mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 54.xml

<div2 id="Is.lv" n="lv" next="Is.lvi" prev="Is.liv" progress="20.95%" title="Chapter LIV">
<h2 id="Is.lv-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.lv-p0.2">CHAP. LIV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.lv-p1" shownumber="no">The death of Christ is the life of the church and
of all that truly belong to it; and therefore very fitly, after the
prophet had foretold the sufferings of Christ, he foretels the
flourishing of the church, which is a part of his glory, and that
exaltation of him which was the reward of his humiliation: it was
promised him that he should see his seed, and this chapter is an
explication of that promise. It may easily be granted that it has a
primary reference to the welfare and prosperity of the Jewish
church after their return out of Babylon, which (as other things
that happened to them) was typical of the glorious liberty of the
children of God, which through Christ we are brought into; yet it
cannot be denied but that it has a further and principal reference
to the gospel church, into which the Gentiles were to be admitted.
And the first words being understood by the apostle Paul of the
New-Testament Jerusalem (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.26" parsed="|Gal|4|26|0|0" passage="Ga 4:26">Gal. iv.
26</scripRef>) may serve as a key to the whole chapter and that
which follows. It is here promised concerning the Christian church,
I. That, though the beginnings of it were small, it should be
greatly enlarged by the accession of many to it among the Gentiles,
who had been wholly destitute of church privileges, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.1-Isa.54.5" parsed="|Isa|54|1|54|5" passage="Isa 54:1-5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. That though sometimes
God might seem to withdraw from her, and suspend the tokens of his
favour, he would return in mercy and would not return to contend
with them any more, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.6-Isa.54.10" parsed="|Isa|54|6|54|10" passage="Isa 54:6-10">ver.
6-10</scripRef>. III. That, though for a while she was in sorrow
and under oppression, she should at length be advanced to greater
honour and splendour than ever, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.11-Isa.54.12" parsed="|Isa|54|11|54|12" passage="Isa 54:11,12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>. IV. That knowledge,
righteousness, and peace, should flourish and prevail, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.13-Isa.54.14" parsed="|Isa|54|13|54|14" passage="Isa 54:13,14">ver. 13, 14</scripRef>. V. That all attempts
against the church should be baffled, and she should be secured
from the malice of her enemies, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.14-Isa.54.17" parsed="|Isa|54|14|54|17" passage="Isa 54:14-17">ver. 14-17</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.lv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54" parsed="|Isa|54|0|0|0" passage="Isa 54" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.lv-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.1-Isa.54.5" parsed="|Isa|54|1|54|5" passage="Isa 54:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lv-p1.9">
<h4 id="Is.lv-p1.10">The Prosperity of the
Church. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lv-p1.11">b. c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lv-p2" shownumber="no">1 Sing, O barren, thou <i>that</i> didst not
bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou <i>that</i>
didst not travail with child: for more <i>are</i> the children of
the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lv-p2.1">Lord</span>.   2 Enlarge the place of thy
tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations:
spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;   3
For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities
to be inhabited.   4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed:
neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for
thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember
the reproach of thy widowhood any more.   5 For thy Maker
<i>is</i> thine husband; the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lv-p2.2">Lord</span> of
hosts <i>is</i> his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel;
The God of the whole earth shall he be called.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p3" shownumber="no">If we apply this to the state of the Jews
after their return out of captivity, it is a prophecy of the
increase of their nation after they were settled in their own land.
Jerusalem had been in the condition of a wife written childless, or
a desolate solitary widow; but now it is promised that the city
should be replenished and the country peopled again, that not only
the ruins of Jerusalem should be repaired, but the suburbs of it
extended on all sides and a great many buildings erected upon new
foundations,—that those estates which had for many years been
wrongfully held by the Babylonian Gentiles should now return to the
right owners. God will again be a husband to them, and the reproach
of their captivity, and the small number to which they were then
reduced, shall be forgotten. And it is to be observed that, by
virtue of the ancient promise made to Abraham of the increase of
his seed, when they were restored to God's favour they multiplied
greatly. Those that first came out of Babylon were but 42,000
(<scripRef id="Is.lv-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.2.64" parsed="|Ezra|2|64|0|0" passage="Ezr 2:64">Ezra ii. 64</scripRef>), about a
fifteenth part of their number when they came out of Egypt; many
came dropping to them afterwards, but we may suppose that to be the
greatest number that ever came in a body; and yet above 500 years
after, a little before their destruction by the Romans, a
calculation was made by the number of the paschal lambs, and the
lowest computation by that rule (allowing only ten to a lamb,
whereas they might be twenty) made the nation to be nearly three
millions. Josephus says, seven and twenty hundred thousand and odd,
<i>Jewish War</i> 6.425. But we must apply it to the church of God
in general; I mean the kingdom of God among men, God's city in the
world, the children of God incorporated. Now observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p4" shownumber="no">I. The low and languishing state of
religion in the world for a long time before Christianity was
brought in. It was like one <i>barren, that did not bear,</i> or
travail with child, was like one desolate, that had lost husband
and children; the church lay in a little compass, and brought forth
little fruit. The Jews were indeed by profession married to God,
but few proselytes were added to them, the rising generations were
unpromising, and serious godliness manifestly lost ground among
them. The Gentiles had less religion among them than the Jews;
their proselytes were in a dispersion; and the children of God,
like the children of a broken, reduced family, were <i>scattered
abroad</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:John.11.52" parsed="|John|11|52|0|0" passage="Joh 11:52">John xi. 52</scripRef>),
did not appear nor make any figure.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p5" shownumber="no">II. Its recovery from this low condition by
the preaching of the gospel and the planting of the Christian
church.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p6" shownumber="no">1. Multitudes were converted from idols to
the living God. Those were the church's children that were born
again, were partakers of a new and divine nature, by the word.
<i>More were the children of the desolate than of the married
wife;</i> there were more good people found in the Gentile church
(when that was set up) that had long been afar off, and without God
in the world, than ever were found in the Jewish church. God's
sealed ones out of the tribes of Israel are numbered (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.7.4" parsed="|Rev|7|4|0|0" passage="Re 7:4">Rev. vii. 4</scripRef>), and they were but a
remnant compared with the thousands of Israel; but those of other
nations were so many, and crowded in so thickly, and lay so much
scattered in all parts, that no man could number them, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.9" parsed="|Isa|54|9|0|0" passage="Isa 54:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Sometimes more of the
power of religion is found in those places and families that have
made little show of it, and have enjoyed but little of the means of
grace, than in others that have distinguished themselves by a
flourishing profession; and then more are the children of the
desolate, more the fruits of their righteousness, than those of the
married wife; so the last shall be first. Now this is spoken of as
matter of great rejoicing to the church, which is called upon to
break forth into singing upon this account. The increase of the
church is the joy of all its friends and strengthens their hands.
The longer the church has lain desolate the greater will the
transports of joy be when it begins to recover the ground it has
lost and to gain more. Even in heaven, among the angels of God,
there is an uncommon joy for a sinner that repents, much more for a
nation that does so. If the barren fig-tree at length bring forth
fruit, it is well; it shall rejoice, and others with it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p7" shownumber="no">2. The bounds of the church were extended
much further than ever before, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.2-Isa.54.3" parsed="|Isa|54|2|54|3" passage="Isa 54:2,3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. (1.) It is here supposed
that the present state of the church is a tabernacle state; it
dwells in tents, like the heirs of promise of old (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.9" parsed="|Heb|11|9|0|0" passage="Heb 11:9">Heb. xi. 9</scripRef>); its dwelling is mean and
movable, and of no strength against a storm. The city, the
continuing city, is reserved for hereafter. A tent is soon taken
down and shifted, so the candlestick of church privileges is soon
<i>removed out of its place</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.5" parsed="|Rev|2|5|0|0" passage="Re 2:5">Rev.
ii. 5</scripRef>), and, when God pleases, it is as soon fixed
elsewhere. (2.) Though it be a tabernacle state, it is sometimes
very remarkably a growing state; and, if this family increase, no
matter though it be in a tent. Thus it was in the first preaching
of the gospel; it was the business of the apostles to disciple all
nations, to stretch forth the curtains of the church's habitation,
to preach the gospel where Christ had not yet been named (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.15.20" parsed="|Rom|15|20|0|0" passage="Ro 15:20">Rom. xv. 20</scripRef>), to leaven with the
gospel those towns and countries that had hitherto been strangers
to it, and so to lengthen the cords of this tabernacle, that more
might be enclosed, which would make it necessary to strengthen the
stakes proportionably, that they might bear the weight of the
enlarged curtains. The more numerous the church grows the more
cautious she must be to fortify herself against errors and
corruptions, and to support her seven pillars, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Prov.9.1" parsed="|Prov|9|1|0|0" passage="Pr 9:1">Prov. ix. 1</scripRef>. (3.) It was a proof of divine
power going along with the gospel that in all places it <i>grew and
prevailed mightily,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lv-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Acts.19.20" parsed="|Acts|19|20|0|0" passage="Ac 19:20">Acts xix.
20</scripRef>. It broke forth, as the breaking forth of
waters—<i>on the right hand and on the left,</i> that is, on all
hands. The gospel spread itself into all parts of the world; there
were eastern and western churches. The church's seed inherited the
Gentiles, and the cities that had been desolate (that is, destitute
of the knowledge and worship of the true God) came to be inhabited,
that is, to have religion set up in them and the name of Christ
professed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p8" shownumber="no">3. This was the comfort and honour of the
church (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.4" parsed="|Isa|54|4|0|0" passage="Isa 54:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>):
"<i>Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed,</i> as formerly, of
the straitness of thy borders, and the fewness of thy children,
which thy enemies upbraided thee with, but shalt <i>forget the
reproach of thy youth,</i> because there shall be no more ground
for that reproach." It was the reproach of the Christian religion,
in its youth, that none of the rulers or princes of this world
embraced it and that it was entertained and professed by a
despicable handful of men; but, after awhile, nations were
discipled, the empire became Christian, and then this <i>reproach
of its youth was forgotten.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p9" shownumber="no">4. This was owing to the relation in which
God stood to his church, as her husband (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.5" parsed="|Isa|54|5|0|0" passage="Isa 54:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>Thy maker is thy
husband.</i> Believers are said to be married to Christ, that they
may <i>bring forth fruit unto God</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.4" parsed="|Rom|7|4|0|0" passage="Ro 7:4">Rom. vii. 4</scripRef>); so the church is married to him,
that she may bear and bring up a holy seed to God, that shall be
accounted to him for a generation. Jesus Christ is the church's
Maker, by whom she is formed into a people—her Redeemer, by whom
she is brought out of captivity, the bondage of sin, the worst of
slaveries. This is he that espoused her to himself; and, (1.) He is
<i>the Lord of hosts,</i> who has an irresistible power, an
absolute sovereignty, and a universal dominion! Kings who are lords
of some hosts, find there are others who are lords of other hosts,
as many and mighty as theirs; but God is the Lord of all hosts.
(2.) He is <i>the Holy One of Israel,</i> the same that presided in
the affairs of the Old-Testament church and was the Mediator of the
covenant made with it. The promises made to the New-Testament
Israel are as rich and sure as those made to the Old-Testament
Israel; for he that is our Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. (3.)
He is and shall be called <i>the Lord of the whole earth,</i> as
God, and as Mediator, for he is the heir of all things; but
<i>then</i> he shall be called so, when the ends of the earth shall
be made to see his salvation, when all the earth shall call him
their God and have an interest in him. Long he had been called, in
a peculiar manner, <i>the God of Israel;</i> but now, the partition
wall between Jew and Gentile being taken down, he shall be called
<i>the God of the whole earth</i> even where he has been, as at
Athens itself, an <i>unknown God.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.lv-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.6-Isa.54.10" parsed="|Isa|54|6|54|10" passage="Isa 54:6-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lv-p9.4">
<h4 id="Is.lv-p9.5">The Prosperity of the
Church. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lv-p9.6">b. c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lv-p10" shownumber="no">6 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lv-p10.1">Lord</span>
hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a
wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.   7 For
a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I
gather thee.   8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for
a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee,
saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lv-p10.2">Lord</span> thy Redeemer.  
9 For this <i>is as</i> the waters of Noah unto me: for <i>as</i> I
have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the
earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor
rebuke thee.   10 For the mountains shall depart, and the
hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee,
neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lv-p10.3">Lord</span> that hath mercy on thee.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p11" shownumber="no">The seasonable succour and relief which God
sent to his captives in Babylon, when they had a discharge from
their bondage there, are here foretold, as a type and figure of all
those consolations of God which are treasured up for the church in
general and all believers in particular, in the covenant of
grace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p12" shownumber="no">I. Look back to former troubles, and in
comparison with them God's favours to his people appear very
comfortable, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.6-Isa.54.8" parsed="|Isa|54|6|54|8" passage="Isa 54:6-8"><i>v.</i>
6-8</scripRef>. Observe, 1. How sorrowful the church's condition
had been. She had been as a woman forsaken, whose husband was dead,
or had fallen out with her, though she was <i>a wife of youth,</i>
upon which account she is grieved in spirit, takes it very ill,
frets, and grows melancholy upon it; or she had been as one refused
and rejected, and therefore full of discontent. Note, Even those
that are espoused to God may yet seem to be refused and forsaken,
and may be grieved in spirit under the apprehensions of being so.
Those that shall never be forsaken and left in despair may yet for
a time be perplexed and in distress. The similitude is explained
(<scripRef id="Is.lv-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.7-Isa.54.8" parsed="|Isa|54|7|54|8" passage="Isa 54:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>): <i>For
a small moment have I forsaken thee. In a little wrath I hid my
face from thee.</i> When God continues his people long in trouble
he seems to forsake them; so their enemies construe it (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.71.11" parsed="|Ps|71|11|0|0" passage="Ps 71:11">Ps. lxxi. 11</scripRef>); so they themselves
misinterpret it, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.14" parsed="|Isa|49|14|0|0" passage="Isa 49:14"><i>ch.</i> xlix.
14</scripRef>. When they are comfortless under their troubles,
because their prayers and expectations are not answered, God hides
his face from them, as if he regarded them not nor designed them
any kindness. God owns that he had done this; for he keeps an
account of the afflictions of his people, and, though he never
turned his face against them (as against the wicked, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.34.16" parsed="|Ps|34|16|0|0" passage="Ps 34:16">Ps. xxxiv. 16</scripRef>), he remembers how
often he turned his back upon them. This arose indeed from his
displeasure. It was in wrath that he forsook them and hid his face
from them (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.57.17" parsed="|Isa|57|17|0|0" passage="Isa 57:17"><i>ch.</i> lvii.
17</scripRef>); yet it was but in a little wrath: not that God's
wrath ever is a little thing, or to be made light of (<i>Who knows
the power of his anger?</i>), but little in comparison with what
they had deserved, and what others justly suffer, on whom the full
vials of his wrath are poured out. He did not stir up all his
wrath. But God's people, though they be sensible of ever so small a
degree of God's displeasure, cannot but be grieved in spirit
because of it. As for the continuance of it, it was but <i>for a
moment,</i> a <i>small</i> moment; for God does not keep his anger
against his people for ever; no, it is soon over. As he is slow to
anger, so he is swift to show mercy. The afflictions of God's
people, as they are light, so they are but for a moment, a cloud
that presently blows over. 2. How sweet the returns of mercy would
be to them when God should come and comfort them according to the
time that he had afflicted them. God called them into covenant with
himself when they were forsaken and grieved; he called them out of
their afflictions when they were most pressing, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.6" parsed="|Isa|54|6|0|0" passage="Isa 54:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. God's anger endures for a
moment, but he will gather his people when they think themselves
neglected, will gather them out of their dispersions, that they may
return in a body to their own land,—will gather them into his
arms, to protect them, embrace them, and bear them up,—and will
gather them at last to himself, <i>will gather the wheat into the
barn.</i> He will have mercy on them. This supposes the turning
away of his anger and the admitting of them again into his favour.
God's gathering his people takes rise from his mercy, not any merit
of others; and it is with <i>great mercies</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.7" parsed="|Isa|54|7|0|0" passage="Isa 54:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), <i>with everlasting
kindness,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lv-p12.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.8" parsed="|Isa|54|8|0|0" passage="Isa 54:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
The wrath is little, but the mercies are great; the wrath is for a
moment, but the kindness everlasting. See how one is set over
against the other, that we may neither despond under our
afflictions nor despair of relief.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p13" shownumber="no">II. Look forward to future dangers, and in
defiance of them God's favours to his people appear very constant,
and his kindness everlasting; for it is formed into a covenant,
here called a <i>covenant of peace,</i> because it is founded in
reconciliation and is inclusive of all good. Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p14" shownumber="no">1. This is as firm as the covenant of
providence. It is <i>as the waters of Noah,</i> that is, as that
promise which was made concerning the deluge that there should
never be the like again to disturb the course of summer and winter,
seed-time and harvest, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.9" parsed="|Isa|54|9|0|0" passage="Isa 54:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>. God then contended with the world in great wrath, and
for a full year, and yet at length returned in mercy, everlasting
mercy; for he gave his word, which was as inviolable as his oath,
that Noah's flood should never return, that he would never drown
the world again; see <scripRef id="Is.lv-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.21-Gen.8.22 Bible:Gen.9.11" parsed="|Gen|8|21|8|22;|Gen|9|11|0|0" passage="Ge 8:21,22,9:11">Gen. viii.
21, 22; ix. 11</scripRef>. And God has ever since kept his word,
though the world has been very provoking; and he will keep it to
the end; for the world that now is is reserved unto fire. And thus
inviolable is the covenant of grace: <i>I have sworn that I would
not be wroth with thee,</i> as I have been, <i>and rebuke thee,</i>
as I have done. He will not be so angry with them as to cast them
off and break his covenant with them (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.34" parsed="|Ps|89|34|0|0" passage="Ps 89:34">Ps. lxxxix. 34</scripRef>), nor rebuke them as he has
rebuked the heathen, to destroy them, and <i>put out their name for
ever and ever,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lv-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.9.5" parsed="|Ps|9|5|0|0" passage="Ps 9:5">Ps. ix.
5</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p15" shownumber="no">2. It is more firm than the strongest parts
of the visible creation (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.10" parsed="|Isa|54|10|0|0" passage="Isa 54:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>): The <i>mountains shall depart,</i> which are called
<i>everlasting mountains,</i> and <i>the hills be removed,</i>
though they are called <i>perpetual hills,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lv-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.6" parsed="|Hab|3|6|0|0" passage="Hab 3:6">Hab. iii. 6</scripRef>. Sooner shall they remove than
God's covenant with his people be broken. Mountains have sometimes
been shaken by earthquakes, and removed; but the promises of God
were never broken by the shock of any event. The day will come when
all <i>the mountains shall depart</i> and all <i>the hills be
removed,</i> not only the tops of them covered, as they were by the
waters of Noah, but the roots of them torn up; for the earth and
all the works that are therein shall be burned up; but then the
covenant of peace between God and believers shall continue in the
everlasting bliss of all those who are the children of that
covenant. Mountains and hills signify great men, men of bulk and
figure. Do these mountains seem to support the skies (as Atlas) and
bear them up? They shall depart and be removed.
Creature-confidences shall fail us. <i>In vain is salvation hoped
for from those hills and mountains.</i> But the firmament is firm,
and answers to its name, when those who seem to prop it are gone.
When our friends fail us our God does not, nor does his kindness
depart? Do these mountains threaten, and seem to top the skies, and
bid defiance to them, as Pelion and Ossa? Do the kings of the
earth, and the rulers, set themselves against the Lord? They shall
depart and be removed. Great mountains, that stand in the way of
the salvation of the church, shall be <i>made plain</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.4.7" parsed="|Zech|4|7|0|0" passage="Zec 4:7">Zech. iv. 7</scripRef>); but God's kindness shall
never depart from his people, for whom he loves he loves to the
end; nor shall the covenant of his peace ever be removed, for he is
the Lord that has mercy on his people. <i>Therefore</i> the
covenant is immovable and inviolable, because it is built not on
our merit, which is a mutable uncertain thing, but on God's mercy,
which is from everlasting to everlasting.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.lv-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.11-Isa.54.17" parsed="|Isa|54|11|54|17" passage="Isa 54:11-17" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lv-p15.5">
<h4 id="Is.lv-p15.6">The Prosperity of the Church; The Prosperity
of Zion. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lv-p15.7">b. c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lv-p16" shownumber="no">11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest,
<i>and</i> not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair
colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.   12 And I
will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and
all thy borders of pleasant stones.   13 And all thy children
<i>shall be</i> taught of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lv-p16.1">Lord</span>;
and great <i>shall be</i> the peace of thy children.   14 In
righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from
oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall
not come near thee.   15 Behold, they shall surely gather
together, <i>but</i> not by me: whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake.   16 Behold, I have
created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that
bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the
waster to destroy.   17 No weapon that is formed against thee
shall prosper; and every tongue <i>that</i> shall rise against thee
in judgment thou shalt condemn. This <i>is</i> the heritage of the
servants of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lv-p16.2">Lord</span>, and their
righteousness <i>is</i> of me, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lv-p16.3">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p17" shownumber="no">Very precious promises are here made to the
church in her low condition, that God would not only continue his
love to his people under their troubles as before, but that he
would restore them to their former prosperity, nay, that he would
raise them to greater prosperity than any they had yet enjoyed. In
the foregoing chapter we had the humiliation and exaltation of
Christ; here we have the humiliation and exaltation of the church;
for, if we suffer with him, we shall reign with him. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p18" shownumber="no">I. The distressed state the church is here
reduced to by the providence of God (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.11" parsed="|Isa|54|11|0|0" passage="Isa 54:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): "<i>O thou afflicted,</i>
poor, and indigent society, that art <i>tossed with tempests,</i>
like a ship driven from her anchors by a storm and hurried into the
ocean, where she is ready to be swallowed up by the waves, and in
this condition <i>not comforted</i> by any compassionate friend
that will sympathize with thee, or suggest to thee any encouraging
considerations (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.4.1" parsed="|Eccl|4|1|0|0" passage="Ec 4:1">Eccl. iv. 1</scripRef>),
not comforted by any allay to thy trouble, or prospect of
deliverance out of it." This was the condition of the Jews in
Babylon, and afterwards, for a time, under Antiochus. It is often
the condition of Christian churches and of particular believers;
without are fightings, within are fears; they are like the
disciples in a storm, ready to perish; and where is their
faith?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p19" shownumber="no">II. The glorious state the church is here
advanced to by the promise of God. God takes notice of the
afflicted distressed state of his church, and comforts her, when
she is most disconsolate and has no other comforter. Let the people
of God, when they are afflicted and tossed, think they hear God
speaking comfortably to them by these words, taking notice of their
griefs and fears, what afflictions they are under, what distresses
they are in, and what comforts their case calls for. When they
bemoan themselves, God bemoans them, and speaks to them with pity:
<i>O thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted;</i>
for in all their afflictions he is afflicted. But this is not all;
he engages to raise her up out of her affliction, and encourages
her with the assurance of the great things he would do for her,
both for her prosperity and for the securing of that prosperity to
her.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p20" shownumber="no">1. Whereas now she lay in disgrace, God
promises that which would be her beauty and honour, which would
make her easy to herself and amiable in the eyes of others.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p21" shownumber="no">(1.) This is here promised by a similitude
taken from a city, and it is an apt similitude, for the church is
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Whereas now
Jerusalem lay in ruins, a heap of rubbish, it shall be not only
rebuilt, but beautified, and appear more splendid than ever; the
stones shall be laid not only firm, but fine, laid with fair
colours; they shall be <i>glistering stones,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lv-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.29.2" parsed="|1Chr|29|2|0|0" passage="1Ch 29:2">1 Chron. xxix. 2</scripRef>. The foundations shall be
laid or garnished with <i>sapphires,</i> the most precious of the
precious stones here mentioned; for Christ (the church's
foundation), and the foundation of the apostles and prophets, are
precious above any thing else. The windows of this house, city, or
temple, shall be made of <i>agates,</i> the gates of
<i>carbuncles,</i> and all the <i>borders</i> (the walls that
enclose the courts, or the boundaries by which her limits are
marked, the mere-stones) shall be <i>of pleasant stones,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lv-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.12" parsed="|Isa|54|12|0|0" passage="Isa 54:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Never was
this literally true; but it intimates, [1.] That, God having
graciously undertaken to build his church, we may expect that to be
done for it, that to be wrought in it, which is very great and
uncommon. [2.] That the glory of the New-Testament church shall far
exceed that of the Jewish church, not in external pomp and
splendour, but in those gifts and graces of the Spirit which are
infinitely more valuable, that wisdom which is <i>more precious
than rubies</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.3.15" parsed="|Prov|3|15|0|0" passage="Pr 3:15">Prov. iii.
15</scripRef>), than the precious onyx and the sapphire, and which
the <i>topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lv-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.28.16 Bible:Job.28.19" parsed="|Job|28|16|0|0;|Job|28|19|0|0" passage="Job 28:16,19">Job xxviii. 16, 19</scripRef>. [3.] That the wealth
of this world, and those things of it that are accounted most
precious, shall be despised by all the true living members of the
church, as having no value, no glory, in comparison with that which
far excels. That which the children of this world lay up among
their treasures, and too often in their hearts, the children of God
make pavements of, and put under their feet, the fittest place of
it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p22" shownumber="no">(2.) It is here promised in the particular
instances of those things that shall be the beauty and honour of
the church, which are knowledge, holiness, and love, the very image
of God, in which man was created, renewed, and restored. And these
are the sapphires and carbuncles, the precious and pleasant stones,
with which the gospel temple shall be enriched and beautified, and
these wrought by the power and efficacy of those doctrines which
the apostle compares to gold or silver, and precious stones, that
are to be <i>built upon the foundation,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lv-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.12" parsed="|1Cor|3|12|0|0" passage="1Co 3:12">1 Cor. iii. 12</scripRef>. Then the church is all
glorious, [1.] When it is full of the knowledge of God, and that is
promised here (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.13" parsed="|Isa|54|13|0|0" passage="Isa 54:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>): <i>All thy children shall be taught of the
Lord.</i> The church's children, being born of God, shall be taught
of God; being his children by adoption, he will take care of their
education. It was promised (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.1" parsed="|Isa|54|1|0|0" passage="Isa 54:1"><i>v.</i>
1</scripRef>) that the church's children should be many; but lest
we should think that being many, as sometimes it happens in
numerous families, they will be neglected, and not have instruction
given them so carefully as if they were but few, God here takes
that work into his own hand: <i>They shall all be taught of the
Lord;</i> and none teaches like him. <i>First,</i> It is a promise
of the means of instruction and those means authorized by a divine
institution: <i>They shall all be taught of God,</i> that is, they
shall be taught by those whom God shall appoint and whose labours
shall be under his direction and blessing. He will ordain the
methods of instruction, and by his word and ordinances will diffuse
a much greater light than the Old-Testament church had. Care shall
be taken for the teaching of the church's children, that knowledge
may be transmitted from generation to generation, and that all may
be enriched with it, from the least even to the greatest.
<i>Secondly,</i> It is a promise of the Spirit of illumination. Our
Saviour quotes it with application to gospel grace, and makes it to
have its accomplishment in all those that were brought to believe
in him (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:John.6.45" parsed="|John|6|45|0|0" passage="Joh 6:45">John vi. 45</scripRef>): <i>It
is written in the prophets, They shall be all taught of God,</i>
whence he infers that those, and those only, come to him by faith
that have heard and learned of the Father, that are <i>taught by
him as the truth is in Jesus,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lv-p22.5" osisRef="Bible:Eph.4.21" parsed="|Eph|4|21|0|0" passage="Eph 4:21">Eph.
iv. 21</scripRef>. There shall be a plentiful effusion of the
Spirit of grace upon Christians, to <i>teach them all things,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lv-p22.6" osisRef="Bible:John.14.26" parsed="|John|14|26|0|0" passage="Joh 14:26">John xiv. 26</scripRef>. [2.] When
the members of it live in love and unity among themselves: <i>Great
shall be the peace of thy children.</i> Peace may be taken here for
all good. As where no knowledge of God is no good can be expected,
so those that are taught of God to know him are in a fair way to
prosper for both worlds. <i>Great peace have those that</i> know
and <i>love God's law,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lv-p22.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.165" parsed="|Ps|119|165|0|0" passage="Ps 119:165">Ps. cxix.
165</scripRef>. But it is often put for love and unity; and so we
may take it. All that are taught of God are taught to <i>love one
another</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p22.8" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.4.9" parsed="|1Thess|4|9|0|0" passage="1Th 4:9">1 Thess. iv. 9</scripRef>)
and that will keep peace among the church's children and prevent
their falling out by the way. [3.] When holiness reigns; for that
above any thing is the beauty of the church (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p22.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.14" parsed="|Isa|54|14|0|0" passage="Isa 54:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>In righteousness shall
thou be established.</i> The reformation of manners, the
restoration of purity, the due administration of public justice,
and the prevailing of honesty and fair dealing among men, are the
strength and stability of any church or state. The kingdom of God,
set up by the gospel of Christ, is not meat and drink, but this
righteousness and peace, holiness and love.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p23" shownumber="no">2. Whereas now she lay in danger, God
promises that which would be her protection and security.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p24" shownumber="no">(1.) God engages here that though, in the
day of her distress, without were fightings and within were fears,
now she shall be safe from both. [1.] There shall be no fears
within (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.14" parsed="|Isa|54|14|0|0" passage="Isa 54:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>):
"<i>Thou shalt be far from oppression.</i> Those that have
oppressed thee shall be removed, those that would oppress thee
shall be restrained, and therefore thou shalt not fear, but mayest
look upon it as a thing at a great distance, that thou art now in
no danger of. Thou shalt be far from terror, not only from evil,
but from the fear of evil, for it shall not come near thee so as to
do thee any hurt or to put thee in any fright." Note, Those are far
from terror that are far from oppression; for it is as great a
terror as can fall on a people to have the rod of government turned
into the serpent of oppression, because against this there is no
fence, nor is there any flight from it. [2.] There shall be no
fightings without. Though attempts should be made upon them to
insult them, to invade their country, or besiege their towns, they
should all be in vain, and none of them succeed, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.15" parsed="|Isa|54|15|0|0" passage="Isa 54:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. It is granted, "<i>They shall
surely gather together against thee;</i> thou must expect it." The
confederate force of hell and earth will be renewing their
assaults. As long as there is a devil in hell, and a persecutor out
of it, God's people must expect frequent alarms; but, <i>First,</i>
God will not own them, will not give them either commission or
countenance; they gather together, hand joins in hand, but it is
<i>not by me.</i> God gave them no such order as he did to
Sennacherib, to <i>take the spoil, and to take the prey,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lv-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.6" parsed="|Isa|10|6|0|0" passage="Isa 10:6"><i>ch.</i> x. 6</scripRef>. And
therefore, <i>Secondly,</i> Their attempt will end in their own
ruin: "<i>Whosoever shall gather together against thee,</i> be they
ever so many and ever so mighty, they shall not only be baffled,
but they <i>shall fall for thy sake,</i> or they shall fall before
thee, which shall be the just punishment of their enmity to thee."
God will make them to fall for the sake of the love he bears to his
church and the care he has of it, in answer to the prayers made by
his people, and in pursuance of the promises made to them. "They
shall fall, that thou mayest stand," <scripRef id="Is.lv-p24.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.2" parsed="|Ps|27|2|0|0" passage="Ps 27:2">Ps. xxvii. 2</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p25" shownumber="no">(2.) That we may with the greatest
assurance depend upon God for the safety of his church, we have
here, [1.] The power of God over the church's enemies asserted,
<scripRef id="Is.lv-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.16" parsed="|Isa|54|16|0|0" passage="Isa 54:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. The truth is
they have <i>no power but what is given them from above,</i> and he
that gave them their power can limit and restrain them. <i>Hitherto
they shall go, and no further. First,</i> They cannot carry on
their design without arms and weapons of war; and the smith that
makes those weapons is God's creature, and he gave him his skill to
work in iron and brass (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.3-Exod.31.4" parsed="|Exod|31|3|31|4" passage="Ex 31:3,4">Exod. xxxi.
3, 4</scripRef>) and particularly to make proper instruments for
warlike purposes. It is melancholy to think, as if men did not die
fast enough of themselves, how ingenious and industrious they are
to make instruments of death and to find out ways and means to kill
one another. <i>The smith blows the coals in the fire,</i> to make
his iron malleable, to soften it first, that it may be hardened
into steel, and so <i>he may bring forth an instrument proper for
the work of those that seek to destroy.</i> It is the iron age that
is the age of war. But <i>God has created the smith,</i> and
therefore can tie his hands, so that the project of the enemy shall
miscarry (as many a project has done) for want of arms and
ammunition. Or the smith that forges the weapons is perhaps put
here for the council of war that forms the design, blows the coals
of contention, and brings forth the plan of the war; these can do
no more than God will let them. <i>Secondly,</i> They cannot carry
it on without men, they must have soldiers, and it is <i>God that
created the waster to destroy.</i> Military men value themselves
upon their great offices and splendid titles, and even the common
soldiers call themselves <i>gentlemen;</i> but God calls them
<i>wasters made to destroy,</i> for wasting and destruction are
their business. They think their own ingenuity, labour, and
experience, made them soldiers; but it was God that created them,
and gave them strength and spirit for that hazardous employment;
and therefore he not only can restrain them, but will serve his own
purposes and designs by them. [2.] The promise of God concerning
the church's safety solemnly laid down, as <i>the heritage of the
servants of the Lord</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.17" parsed="|Isa|54|17|0|0" passage="Isa 54:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>), as that which they may depend upon and be confident
of, that God will protect them from their adversaries both in camps
and courts. <i>First,</i> From their field-adversaries, that think
to destroy them by force and violence, and dint of sword: "<i>No
weapon that is formed against thee</i> (though ever so artfully
formed by the smith that blows the coals, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.16" parsed="|Isa|54|16|0|0" passage="Isa 54:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>, though ever so skilfully
managed by the waster that seeks to destroy) <i>shall prosper;</i>
it shall not prove strong enough to do any harm to the people of
God; it shall miss its mark, shall fall out of the hand or perhaps
recoil in the face of him that uses it against thee." It is the
happiness of the church that <i>no weapons formed against it shall
prosper</i> long, and therefore the folly of its enemies will at
length be made manifest to all, for they are but preparing
instruments of ruin for themselves. <i>Secondly,</i> From their
law-adversaries, that think to run them down under colour of right
and justice. When the weapons of war do not prosper there are
tongues that rise in judgment. Both are included in the gates of
hell, that seek to destroy the church; for they had their courts of
justice, as well as their magazines and military stores, in their
gates. The tongues that rise in judgment against the church are as
such as either demand a dominion over it, as if God's children were
their lawful captives, pretending an authority to oppress their
consciences, or they are such as misrepresent them, and falsely
accuse them, and by slanders and calumnies endeavour to make them
odious to the people and obnoxious to the government. This the
enemies of the Jews did, to incense the kings of Persia against
them, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p25.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.4.12 Bible:Esth.3.8" parsed="|Ezra|4|12|0|0;|Esth|3|8|0|0" passage="Ezr 4:12,Es 3:8">Ezra iv. 12; Esth. iii.
8</scripRef>. "But these insulting threatening tongues thou shalt
condemn; thou shalt have wherewith to answer their insolent
demands, and to put to silence their malicious reflections. Thou
shalt do it <i>by well-doing</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p25.6" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.15" parsed="|1Pet|2|15|0|0" passage="1Pe 2:15">1
Pet. ii. 15</scripRef>), by doing that which will make thee
manifest in the consciences even of thy adversaries, that thou art
not what thou art represented to be. <i>Thou shalt condemn
them,</i> that is, God shall condemn them for thee. <i>He shall
bring forth thy righteousness as the light,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lv-p25.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.6" parsed="|Ps|37|6|0|0" passage="Ps 37:6">Ps. xxxvii. 6</scripRef>. Thou shalt condemn them as Noah
condemned the old world that reproached him, by building the ark,
and so saving his house, in contempt of their contempts." The day
is coming when God will reckon with the wicked men for all their
hard speeches which they have spoken against him, <scripRef id="Is.lv-p25.8" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.15" parsed="|Jude|1|15|0|0" passage="Jude 1:15">Jude 15</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lv-p26" shownumber="no">The last words refer not only to this
promise, but to all that go before: <i>This is the heritage of the
servants of the Lord.</i> God's servants are his sons, for he has
provided an inheritance for them, rich, sure, and indefeasible.
God's promises are their <i>heritage for ever</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lv-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.111" parsed="|Ps|119|111|0|0" passage="Ps 119:111">Ps. cxix. 111</scripRef>); <i>and their
righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.</i> God will clear up the
righteousness of their cause before men. It is with him, for he
knows it; it is with him, for he will plead it. Or their reward for
their righteousness, and for all that which they have suffered
unrighteously, is of God, that God who judges in the earth, and
with whom <i>verily there is a reward for the righteous.</i> Or
their righteousness itself, all that in them which is good and
right, is of God, who works it in them; it is of Christ who is made
righteousness to them. In those for whom God designs a heritage
hereafter he will work righteousness now.</p>
</div></div2>