mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 64.xml

<div2 id="Is.lxv" n="lxv" next="Is.lxvi" prev="Is.lxiv" progress="25.37%" title="Chapter LXIV">
<h2 id="Is.lxv-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.lxv-p0.2">CHAP. LXIV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.lxv-p1" shownumber="no">This chapter goes on with that pathetic pleading
prayer which the church offered up to God in the latter part of the
foregoing chapter. They had argued from their covenant-relation to
God and his interest and concern in them; now here, I. They pray
that God would appear in some remarkable and surprising manner for
them against his and their enemies, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.1-Isa.64.2" parsed="|Isa|64|1|64|2" passage="Isa 64:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. They plead what God had
formerly done, and was always ready to do, for his people,
<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.3-Isa.64.5" parsed="|Isa|64|3|64|5" passage="Isa 64:3-5">ver. 3-5</scripRef>. III. They
confess themselves to be sinful and unworthy of God's favour, and
that they had deserved the judgments they were now under, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.6-Isa.64.7" parsed="|Isa|64|6|64|7" passage="Isa 64:6,7">ver. 6, 7</scripRef>. IV. They refer
themselves to the mercy of God as a Father, and submit themselves
to his sovereignty, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.8" parsed="|Isa|64|8|0|0" passage="Isa 64:8">ver. 8</scripRef>.
V. They represent the very deplorable condition they were in, and
earnestly pray for the pardon of sin and the turning away of God's
anger, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.9-Isa.64.12" parsed="|Isa|64|9|64|12" passage="Isa 64:9-12">ver. 9-12</scripRef>. And
this was not only intended for the use of the captive Jews, but may
serve for direction to the church in other times of distress, what
to ask of God and how to plead with him. Are God's people at any
time in affliction, in great affliction? Let them pray, let them
thus pray.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.lxv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64" parsed="|Isa|64|0|0|0" passage="Isa 64" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.lxv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.1-Isa.64.5" parsed="|Isa|64|1|64|5" passage="Isa 64:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lxv-p1.8">
<h4 id="Is.lxv-p1.9">Prayer for the Divine Presence; Blessings
Prepared for the Saints. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lxv-p2" shownumber="no">1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that
thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy
presence,   2 As <i>when</i> the melting fire burneth, the
fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine
adversaries, <i>that</i> the nations may tremble at thy presence!
  3 When thou didst terrible things <i>which</i> we looked not
for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
  4 For since the beginning of the world <i>men</i> have not
heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God,
beside thee, <i>what</i> he hath prepared for him that waiteth for
him.   5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh
righteousness, <i>those that</i> remember thee in thy ways: behold,
thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we
shall be saved.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p3" shownumber="no">Here, I. The petition is that God would
appear wonderfully for them now, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.1-Isa.63.2" parsed="|Isa|63|1|63|2" passage="Isa 63:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. Their case was represented
in the close of the foregoing chapter as very sad and very hard,
and in this case it was time to cry, "Help, Lord; O that God would
manifest his zeal and his strength!" They had prayed (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.15" parsed="|Isa|63|15|0|0" passage="Isa 63:15"><i>ch.</i> lxiii. 15</scripRef>) that God would
<i>look down from heaven;</i> here they pray that he would come
down to deliver them, as he had said, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.8" parsed="|Exod|3|8|0|0" passage="Ex 3:8">Exod. iii. 8</scripRef>. 1. They desire that God would in
his providence manifest himself both to them and for them. When God
works some extraordinary deliverance for his people he is said to
<i>shine forth,</i> to show himself strong; so, here, they pray
that he would <i>rend the heavens and come down,</i> as when he
delivered David he is said to <i>bow the heavens, and come down</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.18.9" parsed="|Ps|18|9|0|0" passage="Ps 18:9">Ps. xviii. 9</scripRef>), to display
his power, and justice, and goodness, in an extraordinary manner,
so that all may take notice of them and acknowledge them. This
God's people desire and pray for, that they themselves having the
satisfaction of seeing him though his way be in the sea, others may
be made to see him when his way is in the clouds. This is
applicable to the second coming of Christ, when <i>the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout. Come, Lord Jesus, come
quickly.</i> 2. They desire that he would vanquish all opposition
and that it might be made to give way before him: <i>That the
mountains might flow down at thy presence,</i> that the fire of thy
wrath may burn so fiercely against thy enemies as even to dissolve
the rockiest mountains and melt them down before it, as metal in
the furnace, which is made liquid and cast into what shape the
operator pleases; so <i>the melting fire burns,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.2" parsed="|Isa|63|2|0|0" passage="Isa 63:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Let things be put into a
ferment, in order to a glorious revolution in favour of the church:
<i>As the fire causes the waters to boil.</i> There is an allusion
here, some think, to the <i>volcanoes,</i> or burning mountains,
which sometimes send forth such sulphureous streams as make the
adjacent rivers and seas to boil, which, perhaps, are left as
sensible intimations of the power of God's wrath and
warning—pieces of the final conflagration. 3. They desire that
this may tend very much to the glory and honour of God, <i>may make
his name known,</i> not only to his friends (they knew it before,
and trusted in his power), but to his adversaries likewise, that
they may know it and <i>tremble at his presence,</i> and may say,
with the men of Bethshemesh, <i>Who is able to stand before this
holy Lord God? Who knows the power of his anger?</i> Note, Sooner
or later God will make his name known to his adversaries and force
those to <i>tremble at his presence</i> that would not come and
worship in his presence. God's name, if it be not a stronghold for
us, into which we may run and be safe, will be a strong-hold
against us, out of the reach of which we cannot run and be safe.
The day will come when nations shall be made to tremble at the
presence of God, though they be ever so numerous and strong.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p4" shownumber="no">II. The plea is that God had appeared
wonderfully for his people formerly; and <i>thou hast,</i>
therefore <i>thou wilt,</i> is good arguing at the throne of grace,
<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.17" parsed="|Ps|10|17|0|0" passage="Ps 10:17">Ps. x. 17</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p5" shownumber="no">1. They plead what he had done for his
people Israel in particular when he brought them out of Egypt,
<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.3" parsed="|Isa|63|3|0|0" passage="Isa 63:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He then <i>did
terrible things</i> in the plagues of Egypt, <i>which they looked
not for;</i> they despaired of deliverance, so far were they from
any thought of being delivered with such a high hand and
outstretched arm. Then he came down upon Mount Sinai in such terror
as made that and the adjacent mountains to <i>flow down at his
presence,</i> to <i>skip like rams</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.4" parsed="|Ps|114|4|0|0" passage="Ps 114:4">Ps. cxiv. 4</scripRef>), to tremble, so that they were
scattered and the perpetual hills were made to bow, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.6" parsed="|Hab|3|6|0|0" passage="Hab 3:6">Hab. iii. 6</scripRef>. In the many great
salvations God wrought for that people he did <i>terrible things
which they looked not for,</i> made great men, that seemed as
stately and strong as mountains, to fall before him, and great
opposition to give way. See <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Judg.5.4-Judg.5.5 Bible:Ps.68.7-Ps.68.8" parsed="|Judg|5|4|5|5;|Ps|68|7|68|8" passage="Jdg 5:4,5,Ps 68:7,8">Judg. v. 4, 5; Ps. lxviii. 7, 8</scripRef>.
Some refer this to the defeat of Sennacherib's powerful army, which
was as surprising an instance of the divine power as the melting
down of rocks and mountains would be.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p6" shownumber="no">2. They plead what God had been used to do,
and had declared his gracious purpose to do, for his people in
general. The provision he has made for the safety and happiness of
his people, even of all those that seek him, and serve him, and
trust in him, is very rich and very ready, so that they need not
fear being either disappointed of it, for it is sure, or
disappointed in it, for it is sufficient.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p7" shownumber="no">(1.) It is very rich, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.4" parsed="|Isa|63|4|0|0" passage="Isa 63:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Men have not heard nor seen what
God has <i>prepared for those that wait for him.</i> Observe the
character of God's people; they are such as wait for him in the way
of duty, wait for the salvation he has promised and designed for
them. Observe where the happiness of this people is bound up; it is
<i>what God has prepared for them,</i> what he has designed for
them in his counsel and is in his providence and grace preparing
for them and preparing them for, what he has <i>done</i> or
<i>will</i> do, so it may be read. Some of the Jewish doctors have
understood this of the blessings reserved for the days of the
Messiah, and to them the apostle applies these words; and others
extend them to the glories of the world to come. It is all that
goodness which God has <i>laid up for those that fear him, and
wrought for those that trust in him,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.31.19" parsed="|Ps|31|19|0|0" passage="Ps 31:19">Ps. xxxi. 19</scripRef>. Of this it is here said that
<i>since the beginning of the world,</i> in the most prying and
inquisitive ages of it, men have not, either by hearing or seeing,
the two learning senses, come to the full knowledge of it. None
have seen, nor heard, nor can understand, but God himself, what the
provision is that is made for the present and future felicity of
holy souls. For, [1.] Much of it was concealed in former ages; they
knew it not, because the <i>unsearchable riches of Christ</i> were
<i>hidden in God,</i> were <i>hidden from the wise and prudent;</i>
but in latter ages they were revealed by the gospel; so the apostle
applies this (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.2.9" parsed="|1Cor|2|9|0|0" passage="1Co 2:9">1 Cor. ii. 9</scripRef>),
for it follows (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.10" parsed="|Isa|63|10|0|0" passage="Isa 63:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>), <i>But God has revealed them unto us by his
Spirit;</i> compare <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.16.25 Bible:Eph.3.9" parsed="|Rom|16|25|0|0;|Eph|3|9|0|0" passage="Ro 16:25,Eph 3:9">Rom. xvi.
25, 26, with Eph. iii. 9</scripRef>. That which men had not heard
<i>since the beginning of the world</i> they should hear before the
end of it, and at the end of it should see, when the veil shall be
rent to introduce the glory that is yet to be revealed. God himself
knew what he had in store for believers, but none knew besides him.
[2.] It cannot be fully comprehended by the human understanding,
no, not when it is revealed; it is spiritual, and refined from
those ideas which our minds are most apt to receive in this world
of sense; it is very great, and will far outdo the utmost of our
expectations. Even the present peace of believers, much more their
future bliss, is such as surpasses all conception and expression,
<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Phil.4.7" parsed="|Phil|4|7|0|0" passage="Php 4:7">Phil. iv. 7</scripRef>. None can
comprehend it but God himself, whose understanding is infinite.
Some give another reading of these words, referring the
transcendency, not so much to the work itself as to the author of
it: <i>Neither has the eye seen a god besides thee, who doth so</i>
(or has done or can do so) <i>for him that waits for him.</i> We
must infer from God's works of wonderous grace, as well as from his
works of wondrous power, from the kind things, as well as from the
great things, he does, that there is <i>no god like him,</i> nor
any among the sons of the mighty to be compared with him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p8" shownumber="no">(2.) It is very ready (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.5" parsed="|Isa|63|5|0|0" passage="Isa 63:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "<i>Thou meetest him that
rejoices and works righteousness,</i> meetest him with that good
which thou hast prepared for him (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.4" parsed="|Isa|63|4|0|0" passage="Isa 63:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), and dost not forget <i>those
that remember thee in thy ways.</i>" See here what communion there
is between a gracious God and a gracious soul. [1.] What God
expects from us, in order to our having communion with him.
<i>First,</i> We must make conscience of doing our duty in every
thing, we must <i>work righteousness,</i> must do that which is
good and which the Lord our God requires of us, and must do it
well. <i>Secondly,</i> We must be cheerful in doing our duty, we
must <i>rejoice and work righteousness,</i> must delight ourselves
in God and in his law, must be cheerful in his service and sing at
our work. God loves a cheerful giver, a cheerful worshipper. We
must <i>serve the Lord with gladness. Thirdly,</i> We must conform
ourselves to all the methods of his providence concerning us and be
suitably affected with them, must <i>remember him in his ways,</i>
in all the ways wherein he walks, whether he walks towards us or
walks contrary to us. We must mind him and make mention of him with
thanksgiving when his ways are ways of mercy (<i>in a day of
prosperity be joyful</i>), with patience and submission when he
contends with us. <i>In the way of thy judgments we have waited for
thee;</i> for <i>in a day of adversity</i> we must <i>consider.</i>
[2.] We are here told what we may expect from God if we thus attend
him in the way of duty: <i>Thou meetest him.</i> This intimates the
friendship, fellowship, and familiarity to which God admits his
people; he meets them, to converse with them, to manifest himself
to them, and to receive their addresses, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.24 Bible:Exod.29.43" parsed="|Exod|20|24|0|0;|Exod|29|43|0|0" passage="Ex 20:24.29:43">Exod. xx. 24; xxix. 43</scripRef>. It likewise
intimates his freeness and forwardness in doing them good; he will
<i>anticipate them with the blessings of his goodness,</i> will
<i>rejoice to do good</i> to those that <i>rejoice in working
righteousness,</i> and wait to be gracious to those that <i>wait
for him.</i> He meets his penitent people with a pardon, as the
father of the prodigal met his returning son, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Luke.15.20" parsed="|Luke|15|20|0|0" passage="Lu 15:20">Luke xv. 20</scripRef>. He meets his praying people with
an answer of peace, while they are yet speaking, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.24" parsed="|Isa|65|24|0|0" passage="Isa 65:24"><i>ch.</i> lxv. 24</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p9" shownumber="no">3. They plead the unchangeableness of God's
favour and the stability of his promise, notwithstanding the sins
of his people and his displeasure against them for their sins:
"<i>Behold, thou hast</i> many a time <i>been wroth with us because
we have sinned,</i> and we have been under the tokens of thy wrath;
<i>but in those,</i> those ways of thine, the ways of mercy in
which we have <i>remembered thee, in those is continuance,</i>" or
"<i>in those thou art ever</i>" (his mercy endures for ever),
"<i>and</i> therefore <i>we shall</i> at last <i>be saved,</i>
though thou art wroth, and we have sinned." This agrees with the
tenour of God's covenant, that, if we <i>forsake the law,</i> he
will <i>visit our transgression with a rod,</i> but <i>his loving
kindness</i> he <i>will not utterly take away, his covenant he will
not break</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.30" parsed="|Ps|89|30|0|0" passage="Ps 89:30">Ps. lxxxix.
30</scripRef>, &amp;c.), and by this his people have been many a
time saved from ruin when they were just upon the brink of it; see
<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.38" parsed="|Ps|78|38|0|0" passage="Ps 78:38">Ps. lxxviii. 38</scripRef>. And by
this continuance of the covenant we hope to be saved, for its being
an everlasting covenant is all our salvation. Though God has been
angry with us for our sins, and justly, yet his anger has endured
but for a moment and has been soon over; but <i>in his favour is
life,</i> because <i>in it is continuance;</i> in the ways of his
favour he proceeds and perseveres, and on that we depend for our
salvation, see <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.7-Isa.54.8" parsed="|Isa|54|7|54|8" passage="Isa 54:7,8"><i>ch.</i> liv. 7,
8</scripRef>. It is well for us that our hopes of salvation are
built not upon any merit or sufficiency of our own (for in that
there is no certainty, even Adam in innocency did not abide), but
upon God's mercies and promises, for <i>in those,</i> we are sure,
<i>is continuance.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.lxv-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.6-Isa.64.12" parsed="|Isa|64|6|64|12" passage="Isa 64:6-12" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lxv-p9.5">
<h4 id="Is.lxv-p9.6">Humble Confession. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxv-p9.7">b. c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lxv-p10" shownumber="no">6 But we are all as an unclean <i>thing,</i> and
all our righteousnesses <i>are</i> as filthy rags; and we all do
fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away.   7 And <i>there is</i> none that calleth upon thy name,
that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid
thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
  8 But now, <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxv-p10.1">O Lord</span>, thou
<i>art</i> our father; we <i>are</i> the clay, and thou our potter;
and we all <i>are</i> the work of thy hand.   9 Be not wroth
very sore, <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxv-p10.2">O Lord</span>, neither remember
iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we <i>are</i> all
thy people.   10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a
wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.   11 Our holy and our
beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with
fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.   12 Wilt
thou refrain thyself for these <i>things,</i> <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lxv-p10.3">O Lord</span>? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us
very sore?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p11" shownumber="no">As we have the Lamentations of Jeremiah, so
here we have the Lamentations of Isaiah; the subject of both is the
same—the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans and the sin of
Israel that brought that destruction—only with this difference,
Isaiah sees it at a distance and laments it by the Spirit of
prophecy, Jeremiah saw it accomplished. In these verses,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p12" shownumber="no">I. The people of God in their affliction
confess and bewail their sins, thereby justifying God in their
afflictions, owning themselves unworthy of his mercy, and thereby
both improving their troubles and preparing for deliverance. Now
that they were under divine rebukes for sin they had nothing to
trust to but the mere mercy of God and the continuance of that; for
among themselves there is none to help, none to uphold, none to
stand in the gap and make intercession, for they are all polluted
with sin and therefore unworthy to intercede, all careless and
remiss in duty and therefore unable and unfit to intercede.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p13" shownumber="no">1. There was a general corruption of
manners among them (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.6" parsed="|Isa|63|6|0|0" passage="Isa 63:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>): <i>We are all as an unclean thing,</i> or as an
unclean <i>person,</i> as one overspread with a leprosy, who was to
be shut out of the camp. The body of the people were like one under
a ceremonial pollution, who was not admitted into the courts of the
tabernacle, or like one labouring under some loathsome disease,
from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot <i>nothing but
wounds and bruises,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.6" parsed="|Isa|1|6|0|0" passage="Isa 1:6"><i>ch.</i> i.
6</scripRef>. We have all by sin become not only obnoxious to God's
justice, but odious to his holiness; for sin is that <i>abominable
thing which the Lord hates,</i> and cannot endure to look upon.
<i>Even all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.</i> (1.) "The
best of our persons are so; we are all so corrupt and polluted that
even those among us who pass for righteous men, in comparison with
what our fathers were who <i>rejoiced and wrought righteousness</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.5" parsed="|Isa|63|5|0|0" passage="Isa 63:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), are but as
filthy rags, fit to be case to the dunghill. <i>The best of them is
as a brier.</i>" (2.) "The best of our performances are so. There
is not only a general corruption of manners, but a general
defection in the exercises of devotion too; those which pass for
the <i>sacrifices of righteousness,</i> when they come to be
enquired into, are <i>the torn, and the lame, and the sick,</i> and
therefore are provoking to God, as nauseous as filthy rags." Our
performances, though they be ever so plausible, if we depend upon
them as our righteousness and think to merit by them at God's hand,
are as filthy rags—rags, and will not cover us—filthy rags, and
will but defile us. True penitents cast away their idols as filthy
rags (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.22" parsed="|Isa|30|22|0|0" passage="Isa 30:22"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 22</scripRef>),
odious in their sight; here they acknowledge even their
righteousness to be so in God's sight if he should deal with them
in strict justice. Our best duties are so defective, and so far
short of the rule, that they are as rags, and so full of sin and
corruption cleaving to them that they are as filthy rags. When we
would do good evil is present with us; and the iniquity of our holy
things would be our ruin if we were under the law.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p14" shownumber="no">2. There was a general coldness of devotion
among them, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.7" parsed="|Isa|63|7|0|0" passage="Isa 63:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>.
The measure was filled by the abounding iniquity of the people, and
nothing was done to empty it. (1.) Prayer was in a manner
neglected: "<i>There is none that calls on thy name,</i> none that
seeks to thee for grace to reform us and take away sin, or for
mercy to relieve us and take away the judgments which our sins have
brought upon us." <i>Therefore</i> people are so bad, because they
do not pray; compare <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.3-Ps.14.4" parsed="|Ps|14|3|14|4" passage="Ps 14:3,4">Ps. xiv. 3,
4</scripRef>, <i>They have altogether become filthy, for they call
not upon the Lord.</i> It bodes ill to a people when prayer is
restrained among them. (2.) It was very negligently performed. If
there was here and there one that called on God's name, it was with
a great deal of indifferency: <i>There is none that stirs up
himself to take hold of God.</i> Note, [1.] To pray is to <i>take
hold of God,</i> by faith to take hold of the promises and the
declarations God has made of his good-will to us and to plead them
with him,—to take hold of him as of one who is about to depart
from us, earnestly begging of him not to leave us, or of one that
has departed, soliciting his return,—to take hold of him as he
that wrestles takes hold of him he wrestles with; for the seed of
Jacob wrestle with him and so prevail. But when we <i>take hold of
God</i> it is as the boatman with his hook takes hold on the shore,
as if he would pull the shore to him, but really it is to pull
himself to the shore; so we pray, not to bring God to our mind, but
to bring ourselves to him. [2.] Those that would take hold of God
in prayer so as to prevail with him must stir up themselves to do
it; all that is within us must be employed in the duty (and all
little enough), our thoughts fixed and our affections flaming. In
order hereunto all that is within us must be engaged and summoned
into the service; we must <i>stir up the gift that is in us</i> by
an actual consideration of the importance of the work that is
before us and a close application of mind to it; but how can we
expect that God should come to us in ways of mercy when there are
none that do this, when those that profess to be intercessors are
mere triflers?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p15" shownumber="no">II. They acknowledge their afflictions to
be the fruit and product of their own sins and God's wrath. 1. They
brought their troubles upon themselves by their own folly: "<i>We
are all as an unclean thing, and</i> therefore <i>we do all fade
away as a leaf</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.6" parsed="|Isa|63|6|0|0" passage="Isa 63:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>), we not only wither and lose our beauty, but we fall
and drop off" (so the word signifies) "as leaves in autumn; our
profession of religion withers, and we grow dry and sapless; our
prosperity withers and comes to nothing; we fall to the ground, as
despicable and contemptible; and then <i>our iniquities like the
wind have taken us away</i> and hurried us into captivity, as the
winds in autumn blow off, and then blow away, the faded withered
leaves," <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.1.3-Ps.1.4" parsed="|Ps|1|3|1|4" passage="Ps 1:3,4">Ps. i. 3, 4</scripRef>.
Sinners are blasted, and then carried away, by the malignant and
violent wind of their own iniquity; it withers them and then ruins
them. 2. God brought their troubles upon them by his wrath
(<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.7" parsed="|Isa|63|7|0|0" passage="Isa 63:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>Thou hast
hidden thy face from us;</i> hast been displeased with us and
refused to afford us any succour. When they made themselves <i>as
an unclean thing</i> no wonder that God turned his face away from
them, as loathing them. Yet this was not all: <i>Thou hast consumed
us because of our iniquities.</i> This is the same complaint with
that (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.7-Ps.90.8" parsed="|Ps|90|7|90|8" passage="Ps 90:7,8">Ps. xc. 7, 8</scripRef>), <i>We
are consumed by thy anger;</i> thou hast <i>melted us,</i> so the
word is. God had put them in the furnace, not to consume them as
dross, but to melt them as gold, that they might be refined and
new-cast.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p16" shownumber="no">III. They claim relation to God as their
God, and humbly plead it with him, and in consideration of it
cheerfully refer themselves to him (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.8" parsed="|Isa|63|8|0|0" passage="Isa 63:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): "<i>But now, O Lord! thou art
our Father:</i> though we have conducted ourselves very undutifully
and ungratefully towards thee, yet still we have owned thee as our
Father; and, though thou hast corrected us, yet thou hast not cast
us off. Foolish and careless as we are, poor and despised and
trampled upon as we are by our enemies, yet still <i>thou art our
Father;</i> to thee therefore we return in our repentance, as the
prodigal arose and came to his father; to thee we address ourselves
by prayer; from whom should we expect relief and succour but from
our Father? It is the wrath of a Father that we are under, who will
be reconciled and not <i>keep his anger for ever.</i>" God is their
Father, 1. By creation; he gave them their being, formed them into
a people, shaped them as he pleased: "<i>We are the clay and thou
our potter,</i> therefore we will not quarrel with thee, however
thou art pleased to deal with us, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.18.6" parsed="|Jer|18|6|0|0" passage="Jer 18:6">Jer.
xviii. 6</scripRef>. Nay, therefore we will hope that thou wilt
deal well with us, that thou who madest us wilt new-make us,
new-form us, though we have unmade and 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 <i>work of thy
hands,</i> therefore <i>forsake us not,</i>" <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.138.8" parsed="|Ps|138|8|0|0" passage="Ps 138:8">Ps. cxxxviii. 8</scripRef>. 2. By covenant; this is
pleaded (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.9" parsed="|Isa|63|9|0|0" passage="Isa 63:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>):
"<i>Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people,</i> all
the people thou hast in the world, that make open profession of thy
name. We are called <i>thy people,</i> our neighbours look upon us
as such, and therefore what we suffer reflects upon thee, and the
relief that our case requires is expected from thee. <i>We are thy
people;</i> and <i>should not a people seek unto their God?</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.19" parsed="|Isa|8|19|0|0" passage="Isa 8:19"><i>ch.</i> viii. 19</scripRef>. <i>We
are thine; save us,</i>" <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p16.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.94" parsed="|Ps|119|94|0|0" passage="Ps 119:94">Ps. cxix.
94</scripRef>. Note, When we are under providential rebukes from
God it is good to keep fast hold of our covenant-relation to
him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p17" shownumber="no">IV. They are importunate with God for the
turning away of his anger and the pardoning of their sins
(<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.9" parsed="|Isa|63|9|0|0" passage="Isa 63:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): "<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, 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 his face.</i> 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>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p18" shownumber="no">V. They lodge in the court of heaven a very
melancholy representation, or memorial, of the lamentable condition
they were in and the ruins they were groaning under. 1. Their own
houses were in ruins, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.10" parsed="|Isa|63|10|0|0" passage="Isa 63:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>. 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>" <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.74.8" parsed="|Ps|74|8|0|0" passage="Ps 74:8">Ps. lxxiv. 8</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.2" parsed="|Amos|3|2|0|0" passage="Am 3:2">Amos iii. 2</scripRef>. 2. God's house was in
ruins, <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.11" parsed="|Isa|63|11|0|0" passage="Isa 63:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. 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. <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.7.21" parsed="|2Chr|7|21|0|0" passage="2Ch 7:21">2 Chron. vii.
21</scripRef>, <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 class="indent" id="Is.lxv-p19" shownumber="no">VI. They conclude with an affectionate
expostulation, humbly arguing with God concerning their present
desolations (<scripRef id="Is.lxv-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.12" parsed="|Isa|64|12|0|0" passage="Isa 64:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>): "<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? <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.74.22" parsed="|Ps|74|22|0|0" passage="Ps 74:22">Ps. lxxiv. 22</scripRef>, <i>Arise, O God! plead thy own
cause.</i> Lord, thou art insulted, thou art blasphemed; and
<i>wilt thou hold thy peace</i> and take no notice of it? Shall the
highest affronts that can be done to Heaven pass unrebuked?" When
we are abused we hold our peace, because vengeance does not belong
to us, and because we have a God to refer our cause to. When God is
injured in his honour it may justly be expected that he should
speak in the vindication of it; his people prescribe not to him
what he shall say, but their prayer is (as here) <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.83.1" parsed="|Ps|83|1|0|0" passage="Ps 83:1">Ps. lxxxiii. 1</scripRef>, <i>Keep not thou silence, O
God!</i> and <scripRef id="Is.lxv-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.1" parsed="|Ps|109|1|0|0" passage="Ps 109:1">Ps. cix. 1</scripRef>,
"<i>Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise!</i> Speak for the
conviction of thy enemies, speak for the comfort and relief of thy
people; for <i>wilt thou afflict us very grievously,</i> or
<i>afflict us for ever?</i>" It is a sore affliction to good people
to see God's sanctuary laid waste and nothing done towards the
raising of it out of its ruins. But God has said that he <i>will
not contend for ever,</i> and therefore his people may depend upon
it that their afflictions shall be neither to extremity nor to
eternity, but <i>light</i> and <i>for a moment.</i></p>
</div></div2>