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Isaiah Chapter
Fifty-seven
Isaiah 57
Chapter Contents
The blessed death of the righteous. (1
2) The abominable
idolatries of the Jewish nation. (3-12) Promises to the humble and contrite.
(13-21)
Commentary on Isaiah 57:1
2
(Read Isaiah 57:1
2)
The righteous are delivered from the sting of death
not
from the stroke of it. The careless world disregards this. Few lament it as a
public loss
and very few notice it as a public warning. They are taken away in
compassion
that they may not see the evil
nor share in it
nor be tempted by
it. The righteous man
when he dies
enters into peace and rest.
Commentary on Isaiah 57:3-12
(Read Isaiah 57:3-12)
The Lord here calls apostates and hypocrites to appear
before him. When reproved for their sins
and threatened with judgments
they
ridiculed the word of God. The Jews were guilty of idolatry before the
captivity; but not after that affliction. Their zeal in the worship of false
gods
may shame our indifference in the worship of the true God. The service of
sin is disgraceful slavery; those who thus debase themselves to hell
will
justly have their portion there. Men incline to a religion that inflames their
unholy passions. They are led to do any evil
however great or vile
if they think
it will atone for crimes
or purchase indulgence for some favourite lust. This
explains idolatry
whether pagan
Jewish
or antichristian. But those who set
up anything instead of God
for their hope and confidence
never will come to a
right end. Those who forsake the only right way
wander in a thousand by-paths.
The pleasures of sin soon tire
but never satisfy. Those who care not for the
word of God and his providences
show they have no fear of God. Sin profits
not; it ruins and destroys.
Commentary on Isaiah 57:13-21
(Read Isaiah 57:13-21)
The idols and their worshippers shall come to nothing;
but those who trust in God's grace
shall be brought to the joys of heaven.
With the Lord there is neither beginning of days
nor end of life
nor change
of time. His name is holy
and all must know him as a holy God. He will have
tender regard to those who bring their mind to their condition
and dread his
wrath. He will make his abode with those whose hearts he has thus humbled
in
order to revive and comfort them. When troubles last long
even good men are
tempted to entertain hard thoughts of God. Therefore He will not contend for
ever
for he will not forsake the work of his own hands
nor defeat the
purchase of his Son's blood. Covetousness is a sin that particularly lays men
under the Divine displeasure. See the sinfulness of sin. See also that troubles
cannot reform men unless God's grace work in them. Peace shall be published
perfect
peace. It is the fruit of preaching lips
and praying lips. Christ came and
preached peace to Gentiles
as well as to the Jews; to after-ages
who were
afar off in time
as well as to those of that age. But the wicked would not be
healed by God's grace
therefore would not be healed by his comforts. Their
ungoverned lusts and passions made them like the troubled sea. Also the terrors
of conscience disturbed their enjoyments. God hath said it
and all the world
cannot unsay it
That there is no peace to those who allow themselves in any
sin. If we are recovered from such an awful state
it is only by the grace of
God. And the influences of the Holy Spirit
and that new heart
from whence
comes grateful praise
the fruit of our lips
are his gift. Salvation
with all
its fruits
hopes
and comforts
is his work
and to him belongs all the glory.
There is no peace for the wicked man; but let the wicked forsake his way
and
the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord
and he will
have mercy upon him
and to our God
and he will abundantly pardon.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Isaiah》
Isaiah 57
Verse 1
[1] The
righteous perisheth
and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken
away
none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
The righteous —
Just and holy men.
No man —
Few or none.
Layeth it to heart — Is
duly affected with this sad sign of God's displeasure.
Verse 2
[2] He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds
each one walking
in his uprightness.
He — This just and
merciful man shall enter into a state of rest
where he shall be out of the
reach of the approaching miseries.
They —
just men. Here is a sudden change of the number
which is very frequent in the
prophets.
Beds — In
their graves
which are not unfitly called their beds
as their death is
commonly called sleep in scripture.
Verse 3
[3] But
draw near hither
ye sons of the sorceress
the seed of the adulterer and the
whore.
Hither — To
God's tribunal
to receive your sentence.
Sons —
Not by propagation
but by imitation.
And the whore —
Not the genuine children of Abraham
their dispositions were far more suitable
to a bastardly brood
than to Abraham's seed.
Verse 4
[4]
Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth
and
draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression
a seed of falsehood
Against whom —
Consider whom it is that you mock and scoff
when you deride God's prophets.
A seed — A
generation of liars
whose practices contradict your professions
who deal
deceitfully both with God and men.
Verse 5
[5] Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree
slaying the
children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
Enflaming —
Lusting after them
and mad upon them.
Slaying — In
way of sacrifice to their idols.
Valleys — He
seems to allude to the valley of Hinnom in which these cruelties were
practised.
Clifts —
Which they chuse either for shade
or for those dark vaults
in rocks
which
were convenient for idolatrous uses.
Verse 6
[6]
Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they
they are thy lot:
even to them hast thou poured a drink offering
thou hast offered a meat
offering. Should I receive comfort in these?
Portion —
Thou hast chosen for thy portion those idols
which were worshipped by the
sides of brooks or rivers where such smooth stones commonly lie.
They —
Thou hast forsaken me and chosen idols.
Offered —
For the devil is God's ape
and idolaters used the same rites and offerings in
the worship of idols which God had prescribed in his own.
Comfort —
Should I be pleased with such a people and such actions?
Verse 7
[7] Upon
a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up
to offer sacrifice.
Mountain — In
high places
which were much used for religious worship
both by Israelites and
by Heathens.
Thy bed —
Thine altar
in which thou didst commit spiritual whoredom with idols.
Verse 8
[8]
Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou
hast discovered thyself to another than me
and art gone up; thou hast enlarged
thy bed
and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou
sawest it.
The posts —
Behind the posts of the doors of thine house: where the Heathens placed their tutelar
gods to whose protection they committed their houses
that so they might have
their eyes and minds upon them
whensoever they went out or came in.
Set up —
Those monuments which thou didst set up there as remembrances of those
idol-gods whom they represented.
Discovered —
Thou hast uncovered thy nakedness; to others beside me thine husband.
Gone up —
Into the adulterous bed.
Enlarged —
That it might receive many adulterers together. Thou hast multiplied thine
idols and altars.
A covenant —
Thou hast covenanted to serve them.
Verse 9
[9] And
thou wentest to the king with ointment
and didst increase thy perfumes
and
didst send thy messengers far off
and didst debase thyself even unto hell.
The King —
The king of Assyria
called the king by way of eminency
to whom the Israelites
in the days of Isaiah were very prone to trust
and send presents. And so the
prophet passes from their idolatry to another sin
even their confidence in
Heathen princes.
Increase —
Didst send great quantities.
Far off —
Into Assyria
which was far from Judea.
Debase —
Thou wast willing to submit to the basest terms to procure their aid.
Verse 10
[10] Thou
art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not
There is no hope:
thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.
Wearied —
Thou hast not eased
but tired thyself with thy tedious journey.
Yet —
And yet thou didst not perceive that thy labour was lost.
Hast found —
Thou hast sometimes found success in these ways.
Not grieved —
Therefore thou didst not repent of thy sin herein.
Verse 11
[11] And
of whom hast thou been afraid or feared
that thou hast lied
and hast not
remembered me
nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old
and thou fearest me not?
Feared —
And who are they
the fear of whom drives thee to these wicked courses? Lied -
That thou hast dealt thus perfidiously with me.
Not remembered —
Hast thou forgotten all those great things which I have done for thee.
Held my peace —
Have not I forbore to punish thee from time to time
that by this goodness I
might oblige thee to love me.
And thou —
Or
therefore thou dost not fear or regard me. Thou abusest my long-suffering.
Verse 13
[13] When
thou criest
let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all
away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess
the land
and shall inherit my holy mountain;
But —
But they shall be carried away suddenly and violently by the blast of mine
anger.
Vanity — A
vapour which quickly vanishes away.
Inherit —
Shall enjoy my favour and presence in my temple.
Verse 14
[14] And
shall say
Cast ye up
cast ye up
prepare the way
take up the stumblingblock
out of the way of my people.
And he —
God will raise up a man who shall say with authority and efficacy.
Cast up —
Make causeways
where it is needful
for their safe and easy passage
and
remove all things which may hinder them in their return.
Verse 16
[16] For
I will not contend for ever
neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit
should fail before me
and the souls which I have made.
For — I
will not proceed to the utmost severity with sinful men.
Verse 17
[17] For
the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth
and smote him: I hid me
and was
wroth
and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.
Covetousness — Of
which sin the Jews were eminently guilty. But this comprehends all those sins
for which God contended with them.
He went —
Yet he was not reformed
but trespassed more and more.
Verse 18
[18] I
have seen his ways
and will heal him: I will lead him also
and restore
comforts unto him and to his mourners.
Mourners — To
those who are humbled under God's hand
that mourn in Zion for their own and
others sins.
Verse 19
[19] I
create the fruit of the lips; Peace
peace to him that is far off
and to him
that is near
saith the LORD; and I will heal him.
I create — I
will by my almighty power produce.
Peace —
That peace which is not wrought by mens hands
but only by God's lips or word.
The doubling of the word signifies the certainty and abundance this peace.
Far off — To
the Gentiles who are far from God
as well as to the Jews
who are called a
people near unto God
Psalms 148:14.
Verse 20
[20] But
the wicked are like the troubled sea
when it cannot rest
whose waters cast up
mire and dirt.
Cast up —
Their minds are restless
being perpetually hurried with their own lusts and
passions
and with guilt
and the dread of the divine vengeance.
Verse 21
[21]
There is no peace
saith my God
to the wicked.
No peace —
Though they may have a great share of prosperity
yet they have no share in
this inward
and spiritual
and everlasting peace.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Isaiah》
57 Chapter 57
Verse 1-2
The righteous perisheth
The righteous perishing
In view of this prevailing demoralization and worldliness (Isaiah 56:9-12)
the righteous one
succumbs to the grinding weight of external and internal sufferings: he
“perishes
” dies before his time (Ecclesiastes 7:15)
from the midst of his
contemporaries
disappearing from this life (Psalms 12:1; Micah 7:2)
and no man lays it to heart
i.no
one considers the Divine accusation and threatening implied in this early
death. (F. Delitzsch
D. D.)
“Merciful men”
Literally
men of piety. (Prof. J. Skinner
D. D.)
Good men die
Righteousness delivereth from the sting of death
but not from the
stroke of it. (M. Henry.)
Death of the righteous
1. One reason why
when the righteous dieth
no man layeth it to
heart is because the world do not know the righteous.
2. Another reason is
disinclination of all men by nature to lay such
things to heart.
3. They do not think it of much importance. But the death of every
good man is a loss to the world
a loss to the Church militant--the people of
God are the salt of the earth
and the more taken away and the less left
the
less likely are we to be blessed as a nation. (James Wells.)
Early death
Such early removals form a problem insoluble by our poor reason.
They seem
at first sight
inconsistent alike with the Divine wisdom and power
and love. They look almost like the frustration of God’s plans and purposes
a failure
in His sovereign designs. It is the architect just completing His work when
that work comes with a crash to the ground. It is the sculptor putting the
finishing strokes of his chisel on the virgin marble
when the toil of months
or years strews the floor of his studio. It is the gardener bringing forth from
his conservatory the long-husbanded plants in their freshness and beauty
to
bask in early summer sun
when a frost or hailstorm unexpectedly comes
and in
one night they have perished! (J. R. Macduff
D. D.)
Early death
Why is the young soldier stricken clown just; when the armour of
life has been assayed? Wherefore hath God apparently thus made His noblest work
in vain? The words of Isaiah give a twofold answer to these questions and
mysteries; the one negative
the other positive.
I. THE NEGATIVE
ANSWER. “The righteous is taken away from the evil to come.” It was so in the
case of Josiah (2 Kings 22:18-20).
II. THE POSITIVE
EXPLANATION. “He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds
each
one walking in his uprightness; or rather
as it has been rendered
each one
walking straight before him
or as Bishop Lowth translates it
“he that walketh
in the straight oath.”
1. Josiah
the good
the pious
when he died
“entered into peace.”
It is a beautiful Old Testament evidence of the immediate blessedness of the
departed righteous. His body rested in the tomb
as in a “bed” or couch; his
spirit--the spirit that walked so “uprightly on earth
with no divergence from
the path of duty and piety--continues
in a loftier state of existence
this
elevated “walk.” The work cut short in this lower world is not arrested; it is
only transferred. In a higher and loftier sphere he still pursues these active
ministries of righteousness. There is an evident contrast between these opening
words of the chapter and the terrible refrain with which it closes--“There is
no peace
saith my God
to the wicked;” none in life
none in death
none in
their limitless future. But “the righteous
” thus taken away
“enter into
peace.”
2. Another thought
too
is brought out in the original which we miss
in our translation
and which suggests the same assurance of immediate bliss.
It occurs in the words just quoted--“The righteous is taken away
” “Merciful
men are taken away;” this in the Hebrew is
“The righteous
the merciful
are
gathered”--gathered to their fathers.
3. One other thought on early death may be suggested by these words.
While the spirit is pursuing its onward path of bliss and glory
it has not
in
the truest sense
bid farewell to its earthly sphere. The lips are silenced
the music of the voice is hushed
the blank of the absent is too painfully
realized. But “the righteous” survive dissolution even in this world; in their
deathless memories of goodness and worth
they continue to “walk.” The old
promise dictated by the sweet singer of Israel (apparently paradoxical) becomes
literally true
regarding those prematurely taken away--“With long life will I
satisfy him
and show him My salvation.” For what
after all
is long life? Is
it measured and computed by formal arithmetic? counted by days
or weeks
or
months
or years? No! the fourscore years of a misspent life is no life at all.
It is a bankruptcy of being. It may be a life only sowing and perpetuating
baneful influences; an untimely birth would be better. Whereas
that is the
truest length of days
where
it may be for a brief but bright and consecrated
season
some young life has shone gloriously for God
and which
though now a
fallen meteor
has left a trail of light behind it
for which parent and
brother and sister will for ever bless Him who gave the transient boon! (J.
R. Macduff
D. D.)
The death of the good
I. THEIR DEATH IS
THE PERISHING OF THE BODY
1. Why
then
pamper the body?
2. Why centre interests on the wants and enjoyments of the body?
II. THEIR DEATH IS
GENERALLY DISREGARDED BY MANKIND. How soon the best of men are forgotten. There
are two reasons for disregarding the death of the good.
1. The thought of death is repugnant to the heart.
2. The concerns of life are all-absorbing.
III. THEIR DEATH IS
A DELIVERANCE FROM ALL THE EVILS THAT ARE COMING ON THE WORLD. “Taken away from
the evil to come.”
IV. THEIR DEATH IS
A STEP INTO A HIGHER LIFE. “He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their
beds.”
1. The death of the good as to the body is only sleep--natural
refreshing
temporary.
2. Their souls march on. “ Each one walking in his uprightness.” Endless
progress. “ It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” (Homilist.)
The righteous is taken
away from the evil to come
Spared future evil
1. It may be from the evil of personal suffering. The prolongation of
life to old age often involves an immense amount of bodily ills and pains.
2. It may be to spare the heart of affection sore trials. How often
do children grow up
to break the hearts of fond parents.
3. It may be to take His child out of harm’s way.
4. It may be to shield him from some impending calamity that is
coming upon the Church or the world.
5. Or (if we accept the marginal reading) it is to save them “from
that which” is “evil.” Life itself
under the curse of sin
is evil
even
in its best estate
and the God of mercy cuts it short and receives His loved
one into His bosom. (Homiletic Review.)
The blessings of short life
We all spend much time in panegyric of longevity. But I propose to
preach about the blessings of an abbreviated earthly existence.
I. IT MAKES ONE’S
LIFE WORK VERY COMPACT.
II. MORAL DISASTER
MIGHT COME UPON THE MAN IF HE TARRIED LONGER.
III. ONE IS THE
SOONER TAKEN OFF FROM THE DEFENSIVE.
IV. ONE ESCAPES SO
MANY BEREAVEMENTS.
V. IT PUTS ONE
SOONER IN THE CENTRE OF THINGS. (T. DeWitt Talmage
D. D.)
Verse 2
He shall enter into peace
The believer in life
death
and eternity
Taking them together
the
words of the text will lead us to contemplate the child of God--
I.
IN
THE STRENGTH AND VIGOUR OF LIFE.
II. IN
THE SUFFERING AND THE ARTICLE OF DEATH.
III. IN
THE CONSEQUENCES OF DISSOLUTION
AS THEY AFFECT BOTH BODY AND SOUL. (J.
Haslegrave
M. A.)
A glimmering of New
Testament consolation
Here is a glimmering of
the consolation in the New Testament
that the death of the righteous man is
better than the present life
because it is the entrance into peace. (F.
Delitzsch
D. D.)
Verse 6
Among the smooth stones of
the stream is thy portion
Smooth stones
The term “portion”
suggests that the “smooth stones” were fetishes.
(A. B. Davidson
D. D.)
False sods the idolater’s
portion
In stony valleys they set
up their gods
which they called their portion
and took for their lot
as
God’s people take Him for their lot and portion. (M. Henry.)
Verse 10
Thou art wearied in the
greatness of thy way
The weariness of sin
The text is a striking
representation of the sinner’s conduct in fruitless efforts to obtain happiness
anywhere but from heaven.
He wanders from object to object
he becomes weary in his pursuit
yet he will
not abandon it.
I. HE
PURSUES A WEARISOME COURSE. Nothing is so wearisome as fruitless efforts for
happiness.
1. The
sensual course for happiness is a wearisome one. The voluptuary and the
debauchee very soon show exhaustion.
2. The
secular course for happiness is a wearisome one. He who seeks happiness in the
pursuit of gain will soon find it wearisome.
3. The
intellectual course for happiness is a wearisome one. He who looks for true
happiness in study and research will soon find it a weariness.
4. The
superstitious course is a wearisome one. Millions are sinking into religious
superstition--pilgrimages
penances
prayers
and devotional routine. What
millions are found wearied in this path!
II. THOUGH
THE COURSE IS WEARISOME HE PERSEVERES. “Yet saidst thou not
There is no hope.”
Although Israel was wearied in seeking foreign help
still it continued; so
with the sinner. To persevere in these wearisome methods for happiness is very
foolish.
1. Because
they will never become easier than they are. On the contrary
he who pursues
these methods of happiness will become more and more weary on his way.
2. Because
there is a pleasant way to true happiness. What is that? The loving surrender
of your nature to God. The religious way to happiness is pleasant
because--
“Her ways are ways of
pleasantness and all her paths are peace.” How suited is the invitation of
Christ to the wearied millions of earth who are seeking for happiness in wrong
directions: “Come unto Me
all ye
” etc. (Homilist.)
Man’s weary way
I. THE
WAY WHICH IS HERE SUGGESTED TO US. “Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy
way.” The way which the Israelites took was their own way as distinguished from
God’s way. The way in which a man is walking
and by which he is seeking for
salvation
until he has found peace through Christ
is more or less directly
his own way.
II. THIS
WAY
WHICH IS MAN’S OWN WAY
IS SPOKEN OF AS A GREAT WAY. “Thou art weaned in
the greatness of thy way. Looking at salvation as It Is in Itself
at the
deliverance which is desired
a great deliverance is necessary; looking to the
efforts which man will make to effect and attain this deliverance
great
efforts are evidently necessary
and great efforts are frequently made. Micah
speaks of a man giving thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oil
yea
giving the life of his firstborn for the sin of his soul
if perchance he
may save that soul. And it is perfectly marvellous to see the efforts which men
have made
and arc making
in false religions
to secure that which they
desire
namely
their soul’s salvation.
III. THIS
WAY OF MAN’S OWN SEEKING IS A WEARY WAY. What disappointments the Israelites
met with! So with a man seeking
salvation in his own way as distinct from
God’s way. Just in proportion as a man is in earnest
just in proportion to the
depth of his convictions of sin and righteousness
just in proportion to the
sense which he has of the holiness of God
and the realities of eternity
will
be the man’s dissatisfaction with his own efforts and his own acts of
self-denial.
IV. Although
this is a weary way
and an unsatisfying way
yet IT HAS IN IT SOME PROMISES OF
SUCCOUR AND SOME POWER OF SATISFACTION
WHICH PREVENTS THE MAN FROM WHOLLY
DESPAIRING. The man “finds life to his hand.” There is enough in what he is
doing
there is enough in what he is finding
to prevent him from wholly
despairing. These persons are not prepared to “say there is no hope; they are
not prepared to despair of salvation in the manner in which they are seeking
it; they are not wholly cast down. “Therefore thou wast not grieved
not wholly
disheartened. They go on persevering and pressing forward
hoping that a
brighter day will come. Contrast with this way of man God’s way. The way of
salvation sought and followed by the Jews resembles very much the way of
salvation which the natural heart of man follows when he pursues and seeks that
salvation; but now
what is
the way which God would have us to walk in
as
contrasted with this way of man’s own devising? That which marks God’s way
and
distinguishes it especially from man’s way
is this--that man’s way is a way of
fear and dread
while God’s way is a way of love. “ But how
”you will say
“are
we to pass from this state
which is man’s natural state of seeking for
salvation
to that state which is described as God’s method of seeking and
conferring salvation?” The prophet tells us (verses 18
19). (E. Bayley
M.
A.)
“The life of thine hand”
“The life of thine hand”
may mean
“a revival of thy vigour.” (A. B.Davidson
D. D.)
Yet saidst thou
not
There is no hope
Hope
yet no hope: no
hope
yet hope
(with Jeremiah
18:12
“And they said
There is no hope
‘ etc.):--The subtlety of the human heart
exerts itself to the utmost to prevent that heart from trusting in the Saviour
and while evil is always cunning
it shows itself to be supremely so in its
efforts to guard the Cross against the approaches of sinners. By the Cross
as
the Saviour said
the thoughts of many hearts are revealed. There are two phases
in spiritual life which well illustrate the deceitfulness of the heart. The
first is that described in my first text
in which the man
though wearied in
his many attempts
is not and cannot be convinced of the hopelessness of
self-salvation. When you shall have hunted the man out of this
you will then
meet with a new difficulty
which is described in the second text. Finding
there is no hope in himself
the man draws the unwarrantable conclusion that
there is no hope for him in God. It is self-righteousness in both cases. In the
one case it is the soul content with self-righteousness
in the second place it
is man sullenly preferring to perish rather than receive the righteousness of
Christ.
I. We
have to speak of A HOPE WHICH IS NO HOPE. “Thou art wearied in the greatness of
thy way; yet saidst thou not
There is no hope
” etc. This well pictures the
pursuit of men after satisfaction in earthly things. They are content because
they have found the life of their hand. Living from hand to mouth is enough for
them; that they are still alive
that they possess present comforts and present
enjoyments
this contents the many. As for the future
they say
“ Let it take
care of itself.” They have no foresight for their eternal state; the present
hour absorbs them.
1. The
text applies very eminently to
those who are seeking salvation by ceremonies.”
2. A
great mass of people
even though they reject priestcraft
make themselves
priests
and rely upon their good works. The way of salvation by works
if it
were possible
would be a very wearisome way. How many good works would carry a
man to heaven
would be a question which it were very hard to answer.
3. Many
are looking for salvation to another form of self-deception
namely the way of
repentance and reformation.
II. We
shall now turn to the second text. “And they said
There is no hope
” etc. Here
we have No HOPE--AND YET HOPE. When the sinner has at last been driven by
stress of weather from the roadstead of his own confidence
then he flies to
the dreary harbour of despair. Despair is the mother of all sorts of evil. When
a man sates
. “There is no hope of heaven for me;” then he throws the reins
upon the neck of his lusts
and goes on from bad to worse. There is hope for
you in Him whom God has provided to be the Saviour of such as you are. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
Verse
14
And shall say
Cast ye up
God righteous
yet gracious
The second half of Isaiah 57:13 forms a transition to the
next section
which is a promise of salvation to the true Israel.
In striking contrast to the menacing tone of Isaiah 57:3 f is the impressive and
elevated language in which the prophet now sets forth the gracious thoughts of
Jehovah towards His erring but repentant people. (Prof. J. Skinner
D. D.)
A round to God
In this passage the cry goes forth
not on behalf of a conqueror
or a sovereign
but on behalf of God’s people. They are the honoured procession
for which a road is to be prepared. “Cast up
cast up”--that is
heap up
fill
in
“prepare the way
take up the stumbling-blockout of the way of My people.”
The figure
then
is striking. As royalty demanded for itself a smooth path
a
road from which all dangers and obstructions were taken away
so a soul that is
on its way to God has thrown over it
as it were
something of the sovereignty
which it approaches
and a mysterious voice is heard
crying
“Clear the way I
heap up! heap up! cast out the stumbling-stones.” (H. W. Beecher.)
Spiritual stumbling-blocks
1. The want of a true and
large ideal of Christian life
as an inward
spiritual and Divine disposition
and the attempt to live in mere conformity to rules
and with a vague
impression that if one conforms to the Church he shall in some way
he knows
scarcely how
be saved
is itself one of the causes of perpetual stumbling. The
attempt to live merely for the fulfilment of social moralities; the attempt to
live so that all the rules which are prescribed by all those who are governing
in the Lord
shall be obeyed; the attempt to live upon any such low conception
as that of regulations
conventions
observances
is sure to make the Christian
life poor
and the travel uncertain. For “a new creature in Christ Jesus” is
the apostolic definition of a Christian. Our aspiration and effort will be in
proportion to the dignity and the ideality
if I may
so say
of our conception
of what religion is. If we suppose it to be simply not doing evil
we shall put
forth but very little exertion
and we shall receive but very little stimulus.
2. The attempt to live the
Christian life with a low tone of feeling is a reason why men do not make
greater progress. In all the writings of the New Testament you will find that
fervour
intensity is required in every feeling. We not only need to have
moralities
but we need to have Christian graces
which are
as it were
orchids
epiphytes
and fed upon higher and purer things--light
and moisture
and other
elements that the air contains. Now
none of these can thrive in our temperate
climate. A temperate climate is good for temperate things; but for intensities
it is not good. And many dominant and characteristic traits of Christian
character are such as never can be brought out without fervour.
3. Lack of deep and
continuous devotion. This is either from the want of a sense of the great
spirit-world on whose border we live perpetually
or it is the result of
excessive occupation
over-occupation
which crowds all the time
and prevents
one from ripening in a true Christian devotion.
4. Another hindrance which
men find on the road of progress in their Christian life
is their ignorance as
to the effect of outward activity in developing inward fervour
and the effect
of inward fervour in developing outward activity--as to the effect of the
reciprocal action of the inward and the outward life. Men arc accustomed to
separate these qualities
which should never be disjoined. Men should be active
that they may be emotive; and they should be emotive
that emotion may work
into activity.
5. A very common hindrance to
Christian development is the attempt of men to perform their Christian work
outside of their appropriate spheres. Wherever you are
there begin the battle;
there subdue everything that stands in conflict with the law of conscience
and
the law of love
and the law of purity
and the law of truth. Begin the fight
wherever God sounds the trumpet
and He will give you grace that as your day
is
so your strength shall be. But until we cease dividing our life into two
parts--secular and religious--we never shall be very eminent and consistent as
Christians; we never shall make any very great progress in the Christian life.
6. Too much companion ship is
not good.
7. This stands closely
connected with another social hindrance to the development of true Christian
life
and that is
the addiction of men to pleasure. I mean not indulgence in
wasting and disallowable pleasures
but an excessive addiction to recreation of
any kind. We are bound to grow in grace. If we do not
grow
we are bound to
know the reason why. (H. W.Beecher.)
The way of religion
The way of religion is now cast up; it is a highway; ministers’
business is to direct people in it
and to help them over the discouragements
they meet with
that nothing may offend them. (M. Henry.)
The way of Christ prepared
I. THE STUMBLING-BLOCKS WHICH
CHRISTIANS HAVE THROWN IN THE WAY OF THE JEWS.
1. Persecution.
2. Contempt.
3. Idolatry.
4. Neglect of the law of
Moses.
5. Unbelief of the prophets.
II. THE STUMBLING-BLOCKS WHICH
THE JEWS HAVE PUT IN THEIR OWN WAY.
1. Self-righteousness.
2. Traditions of men.
3. Covetousness.
4. A false view of God.
5. Unbelief in the Son of
God.
III. THE BLESSED FRUITS OF
THEIR REMOVAL. These fruits are set before us in the verses which follow our
text.
1. Humiliation and contrition
(Isaiah 57:15).
2. Revival and healing. The
promise goes on thus: “To revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the
heart of the contrite ones. I have seen his ways and will heal him.”
3. Comfort and peace. “I will
lead him also
and restore comforts unto him” (Isaiah 57:18-19).
4. Gladness and glory. To
these the prophet calls our attention in the latter chapters (Isaiah 65:18-19; Isaiah 66:12). (E. Bickersteth.)
Roads cleared
What is the way
the way of salvation? Jesus Christ says
“I am
the way.” This is the entrance into the way
and this is the track of that way
even to the end--trust in Christ. “Are not good works needed?” says one. They
always flow from faith in Christ. Such being the way
it is very simple.
Straight as an arrow
is it not? And yet in this way there are
stumbling-blocks.
I. LET US SHOW WHY THIS IS.
1. The way of believing is
such an uncommon way. Men do not understand the way of trusting. They want to
see
to reason
to argue. How very difficult it would be for a cow
that has
always lived by the day the short life that can be fed on grass
if it had to
live by reason
as men do. And when man has to live by faith he is as awkward
at it as a cow would be at reasoning. He is out of his element.
2. Men
when they are really
seeking salvation
are often much troubled in mind. They feel that if God be
just He must punish them for their wrong-doing. And when they are told that if
they believe in Jesus Christ all manner of sin and of blasphemy shall be
forgiven
they wonder how it can be. Conscience makes unbelievers of us all;
and stumbling-blocks are created by our trembling condition.
3. Besides this
men are
often ignorant of the way of salvation. I am not speaking now as though I
blamed them. I was brought up to attend the house of God regularly. Yet when I
began to see the Lord
I did not know the way of salvation. I knew the letter
of it
but not the real meaning: how can a man know it till the Spirit of God
reveals it to him?
4. Satan is always ready to
prevent souls from finding peace in Christ. Thus have I shown why there are so
many stumbling-blocks.
II. Now I am going to TRY TO
LIFT SOME OF THEM OUT OF THE WAY.
1. Here is one of them. One
man says
“I would fain believe in this Jesus Christ of whom you tell me
but
if I were to come to God through Christ
would He receive me? “Him that cometh
to Me I will in no wise cast out.” In all the history of the human race there
never has been found a man that came to Jesus Christ whom Christ rejected yet.
2. “But
” says another
“I am
a very peculiar person. I could very well believe that any man in the world who
trusted Christ would be saved except myself; but I cannot think that He would
save me
for I am so odd. Ah
I am odd myself
and I had the same feeling that
you have. I thought that I was a lot left out of the catalogue. If you knew
other people you would find that there are other strange people besides
yourself; and if God saves so many strange people
why should He not save you?
He delights to do wonders. He will crowd heaven with curiosities of mercy.
3. But I hear another say
“Sir
I have such a horrible sense of sin; I cannot rest in my bed! I cannot
think that I shall be saved.” Wait a bit there; let me speak to this person
over here. What is your trouble? “My trouble is
sir
that I have no sense of
sin. I know that I am a sinner
and a great sinner; but I do not think that I
shall be saved
for I have no horrible thoughts “ Will you change with the
other man? Will he change with you? I should not advise either of you to make
any change; for
in the first place
despairing thoughts-are--not necessary to
salvation; and
in the second place
so long as you know yourself a sinner
and
are willing to confess it
such thoughts are untrue. Despairing one
look to
the Cross and live; and thou who dost not despair
look to the same Cross and
live; for there is salvation for every eye that looks to Jesus crucified.
4. A trembler cries
“I am
afraid to come and trust Christ
because I do not know whether I am one of the
elect.” If you trust Jesus Christ I will tell you then that you are Go ‘ elect
to a certainty.
5. “All
” says another
person
“I think I have committed this unpardonable sin. Do you long to he
delivered from the power of sin? Then you have not committed the unpardonable
sin
because it is a sin unto death
and after a man commits it he never has a
living wish or desire after God from that moment.
6. “Oh
but
” says another
person
“my stumbling-block is this: that the whole thing seems too good to be
true
that I
by simply believing in Jesus Christ
shall be saved. I confess
that it does seem too good to be true
but it is not. God in Christ Jesus is
clearly capable of marvellous deeds of grace. There are some stumbling-blocks
that I cannot remove; they must always stand there
I am afraid.
7. An objector says to me. “I
would believe in Jesus; I have no fault to find with Him
but
then
look at
His followers
many of them are hypocrites. We do look at His professed
followers
and the tears are in our eyes
for the worst enemies He has are they
of His own household. Suppose Judas does betray Christ
is Christ any the worse
for that? You are not asked to trust in Judas
you are asked to trust in
Christ. The reason why it pays to make bad sovereigns is because
good ones are
so valuable; and that is why it pays certain people
as they think
to pass
themselves off as Christians. If there were no real Christians
there would be
no pretenders to that name.
8. “But
” says another
“here
is my stumbling-block: if I were to believe in Christ
and become a Christian
I should have to alter my whole life.” Just so. There would have to be a
turning of everything upside down
” but then He that sits upon the throne says
“Behold
I make all things new.
9. “Oh
but
” says one
“I should
have to run the gauntlet in my family if I became a Christian.” Which is the
better thing
do you think--to be sneered at for doing right or to be commended
for doing wrong? (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Take up the
stumbling-block
Stumbling-blocks
As a Conqueror the Messiah was coming
but there was great sin and
unpreparedness. Hence the prophet cried
“Take up
take up the
stumbling-blocks.” Christ is still advancing in power in the world. His truth
is the direct and permanent way by which man may tread to heaven and
immortality. Various stumbling-blocks of human placing need removal.
I. There is the
stumbling-block of SELFISHNESS. This has always cumbered the way. Ananias and
Judas yielded to it.
II. Close by this block is
another
that of INTOLERANCE. The Church
strong outwardly
was impatient of
divergence of opinion.
III. TERRORISM had also to be
rolled out of the way. Figure was taken for fact. The great Father was
presented in the guise of an implacable judge. Harsh representations of God and
future punishment caused revolt.
IV. There is the
stumbling-block of an ELABORATE CEREMONIAL SYSTEM.
V. The block of
INDIFFERENTISM
on the other hand
also needs removal. Indifferentism is only
another name for selfism. It should matter to each man if his fellow suffers.
VI. Some will say that all the
stumbling-blocks mentioned are nothing compared with those formed by THE
INCONSISTENCIES OF CHRISTIAN PEOPLE. The last is a conglomerate rock. Worldly
attractions
amusements
desires
lusts
are often too strong for those who
profess to be unworldly. Byron said
“The inconsistencies of professing
Christians made me an infidel. Was he alone? Conclusion: How are these evils
these blocks of offence to be removed
and a way made for the coming of our
King Jesus? There must be more faith in the presence and potency of the Holy
Spirit in the Church. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The road-mender
(with Isaiah 58:12
“the restorer of
paths”):--Few are the exceptionally gifted men and women whom God calls to be
pioneers
discoverers and creators of new paths--road-makers. “Primal needed
work
” to use Walt Whitman’s phrase
is not possible for the majority of us. We
have not the genius
the energy
the courage
the self-reliance
the
independence of intellectual comradeship which characterize the select company
who are able to hew their way
like Stanley’s men in “Darkest Africa
” through
forests
and force their way through wildernesses and deserts
thus opening up
new highways for human thought and life
and action
and civilization
and new
highways for God. But we can all be road-menders. We can all aid in removing
the stumbling-blocks out of the way. We can all be restorers of paths. This is
the humbler task. It demands fewer talents
less daring
less originality than
pioneer work
but who can gauge its value? Who will venture to affirm that it
is less honouring or less acceptable to God
and less of a boon to man and the
world? Perhaps
after all
to mend the old roads
to restore the former paths
which have fallen out of repair
and make them straighter
safer
and more
comfortable to the feet of travel-worn pilgrims
is as noble and useful a
vocation as any to which God calls His servants.
I. What need there is for
road-menders and restorers of paths in THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL WORLD! To
protect the widow and orphan; to stand by the oppressed; to ameliorate the lot
of the starving poor and the slaves of the sweater; to grapple with the drink
curse
the gambling curse
the curse of impurity
the curse of an inordinate
love of gold and pleasure; the curse of preventable poverty
preventable
disease
preventable premature old age and death--what a field of service for
God and man!
II. What need there is for
road-menders and restorers of paths in OUR NATIONAL AFFAIRS! As lovers of our
country; as patriots’ who have a share in shaping the home and foreign policies
of our Governments and moulding public thought and national conduct and
character
let us do what we can to lead our nation into saner and safer and
nobler paths.
III. What need there is for
road-menders and restorers of paths in THE RELIGIOUS WORLD! Is not much of our
Churchianity to-day an empty form
a mere show? How far removed from our
professedly Christian life in the Church are our commercial life
our political
life
our home life
our society life in the world! What an amount of nominal
Church membership and formal Christianity there is nowadays!
IV. What need there is for
road-menders and restorers of paths in THE SPHERE OF PERSONAL GOODNESS AND
HELPFULNESS! After all
the best contribution any one of us can make to the
glory of God and the welfare of man is that of a really good life; a life
fashioned after the pattern given us by our Lord and Master; a life filled by
the Holy Spirit
a life of friendship and filial fellowship with God. (R.
Briggs
M. A.)
Verses 15-21
For thus saith
the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity.
--
A royal manifesto
A royal
manifesto win His character as Sovereign
God brings before us
and before His
loyal subjects in every age
what we may regard as His two titles and His two
palaces.
I. HIS TWO TITLES.
1. “The High and Lofty One.” The nation had lapsed into unblushing
idolatry. They had made surrender of their traditional creed
and specially of
its fundamental article--the personality and unity of Jehovah; degrading it
with the abominations of the Phoenician and Assyrian mythologies. In-addition
to altars to Baal
crowning the high places
statues of Astarte were erected
amid the groves of Terebinth. This latter goddess seemed to have been adopted
by Ahaz as his tutelary deity; an awful and debasing counterfeit truly of the
Supreme: sitting on a lion
holding a thunderbolt and sceptre in either hand
and her head surrounded with the crescent moon. No king
before or since
so
defiled and desecrated the holy temple. Isaiah himself
amid this awful
deterioration
this widespread atheism
might well be apt to give way to
despair. His faith at times could hardly fail to be clouded. But the God he
served calmed his fears and allayed his apprehensions by a special proclamation
of His glory
and goodness
“I am the alone High and Lofty One.
2. “Whose name is Holy. The worst characteristic of these heathen
deities was their unholiness.
II. HIS TWO PALACES.
1. The palace of eternity. “That inhabiteth eternity.” In nothing do
we feel how puny we are
as when we attempt to scan the marvels and glories of
this Divine dwelling-place
with its illimitable corridors of space and time.
2. What a transition
from the halls and corridors of eternity
to
the human bosom! There is a twofold description here given of this humbler
tabernacle where Jehovah dwells--a twofold characteristic of the human heart.
The High gracious to the
lowly
I. Let us consider who Is SPEAKING IN THE TEXT. This is necessary to
a right apprehension of what He says
and particularly to a clear perception of
those riches of condescension
compassion
and grace
which His words unfold to
our view.
1. He is “the High and Lofty One.”
2. He inhabiteth eternity. He is therefore as different as possible
from the children of men.
3. His name is Holy.
II. Let us consider WHAT IS SAID BY HIM.
1. He tells us that He “dwells in the high and holy place;” that is
in the heaven of heavens
the peculiar residence of the Deity
where His glory
is chiefly manifested
and His favour is chiefly enjoyed. Heaven is not only
high
but the highest place in the whole creation. There is no other place that
can for a moment be compared with it
either in glory or felicity. Nor is there
any other place so holy.
2. God here says that He dwells also with him that is of a contrite
and humble spirit. By the man thus described we are to understand the sinner
who has been enlightened by the Spirit Of God
who has been convinced of his
sinfulness
and brought to true repentance.
3. God here tells us what is the end He has in view in dwelling with
such characters. It is to “revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the
heart of the contrite ones.” The same God that afflicts the sinner revives and
cheers him. Learn--
God in heaven and in the
heart
God has two
special dwellings--the high and holy place
i.e the heaven not merely of space
but of pure and blessed spirits; and the hearts of men who have felt their sin
and their need of God.
1. These two dwellings are far apart
How wide and great the one
how
small and narrow the other! How permanent the one
how passing the other! How
bright and untroubled the one
how dark and troubled the other!
2. They have yet something in common. The high place is akin to the
humble spirit
for to see the far and high
and to long for it
is to rise; to
have something of God within lifts up. The holy place is akin to the contrite
heart; for to feel the sin and separation is to reach to the holy
and this
comes from having God already in the heart at work.
3. They are to be brought into one. God dwells in them to unite them
to revive the spirit
to give life. And where God gives true life
He gives the
earnest of heaven and eternity. These hearts are therefore on the way to being
God’s perpetual home.
4. The full end of these words is in Christ. He came from the high
and holy place to dwell among men
and find a way into human hearts--to make
heaven and the heart one and eternal. (British Weekly.)
Man’s greatness and God’s
greatness
I. THAT IN WHICH THE GREATNESS OF GOD CONSISTS.
1. The first measurement
so to speak
which is given of God’s
greatness
is in respect of time. He inhabiteth eternity.
2. There is a second measure given us of God in this verse. It is in
respect of space. He dwelleth in the high and lofty place. He dwelleth
moreover
in the most insignificant place--even the heart of man. And the idea
by which the prophet would here exhibit to us the greatness of God is that of
His eternal omnipresence. It is difficult to say which conception carries with
it the greatest exaltation--that of boundless space or that of unbounded time.
3. The third measure which is given us of God respects His character.
His name is Holy
(1) The chief knowledge which we have of God’s holiness comes from our
acquaintance with unholiness. We know what impurity is--God is not that. We
scarcely can be rightly said to know
that is to feel
what God is. And
therefore this is implied in the very name of holiness. Holiness in the Jewish
sense means simply separateness. From all that is wrong
and mean
and base
our God is for ever separate.
II. THAT IN WHICH MAN’S GREATNESS CONSISTS.
1. The nature of that greatness. In these two things the greatness of
man consists. One is to have God so dwelling in us as to impart His character
to us; and the other is to have God so dwelling in us that we recognize His
presence
and know that we are His and He is ours.
2. The persons who are truly great. These the Holy Scripture has
divided into two classes--those who are humble and those who are contrite in
heart. Or rather
it will be observed that it is the same class of character
under different circumstances. Humbleness is the frame of mind of those who are
in a state of innocence
contrition of those who are in a state of repentant
guilt. Let not the expression” innocence” be misunderstood. Innocence in its
true and highest sense never existed but once upon this earth. Innocence cannot
be the religion of man now. But yet there are those who have walked with God
from youth
not quenching the spirit which He gave them
and who are therefore
comparatively innocent beings. They are described here as the humble in heart.
Two things are required for this state of mind. One is that a man should have a
true estimate of God
and the other is that he should have a true estimate of
himself
The other class of those who are truly great are the contrite in
spirit. Conclusion:--
1. The danger of coming into collision with such a God as our God.
Day by day we commit sins of thought and word of which the dull eye of man
takes no cognizance. He whose name is Holy cannot pass them by. God can wait
for He has a whole eternity before Him in which He may strike.
2. The heavenly character of condescension. It is not from the
insignificance of man that God’s dwelling with him is so strange. But the marvel
is that the habitation which He has chosen for Himself is an impure one. If we
would be Godlike
we must follow in the same steps. Our temptation is to do
exactly the reverse. We are for ever wishing to obtain the friendship and the
intimacy of those above us in the world.
3. The guilt of two things of which the world is full--vanity and
pride. The distinction consists in this--the vain man looks for the admiration
of others--the proud man requires nothing but his own. (F. W. Robertson
M.
A.)
A voice from eternity to
the children of Him
I. THIS VOICE REVEALS AN EXISTENCE THAT STANDS IN SUBLIME CONTRAST
WITH ALL THAT IS HUMAN.
II. THIS VOICE REVEALS A PRIVILEGE OF IMMENSE VALUE TO THE GOOD.
1. This VOICE reveals God’s special regard for a good man’s experience.
This High and Lofty One condescends to regard with special interest those of a
“contrite “ and “humble” spirit.
2. This voice reveals God’s special contact with a good man’s
existence. He not only dwells in the “high and holy place
” but “with him also
that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” “Dwelling” implies a close intimacy.
He is
by the influences of His love
nearer to the good than He is to others;
near to guide
to succour
to strengthen. Dwelling implies not only a close
intimacy
but a permanent one. He does not come and go as an occasional
sojourner; He continues as a settled resident in the soul. He is always with
His people
in sorrow and joy
in life and death.
3. This VOICE reveals God’s special quickening of a good man’s spirit.
“To revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite
ones.” God comes down to the spirit
not to crush it
but to revive it
to give
it a new life
to bring out by the sunshine of His presence all its dormant
germs
and to make it fruitful in all good works. He gives it a life
over
which circumstances
time
and death
have no power. (D. Thomas
D. D.)
God
He is a God
saith one
whose nature is majesty
whose place is immensity
whose time is
eternity
whose life is sanctity
whose power is omnipotency
whose work is
mercy
whose wrath is justice
whose throne is sublimity
whose seat is
humility. (J. Trapp.)
God’s eternity
Though
intellectually incomprehensible
the thought of it is inestimably valuable.
1. It furnishes us with the only satisfactory account of the origin
of the universe. Creation is but God’s eternal thoughts in shape
His eternal
will in action.
2. It shows to us our incapability of pronouncing upon His ways.
During our existence here
He is working out a plan that
like Himself
never
had a beginning and will never have an end.
3. It enables us to give an eternal freshness to the Bible. Being
eternal
what He thought when He inspired men to write the Book He thinks now.
(D. Thomas
D. D.)
The contrite spirit
The word
“contrition ‘ in the text is a very strong word. It literally means a pounded
state
as of a stone which by blow on blow of heavy hammers
or the grinding of
wagon wheels
has been crushed into dust. By this vigorous metaphor it strives
to make vivid to us the moral state of a man whose whole strength of
self-reliance and erectness of moral carriage has been broken down through the
sense of guilt and moral weakness; one who by repeated trials of his own
instability
and blow after blow of discouraging rebuke from God
feels himself
left in the path of evil a heart-broken man
over whom the trampling feet of
innumerable masterful sins
with all their evil followers
seem to find free
passage; a man beaten down and crushed out of spirit by vain struggles against
sin and inescapable poundings from the violated laws of God. Now this moral
condition
though it looks hopeless
is really a hopeful one. It is the only
hopeful one. And the hopefulness of it lies here
that no man is ever so
crushed in heart by sin unless he hates sin. (J. O. Dykes
D. D.)
The High and Lofty One
dwelling with the contrite man
(with Isaiah 66:1-2):--
I. We remark that
FROM ETERNITY
THE RESIDENCE OF GOD HAS ALWAYS
CORRESPONDED WITH HIS INFINITE NATURE AND PERFECTIONS. This seems to be implied
in the text in three particulars: being eternal
He has inhabited eternity; as
the High and Lofty One
He has occupied the throne of supremacy; and His name
being Holy
He has dwelt in the high and holy place.
II. IF HE CONDESCEND TO HOLD INTERCOURSE WITH MAN
IT CAN ONLY BE IN
HARMONY WITH THE SAME PRINCIPLE. He has not one principle for one world and
another principle for another. Select any principle of His conduct
and you
will find that
like Himself
it is from everlasting to everlasting; and all
this owing to that infinite perfection of His nature which neither requires nor
admits of a change.
1. Why is it that He comes forth and gives us this description of Himself?
Why
but to show us that
if He condescends to hold any intercourse with us
the terms of that intercourse must be prescribed entirely by Himself. “You
judge” (as if He had said) “of what a fellow-creature may expect from you by
his tittles; hear My titles”--Jehovah
the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth
eternity
whose name is Holy. What distinction can you add to them. You
estimate a mortal’s rank by the remoteness of his ancestry--“I am the First
the unoriginated Being.” You judge of a mortal’s rank by the mansion he
inhabits
and
on occasion
you prepare for his reception accordingly. “I dwell
in the high and holy place.” You can be awed by the presence of even human
worth; what
then
should you feel in the presence of Him whose name is Holy--who
if He looks on iniquity
can only look on it to scorch and wither it up? You
think of erecting a temple which shall attract the Majesty of heaven by its
splendours
as if you should invite a monarch to descend from his throne by
gilding his footstool. On account of His greatness
you would enlarge its
dimensions. “But do not I fill heaven and earth?” On account of His grandeur
you would multiply its priests and bedizen them with costly robes. Think of His
state and retinue above
where His train filleth the temple
where thousand
thousands minister unto Him
and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before
Him! On account of His supremacy
you would multiply His sacrifices. “Will I
eat the flesh of bulls
” saith God
“or drink the blood of goats?” Multiply
them as you will
set all Lebanon in a blaze
and offer up all its herds as a
burnt-offering
still
He can say
“Every beast of the forest is Mine
and the cattle upon a thousand hills.”
Offer up the whole material world
and He could say
“The world is Mine
and
the fulness thereof.” But because man may have convicted himself of folly in
these respects
is he
therefore
to retire mortified and in despair of ever
securing the Divine presence? Let us hear what God the Lord will yet say to us.
“I dwell.
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” What is the
transition from that height to that depth nothing to Him
that He speaks of it
in one sentence--in the same breath? “With him also”--as if it made little or
no difference to His greatness whether He dwelt there or here!
2. Having thus humbled Himself
we see the reasonableness of His
selecting the humble and the contrite as the objects of His Divine regard. It
is only such that are prepared to receive Him. As the infinite and eternal Spirit
He comes to commune with our spirit; but in the case of every class except the
humble
He finds the ground already occupied
and He has to stand at the door
and knock. As the High and Lofty One
He comes to have His supremacy
recognized
to receive us at His footstool; but all except the humble are
seated on little thrones of their own
and will not come down to receive Him.
As the Being whose name is Holy
He comes to imprint on us the likeness of His
own image; but none save the humble and those melted in contrition are in a
state to receive the sacred impress. He comes to be honoured
appreciated
adored; but all save the humble are busied in asserting their own little
claims--are
in effect
prepared to quarrel with His supremacy
and to pluck at
His sceptre. Can we wonder
then
that if He comes to commune with us
His
abode should be with the humble? Where should goodness dwell but with
gratitude? Where should the fulness of the Creator pour itself forth but into
the emptiness of the creature?
3. But will He commune even with the contrite? For here the wonder
presents itself
that He should condescend even to this. And what part of His
conduct towards us is not marked with condescension? And what part of His
condescension is not an abyss of wonder?
III. FROM THIS IT FOLLOWS
THAT NO RELIGIOUS WORSHIP CAN BE ACCEPTABLE
TO GOD
EXCEPT AS IT HARMONIZES WITH THE CHARACTER OF GOD. Indeed
if this
harmony were not necessary--if the individual or the Church could obtain access
to God without such harmony with His character
it could not conduce to their
real advantage. That in which the happiness of our spiritual nature consists
must be something congenial to that nature
and something which is capable of
imparting itself to that nature.
1. If supremacy comes here
He expects to behold subordination
and
what is that but humility? Humility does not necessarily and of itself imply a
sense of guilt. Angels are among the most humble of His creatures
for they
never lose sight of their entire dependence on Him. And the greatest example of
excellence which earth ever saw
though unstained by a single pollution
could
say
“I am meek and lowly of heart.’
2. Humility is not enough for man. If they who have never sinned are
humble
more than humility must be proper for man--there must be contrition
also. The text implies this: it intimates that if the High and Holy One comes
amongst us
He expects to be received amidst the sighs of penitence and the
tears of godly sorrow.
3. But more--if this voice of mercy is to be heard--if He comes
amongst us to address us
He expects that we should tremble at His word--that
is
that our hearts should vibrate and respond to every accent Heutters. But if
the very perfection of His nature makes this correspondence necessary
so also
do the wants and the well-being of our nature. Everything in creation trembles
and responds to the voice of God but the stony heart of man; and the welfare of
everything depends on its power thus to respond.
IV. THE SUBJECT INTIMATES THAT ALL HUMAN INSTRUMENTALITY
IN THE
SERVICE OF GOD
DEPENDS FOR ITS EFFICIENCY ON THE SAME CONDITION--THAT OF
HARMONY WITH THE DIVINE CHARACTER. (J. Harris
D. D.)
The High and Lofty One
(with Isaiah 66:1-2):--
I. THE DIVINE MAJESTY. Consider--
1. The grandeur of His state. “Heaven is My throne
and the earth is
My footstool
” a throne being an emblem of authority and power.
2. HIS attributes.
II. THE DIVINE CONDESCENSION.
1. THE OBJECTS OF HIS regard. The qualities which attract His
attention belong to the mind and heart.
2. The expressions of the Divine regard.
The dignity and
condescension of God
God is set
before us--
I. IN THE DIGNITY OF HIS CHARACTER. We have--
1. His rank as supreme. “The High and Lofty One.”
2. His existence as eternal. “That inhabiteth eternity.”
3. His nature as unsullied. “Whose name is Holy.” And as His name is
so is He.
II. HIS WONDERFUL CONDESCENSION. “With him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit
” etc.
1. Permanence. He “dwells” in the high and holy place; it is His
chosen
His special
His fixed abode. When it is
therefore
added
“with him
also that is of a contrite and humble spirit
” the same idea is set forth. “If
any man love Me
” said the Saviour
“he will keep My words; and My Father will
love him
and We will come unto him
and make our abode with him.
2. Attachment. We may have to do with those for whom we feel no
regard; but we would not
if invited
take up our residence with such. When
persons dwell together as a matter of free choice
it is evident that there is
something to attract them to each other.
3. Communion.
4. Consolation. Where He comes
He comes to bless; and how valuable
is the blessing which is here specified--“to revive the spirit of the humble
”
etc. This He does by the quickening and comforting influences of that Divine
Spirit which is promised to all them that believe.
III. HIS FATHERLY REBUKES AND CORRECTIONS.
1. Their measure. He whose name is Holy cannot but show His
displeasure against sin
whether it be found in the openly rebellious or in His
own people. But
in reference to the latter
there are gracious limits within
which His righteous anger is restrained. “For I will not contend for ever
”
etc. (Isaiah 57:16).
2. Their cause. “For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth
”
etc. (Isaiah 57:17). It seems that a covetous spirit pervaded the people of that
generation at large. Covetousness is an abominable thing in the sight of God.
3. Their final issue. For a time the chastisements were unavailing
but the people were brought at length to a state of penitence. It is therefore
said
“I have seen his ways
and will heal him
” etc. (Isaiah 57:18).
IV. THE OFFERS OF HIS LOVE AND MERCY
“I create the fruit of the lips;
Peace
peace to him that is far off
and to him that is near
saith the Lord
”
etc. (Isaiah 57:19). The expression “fruit of the lips” sometimes denotes praise
as
when the apostle says
By Him
therefore
let us offer the sacrifice of praise
to God continually; that is
the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to His name.
But while what is here announced might well excite our warmest gratitude
it is
probable that the above phrase is used here in a more general signification.
The fruit of the lips is what the lips produce
even words; and those which we
have now to consider are pre-eminently gracious words. In reference to this
proclamation we notice--
1. Its nature. There is a twofold view in which the word “peace” may
be regarded. The first is that of good-will
which was the sense in which it
was employed in ordinary salutations. But in its more restricted sense it means
reconciliation.
2. Its objects. “Peace
peace
to him that is far off
and to him
that is near
saith the Lord.” The Jews are described as “a people near unto
Him.” There are those among ourselves who may be regarded as farther from God
and from righteousness than others. To the chief of sinners we are permitted to
say
“I bring you good tidings of great joy.”
3. Its efficiency. “And I will heal him.” I will make the message
effectual.
V. HIS FEELINGS TOWARDS HIS INCORRIGIBLE ENEMIES (Isaiah 57:20-21). (Anon.)
Eternity
The contemplation of
eternity
There are some
subjects on which it would be good to dwell
if it were only for the sake of
that enlargement of mind which is produced by their contemplation. And eternity
is one of these
so that you cannot steadily fix the thoughts upon it without
being sensible of a peculiar kind of elevation
at the same time that you are
humbled by a personal feeling of utter insignificance. You have come in contact
with something so immeasurable--beyond the narrow range of our common
speculations--that you are exalted by the very conception of it. Now the only
way we have of forming any idea of eternity is by going
step by step
up to
the largest measures of time we know of
and so ascending
on and on
till we
are lost in wonder. We cannot grasp eternity
but we can learn something of it
by perceiving that
rise to what portion of time we will
eternity is vaster
than the vastest. (F. W. Robertson
M. A.)
Eternity
1. Eternity is the most distasteful subject to the natural man.
2. Whether ignored or not its importance remains the same.
3. In eternity there will be some marvellous revelations.
4. The nature of your eternity will be decided at the Cross.
It is not the
number or the heinousness of your sins that will condemn to hell
nor the
beauty or strictness of your morality that will bring to heaven. Eternity will
be decided by your relation to a crucified Jesus. (A. G. Brown.)
Eternity--definitions
“Eternity
”
saith the puritan
Charnock
“is a perpetual duration which has neither
beginning nor end. Time hath both. Those things we say are in time
that have
beginning
grow up by degrees
have succession of parts. Eternity is contrary
to time
and is therefore a permanent and immutable state
without any
variation. It comprehends in itself all years
all ages
all periods of ages.
It never begins! It endures after every duration of time
and never ceaseth. It
doth as much outrun time as it went before the beginning of it. Time supposeth
something before it
but there can be nothing before eternity; it were not then
eternity. Time hath a continual succession; the former time passeth away
and
another succeeds
the last year is not this year
nor this year the next. We
must conceive of eternity contrary to the notion of time. As the nature of time
consists in the succession of parts
so the nature of eternity is an infinite
immutable duration. Eternity and time differ as the sea and rivers; the sea
never changes place
but the rivers glide along
and are swallowed up in the
sea so is time by eternity.” A simpler
but perhaps more striking definition
was that given by one of the pupils of the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Paris
who
in answer to the question
“What is eternity?” replied
“The lifetime of
the Almighty.”
Eternal
The word “eternal”
is the unknown quantity of revelation
transcending present experience
and not
to be represented by heaps of ages
or to be defined as endless. It is the
timeless state. (N. Smyth
D. D.)
Verses 16-18
For I will not contend for ever
God’s contendings with man
I.
LET US ADVERT TO THE CONTROVERSY ITSELF--WHAT IT IS
WHY IT IS
AND HOW IT IS CARRIED ON. What this quarrel is we know. It is a part of that ancient
strife for mastery
which has been going on ever since the fall
between truth
and error
light and darkness
holiness and sin. “The carnal mind is enmity
against God. ‘ Unconverted men may demur to these representations; they tell us
that they merely withhold from the Divine Being the homage which He expects and
claims; but repugnance
hatred
enmity towards Him
they have none. But do they
not hate the law of God? Would they not
if it were in their power
have Him
alter the scheme of His entire moral government
His permissions
His
requirements? This
speaking after the manner of men
makes God
angry--sometimes the contendings of God with man take a judicial form. They are
to condemn the sinner out of his own mouth
in that he did not see
in the bitter
experiences of a life of evil
how the goodness of God was leading him to
repentance. See a form of this contending with us
in that fixed and universal
law of our being
which always makes us unhappy
when we are striving with God
when we reject His counsels
or resist His will
or try to get from under His
yoke
or wrestle with all the obstructions of His providence
in order to have
our own way. But
further
and more directly
God contends with us by His Word
and Spirit
and outward providences--by powerful awakenings at the heart when
we look not for them
or byinterposed checks and barriers when we are bent on
the way of sin. There are restraints upon us often from without. And there are
restraints upon us from within from the suggestions
and the admonitions
and
remonstrances of the Divine Spirit in our hearts. But a more comforting view of
our text
and one more in harmony with its general spirit
is that which
supposes God to be contending with us
avowedly for the purposes of His own
Fatherly correction
and only for the fulfilment of those ends; waiting to
remove from us His heavy hand. These contendings of God with His own children
take many forms. Chastening is a universal discipline. Very hard to bear is
this contending of God with us; there is only one thing harder
and that is
the state in which He should not contend with us at all
but should leave us to
ourselves.
II. THE LIMITS
WHICH GOD HAS HIMSELF ASSIGNED TO THIS CONTROVERSY WITH THE SOULS OF MEN
AND
THE REASONS MOVING HIM THERETO
Contend with us He must
and be wroth with us He must. It is a
necessity forced upon Him by the circumstances of our fallen nature; but He
will not contend for ever. Wisdom and goodness have decreed the bounds of this
flooding wave and it shall go no farther. Now
in the case of the obstinately
wicked and impenitent
we have seen why God will not contend for ever. They
have their day of visitation and they outlive it; their accepted time and they
sin on. The Judge wastes not scourges up
on them; they will make scourges
enough for themselves. Hell itself is but Heaven’s assisting grace withdrawn
and man left to the evil of his own heart. But in His own children
the limits
of God’s chastening are merciful limits. “He for our profit’--here is the universal
law of the scourge; it will cease whenever our souls’ profit ceases. “I will
not contend for ever;” nor longer than may be necessary to try our faith
to
prove our repentance
to see what there is in our hearts
whether we will keep
the Divine commandments or not. These seasons of sadness are sometimes
permitted to take us off from a false theology and a false rest. “For the
spirit should fail before Me. Very instructive are those Scriptures
and very
comforting
which tell us how largely the thought of our mortal frailness
enters into the considerate care of Heaven. The uppermost thought which our
subject should leave upon the mind
and which the heart should cleave to with
all the energies of a loving faith is
that it goes very hard with God to afflict
man at all; and that He has in some mysterious sense to wrestle with the
conflicting powers of the Godhead before He can give up a soul altogether. It
seems as if God could take every step towards the sinner’s condemnation but the
last. He can admonish
rebuke
threaten; but when it comes to smiting
then
comes the hesitation
then begins God’s strange work. (D. Moore
M. A.)
Contention ended and grace reigning
The Lord is holding high soliloquy. He allows His prophet to stand
where he can hear the sacred soliloquy of the great Supreme; and he does hear
it
and then under the dictate of the Divine Spirit he records it in the
inspired book
where it remains to this day for our instruction.
I. GOD CONTENDS
WITH MEN
AND THE DIVINE CONTENTION IS WELL DESERVED ON THEIR PART. He says
“I
will not contend for ever
” in which it is implied that He does contend
sometimes. Smiting comes before saving.
1. I would speak
of this to the seeking sinner. Anything is better than the horrible calm of the
dead sea of spiritual indifference. The Lord’s design in contending with you is
to convince you of your sin. The next reason for the
Lord’s contending with you will begin to operate when the first
purpose has been accomplished. You will
in your self-abasement
be driven to
look to the grace of God. It is hard to part a man from his sin
it is still
harder to divorce him from his self-righteousness: and this is a part of the
Lord’s contention with awakened souls. Moreover
no one can be surprised that
the Lord lets forth a measure of His wrath upon seeking sinners when we see how
they behave
even while they are seeking. We have known them red hot one day
and icy cold another
and albeit that they long for mercy
you will see them at
certain seasons acting as if they despised it.
2. But now I turn
to the people of God. Sometimes our Lord hath a contention with us. This is not
at all wonderful when we consider how unworthily we often live towards His
sacred name; indeed
“it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.”
His contention with us will show itself occasionally in adverse providences.
Even more severe are His blows when it comes to be a controversy carried on by
His Spirit within the mind.
II. THIS DIVINE
CONTENTION WILL COME TO AN END WITH THE CONTRITE
“I will not contend for
ever
” etc. The question arises: When may we expect that this promise will be
fulfilled? Notice the verse which precedes the text
for that assures us that
God hath no controversy with the humble and the contrite. This is self-evident
for He declares Chat with such He will dwell
and the God of grace will not
dwell in a house that is full of contention. He contends where He does not
abide
but where He abides there is peace. It is wonderful how the pity of God
has in some cases been excited
even by a temporary repentance. When wicked
Ahab rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon himself
the Lord took note of it
and said
“Seest thou how Ahab humbled himself before Me? Because he humbled
himself before Me I will not bring the evil in his days.” When the Ninevites
repented
though probably there was very little that was spiritual about their
humbling
the Lord turned from His fierce anger and there was a reprieve for
the wicked city. He has given a promise of grace which runs thus
“Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord
and He shall lift you up.” He cannot spurn
those who submit themselves before Him
for it is written
“Though the Lord be
high
yet hath He respect unto the lowly.” Condescension to the lowly is His
glory
as the blessed Virgin sang of old
and as many fainting ones may sing at
this moment if they will: “He hath put down the mighty from their seats
and
exalted them of low degree: He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the
rich He hath sent empty away.” Lowly roofs attract the Deity. He comes to those
who are broken in heart
and when He comes the contention is over. And what
else doth the Lord promise to do? He says He will dwell with the humble
and He
adds that He will revive them.
III. GOD HIMSELF
FINDS REASONS FOR ENDING THE CONTENTION. We could not have found any
for in
ourselves there is much cause for the Lord’s anger
but none for His grace.
1. The first is
found in human weakness
and its inability to bear the Divine contention.
2. His second reason
is
to my mind
even more extraordinary. It is given in the next verse: “For
the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him: I hid Me
and was
wroth
and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. This argument is
founded on the inoperativeness of the Divine contention upon the heart which is
to be won. If wrath will not humble us the Lord may yet in His grace try what
love can do. He will love us to a better mind.
IV. God Himself
having found a reason why He should cease from contention
nay
two reasons
.
HE HIMSELF INVENTS AND PROPOSES ANOTHER METHOD FOR ENDING HIS CONTENTIONS and
making us right with Himself.
1. It is an
astonishing method. “I have seen his ways
and will heal him.”
2. It is an
effectual method. “I will heal him
”--not “I will smite him again
” but “I will
treat his sin as if it were a disease.” It is true that sin is much more than a
disease
and God might treat us altogether and only from its criminal side
but
still it is a disease
and therefore He resolves to treat it as such.
3. It is a tender
way. “I will lead him also.”
4. Observe
how
complete is this method. As if all that went before were not enough
it is
added
“I will restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.” He will take
away the sorrow as well as the sin
the killing grief as well as the killing
disease. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verses
17-19
For
the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth
The punishment
of backsliders; but their encouragement when penitent
These
words remind us of the language of the apostle to the Romans: “Where sin
abounded grace did much more abound.
”
I. THE ACCUSATORY PART.
1. The evil complained of--“The iniquity of his covetousness.” Then
covetousness is iniquity. So the apostle considered it
or he would not have
called it “idolatry.” All idolatry is not gross or corporeal. Much of it is
refined and mental. It is lamentable to think that this evil so commonly
prevails. You will find
by the sacred writers
that the Jews were always given
to it. Is it not awful to see how this vice prevails in our country?
2. The reward of transgression. “For the iniquity of his covetousness
was I wroth and smote him.” Sin is the same in whomsoever it is found. The evil
is not lessened when it is found in the people of God; it is even increased.
They stand in nearer relation to God than others. They sin under greater
obligations to God than others. They sin against a renewed nature and an
enlightened con science. Hence God is peculiarly angry
“because of the
provoking of His sons and of His daughters. Hence He says
You only have I
known of all the families of the earth
therefore will I punish you. For unto
whomsoever much is given
of him shall be much required; and to whom men have
committed much
of him they will ask the more.” “Sin never hurts the believer
”
is an antinomian sentiment: but what saith the Scriptures? Turn back to the
history of Moses and Aaron. Turn to the history of David
even when God assured
him that his sin was pardoned. How wise
how merciful
are those hidings and
those smitings He employs to bring His people to Himself.
3. The perverseness under this. “He went on frowardly in the way of
his heart.” It is said of Ahaz that
in his affliction
he sinned yet more and
more against the Lord. So Jeremiah says
“Thou hast stricken them
but they
have not grieved; Thou hast consumed them
but they have refused to receive
correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to
return.” “Do afflictions produce no benefit?” Let us distinguish. There are
many who have been afflicted
and yet have not been humbled by the
dispensations of Providence
by which they have been exercised. But
you say
“Can this be
in any measure
the ease with real Christians? Will they require
the rebukes of Divine Providence? Will they go on in the frowardness of their
hearts?” Yes
for a while; and
sometimes
for a long while. There is Jonah--he
was disobedient to the word of the Lord.
4. Here is God’s knowledge of all the ways and works of men. “I have
seen his ways.” Therefore the speaker is authorized to say
“Be sure your sin
will find you out. And now
after all that He has seen
what shall we certainly
expect to hear next from Him? I have tried long enough
I have employed means
long enough
I will now “avenge Me of My adversaries.” But no
“I have seen his
ways”--and what ways!--“and will heal him
” etc.
II. THE PROMISSORY PART. Observe the extensiveness of the engagement.
It takes in four things.
1. “I will heal him’
All sin is a disease
and it affects the soul
much in the same way as affliction affects the body; depriving it of liberty
of enjoyment
of usefulness. It is the same with backsliding.
2. “I will lead him also.” Bishop Hall says
“Though God has a large
family
not one of them can go alone.” Ann there is none so dull
but He can
teach them.
3. “I will restore comforts unto him.”
4. “And I will restore comforts unto his mourners
”--for he had made
others to mourn as well as himself. This is always the case. The wicked are not
only corrupt
but they are “children who are corrupters.” But who are they of
whom the Prophet here speaks? Not men of the world. They are not his mourners.
They rather rejoice. They say
“Ah! so would we have it
instead of grieving
over the falls of professors of religion and of the people of God. But “his
mourners?” They are his ministers--they who only live when you “stand fast in
the Lord.” They are the humble believers in Jesus
who are “sorrowful for the
solemn assembly
and to whom the reproach of it is a burden.” (W. Jay.)
A cluster of
promises
I. HERE ARE PROMISES
REACHING TO THE VERY ROOT OF ALL OUR SINFUL
NEED
made to sinners as sinners
nay
to the very worst sinners.
1. The promise of healing “I will heal him.”
2. A promise of leading. The Hebrew is
I will conduct him safely to
his own country.
3. “I will restore comforts to him.” It is not the singular word
it
is not comfort
but “comforts;” all sorts of comforts
and this though I have
seen his ways. This is just the language we have in Isaiah 54:8-12.
4. There is a fourth promise
“Peace
peace to him that is far off
and to him that is near
saith the Lord; a liberal promise! to those afar
off--aye
far as the ends of the earth--from God
from light
and rest
and
truth.
II. THE PERSONS TO WHOM THESE PROMISES ARE MADE. I said God makes
promises to sinners
as sinners; will you observe the persons to whom these
promises are made
as God describes them here? (Isaiah 54:17.) Covetousness is the root of all sin; covetousness sets up self
instead of God in the heart
and everything that ariseth in practice contrary
to God and His Word has its root in covetousness--selfism; but here is not
merely covetousness
but the “iniquity of covetousness
” a state of mind that
rests at nothing likely to gratify or minister to self
but will go through
hell-fire to get at what it wants. Then
again (Isaiah 54:17)
God smote
but the soul was no better; it is a terrible
aggravation of a sinful state
when the correcting hand of God does not mend
it; see what God says (Isaiah 1:5). Now
says God
“I have seen his ways
” obstinate
incorrigible
in sin
and “I will heal him. Such is the divinely gracious way in which peace
is proclaimed to him that is afar off. (M. Rainsford.)
He went on frowardly
The
deceitfulness of the heart
with respect to adversity
1. This sometimes appears by despising afflictions. Many attempt to
outbrave calamity
as if they were stronger than God.
2. By repining under adversity.
3. By keeping death at a distance
if the affliction be of a bodily
kind.
4. By forming empty resolutions of repentance and reformation
while
under affliction.
5. By exciting men to make lies their refuge. The deceitful heart
prompts them to trust in earthly means for deliverance from affliction.
6. By making them despise means. We have seen again and again how the
deceitfulness of the heart works by contraries
in its opposition to God. If it
prevail not with those under affliction to depend absolutely on means
it will
strenuously urge the total neglect of them.
7. By seeking deliverance from the affliction itself
rather than the
sanctified use of it.
8. By abusing adversity
as an occasion of hardening itself against
God. (J. Jameson
M. A.)
Verse 18-19
I have seen his ways
and
will heal him
Observing and healing
This could only be said of
God--He alone can see the ways of man.
We have here--
I. A
DIVINE ATTRIBUTE. Intimate knowledge of the ways of men. “I have seen.” God has
no need to be told. Tale-bearers exaggerate and lie. God does not even trust
His angels. They go about the world observing the evil and the good. But it is
not upon their reports He acts.” “I know
He says
“their thoughts.” “I have
seen his ways. How solemnly should the fact impress us!
1. There
is the man who makes a profession of religion. But that man knows how within
him there exist the root and seeds of evil
that his life is a constant
struggle
and sin with all its might is contending for the mastery. The deeper
that man’s piety is
he realizes with the greater pain his weakness and
imperfection
and is horrified at the list which is written up against him by
an observing God.
2. Not
only the righteous are the subjects of Divine observation
but the wicked as
well. The observations of Almighty God produce very different results according
to the character of the person He observes. To the man who strives after the
way of righteousness it is an encouragement and a warning. But to him who
neglects religion and follows sin it is filled with terrible dread and is the
precursor of ineffable judgment.
II. A
DIVINE PROMISE. The humblest efforts after holiness arc regarded by the great
King
and are noted equally with the failures. He sees the whole--the follies
the weaknesses
the struggles
and the regrets
and He isfilled with pity. He
knows that unaided man cannot divert his way
and therefore He vouchsafes to
give a promise
“I will heal.” In this promise we have--
1. A
manifestation of love.
2. A
manifestation of authority
“Will heal.” It is God only who can heal man.
Application:
1. God
will come to those who seek Him. They draw nigh to Him
He draws nigh to them.
2. How
joyous is the sound of healing to a sick man! Much more the promise of forgiven
sin.
3. Time
is passing quickly. What are your ways? Are they such as encourage the Divine
advances or repel infinite love? (Homilist.)
The Divine Healer
I. DIVINE
KNOWLEDGE.
II. DIVINE
MERCY.
1. “I
will heal him
” “I will lead him also.” We all need guidance
as we move on
through this wilderness.
2. Another
part of the healing is the happiness of mind which Christ bestows upon His
reconciled people. I will heal him and restore comforts unto him.
3. Then
too
will follow praise. “I create the fruit of the lips.” The songs of heaven
will be begun in your souls
even now upon earth.
4. Peace
settled peace. “Peace
peace to him that is far off
and to him that is near
saith the Lord: and I will heal him.” There is in that one word
“peace
” a
treasury of blessedness which you may forego all else to buy. (C. Clayton
M. A.)
Wonder at God’s grace
There are a few objects in
nature which never cease to astonish the beholder. I think Humboldt said he
could never look upon the rolling prairies without astonishment: and I suppose
some of us will never be able to look upon the ocean
or to see the sun rise or
set
without feeling that we have before us something always fresh and always
new. Now
I have been
not only for the love of it
but because of my calling
of preaching it
a constant reader of Holy Scripture
and yet after these
five-and-twenty years and more I frequently alight upon well-known passages
which astonish me as much as ever. As if I had never heard them before
they
come upon me
not merely with freshness
but even so as to cause amazement in
my soul. This is one of those portions of Scripture. When I read the chapter
describing the horrible wickedness of Israel--when I notice the strong terms
which inspiration uses
and none of them too strong
to set forth the horrible
wickedness of the nation--it staggers me. And then to see mercy following
instead of judgment! It overwhelms me! “I have seen his ways
and”--it is not
added
“ I will destroy him; I will sweep him away
” but
“ I will heal him.”
Verily God’s grace
like the great mountains
cannot be scaled; like the deeps
of the sea
it can never be fathomed
and
like space
it cannot be measured.
It is
like God Himself
matchless
boundless. “ Oh
the depths! Oh
the
depths!” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Amazing grace
I. The
text declares that THE SINNER HAS BEEN OBSERVED OF THE LORD. Notice
1. That
God’s omniscience has observed the sinner. Man while living in rebellion
against God is as much under His eye as the bees in a glass hive are under your
eye when you stand and watch all their movements. The eye of Jehovah never
sleeps it is never taken off from a single creature He has made. He sees
man--sees him everywhere--sees him through and through; so that He not only
hears his words
but knows his thoughts--does not merely behold his actions
but weighs his motives
and knows what is in the man as well as that which comes
out of the man. God has seen your ways at home
your ways abroad
your ways in
the shop
your ways in the bed-chamber
your ways within as well as your ways
without--the ways of your judgment
the ways of your hope
the ways of
yourdesire
the ways of your evil lustings
the ways of your murmurings
the
ways of your pride. He has seen them all
and seen them perfectly and
completely; and the wonder is that
after seeing all
He has not cut us down
but instead of it has proclaimed this amazing word of mercy
“I have seen his
ways
and will heal him.”
2. But
God had not only seen their ways in the sense of omniscience
but He had
inspected their ways in the sense of judgment. He says
“I was wroth and I hid
Myself.” Do not think because we preach free grace and dying love to you
and
proclaim full pardon through the blood of Jesus
that therefore God winks at
sin. No
He is a terrible God
“and will by no means spare the guilty.” And yet
He whom the angels call “Holy
holy
holy
Lord God of Sabaoth”--the
jealous
God
the. God who revengeth
and is furious against sin--even He has said
“I
have seen his ways
and will heal him.”
3. The
Lord had tested him. If you read the chapter through you will see that God says
He had attempted to reclaim him by chastisements.
II. THE
SINNER IS THE OBJECT OF DIVINE MERCY TO AN EXTRAORDINARY DEGREE.
1. Notice
how God speaks. “I will
I will.” Now
“I will “ and “I shall” are for the
King; nay
in the highest sense they are only becoming when used by God
Himself. It is not for you and me to say “I will”; we shall speak more wisely
if we declare that we will if we can.
2. The
disease that we suffer from is a disease He knows all about
because the text
says
“I have seen his ways.”
3. Then
the text goes on to say
“I will lead him also.” The poor soul of man
even
when healed
does not know which way to go. There is not a more bewildered
thing in this world than a poor sinner when first he is awakened. Have you ever
gone with a candle into a barn where a number of birds have roosted? Have you
disturbed them? Have you not seen how they dart hither and thither
and do not
know which way to fly? The light confuses them. So it is when Christ comes to
poor sinners. They do not know which way to go; they see a little
but the very
light confuses them. Now
the loving Lord comes in
and He says
“I will lead
him also.”
4. “I
will restore comforts to him.” God begins by knocking our comforts away. He
takes away the comfort we once had in our false peace
and He makes us mourn
for sin. But after a while He restores comfort to us. What sort of comfort? The
comfort of perfect forgiveness
the comfort of complete acceptance. The Father
sets a warm kiss upon the child’s cheek
and that is the comfort of adoption.
Whereas we were heirs of earth
we become heirs of heaven
and have the
comforts of hope. We receive the comfort of daily fellowship
for we are
admitted to speak with God
and to draw near to Him; the comfort of perfect
security
for we are led to feel that whether we live or die we are safe in the
arms of Jesus; the comfort of a blessed prospect beyond the grave in the land
of the hereafter
where the flowers shall never wither; the comfort of knowing
that all things work together for good; the comfort of having the angels for our
servants
and heaven for our home. “ I will restore comforts to him;” and all
this to the man of whom it is said
“Thou didst debase thyself even unto hell.”
(C. H.Spurgeon.)
God sees the sinner
In the old time
when the
Grecians worshipped images of their gods
it was said that when spiders
stretched their webs across the eyelids of the image of Jupiter
the people
were regular in their attendance to worship him. They liked to feel that the
spiders’ webs prevented Jupiter from seeing their sins
and in their poor
feeble way were no doubt grateful to the insects for covering the eyes of a god
who
they thought
would punish them for their sins if he could see their ways.
(W. Birch.)
And restore
comforts unto him. -
Comfort
The word “comfort” comes
orginally from two Latin words
con and fortis
meaning much
strength. In time of trouble
when you lift up your heart and bravely bear the
bruden
the strength which enables you to do it is called comfort (W. Birch.)
Comforts
1. It is
a great comfort have peace of mind. Many people have sought to obtain wealth
hoping it would give peace of mind; but they have been mistaken. But what a
comfort it is to those who have obtained it! It flows from the knowledge that
our sins are forgiven.
2. Another
comfort is that God is with us.
3. What
a comfort to know that God is our helper. His fingers are tender
and His heart
is loving as that of a gentle mother.
4. It is
a comfort to know that God is our strength in time of temptation. When an
engine has to lift a weight which is beyond its usual work
the engineer stands
at the steam gauge
and when the finger reaches near the danger point
he
cries
“Hold hard; it can do no more! “ If he allowed the engine to be pressed
beyond the safety point
there might be an accident. Likewise
God knows the
gauge of every man’s heart. He knows exactly what trials you can bear
and how
much temptation you can stand. He declares that no man shall be tempted above
that he is able.
5. It is
our comfort to know that God is our support in the pathway of our life.
6. Here
is another comfort--that our God is the Friend of sinners. (W. Birch.)
Verse
19
I create the fruit of the lips
Peace
peace
I.
THE GRAND
SUBJECT OF HE GOSPEL PROCLAMATION. “Peace
peace! saith the Lord.” It implies a
state of previous enmity and quarrel: a state of alarm and disquietude: and a
remedy for both.
1. And does not the message of the Gospel find us in a state of
enmity? We are not only “by nature children of wrath
” but by voluntary choice
we have rebelled against our God.
2. And in a state of alarm and disquietude?
II. THE UNLIMITED OFFER OF ITS
BENEFITS. “To him that is far off
and to him that is near
Peace
peace
saith
the Lord.”
1. In respect of outward privileges
the Jewish Church was “near
”
and all other nations were ‘ far off.
2. In respect of moral character
some may be thought nearer to God
some further off; and still no difference is made.
3. In respect of inward experience
again
some may feel discouraged
by the idea that others have greater nearness to God than themselves.
4. In respect of local distance
“God is still no respecter of
persons.” He orders that His Gospel be “preached in all the world.’
III. THE HOLY CHANGE INVARIABLY
CONNECTED WITH THE RECEPTION OF THEM. “I will heal him.” (J. Jowett
M. A.)
The fruit of the lips
Our text tells us that God creates the fruit of the lips; but this
must be understood
of course
with a reservation. He does not create the fruit
of the lips as we commonly see it
but the good fruit
the true fruit
the
fruit worth gathering. Because the natural fruit is so evil it needs the
Creator again to step m
and make us new creatures
and our fruit new also
or
else it will remain so bad that the verdict upon it must be “Vanity of
vanities
all is vanity.” And what is that fruit which the Creator produces
from a source which is naturally so barren?
1. The sacrifice of thanksgiving (Hebrews 13:15). The fruit of the lips
which God creates should be
above all things
praise.
2. Prayer.
3. Testimony.
4. There is one renowned topic upon which the lips ought always to be
able to speak
and that is summed up in the two words
“Peace
peace.” From the
mouth of truth should come kisses of peace
words of peace
the breath of
peace. This is the best lip-salve--“Peace
peace.” Nothing can so sweeten the
breath as “Peace
peace.” Nothing can so flavour the palate and delight the
heart as this “Peace
peace
” felt within
and breathed without. No teeth of
ivory
nor lips of coral
are complete in loveliness till over all there
glistens the brightness of peace. Fierce speech becomes not loveliness
and threatening
and clamour destroy beauty
but the charm of the lips is peace. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Rare fruit
We shall employ these words--
I. AS THE CRY OF THE
AWAKENED. When men are awakened by the grace of God into a consciousness of
their true condition they find themselves at war with God and at war with their
own consciences
and consequently they begin to cry
“Peace
peace:” longing
eagerly to end the dreadful conflict in which they find themselves engaged.
Then there visits the man one who knowingly whispers
“You need not disturb
yourself. These things are not so. Do you not know that these are all bugbears
of a past generation? We men of modern thought have made great discoveries
and
changed all the fears of our benighted ancestors into a brave unbelief. You can
live at ease. Do not fret yourself about sin
or heaven
or hell
or eternity.”
Vain are these stale scepticisms
the man is too much in earnest to be drugged
with such soporifics. Boastful unbelief has small power over an agonized soul.
God Himself has convinced this man of sin
of righteousness
and of judgment
and though he tries to disbelieve he cannot. Mr. Worldly Wiseman calls upon
him
with his friend Dr. Legality
and his assistant-surgeon Mr. Civility
and
these try their Balm of Conceit and Plaister of Natural Goodness. But if God
has been dealing with this man
he will say
“But I am not right. I feel that I
deserve the wrath of God
and that goodness is not in me.” No
the leprosy lies
deep within
and no outward form can cleanse away the deep-seated pollution.
II. THIS IS THE ANSWER OF THE
SAVIOUR. It is the fruit of the Saviour’s lips. He comes to a soul and says
“Peace
peace.” Did you ever see Him as dying of sin? If you have never seen
Him with the eye of faith you do not know what peace means. But did you ever
see Christ as He is risen from the dead? Here is another vision of consolation
another fount of peace. Did you ever see Jesus as He sits there triumphant at
the Lord God’s fight hand? A poor
tried spirit is greatly comforted by that
sight. If I were to go on picturing our glorious Lord Jesus Christ in any and
all of His relationships to us
we should in each case hear Him say
“Peace
peace.”
III. AS THE SONG OF THE TRUE
BELIEVER. He who has really
seen Christ
and placed his trust in Him
can now
sing
“Peace
peace
peace.
IV. THIS SHOULD BE THE MOTTO
OF EVERY BELIEVER.
1. This should be his spirit and desire in the Church
“Peace
peace.”
2. We should labour to carry out the
same quiet spirit in the
family. When you get home do not change “Peace
peace
‘into scolding and
nagging. “If it be possible
as much as lieth in you
live peaceably with all
men.’
3. When peace reigns in your own family
go into the world with the
same watchword--“Peace
peace.’” Do not set dogs by the ears
but tame lions
and tigers. Compose differences
and make people friends.
4. What a difference there will be when this is taken up among all
Christian sects--when there shall be no more envying and strife between this
denomination and that
but each one shall be saying in Christ’s name
“We are
brethren--peace
peace.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 20
But the wicked are like
the troubled sea
The restlessness of sin
Who are the wicked?
Not only all who think and feel and do the wrong
but all who have not the
right spirit within them--supreme sympathy with the supremely good. There are
degrees inwickedness as well as in goodness. There are certain things that render
it impossible for wicked men to have true repose. What are they?
I. DISAPPOINTMENTS.
The sinner is doomed to perpetual disappointments. He expects happiness in
certain pursuits and objects that cannot according to the constitution of his
soul yield him true satisfaction. He reposes trust in objects as frail as the
reed and as uncertain as the clouds
and he is doomed to have his plans broken
up and his confidence destroyed. Hence he is the subject of perpetual vexations
and annoyances
for disappointment is evermore a soul-agitating power; it comes
down sometimes upon the heart like a strong south-wester
stirring it to its
very depths.
II. COMPUNCTIONS.
Where there is sin there must come sooner or later remorse. An accusing
conscience is not a mere wind that passes over the soul
rippling its surface;
it is a volcanic force in its centre
shaking every part. It gave Cain no rest
it made Belshazzar totter and Felix tremble; it drove Judas to the rope.
III. SELFISH
PASSIONS. Selfishness
which is the essence of wickedness
is the great
disturbing force in the moral universe. Avarice
ambition
jealousy
revenge
envy
anger
are some of its fiendish progeny. (Homilist.)
“The troubled sea”
In order that the wicked
may understand how far from peace they really are
the prophet points seaward
and bids the people listen to the moaning of the ocean. He bids them hearken to
its thunders
as it pounds upon the rock-bound coast
and says eloquently and
graphically
“The wicked are like yon troubled sea
for it cannot rest; its
waters cast up mire and dirt.”
I. THE
RESTLESSNESS OF THE OCEAN IS AN EMBLEM OF THE WICKED.
1. The sea is never still. We have
indeed
beheld it “like a
millpond
” as we say; its surface so glassy and mirror-like that some would
conclude that it was perfectly still. The sails
and masts
and hull of the
ship were reflected in its glassy bosom. Yet even then the deep was not
perfectly still. There was a solemn heave about it
as the flapping of the
sails and the rolling of the yards plainly revealed. Moreover
even if the
swell could have altogether subsided
the sea was not still for all that. There
were currents
imperceptible save when the log was heaved and the reckoning
taken
that bore the ship silently along. Furthermore
even if it were possible
to get into a place where there were neither swell nor currents
the tides are
everywhere uplifting and depressing the vessel at regular intervals to high or
low watermark. The sea
therefore
is perhaps one of the best emblems of restlessness
for it has several motions and movements
even in its serenest moods. But it is
not to the sea in a state of calm
but when it is lashed to foam
that the
prophet compares the wicked. There is to them no permanent enjoyment: their
pleasures are fleeting: they have no real rest of heart. Uncomfortable thoughts
and painful prickings of conscience come when they are least welcome.
Conscience is ill at ease
fear of death and of judgment can by no means be
altogether set aside. Those who have been converted to God after a life of
dissipation and a career of sin have honestly confessed that though there was a
certain sort of pleasure in the ways of wickedness
there was meanwhile a
strange unrest. Like Marcellus
the Roman general
of whom it is said that whether
conqueror or conquered he was still dissatisfied
they were never content. The
reference here is principally to the fierce passions that are in every human
breast. In the breast of the saint they are restrained by the power of the
reigning Christ
but in the life of the wicked they remain uncurbed
unbridled
let loose upon the world.
2. How readily the sea is stirred! At one moment it is comparatively
calm
the surface smooth and glistening
but presently the accustomed eye
notices in the distance the cat’s paw of the wind--a little ruffling of the
surface in quite a circumscribed area. But the puffs become frequent and grow
in force; the ripples become wavelets
and the wavelets waves; the waves soon
rise to billows
and by and by the sea runs mountains high. It is identically
the same with the wicked
now-soever gently the Prince of the power of the air
blows upon them at first
all too soon the angry passions rear and-rage and
roar. Pride and envy
lust and covetousness
ambition
malice
revenge
all
these
little in their beginnings
grow in size and increase in number until
they become adulteries
murders
blasphemies
and the like.
3. To what an awful pitch the agitation of the sea can attain. Oh
the dreadful length to which wickedness is carried!
4. How long
also
the agitation of the sea remains. Some seas
indeed
are always rough. They never know repose. Off some headlands the waves
run mountains high at all seasons of the year
but in other places the storm
that rises so readily takes long to subside. I have encountered the after-swell
of a storm that must have raged some days before; long after the hurricane had
blown itself out our vessel came into the region where its tracks remained. We
crossed the pathway of the storm
though we were fortunate enough to miss the
tempest itself. Oh
how long the agitation of sin remains. With some
indeed
there is a temporary lull
an attempt at reformation
more or less successful.
Sometimes a man will curb his passions with philosophy
or become suddenly
impressed that for his own reputation’s sake he must hold himself in cheek
but
he has scarcely done so ere Satan raises another vehement wind and begins to
arouse his passions in a different direction. I have known sinners get into
just such a ease that they have overcome this temptation; they have managed
by
sheer force of character and strength of purpose
to restrain certain unholy
passions
and then the devil
fearing that he may miss his hold of them
raises
another wind
in a contrary direction; and the remains of the previous storm
come clashing with the beginnings of a new one
and the poor sinner is likely
to be swamped betwixt the twain.
5. What a mighty noise the sea makes when it is troubled. There is a
pleasant murmur with it in the time of calm
but when the winds of heaven begin
to play upon it it thunders as it rolls and breaks on the beach
and hisses as
it surges on the shore. Behold here another emblem of sin and of sinners. The
wicked seem to delight in making loud proclamation of their sin.
6. When the sea is troubled it works havoc on every hand. Thus do the
wicked work destruction in our midst. Alas! for those who are the prey of their
passions. The great
the learned
the aged are not spared. Huge liners founder
in the gale. Alas! that wicked men are constantly compassing the destruction of
the smaller ships; and the children of our families and our schools are wrecked
while yet their years are few. Moreover
wickedness is so insidious that some
who have thought to rescue men from sin have been themselves engulfed by it.
They had it in their hearts to be as lifeboats to them
but they themselves
have gone down too. Law and order
like great cliffs and granite walls
have
been torn down by the grasping hands of iniquity
while proprieties and
decencies which one would have thought that even sinners would observe
have
been levelled or overridden by men who ran to an excess of riot.
II. THE SEA IS AN
EMBLEM OF WICKED MEN BECAUSE OF THE DEBRIS THAT IT CASTS UP. The egecta of
the sea is
in God’s esteem
a fit image of the outcome of wicked men’s hearts.
When the storm has subsided you will find a good deal of objectionable matter
littering the beach--the vomit of the sea. How apt an emblem of that which the
Christless heart produces! What evil deeds the unregenerate heart is capable
of! And what shall we say about the words of wicked men? What shall the end be?
Is the storm evermore to last? I see no cure for all this unless the Lord
speaks peace. “Oh where is He that trod the sea?” He is on the mountain top; He
is on His high and holy hill. It is dark
and Jesus has not yet come to us
but
He has not forgotten us. Thrice happy day when the Christ of Galilee says
“Peace
be still
” to a sin-stirred world! (T. Spurgeon.)
Bad men and good: a
contrast
What a contrast with the
calm of God’s “holy mountain” (Isaiah 57:13) high above all sublunary storms. (J. R.Macduff
D. D.)
Verse 21
There is no peace
saith my God
to the wicked
The standard of righteousness maintained
The fifty-seventh chapter ends with a declaration which shows that
amid all the goodness and graciousness of the Divine way the standard of
righteousness is never lowered: never is the dignity of law impaired.
Read these awful yet gracious words: “There is no peace
saith my. God
to the
wicked.” If we thought that God was about to lose righteousness in sentiment
we are thus suddenly
with a very startling abruptness
brought back to the
remembrance of the fact that wickedness is infinitely and eternally hateful to
God
and that peace and wickedness are mutually destructive terms. The wicked
man may create a wilderness and call it peace
but real contentment
benignity
resignation
or harmony
he can never know in wickedness. Herein we find the
testimony of the Divine presence
the assertion and glory of the Divine law.
God does not take away peace from the wicked in any arbitrary sense. Wickedness
is itself incompatible with peace: the wicked are like the troubled sea when it
cannot rest
whose waters cast up mire and dirt. The unrest is actually in the
wickedness; the tumult does not come from without
it comes from within. (J.
Parker
D. D.)
The character and misery of the wicked
I. WHO COME UNDER
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WICKED? In general
all who have never undergone a
change of heart.
1. Some are grossly ignorant of the plain and essential doctrines of
the Christian religion
amidst the best means to gain an acquaintance with
them.
2. Some break out into open acts of wickedness.
3. Others
though free from gross immoralities
are yet wicked
because they neglect the duties of religion. There are sins of commission
and
there are sins of omission.
4. There are some who adopt loose and dangerous principles
who
allege
either that the Scripture is not true
or that the great doctrines
as
generally taught
are not contained in it.
5. Among the wicked we must also rank the formalist and hypocrite.
6. They are impatient of restraint and reproof.
II. IN WHAT
RESPECTS THERE IS NO PEACE TO SUCH.
1. There is no peace to them with God. By their wickedness they wage
war with Heaven
and the almighty King is angry with them every day.
2. There is no peace in their own conscience.
3. There is no peace to the wicked in a dying hour. By this is not
meant that they shall undergo more pain of body than others. The pangs of
dissolution are the same to all. Those
indeed
of whom the world was not
worthy
have often suffered the most cruel and violent deaths. Nor is it meant
that the wicked have never any composure in death
or hope of well-being
hereafter. Some of them die as they have lived
stupid and thoughtless as beasts.
Some good men may have fears and perplexities to the very last; and some bad
men may remain unshaken
and die with more apparent confidence than the others.
The fears of the good man cannot render his state less safe
nor the confidence
of the bad render his less dangerous. Whatever their own sentiments are
it
shall be “well with the righteous
and ill with the wicked.” What awful
spectacles have some of the wicked exhibited on a death-bed!
4. There is no peace to the wicked after death. They enjoyed with
others the common bounties of Providence
and were sensible of pleasure. In
these they placed their only happiness; but now all is gone
and they are
tormented. Conscience can be quieted no more. (W. Linn
D. D.)
No comfort for the wicked
The wicked would not be healed by the grace of God
and therefore
shall not be healed by His comforts. (M. Henry.)
No peace to the wicked
1. The man who lives in a habitual course of sinning has no real
comfort of mind from the pleasures of this world.
2. He must necessarily want all effectual support under the many
evils and calamities of life.
3. He cannot but be sometimes troubled with the reproofs of his
conscience.
4. He can never get rid of all the unwelcome thoughts of death
and
of what is to be his portion in a future state. (Bishop Pearce.)
No peace to the wicked
I. WHO ARE THE
CHARACTERS DESCRIBED? “The wicked.” This description includes the outwardly
immoral and profane--those who seem lost to every principle of virtue and
religion--who have not the fear of God before their eyes--and who are equally
indifferent to the censure and approbation of their fellow-creatures. But the
words of the text are applicable to all those whose hearts have not been
renewed by the Holy Spirit.
II. THE AFFECTING
DECLARATION RESPECTING SUCH CHARACTERS. “There is no peace
” etc.
1. They cannot
while in this state
enjoy peace with God. Peace
includes in it mutual reconciliation and agreement.
2. The wicked cannot enjoy peace with themselves. As the favour and
presence of God are the only sources of real happiness
a state of enmity and
separation from Him must be attended with misery. Subjection to His authority
and conformity to His will and image
promotes peace and order
but where these
do not exist
there must be confusion and discord. The unruly passions will
then agitate and distress the mind; pride
and envy
and hatred
and other
unholy affections will struggle for the ascendency. Having no principle to
check or govern them
they will increase in violence and hurry their possessor
onward in the path of sin and danger. Conscience will also exert its influence
to alarm and terrify them. In vain do the wicked seek peace of conscience by
partial reformation or by the performance of outward duties. The accusations of
a guilty conscience can be silenced only by an application to the blood of
sprinkling.
3. There is no peace to the wicked in the world. Alienation from God
necessarily leads to strife among men. It excites those corrupt passions and
principles which render man the enemy of his fellow-man
as well as the source
of misery to himself.
4. The wicked have no peace under the various afflictions of life. In
the season of worldly prosperity
they may appear to others peaceful and happy
but no sooner does adversity come upon them
than we see the transient and
unsubstantial nature of their enjoyment.
5. There is no peace to the wicked in the hour of death.
6. There is no peace to the wicked through eternity. (Essex
Congregational Remembrancer.)
Wickedness an obstruction to social peace and happiness
In order to the proving of this
I shall insist on these three
arguments
I. THE NATURAL
TENDENCY OF WICKEDNESS.
II. THE
CONSIDERATION OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE
AND HIS RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT OF TRY. WORLD.
III. THE EXPERIENCE OF
ALL AGES. (B. Calamy
D. D.)
No peace to the wicked
I. A POSITIVE
ASSERTION
an unlimited proposition
“There is no peace to the wicked.”
II. THE AUTHORITY
UPON WHICH THE PROPOSITION IS ESTABLISHED
even the testimony of God
Himself
“There is no peace
saith my God
to the wicked.” (J. Lambe.)
The dismal reflections of the unbelieving mind
It is said of the infidel Hobbes
“that though he would speak very
strange and unbecoming things of God
yet in his study in the dark
and in his
retired thoughts
he trembled before Him. If his candle happened to go out in
the night
he awoke in terror and amazement. He was unable to bear the dismal
reflections of his dark and desolate mind; and knew not how to extinguish
nor
how to bear the light of the candle of the
Lord within him.” Mr. False Peace
so John
Bunyan has it in his “Holy War
was the son of Mr. Flatterer
and his
mother’s name before she was married was Mrs. Sooth-up. He liked to be called
Mr. Peace
but there were witnesses enough to prove that time was when he
delighted to boast that his real name was not Peace
but False Peace. “There is
no peace (except false peace)
saith my God
to the wicked.” (T. Spurgeon.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》