mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 6.xml

<div2 id="Is.vii" n="vii" next="Is.viii" prev="Is.vi" progress="2.99%" title="Chapter VI">
<h2 id="Is.vii-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.vii-p0.2">CHAP. VI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.vii-p1" shownumber="no">Hitherto, it should seem, Isaiah had prophesied as
a candidate, having only a virtual and tacit commission; but here
we have him (if I may so speak) solemnly ordained and set apart to
the prophetic office by a more express or explicit commission, as
his work grew more upon his hands: or perhaps, having seen little
success of his ministry, he began to think of giving it up; and
therefore God saw fit to renew his commission here in this chapter,
in such a manner as might excite and encourage his zeal and
industry in the execution of it, though he seemed to labour in
vain. In this chapter we have, I. A very awful vision which Isaiah
saw of the glory of God (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.1-Isa.6.4" parsed="|Isa|6|1|6|4" passage="Isa 6:1-4">ver.
1-4</scripRef>), the terror it put him into (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.5" parsed="|Isa|6|5|0|0" passage="Isa 6:5">ver. 5</scripRef>), and the relief given him against that
terror by an assurance of the pardon of his sins, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.6-Isa.6.7" parsed="|Isa|6|6|6|7" passage="Isa 6:6,7">ver. 6, 7</scripRef>. II. A very awful
commission which Isaiah received to go as a prophet, in God's name
(<scripRef id="Is.vii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.8" parsed="|Isa|6|8|0|0" passage="Isa 6:8">ver. 8</scripRef>), by his preaching
to harden the impenitent in sin and ripen them for ruin (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.9-Isa.6.12" parsed="|Isa|6|9|6|12" passage="Isa 6:9-12">ver. 9-12</scripRef>) yet with a reservation
of mercy for a remnant, (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.13" parsed="|Isa|6|13|0|0" passage="Isa 6:13">ver.
13</scripRef>). And it was as to an evangelical prophet that these
things were shown him and said to him.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.vii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6" parsed="|Isa|6|0|0|0" passage="Isa 6" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.vii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.1-Isa.6.4" parsed="|Isa|6|1|6|4" passage="Isa 6:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.vii-p1.9">
<h4 id="Is.vii-p1.10">Isaiah's Heavenly Vision. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 758.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.vii-p2" shownumber="no">1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also
the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple.   2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one
had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he
covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.   3 And one cried
unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, <i>is</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vii-p2.1">Lord</span> of hosts: the whole earth <i>is</i>
full of his glory.   4 And the posts of the door moved at the
voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p3" shownumber="no">The vision which Isaiah saw when he was, as
is said of Samuel, <i>established to be a prophet of the Lord</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.vii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.3.20" parsed="|1Sam|3|20|0|0" passage="1Sa 3:20">1 Sam. iii. 20</scripRef>), was
intended, 1. To confirm his faith, that he might himself be
abundantly satisfied of the truth of those things which should
afterwards be made known to him. This God opened the communications
of himself to him; but such visions needed not to be afterwards
repeated upon every revelation. Thus God appeared at first as a God
of glory to Abraham (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.2" parsed="|Acts|7|2|0|0" passage="Ac 7:2">Acts vii.
2</scripRef>), and to Moses, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.2" parsed="|Exod|3|2|0|0" passage="Ex 3:2">Exod. iii.
2</scripRef>. Ezekiel's prophecies and St. John's, begin with
visions of the divine glory. 2. To work upon his affections, that
he might be possessed with such a reverence of God as would both
quicken him and fix him to his service. Those who are to teach
others the knowledge of God ought to be well acquainted with him
themselves.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p4" shownumber="no">The vision is dated, for the greater
certainty of it. It was <i>in the year that king Uzziah died,</i>
who had reigned, for the most part, as prosperously and well as any
of the kings of Judah, and reigned very long, above fifty years.
About the time that he died, Isaiah saw this vision of God upon a
throne; for when the breath of princes goes forth, and they return
to their earth, this is our comfort, that <i>the Lord shall reign
for ever,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.3-Ps.146.4 Bible:Ps.146.10" parsed="|Ps|146|3|146|4;|Ps|146|10|0|0" passage="Ps 146:3,4,10">Ps. cxlvi. 3, 4,
10</scripRef>. Israel's king dies, but Israel's God still lives.
From the mortality of great and good men we should take occasion to
look up with an eye of faith to the King eternal, immortal. King
Uzziah died under a cloud, for he was shut up as a leper till the
day of his death. As the lives of princes have their periods, so
their glory is often eclipsed; but, as God is everliving, so his
glory is everlasting. King Uzziah dies in an hospital, but the King
of kings still sits upon his throne.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p5" shownumber="no">What the prophet here saw is revealed to
us, that we, mixing faith with that revelation, may in it, as in a
glass, behold the glory of the Lord; let us turn aside therefore,
and see this great sight with humble reverence.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p6" shownumber="no">I. See God upon his throne, and that throne
<i>high and lifted up,</i> not only above other thrones, as it
transcends them, but over other thrones, as it rules and commands
them. Isaiah saw not <i>Jehovah</i>—the essence of God (no man has
seen that, or can see it), but <i>Adonai</i>—his dominion. He saw
the Lord Jesus; so this vision is explained <scripRef id="Is.vii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:John.12.41" parsed="|John|12|41|0|0" passage="Joh 12:41">John xii. 41</scripRef>, that Isaiah now saw Christ's
glory and spoke of him, which is an incontestable proof of the
divinity of our Saviour. He it is who when, after his resurrection,
he sat down on the right hand of God, did but sit down where he was
before, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:John.17.5" parsed="|John|17|5|0|0" passage="Joh 17:5">John xvii. 5</scripRef>. See
the rest of the Eternal Mind: Isaiah <i>saw the Lord sitting,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.29.10" parsed="|Ps|29|10|0|0" passage="Ps 29:10">Ps. xxix. 10</scripRef>. See the
sovereignty of the Eternal Monarch: he sits <i>upon a throne</i>—a
throne of glory, before which we must worship,—a throne of
government, under which we must be subject,—and a throne of grace,
to which we may come boldly. This throne is high, and lifted up
above all competition and contradiction.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p7" shownumber="no">II. See his temple, his church on earth,
filled with the manifestations of his glory. His throne being
erected at the door of the temple (as princes sat in judgment at
the gates), <i>his train,</i> the skirts of his robes, <i>filled
the temple,</i> the whole world (for it is all God's temple, and,
as the heaven is his throne, so the earth is his footstool), or
rather the church, which is filled enriched, and beautified with
the tokens of God's special presence.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p8" shownumber="no">III. See the bright and blessed attendants
on his throne, in and by whom his glory is celebrated and his
government served (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.2" parsed="|Isa|6|2|0|0" passage="Isa 6:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): <i>Above the throne,</i> as it were hovering about
it, or nigh to the throne, bowing before it, with an eye to it,
<i>the seraphim stood,</i> the holy angels, who are called
<i>seraphim-burners;</i> for he <i>makes his ministers a flaming
fire,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.4" parsed="|Ps|104|4|0|0" passage="Ps 104:4">Ps. civ. 4</scripRef>. They
burn in love to God, and zeal for his glory and against sin, and he
makes use of them as instruments of his wrath when he is a
consuming fire to his enemies. Whether they were only two or four,
or (as I rather think) an <i>innumerable company of angels,</i>
that Isaiah saw, is uncertain; see <scripRef id="Is.vii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.7.10" parsed="|Dan|7|10|0|0" passage="Da 7:10">Dan.
vii. 10</scripRef>. Note, It is the glory of the angels that they
are seraphim, have heat proportionable to their light, have
abundance, not only of divine knowledge, but of holy love. Special
notice is taken of their wings (and of no other part of their
appearance), because of the use they made of them, which is
designed for instruction to us. They had <i>each of them six
wings,</i> not stretched upwards (as those whom Ezekiel saw,
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.11" parsed="|Isa|1|11|0|0" passage="Isa 1:11"><i>ch.</i> i. 11</scripRef>), but, 1.
Four were made use of for a covering, as the wings of a fowl,
sitting, are; with the two upper wings, next to the head, they
covered their faces, and with the two lowest wings they covered
their feet, or lower parts. This bespeaks their great humility and
reverence in their attendance upon God, for he is greatly feared in
<i>the assembly of those saints,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.7" parsed="|Ps|89|7|0|0" passage="Ps 89:7">Ps. lxxxix. 7</scripRef>. They not only cover their feet,
those members of the body which are less honourable (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.23" parsed="|1Cor|12|23|0|0" passage="1Co 12:23">1 Cor. xii. 23</scripRef>), but even their
faces. Though angel's faces, doubtless, are much fairer than those
of the children of men (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p8.7" osisRef="Bible:Acts.6.15" parsed="|Acts|6|15|0|0" passage="Ac 6:15">Acts vi.
15</scripRef>), yet in the presence of God, they cover them,
because they cannot bear the dazzling lustre of the divine glory,
and because, being conscious of an infinite distance from the
divine perfection, they are ashamed to show their faces before the
holy God, who <i>charges even his angels with folly</i> if they
should offer to vie with him, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p8.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.18" parsed="|Job|4|18|0|0" passage="Job 4:18">Job iv.
18</scripRef>. If angels be thus reverent in their attendance on
God, with what godly fear should we approach his throne! Else we do
not the will of God as the angels do it. Yet Moses, when he went
into the mount with God, took the veil from off his face. See
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p8.9" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.18" parsed="|2Cor|3|18|0|0" passage="2Co 3:18">2 Cor. iii. 18</scripRef>. 2. Two were
made use of for flight; when they are sent on God's errands they
fly swiftly (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p8.10" osisRef="Bible:Dan.9.21" parsed="|Dan|9|21|0|0" passage="Da 9:21">Dan. ix. 21</scripRef>),
more swiftly with their own wings than if they flew on the wings of
the wind. This teaches us to do the work of God with cheerfulness
and expedition. Do angels come upon the wing from heaven to earth,
to minister for our good, and shall not we soar upon the wing from
earth to heaven, to share with them in their glory? <scripRef id="Is.vii-p8.11" osisRef="Bible:Luke.20.36" parsed="|Luke|20|36|0|0" passage="Lu 20:36">Luke xx. 36</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p9" shownumber="no">IV. Hear the anthem, or song of praise,
which the angels sing to the honour of him that sits on the throne,
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.3" parsed="|Isa|6|3|0|0" passage="Isa 6:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p10" shownumber="no">1. How this song was sung. With zeal and
fervency—<i>they cried</i> aloud; and with unanimity—<i>they
cried to another,</i> or one with another; they sang alternately,
but in concert, and without the least jarring voice to interrupt
the harmony.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p11" shownumber="no">2. What the song was; it is the same with
that which is sung by the four living creatures, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.4.8" parsed="|Rev|4|8|0|0" passage="Re 4:8">Rev. iv. 8</scripRef>. Note, Praising God always was, and
will be to eternity, the work of heaven, and the constant
employment of blessed spirits above, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.84.4" parsed="|Ps|84|4|0|0" passage="Ps 84:4">Ps. lxxxiv. 4</scripRef>. Note further, The church above
is the same in its praises; there is no change of times or notes
there. Two things the seraphim here give God the praise of:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p12" shownumber="no">(1.) His infinite perfections in himself.
Here is one of his most glorious titles praised: he is <i>the Lord
of hosts,</i> of their hosts, of all hosts; and one of his most
glorious attributes, his holiness, without which his being the Lord
of hosts (or, as it is in the parallel place, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.4.8" parsed="|Rev|4|8|0|0" passage="Re 4:8">Rev. iv. 8</scripRef>, <i>the Lord God Almighty</i>) could
not be so much as it is the matter of our joy and praise; for
power, without purity to guide it, would be a terror to mankind.
None of all the divine attributes is so celebrated in scripture as
this is. God's power was spoken twice (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.11" parsed="|Ps|62|11|0|0" passage="Ps 62:11">Ps. lxii. 11</scripRef>), but his holiness thrice,
<i>Holy, holy, holy.</i> This bespeaks, [1.] The zeal and fervency
of the angels in praising God; they even want words to express
themselves, and therefore repeat the same again. [2.] The
particular pleasure they take in contemplating the holiness of God;
this is a subject they love to dwell upon, to harp upon, and are
loth to leave. [3.] The superlative excellency of God's holiness,
above that of the purest creatures. He is holy, thrice holy,
infinitely holy, originally, perfectly, and eternally so. [4.] It
may refer to the three person in the Godhead, Holy Father, Holy
Son, and Holy Spirit (for it follows, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.8" parsed="|Isa|6|8|0|0" passage="Isa 6:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>, <i>Who will go for us?</i>) or
perhaps to <i>that which was, and is, and is to come;</i> for that
title of God's honour is added to this song, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.4.8" parsed="|Rev|4|8|0|0" passage="Re 4:8">Rev. iv. 8</scripRef>. Some make the angels here to
applaud the equity of that sentence which God was now about to
pronounce upon the Jewish nation. Herein he was, and is, and will
be, holy; his ways are equal.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p13" shownumber="no">(2.) The manifestation of these to the
children of men: <i>The earth is full of his glory,</i> the glory
of his power and purity; for he is holy in all his works, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.145.17" parsed="|Ps|145|17|0|0" passage="Ps 145:17">Ps. cxlv. 17</scripRef>. The Jews thought the
glory of God should be confined to their land; but it is here
intimated that in the gospel times (which are pointed to in this
chapter) the glory of God should fill all the earth, the glory of
his holiness, which is indeed the glory of all his other
attributes; this then <i>filled the temple</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.1" parsed="|Isa|6|1|0|0" passage="Isa 6:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), but, in the latter days, the
earth shall be full of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p14" shownumber="no">V. Observe the marks and tokens of terror
with which the temple was filled, upon this vision of the divine
glory, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.4" parsed="|Isa|6|4|0|0" passage="Isa 6:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. 1. The
house was <i>shaken;</i> not only the door, but even <i>the posts
of the door,</i> which were firmly fixed, <i>moved at the voice of
him that cried,</i> at the voice of God, who called to judgment
(<scripRef id="Is.vii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.4" parsed="|Ps|50|4|0|0" passage="Ps 50:4">Ps. l. 4</scripRef>), at the voice of
the angel, who praised him. There are voices in heaven sufficient
to drown all the noises of the many waters in this lower world,
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.93.3-Ps.93.4" parsed="|Ps|93|3|93|4" passage="Ps 93:3,4">Ps. xciii. 3, 4</scripRef>. This
violent concussion of the temple was an indication of God's wrath
and displeasure against the people for their sins; it was an
earnest of the destruction of it and the city by the Babylonians
first, and afterwards by the Romans; and it was designed to strike
an awe upon us. Shall walls and posts tremble before God, and shall
we not tremble? 2. The house was <i>darkened;</i> it was <i>filled
with smoke,</i> which was as a <i>cloud spread</i> upon <i>the face
of his throne</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.9" parsed="|Job|26|9|0|0" passage="Job 26:9">Job xxvi.
9</scripRef>); we cannot take a full view of it, nor order our
speech concerning it, by reason of darkness. In the temple above
there will be no smoke, but everything will be seen clearly. There
God dwells in light; here he <i>makes darkness his pavilion,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.6.1" parsed="|2Chr|6|1|0|0" passage="2Ch 6:1">2 Chron. vi. 1</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.vii-p14.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.5-Isa.6.8" parsed="|Isa|6|5|6|8" passage="Isa 6:5-8" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.vii-p14.7">
<h4 id="Is.vii-p14.8">Isaiah's Heavenly Vision. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vii-p14.9">b. c.</span> 758.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.vii-p15" shownumber="no">5 Then said I, Woe <i>is</i> me! for I am
undone; because I <i>am</i> a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the
King, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vii-p15.1">Lord</span> of hosts.   6
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his
hand, <i>which</i> he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
  7 And he laid <i>it</i> upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this
hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy
sin purged.   8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here
<i>am</i> I; send me.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p16" shownumber="no">Our curiosity would lead us to enquire
further concerning the seraphim, their songs and their services;
but here we leave them, and must attend to what passed between God
and his prophet. <i>Secret things belong not to us,</i> the secret
things of the world of angels, but things revealed to and by the
prophets, which concern the administration of God's kingdom among
men. Now here we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p17" shownumber="no">I. The consternation that the prophet was
put into by the vision which he saw of the glory of God (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.5" parsed="|Isa|6|5|0|0" passage="Isa 6:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>Then said I, Woe is
me!</i> I should have said, "Blessed art thou, who hast been thus
highly favoured, highly honoured, and dignified, for a time, with
the privilege of those glorious beings that <i>always behold the
face of our Father.</i> Blessed were those eyes which saw the Lord
sitting on his throne, and those ears which heard the angels'
praises." And, one would think, he should have said, "Happy am I,
for ever happy; nothing now shall trouble me, nothing make me blush
or tremble;" but, on the contrary, he cries out, "<i>Woe is me! for
I am undone.</i> Alas for me! I am a gone man; <i>I shall surely
die</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.22 Bible:Judg.6.22" parsed="|Judg|13|22|0|0;|Judg|6|22|0|0" passage="Jdg 13:22,Jdg 6:22">Judges xiii. 22;
vi. 22</scripRef>); I am silenced; I am struck dumb, struck dead."
Thus Daniel, when he heard the words of the angel, <i>became
dumb,</i> and there was <i>no strength, no breath, left in him,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.10.15 Bible:Dan.10.17" parsed="|Dan|10|15|0|0;|Dan|10|17|0|0" passage="Da 10:15,17">Dan. x. 15, 17</scripRef>.
Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p18" shownumber="no">1. What the prophet reflected upon in
himself which terrified him: "<i>I am undone</i> if God deal with
me in strict justice, for I have made myself obnoxious to his
displeasure, <i>because I am a man of unclean lips.</i>" Some think
he refers particularly to some rash word he had spoken, or to his
sinful silence in not reproving sin with the boldness and freedom
that were necessary—a sin which God's ministers have too much
cause to charge themselves with, and to blush at the remembrance
of. But it may be taken more generally; <i>I am a sinner;</i>
particularly, <i>I have offended in word;</i> and who is there that
hath not? <scripRef id="Is.vii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Jas.3.2" parsed="|Jas|3|2|0|0" passage="Jam 3:2">Jam. iii. 2</scripRef>. We
all have reason to bewail it before the Lord, (1.) That we are of
unclean lips ourselves; our lips are not consecrated to God; he had
not had the <i>first-fruits of our lips</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.15" parsed="|Heb|13|15|0|0" passage="Heb 13:15">Heb. xiii. 15</scripRef>), and therefore they are
counted common and unclean, <i>uncircumcised lips,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.30" parsed="|Exod|6|30|0|0" passage="Ex 6:30">Exod. vi. 30</scripRef>. Nay, they have been
polluted with sin. We have spoken the language of an unclean heart,
that evil communication which corrupts good manners, and whereby
many have been defiled. We are unworthy and unmeet to take God's
name into our lips. With what a pure lip did the angels praise God!
"But," says the prophet, "I cannot praise him so, for <i>I am a man
of unclean lips.</i>" The best men in the world have reason to be
ashamed of themselves, and the best of their services, when they
come into comparison with the holy angels. The angels had
celebrated the purity and holiness of God; and therefore the
prophet, when he reflects upon sin, calls it <i>uncleanness;</i>
for the sinfulness of sin is its contrariety to the holy nature of
God, and upon that account especially it should appear both hateful
and frightful to us. The impurity of our lips ought to be the grief
of our souls, for by our words we shall be justified or condemned.
(2.) That we dwell among those who are so too. We have reason to
lament not only that we ourselves are polluted, but that the nature
and race of mankind are so; the disease is hereditary and epidemic,
which is so far from lessening our guilt that it should rather
increase our grief, especially considering that we have not done
what we might have done for the cleansing of the pollution of other
people's lips; nay, we have rather learned their way and spoken
their language, as Joseph in Egypt learned the courtier's oath,
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.16" parsed="|Gen|42|16|0|0" passage="Ge 42:16">Gen. xlii. 16</scripRef>. "<i>I dwell
in the midst of a people</i> who by their impudent sinnings are
pulling down desolating judgments upon the land, which I, who am a
sinner too, may justly expect to be involved in."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p19" shownumber="no">2. What gave occasion for these sad
reflections at this time: <i>My eyes have seen the King, the Lord
of hosts.</i> He saw God's sovereignty to be incontestable—he is
the King; and his power irresistible—he is the Lord of hosts.
These are comfortable truths to God's people, and yet they ought to
strike an awe upon us. Note, A believing sight of God's glorious
majesty should affect us all with reverence and godly fear. We have
reason to be abased in the sense of that infinite distance that
there is between us and God, and our own sinfulness and vileness
before him, and to be afraid of his displeasure. We are undone if
there be not a Mediator between us and this holy God, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.6.20" parsed="|1Sam|6|20|0|0" passage="1Sa 6:20">1 Sam. vi. 20</scripRef>. Isaiah was thus
humbled, to prepare him for the honour he was now to be called to
as a prophet. Note, Those are fittest to be employed for God who
are low in their own eyes and are made deeply sensible of their own
weakness and unworthiness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p20" shownumber="no">II. The silencing of the prophet's fears by
the good words, and comfortable words, with which the angel
answered him, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.6-Isa.6.7" parsed="|Isa|6|6|6|7" passage="Isa 6:6,7"><i>v.</i> 6,
7</scripRef>. One of the seraphim immediately flew to him, to
purify him, and so to pacify him. Note, God has strong consolations
ready for holy mourners. Those that humble themselves in
penitential shame and fear shall soon be encouraged and exalted;
those that are struck down with the visions of God's glory shall
soon be raised up again with the visits of his grace; he that tears
will heal. Note, further, Angels are ministering spirits for the
good of the saints, for their spiritual good. Here was one of the
seraphim dismissed, for a time, from attending on the throne of
God's glory, to be a messenger of his grace to a good man; and so
well pleased was he with the office that he came flying to him. To
our Lord Jesus himself, in his agony, there <i>appeared an angel
from heaven, strengthening him,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.22.43" parsed="|Luke|22|43|0|0" passage="Lu 22:43">Luke xxii. 43</scripRef>. Here is, 1. A comfortable sign
given to the prophet of the purging away of his sin. The seraph
<i>brought a live coal from the altar,</i> and touched his lips
with it, not to hurt them, but to heal them—not to cauterize, but
to cleanse them; for there were purifications by fire, as well as
by water, and the filth of Jerusalem was purged by the <i>spirit of
burning,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.4.4" parsed="|Isa|4|4|0|0" passage="Isa 4:4"><i>ch.</i> iv.
4</scripRef>. The blessed Spirit works as fire, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.3.11" parsed="|Matt|3|11|0|0" passage="Mt 3:11">Matt. iii. 11</scripRef>. The seraph, being himself
kindled with a divine fire, put life into the prophet, to make him
also zealously affected; for the way to purge the lips from the
uncleanness of sin is to fire the soul with the love of God. This
live coal was taken from off the altar, either the altar of incense
or that of burnt-offerings, for they had both of them fire burning
on them continually. Nothing is powerful to cleanse and comfort the
soul but what is taken from Christ's satisfaction and the
intercession he ever lives to make in the virtue of that
satisfaction. It must be a coal from his altar that must put life
into us and be our peace; it will not be done with strange fire. 2.
An explication of this sign: "<i>Lo, this has touched thy lips,</i>
to assure thee of this, that <i>thy iniquity is taken away and thy
sin purged.</i> The guilt of thy sin is removed by pardoning mercy,
the guilt of thy tongue-sins. Thy corrupt disposition to sin is
removed by renewing grace; and therefore nothing can hinder thee
from being accepted with God as a worshipper, in concert with the
holy angels, or from being employed for God as a messenger to the
children of men." Those only who are thus purged from an evil
conscience are prepared <i>to serve the living God,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.14" parsed="|Heb|9|14|0|0" passage="Heb 9:14">Heb. ix. 14</scripRef>. The taking away of sin
is necessary to our speaking with confidence and comfort either to
God in prayer or from God in preaching; nor are any so fit to
display to others the riches and power of gospel-grace as those who
have themselves tasted the sweetness and felt the influence of that
grace; and those shall have their sin taken away who complain of it
as a burden and see themselves in danger of being undone by it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p21" shownumber="no">III. The renewing of the prophet's mission,
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.8" parsed="|Isa|6|8|0|0" passage="Isa 6:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Here is a
communication between God and Isaiah about this matter. Those that
would assist others in their correspondence with God must not
themselves be strangers to it; for how can we expect that God
should speak by us if we never heard him speaking to us, or that we
should be accepted as the mouth of others to God if we never spoke
to him heartily for ourselves? Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p22" shownumber="no">1. The counsel of God concerning Isaiah's
mission. God is here brought in, after the manner of men,
deliberating and advising with himself: <i>Whom shall I send? And
who will go for us?</i> God needs not either to be counselled by
others or to consult with himself; he knows what he will do, but
thus he would show us that there is a counsel in his whole will,
and teach us to consider our ways, and particularly that the
sending forth of ministers is a work not to be done but upon mature
deliberation. Observe, (1.) Who it is that is consulting. It is the
Lord God in his glory, whom he saw upon the throne high and lifted
up. It puts an honour upon the ministry that, when God would send a
prophet to speak in his name, he appeared in all the glories of the
upper world. Ministers are the ambassadors of the King of kings;
how mean soever they are, he who sends them is great; it is God in
three persons (Who will go for us? as <scripRef id="Is.vii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.26" parsed="|Gen|1|26|0|0" passage="Ge 1:26">Gen. i. 26</scripRef>, <i>Let us make man</i>), Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. They all concur, as in the creating, so in the
redeeming and governing of man. Ministers are ordained in the same
name into which all Christians are baptized. (2.) What the
consultation is: <i>Whom shall I send? And who will go?</i> Some
think this refers to the particular message of wrath against
Israel, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.9-Isa.6.10" parsed="|Isa|6|9|6|10" passage="Isa 6:9,10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>.
"Who will be willing to go on such a melancholy errand, on which
they will go in the bitterness of their souls?" <scripRef id="Is.vii-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.3.14" parsed="|Ezek|3|14|0|0" passage="Eze 3:14">Ezek. iii. 14</scripRef>. But I rather take it more
largely for all those messages which the prophet was entrusted to
deliver, in God's name, to that people, in which that hardening
work was by no means the primary intention, but a secondary effect
of them, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.2.16" parsed="|2Cor|2|16|0|0" passage="2Co 2:16">2 Cor. ii. 16</scripRef>.
<i>Whom shall I send?</i> intimating that the business was such as
required a choice and well-accomplished messenger, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p22.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.49.19" parsed="|Jer|49|19|0|0" passage="Jer 49:19">Jer. xlix. 19</scripRef>. God now appeared,
attended with holy angels, and yet asks, <i>Whom shall I send?</i>
For he would send them a <i>prophet from among their brethren,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p22.6" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.17" parsed="|Heb|2|17|0|0" passage="Heb 2:17">Heb. ii. 17</scripRef>. Note, [1.] It
is the unspeakable favour of God to us that he is pleased to send
us his mind by men like ourselves, whose terror shall not make us
afraid, and who are themselves concerned in the messages they
bring. Those who are workers together with God are sinners and
sufferers together with us. [2.] It is a rare thing to find one who
is fit to go for God, and carry his messages to the children of
men: <i>Whom shall I send?</i> Who is sufficient? Such a degree of
courage for God and concern for the souls of men as is necessary to
make a man faithful, and withal such an insight into the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven as is necessary to make a man skilful, are
seldom to be met with. Such an interpreter of the mind of God is
one of a thousand, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p22.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.23" parsed="|Job|33|23|0|0" passage="Job 33:23">Job xxxiii.
23</scripRef>. [3.] None are allowed to go for God but those who
are sent by him; he will own none but those whom he appoints,
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p22.8" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.15" parsed="|Rom|10|15|0|0" passage="Ro 10:15">Rom. x. 15</scripRef>. It is Christ's
work to put men into the ministry, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p22.9" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.1.12" parsed="|1Tim|1|12|0|0" passage="1Ti 1:12">1
Tim. i. 12</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p23" shownumber="no">2. The consent of Isaiah to it: <i>Then
said I, Here am I; send me.</i> He was to go on a melancholy
errand; the office seemed to go a begging, and every body declined
it, and yet Isaiah offered himself to the service. It is an honour
to be singular in appearing for God, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.5.7" parsed="|Judg|5|7|0|0" passage="Jdg 5:7">Judges v. 7</scripRef>. We must not say, "I would go if I
thought I should have success;" but, "I will go, and leave the
success to God. Here am I; send me." Isaiah had been himself in a
melancholy frame (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.5" parsed="|Isa|6|5|0|0" passage="Isa 6:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>), full of doubts and fears; but now that he had the
assurance of the pardon of his sin the clouds were blown over, and
he was fit for service and forward to it. What he says denotes,
(1.) His readiness: "Here am I, a volunteer, not pressed into the
service." <i>Behold me;</i> so the word is. God says to us,
<i>Behold me</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.1" parsed="|Isa|65|1|0|0" passage="Isa 65:1"><i>ch.</i> lxv.
1</scripRef>), and, <i>Here I am</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.9" parsed="|Isa|58|9|0|0" passage="Isa 58:9"><i>ch.</i> lviii. 9</scripRef>), even before we call;
let us say so to him when he does call. (2.) His resolution;
"<i>Here I am,</i> ready to encounter the greatest difficulties.
<i>I have set my face as a flint.</i>" Compare this with <scripRef id="Is.vii-p23.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.4-Isa.50.7" parsed="|Isa|50|4|50|7" passage="Isa 50:4-7"><i>ch.</i> l. 4-7</scripRef>. (3.) His
referring himself to God: "Send me whither thou wilt; make what use
thou pleasest of me. Send me, that is, Lord, give me commission and
full instruction; send me, and then, no doubt, thou wilt stand by
me." It is a great comfort to those whom God sends that they go for
God, and may therefore speak in his name, as having authority, and
be assured that he will bear them out.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.vii-p23.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.9-Isa.6.13" parsed="|Isa|6|9|6|13" passage="Isa 6:9-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.vii-p23.7">
<h4 id="Is.vii-p23.8">Judicial Blindness
Threatened. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vii-p23.9">b. c.</span> 758.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.vii-p24" shownumber="no">9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye
indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
  10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears
heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and
be healed.   11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered,
Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses
without man, and the land be utterly desolate,   12 And the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vii-p24.1">Lord</span> have removed men far away, and
<i>there be</i> a great forsaking in the midst of the land.  
13 But yet in it <i>shall be</i> a tenth, and <i>it</i> shall
return, and shall be eaten: as a teil-tree, and as an oak, whose
substance <i>is</i> in them, when they cast <i>their leaves: so</i>
the holy seed <i>shall be</i> the substance thereof.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p25" shownumber="no">God takes Isaiah at his word, and here
sends him on a strange errand—to foretel the ruin of his people
and even to ripen them for that ruin—to preach that which, by
their abuse of it, would be to them a savour of death unto death.
And this was to be a type and figure of the state of the Jewish
church in the days of the Messiah, when they should obstinately
reject the gospel, and should thereupon be rejected of God. These
verses are quoted in part, or referred to, six times, in the New
Testament, which intimates that in gospel time these spiritual
judgments would be most frequently inflicted; and though they make
the least noise, and come not with observation, yet they are of all
judgments the most dreadful. Isaiah is here given to understand
these four things:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p26" shownumber="no">1. That the generality of the people to
whom he was sent would turn a deaf ear to his preaching, and
wilfully shut their eyes against all the discoveries of the mind
and will of God which he had to make to them (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.9" parsed="|Isa|6|9|0|0" passage="Isa 6:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): "<i>Go, and tell this
people,</i> this foolish wretched people, tell them their own, tell
them how stupid and sottish they are." Isaiah must preach to them,
and they will <i>hear</i> him indeed, but that is all; they will
not heed him; they will no <i>understand</i> him; they will not
take any pains, nor use that application of mind which is necessary
to the understanding of him; they are prejudiced against that which
is the true intent and meaning of what he says, and therefore they
will not understand him, or pretend they do not. They <i>see
indeed</i> (for the vision is made plain on tables, so that he who
runs may read it); <i>but they perceive not</i> their own concern
in it; it is to them as a tale that is told. Note, There are many
who hear the sound of God's word, but do not feel the power of
it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p27" shownumber="no">2. That, forasmuch as they would not be
made better by his ministry, they should be made worse by it; those
that were wilfully blind should be judicially blinded (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.10" parsed="|Isa|6|10|0|0" passage="Isa 6:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): "They will not
understand or perceive thee, and therefore thou shalt be
instrumental to <i>make their heart fat,</i> senseless, and
sensual, and so to <i>make their ears</i> yet more <i>heavy,</i>
and to <i>shut their eyes</i> the closer; so that, at length, their
recovery and repentance will become utterly impossible; they shall
no more <i>see with their eyes</i> the danger they are in, the ruin
they are upon the brink of, nor the way of escape from it; they
shall no more <i>hear with their ears</i> the warnings and
instructions that are given them, nor <i>understand with their
heart</i> the things that belong to their peace, so as to be
converted from the error of their ways, and thus <i>be healed.</i>"
Note, (1.) The conversion of sinners is the healing of them. (2.) A
right understanding is necessary to conversion. (3.) God sometimes,
in a way of righteous judgment, gives men up to blindness of mind
and strong delusions, because they would not <i>receive the truth
in the love of it,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.2.10-2Thess.2.12" parsed="|2Thess|2|10|2|12" passage="2Th 2:10-12">2 Thess. ii.
10-12</scripRef>. <i>He that is filthy let him be filthy still.</i>
(4.) Even the word of God oftentimes proves a means of hardening
sinners. The evangelical prophet himself makes the heart of this
people fat, not only as he foretels it, passing this sentence upon
them in God's name, and seals them under it, but as his preaching
had a tendency to it, rocking some asleep in security (to whom it
was a lovely song), and making others more outrageous, to whom it
was such a reproach that they were not able to bear it. Some looked
upon the word as a privilege, and their convictions were smothered
by it (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p27.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.4" parsed="|Jer|7|4|0|0" passage="Jer 7:4">Jer. vii. 4</scripRef>); others
looked upon it as a provocation, and their corruptions were
exasperated by it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p28" shownumber="no">3. That the consequence of this would be
their <i>utter ruin,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.11-Isa.6.12" parsed="|Isa|6|11|6|12" passage="Isa 6:11,12"><i>v.</i>
11, 12</scripRef>. The prophet had nothing to object against the
justice of this sentence, nor does he refuse to go upon such an
errand, but asks, "<i>Lord, how long?</i>" (an abrupt question):
"Shall it always be thus? Must I and other prophets always labour
in vain among them, and will things never be better?" Or, (as
should seem by the answer) "Lord, what will it come to at last?
What will be in the end hereof?" In answer to this he is told that
it should issue in the final destruction of the Jewish church and
nation. "When the word of God, especially the word of the gospel,
had been thus abused by them, they shall be unchurched, and
consequently undone. Their cities shall be uninhabited, and their
country houses too; the land shall be untilled, <i>desolate with
desolation</i> (as it is in the margin), the people who should
replenish the houses and cultivate the ground being all cut off by
sword, famine, or pestilence, and those who escape with their lives
being removed far away into captivity, so that there shall be a
great and general forsaking in the midst of the land; that populous
country shall become desert, and that glory of all lands shall be
abandoned." Note, Spiritual judgments often bring temporal
judgments along with them upon persons and places. This was in part
fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, when
the land, being left desolate, enjoyed her sabbaths seventy years;
but, the foregoing predictions being so expressly applied in the
New Testament to the Jews in our Saviour's time, doubtless this
points at the final destruction of that people by the Romans, in
which it had a complete accomplishment, and the effects of it that
people and that land remain under to this day.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vii-p29" shownumber="no">4. That yet a remnant should be reserved to
be the monuments of mercy, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.13" parsed="|Isa|6|13|0|0" passage="Isa 6:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>. There was a remnant reserved in the last destruction
of the Jewish nation (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.5" parsed="|Rom|11|5|0|0" passage="Ro 11:5">Rom. xi.
5</scripRef>, <i>At this present time there is a remnant</i>); for
so it was written here: <i>But in it shall be a tenth,</i> a
certain number, but a very small number in comparison with the
multitude that shall perish in their unbelief. It is that which,
under the law, was God's proportion; they shall be consecrated to
God as the tithes were, and shall be for his service and honour.
Concerning this tithe, this saved remnant, we are here told, (1.)
That they shall return (<scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.13 Bible:Isa.10.21" parsed="|Isa|6|13|0|0;|Isa|10|21|0|0" passage="Isa 6:13,10:21"><i>ch.</i> vi. 13; x. 21</scripRef>), shall return
from sin to God and duty, shall return out of captivity to their
own land. God will turn them, and they shall be turned. (2.) That
they shall be eaten, that is, shall be accepted of God as the tithe
was, which was meat in God's house, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.4" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.10" parsed="|Mal|3|10|0|0" passage="Mal 3:10">Mal. iii. 10</scripRef>. The saving of this remnant
shall be meat to the faith and hope of those that wish well to
God's kingdom. (3.) That they shall be like a timber-tree in
winter, which has life, though it has no leaves: <i>As a teil-tree
and as an oak, whose substance is in them even when they cast their
leaves,</i> so this remnant, though they may be stripped of their
outward prosperity and share with others in common calamities,
shall yet recover themselves, as a tree in the spring, and flourish
again; though they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down.
<i>There is hope of a tree, though it be cut down, that it will
sprout again,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.14.7" parsed="|Job|14|7|0|0" passage="Job 14:7">Job xiv.
7</scripRef>. (4.) That this distinguished remnant shall be the
stay and support of the public interests. <i>The holy seed</i> in
the soul is the substance of the man; a principle of grace reigning
in the heart will keep life there; he that is <i>born of God</i>
has <i>his seed remaining in him,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.6" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.9" parsed="|1John|3|9|0|0" passage="1Jo 3:9">1
John iii. 9</scripRef>. So the holy seed in the land is the
substance of the land, keeps it from being quite dissolved, <i>and
bears up the pillars of it,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.75.3" parsed="|Ps|75|3|0|0" passage="Ps 75:3">Ps.
lxxv. 3</scripRef>. See <scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|9|0|0" passage="Isa 1:9"><i>ch.</i> i.
9</scripRef>. Some read the foregoing clause with this, thus: <i>As
the support at Shallecheth is in the elms and the oaks, so the holy
seed is the substance thereof;</i> as the trees that grow on either
side of the causeway (the raised way, or terrace-walk, that leads
from the king's palace to the temple, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.9" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.10.5" parsed="|1Kgs|10|5|0|0" passage="1Ki 10:5">1 Kings x. 5</scripRef>, at the gate of Shallecheth,
<scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.10" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.26.16" parsed="|1Chr|26|16|0|0" passage="1Ch 26:16">1 Chron. xxvi. 16</scripRef>) support
the causeway by keeping up the earth, which would otherwise be
crumbling away, so the small residue of religious, serious, praying
people, are the support of the state, and help to keep things
together and save them from going to decay. Some make the holy seed
to be Christ. The Jewish nation was <i>therefore</i> saved from
utter ruin because <i>out of it, as concerning the flesh,
Christ</i> was to come, <scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.11" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.5" parsed="|Rom|9|5|0|0" passage="Ro 9:5">Rom. ix.
5</scripRef>. <i>Destroy it not, for that blessing is in it</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.vii-p29.12" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.8" parsed="|Isa|65|8|0|0" passage="Isa 65:8"><i>ch.</i> lxv. 8</scripRef>); and
when that blessing had come, it was soon destroyed. Now the
consideration of this is designed for the support of the prophet in
his work. Though far the greater part should perish in their
unbelief, yet to some his word should be a savour of life unto
life. Ministers do not wholly lose their labour if they be but
instrumental to save one poor soul.</p>
</div></div2>