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Isaiah Chapter
Fifty-six
Isaiah 56
Chapter Contents
A charge to keep the Divine precepts. (1
2) Blessings
promised. (3-8) Reproof to the careless watchmen
the teachers and rulers of
the Jews. (9-12)
Commentary on Isaiah 56:1
2
(Read Isaiah 56:1
2)
The Lord tells us what are his expectations of duty from
us. Be honest and just in all dealings. Also strictly observe the sabbath day.
To have the blessing of God upon employments all the week
make conscience of
keeping the sabbath holy. Have nothing to do with sin. Blessed is the man that
keeps his hand from all things displeasing to God and hurtful to his own soul.
Those who
through the Spirit
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith
will be found walking in ways of holy obedience.
Commentary on Isaiah 56:3-8
(Read Isaiah 56:3-8)
Unbelief often suggests things to discourage believers
against which God has expressly guarded. Spiritual blessings are unspeakably
better than having sons and daughters; for children are a care
and may prove a
grief and shame
but the blessings we partake of in God's house
are comforts
which cannot be made bitter. Those who love the Lord truly
will serve him
faithfully
and then his commandments are not grievous. Three things are
promised. Assistance: I will not only bid them welcome
but incline them to
come. Acceptance
and comfort: though they came mourning to the house of
prayer
they shall go away rejoicing. They shall find ease by casting their
cares and burdens upon God. Many a sorrowful spirit has been made joyful in the
house of prayer. The Gentiles shall be one body with the Jews
that
as Christ
says
John 10:16
there may be one fold and one
Shepherd. Thanks be to God that none are separated from him except by wilful
sin and unbelief; and if we come to him
we shall be accepted through the
sacrifice of our great High Priest.
Commentary on Isaiah 56:9-12
(Read Isaiah 56:9-12)
Desolating judgments are called for; and this severe
rebuke of the rulers and teachers of the Jewish church
is applicable to other
ages and places. It is bad with a people when their shepherds slumber
and are
eager after the world. Let us pray the Great Shepherd to send us pastors after
his own heart
who will feed us with knowledge
that we may rejoice in his holy
name
and that believers may be daily added to the church.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Isaiah》
Isaiah 56
Verse 1
[1] Thus
saith the LORD
Keep ye judgment
and do justice: for my salvation is near to
come
and my righteousness to be revealed.
My salvation —
That eminent salvation by the Messiah
and in which
without this you shall
have no share.
Is near — So
the scripture often speaks of things which are at a great distance
as if they
were present or at hand
Habakkuk 2:3; James 5:8
9; Revelation 22:20.
My righteousness —
The same thing which he called salvation.
Verse 2
[2] Blessed is the man that doeth this
and the son of man that layeth hold on
it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it
and keepeth his hand from doing
any evil.
The man —
Every man not only Jews but Gentiles
as it is explained in the following
verses.
The sabbath —
The sabbath seems to be put here
as sacrifice is elsewhere
for the whole
worship of God.
Verse 3
[3]
Neither let the son of the stranger
that hath joined himself to the LORD
speak
saying
The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let
the eunuch say
Behold
I am a dry tree.
The stranger —
The stranger
the Gentile
who by birth is a stranger to God
that hath turned
from dumb idols to the living God.
The eunuch —
Who is here joined with the stranger
because he was forbidden to enter into
the congregation of the Lord
Deuteronomy 23:1. Under these two instances he
understands all those
who either by birth
or by any ceremonial pollution
were excluded from church privileges
and so he throws open the door to all
true believers.
A dry tree — A
fruitless tree
accursed by God with the curse of barrenness.
Verse 4
[4] For
thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths
and choose the
things that please me
and take hold of my covenant;
Take hold —
That stedfastly keep the conditions of my covenant.
Verse 5
[5] Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a
name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting
name
that shall not be cut off.
In mine house — In
my temple.
Better — A
far greater blessing and honour than that of having posterity
even my favour
and my spirit
and eternal felicity.
Verse 7
[7] Even
them will I bring to my holy mountain
and make them joyful in my house of
prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine
altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
Mountain — To
my house
which stood upon mount Zion.
Joyful — By
accepting their services
and comforting their hearts with the sense of my
love.
Accepted —
They shall have as free access to mine house and altar
as the Jews themselves
and their services shall be as acceptable to me. Evangelical worship is here
described under such expressions as agreed to the worship of God which then was
in use.
Verse 8
[8] The
Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith
Yet will I gather others
to him
beside those that are gathered unto him.
The Lord —
Who will gather to himself
and bring into their own land
those that are cast
out of their own land.
Yet — I
will make a far more comprehensive gathering of the Gentiles.
Verse 9
[9] All
ye beasts of the field
come to devour
yea
all ye beasts in the forest.
Come —
This is a prediction of Israel's destruction by their cruel enemies. The
prophet having largely discoursed concerning the Messiah
and his kingdom
and
having encouraged the Gentiles with God's gracious promises made to them
now
proceeds to terrify the unbelieving Jews
and to shew that as the Gentiles
would believe
and be saved
so they would reject their Messiah
and be
destroyed.
Verse 10
[10] His
watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant
they are all dumb dogs
they cannot
bark; sleeping
lying down
loving to slumber.
His —
Israel's.
Watchmen —
Priests and teachers; he mentions only the teachers
because ignorance was most
shameful in them
but hereby he supposes the gross ignorance of the people.
Bark —
They are also slothful and negligent in instructing the people
and do not
faithfully reprove them for their sins.
Verse 11
[11] Yea
they are greedy dogs which can never have enough
and they are shepherds that
cannot understand: they all look to their own way
every one for his gain
from
his quarter.
They look —
They regard neither God's glory
nor the peoples good
but only the
satisfaction of their own base desires.
Quarter — In
their several stations.
Verse 12
[12] Come
ye
say they
I will fetch wine
and we will fill ourselves with strong drink;
and to morrow shall be as this day
and much more abundant.
Say they —
Unto their brethren
fellow-priests
or other jolly companions.
Fill ourselves — We
will drink not only to delight
but even to drunkenness
as the word signifies
which shews their dreadful security and contempt of God
and their abandoning
of all care of their own or peoples souls.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Isaiah》
56 Chapter 56
Verse 1
Thus saith the Lord
Keep ye judgment
Privilege and responsibility
The doctrine of the passage is simply this
that they who enjoy
extraordinary privileges
or expect extraordinary favours
are under
corresponding obligations to do the will of God; and
moreover
that the nearer
the manifestation of God’s mercy
whether in time or eternity
the louder the
call to righteousness of life.
These truths are of no restricted application
but may be applied wherever the
relation of a Church or chosen people can be recognized. (F. A. Alexander.)
God’s mercy and man’s duty
When God is coming towards us in a way of mercy
we must go forth
to meet Him in a way of duty. (M. Henry.)
Reformation the precursor of regeneration
God does not demand of a man
when He sends to him the gracious
announcement of the Gospel
that he should change his heart
in order to his
having a share in His proffered mercy. He does not say to him
You are now a
disloyal subject
and before you can have an interest in the blood of My Son
I
require you to become loyal. But He does require that he should set himself to
the giving up the overt acts of disloyalty. He sends the tidings of a flee
pardon to His alienated subjects
but He bids them
as it were
get ready for
its reception. “Keep ye judgment
and do justice
” etc. The manner in which the
doctrines of Scripture are oftentimes propounded has a distinct tendency to
repress men’s energies
or to give them an altogether wrong direction. The
Bible addresses itself unreservedly to sinners
as though they had a moral
power of action
for which they were
in the largest sense
accountable
and
through which they might make some progress towards deliverance. Hence
it
calls on the wicked to forsake his ways
and the unrighteous man his thoughts
and to turn unto the Lord. It bids them cease to do evil
and learn to do well;
it clearly demands a preparatory reformation
and such an attention to the
conduct as shall
in some sense
make way for the free pardon of the Gospel.
I. SHOW WHAT LIES
WITHIN THE POWER OF THE UNCONVERTED AND WHAT
THEREFORE
THEY ARE BOUND TO DO IF
THEY HOPE FOR
CONVERSION. We apply this direction to the case of every
individual
whatever his station in society; and we consider it as requiring of
him a more diligent attention to the duties of that station
as preliminary to
his obtaining a single share in the mercies of redemption. If he be living in
any known sin
let him renounce it. God’s Spirit
so to speak
is scared away
by his intemperance
his lust
his uncontrolled tempers
and if he would hope
for visitation from this Spirit
let him strive to sweep the chamber
and to
garnish it for its reception.
II. THE PERFECT
HARMONY OF THESE STATEMENTS WITH THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE. We are accustomed to
preach to you the insufficiency of works
in helping forward that justification
which is purely of faith; and now we seem to teach the vast importance of
works
and those
too
works wrought by mere human strength
as distinctly
instrumental to human salvation.
1. The throwing of a man upon certain resources which we hold him to
possess
is not representing him as able to advance one step without God. It is
God’s own appointment that we should use the strength which we have
before
more is imparted; and since we only teach submission to this appointment
there
can be nothing of interference with the freeness of grace.
2. Our representation of the duties of the unconverted
if they
desire conversion
must be correct
inasmuch as it is formed altogether on a
Scriptural model. We refer you to the preaching of John the Baptist
as
furnishing this model.
3. There is a difficult passage in the history of our Lord’s
ministrations
which can only be explained on the supposed truth of what we
have advanced. When the young man came to Jesus
and demanded what good thing
he must do that he might have eternal life
the Saviour replied
“If thou wilt
enter into life
keep the commandments.”
4. We admit that
if a man reform his life under the idea that the
reform is meritorious
he may possibly be no nearer conversion i but if he
attempt to reform
simply as a preliminary
he shall
surely
be thereby
brought unto greater fitness for the reception of grace; and yet the grace when
it comes shall have lost none of its characteristics
but still be grace the
very freest and the most undeserved.
5. Again
salvation is a thing of faith
not of works. The very
desire after conversion pre-supposes faith. If a man do not believe in the
coming wrath
he can have no wish for a change that is to secure him against
the outbreak of that wrath i and in exhorting him unto an immediate fighting
against sin
we exhort him to bring his faith into practice.
6. The individual who goes out into the arena of life and makes an
effort in his own strength to overthrow evil
will be a hundredfold better
taught the moral decrepitude of man
by the little progress that he makes
or
the defeat that he sustains
than another who sits down in his closet and seeks
to ascertain his native insufficiency by throwing his power into a balance
or
computing it by a process of mathematical calculation. (H. Melvill
B. D.)
Verse 2
Blessed is the
man that doeth this
The blessedness of
right-doing
“Blessed is the man that
doeth this.
” It must be so
for in doing judgment and justice he in some measure resembles
the blessed God
who exerciseth judgment and righteousness in the earth
and
delighteth in these things. (R. Macculloch.)
Comprehensive
righteousness
The duties of the first
table are typified by the observance of the Sabbath; those of the second table
are signified in the comprehensive expression
“That keepeth his hand that it
do no evil.” (Prof. S. R. Driver
D. D.)
Sabbath-keeping
A great variety of reasons
have been given for the special mention of the Sabbath here. The true
explanation is afforded by a reference to the primary and secondary ends of the
Sabbatical institution
and the belief involved in its observance.
1. It implied a recognition of Jehovah as the omnipotent Creator of
the universe (Exodus 20:11; Exodus 31:17).
2. As the Sanctifier of His people
not in the technical or
theological sense
but as denoting Him by whom they had been set apart as a
peculiar people Exodus 31:13; Ezekiel 20:12).
3. As the Saviour of this chosen people from the bondage of Egypt Deuteronomy 5:15). Of these great truths the Sabbath was a weekly remembrancer
and its observance by the people a perpetual recognition and profession
besides the practical advantages accruing to the maintenance of a religious
spirit by a weekly recurrence of a day of rest. (J. A. Alexander.)
Sabbath-keeping
I. THE DUTY REQUIRED. To keep the Sabbath
to keep it as a talent we are
to trade with
or a treasure we are entrusted with; keep it holy
keep it safe
keep it with care and caution
keep from polluting it; allow neither yourselves
nor others either to violate the holy rest nor omit the holy work of that day.
II. THE ENCOURAGEMENT WE HAVE TO DO THIS DUTY. Blessed is he that
doeth it. The way to have the blessing of God upon our employments all the week
is to make conscience and business of Sabbath sanctification; and in doing so
we shall be the better qualified to do judgment and justice. The more godliness
the more honesty (1 Timothy 2:2). (M. Henry.)
Sabbath-keeping and
justice
We are not just if we rob
God of His time. (M. Henry.)
Resoluteness in Sabbath
observance
Those that would keep the
Sabbath from polluting it must put on resolution; must not only do this
but
lay hold on it
for Sabbath time is precious; but it is very apt to slip away
if we take not great care; therefore we must lay hold on it
and keep our hold;
must do it
and persevere in it. (M. Henry.)
The utility of the Sabbath
As the Sabbath was
instituted while man was yet within the precincts of Paradise
and unseduced by
the wiles of the devil
we are warranted to conclude that a day of holy rest
was useful and necessary to him
even in a state of innocence; and if it was of
use and advantage to him then
how much more must it be now! Man is now become
so sinful
so earthly
so forgetful of God
so careless of his highest
interests
that were it not for the solemnities of the Sabbath
he would
speedily lose all sense of religion
and utterly neglect the salvation of his
soul. (D. Rees.)
An unpolluted Sabbath
The text gives us to
understand that in order to keep the Sabbath from polluting it
we must keep
our hands from doing any evil. Nor can we suppose that the day is to be
sanctified merely by acts of negative holiness
but also by acts of positive
goodness. (D. Rees.)
Sabbaths and week-days
“That keepeth the Sabbath
from polluting it
and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. The best evidence
of our having kept the Sabbath well will be a care to keep a good conscience
all the week. (M. Henry.)
The blessedness of keeping
Gods holy day
What are we to understand
by “polluting the Lord’s day?
1. This holy time is certainly thus abused when it is spent in mere
idleness.
2. When it is devoted to worldly amusement.
3. By all labour which may not fairly come under the description of
work of necessity and mercy. (J. N. Norton.)
Sabbath observance
A little boy was on a
visit to his uncle
and when the morning of the Lord’s Day came
the uncle
said
“Come
my man
you and I will go out and fish awhile! “Uncle
” answered
the boy
very gravely and somewhat . . . puzzled
does God require us to fish
here on Sunday at our house He doesnt allow us to do it.” The fishing excursion
was given up
and good came of the child’s pointed sermon. (J. N. Norton.)
Verses 3-5
Neither let the son of the stranger
“The son of the stranger”
“The son of the stranger” means simply the individual foreigner
(R..
“the stranger”)
not one whose father was a foreigner. (Prof. J.
Skinner
D. D.)
The non-Israelite. (A. B. Davidson
D. D.)
Consolation far proselytes
The case supposed is that if a foreigner who has “joined himself
to the Lord
i.e has become a proselyte by accepting the symbols of
Jewish nationality (circumcision
etc.)
but now has reason to fear that his
qualifications will be disallowed. It is likely that the immediate cause of
apprehension was some manifestation of an exclusive and intolerant spirit
amongst the leaders of the New Jerusalem. Against this spirit (if it existed)
the prophets words enter a strong protest. (Prof. J. Skinner
D. D.)
Unbelief
Unbelief many times suggests things to the discouragement of good
people which are directly contrary to what God Himself hath said; things which
He hath expressly guarded against. (M. Henry.)
The eunuch
Eunuchs
We must understand those of Israelitish descent. (F. Delitzsch
D. D)
The eunuch “a dry tree”
The eunuch being “a dry tree” feels that having no children he
will have no permanent place or name in the kingdom. (A. B. Davidson
D. D.)
Verses
4-7
For
thus saith the Lord
Characteristics
and privileges of God’s people
The
pride of ancestry
and boast of ceremonial exclusiveness and glorying in the
flesh
the Lord
by His prophet
looking forward to Gospel days
now abolishes
and marks out the true distinctions of His people to be that which is moral and
spiritual
to the exclusion of all bodily defects or natural peculiarities.
Observe--
I. THE MARKS AND DISTINCTIONS OF GOD’S PEOPLE.
1. Keeping the Sabbath.
2. Choosing the things that please Him.
3. Taking hold of His covenant.
4. Being joined to Him to serve Him.
5. Loving His name.
6. Serving Him.
II. THE GRACIOUS AND GLORIOUS PRIVILEGES OF GOD’S PEOPLE.
1. Incorporation with His Church.
2. Joy in the sanctuary.
3. Acceptance of their spiritual worship. (J. Gemmel
M. A.)
And take hold of My covenant.--
Taking hold of
God’s covenant
By a
lively faith
although the devil rap her on
the finger for so doing. (J.
Trapp.)
Holding fast”
by God’s covenant
(R.V.):--Hold
fast (as Isaiah 56:2). By holding’ fast My covenant is meant adhering to his compact
with Me
which includes obedience to the precepts and faith in the promises. (J.
A. Alexander.)
Taking hold of
God’s covenant
It was
generally supposed by the Jews that no one
except the descendants of Abraham
Isaac
and Jacob
could be in covenant relationship with God. Paul
however
says
in writing to the Romans
“But Esaias is very bold;” and he is so in this
instance. He declares that men may take hold of the covenant of God though
heretofore
they appeared to be shut out from its privileges.
I. WHAT IS THIS COVENANT? It has been well said
“He who understands
the covenants holds the key of all theology.” There was
first of all
a
covenant made with our father
Adam;--not
perhaps
in set terms
but
virtually
--that
if he should do the will of God
he should live. But
alas l
our great covenant head
Adam the first
could not keep that covenant. I should
think that none of us want to take hold of that covenant
for we are all
sufferers by it already. There is a second covenant
made with the second Adam
the Lord Jesus Christ; and by that covenant
it was provided that He should
Himself perfectly keep the law
and that He should suffer the penalty due from
His people for their breaches of the law; and that
if He did both these
things
then all those who were represented in Him should live for ever.
1. The new covenant is a covenant of pure grace.
2. It is a “covenant ordered in all things and sure.”
3. The ensign of this covenant is faith.
II. HOW CAN WE LAY HOLD OF IT?
1. I must loose my hold of the old covenant.
2. The main plan is by believing in Christ Jesus unto the salvation
of thy soul.
3. But I have known those laying hold on the covenant begin in
different ways. Some have laid hold upon it by a confession of sin; and the
Lord has said
“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso
confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
4. Another way of laying hold of it is
“by seeking” the Lord in
prayer. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
5. When you have once accepted Christ
I like you to get a hold of
the covenant in all sorts of ways. We have only two hands
but there are some
creatures that have a great many hands
or feelers
or suckers; and when they
want to be quite safe
they seize hold with all their hands. Christ has made a
covenant with His Church
and I like to lay hold of that covenant by uniting
with His people. It will be a great help to you to lay hold of the covenant by
availing yourself of all Church privileges. The right thing for every sinner to
say is just this
“The covenant of grace exactly suits my case. Jesus Christ
has come to save the guilty and the needy; that is the sort of person I am
so
I will lay hold of His covenant. I have got a grip of it
and there I hang. If
His Gospel be true
I am a saved man.”
III. WHAT IS THERE TO LAY HOLD OF?
1. An atonement.
2. There is another place where you can lay hold of the covenant
and
that is
the mercy-seat. Go and bow before God in prayer
Christ being your
Intercessor
plead with God for mercy
through His atoning blood
and then say
“ I will never leave off praying till I get the blessing.”
3. It is also a grand thine to lay hold of a promise in God’s Word.
4. There is another thing which you should lay hold of
and that is
an invitation.
IV. WHY SHOULD I NOT LAY HOLD OF GOD’S COVENANT?
1. One reason for doing so is this. Others
who are like yourself
have done so.
2. Out of all who have ever come to Christ
there has never been one
rejected.
3. You are the very sort of character that is bidden to come. “This
man receiveth sinners.”
4. There is nothing else for you to hold to. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 5
Even unto them will I give
God gives
but not indiscriminately
Again and again the Lord
says “will I give
” and “ I will give.
” He is always giving; He lives to give. God so loved the world that He gave;
His hands are outstretched in continual dispensation of blessing. Observe here
the usual condition upon which great honour are promised. This is not an
indiscriminate rain of benediction
clouds emptying themselves without regard
to character; it is not a confusion of man with man; but there is a principle
of discrimination
election
selection
or choice
running
through the whole
action. (J. Parker
D. D.)
A place and a
name
“A place”
The noun offers several
meanings suitable in this passage. It signifies a “monument” or “memorial
‘ as
a lofty indicator or pointer Ezekiel
21:24)
as
a finger-post pointing to the person for whom it has been erected (2 Samuel
18:18; 1 Samuel
15:12); in
this sense
however
the word would declare more than the promise permits one
to expect. The Semitic term also signifies a place (Numbers
2:17; Deuteronomy
23:12; Jeremiah
6:3)
and
a “share” or portion (2 Samuel
19:43). (F.
Delitzsch
D. D.)
God’s promise to pious eunuchs
There seems no reason to
doubt that the promise is to be understood literally. An illustration of what
is meant is found in 2 Samuel
18:18
where we read that Absalom
in the prospect of dying childless
erected the
pillar to his own memory which was known as “Absalom’s hand” (also 1 Samuel
15:12
R.V.
marg.). The case of those here spoken of is precisely similar. They have “no
son to keep their name in remembrance
but their memory shall be perpetuated by
a monument erected within the temple walls;
and such a memorial
testifying to
the esteem of the whole community
is “better ‘ (and more enduring) “than sons
and daughters.” (Prof. J. Skinner
D. D.)
Better than sons and daughters
Better than sons and
daughters may either mean better than the comfort immediately derived from
children (as in Ruth
4:15)
or
better than the perpetuation of the name by hereditary succession. Most
interpreters prefer the latter sense
but both may be included. A beautiful
coincidence and partial fulfilment of the promise is pointed out by J. D.
Michaelis
in the case of the Ethiopian eunuch
whose conversion is recorded in
Acts
8:7
and
whose memory is far more honoured in the Church than it could have been by a
long line of illustrious descendants. (B. A. Alexander.)
I will give
them an everlasting name
Names
Our greatest poet asks
“What’s in a name?” but whoever reads his Bible carefully will see that the
Jews attached very great importance to names. Thus we often find in the Bible
that the name of a person is used when the person himself is meant
as for
example
“ The name of the God of Jacob defend thee;--we will call upon the
name of the Lord;--let their name be blotted out that they may be no more a
nation.” Jewish parents never gave their children a name for the sake of its
sound
but because it expressed some peculiarity in the child
or some
circumstance connected with its birth
or some wish for its future career. God
Himself set this example when He named the first man Adam--“red earth”--to
commemorate the fact that dust he was
and unto dust he should return.
The noblest name
1. Every
Christian parent who now takes a child to the font of baptism should try and
choose a name with some good meaning in it
and should endeavour to bring up
the child to live a life worthy of its name
even as the parents of Timothy
gave him a name which means “ one who fears God
” and early taught him in the
Holy Scriptures that he might learn what God would have him to do.
2. No
matter what name our parents may have given us
all who are baptized have the
very best of names. It is the name of Christ
the name of “Christian.”
Verse
6-7
Also the sons of the stranger
Gentiles enjoying God’s favour
This is a clear prophecy of the call of the Gentiles into the
Church of Christ.
Let us attend to this description of those who are objects of the Divine
favour
and entitled to the privileges of His house.
1. They join themselves to the Lord. This supposes a former distance
and alienation from Him. But that is removed by humble repentance and returning
to the Lord. It includes
renouncing all their idols; forsaking all their sin
everything contrary to the nature and will of God: a deliberate choice of Him
as their portion and felicity; and of His people
as their friends and
associates.
2. The design of their thus joining themselves unto the Lord is to
serve Him. This is further expressed in the phrase
to be His servants; not
only to serve Him occasionally
or for a while
but perpetually; to adhere to
Him and His ways
from a deep conviction that nothing can be more reasonable
important
and advantageous than to hear what He saith
and to do it.
3. It is added
and to love the name of the Lord. They take delight
in His service; they perform it not from fear and a servile dread
but from a
sincere and strong affection. They love His name; that is
they love him
His
worship and His ways
and pursue His work with delight. It is opposed to
narrow; selfish
mercenary views
which render the service less acceptable and
comfortable. They esteem it their meat and drink to do His will.
4. Another thing-expected from God’s people is
that they keep His
Sabbath from polluting it. This is an essential character
a distinguishing
mark
of good men.
5. God’s people take hold of His covenant. They enter into serious
deliberate
solemn engagements to observe and keep His laws
in order to obtain
the blessings which He hath promised; and which
in so doing
they cheerfully
expect. They take hold of it; which implies a hearty consent to God’s terms
a
cheerful approbation and acceptance of them and delight in them. It likewise
implies a steady resolution. They take hold of it
as those who are determined
not to let it go. (J. Orton.)
The rewards of God’s servants
The text--
I. HOLDS OUT UNIVERSAL
ENCOURAGEMENT TO MAN.
1. By the transfer of the priesthood from Aaron to Christ.
2. By the change of sacrifice. From the blood of bulls and of goats
to the precious blood of the Son of God.
3. By the removal of place. From Jerusalem to the temple of the
universe.
4. By a change of worship. From ritual to spiritual. What an
encouraging prospect! (Ephesians 2:11-22.)
II. INCULCATES UNIVERSAL
PIETY
Piety in heart and practice. The duties enumerated may be divided into
three classes.
1. Those which relate to Christ
expressed by taking hold of His
covenant--accepting--agreeing to it.
2. Those which relate to God as the Governor of the world.
3. Those which relate to the Church.
III. PROMISES UNIVERSAL
HAPPINESS.
1. Access to heaven. “I will bring them to My holy mountain.”
2. Joyfulness in His service. “I will make them joyful in My house of
prayer.”
3. The Divine acceptance of their religious engagements. “Their
burnt-offerings and sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar.” (R.
Watson.)
Verse 7
Even them will I bring to
My holy mountain
The house of prayer
If we accept the
interpretation that the second Isaiah has given us the prophecies of the
restoration
we may regard this chapter as a description of Israel after the
return from the Chaldean captivity
and
further
the condition of worship in
the reign of the Messiah.
We place before you the
whole matter as a plea for God’s house in the present day.
I. THE LOCATION OF WORSHIP. “Mine house.” With God every where
what
need is there of setting apart any particular spot for worship? While all
creation is God’s magnificent temple
why should we consecrate any particular
place of building for the purpose of worship? We have a promise in the Book
itself (Jeremiah 31:33-34). But we must suppose conditions of thought
and degrees of
poetry
which do not exist
in order to worship God in the general terms
implied in these statements. We infer from the history of public worship that
God has adapted its forms to the state of mankind in the various periods of the
periods of the past. To-day worship its forms to the state of mankind in the various
periods of the past. To-day worship must be conducted with a view to the
position of the religious thought which prevails.
1. The first essential element of worship is concentration. The
circumstantial in religion must be flamed to centre thought upon God in His
nearness to man. The patriarch’s altar
the tabernacle of Moses
and the temple
of Solomon did this. In the teaching of Christ we meet with an expansion of the
geography of worship. The temples on Moriah and Gerizim were doomed
both by
the force of circumstances and the Incarnation. God in Christ became the
consummation of the central idea of God. But Christ was human as well as
Divine. We find Him both in the synagogue and the temple. He drew His disciples
together
sometimes into a house
other times on the mountain slopes
or in
secluded spots
for instruction and fellowship. He introduced a simplicity into
worship which indicated a more spiritual thought than that which obtained when
gorgeous ritualism formed its environment. The time had arrived when He would
introduce a method by which we would worship the Father “in spirit and in
truth. ‘ But never has Jesus Christ hinted at the probability that such a
worship would consist of abstract thought
universal observation
or individual
reflection
apart from the offices of time and space. When God and man meet
they must meet somewhere. Although the necessity for a restricted spot had
passed away
and the whole earth became a consecrated temple
when the eternal
Son chose it as His imperial palace
yet the limitations of the spiritual man
while dwelling in a tabernacle of clay
suggest the setting apart of places for
worship. In an age when life is at a higher pressure than ever it has been
and
consequently
an age when our thoughts are agitated
scattered
embittered
and
inflamed
of what incalculable value must the house of prayer be.
2. Our next point is association. We have been told that there is
such a thing as abstract thought
but where is abstract life? How far can one
go on the path of life without the aid of others? It seems absurd that people
should assume so much piety as not to require any association or assistance. If
the Hall of Science is needed
why not the Hall of Prayer?
3. Our third plea for the house of prayer is memorial. Every place of
worship in England is a witness to the Being of God
and to His providence and
salvation. “Mine house” is a significant designation
showing His acceptance of
the gift. It is the language of love in response to the gift of love.
II. THE ESSENCE OF WORSHIP. “House of prayer.” Prayer is a
comprehensive term
having devotion as its central idea. There would have been
an appropriateness in calling it the house of praise
for from no other house
has so much and so grand music ascended to heaven. It might have been called
the house of preaching
because the word is gone forth out of Zion to the ends
of the earth. But why did God name it the house of prayer? Under the old
dispensation
sacrifice occupied the most prominent place in the services
but
even then its name was the house of prayer. Reverence for God is the first step
of the ladder. Waiting upon God is the next step. (T Davies
M. A.)
And make them
joyful in My house of prayer
My house of prayer
Jesus Christ
when in a
sublime act of indignation He drove out the desecrators of the temple
applied
the words to the outer courts of that noble material building. But He Himself
has taught us not to limit the phrase
but to give it the widest possible
meaning. It is not for us to speak of God’s house of prayer as if it were
restricted to any one locality
or as if it described any particular kind of
structure. God’s house of prayer may be found anywhere
everywhere. Wherever
the human heart reaches out with holy longing towards the Divine Father
and
craves the blessing of His presence; wherever He unveils the glory of His truth
and the beauty of his love
responding to the eager desires of His pleading
children
there is His house of prayer. It may be grand in form
or poor and
mean; there may be no material structure at all
but the solemn temple of
Nature itself
yet shall it; be consecrated for worship by the prayers which
ascend to God. Yet
we still find it necessary to establish and set apart
places of worship
and because we frequent them for this holiest of purposes
we speak of each of them as a house of prayer. As it is necessary that we
should consecrate one day out of the week for the special purposes of religion
so we find it desirable to meet at some regularly appointed spot to engage with
our fellows in acts of devotion. And the reasonableness becomes apparent. We
want such places for convenience’ sake. If social religion is to have any
existence at all
if the communion of the saints is to be a reality
if there
are to be united praise and prayer and instruction in Divine truth
then men
and women must know where they are to gather for these purposes. Further
it is
not merely a matter of convenience; it is helpful to our spiritual and daily
life. We want as places of worship some which are unassociated with our secular
affairs--places which seem to stand away from the cares and worries and
strivings of our common life--where we can give our minds and hearts a season
of rest--an opportunity of calmly
and without distraction
contemplating and
estimating the character and meaning
the worth or worthlessness of the work we
are doing in the world. Of course this might be done at home
in the shop
in
the office
in the chamber
but not so effectually
not so thoroughly
as in
the quiet place specially devoted to religious worship. There
seeming to stand
at a distance from worldly avocations
we judge them and our relation to them
more impartially and honestly. (W. Braden.)
Joyfulness worship
I. THERE SHOULD
BE A NATURAL ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE TWO. I reach
this conclusion by remembering two things.
1. That we
as human beings
have in us the capacity for joy.
2. That the religion we profess
when rightly understood
is a
joy-producing religion.
II. WORSHIP IS THE EXPRESSION OF OUR NOBLEST RELIGIOUS FEELINGS IN THE
PRESENCE OF GOD. It is not a mere ceremonial act
an observance of prescribed
ritual on certain days and in appointed places. It is the going forth of the
man towards God. Therefore
our joy must utter itself
ought to utter itself
when we enter into the courts of His house. I believe that the Divine Father
has no sympathy with those who would turn His house of prayer into a place for
gloomy
and unhappy thoughts
and who would exclude from His service everything
pleasant and beautiful. They misunderstand and libel Him by their desire for
dreariness If God has taught us anything with distinctness in the outer world
of nature it is that He loves all that is pleasant and sweet and joyous. Is
there n t something joy-exciting in the very thought and act of worship? This
has been the thought of most peoples.
1. The Greeks who worshipped gods of uncertain passions and
dispositions
nevertheless seem to have made the worship a season of joy--“they
wreathed themselves with flowers
they anointed themselves withsweet perfumes
they surrounded their temples with every attraction
they invoked every
pleasure they could think of
they sought to make the hour of their worship a
charming and beautiful hour. Their joy in this respect was of a sensuous
character
more animal than spiritual
and we do not need to imitate them; but
even the heathen had the idea of indulging in gladness in the presence of their
gods.
2. The same emotion was constantly expressed by the Hebrews. We often
regard the religion of the Jews as harsh
stern
dreary
a constant pressure
upon the minds and souls of the people. Never was there a greater mistake
as a
careful study of their numerous festivals and rites would prove. Remember the
worship-literature of the Jews
that magnificent collection of psalms which is
one of the most precious treasures handed down to us from the past. It is full
of jubilance. Expressions of personal sorrow there are in abundance; but even
they are turned into subjects of song.
3. If it was possible for Jews to enjoy worship
if it was natural
for them to give expression to gladness of heart when coming into the Divine
presence
is there not more abundant reason why we
as Christians
possessing a
fuller and purer and more intimate revelation of God
should rejoice before
Him?
III. FOR THOSE WHO SEEK TO WORSHIP GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH THIS JOY
IS ASSURED BY THE PROMISE
“I will make them joyful in My house of prayer.” Our
anticipation of the worship of God’s house
and the manner in which we present
ourselves to Him
should be gladsome. Why? Because we go expecting to meet God
and receive the gracious fulfilment of the promise. Our hope of blessing to
come already fills us with delight. When we have entered into the engagements
of Divine worship
if we have been in the right spirit of desire
God has drawn
near us and fulfilled our largest hopes. He has apparently devised the means by
which this shall be brought about through the three exercises of our
worship--our praise
our prayer
and our study of His truth. These seem in
themselves calculated
ordained
consecrated for the very object of exciting
our joy.
1. Think of the very act of praise. What does it mean? That we are
recalling to mind the Divine mercy
and tenderness
and compassion
and love
which have come into our life. We praise God for what He is; for what His works
reveal Him to be; for what He has done for us; and you cannot do that without
some inspiration of gladness filling your soul. Praise itself springs from and
excites to joy.
2. The same glorious result is wrought by means of prayer. That man
who has never yet held conscious communion with his God in prayer
has never
yet experienced one of the noblest and purest joys of which his nature is
capable.
3. And shall I add the same of the other exercise--the study of His
truth? As the man who
digging for gold
is flushed with delight when his toil
is rewarded by some rich nugget; as the student of Nature
when investigating
her secrets
is gladdened as he perceives the traces of some new law
or a
possible combination of well-known causes that will produce a new result
so
Christians know the thrill of satisfaction that springs from a fresh
realization of the meaning of Divine truth. God stands revealed in clearer light
and all the wonders of His work for man through the history of the world
and
especially in the person of Christ
are understood and loved as they were never
understood or loved before. These awakenings to joy are always taking place in
God’s house. One comes there perplexed concerning his path of duty
and to him
there is uttered some wise precept
which makes the way clear once more.
Another is troubled concerning the terrible mystery of life
its inequalities
and sorrows; but to him is revealed the Fatherhood of God
and that means
perfect love and assurance of blessedness for man as the ultimate issue of all
things. Does not that oppressed soul rejoice? And how many
conscious of
unforgiven sin
venture into the holy place. And they see a vision of Calvary
with its sacred Victim; the heavens seem to open for them
and they behold the
ascended Christ
the Mediator. Who shall measure the joy of these? (W.
Braden.)
Mine house
shall be called an house of prayer for all people
God’s house
The thing here spoken of
is God’s house
described--
I. BY ITS APPROPRIATION UNTO HIM. “My house.”
II. BY ITS EXTENT OF RECEIPT IN RESPECT OF OTHERS. “For all people.”
III. BY THE EMPLOYMENT OF ITS INHABITANTS. “It shall be called a house
of prayer.” (J. Owen
D. D.)
The Church of Christ
I. CHRIST’S CHURCH OF SAINTS
OF BELIEVERS
IS GOD’S HOUSE.
II. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST UNDER THE GOSPEL IS TO BE GATHERED OUT OF ALL
NATIONS.
III. THERE ARE ESTABLISHED ORDINANCES
AND APPOINTED WORSHIP FOR
THE
CHURCH OF CHRIST UNDER THE GOSPEL. (J. Owen
D. D.)
Public worship
I shall endeavour to make
it appear that the best homage which we can pay to God is that which is most
public.
I. THIS IS THE WAY OF GIVING THE GREATEST HONOUR TO GOD. When a
multitude of people meet together to worship the Almighty
and to set forth His
praises
it makes some little figure of heaven; it raises our minds to more
magnificent conceptions of God
and more fully represents Him to us as the
Governor of the world: whereas
if we look upon Him as only intending our
private interest
as busied only to serve our present wants
we may be thought
to conceive of Him rather as an idol than as that infinite Being whose care and
providence are extended to the concerns of the whole creation. To worship God
truly is to make Him known to be the Lord of the universe
the common Parent
Preserver
and Benefactor of all mankind; and therefore public assemblies are
the best signification of His glorious perfections and vast dominion. They who
cannot use their minds to any abstracted ways of thinking
may be wonderfully
confirmed and heightened in their acknowledgments and thoughts of a Deity
when
they see how the learned and the rich and the honourable
and the greatest
persons upon the earth
do bow and kneel before their Maker
and humble
themselves in the dust of the sanctuary to witness their profound veneration of
an infinite wisdom
power and goodness.
II. THE NATURE OF RELIGION IS SUCH THAT IT ESPECIALLY REQUIRES A
PUBLIC EXERCISE. Christians are not to look upon themselves as single persons
of distinct and separate interests; but as members of the same mystical Body
as parts of the same spiritual Society; that they are redeemed as a Church
and
are to glorify God as a Church; that their chief blessings are those they enjoy
in common.
III. THERE IS NOTHING THAT SO MUCH PROMOTES A SPIRIT OF UNIVERSAL
CHARITY AS A DUE ESTEEM AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. What can bring us to a
greater concern for one another
and more unite our affections
than a frequent
meeting at the same place of worship
and joining together in the same duties
of religion?
IV. FREQUENTING PUBLIC WORSHIP
WITH THAT PREPARATION AND WITH THOSE
DISPOSITIONS WHICH IT REQUIRES
IS THE BEST WAY WHEREBY WE MAY ATTAIN TO SOLID
PIETY
We have many times a Divine truth more strongly imprinted on our minds
or more fully confirmed unto us
when our hearts are tender and devout
than
when our heads are exercised in the deepest thinking. It is further observable
that men are generally much more subject to impressions and affections when
they are assembled than when they are alone. (T. Mannigham
D. D.)
God’s house the house of
prayer foe all people
1. In order to the realization of the glorious scene in which the
world shall finally be seen prostrate before God in prayer
the first and
earliest step necessary was the revelation of the Divine existence; “for he
that cometh to God must believe that He is.” “How shall they call upon Him of
whom they have not heard?”
2. But does He take an interest in the affairs of the world? If not
prayer to Him is useless. In answer to this inquiry Sinai rises to view. God is
there
legislating for sinful man. Listen to His law as He proclaims it
and
mark how much of it relates directly to your welfare. Apart from the Gospel
nothing
in the universe displays the Divine benevolence so much as the giving of the
law.
3. But is the great God accessible? That He takes a benevolent
interest in human affairs is evident. If
however
the terrors of Sinai are not
laid aside--if that is a specimen of His usual state--who can venture to
approachHim? The temple on Sion is an answer to the inquiry. “Let the people
build Me a sanctuary
” saith God
“that I may dwell among them.” This was
another stage
a vast advance in the Divine condescension. To show His own
sense of its importance
He supplied the model
and selected the spot
and
superintended the erection of the building. When completed
the Majesty of
Heaven came down and visibly possession. When it was rumoured abroad that the
Lord of Heaven had a house upon earth
did not the guilty race come to cast
themselves at His feet and sue for mercy?
4. But
it might have been asked in the next place
“Will He pardon?
Accessible He may be
but is He propitious?” Approach and read the inscription
over its gates
“The house of prayer.” Then there is hope for the penitent. Let
us enter and ascertain. On crossing the threshold and looking around
we find
that it is distributed into three parts. We find ourselves at first in the
court of the temple; here the principal objects are a great altar of sacrifice
and a laver in which the sacrifices are washed. “What mean that cleansing
water
and that bleeding lamb?” They say
as plainly as they can
that if
without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” and that the
victim whose blood is shed must be spotless. We advance
find ourselves in the
second part
the holy place. Here the principal objects are a golden
candlestick
a table of shewbread
and an altar of incense; and what mean these
objects? They denote that the sacrifice is accepted
that God propitiated
that
He is waiting to illuminate and anoint His worshippers with His Spirit
to
feast their souls on living bread
and to accept their praises as grateful
incense. “But what means that mysterious veil which conceals the third part of
the temple
the holiest of all?” It denotes that sinful man can fully approach
a holy God only through a Divine Mediator
and that that Mediator is not yet
come. But we know what is within. There stands the ark of the covenant
and the
mercy-seat resting upon it
denoting mercy resting on faithfulness; and there
are the cherubim overshadowing the mercy-seat
intimating the reverence with
which even mercy itself should be sought
and the profound mystery which it
involves. “But what means that mass of dazzling light above?” It is the symbol
of the Divine presence. And why dwells He there?” that men may come and fall
down before Him
and that He may commune with them from off the mercy-seat. He
makes it His rest
that men may come to Him
and make it their rest. Numbers
through successive ages availed themselves of His grace.
5. But everything there--gracious as it was
calculated as it was to
bring all people in humble prostration before God--existed only in type and
promise. It may be asked
therefore
in the next place
“Have those types been
accomplished?” The fulness of time arrives
and
behold
God sending forth His
Son! Calvary appears; there
as our Substitute; He is making an infinite
compensation for our demerit. The day of Pentecost arrives--behold in its
scenes a proof that our Advocate has entered on His office of intercession
above
and that His sacrificial plea prevails. Is it then still asked if the
ancient promises have been fulfilled? Let the tears of the sinner
the joy of
the saint
the success of the Gospel in every subsequent age
bear witness.
6. But
again
admitting that God is thus accessible and gracious
is
He thus accessible and gracious to all? Is the Gospel Church less open and free
than the Jewish temple? Its gates are never to be shut
night nor day! Its
blessings are to be offered without money and without price. “My house shall be
called a house of prayer for all people.” “O Thou that hearest prayer
to Thee
shall all flesh come.”
7. And is there ground to conclude that this sublime result shall be
realized? “I have sworn by Myself
the word hath gone out of My mouth in
righteousness
and shall not return
That unto Me every knee shall bow
and
every tongue shall swear.” Conclusion--
Verse 8
The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith
An important Divine declaration
“Declaration of the Lord
Jehovah: gathering the outcasts of Israel
I roll further gather beyond it to Its gathered ones.
That Isaiah 56:8 declares something of
importance
and
because it might possibly seem strange
something to be
solemnly confirmed
is shown by the expression
which is in itself solemn
and
is here placed at the head of the declaration. So far is it from being the case
that Gentiles who love Jehovah will be excluded from the congregation
that it
is rather the design of Jehovah to gather some from among the Gentiles and add
them to the gathered diaspora of Israel. The double name of God likewise
points to something important. (F. Delitzsch
D. D.)
Others to be gathered
God’s work now is that of gathering. There was a time when it was
scattering. Man built the tower of Babel
which was intended to be the centre
of unity
the armoury of power
and the seat of dominion
whence some mighty
Nimrod might sway his sceptre over all the human race: but the Lord would not
have it so. Infinite wisdom baffled finite ambition. Now the Lord is gathering
together in one the children of God which are scattered abroad. Jesus hath made
both Jew and Gentile one
breaking down every wall of partition. This
ingathering process is going on every day by the testimony of the Word
and it
is to be continued until the end of time.
I. THE INSTANCES
MENTIONED: instances of gathering by the hand of the Lord
who is described as
“The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel. Outcasts have been gathered
and this is the token that others shall be gathered. I suppose Isaiah first
alludes to the banished who had been carried away captive to Babylon and to all
parts of the East
but who were at different times restored to their land. But
I prefer to use the text in reference to our Divine Lord
seeing that to Him
shall the gathering of the people be.
1. When He was here below He gathered the outcasts of Israel by His
ministry.
2. He gathered them by forgiving their sins. This brought them nearer
still
and held them there.
3. Our Lord gathered many by graciously helping them. He met with
some whose great trial was sore affliction
temptation and sorrow. Magdalene is
a chief instance.
4. He gathered them
also
so as to enrol them under HIS banner. It was
a marvellous moment for Levi
when he sat at the receipt of custom
when
Jesus called him. You will
perhaps
think that my Master’s
gathering power lay in His being here Himself. It is true there was a matchless
charm about Him
and yet to let us know that we must know Him no longer after
the flesh
there was not even in the charms of Christ’s most blessed Person
enough of power to prevent the people crying
“Crucify Him
crucify Him.” His
power is spiritual
the power of His own Spirit
and therefore it is exercised
now though His bodily” presence is removed.
II. THE. PROMISE
UTTERED. “The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith
etc.
1. This promise is very wide. It means in the first place that the
Gentiles should be brought to know the Lord. It was a bright day when first of
all the centurion of Caesarea sent men to Joppa
and received a visit from
Peter
and was baptized of him. Fair also was the day when the Ethiopian eunuch
was baptized of Philip. How strange it must have seemed at first to the
apostles
who were all Jews
and very strongly Jewish too
especially Peter
to
see the Gentiles gathered. One marvels that Paul was not more narrow in heart
considering his birth and education
but he had vanquished his old notions
and
gloried in being the apostle of the Gentiles. It is delightful to think of men
of divers colours coming to Christ
and in the best possible manner proving the
unity of our race. What would the twelve have thought if they could have
foreseen that the Gospel which they preached would bind in one brotherhood all
races of men?
2. The promise is continuous. “Yet will I gather others.” That was
true when Isaiah stated it; it would have been true if Peter had quoted it on
the morning of Pentecost. It was quite true when Carsy acted upon it
and
started on what men thought his mad enterprise
to go as a consecrated cobbler
to convert the learned Brahmins of India. It is quite as true now. If the
promise had been written this morning and the ink were not yet dry it would be
no more true than it is now:--“Yet will I gather others to Him.
3. The promise is most graciously encouraging
because it evidently
applies very pointedly to outcasts. Has there strayed into this house of prayer
an outcast from society? Hearken thou to this word. But if not an outcast from
society
it may be you are an outcast in your own esteem.
4. The promise is absolute. This is the kind of language which only
an omnipotent being can use as to men’s minds.
III. THE FACTS WHICH
SUSTAIN OUR FAITH IN THIS PROMISE.
1. The perpetuity of the Gospel. Still is the good news preached
among you.
2. The blood of atonement has not lost its power.
3. The Spirit of God is with us still.
4. The glory and majesty of the Gospel
or rather the greatness of
the glory of God in the Gospel
demands that many more should be gathered than
have as yet been enfolded in the Church.
5. There must be many more souls to be ingathered because of the
longings of the saints. They are not satisfied unless they see conversions. The
Church needs more conversions. We never prosper as a Church unless we have a
fresh stream of young blood running into us.
IV. THE CONDUCT
CONSISTENT WITH THIS PROMISE.
1. To believe it
and then to pray about 2:2. If you pray
you must
work
for prayer without endeavour is hypocrisy.
3. Expect to see others gathered.
4. Those who have not yet been gathered should be encouraged to hope.
(C. H.Spurgeon.)
All
ye beasts of the field
come to devour.
--
The defenceless
condition the community owing to the incompetence of its spiritual leaders
1. All the wild beasts of the field and the forest are invited to
come and devour the unprotected flock.
2. For its rulers neglect their duty; they are inefficient as dumb
dogs; they are slothful
greedy
and sensual.
3. In consequence of their incapacity the righteous perish
none
regarding their fate (Isaiah 57:1-2). (Prof. J. Skinner
D. D.)
The metaphor of
wild beasts
The
people being represented in the following verses as a flock
their destroyers
are naturally represented here as wild beasts. (J. A. Alexander.)
That
a new chastisement at the hands of the heathen is actually contemplated need
not be assumed. (Prof. J. Skinner
D. D.)
The flock: its
guardians and its devourers
These
words (Isaiah 56:9) are to be understood as a note of warning
a sound of alarm. It
is not that God wishes His flock to be devoured that He thus summons the beasts
of prey to gather round the fold; on the contrary
He is concerned for their
safety
and warns them of the danger in which they stand. No style of address
was better fitted to startle both flock and shepherds from their careless
security. God’s flock is still surrounded by ravenous beasts.
I. THE UNPROTECTED STATE OF THE FLOCK.
1. In the case before us the sheep are shamefully neglected.
2. The opposite course must tend to secure the safety and well-being
of the flock. Pray
then
for your minister.
II. THE WILD BEASTS THAT THREATEN TO DEVOUR THE FLOCK. Some are open
and undisguised; others are wily and insidious. Conclusion: We point you to the
Chief Shepherd. (W. Guthrie
M. A.)
Verses 9-12
All ye beasts of the
field
come to devour.
--
The defenceless condition
the community owing to the incompetence of its spiritual leaders
1. All
the wild beasts of the field and the forest are invited to come and devour the
unprotected flock.
2. For
its rulers neglect their duty; they are inefficient as dumb dogs; they are
slothful
greedy
and sensual.
3. In
consequence of their incapacity the righteous perish
none regarding their fate
(Isaiah
57:1-2). (Prof.
J. Skinner
D. D.)
The metaphor of wild
beasts
The people being
represented in the following verses as a flock
their destroyers are naturally
represented here as wild beasts. (J. A. Alexander.)
That a new chastisement at
the hands of the heathen is actually contemplated need not be assumed. (Prof.
J. Skinner
D. D.)
The flock: its guardians
and its devourers
These words (Isaiah
56:9) are
to be understood as a note of warning
a sound of alarm. It is not that God
wishes His flock to be devoured that He thus summons the beasts of prey to
gather round the fold; on the contrary
He is concerned for their safety
and
warns them of the danger in which they stand. No style of address was better
fitted to startle both flock and shepherds from their careless security. God’s
flock is still surrounded by ravenous beasts.
I. THE
UNPROTECTED STATE OF THE FLOCK.
1. In
the case before us the sheep are shamefully neglected.
2. The
opposite course must tend to secure the safety and well-being of the flock.
Pray
then
for your minister.
II. THE
WILD BEASTS THAT THREATEN TO DEVOUR THE FLOCK. Some are open and undisguised;
others are wily and insidious. Conclusion: We point you to the Chief Shepherd.
(W. Guthrie
M. A.)
Verse 10-11
His watchmen are blind.
-
The old Hebrew pulpit a
beacon to modern preachers
(with Jeremiah 8:11):--
I. THE OLD HEBREW
PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS IGNORANT. The “watchmen” are said to be “blind” and
“ignorant.” They did not see and “understand” the things that ought to have
been clear to their vision and intelligible to their judgment. An ignorant
pulpit
though a contradiction in terms
has ever been too prevalent. There may
be profound pulpit ignorance where there are the most distinguished scholastic
acquirement and literary charms. On the other hand
there may be considerable
pulpit intelligence where there is but a very small degree of mere scholastic
attainment. Many a noble-souled
Gospel-inspired man
who knew no book but the
Bible
no language but his own
and could not speak even that with grammatical
propriety
has done the true work of the pulpit. That pulpit is an ignorant
pulpit that does not “discern the things of the Spirit”--things that the Spirit
of God approves
and the spirit of man requires. I call that an ignorant pulpit
which ministers to the speculative in man rather than to the spiritual
to the
intellect rather than the heart
and presents a dead creed rather than a living
Christ. I call that an ignorant pulpit which ministers to sects rather than to
souls
represents Christ as one sent to save a favourite few
rather than as
“the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.” I call that an
ignorant pulpit that does not practically feel that all Divine truth to man is
but infinite love for man speaking through the intellect to the heart.
II. THE OLD HEBREW
PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS MARKED BY SLOTHFULNESS. The watchmen are called “dumb
dogs that cannot bark.” It is because these animals have ever been used by man
as sentinels whose bark warns of approaching danger; and because they are only
useful as they bark
that they are employed as symbols of indolent preachers.
There are men who
when they speak
speak with a drowsy soul
and their words
are somnific. Perhaps there are more in these times dumb from expediency than
from slothfulness. They echo only the opinions that are current in their
Church. They add nothing to the stock of Christian intelligence.
III. THE OLD HEBREW
PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS MARKED BY SELFISH GREED. “Yea they are greedy dogs
which can never have enough
” etc. Such strong language expresses their
ravenous selfishness. It would seem that these corrupt prophets cared for no
one but themselves. How stands the modern pulpit in this respect? This selfish
greed shows itself in other ways besides the striving after “filthy lucre.”
There is the greed for popularity.
IV. THE OLD HEBREW
PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS MARKED BY SUPERFICIALITY. “They have healed the
daughter of My people slightly.” Dr. Blaney
in his translation
substitutes
the word “superficially” for “slightly.” Although these words are taken from
another book they refer to the same subject
and to the same class of men. The
words
however
from Isaiah describe their character
these words describe
their work. They did something
but it was partial and ineffective. They did
not seek to eradicate the disease
but merely administered temporary
palliatives
which
whilst they deadened the pain
fostered the virus of the
malady. The idea undoubtedly is
that instead of endeavouring to work into the
moral heart of the people profound convictions as to the enormity of their sins
and fulminate in their ears the righteous denunciations of Heaven
they
presented considerations of false comfort. This superficial healing of souls is
an immense injury. It deludes the patient. It wastes the restorative season.
That pulpit is superficial which fails either to generate supreme love to the
great God in hearts where it is not
or to strengthen it in hearts where it is.
(Homilist.)
Verse 12
To-morrow
shall be as this day
Faith and presumption
The future is very differently contemplated by different
individuals.
Men of a sanguine temperament gild it with golden visions that are never
realized. Such persons meet with many disappointments. It is quite right to
expect good in the future
providing we eagerly seize the opportunities and
avail ourselves of the advantages of the present. But it is in the field of
to-day that we must sow the seed of what we are to reap on the morrow. Men of a
directly opposite temperament are constantly foreboding evil. This desponding
disposition is itself a very heavy burden to bear. If there be evil in the
future
it doubles it by the anticipation
and the anticipation is frequently a
heavier burden than is the reality; and if the future brings no such evil
we
have been carrying a burden
when in reality there was no burden to bear. How
wise are the words of Jesus
“Take no thought for the morrow
” etc. Both these
dispositions need to be corrected. There is still another class who are morally
reckless about the future. This results neither from temperament nor
imagination
but from their moral condition: the madness is in their hearts.
They were persons of this class who made use of the words contained in our
text. These words
although polluted by the sense and circumstances in which
they are here used
express a truth as well as a falsehood.
I. THEY MAY BE THE
EXPRESSION OF A PERFECTLY RATIONAL FAITH AND REASONABLE SENTIMENT.
1. It is reasonable to expect that nature will be as productive in
the future as it has ever been in the past. Why should we fear that seed-time
and harvest or summer and winter will fail
or that the soil will be less
productive than it has been? Surely if we are to expect any change
it is a
change for the better; the sun will shine as brightly as it has done
and the
rains will fall as abundantly
and the earth will be more extensively reclaimed
and better cultivated. The soil yields a great deal more now than it used to
do; and still there remaineth much land to be possessed.
2. This is a reasonable sentiment when used in the light of human
progress. The progress made in arts and sciences ought greatly to increase the
resources of society. Labour is the wealth of a nation
and therefore the more
labour can be made to produce
the wealthier a nation must be. Not only so
but
the productions of one country have by these means been brought within easy
access of other countries
so that failure in one part is largely compensated
for by a more abundant supply in other places.
3. This is also a rational sentiment when we remember the goodness
and unchangeableness of God. His goodness to us in the past ought to inspire us
with confidence in Him for the future; and this confidence ought to have
respect to all the concerns of life.
4. This is a reasonable sentiment when you consider the promises of
God and the predictions concerning the future. Is it not said that the desert
shall rejoice and blossom as the rose? Let the Gospel be preached to the savage
and the uncivilized; if they receive it they will not only sit at the feet of
Jesus
but they will also soon become clothed
and begin to cultivate the soil
and the change thus produced on the face of nature will correspond with the
change in their moral and spiritual condition.
5. Then there is a future beyond the present life in relation to
which these words may be used with still deeper emphasis. The man who has fled
for refuge to the hope set before him
and has striven to walk with God here
may say with confidence
as he enters into the valley of the shadow of death
“I will not fear
” for “to-morrow shall be as this day
and much more
abundant.”
II. THIS MAY ALSO
BE THE LANGUAGE OF WICKED PRESUMPTION.
1. It is so when it is the utterance of idleness. No man has a right
to neglect the duties of to-day
and to flatter himself that his life will be
crowned with increased abundance on the morrow.
2. It is so when it is the language of extravagance and profligacy.
The latter is the spirit in which it is used in this verse. “Come ye
say they
I will fetch wine
” etc. The men who used these words had evidently closed
their ears to warning
and given themselves up to a life of self-indulgence.
This was no doubt the feeling of the prodigal
who wasted his substance in
riotous living. He promised himself that the debauches of to-day should be
succeeded by still greater debauches on the morrow. We are not to burden
ourselves with anxious cares about the future
but neither are we to pledge our
future income to meet our present expenses. Nor are we to use
as bread for
to-day
what God has sent to be sown as seed for the morrow.
We ought to study the law of proportion
and to live in proportion
to our income
to give in proportion to our income
and to save in proportion
to our income and the position of responsibility in which we are placed
either
as to family or work-people.
3. This is the language of sinful presumption when it is used as an
excuse for the neglect of present privileges and opportunities.
Many plead this as an excuse for the neglect of religion. The time
is not convenient. They are too young
or their temptations and difficulties
are at present too great. They hope that their circumstances will undergo a
change. But some
who have flattered themselves that they were too young
have
not lived to become old. This excuse is also pleaded by some who have in them
some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel
for delay in publicly avowing
themselves on the Lord’s side
and casting in their lot with His people. There
is something in the way to-day which they expect will be removed to-morrow.
But
perhaps when to-morrow comes the difficulties are increased
and the
resolve
which was almost formed
is wholly abandoned. This excuse is also
pleaded for not entering into some sphere of usefulness to which you were
clearly called. But the door closes and it is too late. (A. Clark.)
Optimism
false and true
Whether we are warranted in expecting the future to be better than
the present
depends upon our standpoint; upon whether we look at the future as
men of the world
purely and simply
or as followers of Jesus Christ. It may be
the height of folly to say by our lips
or by out lives
“To-morrow shall be as
this day
and much more abundant;” but
on the other hand
our so saying may
involve the highest wisdom.
I. HOW IN
PROPHESYING GOOD OF THE MORROW
WE MAY NOT BE SPEAKING CORRECTLY.
1. It is folly to prophesy good of to-morrow in respect to worldly
things.
2. It is folly to prophesy good of to-morrow just because the future
promises development. If to-morrow be more abundant than to-day
it will be
because we have well spent to-day
and have not dreamed away our time and our
opportunities.
3. It is folly to prophesy good of to-morrow unless we take steps to
bring the good to pass.
II. HOW IN
PROPHESYING GOOD OF THE FUTURE WE MAY BE SPEAKING ABSOLUTE TRUTH. Is there
anything about which we may say with certainty
“To-morrow shall be as this
day
and much more abundant”? Ability to talk thus
however
presupposes two
things
1. That we know the grace God.
2. Patient continuance in well-doing. (J. S. Swan.)
Discounting the future
In this picture
that exaggerated hopefulness which it describes
seems to have been the result of intoxication. It is one who has filled himself
with strong drink
who
from the midst of his revels
cries out
“To-morrow
shall be as this day
nay
much more abundant.” In point of fact
however
such
artificial stimulus is in no wise necessary for the excitement of extravagant
hopes. Such hopes are born out of circumstances the most discouraging and amid
surroundings the most dismal and dreary
Let us bless God that it is so. I
doubt whether life would be long endurable if it were otherwise. In fact
it is
at the point when the spring of hopefulness fairly snaps that men and women
break down. And yet
like some other forms of so-called nourishment
this is
one which has a perilous power of enervation. It is worth while to remember
that the future is simply and inevitably and inexorably the outgrowth and
outcome of the present. The man or woman of ungoverned temper imagines that age
will cool their blood and so diminish their provocations. But age weakens
nothing save our powers of demonstration. And so of the rest of the infirmities
of our nature. Does the lust of the flesh
or the lust of the eye
or the pride
of life--do our covetousness and our selfishness and our untruthfulness go
through a sort of transformation-scene process
and emerge at some given point
in our future in the guise of the Christian graces or the cardinal virtues? The
future does not create progress
but only reveals it. And thus we see the
province and
if I may so speak
the function in the moral and spiritual world
of Hope. That function is to inspire the present. And
therefore
if I were
asked to indite that legend or motto which should be the rule and law for every
young life among us
I would write the one word “Now.” (H. C. Potter
D. D.)
“To-morrow"
They were wicked men who spoke these words. Just think of what
these words are in the mouth of a wicked man.
1. To-morrow shall be another day in which I shall rob God of His
due.
2. I will tempt God another day; I will stand out against God.
3. Or
looking at God’s mercy
he says
“Well
God is merciful
God
is willing to bless me
but I will not be blessed.”
4. If the man says this
it implies that he will give another day to
fasten the fetters of sin firmer upon him.
5. Again
the wicked man says
“ I will encourage sinners another day
to continue in their sin; I will set them the example of sinning still further
than I have done hitherto.” But what are you doing when you are thus
encouraging men in sin? You are doing your best to seal that sinner’s doom. You
are doing your best to make that sinner’s death-bed terrible. You are doing the
best you can to harden that sinner in defiance of God and in his rejection of
all that might save his soul; you are making that man laugh his life away in
frivolity and evil
6. You are strengthening Satan in his great argument to keep men from
Christ. What is that great argument? No hope for you; how can you expect to be
saved? Have you not been living away from God! You have sinned away the day of
grace.
7. If you say
“To-morrow shall be as this day then what is your
state.? Why
that if you die to-morrow you shall go to hell. If you were to die
to-day in your sins
you would go to hell. Then
if to-morrow is to be as
to-day
you are deciding--I shall live to-morrow in such a state that if I die
to-morrow I shall go to hell.
7. You are keeping Christ another day standing at the door.
8. You mean to have another day of resisting the strivings of God’s
spirit. (J. M.Hussey.)
Can we make sure of to-morrow?
These words
as they stand
are the call of boon companions to new
revelry. They are part of the prophet’s picture of a corrupt age when the men
of influence and position had thrown away their sense of duty
and had given
themselves over
as aristocracies and plutocracies are ever tempted to do
to
mere luxury and good living. Base and foolish as they are on such lips
it is
possible to lift them from the mud
and take them as the utterance of a lofty
and calm hope which will not be disappointed
and of a firm and lowly resolve
which may ennoble life. Like a great many other sayings
they may fit the mouth
either of a sot or a saint.
I. THIS
EXPECTATION IF DIRECTED TO ANY OUTWARD THINGS
IS AN ILLUSION AND A DREAM. It
is base and foolish to be forecasting our pleasures
the true temper is to be
forecasting our work. But
leaving that consideration
let us notice how
useless such anticipation
and how mad such confidence
as that expressed in
the text is
if directed to anything short of God. We are so constituted as
that we grow into a persuasion that what has been will be
and yet we can give
no sufficient reason to ourselves why we expect it. “The uniformity of the
course of nature” is the corner-stone
not only of physical science
but
in a
more homely form
of the wisdom which grows with experience. We all believe
that the sun will rise to-morrow because it rose to-day
and for all the
yesterdays. But there was a to-day which had no yesterday
and there will be a
to-day which will have no to-morrow. The sun will rise for the last time. The
uniformity had a beginning and will have an end. So
even as an axiom of
thought
the anticipation that things will continue as they have been because
they have been
seems to rest on an insufficient basis. How much more so
as to
our own little lives and their surroundings! We shall be nearest the truth if
we take due account
as we do so to-day
of the undoubted fact that the only
thing certain about to-morrow is that it will not be as this day.
II. BUT YET THERE
IS A POSSIBILITY OF SO USING THE WORDS AS TO MAKE THEM THE UTTERANCE OF A SOBER
CERTAINTY WHICH WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME. We may send out our hope like Noah’s
dove
not to hover restlessly over a heaving ocean of change
but to light on
firm
solid certainty
and fold its wearied wings there. Forecasting is ever
close by foreboding
hope is interwoven with fear
the golden threads of the
weft crossing the dark ones of the warp
and the whole texture gleaming bright
or glooming black according to the angle at which it is seen. So is it always
until we turn our hope away from earth to God
and fall the future with the
light of His presence and the certainty of His truth. We have an unchanging and
an inexhaustible God
and He is the true guarantee of the future for us. The
more we accustom ourselves to think of Him as shaping all that is contingent
and changeful in the nearest and in the remotest to-morrow
and as being
Himself the immutable portion of our souls
the calmer will be our outlook into
the darkness
and the more bright will be the clear light of certainty which
burns for us in it.
III. LOOKED AT IN
ANOTHER ASPECT
THESE WORDS MAY BE TAKEN AS THE VOW OF A FIRM AND LOWLY
RESOLVE. There is a future which we can but very slightly influence
and the
less we look at that the better every way. But there is also a future which we
can mould as we wish--the future of our own characters
the only future which
is really ours at all. In that region
it is eminently true that “to-morrow
shall be as this day
and much more abundant. The law of continuity shapes our
moral and spiritual characters. The awful power of habit solidifies actions
into customs
and prolongs the reverberation of every note
once sounded
along
the vaulted roof of the chamber where we live. To-day is the child of yesterday
and the parent of to-morrow. That solemn certainty of the continuance and
increase of moral and spiritual characteristics works in both good and bad
but
with a difference. To secure its full blessing in the gradual development of
the germs of good there must be constant effort and tenacious resolution. As we
grow in years
we shall grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ
until the day comes when we shall exchange earth for heaven. That
will be the sublimest application of this text
when
dying
we can calmly be
sure that though to-day be on this side and to-morrow on the other bank of the
black river
there will be no break in the continuity
but only an infinite
growth in our life
and heaven’s to-morrow shall be as earth’s to-day and much
more abundant. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
The changeful and the abiding
To-day’s wealth may be to-morrow’s poverty
to-day’s health
to-morrow’s sickness
to-day’s happy companionship of love to-morrow’s aching
solitude of heart
but to-day’s God will be to-morrow’s God
to-day’s Christ
will be to-morrow’s Christ. Other fountains may dry up in heat
or freeze in
winter
but thin” knows no change
“in summer and winter it shall be. Other
fountains may sink low in their basins after much drawing
but this is ever
full
and after a thousand generations have drawn from it its stream is broad
and deep as ever. Other fountains may be left behind on the march
and the
wells and palm trees of each Elim on our road be succeeded by a dry and thirsty
land where no water is
but this spring follows us all through the wilderness
and makes music and spreads freshness ever by our path. What may be round the
next headland we know not; but this we know
that the same sunshine will make a
broadening path across the waters right to where we rock on the unknown sea
and the same unmoving mighty star will burn for our guidance
me we may let me
waves and currents roll as they list--or rather as He wills
and be little
concerned about the incidents or the companions of our voyage
since He is with
us. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
Experience and hope
Experience is ever the parent of hope
and the latter can only
build with the bricks which the former gives. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
The power of habit
How dreadfully that law of the continuity and development of
character works in some men l By slow
imperceptible
certain degree the evil
gains upon them. Yesterday’s sin smooths the path for to-day s. The temptation
once yielded to gains power. The crack in the embankment which lets a drop or
two ooze through is soon a hole which lets out a flood. It is easier to find a
man who has done a wrong thing than to find a man who has done it only once.
Peter denied his Lord thrice
and each time more easily than the time before.
So
before we know it
the thin gossamer threads of single actions are twisted
into a rope of habit
and we are “tied with the cords of our sin.” (A.
Maclaren
D. D.)
Character the result of trivial actions
How important the smallest acts become when we think of them as
thus influencing character! The microscopic creatures
thousands of which will
go into a square inch
make the great white cliffs that beetle over the wildest
sea and front the storm. So
permanent and solid character is built up out of
trivial actions
and this is the solemn aspect of our passing days
that they
are making us. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
Hope for men in the Christian redemption
We might well tremble before such a thought
which would be
dreadful to the best of us
if it were not for pardoning mercy and renewing
grace. The law of reaping what we have sown
or of continuing as we have begun
may be modified as far as our sins and failures are concerned. The entail may
be cut off
and to-morrow need not inherit to-day’s guilt
nor to-day’s habits.
The past may be all blotted out through the mercy of God in Christ. No evil
habit need continue its dominion over us
nor are we obliged to carry on the
bad tradition of wrong-doing into a future
day
for Christ lives
and. “if any
man be in Christ
he is a new creature; old things are passed away
all things
are become new. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
Presuming on the future
We have all read of that Persian prince who
having grown to man’s
estate and completed his education
divided his life into four decades. The
first ten years of his life he would devote to travel
since travel
he rightly
argued
was as much an educator as were books. The second decade he would
employ in the affairs of government
since government is part of the duty of a
prince. The third decade he would reserve for the pleasures and the benefits of
friendship
since friendship is
after all
the melody and fragrance of life.
And then the fourth decade he would give to God. It was a most taking and
attractive plan of life. But it was marred by one considerable defect. During
the first ten years the prince died
and for that contingency he had made no
provision whatever. (H. C. Potter
D. D.)
To-morrow
To-morrow is the most wonderful of days
or
as Isaiah has it
“a
day great beyond measure.” Its history outshines the record of centuries. It is
the day on which idle men labour and fools reform. It is the day when every man
does his duty. It is the harvest-time of good intentions. To-morrow the worst
of sinners will be a saint. To-morrow the frivolous pleasure-seeker will be
transformed into a serious-minded devotee
a whole-souled worker for the good
of humanity. To-morrow the dishonest man will be honest
the immoral man will
be pure
the selfish man will be benevolent. To-morrow bad habits will be
resolutely overcome
evil tempers will be conquered
wrong desires will be
banished. To-morrow myriads of men and women will heed the call of Christ. If
the world could but see the bright dawning of its mythical glory! But it never
can. To-morrow is like the rainbow’s end
which continually moves on and keeps
its distance undiminished when foolish children seek its golden treasure. (G.
H.Hubbard.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》