mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 46.xml

<div2 id="Is.xlvii" n="xlvii" next="Is.xlviii" prev="Is.xlvi" progress="17.54%" title="Chapter XLVI">
<h2 id="Is.xlvii-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.xlvii-p0.2">CHAP. XLVI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.xlvii-p1" shownumber="no">God, by the prophet here, designing shortly to
deliver them out of their captivity, prepared them for that
deliverance by possessing them with a detestation of idols and with
a believing confidence in God, even their own God. I. Let them not
be afraid of the idols of Babylon, as if they could in any way
obstruct their deliverance, for they should be defaced (<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.1-Isa.46.2" parsed="|Isa|46|1|46|2" passage="Isa 46:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>); but let them trust in
that God who had often delivered them to do it still, to do it now,
<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.3-Isa.46.4" parsed="|Isa|46|3|46|4" passage="Isa 46:3,4">ver. 3, 4</scripRef>. II. Let them
not think to make idols of their own, images of the God of Israel,
by them to worship him, as the Babylonians worship their gods,
<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.5-Isa.46.7" parsed="|Isa|46|5|46|7" passage="Isa 46:5-7">ver. 5-7</scripRef>. Let them not be
so sottish (<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.8" parsed="|Isa|46|8|0|0" passage="Isa 46:8">ver. 8</scripRef>), but
have an eye to God in his word, not in an image; let them depend
upon that, and upon the promises and predictions of it, and God's
power to accomplish them all, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.9-Isa.46.11" parsed="|Isa|46|9|46|11" passage="Isa 46:9-11">ver.
9-11</scripRef>. And let them know that the unbelief of man shall
not make the word of God of no effect, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.12-Isa.46.13" parsed="|Isa|46|12|46|13" passage="Isa 46:12,13">ver. 12, 13</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.xlvii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46" parsed="|Isa|46|0|0|0" passage="Isa 46" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.xlvii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.1-Isa.46.4" parsed="|Isa|46|1|46|4" passage="Isa 46:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xlvii-p1.9">
<h4 id="Is.xlvii-p1.10">The Folly of Idolatry. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xlvii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 708.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xlvii-p2" shownumber="no">1 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols
were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages
<i>were</i> heavy loaden; <i>they are</i> a burden to the weary
<i>beast.</i>   2 They stoop, they bow down together; they
could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into
captivity.   3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the
remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne <i>by me</i> from
the belly, which are carried from the womb:   4 And
<i>even</i> to <i>your</i> old age I <i>am</i> he; and <i>even</i>
to hoar hairs will I carry <i>you:</i> I have made, and I will
bear; even I will carry, and will deliver <i>you.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p3" shownumber="no">We are here told,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p4" shownumber="no">I. That the false gods will certainly fail
their worshippers when they have most need of them, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.1-Isa.46.2" parsed="|Isa|46|1|46|2" passage="Isa 46:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. Bel and Nebo were
two celebrated idols of Babylon. Some make Bel to be a contraction
of Baal; others rather think not, but that it was Belus, one of
their first kings, who after his death was deified. As Bel was a
deified prince, so (some think) Nebo was a deified prophet, for so
Nebo signifies; so that Bel and Nebo were their Jupiter and their
Mercury or Apollo. Barnabas and Paul passed at Lystra for Jupiter
and Mercury. The names of these idols were taken into the names of
their princes, Bel into Belshazzar's, Nebo into Nebuchadnezzar's
and Nebuzaradan's, &amp;c. These gods they had long worshipped, and
in their revels praised them for their successes (as appears,
<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.4" parsed="|Dan|5|4|0|0" passage="Da 5:4">Dan. v. 4</scripRef>); and they insulted
over Israel as if Bel and Nebo were too hard for Jehovah and could
detain them in captivity in defiance of their God. Now, that this
might be no discouragement to the poor captives, God here tells
them what shall become of these idols, which they threaten them
with. When Cyrus takes Babylon, down go the idols. It was usual
then with conquerors to destroy the gods of the places and people
they conquered, and to put the gods of their own nation in the room
of them, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.37.19" parsed="|Isa|37|19|0|0" passage="Isa 37:19"><i>ch.</i> xxxvii.
19</scripRef>. Cyrus will do so; and then Bel and Nebo, that were
set up on high, and looked great, bold, and erect, shall <i>stoop
and bow down</i> at the feet of the soldiers that plunder their
temples. And because there is a great deal of gold and silver upon
them, which was intended to adorn them, but serves to expose them,
they carry them away with the rest of the spoil. The carriers'
horses, or mules, are laden with them and their other idols, to be
sent among other lumber (for so it seems they accounted them rather
than treasure) into Persia. So far are they from being able to
support their worshippers that they are themselves a heavy load in
the wagons, and <i>a burden to the weary beast.</i> The idols
cannot help one another (<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.2" parsed="|Isa|46|2|0|0" passage="Isa 46:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): <i>They stoop, they bow down together.</i> They are
all alike, tottering things, and their day has come to fall. Their
worshippers cannot help them: <i>They could not deliver the
burden</i> out of the enemy's hand, <i>but themselves</i> (both the
idols and the idolaters) <i>have gone into captivity.</i> Let not
therefore God's people be afraid of either. When God's ark was
taken prisoner by the Philistines it proved a burden, not to the
beasts, but to the conquerors, who were forced to return it; but,
when Bel and Nebo have gone into captivity, their worshippers may
even give their good word with them: they will never recover
themselves.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p5" shownumber="no">II. That the true God will never fail his
worshippers: "You hear what has become of Bel and Nebo, now
<i>hearken to me, O house of Jacob!</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.3-Isa.46.4" parsed="|Isa|46|3|46|4" passage="Isa 46:3,4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. Am I such a god as these?
No; though you are brought low, and the house of Israel is but a
remnant, your God has been, is, and ever will be, your powerful and
faithful protector."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p6" shownumber="no">1. Let God's Israel do him the justice to
own that he has hitherto been kind to them, careful of them, tender
over them, and has all along done well for them. Let them own, (1.)
That he bore them at first: <i>I have made.</i> Out of what womb
came they, but that of his mercy, and grace, and promise? He formed
them into a people and gave them their constitution. Every good man
is what God makes him. (2.) That he bore them up all along: You
have been <i>borne by me from the belly,</i> and <i>carried from
the womb.</i> God began betimes to do them good, as soon as ever
they were formed into a nation, nay, when as yet they were very
few, and strangers. God took them under a special protection, and
<i>suffered no man to do them wrong,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.12-Ps.105.14" parsed="|Ps|105|12|105|14" passage="Ps 105:12-14">Ps. cv. 12-14</scripRef>. In the infancy of their
state, when they were not only foolish and helpless, as children,
but forward and peevish, God carried them in the arms of his power
and love, bore them <i>as upon eagles' wings,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.4 Bible:Deut.32.11" parsed="|Exod|19|4|0|0;|Deut|32|11|0|0" passage="Ex 19:4,De 32:11">Exod. xix. 4; Deut. xxxii.
11</scripRef>. Moses had not patience <i>to carry them as the
nursing father does the sucking child</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.12" parsed="|Num|11|12|0|0" passage="Nu 11:12">Num. xi. 12</scripRef>), but God bore them, and <i>bore
their manners,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.13.18" parsed="|Acts|13|18|0|0" passage="Ac 13:18">Acts xiii.
18</scripRef>. And as God began early to do them good (when
<i>Israel was a child, then I loved him</i>), so he had constantly
continued to do them good: he had carried them from the womb to
this day. And we may all witness for God that he has been thus
gracious to us. We have been borne by him from the belly, from the
womb, else we should have died from the womb and given up the ghost
when we came out of the belly. We have been the constant care of
his kind providence, carried in the arms of his power and in the
bosom of his love and pity. The new man is so; all that in us which
is born of God is borne up by him, else it would soon fail. Our
spiritual life is sustained by his grace as necessarily and
constantly as our natural life by his providence. The saints have
acknowledged that God has carried them from the womb, and have
encouraged themselves with the consideration of it in their
greatest straits, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.9-Ps.22.10 Bible:Ps.71.5-Ps.71.6 Bible:Ps.71.17" parsed="|Ps|22|9|22|10;|Ps|71|5|71|6;|Ps|71|17|0|0" passage="Ps 22:9,10,71:5,6,17">Ps.
xxii. 9, 10; lxxi. 5, 6, 17</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p7" shownumber="no">2. He will then do them the kindness to
promise that he will never leave them. He that was their first will
be their last; he that was the author will be the finisher of their
well-being (<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.4" parsed="|Isa|46|4|0|0" passage="Isa 46:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>):
"You have been <i>borne by me from the belly,</i> nursed when you
were children; and <i>even to your old age I am he,</i> when, by
reason of your decays and infirmities, you will need help as much
as in your infancy." Israel were now growing old, so was their
covenant by which they were incorporated, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.8.13" parsed="|Heb|8|13|0|0" passage="Heb 8:13">Heb. viii. 13</scripRef>. <i>Gray hairs were here and
there upon them,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.9" parsed="|Hos|7|9|0|0" passage="Ho 7:9">Hos. vii.
9</scripRef>. And they had hastened their old age, and the
calamities of it, by their irregularities. But God will not cast
them off now, will not fail them when their strength fails; he is
still their God, will still carry them in the same everlasting arms
that were laid under them in Moses's time, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.27" parsed="|Deut|33|27|0|0" passage="De 33:27">Deut. xxxiii. 27</scripRef>. He has made them and owns
his interest in them, and therefore he will bear them, will bear
with their infirmities, and bear them up under their afflictions:
"Even <i>I will carry and will deliver</i> them; I will now bear
them upon eagles' wings out of Babylon, as in their infancy I bore
them out of Egypt." This promise to aged Israel is applicable to
every aged Israelite. God has graciously engaged to support and
comfort his faithful servants, even in their old age: "<i>Even to
your old age,</i> when you grow unfit for business, when you are
compassed with infirmities, and perhaps your relations begin to
grow weary of you, yet <i>I am he</i>—he that I am, he that I have
been—the very same by whom you have been borne from the belly and
carried from the womb. You change, but I am the same. I am he that
I have promised to be, he that you have found me, and he that you
would have me to be. <i>I will carry you, I will bear,</i> will
bear you up and bear you out, and will carry you on in your way and
carry you home at last."</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.xlvii-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.5-Isa.46.13" parsed="|Isa|46|5|46|13" passage="Isa 46:5-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xlvii-p7.6">
<h4 id="Is.xlvii-p7.7">The Folly of Idolatry; The Divine
Prerogative Asserted. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xlvii-p7.8">b. c.</span> 708.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xlvii-p8" shownumber="no">5 To whom will ye liken me, and make <i>me</i>
equal, and compare me, that we may be like?   6 They lavish
gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, <i>and</i>
hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they
worship.   7 They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him,
and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he
not remove: yea, <i>one</i> shall cry unto him, yet can he not
answer, nor save him out of his trouble.   8 Remember this,
and show yourselves men: bring <i>it</i> again to mind, O ye
transgressors.   9 Remember the former things of old: for I
<i>am</i> God, and <i>there is</i> none else; <i>I am</i> God, and
<i>there is</i> none like me,   10 Declaring the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times <i>the things</i> that are not
<i>yet</i> done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all
my pleasure:   11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the
man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have
spoken <i>it,</i> I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed
<i>it,</i> I will also do it.   12 Hearken unto me, ye
stouthearted, that <i>are</i> far from righteousness:   13 I
bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my
salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for
Israel my glory.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p9" shownumber="no">The deliverance of Israel by the
destruction of Babylon (the general subject of all these chapters)
is here insisted upon, and again promised, for the conviction both
of idolaters who set up as rivals with God, and of oppressors who
were enemies to the people of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p10" shownumber="no">I. For the conviction of those who made and
worshipped idols, especially those of Israel who did so, who would
have images of their God, as the Babylonians had of theirs,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p11" shownumber="no">1. He challenges them either to frame an
image that should be thought a resemblance of him or to set up any
being that should stand in competition with him (<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.5" parsed="|Isa|46|5|0|0" passage="Isa 46:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>To whom will you liken
me?</i> It is absurd to think of representing an infinite and
eternal Spirit by the figure of any creature whatsoever. It is to
change his truth into a lie and to turn his glory into shame. None
ever saw any similitude of him, nor can see his face and live.
<i>To whom then can we liken God?</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.18 Bible:Isa.40.25" parsed="|Isa|40|18|0|0;|Isa|40|25|0|0" passage="Isa 40:18,25"><i>ch.</i> xl. 18, 25</scripRef>. It is likewise
absurd to think of making any creature equal with the Creator, who
is infinitely above the noblest creatures, yea, or to make any
comparison between the creature and the Creator, since between
infinite and finite there is no proportion.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p12" shownumber="no">2. He exposes the folly of those who made
idols and then prayed to them, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.6-Isa.46.7" parsed="|Isa|46|6|46|7" passage="Isa 46:6,7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>. (1.) They were at great
charge upon their idols and spared no cost to fit them for their
purpose: <i>They lavish gold out of the bag;</i> no little will
serve, and they do not care how much goes, though they pinch their
families and weaken their estates by it. How does the profuseness
of idolaters shame the niggardliness of many who call themselves
God's servants but are for a religion that will cost them nothing!
Some <i>lavish gold out of the bag</i> to make an idol of it in the
house, while others <i>hoard up gold in the bag</i> to make an idol
of it in the heart; for <i>covetousness is idolatry,</i> as
dangerous, though not as scandalous, as the other. <i>They weigh
silver in the balance,</i> either to be the matter of their idol
(for even those that were most sottish had so much sense as to
think that God should be served with the best they had, the best
they could possibly afford; those that represented him by a calf
made it a golden one) or to pay the workmen's wages. The service of
sin often proves very expensive. (2.) They were in great care about
their idols and took no little pains about them (<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.7" parsed="|Isa|46|7|0|0" passage="Isa 46:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>They bear him upon their</i>
own <i>shoulders,</i> and do not hire porters to do it; they
<i>carry him, and set him in his place,</i> more like a dead corpse
than a living God. They set him on a pedestal, <i>and he
stands.</i> They take a great deal of pains to fasten him, and
<i>from his place he shall not remove,</i> that they may know where
to find him, though at the same time they know he can neither move
a hand nor stir a step to do them any kindness. (3.) After all,
they paid great respect to their idols, though they were but the
works of their own hands and the creatures of their own fancies.
When the goldsmith has made it that which they please to call a god
<i>they fall down, yea, they worship it.</i> If they magnified
themselves too much in pretending to make a god, as if they would
atone for that, they vilified themselves as much in prostrating
themselves to a god that they knew the original of. And, if they
were deceived by the custom of their country in making such gods as
these, they did no less deceive themselves when they cried unto
them, though they knew they could not answer them, could not
understand what they said to them, nor so much as reply Yea, or No,
much less could they <i>save them out of their trouble.</i> Now
shall any that have some knowledge of, and interest in, the true
and living God, thus make fools of themselves?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p13" shownumber="no">3. He puts it to themselves, and their own
reason, let that judge in the case (<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.8" parsed="|Isa|46|8|0|0" passage="Isa 46:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): "<i>Remember this,</i> that has
been often told you, what senseless helpless things idols are,
<i>and show yourselves men</i>—men and not brutes, men and not
babes. Act with reason; act with resolution; act for your own
interest. Do a wise thing; do a brave thing; and scorn to disparage
your own judgment as you do when you worship idols." Note, Sinners
would become saints if they would but show themselves men, if they
would but support the dignity of their nature and use aright its
powers and capacities. "Many things you have been reminded of;
<i>bring them again to mind,</i> recall them into you memories, and
revolve them there. <i>O! you transgressors, consider your ways;
remember whence you have fallen, and repent,</i> and so recover
yourselves."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p14" shownumber="no">4. He again produces incontestable proofs
that he is God, that he and none besides is so (<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.9" parsed="|Isa|46|9|0|0" passage="Isa 46:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>I am God, and there is none
like me.</i> This is that which we have need to be reminded of
again and again; for proof of it he refers, (1.) To the sacred
history: "<i>Remember the former things of old,</i> what the God of
Israel did for his people in their beginnings, whether he did not
that for them which no one else could, and which the false gods did
not, nor could do, for their worshippers. Remember those things,
and you will own that <i>I am God and there is none else.</i>" This
is a good reason why we should give glory to him as a nonsuch, and
why we should not give that glory to any other which is due to him
alone, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.11" parsed="|Exod|15|11|0|0" passage="Ex 15:11">Exod. xv. 11</scripRef>. (2.)
To the sacred prophecy. He is God alone, for it is he only that
<i>declares the end from the beginning,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.10" parsed="|Isa|46|10|0|0" passage="Isa 46:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. From the beginning of time he
declared the end of time, and end of all things. Enoch prophesied,
<i>Behold, the Lord comes.</i> From the beginning of a nation he
declares what the end of it will be. He told Israel what should
befal them in <i>the latter days,</i> what <i>their end should
be,</i> and wished they were so wise as to consider it, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.20 Bible:Deut.32.29" parsed="|Deut|32|20|0|0;|Deut|32|29|0|0" passage="De 32:20,29">Deut. xxxii. 20, 29</scripRef>. From the
beginning of an event he declares what the end of it will be.
<i>Known unto God are all his works,</i> and, when he pleases, he
makes them known. Further than prophecy guides us it is impossible
for us to <i>find out the work that God makes from the beginning to
the end,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.11" parsed="|Eccl|3|11|0|0" passage="Ec 3:11">Eccl. iii. 11</scripRef>.
He <i>declares from ancient times the things that are not yet
done.</i> Many scripture prophecies which were delivered long ago
are not yet accomplished; but the accomplishment of some in the
mean time is an earnest of the accomplishment of the rest in due
time. By this it appears that he is <i>God, and none else;</i> it
is he, and none besides, that can say, and make his words good,
"<i>My counsel shall stand,</i> and all the powers of hell and
earth cannot control or disannul it nor all their policies correct
or countermine it." As God's operations are all according to his
counsels, so his counsels shall all be fulfilled in his operations,
and none of his measures shall be broken, none of his designs shall
miscarry. This yields abundant satisfaction to those who have bound
up all their comforts in God's counsels, that his counsel shall
undoubtedly stand; and, if we are brought to this, that whatever
pleases God pleases us, nothing can contribute more to make us easy
than to be assured of this, that <i>God will do all his
pleasure,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p14.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.135.6" parsed="|Ps|135|6|0|0" passage="Ps 135:6">Ps. cxxxv. 6</scripRef>.
The accomplishment of this particular prophecy, which relates to
the elevation of Cyrus and his agency in the deliverance of God's
people out of their captivity, is mentioned for the confirmation of
this truth, that the Lord is God and there is none else; and this
is a thing which shall shortly come to pass, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p14.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.11" parsed="|Isa|46|11|0|0" passage="Isa 46:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. God by his counsel <i>calls a
ravenous bird from the east,</i> a bird of prey, <i>Cyrus,</i> who
(they say) had a nose like the beak of a hawk or eagle, to which
some think this alludes, or (as others say) to the eagle which was
his standard, as it was afterwards that of the Romans, to which
there is supposed to be a reference, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p14.8" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.28" parsed="|Matt|24|28|0|0" passage="Mt 24:28">Matt. xxiv. 28</scripRef>. Cyrus came from the east at
God's call: for God is Lord of hosts and of those that have hosts
at command. And, if God give him a call, he will give him success.
He is the man that shall <i>execute God's counsel,</i> though he
comes <i>from a far country</i> and knows nothing of the matter.
Note, Even those that know not, and mind not, God's revealed will,
are made use of to fulfil the counsels of his secret will, which
shall all be punctually accomplished in their season by what hand
he pleases. That which is here added, to ratify this particular
prediction, may abundantly show to the heirs of promise the
immutability of his counsel: "<i>I have spoken of it</i> by my
servants the prophets, and what I have spoken is just the same with
what <i>I have purposed.</i>" For, though God has many things in
his purposes which are not in his prophecies, he has nothing in his
prophecies but what are in his purposes. And he <i>will do it,</i>
for he will never change his mind; he <i>will bring it to pass,</i>
for it is not in the power of any creature to control him. Observe
with what majesty he says it, as one having authority: <i>I have
spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. Dictum, factum—no sooner
said than done. I have purposed it,</i> and he does not say, "I
will take care it shall be done," but, "<i>I will do it.</i>"
Heaven and earth shall pass away sooner than one tittle of the word
of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p15" shownumber="no">II. For the conviction of those that
daringly opposed the counsels of God assurance is here given not
only that they shall be accomplished, but that they shall be
accomplished very shortly, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.12-Isa.46.13" parsed="|Isa|46|12|46|13" passage="Isa 46:12,13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p16" shownumber="no">1. This is addressed to the
<i>stout-hearted,</i> that is, either, (1.) The proud and obstinate
Babylonians, <i>that are far from righteousness,</i> far from doing
justice or showing mercy to those they have power over, that say
they will never let the oppressed go free, but will still detain
them in spite of their petitions or God's predictions, that are far
from any thing of clemency or compassion to the miserable. Or, (2.)
The unhumbled Jews, that have been long under the hammer, long in
the furnace, but are not broken are not melted, that, like the
unbelieving murmuring Israelites in the wilderness, think
themselves far from God's righteousness (that is, from the
performance of his promise, and his appearing to judge for them),
and by their distrusts set themselves at a yet further distance
from it, and keep good things from themselves, as their fathers,
who could not enter into the land of promise because of unbelief.
This is applicable to the Jewish nation when they rejected the
gospel of Christ; though they <i>followed after the law of
righteousness,</i> they <i>attained not to righteousness, because
they sought it not by faith,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.31-Rom.9.32" parsed="|Rom|9|31|9|32" passage="Ro 9:31,32">Rom. ix. 31, 32</scripRef>. They perished far from
righteousness; and it was because they were <i>stout-hearted,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.3" parsed="|Rom|10|3|0|0" passage="Ro 10:3">Rom. x. 3</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xlvii-p17" shownumber="no">2. Now to them God says that, whatever they
think, the one in presumption, the other in despair, (1.) Salvation
shall be certainly wrought for God's people. If men will not do
them justice, God will, and his righteousness shall effect that for
them which men's righteousness would not reach to. He <i>will place
salvation in Zion,</i> that is, he will make Jerusalem a place of
safety and defence to all those who will plant themselves there;
thence shall salvation go forth <i>for Israel his glory.</i> God
glories in his Israel; and he will be glorified in the salvation he
designs to work out for them; it shall redound greatly to his
honour. This salvation shall be in Zion; for thence the gospel
shall take rise (<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.2.3" parsed="|Isa|2|3|0|0" passage="Isa 2:3"><i>ch.</i> ii.
3</scripRef>), thither the Redeemer comes (<scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.20 Bible:Rom.11.26" parsed="|Isa|59|20|0|0;|Rom|11|26|0|0" passage="Isa 59:20,Ro 11:26"><i>ch.</i> lix. 20, Rom. xi. 26</scripRef>),
and it is Zion's King that has salvation, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.9.9" parsed="|Zech|9|9|0|0" passage="Zec 9:9">Zech. ix. 9</scripRef>. (2.) It shall be very shortly
wrought. This is especially insisted on with those who thought it
at a distance: "<i>I bring near my righteousness,</i> nearer than
you think of; perhaps it is nearest of all when your straits are
greatest and your enemies most injurious; it shall not be far off
when there is occasion for it, <scripRef id="Is.xlvii-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.85.9" parsed="|Ps|85|9|0|0" passage="Ps 85:9">Ps.
lxxxv. 9</scripRef>. <i>Behold, the Judge stands before the
door.</i> My salvation shall not tarry any longer than till it is
ripe and you are ready for it; and therefore, <i>though it tarry,
wait for it;</i> wait patiently, for <i>he that shall come will
come, and will not tarry.</i>"</p>
</div></div2>