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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>I S A I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. LXIV.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This chapter goes on with that pathetic pleading prayer which the
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church offered up to God in the latter part of the foregoing chapter.
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They had argued from their covenant-relation to God and his interest
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and concern in them; now here,
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I. They pray that God would appear in some remarkable and surprising
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manner for them against his and their enemies,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+64:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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II. They plead what God had formerly done, and was always ready to do,
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for his people,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+64:3-5">ver. 3-5</A>.
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III. They confess themselves to be sinful and unworthy of God's favour,
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and that they had deserved the judgments they were now under,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+64:6,7">ver. 6, 7</A>.
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IV. They refer themselves to the mercy of God as a Father, and submit
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themselves to his sovereignty,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+64:8">ver. 8</A>.
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V. They represent the very deplorable condition they were in, and
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earnestly pray for the pardon of sin and the turning away of God's
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anger,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+64:9-12">ver. 9-12</A>.
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And this was not only intended for the use of the captive Jews, but may
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serve for direction to the church in other times of distress, what to
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ask of God and how to plead with him. Are God's people at any time in
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affliction, in great affliction? Let them pray, let them thus pray.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Isa64_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa64_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa64_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa64_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa64_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Prayer for the Divine Presence; Blessings Prepared for the Saints.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 706.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest
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come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
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2 As <I>when</I> the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the
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waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries,
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<I>that</I> the nations may tremble at thy presence!
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3 When thou didst terrible things <I>which</I> we looked not for,
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thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
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4 For since the beginning of the world <I>men</I> have not heard,
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nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God,
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beside thee, <I>what</I> he hath prepared for him that waiteth for
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him.
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5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness,
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<I>those that</I> remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth;
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for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be
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saved.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here,
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I. The petition is that God would appear wonderfully for them now,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:1,2"><I>v.</I> 1, 2</A>.
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Their case was represented in the close of the foregoing chapter as
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very sad and very hard, and in this case it was time to cry, "Help,
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Lord; O that God would manifest his zeal and his strength!" They had
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prayed
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:15"><I>ch.</I> lxiii. 15</A>)
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that God would <I>look down from heaven;</I> here they pray that he
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would come down to deliver them, as he had said,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+3:8">Exod. iii. 8</A>.
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1. They desire that God would in his providence manifest himself both
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to them and for them. When God works some extraordinary deliverance for
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his people he is said to <I>shine forth,</I> to show himself strong;
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so, here, they pray that he would <I>rend the heavens and come
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down,</I> as when he delivered David he is said to <I>bow the heavens,
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and come down</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+18:9">Ps. xviii. 9</A>),
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to display his power, and justice, and goodness, in an extraordinary
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manner, so that all may take notice of them and acknowledge them. This
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God's people desire and pray for, that they themselves having the
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satisfaction of seeing him though his way be in the sea, others may be
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made to see him when his way is in the clouds. This is applicable to
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the second coming of Christ, when <I>the Lord himself shall descend
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from heaven with a shout. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.</I>
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2. They desire that he would vanquish all opposition and that it might
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be made to give way before him: <I>That the mountains might flow down
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at thy presence,</I> that the fire of thy wrath may burn so fiercely
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against thy enemies as even to dissolve the rockiest mountains and melt
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them down before it, as metal in the furnace, which is made liquid and
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cast into what shape the operator pleases; so <I>the melting fire
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burns,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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Let things be put into a ferment, in order to a glorious revolution in
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favour of the church: <I>As the fire causes the waters to boil.</I>
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There is an allusion here, some think, to the <I>volcanoes,</I> or
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burning mountains, which sometimes send forth such sulphureous streams
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as make the adjacent rivers and seas to boil, which, perhaps, are left
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as sensible intimations of the power of God's wrath and warning--pieces
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of the final conflagration.
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3. They desire that this may tend very much to the glory and honour of
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God, <I>may make his name known,</I> not only to his friends (they knew
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it before, and trusted in his power), but to his adversaries likewise,
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that they may know it and <I>tremble at his presence,</I> and may say,
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with the men of Bethshemesh, <I>Who is able to stand before this holy
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Lord God? Who knows the power of his anger?</I> Note, Sooner or later
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God will make his name known to his adversaries and force those to
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<I>tremble at his presence</I> that would not come and worship in his
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presence. God's name, if it be not a stronghold for us, into which we
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may run and be safe, will be a strong-hold against us, out of the reach
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of which we cannot run and be safe. The day will come when nations
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shall be made to tremble at the presence of God, though they be ever so
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numerous and strong.</P>
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<P>
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II. The plea is that God had appeared wonderfully for his people
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formerly; and <I>thou hast,</I> therefore <I>thou wilt,</I> is good
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arguing at the throne of grace,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+10:17">Ps. x. 17</A>.</P>
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<P>
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1. They plead what he had done for his people Israel in particular when
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he brought them out of Egypt,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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He then <I>did terrible things</I> in the plagues of Egypt, <I>which
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they looked not for;</I> they despaired of deliverance, so far were
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they from any thought of being delivered with such a high hand and
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outstretched arm. Then he came down upon Mount Sinai in such terror as
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made that and the adjacent mountains to <I>flow down at his
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presence,</I> to <I>skip like rams</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+114:4">Ps. cxiv. 4</A>),
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to tremble, so that they were scattered and the perpetual hills were
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made to bow,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+3:6">Hab. iii. 6</A>.
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In the many great salvations God wrought for that people he did
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<I>terrible things which they looked not for,</I> made great men, that
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seemed as stately and strong as mountains, to fall before him, and
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great opposition to give way. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+5:4,5,Ps+68:7,8">Judg. v. 4, 5; Ps. lxviii. 7, 8</A>.
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Some refer this to the defeat of Sennacherib's powerful army, which was
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as surprising an instance of the divine power as the melting down of
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rocks and mountains would be.</P>
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<P>
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2. They plead what God had been used to do, and had declared his
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gracious purpose to do, for his people in general. The provision he has
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made for the safety and happiness of his people, even of all those that
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seek him, and serve him, and trust in him, is very rich and very ready,
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so that they need not fear being either disappointed of it, for it is
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sure, or disappointed in it, for it is sufficient.</P>
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<P>
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(1.) It is very rich,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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Men have not heard nor seen what God has <I>prepared for those that
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wait for him.</I> Observe the character of God's people; they are such
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as wait for him in the way of duty, wait for the salvation he has
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promised and designed for them. Observe where the happiness of this
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people is bound up; it is <I>what God has prepared for them,</I> what
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he has designed for them in his counsel and is in his providence and
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grace preparing for them and preparing them for, what he has
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<I>done</I> or <I>will</I> do, so it may be read. Some of the Jewish
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doctors have understood this of the blessings reserved for the days of
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the Messiah, and to them the apostle applies these words; and others
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extend them to the glories of the world to come. It is all that
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goodness which God has <I>laid up for those that fear him, and wrought
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for those that trust in him,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+31:19">Ps. xxxi. 19</A>.
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Of this it is here said that <I>since the beginning of the world,</I>
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in the most prying and inquisitive ages of it, men have not, either by
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hearing or seeing, the two learning senses, come to the full knowledge
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of it. None have seen, nor heard, nor can understand, but God himself,
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what the provision is that is made for the present and future felicity
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of holy souls. For,
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[1.] Much of it was concealed in former ages; they knew it not, because
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the <I>unsearchable riches of Christ</I> were <I>hidden in God,</I>
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were <I>hidden from the wise and prudent;</I> but in latter ages they
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were revealed by the gospel; so the apostle applies this
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+2:9">1 Cor. ii. 9</A>),
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for it follows
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
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<I>But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit;</I> compare
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+16:25,Eph+3:9">Rom. xvi. 25, 26, with Eph. iii. 9</A>.
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That which men had not heard <I>since the beginning of the world</I>
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they should hear before the end of it, and at the end of it should see,
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when the veil shall be rent to introduce the glory that is yet to be
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revealed. God himself knew what he had in store for believers, but
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none knew besides him.
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[2.] It cannot be fully comprehended by the human understanding, no,
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not when it is revealed; it is spiritual, and refined from those ideas
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which our minds are most apt to receive in this world of sense; it is
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very great, and will far outdo the utmost of our expectations. Even
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the present peace of believers, much more their future bliss, is such
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as surpasses all conception and expression,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+4:7">Phil. iv. 7</A>.
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None can comprehend it but God himself, whose understanding is
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infinite. Some give another reading of these words, referring the
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transcendency, not so much to the work itself as to the author of it:
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<I>Neither has the eye seen a god besides thee, who doth so</I> (or has
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done or can do so) <I>for him that waits for him.</I> We must infer
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from God's works of wonderous grace, as well as from his works of
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wondrous power, from the kind things, as well as from the great things,
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he does, that there is <I>no god like him,</I> nor any among the sons
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of the mighty to be compared with him.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) It is very ready
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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"<I>Thou meetest him that rejoices and works righteousness,</I> meetest
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him with that good which thou hast prepared for him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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and dost not forget <I>those that remember thee in thy ways.</I>" See
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here what communion there is between a gracious God and a gracious
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soul.
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[1.] What God expects from us, in order to our having communion with
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him. <I>First,</I> We must make conscience of doing our duty in every
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thing, we must <I>work righteousness,</I> must do that which is good
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and which the Lord our God requires of us, and must do it well.
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<I>Secondly,</I> We must be cheerful in doing our duty, we must
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<I>rejoice and work righteousness,</I> must delight ourselves in God
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and in his law, must be cheerful in his service and sing at our work.
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God loves a cheerful giver, a cheerful worshipper. We must <I>serve the
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Lord with gladness. Thirdly,</I> We must conform ourselves to all the
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methods of his providence concerning us and be suitably affected with
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them, must <I>remember him in his ways,</I> in all the ways wherein he
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walks, whether he walks towards us or walks contrary to us. We must
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mind him and make mention of him with thanksgiving when his ways are
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ways of mercy (<I>in a day of prosperity be joyful</I>), with patience
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and submission when he contends with us. <I>In the way of thy judgments
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we have waited for thee;</I> for <I>in a day of adversity</I> we must
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<I>consider.</I>
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[2.] We are here told what we may expect from God if we thus attend him
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in the way of duty: <I>Thou meetest him.</I> This intimates the
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friendship, fellowship, and familiarity to which God admits his people;
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he meets them, to converse with them, to manifest himself to them, and
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to receive their addresses,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+20:24.29:43">Exod. xx. 24; xxix. 43</A>.
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It likewise intimates his freeness and forwardness in doing them good;
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he will <I>anticipate them with the blessings of his goodness,</I> will
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<I>rejoice to do good</I> to those that <I>rejoice in working
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righteousness,</I> and wait to be gracious to those that <I>wait for
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him.</I> He meets his penitent people with a pardon, as the father of
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the prodigal met his returning son,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+15:20">Luke xv. 20</A>.
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He meets his praying people with an answer of peace, while they are yet
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speaking,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:24"><I>ch.</I> lxv. 24</A>.</P>
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<P>
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3. They plead the unchangeableness of God's favour and the stability of
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his promise, notwithstanding the sins of his people and his displeasure
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against them for their sins: "<I>Behold, thou hast</I> many a time
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<I>been wroth with us because we have sinned,</I> and we have been
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under the tokens of thy wrath; <I>but in those,</I> those ways of
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thine, the ways of mercy in which we have <I>remembered thee, in those
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is continuance,</I>" or "<I>in those thou art ever</I>" (his mercy
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endures for ever), "<I>and</I> therefore <I>we shall</I> at last <I>be
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saved,</I> though thou art wroth, and we have sinned." This agrees with
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the tenour of God's covenant, that, if we <I>forsake the law,</I> he
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will <I>visit our transgression with a rod,</I> but <I>his loving
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kindness</I> he <I>will not utterly take away, his covenant he will not
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break</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+89:30">Ps. lxxxix. 30</A>,
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&c.), and by this his people have been many a time saved from ruin when
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they were just upon the brink of it; see
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+78:38">Ps. lxxviii. 38</A>.
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And by this continuance of the covenant we hope to be saved, for its
|
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being an everlasting covenant is all our salvation. Though God has been
|
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angry with us for our sins, and justly, yet his anger has endured but
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for a moment and has been soon over; but <I>in his favour is life,</I>
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because <I>in it is continuance;</I> in the ways of his favour he
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proceeds and perseveres, and on that we depend for our salvation, see
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:7,8"><I>ch.</I> liv. 7, 8</A>.
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It is well for us that our hopes of salvation are built not upon any
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merit or sufficiency of our own (for in that there is no certainty,
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even Adam in innocency did not abide), but upon God's mercies and
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promises, for <I>in those,</I> we are sure, <I>is continuance.</I></P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Humble Confession.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 706.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>6 But we are all as an unclean <I>thing,</I> and all our
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righteousnesses <I>are</I> as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a
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leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
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7 And <I>there is</I> none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth
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up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from
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us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
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8 But now, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, thou <I>art</I> our father; we <I>are</I> the clay,
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and thou our potter; and we all <I>are</I> the work of thy hand.
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9 Be not wroth very sore, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, neither remember iniquity for
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ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we <I>are</I> all thy people.
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10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness,
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Jerusalem a desolation.
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11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised
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thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are
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laid waste.
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12 Wilt thou refrain thyself for these <I>things,</I> O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>? wilt
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thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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As we have the Lamentations of Jeremiah, so here we have the
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Lamentations of Isaiah; the subject of both is the same--the destruction
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of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans and the sin of Israel that brought that
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destruction--only with this difference, Isaiah sees it at a distance and
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laments it by the Spirit of prophecy, Jeremiah saw it accomplished. In
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these verses,</P>
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<P>
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I. The people of God in their affliction confess and bewail their sins,
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thereby justifying God in their afflictions, owning themselves unworthy
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of his mercy, and thereby both improving their troubles and preparing
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for deliverance. Now that they were under divine rebukes for sin they
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had nothing to trust to but the mere mercy of God and the continuance
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of that; for among themselves there is none to help, none to uphold,
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none to stand in the gap and make intercession, for they are all
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polluted with sin and therefore unworthy to intercede, all careless and
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remiss in duty and therefore unable and unfit to intercede.</P>
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<P>
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1. There was a general corruption of manners among them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>We are all as an unclean thing,</I> or as an unclean <I>person,</I>
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as one overspread with a leprosy, who was to be shut out of the camp.
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The body of the people were like one under a ceremonial pollution, who
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was not admitted into the courts of the tabernacle, or like one
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labouring under some loathsome disease, from the crown of the head to
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the sole of the foot <I>nothing but wounds and bruises,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:6"><I>ch.</I> i. 6</A>.
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We have all by sin become not only obnoxious to God's justice, but
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odious to his holiness; for sin is that <I>abominable thing which the
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Lord hates,</I> and cannot endure to look upon. <I>Even all our
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righteousnesses are as filthy rags.</I>
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(1.) "The best of our persons are so; we are all so corrupt and
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polluted that even those among us who pass for righteous men, in
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comparison with what our fathers were who <I>rejoiced and wrought
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righteousness</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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are but as filthy rags, fit to be case to the dunghill. <I>The best of
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them is as a brier.</I>"
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(2.) "The best of our performances are so. There is not only a general
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corruption of manners, but a general defection in the exercises of
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devotion too; those which pass for the <I>sacrifices of
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righteousness,</I> when they come to be enquired into, are <I>the torn,
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and the lame, and the sick,</I> and therefore are provoking to God, as
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nauseous as filthy rags." Our performances, though they be ever so
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plausible, if we depend upon them as our righteousness and think to
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merit by them at God's hand, are as filthy rags--rags, and will not
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cover us--filthy rags, and will but defile us. True penitents cast away
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their idols as filthy rags
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+30:22"><I>ch.</I> xxx. 22</A>),
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odious in their sight; here they acknowledge even their righteousness
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to be so in God's sight if he should deal with them in strict justice.
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Our best duties are so defective, and so far short of the rule, that
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they are as rags, and so full of sin and corruption cleaving to them
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that they are as filthy rags. When we would do good evil is present
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with us; and the iniquity of our holy things would be our ruin if we
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were under the law.</P>
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<P>
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2. There was a general coldness of devotion among them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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The measure was filled by the abounding iniquity of the people, and
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nothing was done to empty it.
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(1.) Prayer was in a manner neglected: "<I>There is none that calls on
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thy name,</I> none that seeks to thee for grace to reform us and take
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away sin, or for mercy to relieve us and take away the judgments which
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our sins have brought upon us." <I>Therefore</I> people are so bad,
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because they do not pray; compare
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+14:3,4">Ps. xiv. 3, 4</A>,
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<I>They have altogether become filthy, for they call not upon the
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Lord.</I> It bodes ill to a people when prayer is restrained among
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them.
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(2.) It was very negligently performed. If there was here and there one
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that called on God's name, it was with a great deal of indifferency:
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<I>There is none that stirs up himself to take hold of God.</I> Note,
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[1.] To pray is to <I>take hold of God,</I> by faith to take hold of
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the promises and the declarations God has made of his good-will to us
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and to plead them with him,--to take hold of him as of one who is about
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to depart from us, earnestly begging of him not to leave us, or of one
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that has departed, soliciting his return,--to take hold of him as he
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that wrestles takes hold of him he wrestles with; for the seed of Jacob
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wrestle with him and so prevail. But when we <I>take hold of God</I> it
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is as the boatman with his hook takes hold on the shore, as if he would
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pull the shore to him, but really it is to pull himself to the shore;
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so we pray, not to bring God to our mind, but to bring ourselves to
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him.
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[2.] Those that would take hold of God in prayer so as to prevail with
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him must stir up themselves to do it; all that is within us must be
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employed in the duty (and all little enough), our thoughts fixed and
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our affections flaming. In order hereunto all that is within us must be
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engaged and summoned into the service; we must <I>stir up the gift that
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is in us</I> by an actual consideration of the importance of the work
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that is before us and a close application of mind to it; but how can we
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expect that God should come to us in ways of mercy when there are none
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|
that do this, when those that profess to be intercessors are mere
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triflers?</P>
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<P>
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II. They acknowledge their afflictions to be the fruit and product of
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their own sins and God's wrath.
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1. They brought their troubles upon themselves by their own folly:
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"<I>We are all as an unclean thing, and</I> therefore <I>we do all fade
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away as a leaf</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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we not only wither and lose our beauty, but we fall and drop off" (so
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the word signifies) "as leaves in autumn; our profession of religion
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withers, and we grow dry and sapless; our prosperity withers and comes
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to nothing; we fall to the ground, as despicable and contemptible; and
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then <I>our iniquities like the wind have taken us away</I> and hurried
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us into captivity, as the winds in autumn blow off, and then blow away,
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the faded withered leaves,"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+1:3,4">Ps. i. 3, 4</A>.
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Sinners are blasted, and then carried away, by the malignant and
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violent wind of their own iniquity; it withers them and then ruins
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them.
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2. God brought their troubles upon them by his wrath
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
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<I>Thou hast hidden thy face from us;</I> hast been displeased with us
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and refused to afford us any succour. When they made themselves <I>as
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an unclean thing</I> no wonder that God turned his face away from them,
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as loathing them. Yet this was not all: <I>Thou hast consumed us
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because of our iniquities.</I> This is the same complaint with that
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+90:7,8">Ps. xc. 7, 8</A>),
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<I>We are consumed by thy anger;</I> thou hast <I>melted us,</I> so the
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word is. God had put them in the furnace, not to consume them as dross,
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but to melt them as gold, that they might be refined and new-cast.</P>
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<P>
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III. They claim relation to God as their God, and humbly plead it with
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him, and in consideration of it cheerfully refer themselves to him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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"<I>But now, O Lord! thou art our Father:</I> though we have conducted
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ourselves very undutifully and ungratefully towards thee, yet still we
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have owned thee as our Father; and, though thou hast corrected us, yet
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thou hast not cast us off. Foolish and careless as we are, poor and
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despised and trampled upon as we are by our enemies, yet still <I>thou
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art our Father;</I> to thee therefore we return in our repentance, as
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the prodigal arose and came to his father; to thee we address ourselves
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by prayer; from whom should we expect relief and succour but from our
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Father? It is the wrath of a Father that we are under, who will be
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reconciled and not <I>keep his anger for ever.</I>" God is their
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Father,
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1. By creation; he gave them their being, formed them into a people,
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shaped them as he pleased: "<I>We are the clay and thou our potter,</I>
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|
therefore we will not quarrel with thee, however thou art pleased to
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deal with us,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+18:6">Jer. xviii. 6</A>.
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Nay, therefore we will hope that thou wilt deal well with us, that thou
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who madest us wilt new-make us, new-form us, though we have unmade and
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deformed ourselves: <I>We are all as an unclean thing,</I> but <I>we
|
|
are all the work of thy hands,</I> therefore do away our uncleanness,
|
|
that we may be fit for thy use, the use we were made for. We are the
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|
<I>work of thy hands,</I> therefore <I>forsake us not,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+138:8">Ps. cxxxviii. 8</A>.
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2. By covenant; this is pleaded
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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"<I>Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people,</I> all the
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people thou hast in the world, that make open profession of thy name.
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We are called <I>thy people,</I> our neighbours look upon us as such,
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and therefore what we suffer reflects upon thee, and the relief that
|
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our case requires is expected from thee. <I>We are thy people;</I> and
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<I>should not a people seek unto their God?</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+8:19"><I>ch.</I> viii. 19</A>.
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<I>We are thine; save us,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:94">Ps. cxix. 94</A>.
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Note, When we are under providential rebukes from God it is good to
|
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keep fast hold of our covenant-relation to him.</P>
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<P>
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IV. They are importunate with God for the turning away of his anger and
|
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the pardoning of their sins
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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"<I>Be not wroth very sore, O Lord!</I> though we have deserved that
|
|
thou shouldst, <I>neither remember iniquity for ever</I> against us."
|
|
They do not expressly pray for the removal of the judgment they were
|
|
under; as to that, they refer themselves to God. But,
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1. They pray that God would be reconciled to them, and then they can be
|
|
easy whether the affliction be continued or removed: "<I>Be not wroth
|
|
to extremity,</I> but let thy anger be mitigated by the clemency and
|
|
compassion of a father." They do not say, <I>Lord, rebuke us not,</I>
|
|
for that may be necessary, but <I>Not in thy anger, not in thy hot
|
|
displeasure.</I> It is but <I>in a little wrath</I> that God <I>hides
|
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his face.</I>
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2. They pray that they may not be dealt with according to the desert of
|
|
their sin: <I>Neither remember iniquity for ever.</I> Such is the evil
|
|
of sin that it deserves to be remembered for ever; and this is that
|
|
which they deprecate, that consequence of sin, which is for ever. Those
|
|
make it to appear that they are truly humbled under the hand of God who
|
|
are more afraid of the terror of God's wrath, and the fatal
|
|
consequences of their own sin, than of any judgment whatsoever, looking
|
|
upon these as the sting of death.</P>
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<P>
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V. They lodge in the court of heaven a very melancholy representation,
|
|
or memorial, of the lamentable condition they were in and the ruins
|
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they were groaning under.
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1. Their own houses were in ruins,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
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The cities of Judah were destroyed by the Chaldeans and the inhabitants
|
|
of them were carried away, so that there was none to repair them or
|
|
take any notice of them, which would in a few years make them look like
|
|
perfect deserts: <I>Thy holy cities are a wilderness.</I> The cities of
|
|
Judah are called <I>holy cities,</I> for the people were unto God a
|
|
kingdom of priests. The cities had synagogues in them, in which God was
|
|
served; and therefore they lamented the ruins of them, and insisted
|
|
upon this in pleading with God for them, not so much that they were
|
|
stately cities, rich or ancient ones, but that they were holy cities,
|
|
cities in which God's name was known, professed, and called upon.
|
|
"These cities are a wilderness; the beauty of them is sullied; they are
|
|
neither inhabited nor visited, as formerly. <I>They have burnt up all
|
|
the synagogues of God in the land,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+74:8">Ps. lxxiv. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Nor was it only the smaller cities that were thus left as a wilderness
|
|
unfrequented, but even "<I>Zion is a wilderness;</I> the city of David
|
|
itself lies in ruins; Jerusalem, that was <I>beautiful for
|
|
situation</I> and <I>the joy of the whole earth,</I> is now deformed,
|
|
and has become the scorn and scandal of the whole earth; that noble
|
|
city is a desolation, a heap of rubbish." See what devastations sin
|
|
brings upon a people; and an external profession of sanctity will be no
|
|
fence against them; <I>holy cities,</I> if they become wicked cities,
|
|
will be soonest of all turned into a wilderness,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+3:2">Amos iii. 2</A>.
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|
|
2. God's house was in ruins,
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|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+63:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
This they lament most of all, that <I>the temple was burnt with
|
|
fire;</I> but, as soon as it was built, they were told what their sin
|
|
would bring it to.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+7:21">2 Chron. vii. 21</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>This house, which is high, shall be an astonishment.</I> Observe how
|
|
pathetically they bewail the ruins of the temple.
|
|
|
|
(1.) It was <I>their holy and beautiful house;</I> it was a most
|
|
sumptuous building, but the holiness of it was in their eye the
|
|
greatest beauty of it, and consequently the profanation of it was the
|
|
saddest part of its desolation and that which grieved them most, that
|
|
the sacred services which used to be performed there were discontinued.
|
|
|
|
(2.) It was the place <I>where their fathers praised God</I> with their
|
|
sacrifices and songs; what a pity is it that that should lie in ashes
|
|
which had been for so many ages the glory of their nation! It
|
|
aggravated their present disuse of the songs of Zion that their fathers
|
|
had so often praised God with them. They interest God in the cause when
|
|
they plead that it was the house where <I>he had been praised,</I> and
|
|
put him in mind too of his covenant with their fathers by taking notice
|
|
of their fathers' praising him.
|
|
|
|
(3.) With it <I>all their pleasant things were laid waste,</I> all
|
|
their desires and delights, all those things which were employed by
|
|
them in the service of God, which they had a great delight in; not only
|
|
the furniture of the temple, the altars and table, but especially the
|
|
sabbaths and new moons, and all their religious feasts, which they used
|
|
to keep with gladness, their ministers and solemn assemblies, these
|
|
were all a desolation. Note, God's people reckon their sacred things
|
|
their most delectable things; rob them of holy ordinances and the means
|
|
of grace, and you <I>lay waste all their pleasant things.</I> What have
|
|
they more? Observe here how God and his people have their interest
|
|
twisted and interchanged; when they speak of the cities for their own
|
|
habitation they call them <I>thy holy cities,</I> for to God they were
|
|
dedicated; when they speak of the temple wherein God dwelt they call it
|
|
<I>our beautiful</I> house and its furniture <I>our pleasant
|
|
things,</I> for they had heartily espoused it and all the interests of
|
|
it. If thus we interest God in all our concerns by devoting them to his
|
|
service, and interest ourselves in all his concerns by laying them near
|
|
our hearts, we may with satisfaction leave both with him, for he will
|
|
perfect both.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. They conclude with an affectionate expostulation, humbly arguing
|
|
with God concerning their present desolations
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+64:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things?</I> Or, <I>Canst thou
|
|
contain thyself at these things?</I> Canst thou see thy temple ruined
|
|
and not resent it, not revenge it? Has the jealous God forgotten to be
|
|
jealous?
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+74:22">Ps. lxxiv. 22</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Arise, O God! plead thy own cause.</I> Lord, thou art insulted, thou
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art blasphemed; and <I>wilt thou hold thy peace</I> and take no notice
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of it? Shall the highest affronts that can be done to Heaven pass
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unrebuked?" When we are abused we hold our peace, because vengeance
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does not belong to us, and because we have a God to refer our cause to.
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When God is injured in his honour it may justly be expected that he
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should speak in the vindication of it; his people prescribe not to him
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what he shall say, but their prayer is (as here)
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+83:1">Ps. lxxxiii. 1</A>,
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<I>Keep not thou silence, O God!</I> and
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:1">Ps. cix. 1</A>,
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"<I>Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise!</I> Speak for the
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conviction of thy enemies, speak for the comfort and relief of thy
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people; for <I>wilt thou afflict us very grievously,</I> or <I>afflict
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us for ever?</I>" It is a sore affliction to good people to see God's
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sanctuary laid waste and nothing done towards the raising of it out of
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its ruins. But God has said that he <I>will not contend for ever,</I>
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and therefore his people may depend upon it that their afflictions
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shall be neither to extremity nor to eternity, but <I>light</I> and
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<I>for a moment.</I></P>
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