weight. Preachers of the Gospel
should preach peace. (W. Walters.)
Universal peace
Let me attempt to do away a delusion which exists on the subject
of prophecy. Its fulfillments are all certain
say many
and we have therefore
nothing to do but to wait for them in passive and indolent expectation. Now
it
is very true
that the Divinity will do His work in His own way
but if He
choose to tell us that that way is not without the instrumentality of men
might not this sitting down into the mere attitude of spectators turn out to be
a most perverse and disobedient conclusion! The prophecy of a peace as
universal as the spread of the human race
and as enduring as the moon in the
firmament
will meet its accomplishment; but it will be brought about by the
activity of men--by the philanthropy of intelligent Christians.
I. THE EVILS OF
WAR. The mere existence of this prophecy is a sentence of condemnation upon
war. So soon as Christianity shall gain a full ascendency in the world
war is
to disappear. We have heard that there is something noble in the art of war;
that there is something generous in the ardour of that fine chivalric spirit
which kindles in the hour of alarm
and rushes with delight among the thickest
scenes of danger and of enterprise; that expunge war
and you expunge some of
the brightest names in the catalogue of human virtue
and demolish that theatre
on which have been displayed some of the sublimest energies of the human
character. One might almost be reconciled to the whole train of its calamities
and its horrors
did he not believe his Bible
and learn that in the days of
perfect righteousness
there will be no war;--that so soon as the character of
man has had the last finish of Christian principle thrown over it
all the
instruments of war will be thrown aside
and all its lessons forgotten. But
apart altogether from this testimony to the evil of war
let us take a direct
look at it
and see whether we can find its character engraven on the aspect it
bears to the eye of an attentive observer. Were the man who stands before you
in the full energy of health
to be in another moment laid by some deadly aim a
lifeless corpse at your feet
there is not one of you who would not prove how
strong are the relentings of nature at a spectacle so hideous as death. But
generally the death of violence is not instantaneous
and there is often a sad
and dreary interval between its final consummation
and the infliction of the
blow which causes it. A soldier may be a Christian
and from the bloody field
on which his body is laid
his soul may wing its way to the shores of a
peaceful eternity. But when I think that the Christians form but a little
flock
and that an army is not a propitious soil for the growth of Christian
principle; when I follow them to the field of battle
and further think
that
on both sides of an exasperated contest the gentleness of Christianity can have
no place in almost any bosom
but that nearly every heart is lighted up with
fury
and breathes a vindictive purpose against a brother of the species
I
cannot but reckon it among the most fearful of the calamities of war
that
while the work of death is thickening along its ranks
so many disembodied
spirits should pass into the presence of Him who sitteth upon the throne
in
such a posture
and with such a preparation.
II. Let me direct
your attention to THOSE OBSTACLES WHICH STAND IN THE WAY OF THE EXTINCTION OF
WAR
and which threaten to retard
for a time
the accomplishment of this
prophecy.
1. The first great obstacle is the way in which the heart of man is
carried off from its barbarities and its horrors
by the splendour of its
deceitful accompaniments. There is a feeling of the sublime in contemplating
the shock of armies
just as there is in contemplating the devouring energy of
a tempest; and this so elevates and engrosses the whole man
that his eye is
blind to the tears of bereaved parents
and his ear is deaf to the piteous moan
of the dying
and the shriek of their desolated families. There is a
gracefulness in the picture of a youthful warrior burning for distinction on
the field
and lured by this generous aspiration to the deepest of the animated
throng
where
in the fell work of death
the opposing sons of valour struggle
for a remembrance and a name; and this side of the picture is so much the
exclusive object of our regard
as to disguise from our view the mangled
carcasses of the fallen
and the writhing agonies of the hundred and the
hundreds more who have been laid on the cold ground
where they are left to
languish and die. On every side of me I see causes at work which go to spread a
most delusive colouring over war
and to remove its shocking barbarities to the
background of our contemplations altogether. I see it in the history which tells
me of the superb appearance of the troops and the brilliancy of their
successive charges. I see it in the poetry which lends the magic of its numbers
to the narrative of blood
and transports its many admirers
as by its images
and figures and its nodding plumes of chivalry it throws its treacherous
embellishments over a scene of legalised slaughter.
2. But another obstacle to the extinction of war is the sentiment
that the rules and promises of the Gospel which apply to a single individual
do not apply to a nation of individuals. If forbearance be the virtue of an
individual
forbearance is also the virtue of a nation. If it be the glory of a
man to defer his anger
and to pass over a transgression
that nation mistakes
its glory which is so feelingly alive to the slightest insult
and musters up
its threats and its armaments upon the faintest shadow of a provocation. If it
be the magnanimity of an injured man to abstain from vengeance
and if by so
doing
he heap coals of fire upon the head of his enemy
then that is the
magnanimous nation
which
recoiling from violence and from blood
will do no
more than send its Christian embassy
and prefer its mild and impressive
remonstrance; and that is the disgraced nation which will refuse the
impressiveness of the moral appeal that has been made to it.
III. IT IS ONLY BY
THE EXTENSION OF CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLE AMONG THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH THAT THE
ATROCITIES OF WAR WILL AT LENGTH BE SWEPT AWAY FROM IT. (T. Chalmers
D. D.)
The world’s deliverance from war
Ever since the fall
our world has exhibited much of degradation
and misery; and it is lamentably true
that a vast amount of its wretchedness
has been produced by the active agency of its own inhabitants. Man has hated
and oppressed his fellow man But how delightful is it to think that we have
been assured by the word of Divine inspiration
that it is the design of the
great Creator of all things
to reclaim our earth from its state of degradation
and wickedness and misery
and to make it again the scene of holiness and
harmony and happiness!
I. THE NATURE OF
THE EVIL TO BE REMOVED. This evil is represented to consist in the lifting up
of the sword
and in the learning of the art of war.
II. THE CHARACTER
OF THE CHANGE TO BE PRODUCED. “They shall beat
” etc. The period is to arrive
in the history of our world
in which the operation of those unholy passions by
which so much destruction and misery has been produced
shall be subdued; and
in which the principle of love to God and to men shall be delightfully predominant
within the human bosom.
III. THE MEANS BY
WHICH THE HAPPY TRANSITION IS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED. Swords are to be beaten
“into” ploughshares
and spears to pruning hooks
and war is no more to be
learned
when many people shall go and say
“Come ye and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord
to the house of the God of Jacob
for He will teach us of
His ways.” Hence
it appears that the change is to be produced by the agency of
the Gospel. There may be other instrumentalities era subordinate nature brought
into operation
such as the commercial intercourse of nations with each other
and the knowledge which they may acquire of their mutual interests and
dependencies; but the religion of Jesus is to be the principal cause of the
termination of hostilities in our world
and the introduction of the reign of
universal peace and felicity. The Gospel of Christ informs us of the source
whence all our enmities and contentions proceed
even from the deceitfulness
and desperate wickedness of our hearts. The Gospel of Christ first of all
reconciles man to his God
and then works within him the dispositions which
lead him to be reconciled to his fellow man
and to “love him with a pure heart
fervently.” The Gospel of Christ inculcates those principles of peace and
goodwill
the recognition of which composes differences
softens down
resentments
inspires with forgiving and kindly feelings
and prompts
to deeds
of beneficence. It is the testimony of experience
moreover
that nothing but
the Gospel of Christ has ever opposed the system of war
and diminished in any
degree the amount of the evil which it occasions. The ancient philosophy
dignified with the name of virtues the unholy passions from which it arose
and
the poets of the olden times made it the theme of their highest admiration
and
of their sweetest praise. The classical heathenism of Greece and of Rome had
its god and goddess of war
and represented its deities as mingling in the fray
and delighting in the carnage of the battlefield. But Jesus appeared in our
world as the Prince of Peace; and one of the most delightful precepts of His
meek and gentle faith is
“Blessed are the peace makers
for they shall be
called the children of God.” What was it but the spirit of Christianity which
put an end to the cruel gladiator ships of the amphitheatre of Rome? What was
it but the spirit of Christianity which subdued the fierceness of the Huns
the
Goths
and the Vandals of former times
and made so many of them the soldiers
of the Cross and the followers of the Captain of our salvation? (W. M’Kerrow.)
The cessation of war an effect of the prevalence of Christianity
Notwithstanding any accompanying references
we cannot hesitate to
take this for a prediction of times yet to come. Evidently
it has never yet
been fulfilled.
1. It is as conjoined with very nearly the beginning of our race
that we have to look upon this direful phenomenon. But how strange
for a
creature
come fresh
living
and pure
from the beneficent Creator’s hands!
The least that we can think of that original state of man is
that there must
have been in his soul the principle of all kind affections
--a state of feeling
that would have been struck with horror at the thought of inflicting suffering.
And
from the creature thus originally constituted
all the race was to
descend. Can such a nature ever rage with malignity and revenge
and riot in
suffering and destruction? Yet
in this original family
in the very first
degree of the descent
war and slaughter began. While we think of the deadly conflicts
of those early ages
the idea may occur to us of the peculiar atrocity of
destroying a life which might
in the course of nature
have lasted so long.
Living beings cloven down or mortally pierced or poisoned or burnt that might
have lived seven or eight centuries
for improvement
for serving God
for
usefulness
for whatever happiness there might have been in this world or
preparation for another!
2. The world began anew in the person and family of a selected
patriarch
whom alone “the Lord had seen righteous in that Generation.” Now
then
for a better race
--if the human nature were intrinsically good
or
corrigible by the most awful dispensations. But all in vain! The flood could
not cleanse the nature of man; nor the awful memory and memorials of it repress
the coming forth of selfishness
pride
ambition
anger
and revenge.
3. The sacred history
after Just recounting some successions of
names in the different branches of the new race
limits its narrative to the
origin and progress of what became the Jewish people--Abraham and his
posterity. Their history
however
in proceeding downward
involves much of
that of the surrounding nations. And some of the profane histories go far back
into the period subsequent to the deluge. And what is so conspicuous over all
the view
as wars and devastations? There is one portion of this tragical
exhibition which we are to take out of the account of ordinary war
namely
the
war of extirpation against the Canaanites. But
setting this portion of the
history aside
think of the long course of sanguinary conflicts within the
boundary of the selected nation itself
between Israel and Judah. Besides the
slaughters
of battle and massacre
within each separately
of these two
divisions of that people
add
all their wars with Syria and Egypt
with the
Babylonian
Grecian
and Roman powers
closed finally
in that most awful
catastrophe
the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.
4. Then glance a moment over the wider view of the whole ancient
world; as far abroad and as high up in time as history has made it visible. The
human race is exhibited
in some regions
in the form of numerous small states.
But their smallness of size and strength was not the measure of their passions.
What we are certain to read of them is
that they attacked and fought one
another with the ferocity of wild beasts. By some ambitious “conquering hero” a
great number of these were subdued and moulded together into a great kingdom
on one large space of the earth
and the same on another. And then with a
tremendous clash
these empires came into conflict.
5. But now if we could take one grand compass of view over the earth
and down through time from that period to this! What a vision of destruction!
And to complete the account--as if the whole solid earth were not wide
enough--the sea has been coloured with blood
and received into its dark gulf
myriads of slain
as if it could not destroy enough by its tempests and wrecks!
Reflections--
War
I. SOME OF THE
LEADING FEATURES OF WAR
AS RECORDED IN GOD’S WORD.
1. The cause of war (James 4:1-2). From this passage
we see
that just as in domestic broils
just as in strifes between sects and parties
so in strifes between nation and nation--they all proceed from the lusts of
men
and from that carnal mind which is enmity against God.
2. We learn from God’s Word that war is a tremendous evil. What
horror filled the soul of the prophet Jeremiah
when he heard the rumour of
war--“My bowels
my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketha
noise in me; I cannot hold my peace
because thou hast heard
O my soul
the
sound of the trumpet
the alarm of war” (Jeremiah 4:19). See again Jeremiah 47:2-3
how the prophet
describes the distress and anguish of the Philistines at the approach of an
invading army--an anguish so great and so terrible
as to lead them even to
forget the common ties of humanity. See again Deuteronomy 28:50-51
how Moses speaks of
the devastating force of an invading army; and Joel 2:2
where the prophet describes the
day of the Lord as compared to an invading army.
3. God’s Word shows us that war is one of God’s scourges
by which He
punishes guilty nations for their wickedness. In Ezekiel 14:21
the sword |s distinctly
spoken of as one of God’s four sore judgments.
4. God’s Word shows us that it is He alone who can bring war to an
end. Psalms 46:9.) In every war God has
a special design of His own to fulfil--a purpose into which the eye of
mortality can never pierce--but untilthat purpose is executed the war can never
end. (Jeremiah 47:6-7.)
5. God’s Word shows that war is to be the immediate precursor of the
terrors of the latter days. (Joel 3:9
etc.; Matthew 24:6.)
6. God’s Word declares that there is a time approaching when wars
will forever cease.
II. PRACTICAL
LESSONS.
1. What is our present duty
2. The necessity of being prepared for the things that are coming
upon the earth.
3. The awfulness of being overtaken unprepared. You will be
speechless. (A. W.Snape
M. A.)
The means by which this prophecy is to be fulfilled
I. A PROPER
ESTIMATE OF THE MISERIES OF WAR must prepare the way for universal peace.
II. THE
DISSEMINATION OF THE WORD OF GOD. Nothing but the Word of God can effect the
cure of this moral distemper--nothing but the Spirit of God can subdue the
native principles of the heart--nothing but the salvation of the Gospel can
remove the evil we deplore. There is no other remedy can reach the core of the
malady.
III. THE PRAYERS OF
CHRISTIANS must accompany the other means used for the establishment of peace.
(J. Gray
M. A.)
War to cease
I. HUMAN INDUSTRY
IS A FEATURE IN THE BRIGHT PICTURE OF FUTURE HAPPINESS. The inhabitants of the
earth throughout the millennium
when the globe is to be covered with its first
beauty
are not to subsist without some measure of labour. They are to use the
ploughshare and the pruning hook; and this use is sufficient to show that the
ground will not then yield its fruits
except in return for the toil of the
husbandman. It seems to indicate how accurately the world will be put back into
its condition before defiled by sin--that a necessity for toiling should be
alleged or implied; though all that is painful or exhausting in labour must be
supposed to have ceased. We are greatly struck by the carefulness displayed
throughout the Bible
to put honour on industry
and to represent labour as in
the largest sense an appointment of God. The too common sup position is
that
labour was a curse which disobedience provoked
whereas labour was appointed
unto man while yet in the full enjoyment of the favour of his God. We are so
constituted
that labour is indispensable to our happiness
to the
strengthening of our faculties
and to the preservation of a wholesome tone in
our spirits. We know not whether the going to the armouries
and ransacking
them for the materials of the implements of agriculture
may not mark such
increase in the number of the inhabitants of the world
as would require
continued effort on the part of the husbandman to keep pace with the growing
demand
so that ploughshares and pruning hooks are not furnished fast enough
and swords and spears must be made to do their office. But we now proceed to
consider what seems given as the reason for this conversion of the instruments
of war into the implements of husbandry.
II. THERE WILL
CERTAINLY BE NO FURTHER USE FOR THE ARMS OF WAR--“Nation shall not lift up
sword against nation
neither shall they learn war any more.” It is Isaiah’s
assertion
that the cessation of war is to result from the general diffusion of
Christian principles. And there is no difficulty in tracing the necessary
connection between the sovereignty of Christ and the extinction of war; for the
tendency of the religion of Jesus is to bind the whole world in brotherhood.
III. WAR SHALL NOT
ONLY CEASE AS AN EMPLOYMENT
BUT ALSO AS A SCIENCE--“Neither shall they learn
war any more.” They shall not only enjoy the liberty of peace--for peace may
be
and too commonly is a season in which war is studied
and preparations are
made for future battles; they shall be so secure of peace being permanent
that
the arts of attack and defence will fall into oblivion
and the whole array of
military tactics pass from the world like the science of the necromancer
or
any other exploded and reprobated study. We find no hint in Scripture
but
altogether the reverse
that the profession of a soldier cannot harmonise with
godliness. The angel sent to the Roman centurion bore no message as to the
unlawfulness of his calling. But these admissions are quite in harmony with
what we have stated as to the condemnation of war
which is wound up in the
sentence that war is a science. That men should not merely have been roused by
sudden passion into the doing violence to one another
but that they should
actually have studied how best to effect the butchery of thousands
having
their schools and establishments in which numbers may be trained in the art of
destruction--this
of itself
presents such a picture of human depravity as
would serve for the painter who might desire to exhibit it in the darkest
possible colours. There is a great difference between a prophecy which should
assert the termination of war as an employment
and another which affirms its
termination as a science; since the former might only show the existence of a
restraining power
whereas the latter indicates such a forgetfulness or
renunciation of everything military as requires the supposing the human race
universally changed
and all the elements of discord eradicated from every
bosom. (H. Melvill
B. D.)
William Penn
The King of England strongly urged William Penn (the founder of
Pennsylvania)
out of the king’s great respect for his father
Admiral Penn
as
he was going out with many followers amongst known savages
to take out with
him sufficient troops which should be placed at his service. It was averred
that William Penn and his followers would speedily be placed in the war kettle
of the untutored Indians
if he did not go out well armed to protect himself
and his large colony. In the spirit of his Master
the Prince of Peace
he
declined to take any soldiers; he went open handed and unarmed to the red men!
When the Council of State was held
the red men believed in William Penn’s
professions of amity
and they always thereafter lived in peace! When the
Indians disagreed amongst their several tribes they frequently took their
differences to be settled “justly” by William Penn
or their “Father Onas
” as
they became accustomed to call him. (James Withers.)
War sometimes justifiable
A war undertaken in self-defence is natural and right
and under
the rights of self-defence must be included the protection of our countrymen in
distant lands and of our interests in the future as well as in the present. It
must be carried on with a serious mind
with a consistent purpose
and not
without the hope of benefiting other nations as well as ourselves; it can only
be justified by the event whether it leaves the world better off than it found
it. There are many evils for which war provides the only remedy
and we cannot
say that centuries of oppression are better than a struggle for independence.
The religion of Christ gives no sanction or encouragement to war. The
conscience of mankind acknowledges that while wars continue there is something
not altogether right in the world; and yet under given circumstances it may be
the duty of a nation to strike the blow; the greatest safety may be the
willingness to meet the greatest danger. (Prof. B. Jowett
D. D.)
The evils of war--loss of life
What a fearful loss of human life it entails! It is computed that
Alexander and Caesar caused
each of them
the death of two millions of the
human race. Bonaparte’s campaign in Russia carried death to five hundred
thousand human beings
and in the vast majority of that number death was
accompanied by the most awful sufferings. At Borodino in one day eighty
thousand were sacrificed amid the most horrid cruelties. The next day it was
found that a surface of about nine squares miles was covered with the killed
and wounded; the latter lying one upon another
destitute of assistance
weltering in their blood
uttering fearful groans
and beseeching any who
passed by to put an end to their excruciating torments. During the burning of
Moscow
twelve thousand wounded were in the hospitals; and almost all perished
in the flames. No tongue or pen can describe the horrors of the retreat.
“Multitudes of these desolate fugitives
” says Sir R.K. Porter
in his Narrative
of the Campaign in Russia
“lost their speech
others were seined with
frenzy
and many were so maddened by the extremes of pain and hunger that they
tore the dead bodies of their comrades into pieces
and feasted on the
remains.” The last Russian war cost this country a hundred thousand human
lives. Hundreds of thousands fell victims during the Franco-German war. In one
sortie from Metz four hundred wives were made widows
and upwards of a thousand
children fatherless
out of a single Prussian regiment in the course of an
hour. What barbarities are practised! What disastrous results follow! What
desolation to fertile and flourishing districts of country! What a blight shed
on commerce! What an increase of taxation! What corruption to public morals! It
is impossible to exaggerate
in conception or statement
the evils of war. (W.
Waiters.)
The enormous cost of war
When Napoleon’s army marched up towards Moscow
they burned every
house for one hundred and fifty miles. Our Revolutionary war cost the English
Government six hundred and eighty millions of dollars. The wars growing out of
the French Revolution cost England three thousand millions of dollars.
Christendom--or
as I might mispronounce it in order to make the fact more
appalling
Christendom--has paid in twenty-two years fifteen thousand million
dollars for battle. Those were the twenty-two years
I think
ending in 1820 or
thereabout. Edmund Burke estimated that the nations of thin world had expended
thirty-five thousand million dollars in war; but he did his ciphering before
our great American and European wars were plunged. He never dreamed that in
this land
in the latter part of this century
in four years
we should expend
in battle three thousand million dollars. (T. DeWitt Talmage
D. D.)
Enormous sacrifice of human life through war
In one battle
under Julius Caesar
four hundred thousand fell.
Under Xerxes
in one campaign
five millions were Slain. Under Jengispham
at
Herat
one million six hundred thousand were slain. At Nishar
one million
seven hundred and forty-seven thousand were slain. At the siege of Ostend
one
hundred and twenty thousand. At Acre three hundred thousand. At the siege of
Troy
one million eight hundred and sixteen thousand fell. The Tartar and
African wars cost one hundred and eighty million lives. The wars against the
Turks and the Saracens cost one hundred and eighty million lives. Added to all
these
the million who fell in our own conflict. Then take the fact that
thirty-five times the present population of the earth have fallen in battle. (T.
DeWitt Talmage
D. D.)
The greatest peace
The greatest peace can only be secured by the entire extinction
as speedily as possible
of the false Gospels of Materialism and Force. Empires
built on Force have never persisted. Military kingdoms must pass away. No
nation was ever more military than Rome; it was armed from head to foot; it was
a great fighting empire
and though it lasted long it had to go. The seven
Oriental empires that preceded Rome were military; they
too
have disappeared.
Permanence of empire depends on peace
social justice
liberty
and
brotherhood. (J. Clifford
D. D.)
Christian achier and war
There is no reason why a Christian soldier should not as
vehemently denounce war as a medical man attacks disease
as a minister does
sin. Success would mean in either ease an end of their work
but that in either
case were a consummation devoutly to be wished. The sooner the profession of
arms becomes unnecessary and impossible
the better for everybody. (H. P.
Hughes
M. A.)
Verse 5
O house of Jacob
come ye
and let us walk in the light of the
Lord
Mutual encouragement
I.
SYMPATHETIC
FELLOW FEELING. All who are anxious for their own welfare
desire the welfare
of others.
II. MUTUAL
PROGRESS. Two together are stronger than two apart. “Let us” A weak brother at
our side will not only get help but will afford us assistance.
III. APPRECIATIVE
KNOWLEDGE. “Let us walk in the light of the Lord.” The light is the place for
safety. Light is life
darkness is death.
IV. UNFAILING
PROVISION. “The light of the Lord.” God is the only source of light
but He is
an all-efficient source. He never can fail. God is light. (Homilist.)
An invitation to repentance
I. THIS IS
ISAIAH’S INVITATION TO HIS COUNTRYMEN TO REPENT. To feel the full force of his
appeal we must notice the connection of the text with its context.
1. The prophet commences by quoting (Isaiah 2:2-4) what is probably an ancient
prediction
quoted also by Micah (Micah 4:1-3). The people would doubt less
look eagerly for the fulfilment of this prophecy
so agreeable to their
national hopes. But no sign of its accomplishment was to be seen. They were
indeed enjoying in the reign of Uzziah a season of secular prosperity
but they
were far from being “established in the top of the mountains”; they were
surrounded by watchful foes
and certainly there were no signs of the long
foretold reign of peace.
2. The light of worldly prosperity had not brought them the
fulfilment of the prophecy of peace. Isaiah then bids them “walk in the light
of the Lord”; for
as he goes on to show
God had forsaken His people on
account of those sins which their prosperity had engendered. Therefore it was
that this prophecy was not fulfilled to them. Their very prosperity kept them
back from greater prosperity (verses 6-9).
3. But this state of things could not continue. If they refuse to
walk in the light of the Lord
He will not only withdraw the promised blessings
but will humble them by taking away the prosperity they already enjoyed (verses
10-21).
II. THE SITUATION
OF THE CHURCH OF GOD THUS DESCRIBED BY ISAIAH REMAINS ALMOST UNCHANGED TO THE
PRESENT DAY.
1. We still look for the time when “the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established in the top of the mountains
” and the promised “peace on
earth” shall be realised; but we see no sign of its immediate approach. The
Church still continues beset with foes
unable to stem the rising tide of rationalism
and unbelief; and certainly these are no signs of the long-foretold reign of
peace.
2. If we inquire why this is so
the answer is the same as it was in
the days of Isaiah. We do not
with a single eye
walk in the light of the
Lord. We enjoy a large measure of worldly prosperity. Science and secular
knowledge and useful arts make rapid progress
and in their light we walk
too
often forgetting that it is but a reflected radiance
borrowed from the one
source of all true light. If the Church makes some impression upon the world
the world also makes great inroads upon the Church.
3. But this state of things cannot last forever. Isaiah of old spake
of the day of the Lord
which would surely overtake His people if they
continued to follow their own inventions and to neglect God. A yet greater and
more terrible day of the Lord is at hand. In that day all the pride of our
modern civilisation
its wisdom and knowledge
will aid us no more than the
idols of silver and gold
unless withal we are found walking in the light of
the Lord. (A. K. Cherril
M. A.)
Walking in the light of the Lord
To “walk in the light of the Lord” implies--
I. THAT WE AVAIL
OURSELVES OF HIS REVELATION OF TRUTH.
II. THAT WE ORDER
THE COURSE OF OUR LIVES ACCORDING TO HIS EXAMPLE AND THE GUIDANCE OF HIS WORD
AND SPIRIT (Jeremiah 10:23).
III. PROGRESS. It
supposes that we leave behind our former darkness and sin
our slothfulness and
error
and march every day some distance on our road to eternal life.
IV. LIGHT INSPIRES
CHEERFULNESS AND JOY and if we “walk in the light of the Lord
” we must have
the only true happiness and peace. The truth of the Gospel is enough to cause
constant exultation. (Homilist.)
Walking in the light of the Lord
I. THE IMPORT OF
THE WORDS
“the light of the Lord.” There appears here to be an allusion to
that striking token of special guardianship which was vouchsafed to the
Israelites in the Shechinah as it appeared to the Church in the wilderness;
which
while it was the recognised token of special favour from God
indicated
also their course of movement. The expression “to walk in the light of the
Lord
” we regard--
1. As indicative of a cordial reception of His truth. Light is the
general emblem of knowledge; and there are many striking points of analogy
between religious knowledge and light. The phrase is applicable to the whole
body of Divine revelation
which may be viewed as the light of God
that breaks
forth
as it were
from His countenance: His countenance
which is the emblem
of His immaculate purity
as well as His infinite intelligence. He is said “to
dwell in the light which no man can approach unto.” And this is also
significant of the glory of revealed truth--it is the very light in which the
perfections of God stand manifested; the light that develops to us His secret
counsels
His plans of government
especially His plan of saving mercy; the
light
in allusion to which the prophet elsewhere speaks when he says
“Arise
shine
for thy light is come
” etc.
2. To “walk in the light of the Lord
” seems to imply the full
reception of all the blessings which the light revealed. And there is this idea
suggested in this view of the phrase
“the light of the Lord
” that there is an
inseparable connection between the truth of God and the favour of God. Whilst
the truth creates piety
the piety of the Church is to react on the Church and
preserve it from decline.
3. To “walk in the light of the Lord” implies the zealous prosecution
of all those duties which the light unfolds.
4. To “walk in the light of the Lord” is to walk in the calm
contemplation of the final fulfilment of prophecy.
II. THE MOTIVES OR
PRINCIPLES WHICH ENFORCE THIS EXHORTATION.
1. There is moral obligation
for what is moral obligation but
submission to the will of God--and to Him who is the Sovereign
we being the
subjects? Therefore it is incumbent on us to submit to
and to recognise His
will
to love His law
to mark His rule
and to feel all the force of the sanctions
appended to that rule. This may be very appropriately illustrated by the very
phrase itself: it is “the light of the Lord”--the light of Jehovah
sovereign
light; the light dispensed by Him for special purposes and the natural light
does not more clearly indicate its office than the moral light indicates the
special intentions of the God of heaven. This light is given for a special
purpose; it is directing light; and saving light; it regulates the degree of
personal as well as collective responsibility.
2. Then there is also obligation specially induced by conviction of
privilege. Privilege exists wherever light exists. There was nothing in the
Jewish Church which bore any comparison to the gift of religious truth to that
nation. Any nation that has the light of the Lord and the ability to use it
is
signally privileged
and attains the very altitude of human glory. All this is
not given us for vain glory; it is conferred that we might preach Christ and
bring the world under His government.
3. The blessings attendant on walking in the light of the Lord. There
is personal salvation
for instance
diffused to the very greatest possible
extent. Then
if you look at the subject simply in reference to Churches
there
is a very powerful motive; for
to “walk in the light of the Lord” is the sole
condition for retaining the light. (G. Steward.)
Walk in the light
From looking into the future Isaiah comes back to his work of
trying to amend the present. He neither wastes time in singing funereal dirges
over Israel’s decay
nor spends his life in useless reveries about the future.
He saw the sad present
and wept; he saw the bright future
and rejoiced; and
then set to work with heart and tongue to arouse the nation
crying
“O house
of Jacob
” etc. So let us all act.
I. THE SECRET
CAUSE OF THIS PEOPLE’S GUILT--moral and spiritual gloom. By implication
at
least
we learn from this text that moral darkness is the fruitful mother of
every species of iniquity. One master stroke of Paul’s pen gives the secret of
the sins of Rome in his day--“their foolish heart was darkened. The way of the
wicked
” says Solomon
“is as darkness.”
I. Let us dwell
upon the natural darkness of men--
2. This darkness is wilfully and wickedly incurred. If the “house of
Jacob” were ignorant of the character of God
this was their own fault
for God
had revealed Himself in manifold and marvellous ways. And if they had
sufficient light who dwelt in the dim dawn of revelation
what shall be said of
us who have the accumulated light of intervening centuries?
II. We have THE ONE
REMEDY DECLARED. “Walk in the light of the Lord.” Like all Divine remedies it
is striking in its simplicity.
1. Get into the light. Con version is the passing of the soul “out of
darkness into His marvellous light.” What is this light?
2. Make progress in the light. “Walk in the light.” Both the Old
Testament and the New speak of the daily life of the godly man as a walk
suggesting that it is to be a progressive life.
3. Associate with the children of light. “Let us walk in the
light of the Lord
” says Isaiah. He will not walk in the light alone
but will
seek the company of those like minded with himself. He will use his influence
to induce others to walk in the light with him. (W. Williams.)
The gentle strength of light
I have seen the sun with a little ray of distant light challenge
all the powers of darkness
and without violence and noise
climbing up the
hill
hath made night so retire that its memory was lost in the joys and
sprightliness of the morning. If physical light hath such gentle strength
how
much more hath spiritual. (Bp. Taylor.)
Walking in the light ensures ever-increasing revelation
That is the only preparation for further revelation. Walking in
the light
we shall receive increase of illumination; thankful for the morning
dawn
we shall see the noontide splendour; faithful in a little
we shall be
entrusted with much; honest children of the twilight
we shall yet see things
in their largest and grandest reality. If we do the will
we shall know the
doctrine. (J. Parker
D. D.)
Nations prosper as they walk in the light of the Lord
There is inscribed upon the pedestal of the statue of Samuel
Morley
late M.P. for Bristol
this sentence
quoted from a speech of his
that
tallies with the experience of every country
ancient or modern: “I believe
that the power of England is to be reckoned
not by her wealth or armies
but
the purity and virtue of the great mass of her population.” (F. Sessions.)
National religion
Religious Ideas alone have power to transform a nation’s
tendencies and actions. The religious idea is the very breath of humanity
--its
life
soul
conscience
and manifestation. (Mazzini.)
The light cure
Lately we have discovered a new method by which a terrible disease
can be cured. It is called the light method
and the cure is wrought by
concentrating upon the scarred and diseased form a powerful and peculiar light.
The effect of the light is so great that in time the disease is arrested and
the skin becomes healthy and natural. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
Best things seen in God’s light
Dr. Charles Berry said
in the last pastoral letter he wrote
“There are some things--the best things--that can only be seen when the lights
of life are turned low
and the light of God is left to shine alone.”
The limitations of earthly light
Clear and brilliant light often brings out exquisite colours
as
happens among the Alps and also in the north frigid zone
where the humble
little plants called lichens and mosses are in many cases dyed of the most
brilliant hues
purple and gold predominating. Warmth
in like manner
will
stimulate vegetable growth in the most astonishing manner
but it is growth not
necessarily accompanied by the secretion of valuable substances
such as give
quality and real importance to the plant. In English hot houses
for example
we have plenty of spice trees
those generous plants that yield cinnamon and
cassia
the nutmeg and the clove; but although healthy and blossoming freely
they never mature their aromatic secretions. Though they have artificial heat
equal to that of their native islands
which burn beneath the sun of the Indian
Ocean
we cannot supply them with similar and proportionate solar light. Our
cloudy skies shut us in from the full and direct radiance of the sunshine
and
wanting this
heat alone will not avail. (Scientific Illustrations and
Symbols.)
Verses 6-9
Therefore Thou hast forsaken Thy people
God never forsaken without good reason
“Therefore Thou hast forsaken Thy people.
” The term is logical God never forsakes His people in any whimsical way: He is
not a man
or a son of man
that He should treat His creatures arbitrarily
moodily
renew full of sunshine in relation to them
and now covered with great
clouds
without giving any reason for the change. It is a most noticeable
feature in Biblical revelation that when God forsakes men He gives the reason
for abandoning them. The reason is always moral. God never leaves man because
he is little
or weak
or self-distrustful
or friendless
or homeless
or
broken hearted; when God forsakes man it is because man has first forsaken Him
broken His laws
defied His sword
challenged His judgment
forsaken with
ungrateful abandonment the altar at which the life has received its richest
blessing. So
never let us neglect the word “therefore” in reading concerning
Divine judgments. God will never forsake the life that trusts Him. (J.
Parker
D. D.)
A forsaken people
Read: “for Thou hast cast off . . . they strike hands” (make
alliances) “with the children of strangers.” (A. B. Davidson
LL. D.)
God claims the sole sovereignty of the life
When we are forsaken it is because we have forsaken God. Is God to
be the companion of idols? Is the Lord to be invited into darkened rooms
that
He may be one of the deities of the universe
and take His place in order of
seniority or of nominal superiority? Is He to be invited to compete with the
fancies of the human brain for the sovereignty of human mind and the
arbitrament of human destiny? Herein He is a jealous God. “The Lord alone shaft
be exalted in that day.” If we make gods we must be content with the
manufactures which we produce; but we never can persuade the eternal God to sit
down with our wooden deities
and hold counsel with the inventions and fictions
of a diseased imagination. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” “If Baal
be God
serve him; if the Lord
serve Him.” (J. Parker
D. D.)
God had forsaken them as their Father and Friend
God had forsaken them as their Father and Friend
but He comes to
call them to account as their Judge. (Sir E. Strachey
Bart.)
A sad sequence: money leading to idolatry
Observe how the sequence runs: money in abundance: money will buy
horses
and horses stand for power: horses will need chariots
and chariots
mean dash
speed
ostentation--money
horses
chariots
can men end there? They
cannot; and given money
horses
chariots
without a corresponding
sanctification
without the inworking of that spirit of self-control which
expresses the action of the Holy Ghost
and you compel men to go farther and to
Fall their land with idols. The sequence cannot be broken Men may have money
horses
chariots
and the true God; but when men have money
horses
chariots
and no god that is true
they will make gods for themselves
for they must eke
out their ostentation by some sort of nominal piety. (J. Parker
D. D.)
Spiritual idolatry
Men will build churches; men must have religious rites and
ceremonies; and what can suit the worldly man better than an idol that takes no
notice of him
a wooden deity that never troubles him with its disciplinary
obligations. (J. Parker
D. D.)
An honoured yet God-forsaken people
I. The house of
Jacob is here honoured with the character of THE PEOPLE OF GOD. They were His
in a special manner
in consequence of His choosing them for His peculiar
people; redeeming them with a strong hand and stretched out arm; and entering
into covenant with them
so that they became His property
were called by His
name
and professedly devoted to His service.
II. Notwithstanding
this intimate connection
GOD HAD FORSAKEN THEM. He took off the restraining
influence of His providence
whereby He prevented their enemies from executing
their destruction; He removed the hedge of His kind protection
by which they
enjoyed the most agreeable safety. He withheld from them His gracious
direction
which had attended them In all their fortunes. The Most High hid
counsel from them
so that they groped at noon day. He withdrew from them His
Divine favour
which had long compassed them as a shield; He denied them His
gracious presence and Holy Spirit
which was the beauty and glory of their
assemblies
having In reserve for them the most awful temporal calamities. (R.
Macculloch.)
Verse 7
Their land also is full of silver and gold
An up-to-date inventory
There is something startlingly modern about this chapter; if you
sit down to analyse it
you feel that there is something startlingly up-to-date
about the Inventory.
What did this proud people make their boast about?
1. The abundance of their treasure; their land also is full of silver
and gold
neither is there any end of their treasures.
2. Their shipping and their active commerce all the ships of
Tarshish.
3. Their military equipment; “their land is also full of horses
neither is there any end of their chariots.”
4. Their natural defences; “all the high mountains
all the hills that
are lifted up.”
5. Their artificial defences; “every high tower
every fenced wall.”
6. The wealth of their timber; “all the cedars of Lebanon
all the
oaks of Bashan.”
7. They boasted even of the treasures of their art; “all pleasant
pictures.” (J. H.Jowett
M. A.)
Gold may shut out the vision of God
An old proverb runs
“The sixpence in the man’s eye prevented him
from seeing the sovereign at the end of his nose.” And some men allow the
passion money to become so all-absorbing that the coin fills all their vision
and shuts out God and His heaven. (W. C. Bonner.)
Verse 8
Their land also is full of idols
Idols
The philosophic theory of polytheism is “one centre
many
emanations.
” Iamblicus and Porphyry defend it on this line against the monotheism of early
Christianity. Hermes Trismegistus
according to St. Augustine
says the
Egyptians regarded images as being merely the bodies of the gods. In India
there may be seen any day of the week the ceremony of praying a spirit of
Vishnu or of Shiva Into a statue
or into a symbolic stone
by the Brahmin
priest. The priestly theory is one of “consubstantiation
” like the Lutheran
theory of the Eucharist
the difference being between the spiritual indwelling
in material bread and material wine In the one case
and material wood and
stone in the other. The gods
thus made visible to the common people
are
endowed
by the popular consent
with human passions and human prejudices. Each
represents one or more of these human propensities. Some are emblems of the
reproductive powers of nature--fertilizers of the flocks and fields. Their
worship
pure at the first possibly
became beyond all telling
licentious and
abominable. (F. Sessions.)
Verse 9
The mean man
The mean man
“Mean” there does not mean selfish or stingy
but the man between
two extremes
the mean
average
ordinary man.
The mean man and the great man are both bowing--what are they bowing to?
Something beneath them; they have lost the sense of their dignity
and they
have forgotten that they are kings
and now they are bowing down to things that
they ought to control. (J. H. Jowett
M. A.)
Verse 10
Enter into the rock and hide thee in the dust
The sinner’s ignominy before the manifestation of God’s glory
No other course is now left open for them but to follow the
sarcastic command of the prophet: “Creep into the rock
and bury thyself in the
dust
before the dread look of Jehovah
and before the glory of His majesty!”
The nation that was supposed to be a glorious one shall and must creep away and
hide itself ignominiously
when the glory of God which it had rejected
but
which alone is true glory
is judicially manifested.
It must conceal itself in holes of the rocks as if from a host of foes ( 6:2; 1 Samuel 13:6; 1 Samuel 14:11)
and bury themselves
with their faces in the sand
as from the deadly simoom of the desert
that
they may but avoid the necessity of enduring this intolerable sight. (F.
Delitzsch
D. D.)
Verse 11
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled . . . the Lord alone shall
be exalted in that day
Man humbled and Christ exalted
The day may be very properly applied to any of those days when the
Lord abases the pride of guilty man
or when He makes His presence felt by the
power of His Spirit upon the heart; for it is then the lofty looks of man are
humbled; it is then the haughtiness of man is bowed down
and the Lord is
exalted in the heart.
What other than this is God’s object in the Gospel? It is definitely that self
may be humbled
and Christ exalted.
I. Let us look at
some points on which MEN ARE APT TO BE LIFTED UP and to bolster themselves up
in their pride and self-sufficiency.
1. They hold that they have natural ability to understand the Word of
God. What saith the Scripture upon this point? (1 Corinthians 2:11
etc.) How many
take up the Word of God to read it just as they would any other book
forgetting its character--forgetting its object! They read it merely to know
not in order to be. Whereas the value of the Book is
that it is to tell upon
man’s character. It is to make him altogether a new creature in Christ Jesus.
2. Another point of deep importance is the opinion which men have
with respect to their power to save themselves. It is not that they think that
they can actually blot out their sins
or that they can perfectly keep God’s
law; but they
in imagination
strike a kind of balance between their good and
bad deeds. They think that there is something good in what they do
and that
what they fail in Christ will make up; and the consequence is
there is no real
humiliation before God while this idea lasts.
3. The foolish thoughts men have of the character of God
as if He
were such an one as themselves. You will often hear men speak of what they
conceive the justice of God to be
without attending in the smallest degree to
the declarations which He makes of Himself in His Holy Word. They speak as
though they thought the difference between themselves and God
who is holy
is
one of degree merely
and not of nature. They put on one side altogether the
fact that God is a Spirit
and that they themselves are carnal
and they speak
as if morality would fit a man for heaven
utterly ignoring the words of the
Lord
“Except a man be born again
he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Men
indeed
form their own opinions; but remember the way in which God speaks of
it: “Thou thoughtest that I was such an one as thyself; but I will reprove
thee.”
II. Now
all these
mistaken views are so many sources of pride in men; but when the Holy Spirit
comes into the heart in power
they ARE BOWED DOWN AND HUMBLED BEFORE GOD. One
of the effects produced by the Holy Spirit
when He comes upon a man’s heart
is to make him consider his ways. He looks to himself and sees nothing but sin;
that there is not one single ground of hope; and when the Holy Spirit has
graciously brought him to this point
then He shows him the salvation of
Christ. And then in this exaltation of the Lord Jesus comes the true abasement
of the man himself. Lessons--
1. The object of all God’s dispensations is to humble us
and to
bring us down to the feet of Christ.
2. The nature of true faith. It is humility; it is dependence; it is
coming down from all self-confidence; it is resting upon another
and that
Christ alone. (J. W. Reeve
M. A.)
God exalted
1. By entertaining elevating apprehensions of His infinite majesty
and exercising suitable affections towards Him--fearing Him who pours contempt
upon princes
trusting in Him in whom is everlasting strength
and loving Him
in whose favour there is life.
2. By celebrating the praises of His Divine excellencies with
gratitude and joy.
3. By such conduct as may give the most sensible and lively
representation of God--beginning
carrying on
and ending all their businesses
in Him; making His love the principle
His law the rule
and His glory the end
of all their actions. (R. Macculloch.)
Humility
Life is a long lesson in humility. (J. M. Barrie.)
Verses 12-17
The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud
and lofty
Scepticism discomfited by Christ’s advent
I.
Among
THE CAUSES OF THE SPIRIT OF RELIGIOUS SCEPTICISM there are--
1. An early habit of spiritual negligence.
2. A state of exaggerated and credulous belief.
II. Consider THE
INSEPARABLE CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH A STATE
whatever be the peculiar causes out
of which it springs.
1. He who is in suspense about the truth of the Gospel cannot pray.
“He that cometh to God must believe that He is.” He who feels that he has
sinned
and that God is holy
knows that he needs a mediator; and he that would
trust in a mediator must believe that He is.
2. He cannot resist sin. He who is in suspense about the truth of
Christ’s Gospel is as weak as he who denies it
yea
weaker. For the other
knows that he is thrown upon the resources of his own unaided strength
and he
summons them all together for his support. But the man who doubts is a divided
man. He has cast off his other armour; and this
the armour of God
he cannot
take
for he has not proved it.
III. THINK WHAT THE
ADVENT WILL BE TO SUCH A MIND. The day of the Lord of hosts will be “upon” it
and will bring it low. We inquired whether there was a day coming; and behold
it is come. While we inquired and reasoned and speculated
He of whom we
doubted was carrying on His judgment upon us. (C. J. Vaughan
D. D.)
The day of the Lord
The flood
the destruction of Sodom
the invasion of Judaea in the
reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah
the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar or by
Titus
were held by the Jewish prophets and preachers--as the like national
crises in ancient and in modern history have ever been held by Christian philosophers
and historians--to be “days of the Lord
” in which He has come to judge the
earth; and partial anticipations of the last judgment of the world. (Sir E.
Strachey
Bart.)
The day of the Lord and the majestic beauty of nature
(Isaiah 2:13-14):--Has this language a
merely figurative meaning?. . .In order to understand the prophet we must bear
in mind what sacred Scripture assumes throughout
that all nature is joined
with man to form one common history; that man and the whole world of nature are
inseparably connected as centre and circumference; that this circumference
likewise is under the influence of the sin which proceeds from man
as well as
under the wrath and the grace which proceed from God to man; that the judgments
of God
as proved by the history of nations
bring a share of suffering to the
subject creation
and that this participation of the lower creation in the
corruption and the glory of man will come into special prominence at the close
of this world’s history
as it did at the beginning; and lastly
the world in
its present form
in order to become an object of the unmixed good pleasure of
God
stands as much in need of a regeneration ( παλλιγγενεσία) as the
corporeal part of man himself. In accordance with this fundamental view of the
Scriptures
therefore
we cannot wonder that
when the judgment of God goes
forth upon Israel
it extends to the land of Israel
and
along with the false
glory of the nation
overthrows everything glorious in surrounding nature which
has been forced to minister to the national pride and love of display
and to
which the national sin adhered in many ways. What the prophet predicts was
already actually beginning to be fulfilled in the military inroads of the
Assyrians. The cedar forest of Lebanon was being unsparingly shorn; the hills
and vales of the country were trodden down and laid waste
and
during the
period of the world’s history
beginning with Tiglath-Pileser
the holy land
was being reduced to a shadow of its former predicted beauty. (F. Delitzsch.)
The Lord of hosts
All the creatures in the universe are the hosts or armies of
Jehovah; angels
who excel in strength; the sun
the moon
and the stars; the
thunder and the lightning; the wind
the hail
and the rain; the storm and the
tempest; the most insignificant insects
such as the flies and the
caterpillars; yea
the sand of the sea and the dust of the earth. (R.
Macculloch.)
The day of the Lord upon the proud and lofty
Is it personal strength
vigour
and firmness of constitution with
which he is elated? Though he be among the sons of the mighty
strong as the
children of Anak
the weakness of God is stronger than men; before the
Almighty
he is only as a grasshopper
and is easily crushed as the moth. Is it
courage and fortitude which hath rendered him valiant
and made his heart as
the heart of a lion? He who saith to them that are of a fearful heart
Be
strong
can quickly deprive him of his courage
and render him timorous and
faint-hearted
so as to tremble at the shaking of a leaf. Is it riches which
are reckoned a strong tower
a defence
and the sinews of strength! The day of
the Lord shall blow upon them
and they shall pass away as the flower of the
field
or an eagle flying toward heaven. Is it honour and renown that hath lift
him up to the pinnacle of earthly glory? God
who overthroweth the mighty
shall bring down all that dignity
on account of which he highly valued
himself
and reduce him to the most humiliating condition. History
sacred and
profane
confirms the truth of this prediction. (R. Macculloch.)
Man humiliated
Zedekiah
King of Judah
deprived of his royal dignity
of his
sons
who were slain before his eyes
and then of his eyesight
was bound in
fetters of brass
and carried to Babylon.. Bajazet
the Emperor of Turkey
was
bound with fetters of gold
by the victorious Tamerlane
and carried along with
him in his march through Asia
in an iron cage
as an object of ridicule. Henry
V
Emperor of Germany
was reduced to such poverty
that he went to the great
church which he himself had built at Spires
begging the place of a chorister
to keep him from starving. (R. Macculloch.)
Ships of Tarshish
Ships of Tarshish are deep sea ships. Possibly Tartessus
west of
the straits of Gibraltar. (A. B. Davidson
LL. D.)
Verse 16
Pleasant pictures
The proper use of art
Sir Joshua Reynolds wisely
stated the canon for artists when
referring to the choice of subjects
he said.
“No subject can be proper that is not generally interesting. It ought to be
either some eminent instance of heroic action or heroic suffering. There must
be something
either in the action or in the object
in which men are
universally concerned
and which publicly strikes upon the public sympathy.”
They who are not content to copy what is ignoble
or reproduce what is
insignificant--who use art to expound and apply the teaching of God in nature
and revelation--who design to address the heart
and so elevate the
imaginations and judgments of men
are benefactors of their race--ministers at
the altar of truth and righteousness. The work of such artists can be regarded
as eminently sacred. (J. H. Hitchens
D. D.)
The far-reaching influence of art
The preacher’s voice must be occasionally silenced by weariness
and ultimately hushed by death; but the artist’s pictures continue to tell
their own tale
and enforce their own lessons to all spectators
night and day
so long as they may be preserved. The author’s book
upon the loftiest possible
theme
can be read only by those who are familiar with the language in which it
is written
and among the would-be readers will be some who
being unaccustomed
to the laws of thought
will lay the book aside as uninteresting; but pictures
are biographies
histories
homilies
poems which
without words
can be
studied at a glance. (J. H. Hitchens
D. D.)
Pictures
Pictures are by some relegated to the realm of the trivial
accidental
sentimental
or worldly
but the text shows that God scrutinises
pictures
and whether they are good or bad
whether used for right or wrong
purposes
is a matter of Divine observation and judgment. (T. DeWitt
Talmage
D. D.)
The prostitution of art
That the artist’s pencil and the engraver’s knife have sometimes
been made subservient to the kingdom of evil is frankly admitted. After the
ashes and sconce were removed from Herculaneum and Pompeii the walls of those
cities discovered to the explorers a degradation in art which cannot be
exaggerated. Satan and all his imps have always wanted the fingering of the
easel; they would rather have possession of that than the art of printing
for
types are not so potent and quick for evil as pictures. (T. De Witt Talmage
D. D.)
Bad pictures should be avoided
Pliny the elder lost his life by going near enough to see the
eruption of Vesuvius
and the further you can stand off from the burning crater
of sin
the better. Never till the books of the Last Day are opened shall we
know what has been the dire harvest of evil pictorials and unbecoming art
galleries. Despoil a man’s imagination and he becomes a moral carcase. The show
windows of English and American cities in which have sometimes hung long lines
of brazen actors and actresses in style insulting to all propriety
have made a
broad path to death for multitudes of people. (T. De Witt Talmage
D. D.)
The value of Bible pictures
I refer to your memory and mine when I ask if your knowledge of
the Holy Scriptures has not been mightily augmented by the woodcuts or
engravings in the old family Bible
which father and mother read out of
and
laid on the table in the old homestead when you were boys and girls. The Bible
scenes which we all carry in our minds were not gotten from the Bible typology
but from the Bible pictures. To prove the truth of it in my own case
the other
day I took up the old family Bible which I inherited. Sure enough
what I have
carried in my mind of Jacob’s ladder was exactly the Bible engraving of Jacob’s
ladder; and so with Samson carrying off the gates of Gaza; Elisha restoring the
Shunamite son; the massacre of the innocents; Christ blessing little children;
the Crucifixion
and the Last Judgment. My idea of all these is that of the old
Bible engravings which I scanned before I could read a word. (T. De Witt
Talmage
D. D.)
Gustave Dore’s pictures
In 1833 forth from Strasburg
Germany
there came a child that was
to eclipse in speed and boldness and grandeur anything and everything that the
world had seen since the first colour appeared on the sky at the creation
Paul
Gustave Dore. At eleven years of age he published marvellous lithographs of his
own. Saying nothing of what he did for Milton’s Paradise Lost
emblazoning it
on the attention of the world
he takes up the Book of books
the monarch of
literature
the Bible
and in his pictures “The Creation of Light
” “The Trial
of Abraham’s Faith
” “The Burial of Sarah
” “Joseph Sold by his Brethren
” “The
Brazen Serpent
” “Boaz and Ruth
” “David and Goliath
” “The Transfiguration
”
“The Marriage in Cana
” “Babylon Fallen
”--two hundred and five Scriptural
scenes in all
--and that with a boldness and grasp and almost supernatural
afflatus that make the heart throb
and the brain reel
and the tears start
and the cheeks blanch
and the entire nature quake with the tremendous things
of God and eternity and the dead. I actually staggered down the steps of the
London Art Gallery under the power of Dore’s “Christ Leaving the Praetorium.”
Profess you to be a Christian man or woman
and see no Divine mission in art
and acknowledge you no obligation either in thanks to God or man? (T. De
Witt Talmage
D. D.)
Verse 18
And the idols He shall utterly abolish
The cessation of idolatry
In heathen systems of religion
God and nature are not kept
distinct.
His personality
also
is confounded. The fears and hopes of idolaters are
projected into deities. Two things are necessary to destroy idolatry in this
its grossest form.
I. THE PREVALENCE
OF THE WORD OF GOD.
1. Within its pages God and nature are carefully distinguished and
separated.
2. Here His personality is clearly presented.
3. Here commands against idolatry are fully and solemnly promulgated.
4. Here the true God is set forth in all the glorious attributes that
constitute His character
allegiance is commanded
service demanded
and every
soul held to a strict accountability.
II. THE PREVALENCE
OF THE CHRISTIAN CIVILISATION.
1. The Bible is indispensable. Heathen science is insufficient to
deliver men from idolatry
as witness Rome and Greece.
2. Mere science is in danger of becoming materialistic or agnostic.
3. Science needs to be vitalised by the Bible
the moral law
and
conscience.
Reflections--
1. Science is the handmaid of the Bible.
2. There can be no contradiction between the work of God and the Word
of God.
3. It is the duty of every Christian to assist in the circulation of
the Bible
to the end that every idol on the face of the earth may be speedily
destroyed. (Homiletic Review.)
The evils of idolatry and the means of its abolition
The progress of Christianity in the world has already been so
great and wonderful as to carry evidence of its Divine original
and of its
promised final triumph over every false religion.
I. THE EVIL TO BE
ABOLISHED. Idolatry. It has been commonly and very properly distinguished as of
two kinds
literal and spiritual. Spiritual idolatry is an evil which
by the
apostasy of our nature
attaches to all mankind
whether inhabiting Christian
or pagan regions
except those individuals whose hearts have experienced a
renovation by the Spirit of God. It is to literal idolatry that the prophet
refers in the text--this the connection shows
where mention is made of those
idols of silver and gold which the converted idolaters would cast away. The
progress of Christianity was
from the first
marked by the cessation of idol
worship. There are two principal points of view in which we may regard the evil
nature and effects of idolatry--its aspect toward God and its aspect toward
man. In the former aspect
it appears as a crime; in the latter as a calamity:
thus contemplated
it appears as an evil destructive equally to the Divine
glory and to human happiness. Man naturally tends to this evil; and one
generation after another gradually accumulated the follies of superstition
till it reached the monstrous extreme of gross idolatry.
1. The Word of God everywhere reprobates idolatry as an abominable
thing which the soul of God abhors. To provide against it was the principal
object in the political and municipal department of the Mosaic law. It is
expressly prohibited by the first and second commandments of the moral law. The
golden calf was intended as a representative of the God of Israel; and the
calves set up by Jeroboam were the same: yet the worship of the golden calf
occasioned the slaughter
by the Divine command
of three thousand persons; and
the executioners of Divine vengeance were extolled for having forgotten the
feelings of nature toward their nearest kindred: every man was commanded to
slay his brother or his son
and so to consecrate himself to the Lord. Where
the honour of God was so deeply concerned
men were to lose sight of common
humanity. When the Israelites were tempted by the artifices of Balaam to commit
idolatry at Baal Peer
twenty-four thousand were slain at once; the memory of
Phinehas was immortalised on account of the holy zeal he displayed in the
destruction of certain conspicuous offenders; and the Moabites were devoted to
extermination
because
in this respect
they had proved a snare to Israel.
Idolatry is
with respect to the government of God
what treason or rebellion
is with respect to civil government. It is the setting up of an idol in the
place of the supreme Power; an affront offered to that Majesty
in which all
order and authority is combined and concentred
and which is the fountain of
all social blessings. Idolatry is an evil which taints every apparent virtue;
because it destroys the soul of duty
which is conformity to the Divine
command.
2. But we turn to contemplate idolatry on another side; in its aspect
toward man
its influence on society. The apostle Paul informs us (Romans 1:19-25) that God hath shown to
men what may be known concerning Himself; that His invisible Being
His eternal
power and Godhead
may be clearly seen and understood by the works of creation;
so that those are without excuse who have changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image in the likeness of corruptible man
of birds
and beasts and reptiles. They are without excuse; their conduct admits of no
apology. The origin of all the atrocities they committed is to be found in
aversion to God; dislike of the spirituality and purity of His character; a
desire
like Cain
to retire from the presence of their Maker; a wish to forget
a Being whose character they knew to be utterly uncongenial with their own.
This disposition originally led men to substitute idols for God. Those idols
would
of course
be conceived of a character unlike that of God.
II. We must now
advert to a brighter scene
presented by the prophet
when he assures us that
JESUS CHRIST (of whom he is speaking) WILL UTTERLY ABOLISH IDOLATRY
and sweep
it from the face of the earth with the “besom of destruction” In sending the
Gospel to the heathen
you offer
as it were
the holy incense
like Moses
when
he interposed between God and the perishing Israelites: you stand
like him
between the dead and the living
--the dead and the living for eternity!--and
you stay the plague! No sooner did Christianity appear
than its formidable
power
as the opponent of idolatry
was felt and manifested. Preaching
an
instrument so unpromising in the view of carnal reason
has been the chief
instrument employed in producing these moral revolutions. (Robt. Hall.)
The downfall of idolatry
I wish to invite your attention to some of the reasons which
induce me to believe that the heathen kingdoms of this world are to become the
kingdoms of our God and of His Christ.
I. Consider
in
the first place
THE LIGHT IN WHICH IDOLATRY IS REGARDED BY GOD. I am sometimes
asked
“Why do you unsettle the religious convictions of a highly civilised
people like the Chinese? Is not the Supreme Governor of the universe pleased
with the homage of His rational creatures when proceeding from sincere
devotion
whether according to the one mode or the other
of the various
religions which He has permitted to be published?” Lord Macartney
the first
ambassador to China
in writing to the Chinese emperor
gave this as a reason
why the English never attempted to dispute or disturb the worship of others.
But in whatever light idolatry is regarded by man
we know that it is a thing
on which God cannot look with indifference. When we see idolatry associated
with immorality and inhumanity
our instincts are naturally shocked
but where
such is not the case
even the missionary finds it difficult to think and feel
rightly in regard to it. The spiritual idolatry within us has so distorted our
intellectual vision and perverted our spiritual taste that it requires an
effort to see the literal idolatry in all its hideous deformity and feel
towards it as we ought. The whole of heathendom is under the dominion of the
prince of this world
and he and his angels are the powers worshipped by the
heathen
however little they themselves may be aware of the fact. The whole
fabric of heathenism has been reared under the inspiration of the spirit of
darkness
and it is he that sits as God in that vast temple
calling himself
God
and receiving oblations
sacrifice
and adoration from his deluded
votaries. God sees in idolatry not weakness only
but also sin
positive sin
in its nature God-opposing and soul-destroying. It is an attempt to rob Him of
that glory
which is peculiarly His own
and to confer it on the creature. But
if this is the light in which God regards idolatry
we may rationally infer
that the abomination will not be permitted to pollute the world forever.
II. My faith in THE
FINAL TRIUMPH OF TRUTH in the progress of the race tends to produce this
conviction in my mind. At the commencement of the Christian era the Sun of
Righteousness began to scatter the thick darkness with His beams. For some time
it rose higher and higher
and thousands were rejoicing in the Divine light
which promised speedily to fill the whole earth with life and gladness. But
these hopes were no sooner raised than dashed to the ground. Two dark clouds
rose between the nations and the sun
which
lowering and spreading
enveloped
them in more than Egyptian darkness. These were the Papacy and Mohammedanism.
It is estimated that more than eight hundred millions
or about two-thirds of
the human family
are idolaters today. But matters shall not remain in this
state forever. The light is greater than the darkness; the truth of heaven is
mightier than the falsehood of hell
and God is infinitely stronger than the
devil. There may be occasionally something like a retrograde movement; the
retrogression is only in appearance. The onward course of the race has been
compared to that of a ship making way against the breeze; it consists of a
series of movements
each of which seems to bear her away from the true
direction
yet
in fact
brings her nearer and nearer to the destined haven.
But if the race is progressing
and is ultimately to realise the object of its
existence
idolatry must pass away. You cannot conceive of such a thing as the
progress of the race along with the existence of idolatry. (Griffith John.)
The gods and goddesses of mythology
Homer
the first who appears to have composed a regular picture of
idolatry
paints his Jupiter
or supreme deity
as deficient in every Divine
attribute; in omnipotence
in justice
and even in domestic peace. He paints
Juno as the victim of eternal jealousy; and with good reason for her jealousy
when the earth was peopled
according to Homey
with the illegitimate progeny
of Jupiter
to whom almost every hero traced his pedigree. Mars was the
personification of rage and violence; Mercury
the patron of artifice and them.
How far such a mythology influenced the character of its votaries
it is
perhaps impossible for us to know: nothing could be more curious than to look
into the mind of a heathen. But it is certain that the mind must have been
exceedingly corrupted by the influence of such a creed: and probably each
individual idolater would be influenced by the deity whose character happened
to be most accommodated to his own peculiar passions. Achilles would emulate
Mars in ferocity and deeds of blood; Ulysses would be like Mercury in craft and
stratagem; While the ambitious mind of Alexander or Julius Caesar would aspire
to act a Jupiter on earth. What a state of society must that be
in which no
vice
no crime could be perpetrated that was not sanctioned by the very objects
of religious worship! What a religion that which exerted an antagonist force against
conscience itself!--a religion which silenced or perverted the dictates of the
moral sense
the thoughts that should either accuse or excuse us within! The
temples of Venus
we are informed
wore crowded by a thousand prostitutes
as
servants and representatives of that licentious goddess; the very places of
their worship were the scenes of their vices
and seemed as if they were
designed to consecrate the worst part of their conduct! (Robt. Hall.)
Destroying an idol
Two young men owned and supported a Hindu temple in a village
named Rammakal Cooke. Both
becoming Christians
determined after much prayer
to destroy the idol which had previously been worshipped in the temple. When
they went to carry out their intention
a vast concourse assembled to hinder
them. One of them brought out the idol
and lifting it up
asked if anyone
would maintain its cause. The bold words awed the crowd
and then was heard the
voice of a woman
saying
“Victory
victory to Jesus Christ.” Others took up
the cry. The idol was broken
the temple destroyed. (J. Vaughan.)
J.G. Paton’s success among idol worshippers
After the sinking of the well by Paten on Aniwa
and the discovery
of water in answer to prayer
the chief
Namakei
in a striking address
declared for Jehovah. That very afternoon he and several others brought their
idols to the mission house. Intense excitement followed. For weeks
company
after company came
and
with tears
sobs
or shouts
laid down their cherished
idols in heaps
again and again repeating
“Jehovah!” (Sunday School
Chronicle.)
Verse 19
And they shall go into the holes of the rocks
No escape from the judgments of God
They shall vainly seek to escape
as unarmed peasants or women fly
into the nearest cave or hole when they hear the hoofs of some plundering tribe
of Edom or Ishmael from the desert; but the judgment of Jehovah shall reach
them
as the earthquake (then
as now
not uncommon in Judaea) would bring down
the reck on him who sought refuge in it.
(Sir E. Strachey
Bart.)
For fear of the Lord
The fear of the Lord
1. It is some alleviation of a man’s misfortune
if he knows the
worst of it. For the apprehension of evil is sometimes worse than the evil
itself. But this rule holds good only in temporal evils.
2. In the present state of things
men can harden their hearts
against all the threatenings and terrors of the Lord: and have so accustomed
themselves to dispute and disbelieve everything which is supernatural
that the
concerns of another world make but faint impressions upon them.
3. The great foundation
therefore
on which the substance of our
religion is built
is the belief of that day when God shall call men to an
account for all the works which they have done in this life
and shall deal
with them according to the promises and threatenings of His own word.
4. The way not to be afraid of the wrath of God then
is to stand in
awe of it now.
5. He hath declared that He hath an extraordinary indignation at
proud men
i.e.
such as have no regard for His laws
and that He will
one day effectually humble them.
6. When we fear God as a merciful and gracious Father
we live easy
in His family
and rejoice in His presence; but a guilty fear causes us to fly
from
Him like our first parent
dreading Him as justly provoked to be
angry with us
and ready to execute His threatened judgments upon us.
7. “The fear of the Lord
” says Solomon
“is the beginning of
wisdom”; and I will venture to add
that it is the end of it too: for a man can
never be denominated wise without this fear; whenever he lays it aside
he
certainly plays the fool.
8. There is no man who
by daily reading and hearing of God’s Word
keeps the rule of his life in his eye
but must see that he has manifold
reasons to be humbled for not acting up to it.
9. And as horrible fear
so shall shame and confusion of face be the
portion of all those who will not now be restrained by a virtuous modesty from
offending against God.
10. Let us
then
wisely make choice of these restraints in due
season
and keep up their influence so strong in our minds
that no sinful
temptation
even in the closest retirement and most secret corner
may ever be
able to prevail against them. (W. Reading
M. A.)
Verse 20
In that day a man shall cut his idols of silver
The return to God: idols cast away
The most beautiful sight on God’s earth is a man turning home
again to God.
What will happen when he comes back? “They shall fling their idols to the bats
and to the moles.” Blind as a mole
blind as a bat
and the idols have to go to
them. The man discovers that the thing by which he has been led is itself a
blind thing
and he flings it to blind things
to the moles and the bats. He
sees that the thing is blind: which means that he has recovered his own sight
and therefore Malachi says
“They shall return and discern.” When they come
back they shall see--see what things are
and what things are not
and no
longer shall they be seduced. Their lands shall still be full of silver and
gold. I have no wish for my country to be poor. But
when we have said that
we
shall be able to alter the other phrase. No longer shall we say
“The land is full
of silver and gold
the land is full of idols”; but this shall be the refrain
“The land is full of silver and gold
the glory of the Lord filleth the land as
the waters cover the sea” (J. H. Jowett
M. A.)
Verse 22
Cease ye from man.
The Septuagint omits this verse. (R. V. margin.)
Man’s insignificance and God’s supremacy
Two things are indispensable to undisturbed tranquillity of mind
namely
humble and distrustful views of ourselves
and supreme and unfaltering
reliance on God. So long as a man depends on his own wisdom
power
and
goodness
he must be disquieted and unhappy. We can attain to substantial quiet
only when we feel that our dependence is on a Being omnipotent
independent
and supreme
as well as abundant in truth and love (Isaiah 26:3). To produce in us this
two-fold feeling is the constant aim of Holy Scripture. The grand scheme of
redemption is founded on the principle here laid down. Man is sinful
ignorant
impotent to good
and of himself inclined only to evil
and that continually.
God
in His infinite mercy
wisdom
and power
hath provided the only means by
which he can be restored to holiness
to the favour of his God
and to life
everlasting. But while there is in all religiously instructed people a
readiness to concede to Christ the merit of salvation
there is too much
disposition to rely upon ourselves and our own arrangements for success in
temporal and physical things
and to claim the merit of it if we do succeed.
There are various things that have a tendency to produce within us a feeling of
self-dependence
and lead to the ignoring of the Divine power and efficiency.
There is in us too often an idolatry of human agency and natural or artificial
instrumentalities
and too often these occupy in our souls the place of God. In
the order of nature causes produce their legitimate effects
so that if we can
secure certain antecedents we feel confident of corresponding results. To use
all wisdom and discretion in the use of means is a plain duty. But the
difficulty with us is
that in our reliance on secondary agencies we too often
leave God out of the account. We forget that He is above all means
that He can
work without them
or He can frustrate all our means and all our best-concerted
plans. There is nothing that men are more disposed to confide in than
superiority of intellect. Yet God has given us reasons sufficient to abate our
idolatry of human talent. For--
1. The largest capacity of man is really very small. Knowledge with
all men is very limited
even in those that know the most.
2. Men of great capacity and uncommon attainments seldom
perhaps
never
bear to be examined very closely. If one excel in one thing he is
deficient in another. Sir Isaac Newton
great as he was in science and
philosophy
failed in the common affairs of life. Laplace
whose extensive
range of thought took in the whole mechanism of the planetary universe
did not
at all justify the high opinion formed of him by Napoleon
when he
at
the emperor’s invitation
undertook the business of the statesman.
3. Men of the largest pretensions to mind have been and are still
guilty of the puerile
the absurd
the degrading crime of idolatry. E.g.
Plato
Aristotle
Socrates
modern Hindoos.
4. The comparatively few specimens of unsullied
religious character.
5. We see in the record which God has given of His dealings with our
race
a series of illustrations of man’s inefficiency and God’s supremacy. He
has seldom used the means to accomplish an end that man would have selected or
supposed. Egypt saved from perishing by a seven years’ famine by a young
falsely accused slave
wrongfully cast into prison. Naaman. Deliverance of
Israel from the Midianites ( 7:1-25). Destruction of Spanish Armada
Waterloo
etc.
Lessons--
Ceasing from man
I. CEASE YE FROM
EXPECTING TOO GREAT PERFECTION IN MAN. Many are sadly mistaken on this point.
They have higher ideas of the excellency of human nature than the Word of God
warrants. It is sad that our experience of life should chill its generous
sympathies
and that the heart should become cold and selfish as our knowledge
of mankind increases. We ought so to live that the more we become acquainted
with human wickedness
the more our compassionate feelings should be enlarged;
and that person has a Christian spirit whose experience of man’s depravity and
love for man have increased in the same ratio.
II. THE RULE OF OUR
TEXT WILL APPLY ALSO TO CHRISTIANS. Cease from expecting perfection in them.
1. The Bible teaches us to regard a Christian as different from
others only as the man recovering from disease differs from one who is still
under its full power
not as one in perfect health and strength.
2. As Christians we may learn to cease from expecting too much from
our fellow Christians.
3. We should cease
too
from making any fellow Christian our model
or measuring our faith by his faithfulness.
4. And let us cease from expecting too much from Christian
friendship. Christ was forsaken by the twelve
and at St. Paul’s first answer
before the Roman emperor
no man stood with him
but all forsook him.
III. CEASE YE FROM
THE FEAR OF MAN is another appropriate application of the text.
1. The Word of God warns us against this. Who can say that he pursues
just that path which conscience approves without being drawn aside by the fear
of man? And how strong is the antidote to such a fear which the text presents!
His breath is in his nostrils!
2. We should be careful
however
that our ceasing from man be not
attended with evil feelings towards him. If a poor man is fearless in the
presence of the rich because he scorns them
that is wrong. If we go forward in
the path of duty
undeterred by the opinion of the world
because we are
self-opinionated
and care nothing for any conclusions except our own
that is
wrong.
IV. CEASE YE FROM
MAN AS A SOURCE OF HAPPINESS. We build our enjoyments on relatives and friends.
We gather around us those who are worthy of our love; our hearts begin to knit
with theirs
and we say
This is comfort
here is happiness. But one touch of
death crumbles all to the dust
and leaves us to mourn over our disappointed
expectations. (W. H. Lewis
D. D.)
God man’s only dependence
Our text speaks in a two-fold manner: there is in it warning
pointedly expressed; also instruction indirectly conveyed--
I. REGARDING THE
CONDITION OF MAN.
II. REGARDING MAN’S
DELIVERANCE AND SALVATION.
III. REGARDING THE
CONVERSION OF EVERY SAVED SINNER. Man cannot save you
whatever he may pretend
to do.
IV. REGARDING THE
CHARACTER OF THE GOSPEL. Such is man that he will hold the truth with the head
and think he can be saved whilst his heart is in the world.
V. REGARDING THE
MAINTENANCE AND PROMULGATION OF DIVINE TRUTH
IN THE EARTH. How frequently the necessity of this warning is seen
in missionary enterprises! “Oh
” say some
“you have got the right missionaries
now; their heads are full of learning; they have very strong bodies
able to
stand any climate; there is plenty of money in the missionary exchequer”; and
away they go. Ah
“let not the rich man glory in his riches; let not the strong
man glory in his strength; let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; but let
him that glorieth
glory in this
that he understandeth and knoweth Me
saith
the Lord God Almighty.” And then
there is not only work to do abroad
but at
home too. If you speak to some men about the infidelity and superstition at
home
they will say
the government should do so and so
and make such and such
an act of parliament. Do you think that men can be converted by acts of
parliament? Oh! “cease ye from man.” The text does not mean--
1. That any unconverted person is to say
I will wait till God thinks
proper to convert me.
2. That there is no necessity for men to preach the Gospel. Preaching
is necessary
because God has ordained it.
3. That it is wrong for rulers or governments to give their
legitimate aid to
God’s truth. Finally
we are taught the great duty of prayer to
God. (Hugh Allen
M. A.)
Ceasing from man
I. WHAT THE
EXHORTATION DOES NOT IMPLY.
1. That God wills our seclusion from the society of man.
2. That we are not to give any confidence to man.
3. That we are to withdraw from the appointed means of grace as being
superior to them
or standing in no need of them.
II. WHAT THE
EXHORTATION DOES IMPLY.
1. That we should cease from all that vain admiration of the external
appearance in the character and condition of men in which we are so prone to
indulge.
2. That we should not indulge the desire of applause from man.
3. That we should not envy man--his popularity
prosperity
etc.
4. That we should cease from all such confidence in man as would
supersede confidence in God.
5. That we should cease from the fear of man.
6. That we should cease from all expectations of perfection in the
character of men
even of those who profess religion.
7. That we should cease from all inordinate attachment to creatures.
III. THE ARGUMENT BY
WHICH THIS EXHORTATION IS ENFORCED. Cease from man--
1. Because he is a depraved creature
subject to violent and
dangerous passions.
2. Because he is a deceitful creature
often deceiving himself as
well as others.
3. Because he is a fickle and changeable creature.
4. Because he is a weak and helpless creature.
5. Because he is a dying creature. (E. Parsons.)
Man
“soul and soil”
Man is made up
as the old writers used to say
of soul and soil.
Alas
the soil terribly soils his soul! “My soul cleaveth to the dust” might be
the confession of every man in one sense or another. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Man
whose breath is in his nostrils
One consequence of the prevailing materialism of our corrupt
nature is our craving for something tangible
audible
visible
as the object
of our confidence. Man is
by nature
an idolater. The people of Isaiah’s day
were like the rest of their race: they showed their unspiritualness and their
inability to walk in the light of the Lord by making their own wealth their
chief confidence (verse 7). Nations also
like the Israelitish people
are apt
to idolise power; even power in the form of brute force. We read: “Their land
also is full of horses
neither is there any end of their chariots.” These
people
in the heat of their idolatry
set up many idols. Idolatry is common
even here. May we not easily make idols of ourselves? There is nothing more
absurd in the history of human nature than the fact that man is apt to trust in
man. The sin is none the less accursed because of its commonness.
I. Our first
inquiry is
WHAT IS MAN? This question is asked many times in Scripture
end it
has been frequently answered with a copiousness of instruction.
1. What is man? He is assuredly a very feeble creature. He must be
weak
for “his breath is in his nostrils.” We measure the strength of a chain
by its weakest link. See
then
how weak man is
for he is weakness itself in a
vital point.
2. Man
moreover
is a frail creature. It seems as though his life in
his breath stood at the gates
ready to be gone
since it is in his nostrils.
3. Man is also a dying creature. Contemplate the dead! What think you
now of your idol?
4. The text also reminds us that man is a very fickle creature. His breath
is in his “nostrils.” As his breath is affected by his health
so is he
changed. Today he loves
and tomorrow he hates; he promises fair
but he
forgets his words.
5. If you read the chapter through
you will also find that man is a
trembling creature
cowardly creature
a creature
indeed
who
if he were not
cowardly
yet has abundant reason to fear. (Read from verse 19.) “They
shall go into the holes of the rocks
” etc. Think of the days of Divine wrath
and especially of the last dread day of Judgment
and of the dismay which will
then seize upon many of the proud and great. Are you going to make these your
confidants?
II. WHAT IS TO BE
OUR RELATION TO MAN
or what does the text mean when it says
“Cease ye from
man”? It implies
that we very probably have too much to do with this poor
creature man already. We may even require to reverse our present conduct
break
up unions
cancel alliances
and alter the whole tenor of our conduct.
1. “Cease ye from man” means
first
cease to idolise him in your
love. It is very common to idolise children. A mother who had lost her babe
fretted and rebelled about it. She happened to be in a meeting of the Society
of
Friends
and there was nothing spoken that morning except this word by one female Friend
who was moved
I doubt not
by the Spirit of God to say
“Verily
I perceive
that children are idols.” She did not know the condition of that mourner’s
mind
but it was the right word
and she to whom God applied it knew how true
it was. She submitted her rebellious will
and at once was comforted. Cease ye
from these little men and women; for their breath is in their nostrils
and
indeed it is but feebly there in childhood. A proper and right love of children
should be cultivated; but to carry this beyond its due measure is to grieve the
Spirit of God. You can idolise a minister
you can idolise a poet
you can
idolise a patron; but in so doing you break the first and greatest of the
commandments
and you anger the Most High.
2. “Cease ye from man “: cease to idolise him in your trust.
3. Cease to idolise any man by giving him undue honour. “Honour all
men.” A measure of courtesy and respect is to be paid to every person
and
peculiarly to those whose offices demand it; therefore is it written
“Honour
the king.” Some also
by their character
deserve much respect from their
fellow men; but there is a limit to this
or we shall become sycophants and
slaves
and
what is worse
idolaters. It grieves one to see how certain
persons dare not even think
much less speak
till they have asked how other
people think. The bulk of people are like a flock of sheep; there is a gap
and
if one sheep goes through
all will follow. God’s people should scorn such
grovelling. If the Son shall make you free
you will be free indeed.
4. Equally does the text bid us cease from the fear of man.
5. Once more
cease from being worried about men. We ought to do all
we can for our fellow men to set them right and keep them right
both by
teaching and by example; but certain folks think that everything must go
according to their wishes
and if we cannot see eye to eye with them
they
worry themselves and us. Let us not be unduly cast down if we cannot set
everybody right. The body politic
common society
and especially the Church
may cause us great anxiety; but still the Lord reigneth
and we are not to let
ourselves die of grief. He only requires of us what He enables us to do.
6. “But they say.” What do they say? Let them say. It will not hurt
you if you can only gird up the loins of your mind
and cease from man. “Oh
but they have accused me of this and that.” Is it true? “No
sir
it is not
true
and that is why it grieves me.” If it were true it ought to trouble you;
but if it is not true let it alone. Nine times out of ten if a boy makes a blot
in his copy book and borrows a knife to take it out
he makes the mess ten
times worse; and as in your case there is no blot after all
you need not make
one by attempting to remove what is not there. All the dirt that falls upon a
good man will brush off when it is dry: but let him wait till it is dry
and
not dirty his hands with wet mud. Let us think more of God and less of man.
Come
let the Lord our God fill the whole horizon of our thoughts. Let our love
go forth to Him; let us delight ourselves in Him. Let us trust in Him that
liveth forever
in Him whose promise never faileth. Cease ye from man because
you have come to know the best of men
who is more than man
even the Lord
Jesus Christ
and He has so fully become the beloved of your souls
that none
can compare with Him. Rest also in the great Father as to your providential
cares: why rest in men when He careth for you? Rest in the Holy Spirit as to
your spiritual needs; why need to depend on man? Yea
throw yourself entirely
upon the God all-sufficient
El Shaddai
as Scripture calls Him.
III. WHY ARE WE TO
CEASE FROM MAN? The answer is
because he is nothing to be accounted of. Every
man must cease from himself first
and then from all men
as his hope and his
trust
because neither ourselves nor others are worthy of such confidence.
“Wherein is he to be accounted of?” Compared with God man is less than nothing
and vanity. Reckon him so
and act upon the reckoning. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
God
the Verity of verities
Care nothing for the vanity of vanities
but trust in the Verity
of verities. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Man’s morality
“His breath is in his nostrils
” puffed out every moment
soon
gone for good and all. Man is a dying creature
and may die quickly; our
nostrils
in which our breath is
are of the outward parts of the body; what is
there is like one standing at the door ready to depart. Nay
the doors of the
nostrils are always open; the breath in them may slip away
ere we are aware
in a moment; wherein then is man to be accounted of? Alas
no reckoning is to
be made of him; for he is not what he seems to be
--what he pretends to be
what we fancy him to be.(M. Henry.)
Insignificance of men
A Sultan
amusing himself with walking
observed a dervish sitting
with human skull in his lap
and appearing to be in a profound reverie. His
attitude and manner surprised the Sultan
who demanded the cause of his being
so deeply engaged in reflection “Sire
” said the dervish
“this skull was
presented to me this morning
and I have from that moment been endeavouring
in
vain
to discover whether it is the skull of a powerful monarch like your
Majesty
or of a poor dervish like myself.” (Baxendale’s Anecdotes.)
Folly of man
It was once remarked to Lord Chesterfield that man is the only
creature endowed with the power of laughter. “True
” said the peer; “and you
may add
perhaps
that he is the only creature that deserves to be laughed at.”
(Timba.)
.
Outline
of chapter
The first part opens with a general prediction of the loss of what
they trusted in
beginning with the necessary means of subsistence (Isaiah 3:1). We have then an enumeration
of the public men who were about to be removed
including civil
military
and
religious functionaries
with the practitioners of certain arts (Isaiah 3:2-3). As the effect of this
removal
the government falls into incompetent hands (Isaiah 3:4). This is followed by
insubordination and confusion (Isaiah 3:5). At length
no one is willing
to accept public office
the people are wretched
and the commonwealth a ruin (Isaiah 3:6-7). This ruin is declared to
be the consequence of sin
and the people represented as their own destroyers (Isaiah 3:8-9). God’s judgments
it is
true
are not indiscriminate. The innocent shall not perish with the guilty
but the guilty must suffer (Isaiah 3:10-11). Incompetent and
faithless rulers must especially be punished
who instead of being the
guardians are the spoilers of the vineyard
instead of protectors the
oppressors of the poor (Isaiah 3:12-15). As a principal cause of
these prevailing evils
the prophet now denounces female luxury
and threatens
it with condign punishment
privation
and disgrace (Isaiah 3:16-17). This general
denunciation is then amplified at great length
in a detailed enumeration of
the ornaments which were about to be taken from them and succeeded by the
badges of captivity and mourning (Isaiah 3:18-24). The agency to be
employed in this retribution is a disastrous war
by which the men are to be
swept off
and the country left desolate (Isaiah 3:25-26). The extent of this
calamity is represented by a lively exhibition of the disproportion between the
male survivors and the other sex
suggesting at the time the forlorn condition
of the widows of the slain (Isaiah 4:1). (J. A. Alexander.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》