mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 65.xml

<div2 id="Is.lxvi" n="lxvi" next="Is.lxvii" prev="Is.lxv" progress="25.73%" title="Chapter LXV">
<h2 id="Is.lxvi-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.lxvi-p0.2">CHAP. LXV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.lxvi-p1" shownumber="no">We are now drawing towards the conclusion of this
evangelical prophecy, the last two chapters of which direct us to
look as far forward as the new heavens and the new earth, the new
world which the gospel dispensation should bring in, and the
separation that should by it be made between the precious and the
vile. "For judgment" (says Christ) "have I come into this world."
And why should it seem absurd that the prophet here should speak of
that to which all the prophets bore witness? <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.10-1Pet.1.11" parsed="|1Pet|1|10|1|11" passage="1Pe 1:10,11">1 Pet. i. 10, 11</scripRef>. The rejection of the
Jews, and the calling in of the Gentiles, are often mentioned in
the New Testament as that which was foreseen and foretold by the
prophets, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.10.43 Bible:Acts.13.40 Bible:Rom.16.26" parsed="|Acts|10|43|0|0;|Acts|13|40|0|0;|Rom|16|26|0|0" passage="Ac 10:43,13:40,Ro 16:26">Acts x. 43;
xiii. 40; Rom. xvi. 26</scripRef>. In this chapter we have, I. The
anticipating of the Gentiles with the gospel call, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.1" parsed="|Isa|65|1|0|0" passage="Isa 65:1">ver. 1</scripRef>. II. The rejection of the Jews
for their obstinacy and unbelief, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.2-Isa.65.7" parsed="|Isa|65|2|65|7" passage="Isa 65:2-7">ver. 2-7</scripRef>. III. The saving of a remnant of
them by bringing them into the gospel church, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.8-Isa.65.10" parsed="|Isa|65|8|65|10" passage="Isa 65:8-10">ver. 8-10</scripRef>. IV. The judgments of God that
should pursue the rejected Jews, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.11-Isa.65.16" parsed="|Isa|65|11|65|16" passage="Isa 65:11-16">ver. 11-16</scripRef>. V. The blessings reserved for
the Christian church, which should be its joy and glory, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.17-Isa.65.25" parsed="|Isa|65|17|65|25" passage="Isa 65:17-25">ver. 17-25</scripRef>. But these things are
here prophesied of under the type and figure of the difference God
would make between some and others of the Jews after their return
out of captivity, between those that feared God and those that did
not, with reproofs of the sins then found among them and promises
of the blessings then in reserve for them.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.lxvi-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65" parsed="|Isa|65|0|0|0" passage="Isa 65" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.lxvi-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.1-Isa.65.7" parsed="|Isa|65|1|65|7" passage="Isa 65:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lxvi-p1.10">
<h4 id="Is.lxvi-p1.11">The Conversion of the Gentiles; The
Wickedness of the Jews; The Rejection of the Jews. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxvi-p1.12">b.
c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lxvi-p2" shownumber="no">1 I am sought of <i>them that</i> asked not
<i>for me;</i> I am found of <i>them that</i> sought me not: I
said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation <i>that</i> was not
called by my name.   2 I have spread out my hands all the day
unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way <i>that was</i>
not good, after their own thoughts;   3 A people that
provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in
gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;   4 Which
remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat
swine's flesh, and broth of abominable <i>things is in</i> their
vessels;   5 Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me;
for I am holier than thou. These <i>are</i> a smoke in my nose, a
fire that burneth all the day.   6 Behold, <i>it is</i>
written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense,
even recompense into their bosom,   7 Your iniquities, and the
iniquities of your fathers together, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxvi-p2.1">Lord</span>, which have burned incense upon the
mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I
measure their former work into their bosom.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p3" shownumber="no">The apostle Paul (an expositor we may
depend upon) has given us the true sense of these verses, and told
us what was the event they pointed at and were fulfilled in,
namely, the calling in of the Gentiles and the rejection of the
Jews, by the preaching of the gospel, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.20-Rom.10.21" parsed="|Rom|10|20|10|21" passage="Ro 10:20,21">Rom. x. 20, 21</scripRef>. And he observes that
herein <i>Esaias is very bold,</i> not only in foretelling a thing
so improbable ever to be brought about, but in foretelling it to
the Jews, who would take it as a gross affront to their nation, and
therein Moses's words would be made good (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.21" parsed="|Deut|32|21|0|0" passage="De 32:21">Deut. xxxii. 21</scripRef>), <i>I will provoke you to
jealousy by those that are no people.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p4" shownumber="no">I. It is here foretold that the Gentiles,
who had been afar off, should be made nigh, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.1" parsed="|Isa|65|1|0|0" passage="Isa 65:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Paul reads it thus: <i>I was
found of those that sought me not; I was made manifest to those
that asked not for me.</i> Observe what a wonderful and blessed
change was made with them and how they were surprised into it. 1.
Those who had long been without God in the world shall now be set a
seeking him; those who had not said, <i>Where is God my maker?</i>
shall now begin to enquire after him. Neither they nor their
fathers had called upon his name, but either lived without prayer
or prayed to stocks and stones, the work of men's hands. But now
they shall <i>be baptized and call on the name of the Lord,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.21" parsed="|Acts|2|21|0|0" passage="Ac 2:21">Acts ii. 21</scripRef>. With what
pleasure does the great God here speak of his being sought unto,
and how does he glory in it, especially by those who in time past
had not asked for him! For there is joy in heaven over great
sinners who repent. 2. God shall anticipate their prayers with his
blessings: <i>I am found of those that sought me not.</i> This
happy acquaintance and correspondence between God and the Gentile
world began on his side; they came to know God because they were
<i>known of him</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.9" parsed="|Gal|4|9|0|0" passage="Ga 4:9">Gal. iv.
9</scripRef>), to seek God and find him because they were first
sought and found of him. Though in after-communion God is found of
those that seek him (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.17" parsed="|Prov|8|17|0|0" passage="Pr 8:17">Prov. viii.
17</scripRef>), yet in the first conversion he is found of those
that seek him not; for <i>therefore we love him because he first
loved us.</i> The design of the bounty of common providence to them
was <i>that they might seek the Lord, if haply they might feel
after him and find him,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.17.27" parsed="|Acts|17|27|0|0" passage="Ac 17:27">Acts xvii.
27</scripRef>. But they sought him not; still he was to them <i>an
unknown God,</i> and yet God was found of them. 3. God gave the
advantages of a divine revelation to those who had never made a
profession of religion: <i>I said, Behold me, behold me</i> (gave
them a sight of me and invited them to take the comfort and benefit
of it) to those who <i>were not called by my name,</i> as the Jews
for many ages had been. When the apostles went about from place to
place, preaching the gospel, this was the substance of what they
preached: "<i>Behold God, behold him,</i> turn towards him, fix the
eyes of your minds upon him, acquaint yourselves with him, admire
him, adore him; look off from your idols that you have made, and
look upon the living God who made you." Christ in them said,
<i>Behold me, behold me</i> with an eye of faith; <i>look unto me,
and be you saved.</i> And this was said to those that had long been
<i>lo-ammi,</i> and <i>lo-ruhamah</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p4.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.1.8-Hos.1.9" parsed="|Hos|1|8|1|9" passage="Ho 1:8,9">Hos. i. 8, 9</scripRef>), <i>not a people,</i> and that
<i>had not obtained mercy,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p4.7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.25-Rom.9.26" parsed="|Rom|9|25|9|26" passage="Ro 9:25,26">Rom.
ix. 25, 26</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p5" shownumber="no">II. It is here foretold that the Jews, who
had long been a people near to God, should be cast off and set at a
distance <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.2" parsed="|Isa|65|2|0|0" passage="Isa 65:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. The
apostle applies this to the Jews in his time, as a seed of
evil-doers. <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.21" parsed="|Rom|10|21|0|0" passage="Ro 10:21">Rom. x. 21</scripRef>,
<i>But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my
hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.</i> Here
observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p6" shownumber="no">1. How the Jews were courted to the divine
grace. God himself, by his prophets, by his Son, by his apostles,
<i>stretched forth his hands to them,</i> as Wisdom did, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.24" parsed="|Prov|1|24|0|0" passage="Pr 1:24">Prov. i. 24</scripRef>. God <i>spread out his
hands to them,</i> as one reasoning and expostulating with them,
not only beckoned to them with the finger, but <i>spread out his
hands,</i> as being ready to embrace and entertain them, reaching
forth the tokens of his favour to them, and importuning them to
accept them. When Christ was crucified his hands were <i>spread out
and stretched forth,</i> as if he were preparing to receive
returning sinners into his bosom; and this <i>all the day,</i> all
the gospel-day. He waited to be gracious, and was not weary of
waiting; even those that came in at the eleventh hour of the day
were not rejected.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p7" shownumber="no">2. How they contemned the invitation; it
was given to a rebellious and gainsaying people; they were invited
to the wedding-supper, and would not come, but <i>rejected the
counsel of God against themselves.</i> Now here we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p8" shownumber="no">(1.) The bad character of this people. The
world shall see that it was not for nothing that they were rejected
of God; no, it was for their whoredoms that they were put away.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p9" shownumber="no">[1.] Their character in general was such as
one would not expect of those who had been so much the favourites
of Heaven. <i>First,</i> They were very wilful. Right or wrong they
would do as they had a mind. "They generally <i>walk</i> on <i>in a
way that is not good,</i> not the right way, not a safe way, for
they <i>walk after their own thought,</i> their own devices and
desires." If our guide be our own thoughts, our way is not likely
to be good; for <i>every imagination of the thought of our hearts
is only evil.</i> God had told them his thoughts, what his mind and
will were, but they would walk <i>after their own thoughts,</i>
would do what they thought best. <i>Secondly,</i> They were very
provoking. This was God's complaint of them all along—they grieved
him, they <i>vexed his Holy Spirit,</i> as if they would contrive
how to make him their enemy: They <i>provoke me to anger
continually to my face.</i> They cared not what affront they gave
to God, though it were in his sight and presence, in a downright
contempt of his authority and defiance of his justice; and this
<i>continually;</i> it had been their way and manner ever since
they were a people, witness the <i>day of temptation in the
wilderness.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p10" shownumber="no">[2.] The prophet speaks more particularly
of <i>their iniquities and the iniquities of their fathers,</i> as
the ground of God's casting them off, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.7" parsed="|Isa|65|7|0|0" passage="Isa 65:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Now he gives instances of
both.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p11" shownumber="no"><i>First,</i> The most provoking iniquity
of their fathers was idolatry; this, the prophet tells them, was
provoking God to his face; and it is an iniquity which, as appears
by the second commandment, God often <i>visits upon the
children.</i> This was the sin that brought them into captivity,
and, though the captivity pretty well cured them of it, yet, when
the final ruin of that nation came, that was again brought into the
account against them; for in the day when God visits he will visit
that, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.34" parsed="|Exod|32|34|0|0" passage="Ex 32:34">Exod. xxxii. 34</scripRef>.
Perhaps there were many, long after the captivity, who, though they
did not worship other gods, were yet guilty of the disorders here
mentioned; for they married strange wives. 1. They forsook God's
temple, and <i>sacrificed in gardens or groves,</i> that they might
have the satisfaction of doing it in their own way, for they liked
not God's institutions. 2. They forsook God's altar, and <i>burnt
incense upon bricks,</i> altars of their own contriving (they burnt
incense according to their own inventions, which were of no more
value, in comparison with God's institution, than an altar of
bricks in comparison with the golden altar which God appointed them
to burn incense on), or <i>upon tiles</i> (so some read it), such
as they covered their flat-roofed houses with, and on them
sometimes they burnt incense to their idols, as appears, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.12" parsed="|2Kgs|23|12|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:12">2 Kings xxiii. 12</scripRef>, where we read of
altars <i>on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz,</i> and
<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.13" parsed="|Jer|19|13|0|0" passage="Jer 19:13">Jer. xix. 13</scripRef>, of their
burning incense to the host of heaven upon the roofs of their
houses. 3. "They used necromancy, or consulting with the dead, and,
in order to that, they <i>remained among the graves,</i> and
<i>lodged in the monuments,</i>" to seek for the living to the dead
(<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.19" parsed="|Isa|8|19|0|0" passage="Isa 8:19"><i>ch.</i> viii. 19</scripRef>), as
the witch of Endor. Or they used to consult the evil spirits that
haunted the sepulchres. 4. They violated the laws of God about
their meat, and broke through the distinction between clean and
unclean before it was taken away by the gospel. They <i>ate swine's
flesh.</i> Some indeed chose rather to die than to eat swine's
flesh, as Eleazar and the seven brethren in the story of the
Maccabees; but it is probable that many ate of it, especially when
it came to be a condition of life. In our Saviour's time we read of
a vast herd of swine among them, which gives us cause to suspect
that there were many then who made so little conscience of the law
as to eat swine's flesh, for which they were justly punished in the
destruction of the swine. <i>And the broth,</i> or <i>pieces,</i>
of other forbidden meats, called here <i>abominable things,</i> was
<i>in their vessels,</i> and was made use of for food. The
forbidden meat is called <i>an abomination,</i> and those that
meddle with it are said to <i>make themselves abominable,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.42-Lev.11.43" parsed="|Lev|11|42|11|43" passage="Le 11:42,43">Lev. xi. 42, 43</scripRef>. Those
that durst not eat the meat yet made bold with the broth, because
they would come as near as might be to that which was forbidden, to
show how they coveted the forbidden fruit. Perhaps this is here put
figuratively for all forbidden pleasures and profits which are
obtained by sin, that <i>abominable thing which the Lord hates;</i>
they loved to be dallying with it, to be tasting of its broth. But
those who thus take a pride in venturing upon the borders of sin,
and the brink of it, are in danger of falling into the depths of
it. But,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p12" shownumber="no"><i>Secondly,</i> The most provoking
iniquity of the Jews in our Saviour's time was their pride and
hypocrisy, that sin of the scribes and Pharisees against which
Christ denounced so many woes, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.5" parsed="|Isa|65|5|0|0" passage="Isa 65:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. They say, "<i>Stand by
thyself,</i> keep off" (<i>get thee to thine,</i> so the original
is); "keep to thy own companions, but <i>come not near to me,</i>
lest thou pollute me; <i>touch me not;</i> I will not allow thee
any familiarity with me, <i>for I am holier than thou,</i> and
therefore thou art not good enough to converse with me; <i>I am not
as other men are, nor even as this publican.</i>" This they were
ready to say to every one they met with, so that, in saying, <i>I
am holier than thou,</i> they thought themselves holier than any,
not only very good, as good as they should be, as good as they
needed to be, but better than any of their neighbours. <i>These are
a smoke in my nose</i> (says God), such a smoke as comes not from a
quick fire, which soon becomes glowing and pleasant, but from a
fire of wet wood, which <i>burns all the day,</i> and is nothing
but smoke. Note, Nothing in men is more odious and offensive to God
than a proud conceit of themselves and contempt of others; for
commonly those are most unholy of all that think themselves holier
than any.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p13" shownumber="no">(2.) The controversy God had with them for
this. The proof against them is plain: <i>Behold, it is written
before me,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.6" parsed="|Isa|65|6|0|0" passage="Isa 65:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>.
It is written, to be remembered against them in time to come; for
they may not perhaps be immediately reckoned with. The sins of
sinners, and particularly the vainglorious boasts and scorns of
hypocrites, are <i>laid up in store</i> with God, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.34" parsed="|Deut|32|34|0|0" passage="De 32:34">Deut. xxxii. 34</scripRef>. And what is written
shall be read and proceeded upon: "<i>I will not keep silence</i>
always, though I may keep silence long." They shall not think him
altogether such a one as themselves, as sometimes they have done;
but <i>he will recompense, even recompense into their bosom.</i>
Those basely abuse religion, that honourable and sacred thing, who
make their profession of it the matter of their pride, and the
jealous God will reckon with them for it; the profession they boast
of shall but serve to aggravate their condemnation. [1.] The
<i>iniquity of their fathers</i> shall come against them; not but
that their own sin deserved whatever judgments God brought upon
them, and much heavier; and this they owned, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.13" parsed="|Ezra|9|13|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:13">Ezra ix. 13</scripRef>. But God would not have wrought
so great a desolation upon them if he had not therein had an eye to
the sins of their fathers. Therefore in the last destruction of
Jerusalem God is said to bring upon them the blood of the
Old-Testament martyrs, even that of <i>Abel,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.35" parsed="|Matt|23|35|0|0" passage="Mt 23:35">Matt. xxiii. 35</scripRef>. God will reckon with them,
not only for their fathers' idols, but for their <i>high
places,</i> their <i>burning incense upon the mountains and the
hills,</i> though perhaps it was to the true God only. This was
blaspheming or reproaching God; it was a reflection upon the choice
he had made of the place where he would record his name, and the
promise he had made that there he would meet them and bless them.
[2.] Their own with that shall bring ruin upon them: <i>Your
iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers</i> together, the one
aggravating the other, constitute the former work, which, though it
may seem to be overlooked and forgotten, shall be <i>measured into
their bosom.</i> God will render into the bosom, not only of his
open enemies (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.12" parsed="|Ps|79|12|0|0" passage="Ps 79:12">Ps. lxxix.
12</scripRef>), but of his false and treacherous friends, <i>the
reproach wherewith they have reproached him.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.lxvi-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.8-Isa.65.10" parsed="|Isa|65|8|65|10" passage="Isa 65:8-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lxvi-p13.7">
<h4 id="Is.lxvi-p13.8">Promises of Mercy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxvi-p13.9">b. c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lxvi-p14" shownumber="no">8 Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxvi-p14.1">Lord</span>, As the new wine is found in the cluster,
and <i>one</i> saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing <i>is</i> in
it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy
them all.   9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and
out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall
inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.   10 And Sharon
shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the
herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p15" shownumber="no">This is expounded by St. <i>Paul,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.1-Rom.11.5" parsed="|Rom|11|1|11|5" passage="Ro 11:1-5">Rom. xi. 1-5</scripRef>, where, when,
upon occasion of the rejection of the Jews, it is asked, <i>Hath
God then cast away his people?</i> he answers, No; for <i>at this
time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.</i>
This prophecy has reference to that distinguished remnant. When
that hypocritical nation is to be destroyed God will separate and
secure to himself some from among them; some of the Jews shall be
brought to embrace the Christian faith, shall be added to the
church, and so be saved. And our Saviour has told us that <i>for
the sake of these elect</i> the days of the destruction of the Jews
should be shortened, and a stop put to the desolation, which
otherwise would have proceeded to such a degree that <i>no flesh
should be saved,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.22" parsed="|Matt|24|22|0|0" passage="Mt 24:22">Matt. xxiv.
22</scripRef>. Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p16" shownumber="no">I. This is illustrated here by a
comparison, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.8" parsed="|Isa|65|8|0|0" passage="Isa 65:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
When a vine is so blasted and withered that there seems to be no
sap nor life in it, and therefore the dresser of the vineyard is
inclined to pluck it up or cut it down, yet, if ever so little of
the juice of the grape, fit to make new wine, be found, though but
in one cluster, a stander-by interposes, and says, <i>Destroy it
not, for a blessing is in it;</i> there is life in the root, and
hope that yet it may become good for something. Good men are
blessings to the places where they live; and sometimes God spares
whole cities and nations for the sake of a few such in them. How
ambitious should we be of this honor, not only to be distinguished
from others, but serviceable to others!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p17" shownumber="no">II. Here is a description of those that
shall make up this saved saving remnant. 1. They are such as serve
God. It is <i>for my servants' sake</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.8" parsed="|Isa|65|8|0|0" passage="Isa 65:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), and they are <i>my servants</i>
that <i>shall dwell there,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.9" parsed="|Isa|65|9|0|0" passage="Isa 65:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. God's faithful servants, however
they are looked upon, are the best friends their country has; and
those who serve him do therein <i>serve their generation.</i> 2.
They are such as seek God, make it the end of their lives to
glorify God and the business of their lives to call upon him. It is
<i>for my people that have sought me.</i> Those that seek God shall
find him, and shall find him their bountiful rewarder.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p18" shownumber="no">III. Here is an account of the mercy God
has in store for them. The remnant that shall return out of
captivity shall have a happy settlement again in their own land,
and that by an hereditary right, as <i>a seed out of Jacob,</i> in
whom the family is kept up and the entail preserved, and from whom,
as from the seed sown, shall spring a numerous increase; and these
typify the remnant of Jacob that shall be incorporated into the
gospel church by faith. 1. They shall have a good portion for
themselves. They shall inherit <i>my mountains,</i> the holy
mountains on which Jerusalem and the temple were built, or the
mountains of Canaan, <i>the land of promise,</i> typifying the
covenant of grace, which all God's servants, his elect, both
inhabit and inherit; they make it their refuge, their rest and
residence, so they dwell in it, are at home in it; and they have
taken it to be their heritage for ever, and it shall be to them an
inheritance incorruptible. God's chosen, the spiritual seed of
praying Jacob, shall be the inheritors of his mountains of bliss
and joy, and shall be carried safely to them through the vale of
tears. 2. They shall have a green pasture for their flocks,
<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.10" parsed="|Isa|65|10|0|0" passage="Isa 65:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. <i>Sharon
and the valley of Achor</i> shall again be as well replenished as
ever they were with cattle. Sharon lay westward, near Joppa; Achor
lay eastward, near Jordan. It is therefore intimated that they
shall recover the possession of the whole land, that they shall
have wherewith to stock it all, and that they shall peaceably enjoy
it and there shall be none to disturb them nor make them afraid.
Gospel-ordinances are the fields and valleys where the sheep of
Christ <i>shall go in and out and find pasture</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:John.10.9" parsed="|John|10|9|0|0" passage="Joh 10:9">John x. 9</scripRef>), and where they are
<i>made to lie down</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.23.2" parsed="|Ps|23|2|0|0" passage="Ps 23:2">Ps. xxiii.
2</scripRef>), as Israel's herds in <i>the valley of Achor,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.15" parsed="|Hos|2|15|0|0" passage="Ho 2:15">Hos. ii. 15</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.lxvi-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.11-Isa.65.16" parsed="|Isa|65|11|65|16" passage="Isa 65:11-16" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lxvi-p18.6">
<h4 id="Is.lxvi-p18.7">Predictions of Punishment. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxvi-p18.8">b. c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lxvi-p19" shownumber="no">11 But ye <i>are</i> they that forsake the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxvi-p19.1">Lord</span>, that forget my holy mountain, that
prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering
unto that number.   12 Therefore will I number you to the
sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I
called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did
evil before mine eyes, and did choose <i>that</i> wherein I
delighted not.   13 Therefore thus saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxvi-p19.2">God</span>, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall
be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be
thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be
ashamed:   14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart,
but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation
of spirit.   15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto
my chosen: for the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxvi-p19.3">God</span> shall
slay thee, and call his servants by another name:   16 That he
who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of
truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of
truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they
are hid from mine eyes.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p20" shownumber="no">Here the different states of the godly and
wicked, of the Jews that believed and of those that still persisted
in unbelief, are set the one over—against the other, as life and
death, good and evil, the blessing and the curse.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p21" shownumber="no">I. Here is the fearful doom of those that
persisted in their idolatry after the deliverance out of Babylon,
and in infidelity after the preaching of the gospel of Christ.
Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p22" shownumber="no">1. What the doom is that is here
threatened: "<i>I will number you to the sword</i> as sheep for the
slaughter, and there shall be no escaping, no standing out; <i>you
shall all bow down to it,</i>" <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.12" parsed="|Isa|65|12|0|0" passage="Isa 65:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. God's judgments come, (1.)
Regularly, and are executed according to the commission. Those fall
by the sword that are numbered or counted out to it, and none
besides. Though the sword seems to devour promiscuously <i>one as
well as another,</i> yet it is made to know its number and shall
not exceed. (2.) Irresistibly. The strongest and most stout-hearted
sinners shall be forced to bow before them; for none ever hardened
their hearts against God and prospered.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p23" shownumber="no">2. What the sins are that number them to
the sword. (1.) Idolatry was the ancient sin (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.11" parsed="|Isa|65|11|0|0" passage="Isa 65:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): "<i>You are those</i> who,
instead of seeking me and serving me as my people, <i>forsake the
Lord,</i> disown him, and cast him off to embrace other gods, who
<i>forget my holy mountain</i> (the privileges it confers and the
obligations it lays you under) to burn incense upon the mountains
of your idols (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.7" parsed="|Isa|65|7|0|0" passage="Isa 65:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>), and have deserted the one only living and true God."
They <i>prepared a table for that troop of</i> deities which the
heathen worship and <i>poured out drink-offerings to that</i>
numberless number of them; for those that thought one God too
little never thought scores and hundreds sufficient, but were still
adding to the number of them, till they had as many gods as cities
and their altars were as thick as <i>heaps in the furrows of the
field,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.11" parsed="|Hos|12|11|0|0" passage="Ho 12:11">Hos. xii. 11</scripRef>.
Some take <i>Gad</i> and <i>Meni,</i> which we translate <i>a
troop</i> and <i>a number,</i> to be the proper names of two of
their idols, answering to Jupiter and Mercury. Whatever they were,
their worshippers spared no cost to do them honour; they prepared a
table for them, and filled out mixed wine for drink-offerings to
them; they would pinch their families rather than stint their
devotions, which should shame the worshippers of the true God out
of their niggardliness. (2.) Infidelity was the sin of the later
Jews (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.12" parsed="|Isa|65|12|0|0" passage="Isa 65:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>):
<i>When I called, you did not answer,</i> which refers to the same
that <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p23.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.2" parsed="|Isa|65|2|0|0" passage="Isa 65:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef> did (<i>I
have stretched out my hands to a rebellious people</i>), and that
is applied to those who rejected the gospel. Our Lord Jesus himself
called (he <i>stood and cried,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p23.6" osisRef="Bible:John.7.37" parsed="|John|7|37|0|0" passage="Joh 7:37">John vii. 37</scripRef>), but they did not hear, they
would not answer; they were not convinced by his reasonings nor
moved by his expostulations; both the fair warnings he gave them of
death and ruin and the fair offers he made them of life and
happiness were slighted and made no impression upon them. Yet this
was not all: <i>You did evil before my eyes,</i> not by surprise,
or through inadvertency, but with deliberation: <i>You did choose
that wherein I delighted not;</i> he means that which he utterly
detested and abhorred. It is not strange that those who will not be
persuaded to choose that which is good persist in their choice and
pursuit of that which is evil. See the malignity of sin; it is evil
in God's eyes, highly offensive to him, and yet it is committed
before his eyes, in his sight and presence, and in contempt of him;
it is likewise a contradiction to the will of God; it is doing
that, of choice, which we know will displease him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p24" shownumber="no">II. The aggravation of this doom, from the
consideration of the happy state of those that were brought to
repentance and faith.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p25" shownumber="no">1. The blessedness of those that serve God,
and the woeful condition of those that rebel against him, are here
set the <i>one over—against the other,</i> that they may serve as
a foil to each other, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.13-Isa.65.16" parsed="|Isa|65|13|65|16" passage="Isa 65:13-16"><i>v.</i>
13-16</scripRef>. (1.) God's servants may well think themselves
happy, and for ever indebted to that free grace which made them so,
when they see how miserable some of their neighbours are for want
of that grace, who are hardened, and likely to perish for ever in
unbelief, and what a narrow escape they had of being among them.
See <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.24" parsed="|Isa|66|24|0|0" passage="Isa 66:24"><i>ch.</i> lxvi. 24</scripRef>.
(2.) It will add to the grief of those that perish to see the
happiness of God's servants (whom they had hated, and vilified, and
looked upon with the utmost disdain), and especially to think that
they might have shared in their bliss if it had not been their own
fault. It made the torment of the rich man in hell the more
grievous that he <i>saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his
bosom,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.23" parsed="|Luke|16|23|0|0" passage="Lu 16:23">Luke xvi. 23</scripRef>.
See <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.28" parsed="|Luke|13|28|0|0" passage="Lu 13:28">Luke xiii. 28</scripRef>.
Sometimes the providence of God makes such a difference as this
between good and bad in this world, and the prosperity of the
righteous becomes a grievous eye-sore and vexation of heart to the
wicked (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p25.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.112.10" parsed="|Ps|112|10|0|0" passage="Ps 112:10">Ps. cxii. 10</scripRef>), and
it will certainly be so in the great day. <i>We fools counted his
life madness and his end without honour; but now how is he numbered
with the saints and his lot is among the chosen.</i> Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p26" shownumber="no">2. The difference of their states lies in
two things:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p27" shownumber="no">(1.) In point of comfort and satisfaction.
[1.] God's servants shall eat and drink; they shall have the bread
of life to feed, to feast upon, continually, shall be abundantly
replenished with the goodness of his house, and shall want nothing
that is good for them. Heaven's happiness will be to them an
everlasting feast; they shall be filled with that which now they
hunger and thirst after. But those who set their hearts upon the
world, and place their happiness in that, shall be hungry and
thirsty, always empty, always craving; for it is not bread; it
surfeits, but it satisfies not. In communion with God, and
dependence upon him, there is full satisfaction; but in sinful
pursuits there is nothing but disappointment. [2.] God's servants
<i>shall rejoice</i> and sing for joy of heart. They have constant
cause for joy, and there is nothing that may be an occasion of
grief to them but they have an allay sufficient for it; and, as far
as faith is in act and exercise, they have a heart to rejoice, and
their joy is their strength. They shall rejoice in their hope,
because it shall not make them ashamed. Heaven will be a world of
everlasting joy to all that are now sowing in tears. But, on the
other hand, those that forsake the Lord shut themselves out from
all true joy, for <i>they shall be ashamed</i> of their vain
confidence in themselves, and their own righteousness, and the
hopes they had built thereon. When the expectations of bliss
wherewith they had flattered themselves are frustrated, O what
confusion will fill their faces! Then shall they <i>cry for sorrow
of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit,</i> perhaps in this
world, when their laughter shall be turned into mourning and their
joy into heaviness, and certainly in that world where the torment
will be endless, easeless, and remediless—nothing but weeping, and
wailing, and gnashing of teeth, to eternity. Let these two be
compared, <i>Now he is comforted</i> and <i>thou art tormented,</i>
and which of the two will we choose to take our lot with?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p28" shownumber="no">(2.) In point of honour and reputation,
<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.15-Isa.65.16" parsed="|Isa|65|15|65|16" passage="Isa 65:15,16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>.
<i>The memory of the just is,</i> and shall be, <i>blessed, but the
name of the wicked shall rot.</i> [1.] The name of the idolaters
and unbelievers shall be left <i>for a curse,</i> shall be loaded
with ignominy and made for ever infamous. It shall be used in
giving bad characters—<i>Thou art as cruel as a Jew;</i> and in
imprecation—<i>God make thee as miserable as a Jew.</i> It shall
be <i>for a curse to God's chosen,</i> that is, for a warning to
them; they shall be afraid of falling under the curse upon the
Jewish nation, of perishing after the <i>same example of
unbelief.</i> The curse of those whom God rejects should make his
chosen stand in awe. <i>The Lord God shall slay thee;</i> he shall
quite extirpate the Jews and cut them off from being a people; they
shall no longer live as a nation, nor ever be incorporated again.
[2.] The name of God's chosen shall become a blessing: <i>He shall
call his servants by another name.</i> The children of the covenant
shall no longer be called <i>Jews,</i> but <i>Christians;</i> and
to them, under that name, all the promises and privileges of the
new covenant shall be secured. This other name shall be an
honourable name; it shall not be confined to one nation, but with
it men shall <i>bless themselves in the earth,</i> all the world
over. God shall have servants out of all nations who shall all be
dignified with this new name. They shall bless themselves <i>in the
God of truth. First,</i> They shall give honour to God both in
their prayers and in their solemn oaths, in their addresses for his
favour as their felicity and their appeals to his justice as their
Judge. This is a part of the homage we owe to God; we must bless
ourselves in him, that is, we must reckon that we have enough to
make us happy, that we need no more, and can desire no more, if we
have him for our God. It is of great consequence what we bless
ourselves in, what we most please ourselves with and value
ourselves by our interest in. Worldly people bless themselves in
the abundance they have of this world's goods (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.18 Bible:Luke.12.19" parsed="|Ps|49|18|0|0;|Luke|12|19|0|0" passage="Ps 49:18,Lu 12:19">Ps. xlix. 18; Luke xii. 19</scripRef>); but
God's servants bless themselves in him, as a God all-sufficient for
them. He is their crown of glory and diadem of beauty, their
strength and portion. By him also <i>they shall swear,</i> and not
by any creature or any false god. To his judgment they shall refer
their cause, from whom every man's judgment doth proceed.
<i>Secondly,</i> They shall give honour to him as <i>the God of
truth, the God of the Amen</i> (so the word is); some understand it
of Christ who is himself the <i>Amen,</i> the <i>faithful
witness</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.14" parsed="|Rev|3|14|0|0" passage="Re 3:14">Rev. iii. 14</scripRef>),
and in whom all the promises are <i>yea and amen,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p28.4" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.1.20" parsed="|2Cor|1|20|0|0" passage="2Co 1:20">2 Cor. i. 20</scripRef>. In him we must bless
ourselves, and by him we must swear unto the Lord and covenant with
him. He that is <i>blessed in the earth</i> (so some read it)
<i>shall be blessed in the true God,</i> for Christ is <i>the true
God and eternal life,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p28.5" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.20" parsed="|1John|5|20|0|0" passage="1Jo 5:20">1 John v.
20</scripRef>. And it was promised of old that <i>in him all the
families of the earth should be blessed,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p28.6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.3" parsed="|Gen|12|3|0|0" passage="Ge 12:3">Gen. xii. 3</scripRef>. Some read it, <i>He shall bless
himself in the God of the faithful people,</i> in God as the God of
all believers, desiring no more than to share in the blessings
wherewith they are blessed, to be dealt with as he deals with them.
<i>Thirdly,</i> They shall give him honour as the author of this
blessed change which they have the experience of; they shall think
themselves happy in having him for their God who has made them to
forget their former troubles, the remembrance of them being
swallowed up in their present comforts: <i>Because they are hidden
from God's eyes,</i> that is, they are quite taken away; for, if
there were any remainder of their troubles, God would be sure to
have his eye upon it, in compassion to them and concern for them.
They shall no longer feel them; for God will no longer see them. He
is pleased to speak as if he would make himself easy by making them
easy; and therefore they shall with a great deal of satisfaction
bless themselves in him.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.lxvi-p28.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.17-Isa.65.25" parsed="|Isa|65|17|65|25" passage="Isa 65:17-25" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lxvi-p28.8">
<h4 id="Is.lxvi-p28.9">Predictions of Happiness. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxvi-p28.10">b. c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lxvi-p29" shownumber="no">17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new
earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
  18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever <i>in that</i> which
I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her
people a joy.   19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in
my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her,
nor the voice of crying.   20 There shall be no more thence an
infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for
the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner
<i>being</i> a hundred years old shall be accursed.   21 And
they shall build houses, and inhabit <i>them;</i> and they shall
plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.   22 They shall
not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another
eat: for as the days of a tree <i>are</i> the days of my people,
and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.   23
They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for
they <i>are</i> the seed of the blessed of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxvi-p29.1">Lord</span>, and their offspring with them.   24
And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer;
and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.   25 The wolf
and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like
the bullock: and dust <i>shall be</i> the serpent's meat. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxvi-p29.2">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p30" shownumber="no">If these promises were in part fulfilled
when the Jews, after their return out of captivity, were settled in
peace in their own land and brought as it were into a new world,
yet they were to have their full accomplishment in the gospel
church, militant first and at length triumphant. <i>The Jerusalem
that is from above is free and is the mother of us all.</i> In the
graces and comforts which believers have in and from Christ we are
to look for this new heaven and new earth. It is in the gospel that
<i>old things have passed away and all things have become new,</i>
and by it that those who are in Christ are <i>new creatures,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.17" parsed="|2Cor|5|17|0|0" passage="2Co 5:17">2 Cor. v. 17</scripRef>. It was a
mighty and happy change that was described <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.16" parsed="|Isa|65|16|0|0" passage="Isa 65:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>, that <i>the former troubles
were forgotten;</i> but here it rises much higher: even the
<i>former world</i> shall be <i>forgotten</i> and <i>shall no more
come into mind.</i> Those that were converted to the Christian
faith were so transported with the comforts of it that all the
comforts they were before acquainted with became as nothing to
them; not only their foregoing griefs, but their foregoing joys,
were lost and swallowed up in this. The glorified saints will
<i>therefore</i> have forgotten this world, because they will be
entirely taken up with the other: <i>For, behold, I create new
heavens and a new earth.</i> See how inexhaustible the divine power
is; the same God that created one heaven and earth can create
another. See how entire the happiness of the saints is; it shall be
all of a piece; with the new heavens God will create them (if they
have occasion for it to make them happy) a new earth too. <i>The
world is yours</i> if you be Christ's, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p30.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.22" parsed="|1Cor|3|22|0|0" passage="1Co 3:22">1 Cor. iii. 22</scripRef>. When God is reconciled to us,
which gives us a new heaven, the creatures too are reconciled to
us, which gives us a new earth. The future glory of the saints will
be so entirely different from what they ever knew before that it
may well be called <i>new heavens and a new earth,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p30.4" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.3.13" parsed="|2Pet|3|13|0|0" passage="2Pe 3:13">2 Pet. iii. 13</scripRef>. <i>Behold, I make all
things new,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p30.5" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.5" parsed="|Rev|21|5|0|0" passage="Re 21:5">Rev. xxi.
5</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p31" shownumber="no">I. There shall be new joys. For, 1. All the
church's friends, and all that belong to her, shall rejoice
(<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.18" parsed="|Isa|65|18|0|0" passage="Isa 65:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): You shall
<i>be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create.</i> The new
things which God creates in and by his gospel are and shall be
matter of everlasting joy to all believers. <i>My servants shall
rejoice</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p31.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.13" parsed="|Isa|65|13|0|0" passage="Isa 65:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>), at last they shall, though now they mourn. <i>Enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord.</i> 2. The church shall be the
matter of their joy, so pleasant, so prosperous, shall her
condition be: <i>I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a
joy.</i> The church shall not only rejoice but be rejoiced in.
Those that have sorrowed with the church shall rejoice with her. 3.
The prosperity of the church shall be a rejoicing to God himself,
who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servants (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p31.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.19" parsed="|Isa|65|19|0|0" passage="Isa 65:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): <i>I will rejoice in
Jerusalem's</i> joy, and will <i>joy in my people;</i> for <i>in
all their affliction he was afflicted.</i> God will not only
rejoice in the church's well-doing, but will himself <i>rejoice to
do her good</i> and <i>rest in his love</i> to her, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p31.4" osisRef="Bible:Zeph.3.17" parsed="|Zeph|3|17|0|0" passage="Zep 3:17">Zeph. iii. 17</scripRef>. What God rejoices in
it becomes us to rejoice in. 4. There shall be no allay of this
joy, nor any alteration of this happy condition of the church:
<i>The voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her.</i> If this
relate to any state of the church in this life, it means no more
than that the former occasions of grief shall not return, but God's
people shall long enjoy an uninterrupted tranquillity. But in
heaven it shall have a full accomplishment, in respect both of the
perfection and the perpetuity of the promised joy; there <i>all
tears shall be wiped away.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p32" shownumber="no">II. There shall be new life, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.20" parsed="|Isa|65|20|0|0" passage="Isa 65:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Untimely deaths by the
sword or sickness shall be no more known as they have been, and by
this means there shall be <i>no more the voice of crying,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p32.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.19" parsed="|Isa|65|19|0|0" passage="Isa 65:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. When there
shall be <i>no more death</i> there shall be <i>no more sorrow,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p32.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.4" parsed="|Rev|21|4|0|0" passage="Re 21:4">Rev. xxi. 4</scripRef>. As death has
reigned by sin, so life shall reign by righteousness, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p32.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.14 Bible:Rom.5.21" parsed="|Rom|5|14|0|0;|Rom|5|21|0|0" passage="Ro 5:14,21">Rom. v. 14, 21</scripRef>. 1. Believers
through Christ shall be satisfied with life, though it be ever so
short on earth. If an infant end its days quickly, yet it shall not
be reckoned to die untimely; for the shorter its life is the longer
will its rest be. Though <i>death reign over those that have not
sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression,</i> yet they,
dying in the arms of Christ, the second Adam, and belonging to his
kingdom, are not to be called <i>infants of days,</i> but even the
child shall be reckoned to <i>die a hundred years old,</i> for he
shall rise again at full age, shall rise to eternal life. Some
understand it of children who in their childhood are so eminent for
wisdom and grace, and by death nipped in the blossom, that they may
be said to die a hundred years old. And, as for old men, it is
promised that <i>they shall fill their days</i> with the <i>fruits
of righteousness,</i> which they shall <i>still bring forth in old
age, to show that the Lord is upright,</i> and then it is a good
old age. An old man who is wise, and good, and useful, may truly be
said to have <i>filled his days.</i> Old men who have their hearts
upon the world have never filled their days, never have enough of
this world, but would still continue longer in it. But that man
dies old, and <i>satur dierum—full of days,</i> who, with Simeon,
having seen God's salvation, desires now to depart in peace. 2.
Unbelievers shall be unsatisfied and unhappy in life, though it be
ever so long. The sinner, though he live to <i>a hundred years old,
shall be accursed.</i> His living so long shall be no token to him
of the divine favour and blessing, nor shall it be any shelter to
him from the divine wrath and curse. The sentence he lies under
will certainly be executed, and his long life is but a long
reprieve; nay, it is itself a curse to him, for the longer he lives
the more wrath he treasures up against the day of wrath and the
more sins he will have to answer for. So that the matter is not
great whether our lives on earth be long or short, but whether we
live the lives of saints or the lives of sinners.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p33" shownumber="no">III. There shall be a new enjoyment of the
comforts of life. Whereas before it was very uncertain and
precarious, their enemies <i>inhabited the houses</i> which <i>they
built</i> and <i>ate the fruit</i> of the trees which <i>they
planted,</i> now it shall be otherwise; they shall <i>build houses
and inhabit them,</i> shall <i>plant vineyards</i> and <i>eat the
fruit of them,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.21-Isa.65.22" parsed="|Isa|65|21|65|22" passage="Isa 65:21,22"><i>v.</i> 21,
22</scripRef>. Their intimates that the labour of their hands shall
be blessed and be made to prosper; they shall gain what they aimed
at, and what they have gained shall be preserved and secured to
them; they shall enjoy it comfortably, and nothing shall embitter
it to them, and they shall live to enjoy it long. Strangers shall
not break in upon them, to expel them, and plant themselves in
their room, as sometimes they have done: <i>My elect shall wear
out,</i> or <i>long enjoy, the work of their hands;</i> it is
honestly got, and it will wear well; it is <i>the work of their
hands,</i> which they themselves have laboured for, and it is most
comfortable to enjoy that, and not to eat the <i>bread of
idleness,</i> or <i>bread of deceit.</i> If we have a heart to
enjoy it, that is the gift of God's grace (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p33.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.13" parsed="|Eccl|3|13|0|0" passage="Ec 3:13">Eccl. iii. 13</scripRef>); and, if we live to enjoy it
long, it is the gift of God's providence, for that is here
promised: <i>As the days of a tree are the days of my people;</i>
as the <i>days of an oak</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p33.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.13" parsed="|Isa|6|13|0|0" passage="Isa 6:13"><i>ch.</i> vi. 13</scripRef>), <i>whose substance is in
it, though it cast its leaves;</i> though it be stripped every
winter, it recovers itself again, and lasts many ages; as the days
<i>of the tree of life;</i> so the LXX. Christ is to them the tree
of life, and in him believers enjoy all those spiritual comforts
which are typified by the abundance of temporal blessings here
promised; and it shall not be in the power of their enemies to
deprive them of these blessings or disturb them in the enjoyment of
them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p34" shownumber="no">IV. There shall be a new generation rising
up in their stead to inherit and enjoy these blessings (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p34.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.23" parsed="|Isa|65|23|0|0" passage="Isa 65:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): <i>They shall not
labour in vain,</i> for they shall not only enjoy the work of their
hands themselves, but they shall leave it with satisfaction to
those that shall come after them, and not with such a melancholy
prospect as Solomon did, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p34.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.2.18-Eccl.2.19" parsed="|Eccl|2|18|2|19" passage="Ec 2:18,19">Eccl. ii.
18, 19</scripRef>. They shall not beget and <i>bring forth</i>
children <i>for trouble; for they are</i> themselves <i>the seed of
the blessed of the Lord,</i> and there is a blessing entailed upon
them by descent from their ancestors which <i>their offspring with
them</i> shall partake of, and shall be, as well as they, <i>the
seed of the blessed of the Lord.</i> They shall not bring forth for
trouble; for, 1. God will make their children that rise up comforts
to them; they shall have the joy of seeing them <i>walk in the
truth.</i> 2. He will make the times that come after comfortable to
their children. As they shall be good, so it shall be well with
them; they shall not be brought forth to days of trouble; nor shall
it ever be said, <i>Blessed is the womb that bore not.</i> In the
gospel church Christ's name shall be borne up by a succession. <i>A
seed shall serve him</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p34.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.30" parsed="|Ps|22|30|0|0" passage="Ps 22:30">Ps. xxii.
30</scripRef>), <i>the seed of the blessed of the Lord.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p35" shownumber="no">V. There shall be a good correspondence
between them and their God (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p35.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.24" parsed="|Isa|65|24|0|0" passage="Isa 65:24"><i>v.</i>
24</scripRef>): <i>Even before they call, I will answer.</i> God
will anticipate their prayers with the blessings of his goodness.
David did but say, <i>I will confess,</i> and <i>God forgave,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p35.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.32.5" parsed="|Ps|32|5|0|0" passage="Ps 32:5">Ps. xxxii. 5</scripRef>. The father of
the prodigal met him in his return. <i>While they are yet
speaking,</i> before they have finished their prayer, I will give
them the thing they pray for, or the assurances and earnests of it.
These are high expressions of God's readiness to hear prayer; and
this appears much more in the grace of the gospel than it did under
the law; we owe the comfort of it to the mediation of Christ as our
advocate with the Father and are obliged in gratitude to give a
ready ear to God's calls.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxvi-p36" shownumber="no">VI. There shall be a good correspondence
between them and their neighbours (<scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p36.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.25" parsed="|Isa|65|25|0|0" passage="Isa 65:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>): <i>The wolf and the lamb
shall feed together,</i> as they did in Noah's ark. God's people,
though they are as sheep in the midst of wolves, shall be safe and
unhurt; for God will not so much break the power and tie the hands
of their enemies as formerly, but he will turn their hearts, will
alter their dispositions by his grace. When Paul, who had been a
persecutor of the disciples (and who, being of the tribe of
Benjamin, ravened <i>as a wolf,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p36.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.27" parsed="|Gen|49|27|0|0" passage="Ge 49:27">Gen. xlix. 27</scripRef>) joined himself to them and
became one of them, then <i>the wolf and the lamb fed together.</i>
So also when the enmity between Jews and Gentiles was slain, all
hostilities ceased, and they fed together as one sheepfold under
Christ the great Shepherd, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p36.3" osisRef="Bible:John.10.16" parsed="|John|10|16|0|0" passage="Joh 10:16">John x.
16</scripRef>. The enemies of the church ceased to do the mischief
they had done, and its members ceased to be so quarrelsome with and
injurious to one another as they had been, so that there was none
either from without or from within to hurt or destroy, none to
disturb it, much less to ruin it, <i>in all the holy mountain;</i>
as was promised, <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p36.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.11.8" parsed="|Isa|11|8|0|0" passage="Isa 11:8"><i>ch.</i> xi.
9</scripRef>. For, 1. Men shall be changed: <i>The lion</i> shall
no more be a beast of prey, as perhaps he never would have been if
sin had not entered, but <i>shall eat straw like the bullock,</i>
shall <i>know his owner,</i> and <i>his master's crib,</i> as
<i>the ox</i> does. When those that lived by spoil and rapine, and
coveted to enrich themselves, right or wrong, are brought by the
grace of God to accommodate themselves to their condition, to live
by honest labour, and to be content with such things as they
have—when those that stole steal no more, but work with their
hands the thing that is good—then this is fulfilled, that <i>the
lion shall eat straw like the bullock.</i> 2. Satan shall be
chained, the dragon bound; for <i>dust shall be the serpent's meat
again.</i> That great enemy, when he has been let loose, has
glutted and regaled himself with the precious blood of saints, who
by his instigation have been persecuted, and with the precious
souls of sinners, who by his instigation have become persecutors
and have ruined themselves for ever; but now he shall be confined
to dust, according to the sentence, <i>On thy belly shalt thou go,
and dust shalt thou eat,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxvi-p36.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.14" parsed="|Gen|3|14|0|0" passage="Ge 3:14">Gen. iii.
14</scripRef>. All the enemies of God's church, that are subtle and
venomous as serpents, shall be conquered and subdued, and be made
to lick the dust, Christ shall reign as Zion's King till all the
enemies of his kingdom be made his footstool, and theirs too. In
the holy mountain above, and there only, shall this promise have
its full accomplishment, that there shall be none to hurt nor
destroy.</p>
</div></div2>