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Isaiah Chapter
Sixty-six
Isaiah 66
Chapter Contents
God looks at the heart
and vengeance is threatened for
guilt. (1-4) The increase of the church
when Jew and Gentile shall be gathered
to the Redeemer. (5-14) Every enemy of the church shall be destroyed
and the
final ruin of ungodly men shall be seen. (15-24)
Commentary on Isaiah 66:1-4
(Read Isaiah 66:1-4)
The Jews gloried much in their temple. But what
satisfaction can the Eternal Mind take in a house made with men's hands? God
has a heaven and an earth of his own making
and temples of man's making; but
he overlooks them
that he may look with favour to him who is poor in spirit
and serious
self-abasing and self-denying; whose heart truly sorrows for sin:
such a heart is a living temple for God. The sacrifice of the wicked is not
only unacceptable
but a great offence to God. And he that now offers a
sacrifice after the law
does in effect set aside Christ's sacrifice. He that
burns incense
puts contempt upon the incense of Christ's intercession
and is
as if he blessed an idol. Men shall be deceived by the vain confidences with
which they deceive themselves. Unbelieving hearts
and unpurified consciences
need no more to make them miserable
than to have their own fears brought upon
them. Whatever men put in the place of the priesthood
atonement
and
intercession of Christ
will be found hateful to God.
Commentary on Isaiah 66:5-14
(Read Isaiah 66:5-14)
The prophet turns to those that trembled at God's word
to comfort and encourage them. The Lord will appear
to the joy of the humble
believer
and to the confusion of hypocrites and persecutors. When the Spirit
was poured out
and the gospel went forth from Zion
multitudes were converted
in a little time. The word of God
especially his promises
and ordinances
are
the consolations of the church. The true happiness of all Christians is
increased by every convert brought to Christ. The gospel brings with it
wherever it is received in its power
such a river of peace
as will carry us
to the ocean of boundless and endless bliss. Divine comforts reach the inward
man; the joy of the Lord will be the strength of the believer. Both God's mercy
and justice shall be manifested
and for ever magnified.
Commentary on Isaiah 66:15-24
(Read Isaiah 66:15-24)
A prophetic declaration is given of the Lord's vengeance
on all enemies of his church
especially that of all antichristian opposers of
the gospel in the latter days. Verses 19
20
set forth the abundance of means
for conversion of sinners. These expressions are figurative
and express the
plentiful and gracious helps for bringing God's elect home to Christ. All shall
be welcome; and nothing shall be wanting for their assistance and
encouragement. A gospel ministry shall be set up in the church; they would have
solemn worship before the Lord. In the last verse the nature of the punishment
of sinners in the world to come is represented. Then shall the righteous and
wicked be separated. Our Saviour applies this to the everlasting misery and
torment of impenitent sinners in the future state. To the honour of that free
grace which thus distinguishes them
let the redeemed of the Lord
with
humility
and not without holy trembling
sing triumphant songs. With this
affecting representation of the opposite states of the righteous and wicked
characters which include the whole human race
Isaiah concludes his prophecies.
May God grant
for Christ's sake
that our portion may be with those who fear
and love his name
who cleave to his truths
and persevere in every good work
looking to receive from the Lord Jesus Christ the gracious invitation
Come
ye
blessed of my Father
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Isaiah》
Isaiah 66
Verse 1
[1] Thus
saith the LORD
The heaven is my throne
and the earth is my footstool: where
is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
The heaven —
The highest heaven
is the place where I shew myself in my majesty. So Psalms 11:4; Psalms 103:19; Matthew 5:34. Hence we are taught to pray; our
father which art in heaven.
And the earth is my footstool — Or a place wherein I set my feet
Matthew 5:35.
The house —
Can there be an house built
that will contain me? My rest - Or where is the
place wherein I can be said to rest in a proper sense?
Verse 2
[2] For all those things hath mine hand made
and all those things have been
saith the LORD: but to this man will I look
even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit
and trembleth at my word.
Have been —
They were not only made by God
but kept in being by him.
Look —
Yet God will look with a favourable eye to him that hath a broken and contrite
spirit
whose heart is subdued to the will of God
and who is poor
and low in
his own eyes.
Trembleth —
Who trembleth when he hears God's threatening words
and hears every revelation
of his will with reverence.
Verse 3
[3] He
that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb
as if he
cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation
as if he offered swine's
blood; he that burneth incense
as if he blessed an idol. Yea
they have chosen
their own ways
and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
He that
… —
Solomon
Proverbs 15:8
gives a full commentary on the whole
verse; The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.
As if —
From hence it is plain
that the prophet is not here reflecting upon idolatrous
worship
but formal worship: upon those who in a formality worshipped the true
God
and by acts which he had appointed. God by the prophet declares
that
these mens services were no more acceptable to him than murder
idolatry
or
the most horrid profanation of his name.
Own ways —
They live as they lust.
Delight —
They take pleasure in their sins.
Verse 4
[4] I
also will choose their delusions
and will bring their fears upon them; because
when I called
none did answer; when I spake
they did not hear: but they did
evil before mine eyes
and chose that in which I delighted not.
Chuse —
They have chosen to mock and delude me
I will chuse to suffer them to delude
themselves; they have chosen to work wickedness
I will chuse the effect.
Their fears —
That is
the things which they feared.
Did not hear —
God accounts that those do not hear
who do not obey his will.
Verse 5
[5] Hear the word of the LORD
ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that
hated you
that cast you out for my name's sake
said
Let the LORD be
glorified: but he shall appear to your joy
and they shall be ashamed.
You —
That truly fear God.
Your brethren — By
nation.
Cast you out —
That cast you out of their synagogues
cast you out of their city
and some of
you out of the world.
For my names sake —
For my sake; for your adherence to my law.
Glorified —
Thinking they did God good service
John 16:2.
Verse 6
[6] A
voice of noise from the city
a voice from the temple
a voice of the LORD that
rendereth recompence to his enemies.
A voice —
The expression of a prophetical extasy
as if he said
I hear a sad and
affrighting noise; it comes not from the city only
but from the temple
wherein these formalists have so much gloried. There is a noise of soldiers
slaying
and of the poor people shrieking or crying out.
Of the Lord — A
voice of the Lord
not in thunder
but that rendereth recompence to his
enemies. Thus he seems to express the destruction of the Jews by the Roman
armies
as a thing at that time doing.
Verse 7
[7]
Before she travailed
she brought forth; before her pain came
she was
delivered of a man child.
Before —
The whole verse is expressive of a great and sudden salvation
which God would
work for his church
like the delivery of a woman
and that of a man-child
before her travail
and without pain. Doubtless it refers to the coming of
Christ
and the sudden propagation of the gospel.
Verse 8
[8] Who
hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to
bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion
travailed
she brought forth her children.
For — As
soon as the voice of the gospel put the church of the Jews into her travail
in
Christ's and the Apostles time
it presently brought forth.
Verse 9
[9]
Shall I bring to the birth
and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall
I cause to bring forth
and shut the womb? saith thy God.
Shall I — I
that in the ordinary course of my providence use to give a birth to women
to
whom I have given a power to conceive
shall I not give a birth to my people
whom by my promises I have made to conceive such expectations? And shut - Nor
shall Zion once only bring forth
but she shall go on
her womb shall not be
shut
she shall every day bring forth more and more children
and my presence
shall be with my church
to the end of the world.
Verse 11
[11] That
ye may suck
and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may
milk out
and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
Consolations —
The gospel doctrine was their breasts of consolation.
Her glory —
Christ was the glory of the people of Israel
though he was also a light to the
Gentiles.
Verse 12
[12] For
thus saith the LORD
Behold
I will extend peace to her like a river
and the
glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck
ye shall be
borne upon her sides
and be dandled upon her knees.
Like a river — It
is plain this prophecy relates to a farther conversion of the Jews than hath
been yet seen.
Ye — Ye Jews also.
Her sides —
The Gentiles were borne upon the sides of Jerusalem and dandled upon her knees
as first hearing from the Apostles (who were members of the Jewish church) the
glad tidings of salvation.
Verse 13
[13] As
one whom his mother comforteth
so will I comfort you; and ye shall be
comforted in Jerusalem.
As one whom
… —
That is
in the most tender
and compassionate way.
Verse 14
[14] And
when ye see this
your heart shall rejoice
and your bones shall flourish like
an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants
and his
indignation toward his enemies.
Rejoice —
The peace of the church and the propagation of the kingdom of Christ
is always
the cause of an heart rejoicing to such as fear God
so that they flourish like
an herb in the spring.
The hand —
The power
protection
and influence of God.
Verse 15
[15] For
behold
the LORD will come with fire
and with his chariots like a whirlwind
to render his anger with fury
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
With fire —
With terrible judgments
or with fire in a proper sense
understanding it of
the fire with which enemies use to consume places brought under their power.
Whirlwind —
With a sudden sweeping judgment.
Fury —
That is
with fervour; for fury properly taken is not in God.
Rebukes —
They had contemned the rebukes of the law
now God will rebuke them with fire
and sword.
Verse 16
[16] For
by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of
the LORD shall be many.
Plead —
God at first pleads with sinners by words
but if he cannot so prevail
he will
plead with them in a way by which he will overcome; by fire
pestilence and
blood.
All flesh —
Thus he threatens to do with all the wicked Jews.
The slain —
Those whom God should cause to be slain.
Verse 17
[17] They
that sanctify themselves
and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree
in the midst
eating swine's flesh
and the abomination
and the mouse
shall
be consumed together
saith the LORD.
Gardens — In
which they worshipped idols.
In the midst —
Behind one of the trees
or one by one behind the trees.
The abominations —
All those beasts forbidden the Jews for meat. God will not only destroy gross
idolaters
but all those who make no conscience of yielding obedience to the
law of God in such things as seemed to them of a minute nature
and such as
they easily might have obeyed.
Verse 18
[18] For
I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come
that I will gather all
nations and tongues; and they shall come
and see my glory.
Come — It
shall come to pass that I will cast them off
and then l will gather all
nations
etc.
My glory — My
oracles
my ordinances
which hitherto have been locked up in the church of the
Jews
and been their glory
shall be published to the Gentiles.
Verse 19
[19] And
I will set a sign among them
and I will send those that escape of them unto
the nations
to Tarshish
Pul
and Lud
that draw the bow
to Tubal
and Javan
to the isles afar off
that have not heard my fame
neither have seen my glory;
and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.
A sign — By
this may be understood Christ
Luke 2:34
or the ministry of the word attended
with miracles
these were set up among the Jews first
then among the Gentiles.
Afar off — To
all the quarters of the world.
They shall —
This was eminently made good after the destruction of Jerusalem
when the
believers among the Jews
as well as the apostles went about publishing the
gospel to all people
which was declaring the Lord's glory.
Verse 20
[20] And
they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all
nations upon horses
and in chariots
and in litters
and upon mules
and upon
swift beasts
to my holy mountain Jerusalem
saith the LORD
as the children of
Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.
Your brethren —
Those who are the children of Abraham
not considered as the father of the
Jewish nation only
but considered as the father of many nations
and as the
father of the faithful
and so are your brethren
shall be brought out of all
nations for an offering to the Lord.
Holy mountain —
And they shall be brought into the church
which began at Jerusalem.
As — And they shall come
with as much joy and gladness
with as much sincerity and holiness
as the
Godly Jews do when they bring their offerings in clean vessels.
Verse 21
[21] And
I will also take of them for priests and for Levites
saith the LORD.
For priests —
God will find among the converted Gentiles those who though they are not of the
tribe of Levi
yet shall do the true work of priests and Levites.
Verse 22
[22] For
as the new heavens and the new earth
which I will make
shall remain before
me
saith the LORD
so shall your seed and your name remain.
The new heavens —
The new state of the church to be raised up under the Messiah.
Remain — As
I intend that shall abide
so there shall be a daily succession of true
believers for the upholding of it.
Verse 23
[23] And
it shall come to pass
that from one new moon to another
and from one sabbath
to another
shall all flesh come to worship before me
saith the LORD.
And
… — In
the gospel-church there shall be as constant and settled a course of worship
(though of another nature) as ever was in the Jewish church: Christians are not
bound to keep the Jewish sabbaths or new-moons. But New Testament worship is
expressed by Old Testament phrases. The Jews were only obliged to appear three
times in a year at Jerusalem
but (saith the prophet) the gospel-church shall
worship God from one sabbath to another.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Isaiah》
66 Chapter 66
Verse 1-2
Thus saith the Lord
The heaven is My throne
The eternal blessedness of the true Israel; the doom of the
apostates
This chapter continues the antithesis that runs through chap.
65.
carrying it onward to its eschatological issues. The connection of ideas
is frequently extremely difficult to trace
and no two cities are agreed as to
where the different sections begin and end. (Prof. J. Skinner
D. D.)
Temple building
Hitzig thinks (and with him Knobel
Hendewerk) that the author
here begins quite abruptly to oppose the purpose of building a temple to
Jehovah; the builders are those who meditated remaining behind in Chaldea
and
wished also to have a temple
as the Jews in Egypt
at a later time
built one
in Leontopolis. (F. Delitzsch
D. D.)
The offerings of the impenitent offensive to God
The address
directed to the entire body ready to return
says
without distinction that Jehovah
the Creator of heaven and earth
needs no
house made by men’s hands; then in the entire body distinguishes between the
penitent and those alienated from God
rejects all worship and offering at the
hand of the latter
and threatens them with just retribution. (F. Delitzsch
D. D.)
The inward and spiritual preferred by God to the outward and
material
[These great words] are a declaration
spoken probably in view of
the approaching restoration of the temple (which
in itself
the prophet
entirely approves
Isaiah 44:28
and expects
Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 55:7; Isaiah 62:9)
reminding the Jews of the
truth which a visible temple might readily lead them to forget
that no earthly
habitation could be really adequate to Jehovah’s majesty
and that Jehovah’s
regard was not to be won by the magnificence of a material temple
but by
humility and the devotion of the heart. How needful the warning was history
shows. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:1-15) argues at length against
those who pointed
with a proud sense of assurance
to the massive pile of
buildings that crowned the height of Zion
heedless of the moral duties which
loyalty to the King
whose residence it was
implied. And at a yet more
critical moment in their history
attachment to the temple
as such
was one of
the causes which incapacitated the Jews from appropriating the more spiritual
teaching of Christ: the charge brought against Stephen (Acts 6:13-14)is that he ceased not “to
speak words against this holy place and the law;” and
the argument of
Stephen’s defence (Acts 7:1-60.) is just to show that in the
past God’s favour had not been limited to the period during which the temple of
Zion existed. Here
then
the prophet seizes the occasion to insist upon the
necessity of a spiritual service
passing on (verses 3-5) to denounce
in
particular
certain superstitious usages which had apparently
at the time
infected the worship of Jehovah. (Prof. S. R. Driver
D. D.)
The inwardness of religion
1. The tendency to make religion consist in external actions
apart
from the inward dispositions which should accompany them
is very common. The
reason for this is discovered from the fact that outward actions are easier
than inward. It is easier
for instance
to become outwardly poor than to
become poor in spirit; easier to adore with the body than to worship with the
soul. The tendency is observable in all dispensations. For instance
whatever
other differences there may have been between the sacrifices of Cain and Abel
we are expressly told that it was “by faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice ‘ (Hebrews 11:4). The outward act was linked
with the right inward disposition. So
again
in the time of the Levitical Law
the tendency often manifested itself to put ceremonial above moral obligations
(Psalms 1:1-6.). And Isaiah
in his first
chapter (verses 11-18)
shows how an outward service
without the putting away
of evil
is an abomination to God. In the same way our Lord condemned the
Pharisees Matthew 15:8).
2. This closing prophecy of Isaiah seems to contain a warning against
formalism. It is not that the outward is unimportant
for this would be to run
from one extreme to the other
but that the outward will not avail. The return
of Israel from captivity will be followed by the building of a new temple
as
the event has shown; and the warning of the text is twofold--one
to remind the
Israelites that Jehovah had no need of a temple; the other
to impress them
with a truth they were very apt to forget
that religion must be a matter of
the heart.
I. A REVELATION OF
GOD. “Heaven is My throne
and the earth is My footstool.”
1. These words
or the substance of them
are again and again
repeated in Holy Scripture (1 Kings 8:27; Matthew 5:34; Acts 7:49). Repetitions in the Bible show
the importance of a truth
or our difficulty in remembering it.
2. What is the truth? That God is incomprehensible. He is everywhere
and cannot be localized (Jeremiah 23:24). There is nowhere where
Cod’s power and essence and presence do not reach. He knows no limit of space
or time
of knowledge or love.
II. THE REFERENCE
TO THE EXTERNAL TEMPLE. “Where is the house that ye build unto Me?”
1. These words are not intended to deter Israel from building a
material temple when they had returned to their own land. The prophet would be
contradicting himself (Isaiah 56:5-7; Isaiah 60:7); and he would be running
counter to the solemn injunctions of other prophets
such as Haggai and
Zechariah
who were in part raised up by God to further the work of building
the temple. What the words are intended to rebuke is the falseness of the ideas
that God requires a temple
and that His presence can be restricted to its
walls. God does not need a temple
but we do. In heaven there will be no
necessity for any temple (Revelation 21:22)
where the glory of God
and of the Lamb floods with its radiance the whole place.
2. Here the church
with its sacred objects and associations
appeals
to us and excites our devotion; here in the sacred place there is a distinct
promise to prayer; here God acts upon us
and we upon God
through prescribed
ordinances; here He promises to be present in some especial manner; here we act
upon one another
and kindle fervour
and therefore must not forsake “the
assembling of ourselves together” in the house of Hebrews 10:25).
III. BUT THE TEXT
ALLUDES TO THE INTERNAL TEMPLE--THE DISPOSITIONS OF THE SOUL OF THE WORSHIPPER
WHICH ATTRACT THE FAVOUR OF GOD. “To this man will I look
. . . who is poor
. .
. contrite
and who trembleth at My word.”
1. Poor
not merely outwardly
but poor in spirit (Psalms 138:6). The man who at all
realizes the Divine majesty will have a sense of his own nothingness.
2. Of a contrite spirit. A perception” of the Divine holiness brings
self-humiliation by force of contrast (Job 42:6).
3. “Trembleth at My word. Fear is ever an element of the spirit of
worship. A sense of the Divine justice and judgments fills the soul with awe in
approaching God. The Word or revelation of God is received
not in the spirit
of criticism
but with reverence and godly fear.
IV. LESSONS.
1. The remembrance of the all-pervading presence of God should be a
deterrent from evil
and an incentive to good.
2. The obligation of regularity in attendance at Divine worship ought
to be insisted upon
both as a recognition of God and our relations with Him
and for the sake of the subjective effects on human character.
3. But outward worship is of no avail without inward. There are
tests
in the text
of the presence of the spirit of worship--lowliness
contrition
and awe
as products of the realization of God’s presence and
perfections. (The Thinker.)
God’s elevation and condescension
1. The subject of remark--God Himself. “Thus saith the Lord
The
heaven is My throne
the earth is My footstool.” The attention is turned simply
to God--His grandeur
His magnificence
His immensity
His omnipresence. He
abides in heaven
He puts the earth under His feet.
2. The manner in which the remark about God is conducted
is that of
a kind of contrast betwixt Him and men. “Where is the house that ye build unto
Me
and where is the place of My rest?” God is unlike man. He challenges any
comparison. “The heaven
even the heaven of heavens
cannot contain Him.
Ancient kings aimed often to Impress their subjects with an idea of their
magnificence
and surrounded themselves with a solemn and salutary awe
by
rearing palaces of the most imposing splendour and magnificence. They wished to
overawe the multitude. On this ground
God Himself
seems to have ordered the
unequalled grandeur of the ancient temple. But in doing it
He took care that
its dazzling beauty and stateliness should only be an aid
a stepping-stone
to
assist the imagination in its upward reach towards the grandeur of God. In the
prayer of the dedication
Solomon’s devotion soars infinitely above the temple.
Here
the majesty of God
and the littleness of man
stand side by
side. After mentioning the earth and the heaven
God says
“All these things
hath My hand made.”
3. But yet
lest dread should too much terrify the worshipper
or a
high and just idea of God’s infinite majesty lead the humble into the error of
supposing that such an august Being would not regard such an insignificant
creature as man
he adds
“To this man will I look
even to him that is poor
and of a contrite spirit
and trembleth at My word.” A turn of thought well
worthy of our admiration. A contrite sinner has nothing to fear from God. His
very majesty need not terrify him. Indeed
His majesty constitutes the very
ground for his encouragement. It can condescend. Just as much does the King of
kings and Lord of lords glorify Himself
when He consoles
by the whisperings
of His Spirit
the poorest and most unworthy sinner that ever felt the pangs of
a bruised heart
as when He thunders in the heavens as the most High
and gives
His voice
hail-stones and coals of fire. With this idea
sinners
should-approach Him and meditate His grandeur. (I. S. Spencer
D. D.)
The magnificence of God
I. THE STYLE OF
THE TEXT. God speaks of Himself. “The heaven is My throne
the earth is My
footstool.” This style of religious address is especially common in the
Scriptures (Psalms 137:1-9.; Job 11:7-8; Job 26:6-14; Isaiah 40:1-31.). These passages all
speak of God in a style which we cannot attempt to analyze. Their aim appears
to be twofold.
1. To lead us to make the idea of God Himself the leading idea in
religion.
2. To have this idea
which we are to entertain about God
an idea of
the utmost grandeur
of the most amazing magnificence
and solemn sublimity.
II. THE DESIGN IN
VIEW CANNOT EASILY BE MISTAKEN. They would give us just ideas of God. The
impression they aim to make is simply this
that God is incomparably and
inconceivably above us--an infinite and awful mystery!
III. THE NECESSITY
OF THIS MAY EXIST OH DIFFERENT GROUNDS.
1. Our littleness. In the nature of the case
there can be no
comparison betwixt man and God. All is contrast--an infinite contrast.
2. Our sinfulness. Sin never exists aside from the mind’s losing a
just impression of the Deity; and wherever it exists
there is a tendency to
cleave to low and unworthy ideas of Him.
3. Our materiality
the connection of our minds with material and
gross bodies. This connection renders it difficult for us to soar beyond
matter. We are in danger of introducing the imperfections of our existence into
our religion
even into our ideas of God. Consequently
when God speaks to us
of Himself
He speaks in a manner designed to guard us from error. He says to
us
“The heaven is
My throne
and the earth is My footstool. Where is the
house ye build unto Me? We are limited to the world. We cannot get foothold
anywhere else. We are circumscribed within very narrow limits. But God asks
“Where is the place of My rest?” He would elevate our conceptions of Him beyond
matter
out of the reach of its bounds.
4. The nature of God. Man is only a creature. He owes his existence
to a cause without him. That cause still rules him. That cause allows him to
know but little
and often drops the veil of an impenetrable darkness before
his eyes just at the point
the very point
where he is most desirous to look
further
and it drops the veil there
in order to do him the twofold office of
convincing him of the grandeur of God and his own littleness
and of compelling
him
under the influence of those convictions
to turn back to a light which
concerns him more than the darkness beyond the veil can
to a light where are
wrapped up the duties and interests of his immortal soul. God would repress his
curiosity
and make him use his conscience. Therefore
He makes darkness preach
to him.
IV. APPLICATION.
1. Let us be admonished to approach the study of religion with a
solemnity of mind which belongs to it. It is the study of God. The voice comes
from the burning bush
“Draw not nigh hither
put off thy shoes from off thy
feet
for the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground.’ How unlike all
other subjects is religion! How differently we should approach it!
2. This mode in which God teaches us--this grandeur and magnificence
which belong to Him--ought to remove a very common difficulty from our minds
and prepare us to receive in faith
those deep and dark doctrines
whose
mystery is so apt to stagger us. What can we expect?
3. Since God is so vast a being
how deep should be our humility!
4. How deep should be our homage.!
5. The greatness of God should gauge the depth of our repentance. Our
sin is against Him.
6. The greatness of God should invite our faith. “ If God be for us
who can be against us?”
7. The magnificence of God should be a motive to our service. He is
able to turn our smallest services to an infinite account.
8. The greatness of God ought to encourage the timid. Because He is
great
His regard reaches to every one of your annoyances. Your enemies cannot
hurt you.
9. The grandeur of God ought to rebuke our reliance upon creatures. (I.
S. Spencer
D. D.)
What God does not
and what He does
regard
I. WHAT THE LORD
DOES NOT REGARD. He speaks quite slightingly of this great building. But is it
not said elsewhere that “the Lord loved the courts of Zion”? Did He not
expressly tell King Solomon when his temple was completed
“Mine eyes and Mine
heart shall be on it perpetually”? He did; but in what sense are we to
understand those words? Not that He delighted in the grandeur of the house
but
in as much of spiritual worship as was rendered there. The temple itself was no
otherwise well pleasing to Him than as it was raised in obedience to His
orders
and as it served
in its fashion and its furniture
for “an example and
a shadow of heavenly things;” but the Lord “loved the gates of Zion” because
the prayers of Zion were presented there. He points out to us two things--His
throne
and His footstool! and then He leaves it to ourselves to say whether
any building man can raise to Him can be considerable in His eyes.
II. Hear from the
Lord’s own lips THE DESCRIPTION OF THE MAN WHO DRAWS HIS EYE. “To this man
”
etc.
1. The sort of character described.
2. What does the Lord mean when He saith
“To this man will I look?
He evidently means
“To this man will I look with an eye of notice and regard.”
The Lord’s favourable look
be it remembered
is quite another thing from
man’s; there is help
and comfort
and support conveyed by it Isaiah 57:15). The Lord but looked on
Gideon
and Gideon
weak before
was wonderfully strengthened ( 6:14). (A. Roberts
M. A.)
God’s greater glory
Here are described two phases of the Divine greatness
one
material
and the other moral; the superiority of the latter being clearly
implied.
I. THE MATERIAL
GREATNESS OF GOD. “Thus saith the Lord
The heaven is My throne
and the earth
is My footstool.” Here God represents Himself as a mighty potentate
leaving us
to infer the measure of His kingly glory and the extent of His dominion from
these two things--His throne and His footstool. Thus the glory of the whole is
indicated by the glory of the part.
1. The throne. We must note carefully the full extent and purport of
the figure
“The heaven is My throne. It is not that the heaven is the place of
His throne
but that the heaven is itself the throne. The conception
bold as
it is
strikingly agrees with another figure used by inspiration to set forth
the transcendent majesty of God
“Behold
the heaven and heaven of heavens
cannot contain Thee.” The figure is a bold one. The human imagination
daring
as its flights often are
could never have conceived it. It is purely a Divine
conception
and the text is careful to say so
“Thus saith the Lord.”
2. His footstool. “The earth. ‘ We know very little of the heaven. We
know a great deal about the earth. Men have taken its dimensions
explored its
resources
and discovered its glories. Yet this magnificent object is but His
footstool. The footstool is the humblest article of furniture in the household;
so needless is it deemed that thousands of houses dispense with it altogether.
Others easily convert the thing nearest to hand into a footstool
as occasion
may require. Nevertheless
some have expended no little skill and expense upon
the construction even of footstools. There is preserved as a relic in Windsor
Castle such an article
once belonging to the renowned Hindoo prince
Tippoo
Sahib. It is in the form of a bear’s head
carved in ivory
with a tongue of
gold
teeth of crystal
and its eyes a pair of rubies. This article is adjudged
worth £10
000. It is after all but a footstool. If Tippoo Sahib’s footstool were
so magnificent
what must have been the splendour of his throne! Yet
were all
the thrones of the world collected together into one vast pile
they would form
but a heap of rubbish as compared with God’s footstool.
II. THE TEXT
PRESENTS US WITH ANOTHER PHASE OF HIS GLORY--THE MORAL
WHICH IS ALSO HIS
GREATER GLORY. “But to this man will I look
even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit
and trembleth at My word.” What a contrast we have presented
to us here. God
the Mighty Potentate
from the height of His heavenly throne
looking down with yearning
compassionate regard upon such objects as are here
described
the very dust of His footstool. There is a moral grandeur in this
far transcending the power of language to describe. In order to appreciate
fully the beauty and glory of this act
we must notice particularly the
characters which are its special objects. They are described as those who are
“poor” and are “of a contrite spirit
” and that “tremble at His word.” These
several expressions do not describe one and the same condition. They indicate
three distinct and progressive stages of spiritual experience.
1. Destitution. “Poor.” It is not physical poverty that is
meant
for the wealthiest
those who abound most in worldly possessions
are equally
with the most destitute in the condition here indicated by the term “poor. It
describes a spiritual condition--the spiritual poverty into which all men are
reduced through sin--the wretched
the miserable
the oppressed of sin and
guilt--the poor in the sense of being without hope
destitute of true peace and
happiness.
2. The second stage indicated is one of conviction--the misery
becoming a felt fact. “ And of a contrite spirit.” In these words we have
indicated that condition of the mind when the all-crushing fact of its poverty
and wretchedness has come home with overwhelming conviction.
3. The third stage is one of hope. “Trembleth at My word.” God
out
of the infinite depth of His compassion
hath spoken to this poor
wretched
sin-convicted creature
and the word spoken is a word of hope. The “trembling”
at the word does not mean regarding it with fear
terror
or dismay
but
solemnly
feelingly
and trustingly. It is the trembling of gratitude and of an
awakened hope--an exquisite thrill of gratitude piercing the whole soul
causing it to vibrate with responsive joy to the message of hope. This
wonderful condescension of God in relation to sinful men is His greater glory
it redounds to His honour far more than His conversion of the heavens into His
throne and of the earth into His footstool. (A. J. Parry.)
Worship and ritual
The desire for Divine communion has ever been strong in man. This
desire was originated by God Himself. If not from God
whence could it come? We
have no right to suppose it to be self-originated. That finite man should
conceive an infinite Deity is an incredible supposition
for
to use the words
of Pascal
“the infinite God is infinitely inconceivable.” The manner in which
God has thus revealed Himself in response to the passionate desire which He
originated in man is a study fraught with a singular interest. He made Himself
known to our first parents in Eden’s garden
and in our first Scriptures we
have several examples recorded of revelations made by Him after the banishment
to the fathers of our race. By tradition these revelations were spread
throughout the earth
and so we find the earliest religious faiths of our world
abounding in sublime truths. But He specially revealed Himself to a chosen
people. Israel lived under the very shadow of Jehovah
for God dwelt in that
temple ann specially manifested His presence in it. But that presence did not
restrain the people from rebellion. When not open followers of the idolatries
of the surrounding nations
they left worship for ritual and forsook God for
observances
and so made that temple to be at once their glory and their shame.
It was at such time as this that the words of our text were uttered. Thus are
we taught that Divine worship is not material
but spiritual
and that
the habitation of God is not the building
but the soul.
I. THE NATURE OF
THE BEING WHOM WE WORSHIP. Our text brings before as His omnipresence. He is in
heaven
and He is on earth. We have a revelation also of the Divine
omnipotence. Not only is He in heaven
not’ only is He on earth
but He has a
throne. Of course the one includes the other. If He be the omnipresent One
He
is also the omnipotent One. That which is Infinite must be Absolute. We
however
distinguish
so as to obtain clearer conceptions. We are in danger of
supposing that amidst all this vastness we can be but of little consequence.
But mind is greater than matter
and such ideas immediately vanish when we
remember that the vastest material substance can never outweigh a holy thought
a feeling of devotion
a thrill of love. The man who can tell the motions of
the stars is greater than the stars. And thus looking at the question
what
shall we say of that man in whom God dwells? He who lives in a palace is
greater than the palace
no matter how gorgeous it may be; and in the presence
of a holy man the whole material creation is dwarfed into nothingness.
II. THE NATURE OF
THAT WORSHIP WHICH THIS GREAT GOD REQUIRES. It must be something more than
outward. Of all ceremonialism the Jewish was the most gorgeous. It was also of
Divine appointing. The temple was built according to Divine plan and under
Divine direction. The services were divinely commanded. The priests belonged to
a Divinely set apart; tribe. Tokens of the Divine presence were given. But
although this ceremonial was thus gorgeous
and of Divine appointment
yet God
rejected it so soon as it lost its spiritual significance. All true religion
begins in poverty of spirit. There must be a sense of natural defect and a
consciousness of our own inability either to atone for the past or to deliver
in the future. And with this poverty of spirit there must be contriteness. The
heart needs to be broken before it can be bound up. (Allan Rees.)
A transcendent existence and a transcendent doctrine
I. AN EXISTENCE
THAT STANDS IN CONTRAST WITH ALL THAT IS CREATED.
1. Here is an omnipresent Existence. One whose throne is heaven
whose footstool is earth
and to whom all places are alike. One who fills
heaven and earth
not merely with His influence
but with His actual presence
as much at all times in one point of space as in another. The incommensurable
One
not only everywhere
as the pantheists teach
as a substance
but
everywhere as a Personality
free
conscious
active. All created existences
are limited by the laws of space
and those that occupy the largest space are
mere specks in immensity. Concerning the stupendous fact of God’s Omnipresence
observe--
2. Here is a creative Existence. “For all those things hath Mine hand
made
” etc. Because He made all
He owns all. Creatorship implies Eternity
Sovereignty
Almightiness
and Proprietorship.
II. A DOCTRINE THAT
TRANSCENDS HUMAN DISCOVERY. “To this man will I look
” etc. The doctrine is
this
--that this Infinite Being
who is everywhere
who created the universe
and owns it
feels a profound interest in the individual man whose soul is in a
humble
contrite
and reverent state. Could reason ever have discovered such a
truth as this? Never. Although this doctrine transcends reason it does not
contradict it. (Homilist.)
Living temples for the living God
I. GOD’S REJECTION
OF ALL MATERIAL TEMPLES. There was a time when it could be said that there was
a house of God on earth. That was a time of symbols
when as yet the Church of
God was in her childhood. She was being taught her A B C
reading her
picture-book
for she could not as yet read the Word of God
as it were in
letters. She had need to have pictures put before her
patterns of the heavenly
things. Even then
the enlightened amongst the Jews knew well that God did not
dwell between curtains
and that it was not possible that He could be
encompassed in the most holy place within the veil It was only a symbol of His
presence. But the time of symbols is now passed altogether. In that moment when
the Saviour bowed His head
and said “It is finished! “ the veil of the temple
was rent in twain
so that the mysteries were laid open. So
one reason why God
saith He dwelleth not in temples made with hands
is
because He would have us
know that the symbolical worship is ended and the reign of the spiritual
worship inaugurated at this day (John 4:21; John 4:23). But our text gives
from God’s
own mouth
reasons why there can be no house at the present time in which God
can dwell; and
indeed
there never was any house of the kind in reality--only
in symbol For
say now
where is the place to build God a house? In heaven? It
is only His throne
not His house! On earth? What
on His footstool? Will ye
put it where He shall put His foot upon it and crush it? Fly through infinite
space
and ye shall not find in any place that God is not there. Time cannot
contain Him
though it range along its millenniums! Space cannot hold Him
for
He that made all things greater than all the things that He has made. Yea
all
the things that are do not encompass Him. But then
the Lord seems to put
it
--What kind of a house (supposing we had a site on which to erect it) would
we build God? Sons of men of what material would ye make a dwelling-place for
the Eternal and the Pure? Would ye build of alabaster? The heavens are not
clean in His sight
and He charged His angels with folly! Would ye build of
gold? Behold
the streets of His metropolitan city are paved therewith
not
indeed the dusky gold of earth
but transparent gold
like unto clear glass.
And what were gold to Deity? Find diamonds
as massive as the stones whereof Solomon
built his house on Zion
and then lay on rubies and jaspers - pile up a house
all of which shall be most precious. What were that to Him? God is a Spirit. He
disdaineth your materialism. And yet men think
forsooth
when they have put up
their Gothic or their Grecian structures
“This is God’s house.” And then the
Lord shows that the earth and the heavens themselves
which may be compared to
a temple
are the works of His hand. How often I have felt as if I were
compassed with the solemn grandeur of a temple
in the midst of the pine
forest
or on the heathery hill
or out at night with the bright stars looking
down through the deep heavens
or listening to the thunder
peal on peal
or
gazing at the lightning as it lit up the sky! Then one feels as if he were in
the temple of God! Afar out on the blue sea
where the ship is rocking up and
clown on the waves foam--then it seems as if you were somewhere near to
God--amidst the sublimities of nature. But what then? All these objects of
nature He has made
and they are not a house for Him.
II. GOD’S CHOICE OF
SPIRITUAL TEMPLES. “To this man will I look
even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit
and trembleth at My word.”
III. THOSE THAT ARE
OF THIS CHARACTER SECURE A GREAT BLESSING. God says He will “look” to them.
That means several things.
1. Consideration.
2. Approbation.
3. Acceptance.
4. Affection.
5. Benediction. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The greatness and condescension of God
That is an excellent answer which was given by a poor man to a
sceptic who attempted to ridicule his faith. The scoffer said
“Pray
sir
is
your God a great God or a little God? The poor man replied
“Sir
my God is so
great that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him; and yet He condescends to
be so little
that He dwells in broken and contrite hearts. Oh
the greatness
of God
and the condescension of God! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verses 1-24
Verse 2
To this man will I look
God’s regard for the humble
I.
THE
CHARACTER MENTIONED.
II. JEHOVAH’S
ATTENTION TO SUCH AN ONE. (H. Davis.)
Religious affections attended with humility
Those that are destitute of true humility have no true religion.
It is the object of the Gospel to produce this effect in the heart.
I. LEGAL HUMILITY.
This attends the natural workings of the conscience
and the perception of
God’s greatness
power and terrible majesty. It has in it no virtue; but yet it
may be useful as a means to produce what is gracious.
II. EVANGELICAL
HUMILITY. This arises from a “sense of the transcendent beauty of Divine things
in their moral quality
and a sense that a Christian has of his own utter
insufficiency
despicableness and odiousness
with an answerable frame of mind.
1. It is the chief part in the doctrine of the Christian duty of
self-denial.
2. Many hypocrites profess great humility and are loud in declaring
their vileness. Yet
if a minister were to use
as Edwards suggests
the same
language to them in private
and should signify that he feared they were very
low and weak Christians
they would feel themselves highly injured
and ever
after cherish a deep-rooted prejudice against that minister.
3. It is flee from the spirit of pride in one’s own righteousness
goodness and the like. Some think themselves very humble and make a boast of
it. This is spiritual pride.
III. SOME
APPLICATIONS.
1. True humility is fundamental to the Christian life.
2. It is a bad sign to think we are better Christians than others.
3. If we think “none are so bad as I
‘ then have a care lest
you think yourself better than others on this account.
4. Have a care also of self-conceit
lest you think too highly of
your humility.
5. Let us think meanly of our attainments in religion and in
humility.
6. Blessed are the poor in spirit. (Homiletic Review.)
The contrite heart
1. Such a spirit is the very essence of the religion of Christ.
2. There is no surer test of the genuineness of one’s religious
experience.
3. The exceeding value of this spirit in God’s sight
and the
imperative duty of cultivating it
are too much lost sight of in this age of
the world. (J. M. Sherwood
D. D.)
Poor and contrite spirits the objects of Divine favour
I. THE POOR MAN.
This does not principally refer to those that are poor in this world: for
though it be very common that “the poor of this world are chosen to be rich in
faith
and heirs of the kingdom
” yet this is not an universal rule. The “poor”
here signifies such as Christ characterizes more fully by “the poor in spirit”
(Matthew 5:3). And this character implies
the following ingredients.
II. CONTRITION OF
SPIRIT. The word “contrite” signifies one that is beaten or bruised with hard
blows
or a heavy burden. And it belongs to the mourning penitent whose heart
is broken and wounded for sin. Sin is an intolerable burden that crushes and
bruises him
and he feels himself pained and sore under it.
III. Consider the
remaining character of the happy man to whom the Lord will look: “HIM THAT
TREMBLETH AT MY WORD.” This character implies a tender sense of the great
things of the Word
and a heart easily impressed with them as the most
important realities. This was remarkably exemplified in the tender-hearted
Josiah (2 Chronicles 34:19-28). The
threatenings of the Word do not appear vain terms
nor great swelling words of
vanity
but the most tremendous realities. Such an one cannot bear up under
them
but would tremble
and fall
and die away
if not relieved by some happy
promise of deliverance. (S. Davies
M. A.)
God’s look towards the humble
1. He looks upon you with acceptance.
2. He looks to you so as to take particular notice of you. He sees
all the workings of your hearts towards Him.
3. He looks to you so as to look after you
as we do after the sick
and Psalms 84:11). (S. Davies
M. A.)
Humility essential to success in prayer
The “Times” once
in recording petitions presented to the House of
Lords
mentioned one which was rejected on account of an omission--the word
“humble” was left out. How many petitions to a higher tribunal must be rejected
for lack of humility in the hearts of those presenting them! (Free
Methodist.)
The humility of Godliness
In the evening of the morning that Gordon
when in Palestine
received a telegram from England
asking him to undertake a mission which he
had all his life longed to undertake
he was found outside the city wall
kneeling in prayer. When remonstrated with on account of the place being
dangerous from Arabs
he replied
“The telegrams from England this morning
filled me with such elation
I felt I might get into trouble by being proud
and I thought I would just get upon my horse and go away by myself and humble
myself before God.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)
And trembleth at My word
Trembling at the word of the Lord
I. WHO ARE THESE
PEOPLE THAT TREMBLE AT GOD’S WORD.
1. Who they are not.
2. Who they are.
II. WHY DO THEY
TREMBLE!
1. Because of His exceeding majesty.
2. Because of the searching power of God’s Word.
3. They tremble at the word when it is in the form of threatening.
4. They tremble with fear lest they should break God’s law.
5. They tremble lest they should miss the promises when they are
spread out before them. We hear of some who “could not enter in because of
unbelief;” and we are taken with trembling lest we should be like them.
III. WHAT DOES GOD
COMPARE THEM TO? To a temple (Isaiah 66:1-2). He prefers us to the
temple; and
further
He prefers us even to the great temple of the universe
not made with human hands
which He Himself sets so much above the house that
Solomon built. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Trembling at God’s Word
What meaneth this trembling? It does not mean a slavish fear. They
that tremble at God’s Word at the first may do so
because the word threatens
them with death. But afterwards as they advance
and become familiar with the
God of love
and enter into the secret of His covenant
they tremble for a very
different reason. They tremble because they have a holy reverence of God
and
consequently of that Word in which resides so much of the power and majesty of
the Most High. (Ibid.)
Trembling at God’s Word
It was our privilege once to witness a very curious experiment by
a scientific lecturer on the effects of musical sounds. The lecturer showed a
disc of thin glass
delicately poised on a suitable apparatus. On this disc was
spread a thin layer of very rink dust. A musical note was sounded underneath
the disc
and the waves of sound caused the glass to vibrate
which again
caused the fine dust on its surface to tremble and form itself into every
conceivable shape of exquisite beauty
much after the manner of frost on the
window pane. Thus
we presume
it is with the “poor” of the text
the dust of
God’s footstool. The musical note of hope will cause them to vibrate and
tremble and throb into the various forms of reverence
hope
joy
and
gratitude. It implies precisely a similar attitude to that manifested on the
memorable day of Pentecost. Here we have the multitude as “the dust of the
balance
” and Peter
the Gospel experimentalist
sounding the musical note of
Gospel hope
and behold! how the dust trembles and vibrates into such forms of
spiritual beauty as faith and hope and gratitude and obedience. (A. J. Parry.)
Verse 3
He that killeth an ox
Worship and wickedness
Our prophet affirms
that the sacrifices offered by the wicked and
hypocritical among the Jews
being attended with enormous crimes and profane
rites
and not presented with pure hearts
according to the Divine appointment
were an abomination to the Lord.
They intermixed impious ceremonies and odious superstitions with the sacrifices
which they offered to the Most High. (R. Macculloch.)
Hateful sacrifices
The first part of the verse runs literally thus: “The slaughterer
of the ox
a slayer of a man; the sacrificer of the sheep
a breaker of a dog’s
neck; the offerer of an oblation
swine’s blood; the maker of a memorial of
incense
one that blesseth vanity (i.e an idol);” four legitimate sacrificial
acts being bracketed with four detestable idolatrous rites. The first member of
each pair is probably to be taken as subject
the second as predicate
of a
sentence. But this leaves open a choice between two interpretations.
1. That the legal sacrificial action is as hateful in the sight of
God as the idolatrous rite
so long as it is performed by unspiritual
worshippers.
2. That he who does the first series of actions does also the second
i.e combines the service of Jehovah with the most hateful idolatries. It
is extremely difficult to decide which is the true sense. The words “as if” in
E.V. are
of course
supplied by the translators
but the
rendering is aperfectly fair one. The one fact that favours the second explanation
is that the latter part of the verse speaks of those who “delight in their
abominations. Unless there be a complete break in the middle of the verse
which is unlikely
this would seem to imply that the abominations enumerated
were actually practised by certain persons
who at the same time claimed to be
worshippers of Jehovah (cf Isaiah 66:17
Isaiah 65:3-5; Isaiah 57:3-9). (Prof. J. Skinner
D.
D.)
Unacceptable sacrifices
I regard Vitringa’s exposition as the most exact
profound and
satisfactory. He agrees with Gesenius in making the text the general doctrine
that sacrifice is hateful in the sight of God if offered in a wicked spirit
but with a special reference to those who still adhered to the old sacrifices
after the great Sacrifice for sin was come and had been offered once for all.
Thus understood
this verse extends to sacrifices that which the foregoing
verse said of the temple
after the change of dispensation. (J. A.
Alexander.)
As if he slew a man
The reference may be either to murder merely or to human
sacrifice; most probably the latter
since every other member of the sentence
expresses a religious act. That human sacrifice was actually perpetrated by
those spoken of may be safely inferred from Isaiah 57:5.(Prof. J. Skinner
D. D.)
“As if he cut off (breaketh) a dog’s neck”
This sacrifice . . . seems . . . to be alluded to as a Punic rite
in Justin 18. I. 10
where we read that Darius sent a message to the
Carthaginians forbidding them to sacrifice human victims and to eat the flesh
of dogs. In the connection a religious meal must be understood. (W.
Robertson Smith.)
Formal worship
I. ITS FEATURES.
II. ITS
OFFENSIVENESS TO GOD.
III. ITS UTTER
WORTHLESSNESS. (Homiletic Commentary.)
Verse 4
I also will choose their delusions
Sin and penalty
I.
THE
OFFENCE. Impenitence
aggravated transgression
wilful contempt.
II. THE PUNISHMENT.
Delusion
fear
ruin. (J. Lyth
D. D.)
Verse 5
Hear the word of the Lord
A godly minority
From the majority of the whole body
godless and heathen in
character
the prophet now turns to the minority
who tremble with reverence
when they hear God’s word.
Let them hear how Jehovah will help them against their persecutors. (F.
Delitzsch
D. D.)
Hatred of the godly
They who hate them are their own brethren and
what aggravates the
sin still more
Jehovah’s name is the ground (cf. Luke 21:12) on which they are hated by
them. (F. Delitzsch
D. D.)
“Let the Lord be glorified”
“Be glorified” means
Show His glory. They speak in incredulous
mockery. (A. B. Davidson
D. D.)
Acceptable worship
I. THE
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTER OF ACCEPTABLE WORSHIPPERS. They “tremble at His word.”
This fear arises from--
1. Their tender love and reverence for the Author of the Word.
2. A settled delight in the holiness of that Word.
3. Produced alike by the terror of the threatenings and the sweetness
of the promises.
II. THE SPIRITUAL
REGARD WHICH GOD PAYS TO THEM.
1. He looks upon them.
2. He dwells with them.
3. He vindicates their cause from the rebuke of enemies.
4. He brings them for ever to dwell with Him. (S. Thodey.)
Verse 6
A voice of noise from the city
Social degeneracy
national apostasy
and the voice of God
It is well for us to look around upon the things that are done in
the midst of us as a people; well
because we must give no connivance at evil
thinking or teaching or doing; well
because we must be careful about
ourselves; well
because we must be truthful towards our neighbours; well
because we must be faithful toward our God.
This text suggests three different voices which thoughtful men should hear: “A
voice of noise from the city
” etc. In other words
our ear must listen to the
state of society and the state of religion amongst us
and then consider what
the Lord has to say concerning both.
1. What is the voice which comes from the city
from the secular
pursuits
the social habits
the business transactions
the political doings of
men? There is a voice of noise
as of men that laugh
as of men that strive
as
of men that boast. Luxury
with all its attendant evils
has come up as a cry
from all our land
into the ears of earnest and anxious men
who know how
foolish it is to be “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” It has
carried with it a hasting to be rich; and out of that has grown a covetousness
a cold system of reckless speculation
a hard system of indifference
to the
ruin of many for the enrichment of a few
which have made our age and our
country a by-word amongst men. What awful accounts of utter contempt for human
sufferings! What sad chronicles of entire forgetfulness of human wrongs have
become the familiar subjects of every-day knowledge amongst us! These are
crying evils in our days; the voice of noises from the city
symptoms of our
social life
of which all true patriots ought to be blushingly ashamed. Yet
over the moanings of the oppressed
and the sorrows of the forsaken
the roar
still rises. I ask every pious parent to keep a jealous and watchful eye upon
the children growing in their simplicity at home
and to protect them against
the strange fascination which has come over the land. I call upon all true
servants of Christ to come out and be separate
and touch not the unclean
thing. The Lord’s people should be often with their God
seeking protection
against the prevailing current of evil in men’s hearts
minds
and ways. Expect
no sympathy
because everything seems to say that faithful men must suffer for
their faithfulness in the evil day. Fall back upon the right
the true
the
good
the pure; fall back upon the oath and covenant and power and promise of
God; but make no compromise with Satan.
2. But the prophet heard a voice out of the temple
and so may we.
The luxury of the nation has had its influence upon the nation’s faith. Men who
will not shape their conduct by God’s law will soon find means of accommodating
their creed to their conduct. The pure Gospel is too plain-spoken for the
consciences of men who desire to quarrel with God rather than with themselves.
What is the voice from the temple in this our day? The great feature is a real
indifference
not an avowed unbelief
not a bold blasphemy
not a studied
contempt
not an entire ignoring of religious things
but a real indifference.
There is an evil spirit abroad which takes to itself the blessed name of
charity. It has always an excuse for evil
but it has little patience with
truth. It has no strong convictions and no real love. There is a voice to be heard
from the temple which may well make thoughtful people tremble. Men are falling
again to their old and mischievous work of tampering with God’s Word.
Multitudes
it is to be feared
have lost their reverence
if not their faith.
3. This brings me to the third voice
which the prophet heard in the
days of Israel’s decline and fall: “A voice of the Lord that rendereth
recompence to His enemies.” In the written Word we have warning about evil
time. (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1.) The voice of God is
against all such evil 2 Timothy 4:1-4). “The voice of Him
that rendereth recompense unto His enemies is
Woe unto you.” What
then
should God’s servants do?
The voice from the city suggests that they must make their healthy
influence felt in social life by a solemn and sacred protest against things
which frivolize
secularize
materialize men’s minds and ways. The voice from
the temple suggests that all who love the pure Gospel truth must search it out
so as to boldly set it forth
stand by it
speak for it
identify themselves
with its honour
its advance
its defence. And the voice of the avenging God
suggests that all who know Him should humble themselves before Him
and plead
with Him that He would have mercy. (J. Richardson
M.A.)
Verses 7-9
Before she travailed
she brought forth
The new Israel
The predictive message of our prophet is now so far advanced that
the future promised is at the door; the Church of the future is already like a
child ripe for birth
and about to separate from the womb of Zion hitherto
barren.
The God
who has already prepared everything so far
will suddenly make Zion a
mother; a man-child
i.e a whole nation after Jehovah’s heart
will suddenly
lie in her lap; and this new-born Israel
not the corrupt mass
will build
Jehovah a Temple. (F. Delitzsch
D. D.)
The birth of the Gentile Church
It is perfectly sufficient to understand the parturition as a
figure for the whole eventful crisis of the change of dispensations
and the
consequent change in the condition of the Church. This indestructible ideal
person
when she might have seemed to be reduced to nothing by the defection of
the natural Israel
is vastly and suddenly augmented by the introduction of the
Gentiles
a succession of events which is here most appropriately represented
as the birth of a male child without the pains of child-birth. (J. A.
Alexander.)
The birth of the Christian Church
The children born to Christ were so numerous
and so suddenly and
easily produced
that they were rather like the dew from the morning’s womb
than like the son from the mother’s womb (Psalm Exodus 3:1-22). (M. Henry.)
Verse 8
Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?
--
The acceleration of God’s movements
We are taught that in these latter days God is to shorten normal
processes
accelerate events
and so “make a short work in righteousness.”
I. THE TRUTH OF
GOD HAS WEIGHT
THEREFORE MOMENTUM.
II. THIS INHERENT
MOMENTUM INCREASES WITH THE PROGRESS OF GOD’S TRUTH
IN HARMONY WITH THE
NATURAL LAW OF FORCES.
III. GOD IS
BEGINNING TO GIVE IT NOW AN ADDED CELERITY. (E. W.Thwing
M. D.)
As soon as Zion travailed
she brought forth her children
Travailing for souls
I. THERE MUST BE
TRAVAIL BEFORE THERE WILL BE SPIRITUAL BIRTH.
1. Let me
first
establish this fact from history. Before there has
fallen a great benediction upon God’s people
it has been preceded by great
searchings of heart. Israel was so oppressed in Egypt
that it would have been
very easy
and almost a natural thing for the people to become so utterly
crushed in spirit as to submit to be hereditary bondslaves
making the best
they could of their miserable lot: but God would not have it so; He meant to
bring them out “with a high hand and an outstretched arm.” Before
however
He
began to work He made them begin to cry. Let us take a long leap in history to
the days of David. The era of the son of Jesse was evidently a time of
religious revival. But David was the subject of spiritual throes and pangs of
the most intense kind. What petitions he poured forth that God would visit
Zion
and make the vine which He had planted to flourish once again. Now
David
was only the mouth of hundreds of others
who with equal fervency cried unto
God that the blessing might rest upon His people. Remember also the days of
Josiah
the king. The book of the law was found neglected in the temple
and
when it was brought before the king
he rent his clothes
for he saw that the
nation had revolted
and that wrath must come upon it to the uttermost. The
young king’s heart
which was tender
for he feared God
was ready to break
with anguish to think of the misery that would come upon his people on account
of their sins. Then there came a glorious reformation
which purged the land of
idols
and caused the passover to be observed as never before. Travail of heart
among the godly produced the delightful change. It was the same with the work
of Nehemiah. In the early dawn of Christian history
there was a preparation of
the Church before it received an increase. The like living zeal and vehement
desire have always been perceptible in the Church of God before any season of
refreshing. Think not that Luther was the only man that wrought the
Reformation. There were hundreds who sighed and cried in secret. And this
while true on the large scale
is true also in every individual case. As a
rule
those who bring souls to Christ are those who first of all have felt an
agony of desire that souls should be saved. This is imaged to us in our
Master’s character. His ministering servants who have been most useful have
always been eagerly desirous to be so.
2. The reasons for it. Why is it that there must be this anxiety
before desirable results are gained? It might suffice us to say that God has so
appointed it. It is the order of nature. The child is not born into the world
without the sorrows of the mother
nor is the bread which sustains life
procured from the earth without toil. As it is in the natural
so is it in the
spiritual; there shall not come the blessing we seek
without first of all the
earnest yearning for it. It is so even in ordinary business. We say
“No sweat
no sweet
” “No pains no gains
” “No mill no meal.” But better still
He has
ordained this for our good. Every grace within the man is educated and
increased by his travail for souls. Besides
the zeal that God excites within
us is often the means of effecting the purpose which we desire. The Holy Ghost
usually breaks hard hearts by tender hearts. Besides
the travail qualifies for
the proper taking care of the offspring. Who is so fit to encourage a new-born
believer as the man who first anguished before the Lord for his conversion? The
Church that never travailed
should God send her a hundred converts
would be
unfit to train them. Once more
there is it eat benefit in the law which makes
travail necessary to spiritual birth
because It secures all the glory to God.
Your longing that others should be saved
and your vehemence of spirit
shall
secure to God all the glory of His own work.
3. Notice how this travail shows itself. Usually when God intends
greatly to bless a Church
it will begin in this way: Two or three persons in
it are distressed at the low state of affairs
and become troubled even to
anguish. Perhaps they do not speak to one another
or know of their common
grief
but they begin to pray with flaming desire and untiring importunity. The
passion to see the Church revived rules them. They suffer great heaviness and
continual sorrow in heart for perishing sinners; they travail in birth for
souls. By degrees the individuals are drawn together by sacred affinity
and
the prayer-meetings become very different. Meanwhile
not with the preacher
only will be the blessing
but with his hearers who love the Lord. One will be
trying a plan for getting in the young people: another will be looking after
the strangers in the aisles
who come only now and then. One brother will make
a vehement attempt to preach the Gospel at t e corner of the street; another
will open a room down a dark court; another will visit lodging-houses and
hospitals: all sorts of holy plans will be invented
and zeal will break out in
many directions. All this will be spontaneous
nothing will be forced.
II. THE RESULT IS
OFTEN VERY SURPRISING.
1. Frequently for rapidity. “As soon as Zion travailed
she brought
forth her children.” During the ten years which ended in 1870 such wondrous
changes were wrought throughout the world that no prophet would have been
believed had he foretold them. Reforms have been accomplished in England
in
the United States
in Germany
in Spain
in Italy
which
according to ordinary
reckoning
would have occupied at least one hundred years.
2. For the greatness of it. It is said
“Shall a nation be born at
once?” for as soon as ever Zion was in distress about her children
tens of
thousands came and built up Jerusalem
and re-established the fallen state. So
in answer to prayer
God does not only give speedy blessings
but great
blessings. There were fervent prayers in that upper room “before the day of
Pentecost had fully come
and what a great answer it was when
after Peter’s
sermon
some three thousand were ready to confess their faith in Christ
and to
be baptized.
III. THIS TRAVAIL
AND ITS RESULT ARE ABUNDANTLY DESIRABLE. There is no hope for China
for the
world
for our own city
while the Church is lethargic. It is through the Church
the blessing is bestowed. Besides this
when a Church is not serving God
mischief is brewing within herself. The Church must either bring forth children
unto God
or die of consumption: she has no alternative but that. A Church must
either be fruitful or rot
and of all things a rotting Church is the most
offensive. And then
worst of all
God is not glorified.
IV. THE WOE WHICH
WILL SURELY COME TO THOSE WHO HINDER THE TRAVAIL OF THE CHURCH
and so prevent
the bringing forth of her children. An earnest spirit cannot complete its
exhortations to zeal without pronouncing a denunciation upon the indifferent.
What said the heroine of old who had gone forth against the enemies of Israel
when she remembered coward spirits? “Curse ye
Meroz
saith the angel of the
Lord
curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the
help of the Lord
against the mighty.” Some such curse will assuredly come upon
every professing Christian who is backward in helping the Church in the day of
her soul’s travail. Who are they that hinder her Every worldly Christian
hinders the progress of the Gospel. They are also guilty who distract the mind
of the Church from the subject in hand. Above all
we shall be hindering the
travail of the Church if we do not share in it. Many Church-members think that
if they do nothing wrong
and make no trouble
then they are all right. Not at
all.
V. I shall close
with A WORD OF BLESSING. There shall come a great blessing to any who feel the
soul travail that brings souls to God. Your own heart will be watered.
Moreover
will it not be a joy to feel that you have done what you could? (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 10
Rejoice for joy with her
all ye that mourn for her
A dirge for the down-grade
and a song for faith
A mourner is always an interesting person.
The highest style of mourner is one whose griefs are neither selfish nor
grovelling. He who bears spiritual sorrow on account of others is of a nobler
order than the man who laments his personal woes. The most excellent style of
mourner is the mourner in Zion
the mourner for Zion
the mourner with Zion.
I. WHO ARE THOSE
THAT MOURN WITH JERUSALEM? Those that love the Church of God
and desire her
prosperity; and when they do not see that prosperity
are depressed in spirit.
1. nothing can make the heart of the people of God more heavy than to
think that the Gospel glory of the Church is declining.
2. Another cause of mourning is when we see the holiness of the
visible Church beclouded.
3. Moreover
we see her sacred ardour is cooling.
4. There is grave cause of mourning in Zion because the services of
God’s house are neglected.
5. Another very grave cause for mourning to all true Christians is
the multitude of sinners that remain unsaved.
II. WE MAY YET
REJOICE WITH JERUSALEM.
1. When we remember that God has not changed
either in nature or in
love to His people
or in the purpose of His grace.
2. We may expect the Lord to appear. “He shall appear to your joy
etc. (Isaiah 66:5.)
3. When the Lord shall put on strength
then shall His Church be
aroused.
4. Then shall the Church have many converts.
5. Then shall she nourish them well.
6. At such times there is an abundant degree of peace and joy in all
believing hearts (Isaiah 66:12).
7. God will raise up men fitted to do His work (Isaiah 66:21).
III. WHY SHOULD WE
PERSONALLY BE OF THE NUMBER THAT’ MOURN WITH THE CHURCH
AND THAT REJOICE WITH
HER?
1. There is our own sin and ruin to mourn over.
2. We might wisely become mourners when we think of our own want of
zeal.
3. May we not add to this our own failures in the matter of holiness?
4. We have all a great concern in this matter
and we ought
therefore
to join with the Church in all her griefs. If the ministry of our
pastors be not successful
we shall lose by its want of power. If the Gospel is
not preached our souls will not be fed. Suppose the Gospel is not preached with
saving power
then we shall have our children unconverted
and they will not be
our joy and crown. There cannot be a deficiency in the pulpit without its
bringing mischief to our households. We are members of one body
and if any
part of the body suffers
every other part of the body will have to suffer too.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 12
For thus saith the Lord
Behold I will extend peace to her like a
river
The Church in peace and prosperity
The members of the Church can then revel in peace and wealth
like
a child on its mother’s breast; the world belongs entirely to the Church
for
the Church belongs entirely to God.
(F. Delitzsch
D. D.)
The peace of the river
The illustrations which Grace borrows from Nature are strikingly
appropriate. The history of this appropriateness is that Nature and Grace
proceed from one and the same Hand
are children of one and the same Parent.
You have in the text two objects compared and put side by side--the peace of
God’s Church and a river. The quietness of a river is perhaps the most obvious
ground of the comparison. The peace of God’s Church resembles a river--
I. IN ITS SOURCE.
The source of a river is hidden. It wells up from the fountains of the great
deep beneath the earth. And even the spot where it first rises is often inaccessible
being situated in the heart of tangled brushwood
or beneath the perilous vault
of an ice-cave. The source of peace to God’s children is God Himself. And God
is a God who hides Himself--a God who is apprehended only by those into whose
hearts the light of the glorious Gospel has shined. And the spot
too
whence
the peace of God’s children takes its rise lies not open to the scrutiny of
man’s eye
or the passage of man’s footstep. That spot is the heart
the inmost
spirit. Accordingly
men can see that peace only in its effects. And there is
yet another sense in which the source of the Christian peace is hidden. The
events
the great historical facts
which lie at the root of it--the means by
which God ministers it--are by-gone and accomplished. The great central facts
of the death and resurrection of Jesus are now
if I may say so
buried and out
of sight
and centuries are piled upon them
like rocks and icebergs on the
soot where some mighty river takes its rise. But these events
nevertheless
are God’s instruments
whereby He exerts a mighty influence on many a heart
even at the present day.
II. IN THE METHOD
OF ITS NOURISHMENT. It is true that rivers are fed perpetually by their
springs. But an external nourishment is also supplied to them by occasional
rains and land floods. The river of the Christian’s peace--I do not say flows
from
but is augmented by contrition. Strangeparadox this
that what seems to
destroy peace should promote it! But so it is.
III. IN ITS COURSE.
1. A river in its course is quietly progressive. Its quietness is not
the quietness of stagnation
but of advancement. The Christian’s peace is a
peace of progress in grace. It is not a peace which leaves him where it found
him
but a peace which bears him on silently towards the bosom of his God.
2. It is exceeding deep. And the peace of God is said to “pass all
understanding.” This may be understood in two ways. The nature and character of
this peace is unintelligible to those who have not tasted it
and by those who
have tasted it its depth is unfathomable.
3. It is fertilizing and enriching. The country smiles with plenty
along its banks. It is also the great medium of commerce and traffic
whereby
men are made rich and their estate and substance is increased. It is a means of
communication for those who live on its margin with the ocean and with one
another. The peace of God is at the root of all holy fruitfulness. Many people
accept the truth that “the fruit of righteousness is peace
and the effect of
righteousness quietness and assurance for ever
” while they discard the
truth--equally important and Scriptural--that peace is the root
as well as the
fruit of righteousness
and that the Lord Jesus Christ promises to give rest to
the weary and heavy laden
before they can and in order that they may
submit
themselves to His yoke. At the root of the Christian’s love is peace--at the
root of his joy is peace--at the root of his long-suffering
gentleness and
goodness is peace--at the root of his meekness and temperance is peace. Peace
it is which
like the broad bosom of a fair river
quietly undulates along and
ministers nourishment to the roots of all these graces
nor is it possible that
the leaf of any of them should be green
were the streams of this river
diverted another way. This peace is enriching as well as fertilizing
because
it opens into the ocean; it is the medium of communicating with God and with
the saints of God. It is on the broad bosom of this peace--even because it is
through Jesus Christ alone that our prayers float towards our heavenly Father.
And I need not tell you what a peculiarly rich traffic is the traffic with
heaven. Then
again
this peace of God is enriching
in that it is a medium of
communication between us and those who have obtained like precious faith with
ourselves. It is a pleasant river
on whose margin both I and my brother
dwell--and which conveys from me to him sympathies
and prayers
and outgoings
of the heart
and brings back the same from him to me. And when my prayers and
missives are sent forth on their way towards heaven
my brother’s meet and join
them--and both perform the voyage side by side--and no sooner shall both return
than he shall send me notice of the treasure he hath acquired
and demand on
his part an account of mine. Such is in a figure that doctrine which we
profess
when we say/’ I believe in the communion of saints.”
4. It is clean and cleansing. And we need not to be told that the
peace of God’s Church is a clean and holy (because a living) peace--clear as crystal
and perfectly alien from all defilement. The slightest allowed filthiness of
flesh or spirit is abhorrent to the nature of this peace. “There is no peace
saith my God
to the wicked.” And as this peace is clean
so also it makes
clean. As soon as it enters into the conscience
it cleanses it:5. It bears
burdens. Barges and ships of many tons’ weight float on its bosom down to the
ocean. It is one of the most delightful characteristics of the Christian’s
peace that its buoyancy supports many and grievous burdens. Into God’s bosom
they are carried in the exercise of confession and faithful repentance; in His
breast they must be lodged
if we desire them to be finally obliterated and
annulled. But surely
if it were not for His peace within
we could neither
have courage to lodge them there
nor strength to support the burden of them
ourselves.
IV. AT ITS MOUTH It
expands. For the last few miles of its progress
the distance between its banks
becomes wider
till at length it pours itself with a full flood into the ocean.
So it is as a matter of fact in the Christian’s experience. The peace of the
true believer is enlarged as he draws near to the heavenly goal
and
accordingly the country of his soul is more abundantly fertilized. Who shall
say how wide its flood may not extend
when it pours itself into His bosom in
eternity
from whom it issued forth in time? (Dean Goulburn
D. C. L.)
Verse 13
As one whom his mother comforteth
Isaiah’s figure of motherhood
(verses 7-13):--The prophet reawakens the figure
that is ever
nearest his heart
of motherhood--children suckled
borne and cradled in the
lap of their mother fill all his view; nay
finer still
the grown man coming
back with wounds and weariness upon him to be comforted of his mother.
(Prof. G. A. Smith
D. D.)
The exiles’ horns in Jerusalem
Israel then will be like a man returned from foreign soft
escaped
from captivity
full of sad remembrances
whose echoes
however
completely
vanish in the mother-arms of Divine love in Jerusalem
the beloved home that
was the home of their thoughts even on foreign soil. (F. Delitzsch
D. D.)
The Motherhood of God
God is Creator
Preserver
Father
but something more.
I. A good mother
has a wonderful fund of SYMPATHY so has God.
II. Motherhood is
wonderful in its CONSTANCY so is God.
III. Motherhood is
GRIEVED OVER SIN So is God.
IV. A mother’s love
is often REDEMPTIVE God’s love is redemptive ten thousand times more. (D. J.
Rounsefell.)
Divine comfort most endearing and efficient
God will comfort His people--
1. With all the affection and solicitude of a mother. See the mother
how she loves
strives
labours
suffers
and sacrifices for her child.
2. With all the long-suffering and forbearance of a mother.
3. With all the forgiveness and consolation of a mother. How ready to
forgive her erring
wandering child--and ready to console in trouble.
4. With all the instruction and correction of a mother. God teaches
in various ways
and whom He loveth He chasteneth.
5. With all the constancy of a moter. (Helps for the Pulpit.)
Divine consolation
I. THE CONSOLATION
PROMISED. “I will comfort you.” It is the character of Divine promises that
they apply to real cases they meet the condition and circumstances of man. Are
we ignorant? “I will instruct thee.” Are we weak? “I will strengthen thee; yea
I will help thee.” Are we in danger? “I will deliver thee.” Are we
disconsolate? “I will comfort you.” The discouragements of life are many
trials are various: the fears to which we are subject
and the sins which
easily beset us
who can number? These all impair our comfort
and have a
natural tendency to sink us in despondency. But the Gospel provides a cordial.
1. This consolation is Divine in its origin. It springs not from
creatures
not from earthly good
or from carnal gratifications. The Most High
claims the prerogative as His own.
2. It is rational in its nature; not consolation visionary and
enthusiastic
but intelligent
consistent with reason as well as according to
faith.
3. Free in its bestowment.
4. It is select in its subjects. All are not partakers of heavenly
consolation
for all are not qualified to enjoy it. Penitence of disposition is
requisite: “Blessed are they that mourn
for they shall be comforted. ‘ Earnest
desire also is implied; for who can be supposed to possess Divine comfort who
are indifferent about it
who are living without prayer
or whose petitions are
languid and lifeless? “Ask
and you shall receive
that your joy may be full.”
Holy- watchfulness is likewise supposed; for whoever is careless and slothful
must be deceived if he imagine himself to be comforted of the Lord. The Holy
Spirit is “the Comforter
” but “grieve” Him not; otherwise He with draws His
influence
and all is darkness or delusion.
II. THE MANNER IN
WHICH CONSOLATION IS AFFORDED. “as one whom his mother comforteth
so will I
comfort you.” A stranger may administer comfort
but it is in a distant way; a
friend may console us
and this with kindness; a father also
with tenderness
still more impressive; but none comforts like a mother.
1. The affection of a mother is warm; she loves her child
loves it
as part of herself.
2. The care of a mother is indulgent.
3. The condescension and self-denial of a mother are not small.
4. The assiduity of a mother is unwearied.
III. THE MEANS BY
WHICH CONSOLATION IS ENJOYED
“Ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” The pious
Jews were comforted when in Babylon
and during their dispersion among the
nations; but their comfort in such circumstances was attended with much
affliction: it was when returned to Jerusalem
when resettled in their own
country
and among their own people
that their enjoyment rose the highest
and
was most regular. This teaches--
1. The importance of separation from an ensnaring world.
2. The propriety of regular attendance on religious worship. It was a
high privilege to dwell in Jerusalem
because of attendance on religious
worship.
3. The duty of Church-membership. Jerusalem was not only the scat of
Divine worship
but an emblem of the Christian Church
and they who constitute
this Church are particularly authorized to plead the promise of the text
“You
shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
4. It suggests the worth of a right spirit in attending Christian
ordinances. The form of godliness is nothing. (Anon.)
The Motherhood of God
Readers of such writers as Theodore Parker
Frances Power Cobbe
and Chunder Sen must often have been struck with the frequency with which these
theists address invocations or prayers to God as the Father and Mother of our
spirits. Why should they not? There are surely as valid reasons for our
thinking and speaking of God as our Perfect Mother as there are for claiming
Him as the Perfect Father of us all.
1. Even if there were no hint or smile to this effect in the
Scriptures we should still find it necessary to predicate it of God in order to
perfect our conceptions of Him. What these conceptions are will best be
understood by a disclosure of their basis. To our thinking
the ultimate source
of our knowledge of God is the intuitions of the human heart. The instincts
the qualities
the affections in human nature (though these are at a very great
remove from those in God) are the truest indications and interpretations to us
of what God is; if the revelation recorded in the Bible be the light (as it
undoubtedly is)
these things in us are the eye to which that light appeals and
by which we see; in fact
if we cannot argue from our own spiritual natures up
to God’s
then
all metaphysical reasoning and the Christian Scriptures
notwithstanding
we have no reliable knowledge of God
faith is presumptuous
worship delusive
and the ground of personal responsibility crumbles away- from
under our feet. Further
a philosophical interpretation of the person of the
Christ
as well as the Scriptural declaration that man is made in the image of
God
warrants the assertion that in a very true sense one of the worthiest
conceptions of the Divine nature is that of a fully-developed
completely
perfected
human nature. On this ground we believe we are justified in
regarding God as our Father; or
to put conversely what this implies
we do
right in assuming the fatherly elements in men to be the best index or
guarantee of what God is. But whilst the Fatherhood of God is the perfection of
our human nature
so far as man is concerned
it is not the crown of our
humanity in its totality
that is to say
so far as human nature includes
womanhood as well as manhood. God
in the very nature of the case
must gather
up in Himself all the essential qualities of the mother no less than of the
father. That this is so
is in a measure evidenced by the facts of our human
experience. Take
for example
the evidence deducible from the case of a family
where the children have been deprived of either parent
say the mother; in this
instance
not only do the boys lose the beneficial effect of the softening and
refining atmosphere of their mothers presence
but the girls also
however wise
and fond their father may be
become prudish and unnaturally grave. In like
manner
if the children are left fatherless
both sons and daughters suffer
from the loss of their father’s sobering
restraining influence
while the
daughters especially miss the strengthening force derivable from acquaintance
with his life and character. Yes
that child only is rightly trained and fully
educated who has had the good fortune to know both the gentler sway of a
mother’s and the severer rule of a father’s nature. We see
then
that in
actual life only that parentage is normally complete which is the blending of
the two complementing sides
the fatherly and the motherly. And since of
necessity the ideal in heaven cannot be less perfect than the actual on earth
and since
moreover
God is the source whence all the phases of our humanity
have sprung
we may reverently address God in our prayers as being both the
Perfect Father and Mother in whom we confide.
2. Nor is this idea of the Divine Motherhood as unserviceable as at
first sight it may seem. It may be urged as affording one practical way of
escape from the beautiful but blinding web
so to say
which the thoughts of
many are busily weaving. It not unfrequently occurs that men
whose scientific
tastes or pursuits change rather than destroy their hold on religion
find
their thoughts of nature
life
and God taking a purely pantheistic colouring.
To highly imaginative minds
to devout poetic temperaments
this habit of
deifying everything is not a little fascinating. If God be thought of as He who
is nature itself
then the more sensuous sides of our being will be appealed to
and quickened
we grant
as will our intellectual needs in many respects be met
and fostered. But the deep hunger and thirst of our more human natures will be
unappeased
the more spiritual and practical cravings of our personal life will
be slighted and wronged. For how little will such a pantheistic faith
beautiful as it is
and true in part though it be
serve and console the heart
when it is beset with agonizing doubt or disheartened by the strength and shame
of its sin
or well-nigh crushed by a fatalistic sense of the hard
merciless
rule of the inevitable! Nature in some of her moods is anything but pitiful.
Besides
what does a religion of this kind avail for those who have not been
endowed with a lively imagination
or with poetic insight
or with mental
vigour; what will or can it mean to those whose ideas and impressions of life
are chiefly toned and tempered by poverty or pain or thankless toil
or misery
or crime? With such an abstract God as this
we shall feel ourselves before
long like to one wearied
oppressed with all the recherche elegance of a
palace
and yearning for the real and simple comfort of a home. See now the
remedy the truth under discussion affords. Let it be granted that God is the
stun total of all the beauty and order
and music and life of the universe
but
then surely He is more than this. He is the source and crown of all the human
affections that have scattered themselves like so many sun’s rays throughout
the fatherhoods and motherhoods
and childhoods and friendships of the world.
These intensely real elements in our
experience must have a living background
m” God from whom all things issue. He that made the ear
shall He not hear; He
that made the eye shall He not see J” and shall not He who bestowed on us so
personal and potent a divinity as our mother
“the holiest thing on earth
” be
Himself equally personal and motherly? (J. T. Stannard.)
Divine comfort
I. A DIRE
NECESSITY. Comfort.
II. A DEPLORABLE
INCAPACITY.
We are helpless as babes.
III. AN ABSOLUTE
IGNORANCE. A babe does not know its griefs. It can only realize a sense of
discomfort. Its complaints are often unmeaning
foolish
needless. In this way
many of us live and die.
IV. A CONSIDERATE
COMFORTER. What a charm there is in the mother’s voice! So in the Divine voice
of the Holy Spirit He comforts--
1. With the solicitude of a mother. How a mother loves
strives
labours
and sacrifices for her child.
2. With the forgiveness and consolation of a mother.
3. With the instruction and correction of a mother. A good and wise
mother will instruct and correct.
4. With the constancy of a mother (Isaiah 49:14-15). God loves to the end.
V. AN IMPORTANT
MEANS. “Ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” The promise is not without
limitations. This expression means that the consolations of God come to those
who are in His Church
who are in Christ Jesus. This is the place for us to
rest in.
1. It is the place which He has appointed.
2. The place where He delights to dwell.
3. The place where His spirit is poured out.
4. The place where
by our own acts of devotion and hearing
we
derive peace and rest. (Homilist.)
The Divine Motherhood
Is not the highest use of human relationships to reveal God? Are
not the genuine king
judge
friend
father
so many mirrors in which the
Divine character is
in some degree
reflected? And if this be true of all
other human relationships
especially of those most natural and elemental
is
it not emphatically thus in the unique
peerless one of mother Indeed
since
there is need of all human relationships combined to reveal God
it is most
clear that this one cannot be omitted. And if even idolaters have ever fell
they must select the best material at their command to adumbrate the deity they
worship
we may surely lay our hands on this highest thing we call motherhood
to illustrate something of the attributes and the ways of “our own God.” His
love transcends all motherhood. It is a relationship marked by--
I. CLOSEST
INTIMACY. The child’s life
especially at its beginning
is a part of its
mother’s life. Supported by maternal sustenance
watched by maternal wisdom
embosomed in maternal love
the child has more from its mother
and owes
more
to her
than science can analyze or poetry
describe. Thus intimate is Gods
relationship to us. “We are His offspring.
II. INTENSE
INDIVIDUALISM. In two aspects there is an individualizing element and habit in
motherhood that is on the very surface of the relationship
and that yet is one
of its profoundest realities.
1. The mother individualizes her child. So both the Old and New
Testament revelation
and indeed all His dealings with us
discover how
individual all men arc to God.
2. Then
the child individualizes its mother. “Our own God.”
III. UNWEARIEDNESS
OF CARE. The devotion of a mother is not that of hours
but of days--not of
days only
but of nights also. It is not exhausted when its object has passed
through infancy
but is active and anxious over its youth; yearns fondly
even
when it can accomplish little
over its manhood or womanhood; lives and
reigns in the heart till the mother herself dies; and--who can tell?--perhaps
may still watch and guide and bless from the world of spirits. All human
history gives emphasis to the question
“Can a woman forget her child?” Others
may degrade and desecrate the meaning of the word “love
” by saying profanely
“I loved once.” The mothers of the world are the monuments of the
perpetuity--one had almost said
of the eternity--of love. Yet the highest
authority says
they may forget
yet will not God.
IV. SACRIFICIALNESS
OF LOVE. Probably all true love is sacrificial. Anyway
it is beyond
contradiction that a mothers love is. Conclusion:
1. Lessons for parents.
2. Remonstrance with sinners. The most heinous sins are sins against
love. All transgression against this God of Divine motherliness
is such sin.
It is folly to rebel against the God of all wisdom; the rebellion will
ultimately he thwarted. It is madness to rebel against the God of all power He
must reign till His enemies be made His footstool. But it is darkest sin to
rebel against “the God of all comfort.” (U. R. Thomas
B. A.)
God comforting as a mother
1. God comforts like the ideal mother. The only perfect mother is in
the mind and heart of God. And He comforts as that image might be expected to
comfort and would be capable of comforting.
2. God comforts as the mothers comforted of whom the prophet spoke.
No mother is perfect
but every true and good mother is a great consoler. God
comforts.
(1) Naturally.
(7) Effectually. (S. Martin.)
God our Mother
The Bible is a warm letter of affection from a parent to a child;
and yet there are many who see chiefly the severer passages. As there may be
fifty or sixty nights of gentle dew in one summer
that will not cause as much
remark as one hailstorm of half-an-hour; so there are those who are more struck
by those passages of the Bible that announce the indignation of God than by
those that announce His affection.
1. God has a mother simplicity of instruction. A father does not know
how to teach a child the A B C. Men are not skilful in the primary department.
But a mother has so much patience that she will tell a child for the hundredth
time the difference between F and G and between I and J. She thus teaches the
child
and has no awkwardness of condescension in so doing. So God
our Mother
stoops down to our infantile minds. God has been teaching some of us thirty
years
and some sixty years
one word of one syllable
and we do not know it
yet--f-a-i-t-h
faith. When we come to that word
we stumble
we halt
we lose
our place
we pronounce it wrong. Still
God’s patience is not exhausted. God
our Mother
puts us in the school of prosperity
and the letters are in
sunshine
and we cannot spell them. God puts us in the school of adversity
and
the letters are black
and we cannot spell them. If God were merely a king
He
would punish us. If He were simply a father
He would whip us. But God is a
mother
and so we are borne with and helped all the way through. A mother
teaches her child chiefly by pictures. God
our Mother
teaches us almost
everything by pictures. Is the Divine goodness to be set forth? How does God
teach us? By an autumnal picture. The barns are full. The wheat-stacks are
rounded. The orchards are dropping the ripe pippins into the lap of the farmer.
Does God
our Mother
want to set forth what a foolish thing it is to go away
from the right
and how glad Divine mercy is to take back the wanderer? How is
it to be done? By a picture.
2. God has a mother’s favouritism. A father sometimes shows a sort of
favouritism. Here is a boy--strong
well
of high forehead and quick intellect.
The father says
“I will take that boy into my firm yet; or
“I will give him
the very best possible education. There are instances where
for the culture of
the one boy
all the others have been robbed. A sad favouritism; but that is
not the mother’s favourite. I will tell you her favourite. There is a child
who
at two years of age
had a fall. He has never got over it. The scarlet
fever muffled his hearing. He is not what he once was. The children of the
family all know that he is the favourite. So he ought to be; for if there is
any one in the world who needs sympathy more than another
it is an invalid
child. Weary on the first mile of life’s journey; carrying an aching head
a
weak side
an irritated lung. So the mother ought to make him a favourite. God
loves us all; but there is one weak
and sick
and sore
and wounded
and
suffering
and faint. That is the one who lies nearest and more perpetually on
the great
loving heart of God. There is not such a watcher as God.
3. God has a mother’s capacity for attending to little hurts. The
father is shocked at the broken bone of the child
or at the sickness that sets
the cradle on fire with fever
but it takes the mother to sympathize with all
the little ailments and little bruises of the child. If the child has a
splinter in its hand
it wants the mother to take it out
and not the father.
So with God our Mother: all our annoyances are important enough to look at and
sympathize with.
4. God has a mother’s patience for the erring. If one does wrong
first his associates in life cast him off; if he goes on in the wrong way
his
business partner cuts him off; if he goes on
his best friends cast him off.
But after all others have cast him off
where does he go? Who holds no grudge
and forgives the last time as well as the first? Who sits by the murderer’s
counsel all through the long trial? Who tarries the longest at the windows of a
culprit’s cell? Who
when all others think ill of a man
keeps on thinking well
of him? It is his mother.
5. God has a mother’s
way of putting a child to sleep. You know
there is no cradle-song like a mother s. The time will come when we will be
wanting to be put to sleep. Then we want God to soothe us
to hush us to sleep.
(T. De W. Talmage
D. D.)
God’s motherly comfort
A mother comforts--
1. By her presence. It is always to her children a benediction--a
comfort.
2. By her love. Of a mother’s love the child becomes deeply conscious
as she strokes gently his fevered brow
or lifts upon him the light of her
loving eyes.
3. By her food. She knows their needs and their tastes
and she gives
nourishing and satisfying food.
4. By her words. There are three different kinds of experience common
to men in this life which seem to require the presence of our mothers
and in
each of these God has promised to be near us.
1. When troubles come.
2. When we are sick.
3. When death is nigh. (Christian Age.)
God both Father and Mother
Broadly we may state the contrast of these relations in two
well-known and exceeding precious Old Testament sayings “Like as a father
pitieth his children
so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth
our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.” “As one whom his mother
comforteth
so will I comfort you.” The father pities
the mother comforts
her
children. The father in his strength stoops in gracious kindliness to succour
them in their need; the mother holds them in a warm
eager embrace to comfort
them in their pain. So we come to speak amongst ourselves of the father’s hand
but always of the mother’s arms. The father leads by the hand; the mother
soothes and carries in her arms. Jesus did both. He was in His own person the
perfect revelation at once of the Father-God and the Mother-God. He took God’s
little ones up into His arms
laid His hands upon them
and blessed
them--blessed them with the double blessing of hand and arms. We find it easy
to speak of the Almighty Father
but we are conscious of a dissonance of
thought in saying the Almighty Mother. Almightiness is not an attribute of
motherhood. But “everlastingness is; and the “everlasting arms are the arms of
the Mother-God. There is
therefore
the rare insight of truth as well as rich
beauty and pathos in Isaiah’s imagery
“As one whom his mother comforteth.” The
glorious prophecies of evangelical blessedness which Isaiah proclaimed had
reached their close. The final results to faithful and unfaithful of the
revelation of the grace of God mingle in the last two chapters. As we read
especially Isaiah 65:17-25; Isaiah 66:10-13
we feel that this figure
of theMotherhood of God touches the climax of the writing. The prophet’s swift
imagery halts here. It has no farther flight. The evolution of a mother is the
vanishing-point in nature and art
where human comfort melts away into the
infinite comfort of the Divine. (F. Platt.)
The Mother-God in Scripture
The Mother-God in Scripture several great Oriental scholars
believe that in the earliest times the Semitic religions had a goddess
but no
god. The matriarchal state of society came before the patriarchal. Whatever
historic value this opinion may have
there can be little doubt
to a careful
reader
that much of the Old Testament imagery and poetry
which seek to cheer
the hearts of men with promises of Divine comfort
can be best realized as we
read into them the idea of the Motherhood of God. There is a New Testament
reference to those wilderness ways in which the children of God were led in
ancient days which at least suggests a lingering recognition of this idea. The
margin of Acts 13:18 reads--and the reading has
considerable support: “About the time of forty years He bore or fed them as a
nurse beareth or feedeth her child.” Much more definite
however
is Deuteronomy 32:11 : “As an eagle stirreth
up her nest
fluttereth over her young
spreadeth abroad her
wings
taketh
them
beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him.’ We scarcely
need to remind ourselves that it is the mother-eagle that fluttereth over her
young
and beareth them in safety on her broad pinions whither she will. A
similar fidelity to nature should always be borne in mind that we may interpret
the inner meaning of the well-known psalms of comfort
which tell us of a
hiding-place and a refuge beneath the shadow of God’s wings
or under the
covering of His feathers (Psalms 18:8; Psalms 57:1; Psalms 61:4; Psalms 91:1-4). It is of course the
mother-bird that gathers her brood under her wings
and hides them in warmth
and safety beneath her fluffy feathers. Nor can we ever forget that when our
Lord was leaving the great city of human sorrow He had yearned in vain to
comfort
when He strove in His anguish of weeping to leave some picture in the
mind of her people of the infinite wealth of the Divine tenderness of comfort
to which they had been blind
the passion of the great mother-soul within Him
could find no more perfect imagery than that familiar to them and their fathers
in the psalmists of Israel: “O Jerusalem
Jerusalem
thou that killest the
prophets
and stonest them which are sent unto thee
how often would I have
gathered thy children together
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings and ye would not! All nature is plaintive with an instinctive mother-cry
from the bleating cry of the lost lamb to the lonely cry of the lost child of
the Mother-God. And instinct should count for something in interpreting the God
whose children we are. The lad dying of fever in some rude
rough shanty at the
gold diggings
or tossing in thirst in the hospital of a far-off foreign port
cries in his delirium for his mother. It is his deepest instinct. It wasalways
his mother’s touch which brought coolness to his brow
and his mother’s voice
that had a witchery of comfort in its whisper in the old village home. And in
that other sickness of the mind
in the soul’s day of fever and fret
it is a
true spiritual instinct we obey as our lonely or wearied spirits cry aloud for
the arms of the Mother-God. (F. Platt.)
Paul’s conception of the Motherhood of God
There are glimpses here and there in the writings of St. Paul
revealed by subtle delicacies of speech
which more than suggest that the
Motherhood of God was a flitting presence of grace and tenderness in his thought.
We recall how when he wrote to the Thessalonian Church
he turned for a time
from ministering the needed tonic of rebuke to the sweeter ministry of the
comfort of hope. Our version reads: “Them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with Him.” St. Paul wrote: “Them also which have been laid to sleep by
Jesus will God bring with Him.” “Laid to sleep by Jesus.” There is a picture in
the words--a homely and familiar one. The day is done. The tiny feet of
children
which all day long have pattered to and fro within the home
are
tired. As the darkness falls their prattle grows drowsy. Then they are hushed
to sleep in the mother’s arms
and laid in their cradle-bed until morning. We
see it all. We are God’s children of an older growth. While it is called day we
spend our strength in toils and journeyings. As the shadows lengthen we grow
aweary. It is time to rest. In the arms of the Mother-God
who stoops over us
in the Saviour’s condescending ways
we arc put to sleep
and laid in stillness
to rest “until the day break
and the shadows flee away.” Perhaps even more
literally than we thought
our dead “die into the arms of God.” (F. Platt.)
The Motherhood of God
There are old lessons of the love of God we may learn in a fresh
light as we interpret them through the thought of the Motherhood of God.
1. The intensity of the Divine self-sacrifice grows keener through
it. All love gives itself
but its climax of self-renunciation is motherhood.
2. The sense of the inalienableness of the Divine love is deepened
also by the thought of the Motherhood of God. Does a mother’s love ever die?
When every other love expires
it lives its secret life. Its
patience is infinite. A mother may forget. Her motherhood may prove false. But
it is not likely. It is the most unnatural thing in nature. It is as if the sun
should rise in the west
and set in the east. A lioness will fight to the death
for her whelps
and the she-bear for her cubs. It is the first and last
instinct creation knows. But let nature have denied herself
let her have given
the lie to her primal instincts
let the stars have gone backward in their
courses
and all the settled order of the universe have returned to chaos
yet
even then
saith the Lord
will I not forget thee
3. Possibly also the Divine yearning over the wayward and prodigal
may find a fresh setting in the idea of the Motherhood of God. When a father’s
love does not easily forgive
because his sense of justice and order and true
discipline in the family
of which he is the responsible governor
are
hindrances
the mother’s love deviseth prevailing persuasions
and intercedes
with tears. And in unknown depths of a common love of the prodigal the justice
and the mercy somehow meet and are reconciled. Evangelical theologians arc ever
conscious of two elements in the character of God
whose nature and whose name
is Love. The law of righteousness and the ministry of mercy are always present.
And the problem of their reconciliation is the problem so much profound and
noble thought has striven to solve in the doctrine of atonement. They arc both
true. The Lord our God is one God; but He is Father-God and Mother-God. We
wonder at times whether the prodigal son of our Lord’s parable had a mother. It
is not difficult to suggest reasons why
in an Oriental country
where the
position of woman is so different from her place in our own
the father’s love
should wisely be Christ’s type of the Divine. But there is a fragment of
further meaning hidden in the story for these who remember that the prodigal
may not have been motherless. Certain it is that
if his father climbed to the
house-top to gaze expectant in the direction of the far country
his mother
crept into her chamber alone to pray. As the father commands
“Bring forth the
best robe
and put it on him
” the mother’s eyes are homes of silent tears. And
who shall say that the rejoicing of the home-coming was not tenderer in the
mother’s heart
and that tender joy the last balm of healing to the prodigal
son? (Ibid.)
The craving for the feminine in God
The Rev. John Watson (In Maclaren)--he told me the story
himself--was once in a Roman Catholic church in Italy. Before the altar to the
Virgin knelt a woman
her lips moving devoutly- in prayer
her eyes alight with
wondering worship and love. As she was making her way to the door
after ending
her devotion
Dr. Watson asked her in Italian some question about the points of
interest in the building. The woman seemed pleased to find an English visitor
(or perhaps I should say a Scot) who could converse in her own language
and
the two fell to chatting about the scenery and show-places of the
neighbourhood. By and by the conversation turned upon the differences between
the Roman Catholic and Protestant religions
especially in regard to the fact
that Protestants do not address prayers to the Virgin. “Don t you ever pray to
the Mother of God?” she asked. “No
” said Dr. Watson
very gently
“for it
seems to me that all you find which is holy and helpful and adorable in the
character of that most revered and beautiful of women--all that
and infinitely
more
I find in her Divine Son.” “Yes
sir
” shesaid
wistfully. “I understand
that for you
but you see you are a man
and you don t know how a woman needs a
woman to pray to.” “And although I should be the last man in the world ever to
become a Roman Catholic
” said Dr. Watson
when telling the story
“you’ll
believe me when I assure you that I hadn’t the heart to add another word.” (Coulson
Kernahan.)
“As one whom his mother comforteth”
At a summer resort a clergyman and a lady sat on the piazza of the
hotel. The lady’s heart was heavily burdened
and she talked of her sorrows to
the aged minister
who tried to lead her in her hour of need to the Great
Comforter. His efforts seemed to be in vain; the lady had heard all her life of
the promise that if a tired soul casts its burden on the Lord it will be
sustained
no matter how heavy that burden may be
but she seemed to lack the
faith to thus cast herself upon the Lord. A half-hour afterward a severe
thunderstorm came up in the western sky. With the first flash of lightning the
mother jumped out Of her chair and ran up and down the piazza
exclaiming:
“Where is Freddie? Where is Freddie? He is so terribly frightened in a
thunderstorm I don’t know what he will do without me.” In a few moments
afterward her boy came running up the walk
almost breathless
and his face
plainly showing the great fear that was in his heart. “Oh
mother
” he
exclaimed
“I was so frightened
I ran just as fast as ever I could to get to
you.” The mother sat down and took the frightened child into her arms. She
allayed his fear and quieted him
until his head rested calmly on her loving
heart. The good clergyman stepped up gently
and
putting his hand on the
mother’s shoulder
he whispered: “As one Whom his mother comforteth
so will I
comfort you.” “I understand it now
” she replied
as she looked up with tearful
face. “I will throw myself into His arms as a little child
and remember His
promise. I never felt the depth of Divine love as shown in that promise
before.” (Susan T. Perry.)
A mother’s self-sacrificing love
In the buried city of Pompeii
that was destroyed by an eruption
of Mount Vesuvius
I was shown a place where had been found the remains of a
lady and her three children. She had tried to gather two of her little ones in
her arms
and the babe was hid on her breast in the folds of her robe. And when
the scorching dust came down
every one fled; but the mother could not leave
her children
and she died with them. A mother would give her own life to save
her child. The Lord is as a mother. He did die to save you! And He now lives to
comfort you as a mother comforteth her child. (W. Birch.)
Verse 14
The hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants
The Lord’s hand revealed
I.
SOME
OF THE WAYS THE HAND OF THE LORD MAKES ITSELF KNOWN TOWARDS HIS SERVANTS.
1. In the character they bear.
2. In the work they do.
3. In the sufferings they endure.
4. In all the triumphs of their faith and patience.
II. THE CONDITION
OF THIS VISIBLE DISPLAY OF GOD’S POWER. Simply to let it operate upon us and
through us. We can
and often do
prevent His hand from being known. There must
be humble recptiveness
believing prayer.
III. THE EFFECTS OF
THIS MANIFESTATION OF THE LORD’S HAND.
1. It encourages the Lord’s servants.
2. It rebukes the unbelief of the ungodly. Conclusion: Unconverted
sinner I the Lord desires to show forth the power of His grace in you. Will you
not allow Him to work upon you this miracle of His saving power? (W.
Guthrie
M. A.)
Verses 18-24
It shall some
that I will gather all nations and tongues.
The conversion of the world
I. FUTURE
PROSPECTS OF PROVIDENCE RESPECTING THE GLORIOUS WORK OF THE CONVERSION OF THE
WORLD TO CHRIST.
II. THE MEANS BY
WHICH IT SHALL BE ACCOMPLISHED.
III. THE EXTENT TO
WHICH IT SHALL REACH.
IV. THE HOLY AND
BLESSED EFFECTS WHICH SHALL BE PRODUCED BY IT. (J. Snodgrass
D. D.)
The Gospel to be preached to the uncivilized
No regard seems here to be paid to that favourite maxim with many
that the Gospel can only be successfully preached to a people already in a
civilized state. It is certain that the first preaching of the Gospel to the
nations of the world was not conducted upon any such narrow principle. On the
contrary
it is mentioned by some of the early apologists for Christianity
as
one of its honourable achievements
that it has turned even the most cruel and
barbarous people into mildness and docility. If any intimation is given
in
prophecy
upon this point
it seems rather to reverse the above-mentioned
maxim. Were Pul and Lud
and Tubal and Tarshish
civilized countries in the
days of this prophet T yet God is represented as sending messengers to them
to
declare His glory among the Gentiles. Is there a more unfavourable manner of
life for receiving instruction than that of a people wandering about
without
any fixed residence? or is there any state of society more base than that of
men living in eaves and rocks of the earth? yet the glad tidings of the Gospel
will make the villages
or clustered tents
of Kedar to rejoice
and the
inhabitants of the rock to sing. (J. Snodgrass
D. D.)
Verse 19
And I will set a sign among them
Missions
I.
THE
MANNER IN WHICH THE NATIONS WERE TO BE GATHERED INTO THE CHURCH OF GOD.
II. THE INSTRUMENTS
TO RE EMPLOYED IN EFFECTING THIS GREAT WORK. (R. Macculloch.)
Tarshish . . . Javan
That is
to far Spain
and the distances of Africa
towards the
Black Sea
and to Greece
a full round of the compass. (Prof. G. A. Smith
D. D.)
“The isles afar off”
Coastlands (Isaiah 40:15). This distinctionbetween
the nearer nations who have experienced something of the greatness of Jehovah
through contact with His people Israel
and the remoter nations who have not
heard His name
orginates with the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 38:1). But while the distinction
is common to the two prophets
the development of the idea is strikingly
different. In Ezekiel Gog’s Ignorance of Jehovah tempts him to an act of
sacrilege on the land of Israel which is avenged by the annihilation of him and
his host. The spirit of this passage is more evangelical. Jehovah sends
missionaries from the nearer nations to those who have not heard His fame nor
seen His glory; and the report carries conviction to their minds
so that they
restore the Israelites exiled amongst them
as an offering to the Lord. (Prof.
J. Skinner
D. D.)
And they shall declare My
glory among the Gentiles
Missionary responsibility
I. THE STATE OF
THE HEATHEN WHO KNOW NOT GOD.
1. Their present state. They know nothing of the God of love. The
weary and heavy-laden among them never heard Christ’s “Come unto Me. The
sorrowful among them never heard His “Blessed are they that mourn.” They know
nothing of the Paraclete
the Comforter
the Strengthener
although their need
as urgent aa ours
of comfort and of strength. They do not know what prayer is.
They do but send up deprecations to demons. They
as we
are bereaved of dear
ones; but the grand music of those words
“I am the Resurrection and the
Life
”- never hushed the discords of their wailing
nor lifted the darkness of
their silent despair.
2. Their future. All is to them wrapt in gloom impenetrable.
II. OUR
RESPONSIBILITY. Imagine the plague once more devastating our cities. Suppose
you knew of an infallible remedy. Then suppose utter indifference on your part
in imparting it. What a monster you would be! No one really loves the Lord Jesus
who is not zealous to make others love Him. If you do love Him
and are anxious
to make others love Him
what are you doing for the spread of His kingdom?
III. WHAT CAN WE DO?
We can pray for the full coming of Christ’s kingdom
for the sending more labourers
into the harvest. We can provoke others to pray. We can try to realize this
truth
that our Lord makes the evangelization of the world to depend
in we
know not what degree
upon faithful
earnest prayer. (J. R. Vernon
M. A.)
Verse 21
And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites
Taken for priests and for Levites
Those taken to be priests and Levites might be the Gentiles who
bring back the dispersed of Israel
or the restored Israelites themselves.
The latter is the more probable meaning. (A. B.Davidson
D. D.)
“From them” refers to the converted heathen
by whom the
Israelites were brought back to their home. (F. Delitzsch
. D.D.)
Incorporated in Jehovah’s priestly Church (Isaiah 61:6)
the heathen are not now
excluded even from priestly and Levitical service in the temple. (F.
Delitzsch
. D.D.)
A new order of priests and Levites
Under the Gospel dispensation God will select both out of Jews and
Gentiles a chosen people
who shall stand before Him spiritually as the priests
and the Levites stood before him typically. The connection leads us to see that
not only a great promise but likewise a great privilege is herein implied. It
is that we shall be priests and Levites. Now
the priests or Levites were
persons set apart to be God’s peculiar property. Being thus set apart they
lived only for Divine service. Further
they enjoyed the privilege of drawing
near to God--nearer than the rest of people in that typical dispensation. In
like manner there is a people to be found on earth at this day whom God has
chosen to draw near unto Him. But priests and Levites had two works to do. They
were engaged to do something towards God for men
and so they offered the
sacrifices that were brought to the door of the tabernacle
whether according
to the general ordinances
or to any special vows. Spiritually minded
they
much engaged in intercession for the rest of Israel. So there is a people to be
found this day who offer unto God acceptable prayer and praise
and in answer
to their prayer
unnumbered blessings come down upon the sons of men. Another
part of their office consisted in speaking for God to the people: “For the
priest’s lips should keep knowledge.” As for the Levites
they were as ushers
in the schools and tutors in the families of Israel. Amongst the Levites were
found those scribes who became the instructors of the people
the copyists of
the law
and the expounders of its statutes and ordinances; ministers who
opened up to the people
as Ezra did
the knotty points of the old covenant
and expounded the Word. So
not all of us in the same degree
but all of us in
a measure
are to be teachers of God’s revealed truth
even as He has taught
us. The great point is this. It seems to be mentioned here as a matter of
surprise that God should take any of the persons here mentioned--of the sinful
backsliding
transgressing Jews
or of the blinded
dark
benighted
heathen
Gentiles--and make them to be priests and Levites before Him. That is parallel
to the fact that God does take some of the most unlikely persons
who seem to
be the most unsuitable of all
and make these to be His faithful and honoured
servants among the sons of men.
I. THE FACT.
According to the text
men have nothing to do with the selection; for it is
said
“I will also take of them”--not
“their parents shall bring them up to
it;” not
“those who shall be looked out as the most fit and proper men on
account of some natural bent and bias
or gift and talent
” but
“I will take.”
God’s priesthood in the world is a priesthood of’ His own choosing
of His own
setting apart
of His own anointing. “He hath made us kings and priests unto
God. ‘ In their case
it appears that whatever was unfit in their character has
been overcome by Divine grace. If God takes them for Levites
He makes them
Levites; if He chooses them for priests
He makes them priests.
II. THE REASON OF
THE FACT. Does not He do this to display His infinite mercy? And His power? And
His sovereignty? Does He not thereby secure to Himself the most loving service?
Another reason why the Lord takes the vilest of men to make them the saintliest
is
that He might openly triumph over Satan. And do not you think this is done
very much for the encouragement of the Church of God?
III. WHAT IS THE
LESSON FROM THIS? Remember what state you were in before God’s grace took you
in hand. Then consider what you are called to be; you are made priests and
Levites. Then ask yourself what you would soon become if His grace were to
depart from you. And what humility this vocation of God should produce! However
high we may be raised
we must remember whence the honour cometh. And since He
hath taken us for priests and for Levites
let us do every office heartily as
unto the Lord. Let us serve Him with great thankfulness and joy. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Verse 22
For as the new heavens and the new earth
The perpetuity of the true Israel
The bulk of the heathen world and also of Israel perish
but
Israel’s name and seed
i.. Israel as a nation with the same ancestors
and an independent name
remains for ever (cf. Jeremiah 31:35 f.; 33:20-26)
as the new
heaven and the new earth. And just because Israel’s calling in regard to the
heathen world is now fulfilled and all things are made new
the old fencing off
of Israel from the heathen now comes to an end; and what qualifies for priestly
and Levitical service in God’s temple is no longer mere natural descent
but
inner nobility The prophet thus represents to himself the Church of the future on
a new earth and under a new heaven; but he is unable to represent the eternal
in the form of eternity; he represents it to himself merely as an unending
continuation of temporal history (Isaiah 66:23). (F. Delitzch
D. D.)
A figure of the spiritual
The thought of Isaiah 56:7 is here (verse 23) expressed
by a figure
which
understood literally
involves a physical impossibility;
but the prophet cannot altogether emancipate himself from the forms of the
Jewish economy
and clothes a spiritual truth in a garb which in strictness is
too narrow for it (cf. Zechariah 14:16-19). (Prof. S. R.
Driver
D. D.)
The stability of the Christian Church
(with Isaiah 60:20-21):--The Christian Church
is not the conqueror of the Jewish polity
but the heir and successor. The new
covenant has been developed out of the old. There was no break when Christ
came
but a fulfilment and a completion. And so the promises were handed down
in the Christian line
among which these from the latter part of Isaiah
relating to the “stability’ of the ancient Church
are not the least
remarkable. They declare that God is an “everlasting” light to His
people
that their permanence is like the permanence of the creation of God. (T.
D. Woolsey.)
The Christian Church not a human institution
The permanence of the Christian Church in the world
if it be a
fact
is unlike all facts of history. Everything human decays and passes away.
All institutions
forms of government
civilizations
have their day and
decline. No one doubts that the old religions of India and its castes are
doomed to perish. We cannot
therefore
be assured from history that
Christianity may not perish also. Still when you look at its origin
its power
of growth
its vitality
when everything around was dead; its changes of form
joined to unchangeableness of principle; its power to correct evils within its
pale; its predominance among the influences that act on mankind; its universal
character
and its consciousness--so to speak--that the world is its own
you
cannot feel it to be otherwise than quite probable that it is to be man’s guide
to the end of time. (T. D. Woolsey.)
The history of the Church augurs its permanence
Though history is not prophecy
though it cannot with authority predict
the universal and final sway of Christ’s Gospel and of Christian institutions
it reveals
at the least
a working power
a tenacity of life
a hopefulness
a
benevolent energy which are not inconsistent with stability and with
continuance until the end of time. (T. D. Woolsey.)
The stability of the Christian Church
I. WE SHALL LOOK
AT SEVERAL CAUSES TO WHICH IT IS NOT DUE: but to which
on a superficial view
it might be ascribed.
1. It is not owing to strength borrowed from governments
the Church grew
without help from the government; it grew also in spite of long efforts of the
government to destroy it.
2. For is the stability of the Church due to the stability of its
forms of discipline and order. These have passed through a great variety of changes
from the times of the nascent Church
when there was little of established
order
down through the ages of hierarchy
to our times
when the Church
thrives in a great variety of forms
and with varied theories of government.
3. Nor yet is the stability of the Church owing to the stability of
theological systems. It grew
it almost reigned
before any received dogmatic
statements of its sacred truth were current. It has outlived theories and
expositions innumerable
and indeed nothing connected with Christianity has
been more changing than the scientific arrangements of its truths.
4. Nor can the stability of the Church be explained by saying that it
got the control of opinion and kept thought in leading strings
so that when
science was emancipated
new conditions full of danger to the Church began. It
arose in spite of a reigning heathen opinion and philosophy
which it overthrew
and put another in the place. It has in its healthiest state favoured all
knowledge in the confidence of being itself together with every other true
thing from God.
5. Nor can the stability of the Church be attributed to the
condescending patronage of large-minded men
who saw in its justice and
humanity a help for the world to be found nowhere else
but yet did not believe
in it themselves.
II. TO WHAT
THEN
IS THE STABILITY OF THE CHURCH DUE? To this question it is no sufficient answer
that the Holy Spirit is ever in and with the Church. For the Spirit’s office is
to act on men according to the laws of character by Divine realities. It
is due--
1. To this: that the Gospel
on which the Church is built
works out
some of the great problems which lie on the heart of man
in a way to give
lasting peace and satisfaction to the soul. I refer to practical rather than to
intellectual problems
although even the restless questionings of the mind
either meet with an answer from the Divine oracles
or are carried up into a
higher realm of truth. The power inherent in Christianity itself
as a way of
reconciling God and man
and of raising man above sin by great truths and great
hopes
is a real and permanent power. It is suited to all natures and
capacities
to all races and times.
2. To those permanent features of the Gospel
which bind men together
in a brotherhood pervaded by the spirit of love and fellowship.
3. To its self-reforming capacity. The human and the Divine have ever
mingled and will ever mingle in the historical progress of Christianity
as
they mingle in the development of a Christian life. There are unavoidable sources
of corruption in the revolutions of society
in the growth of wealth
in the
love of self-gratification
in the increase of worldly comforts. There are
other sources in the ignorance of untrained Christians
in the ambition of the
clergy and their love of dominion
in the rewards offered within the Church to
the aspiring
in formalism
in a dead orthodoxy. At the lowest ebb of Christian
life and knowledge there remain within the reach of the Church the sources of a
better spiritual state
so that it can reform itself as it has done more than
once.
4. The stability of the Church is ensured by the stability of Christ.
“Jesus Christ
the same yesterday
to-day and for ever.” Doubt is of to day
but He is of all time. He is a permanent possession for the soul. He does not
wear out in a lifetime. He is the permanent possession of the Church in all its
ages and changes He does not wear out while there are men to long for
redemption. (T. D. Woolsey.)
Verse 24
And they shall go forth
Transgressors punished
Those that transgressed or “rebelled” against the Lord are the
obstinate idolaters referred to in chaps
65.
66. Their carcasses lie’s spectacle to all who come up to worship at
Jerusalem
subject to never-ending corruption and never-ending burning.
According to the prophet’s conception
the scene takes place on the earth
in
me vicinity of Jerusalem
probably in the Valley of Hinnom
but the language
may have suggested a punishment by everlasting fire in the world to come. (A.
B.Davidson
D. D.)
Gehenna
This verse is the basis of the later Jewish conception of Gehenna
as the place of everlasting punishment (see Salmond’s “Christian Doctrine of
Immortality”). Gehenna is the Hebrew Ge-Hinnom (Valley of Hinnom)
the
place where
of old
human sacrifices were offered to Moloch
and for this
reason desecrated by King Josiah (2 Kings 23:10). Afterwards it became
a receptacle for filth and refuse
and Rabbinical tradition asserts that it was
the custom to cast out unclean corpses there
to be burned or to undergo
decomposition. This is
in all probability
the scene which had imprinted
itself on the imagination of the writer
and which was afterwards projected
into the unseen world as an image of endless retribution. The Talmudic theology
locates the mouth of hell in the Valley of Hinnom. (Prof. J. Skinner
D. D.)
The eternal imaged by the temporal
The prophet blends temporal and eternal This world and the next
coalesce to his view. (F. Delitzsch
D. D.)
Hell
Hell is of both worlds
so that in the same essential sense
although in different degree
it may be said both of him who is still living
but accursed
and of him who perished centuries ago
that his worm dieth not
and his fire is not quenched. (J. A. Alexander.)
Doom following unfaithfulness and transgression
1. It is a terrible ending
but it is the same as upon the same floor
Christ set to His teaching--the Gospel net cast wide
but only to draw in both
good and bad upon a beach of judgment; the wedding feast thrown open and men
compelled to come in
but among them a heart whom grace so great could not awe
even to decency; Christ’s Gospel preached
His example evident
and Himself
owned as Lord
and nevertheless some whom neither the hearing nor the seeing
nor the owning with their lips did lift to unselfishness or stir to pity-.
Therefore He who had cried
“Come all unto Me
” was compelled to close by saying
to many
“Depart.”
2. It is a terrible ending: but one only too conceivable. For though
God is love
man is free--free to turn from that love; free to be as though he
had never felt it; free to put away from himself the highest
clearest
most
urgent grace that God can show. But to do this is the judgment.
3. “Lord
are there few that be saved?” The Lord did not answer the
question but by bidding the questioner take heed to himself “Strive to enter in
at the strait gate
” (Prof. G. A. Smith
D. D.)
Eternal punishment
I. THE WICKEDNESS
OF THE WICKED. II. ITS PUNISHMENT. Certain. Terrible. Without alleviation or
hope.
III. THE
PERPETUATION OF ITS MORAL LESSONS. (J. Lyth
D. D.)
The goodness and severity of God
The public reading of the synagogue repeats once more after Isaiah 66:24
on account of its terrible
import
the encouraging words of Isaiah 66:23 “in order to conclude with
words of comfort.”(F. Delitzsch
D. D.)
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