mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 59.xml

<div2 id="Is.lx" n="lx" next="Is.lxi" prev="Is.lix" progress="23.20%" title="Chapter LIX">
<h2 id="Is.lx-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.lx-p0.2">CHAP. LIX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.lx-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter we have sin appearing exceedingly
sinful, and grace appearing exceedingly gracious; and, as what is
here said of the sinner's sin (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.7-Isa.59.8" parsed="|Isa|59|7|59|8" passage="Isa 59:7,8">ver.
7, 8</scripRef>) is applied to the general corruption of mankind
(<scripRef id="Is.lx-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.15" parsed="|Rom|3|15|0|0" passage="Ro 3:15">Rom. iii. 15</scripRef>), so what is
here said of a Redeemer (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.20" parsed="|Isa|59|20|0|0" passage="Isa 59:20">ver.
20</scripRef>) is applied to Christ, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.26" parsed="|Rom|11|26|0|0" passage="Ro 11:26">Rom. xi. 26</scripRef>. I. It is here charged upon this
people that they had themselves stopped the current of God's
favours to them, and the particular sins are specified which kept
good things from them, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.1-Isa.59.8" parsed="|Isa|59|1|59|8" passage="Isa 59:1-8">ver.
1-8</scripRef>. II. It is here charged upon them that they had
themselves procured the judgments of God upon them, and they are
told both what the judgments were which they had brought upon their
own heads (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.9-Isa.59.11" parsed="|Isa|59|9|59|11" passage="Isa 59:9-11">ver. 9-11</scripRef>)
and what the sins were which provoked God to send those judgments,
<scripRef id="Is.lx-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.12-Isa.59.15" parsed="|Isa|59|12|59|15" passage="Isa 59:12-15">ver. 12-15</scripRef>. III. It is
here promised that, notwithstanding this, God would work
deliverance for them, purely for his own name's sake (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.16-Isa.59.19" parsed="|Isa|59|16|59|19" passage="Isa 59:16-19">ver. 16-19</scripRef>), and would reserve
mercy in store for them and entail it upon them, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.20-Isa.59.21" parsed="|Isa|59|20|59|21" passage="Isa 59:20,21">ver. 20, 21</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.lx-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59" parsed="|Isa|59|0|0|0" passage="Isa 59" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.lx-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.1-Isa.59.8" parsed="|Isa|59|1|59|8" passage="Isa 59:1-8" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lx-p1.12">
<h4 id="Is.lx-p1.13">The Prevalence and Effects of
Sin. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lx-p1.14">b. c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lx-p2" shownumber="no">1 Behold, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lx-p2.1">Lord</span>'s hand is not shortened, that it cannot
save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:   2 But your
iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins
have hid <i>his</i> face from you, that he will not hear.   3
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with
iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered
perverseness.   4 None calleth for justice, nor <i>any</i>
pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they
conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.   5 They hatch
cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of
their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a
viper.   6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall
they cover themselves with their works: their works <i>are</i>
works of iniquity, and the act of violence <i>is</i> in their
hands.   7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed
innocent blood: their thoughts <i>are</i> thoughts of iniquity;
wasting and destruction <i>are</i> in their paths.   8 The way
of peace they know not; and <i>there is</i> no judgment in their
goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein
shall not know peace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p3" shownumber="no">The prophet here rectifies the mistake of
those who had been quarrelling with God because they had not the
deliverances wrought for them which they had been often fasting and
praying for, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.3" parsed="|Isa|58|3|0|0" passage="Isa 58:3"><i>ch.</i> lviii.
3</scripRef>. Now here he shows,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p4" shownumber="no">I. That it was not owing to God. They had
no reason to lay the fault upon him that they were not saved out of
the hands of their enemies; for, 1. He was still as able to help as
ever: <i>His hand is not shortened,</i> his power is not at all
lessened, straitened, or abridged. Whether we consider the extent
of his power or the efficacy of it, God can reach as far as ever
and with as strong a hand as ever. Note, The church's salvation
comes from the hand of God, and that has not waxed weak nor is it
at all shortened. <i>Has the Lord's hand waxed short?</i> (says God
to Moses, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.23" parsed="|Num|11|23|0|0" passage="Nu 11:23">Num. xi. 23</scripRef>). No,
it has not; he will not have it thought so. Neither length of time
nor strength of enemies, no, nor weakness of instruments, can
shorten or straiten the power of God, with which it is all one to
save by many or by few. 2. He was still as ready and willing to
help as ever in answer to prayer: <i>His ear is not heavy, that it
cannot hear.</i> Though he has many prayers to hear and answer, and
though he has been long hearing prayer, yet he is still as ready to
hear prayer as ever. The prayer of the upright is as much his
delight as ever it was, and the promises which are pleaded and put
in suit in prayer are still yea and amen, inviolably sure. More is
implied than is expressed; not only his ear is not heavy, but he is
quick of hearing. <i>Even before they call he answers,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.lx-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.24" parsed="|Isa|65|24|0|0" passage="Isa 65:24"><i>ch.</i> lxv. 24</scripRef>. If
your prayers be not answered, and the salvation we wait for be not
wrought for us, it is not because God is weary of hearing prayer,
but because we are weary of praying, not because his ear is heavy
when we speak to him, but because our ears are heavy when he speaks
to us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p5" shownumber="no">II. That it was owing to themselves; they
stood in their own light and put a bar in their own door. God was
coming towards them in ways of mercy and they hindered him. <i>Your
iniquities have kept good things from you,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lx-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.25" parsed="|Jer|5|25|0|0" passage="Jer 5:25">Jer. v. 25</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p6" shownumber="no">1. See what mischief sin does. (1.) It
hinders God's mercies from coming down upon us; it is a partition
wall that separates between us and God. Notwithstanding the
infinite distance that is between God and man by nature, there was
a correspondence settled between them, till sin set them at
variance, justly provoked God against man and unjustly alienated
man from God; thus it <i>separates between them and God.</i> "He is
your God, yours in profession, and therefore there is so much the
more malignity and mischievousness in sin, which separates between
you and him." Sin <i>hides his face from us</i> (which denotes
great displeasure, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.17" parsed="|Deut|31|17|0|0" passage="De 31:17">Deut. xxxi.
17</scripRef>); it provokes him in anger to withdraw his gracious
presence, to suspend the tokens of his favour and the instances of
his help; he hides his face, as refusing to be seen or spoken with.
See here sin in its colours, sin exceedingly sinful, withdrawing
the creature from his allegiance to his Creator; and see sin in its
consequences, sin exceedingly hurtful, separating us from God, and
so separating us not only <i>from all good,</i> but <i>to all
evil</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.21" parsed="|Deut|29|21|0|0" passage="De 29:21">Deut. xxix. 21</scripRef>),
which is the very quintessence of the curse. (2.) It hinders our
prayers from coming up unto God; it provokes him to hide his face,
that he will not hear, as he has said, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.15" parsed="|Isa|1|15|0|0" passage="Isa 1:15"><i>ch.</i> i. 15</scripRef>. If we <i>regard iniquity in
our heart,</i> if we indulge it and allow ourselves in it, God
<i>will not hear our prayers,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lx-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.18" parsed="|Ps|66|18|0|0" passage="Ps 66:18">Ps.
lxvi. 18</scripRef>. We cannot expect that he should countenance us
while we go on to affront him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p7" shownumber="no">2. Now, to justify God in hiding his face
from them, and proceeding in his controversy with them, the prophet
shows very largely, in the <scripRef id="Is.lx-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.9-Isa.59.15" parsed="|Isa|59|9|59|15" passage="Isa 59:9-15">following verses</scripRef>, how many and great their
iniquities were, according to the charge given him (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.1" parsed="|Isa|58|1|0|0" passage="Isa 58:1"><i>ch.</i> lviii. 1</scripRef>), <i>to show
God's people their transgressions;</i> and it is a black bill of
indictment that is here drawn up against them, consisting of many
particulars, any one of which was enough to separate between them
and a just and a holy God. Let us endeavour to reduce these
articles of impeachment to proper heads.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p8" shownumber="no">(1.) We must begin with their thoughts, for
there all sin begins, and thence it takes its rise: <i>Their
thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lx-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.7" parsed="|Isa|59|7|0|0" passage="Isa 59:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Their imaginations are so, only
evil continually. Their projects and designs are so; they are
continually contriving some mischief or other, and how to compass
the gratification of some base lust (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.4" parsed="|Isa|59|4|0|0" passage="Isa 59:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>They conceive mischief</i>
in their fancy, purpose, counsel, and resolution (thus the embryo
receives its shape and life), and then they <i>bring forth
iniquity,</i> put it in execution when it is ripened for it. Though
it is in pain perhaps that the iniquity is brought forth, through
the oppositions of Providences and the checks of their own
consciences, yet, when they have compassed their wicked purpose,
they look upon it with as much pride and pleasure as if it were a
<i>man-child born into the world;</i> thus, <i>when lust has
conceived, it bringeth forth sin,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lx-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.15" parsed="|Jas|1|15|0|0" passage="Jam 1:15">Jam. i. 15</scripRef>. This is called (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.5" parsed="|Isa|59|5|0|0" passage="Isa 59:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>) <i>hatching the
cockatrice' egg and weaving the spider's web.</i> See how the
thoughts and contrivances of wicked men are employed, and about
what they set their wits on work. [1.] At the best it is about that
which is foolish and frivolous. Their thoughts are vain, like
weaving the spider's web, which the poor silly animal takes a great
deal of pains about, and, when all is done, it is a weak
insignificant thing, a reproach to the place where it is, and which
the besom sweeps away in an instant: such are the thoughts which
worldly men entertain themselves with, building castles in the air,
and pleasing themselves with imaginary satisfaction, like the
<i>spider,</i> which <i>takes hold with her hands</i> very finely
(<scripRef id="Is.lx-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.28" parsed="|Prov|30|28|0|0" passage="Pr 30:28">Prov. xxx. 28</scripRef>), but cannot
keep her hold. [2.] Too often it is about that which is malicious
and spiteful. They hatch the eggs of the cockatrice or adder, which
are poisonous and produce venomous creatures; such are the thoughts
of the wicked who delight in doing mischief. <i>He that eats of
their eggs</i> (that is, he is in danger of having some mischief or
other done him), <i>and that which is crushed</i> in order to be
eaten of, or which begins to be hatched and you promise yourself
some useful fowl from it, <i>breaks out into a viper,</i> which you
meddle with at your peril. Happy are those that have least to do
with such men. Even the spider's web which they wove was woven with
a spiteful design to catch flies in and make a prey of them; for,
rather than not be doing mischief, they will play at small
game.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p9" shownumber="no">(2.) Out of this abundance of wickedness in
the heart their mouth speaks, and yet it does not always speak out
the wickedness that is within, but, for the more effectually
compassing the mischievous design, it is dissembled and covered
<i>with much fair speech</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.3" parsed="|Isa|59|3|0|0" passage="Isa 59:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>Your lips have spoken
lies;</i> and again (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.4" parsed="|Isa|59|4|0|0" passage="Isa 59:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>), <i>They speak lies,</i> pretending kindness where
they intend the greatest mischief; or by slanders and false
accusations they blasted the credit and reputation of those they
had a spite to and so did them a real mischief unseen, and perhaps
by suborning witnesses against them took from them their estates
and lives; for a false tongue is sharp arrows, and coals of
juniper, and every thing that is mischievous. <i>Your tongue has
muttered perverseness.</i> When they could not, for shame, speak
their malice against their neighbours aloud, or durst not, for fear
of being disproved and put to confusion, they muttered it secretly.
Backbiters are called <i>whisperers.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p10" shownumber="no">(3.) Their actions were all of a piece with
their thoughts and words. They were guilty of shedding innocent
blood, a crime of the most heinous nature: <i>Your hands are
defiled with blood</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.3" parsed="|Isa|59|3|0|0" passage="Isa 59:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>); for blood is defiling; it leaves an indelible stain
of guilt upon the conscience, which nothing but the blood of Christ
can cleanse it from. Now was this a case of surprise, or one that
occurred when there was something of a force put upon them; but
(<scripRef id="Is.lx-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.7" parsed="|Isa|59|7|0|0" passage="Isa 59:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>) <i>their feet
ran to this evil,</i> naturally and eagerly, and, hurried on by the
<i>impetus</i> of their malice and revenge, <i>they made haste to
shed innocent blood,</i> as if they were afraid of losing an
opportunity to do a barbarous thing, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.16 Bible:Jer.22.17" parsed="|Prov|1|16|0|0;|Jer|22|17|0|0" passage="Pr 1:16,Jer 22:17">Prov. i. 16; Jer. xxii. 17</scripRef>.
<i>Wasting and destruction are in their paths.</i> Wherever they go
they carry mischief along with them, and the tendency of their way
is to lay waste and destroy, nor do they care what havoc they make.
Nor do they only thirst after blood, but with other iniquities are
their <i>fingers defiled</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.3" parsed="|Isa|59|3|0|0" passage="Isa 59:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>); they wrong people in their
estates and make every thing their own that they can lay their
hands on. <i>They trust in vanity</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.4" parsed="|Isa|59|4|0|0" passage="Isa 59:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>); they depend upon their arts of
cozenage to enrich themselves with, which will prove vanity to
them, and their deceiving others will but deceive themselves.
<i>Their works,</i> which they take so much pains about and have
their hearts so much upon, <i>are</i> all <i>works of iniquity;</i>
their whole business is one continued course of oppressions and
vexations, <i>and the act of violence is in their hands,</i>
according to the arts of violence that are in their heads and the
thoughts of violence in their hearts.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p11" shownumber="no">(4.) No methods are taken to redress these
grievances, and reform these abuses (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.4" parsed="|Isa|59|4|0|0" passage="Isa 59:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>None calls for justice,</i>
none complains of the violation of the sacred laws of justice, nor
seeks to right those that suffer wrong or to get the laws put in
execution against vice and profaneness, and those lewd practices
which are the shame, and threaten to be the bane, of the nation.
Note, When justice is not done there is blame to be laid not only
upon the magistrates that should administer justice, but upon the
people that should call for it. Private persons ought to contribute
to the public good by discovering secret wickedness, and giving
those an opportunity to punish it that have the power of doing so
in their hands; but it is ill with a state when princes rule ill
and the people love to have it so. Truth is opposed, and there is
not any that <i>pleads for it,</i> not any that has the conscience
and courage to appear in defence of an honest cause, and confront a
prosperous fraud and wrong. <i>The way of peace</i> is as little
regarded as the way of truth; they <i>know it not,</i> that is,
they never study the things that make for peace, no care is taken
to prevent or punish the breaches of the peace and to accommodate
matters in difference among neighbours; they are utter strangers to
every thing that looks quiet and peaceable, and affect that which
is blustering and turbulent. <i>There is no judgment in their
goings;</i> they have not any sense of justice in their dealings;
it is a thing they make no account of at all, but can easily break
through all its fences if they stand in the way of their malicious
covetous designs.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p12" shownumber="no">(5.) In all this they act foolishly, very
foolishly, and as much against their interest as against reason and
equity. Those that practise iniquity <i>trust in vanity,</i> which
will certainly deceive them, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.4" parsed="|Isa|59|4|0|0" passage="Isa 59:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>. <i>Their webs,</i> which they weave with so much art
and industry, <i>shall not become garments, neither shall they
cover themselves,</i> either for shelter or for ornament, <i>with
their works,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lx-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.6" parsed="|Isa|59|6|0|0" passage="Isa 59:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>. They may do hurt to others with their projects, but
can never do any real service or kindness to themselves by them.
There is nothing to be got by sin, and so it will appear when
profit and loss come to be compared. Those paths of iniquity are
<i>crooked paths</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.8" parsed="|Isa|59|8|0|0" passage="Isa 59:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>), which will perplex them, but will never bring them
to their journey's end; whoever go therein, though they say that
they shall have peace notwithstanding they go on, deceive
themselves; for they shall not know peace, as appears by the
following verses.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.lx-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.9-Isa.59.15" parsed="|Isa|59|9|59|15" passage="Isa 59:9-15" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lx-p12.5">
<h4 id="Is.lx-p12.6">The Prevalence and Effects of
Sin. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lx-p12.7">b. c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lx-p13" shownumber="no">9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither
doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity;
for brightness, <i>but</i> we walk in darkness.   10 We grope
for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if <i>we had</i> no
eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; <i>we are</i> in
desolate places as dead <i>men.</i>   11 We roar all like
bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but
<i>there is</i> none; for salvation, <i>but</i> it is far off from
us.   12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee,
and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions <i>are</i>
with us; and <i>as for</i> our iniquities, we know them;   13
In transgressing and lying against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lx-p13.1">Lord</span>, and departing away from our God, speaking
oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words
of falsehood.   14 And judgment is turned away backward, and
justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and
equity cannot enter.   15 Yea, truth faileth; and he
<i>that</i> departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lx-p13.2">Lord</span> saw <i>it,</i> and it
displeased him that <i>there was</i> no judgment.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p14" shownumber="no">The scope of this paragraph is the same
with that of the last, to show that sin is the great
mischief-maker; as it is that which keeps good things from us, so
it is that which brings evil things upon us. But as <i>there</i> it
is spoken by the prophet, in God's name, to the people, for their
conviction and humiliation, and that God might be justified when he
speaks and clear when he judges, so <i>here</i> it seems to be
spoken by the people to God, as an acknowledgment of that which was
there told them and an expression of their humble submission and
subscription to the justice and equity of God's proceedings against
them. Their uncircumcised hearts here seem to be humbled in some
measure, and they are brought to confess (the confession is at
least extorted from them), that God had justly walked contrary to
them, because they had walked contrary to him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p15" shownumber="no">I. They acknowledge that God had contended
with them and had walked contrary to them. Their case was very
deplorable, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.9-Isa.59.11" parsed="|Isa|59|9|59|11" passage="Isa 59:9-11"><i>v.</i>
9-11</scripRef>. 1. They were in distress, trampled upon and
oppressed by their enemies, unjustly dealt with, and ruled with
rigour; and God did not appear for them, to plead their just and
injured cause: "<i>Judgment is far from us, neither does justice
overtake us,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lx-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.9" parsed="|Isa|59|9|0|0" passage="Isa 59:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>. Though, as to our persecutors, we are sure that we
have right on our side; and they are the wrong-doers, yet we are
not relieved, we are not righted. We have not done justice to one
another, and therefore God suffers our enemies to deal thus
unjustly with us, and we are as far as ever from being restored to
our right and recovering our property again. Oppression is near us,
and judgment is far from us. Our enemies are far from giving our
case its due consideration, but still hurry us on with the violence
of their oppressions, and justice does not overtake us, to rescue
us out of their hands." 2. Herein their expectations were sadly
disappointed, which made their case the more sad: "<i>We wait for
light</i> as those that wait for the morning, <i>but behold
obscurity;</i> we cannot discern the least dawning of the day of
our deliverance. <i>We look for judgment, but there is none</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.lx-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.11" parsed="|Isa|59|11|0|0" passage="Isa 59:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>); neither
God nor man appears for our succour; we look for salvation, because
God (we think) has promised it, and we have prayed for it with
fasting; we look for it as for brightness, but it is far off from
us, as far off as ever for aught we can perceive, and still <i>we
walk in darkness;</i> and the higher our expectations have been
raised the sorer is the disappointment." 3. They were quite at a
loss what to do to help themselves and were at their wits' end
(<scripRef id="Is.lx-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.10" parsed="|Isa|59|10|0|0" passage="Isa 59:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): "<i>We
grope for the wall like the blind;</i> we see no way open for our
relief, nor know which way to expect it, or what to do in order to
it." If we shut our eyes against the light of divine truth, it is
just with God to hide from our eyes the things that belong to our
peace; and, if we use not our eyes as we should, it is just with
him to let us be as if we had no eyes. Those that will not see
their duty shall not see their interest. Those whom God has given
up to a judicial blindness are strangely infatuated; they stumble
at noon-day as in the night; they see not either those dangers, or
those advantages, which all about them see. <i>Quos Deus vult
perdere, eos dementat—God infatuates those whom he means to
destroy.</i> Those that love darkness rather than light shall have
their doom accordingly. 4. They sunk into despair and were quite
overwhelmed with grief, the marks of which appeared in every man's
countenance; they grew melancholy upon it, shunned conversation,
and affected solitude: <i>We are in desolate places as dead
men.</i> The state of the Jews in Babylon is represented by <i>dead
and dry bones</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.37.12" parsed="|Ezek|37|12|0|0" passage="Eze 37:12">Ezek. xxxvii.
12</scripRef>) and the explanation of the comparison there
(<scripRef id="Is.lx-p15.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.11" parsed="|Isa|59|11|0|0" passage="Isa 59:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>) explains
this text: <i>Our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts.</i>
In this despair the sorrow and anguish of some were loud and noisy:
<i>We roar like bears;</i> the sorrow of others was silent, and
preyed more upon their spirits: "<i>We mourn sore like doves,</i>
like doves of the valleys; we mourn both <i>for our iniquities</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.lx-p15.7" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.7.16" parsed="|Ezek|7|16|0|0" passage="Eze 7:16">Ezek. vii. 16</scripRef>) and for our
calamities." Thus they owned that <i>the hand of the Lord had gone
out against them.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p16" shownumber="no">II. They acknowledge that they had provoked
God thus to contend with them, that he had done right, for they had
done wickedly, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.12-Isa.59.15" parsed="|Isa|59|12|59|15" passage="Isa 59:12-15"><i>v.</i>
12-15</scripRef>. 1. They owned that they had sinned, and that to
this day they were in a great trespass, as Ezra speaks (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.10.10" parsed="|Ezra|10|10|0|0" passage="Ezr 10:10">Ezra x. 10</scripRef>): "<i>Our transgressions
are with us;</i> the guilt of them is upon us, the power of them
prevails among us, we are not yet reformed, nor have we parted with
our sins, though they have done so much mischief. Nay, <i>our
transgressions are multiplied;</i> they are more numerous and more
heinous than they have been formerly. Look which way we will, we
cannot look off them; all places, all orders and degrees of men,
are infected. The sense of our transgression is with us, as David
said, <i>My sin is ever before me;</i> it is too plain to be denied
or concealed, too bad to be excused or palliated. God is a witness
to them: <i>They are multiplied before thee,</i> in thy sight,
under thy eye. We are witnesses against ourselves: <i>As for our
iniquities, we know them,</i> though we may have foolishly
endeavoured to cover them. Nay, they themselves are witnesses:
<i>Our sins</i> stare us in the face and <i>testify against us,</i>
so many have they been and so deeply aggravated." 2. They owned the
great evil and malignity of sin, of their sin; it is
<i>transgressing and lying against the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lx-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.13" parsed="|Isa|59|13|0|0" passage="Isa 59:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. The sins of those that profess
themselves God's people, and bear his name, are upon <i>this</i>
account worse than the sins of others, that in transgressing they
<i>lie against the Lord,</i> they falsely accuse him, they
misrepresent and belie him, as if he had dealt hardly and unfairly
with them; or they perfidiously break covenant with him and falsify
their most sacred and solemn engagements to him, which is <i>lying
against him: it is departing away from our God,</i> to whom we are
bound as our God and to whom we ought to cleave with purpose of
heart; from him we have departed, as the rebellious subject from
his allegiance to his rightful prince, and the adulterous wife from
the guide of her youth and the covenant of her God. 3. They owned
that there was a general decay of moral honesty; and it is not
strange that those who were false to their God were unfaithful to
one another. They <i>spoke oppression,</i> declared openly for
that, though it was a revolt from their God and a revolt from the
truth, by the sacred bonds of which we should always be tied and
held fast. They <i>conceived and uttered words of falsehood.</i>
Many ill thing is conceived in the mind, yet is prudently stifled
there, and not suffered to go any further; but these sinners were
so impudent, so daring, that whatever wickedness they conceived,
they gave it an <i>imprimatur—a sanction,</i> and made no
difficulty of publishing it. To think an ill thing is bad, but to
say it is much worse. Many a word of falsehood is uttered in haste,
for want of consideration; but these were conceived and uttered,
were uttered—deliberately and of malice prepense. They were words
of falsehood, and yet they are said to be uttered <i>from the
heart,</i> because, though they differed from the real sentiments
of the heart and therefore were words of falsehood, yet they agreed
with the malice and wickedness of the heart, and were the natural
language of that; it was a <i>double heart,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lx-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.2" parsed="|Ps|12|2|0|0" passage="Ps 12:2">Ps. xii. 2</scripRef>. Those who by the grace of God kept
themselves free from these enormous crimes yet put themselves into
the confession of sin, because members of that nation which was
generally thus corrupted. 4. They owned that that was not done
which might have been done to reform the land and to amend what was
amiss, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.14" parsed="|Isa|59|14|0|0" passage="Isa 59:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>.
"<i>Judgment,</i> that should go forward, and bear down the
opposition that is made to it, that should run in its course like a
river, like a mighty stream, <i>is turned away backward,</i> a
contrary course. The administration of justice has become but a
cover to the greatest injustice. Judgment, that should check the
proceedings of fraud and violence, is driven back, and so they go
on triumphantly. <i>Justice stands afar off,</i> even from our
courts of judicature, which are so crowded with the patrons of
oppression that <i>equity cannot enter,</i> cannot have admission
into the court, cannot be heard, or at least will not be heeded.
Equity enters not into the unrighteous decrees which they decree,
<scripRef id="Is.lx-p16.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.1" parsed="|Isa|10|1|0|0" passage="Isa 10:1"><i>ch.</i> x. 1</scripRef>. <i>Truth
is fallen in the street,</i> and there she may lie to be trampled
upon by every foot of pride, and she has never a friend that will
lend a hand to help her up; <i>yea, truth fails</i> in common
conversation, and in dealings between man and man, so that one
knows not whom to believe nor whom to trust." 5. They owned that
there was a prevailing enmity in men's minds to those that were
good: <i>He that does evil goes unpunished,</i> but <i>he that
departs from evil makes himself a prey</i> to those beasts of prey
that were before described. It is crime enough with them for a man
not to do as they do, and they treat <i>him</i> as an enemy who
will not partake with them in their wickedness. <i>He that departs
from evil is accounted mad;</i> so the margin reads. Sober
singularity is branded as folly, and he is thought next door to a
madman who swims against the stream that runs so strongly. 6. They
owned that all this could not but be very displeasing to the God of
heaven. The evil was done in his sight. They knew very well, though
they were not willing to acknowledge it, that the Lord saw it;
though it was done secretly, and gilded over with specious
pretences, yet it could not be concealed from his all-seeing eye.
All the wickedness that is in the world is naked and open before
the eyes of God; and, as he is of quicker eyes than not to see
iniquity, so he is of purer eyes than to behold it with the least
approbation or allowance. <i>He saw it, and it displeased him,</i>
though it was among his own professing people that he saw it. It
was evil in his eyes; he saw the sinfulness of all this sin, and
that which was most offensive to him was <i>that there was no
judgment,</i> no reformation; had he seen any signs of repentance,
though the sin displeased him, he would soon have been reconciled
to the sinners upon their returning from their evil way.
<i>Then</i> the sin of a nation becomes national, and brings public
judgments, when it is not restrained by public justice.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.lx-p16.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.16-Isa.59.21" parsed="|Isa|59|16|59|21" passage="Isa 59:16-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.lx-p16.8">
<h4 id="Is.lx-p16.9">The Kind Interposition of God;
Evangelical Promises. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lx-p16.10">b. c.</span> 706.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.lx-p17" shownumber="no">16 And he saw that <i>there was</i> no man, and
wondered that <i>there was</i> no intercessor: therefore his arm
brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained
him.   17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a
helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of
vengeance <i>for</i> clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
  18 According to <i>their</i> deeds, accordingly he will
repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the
islands he will repay recompence.   19 So shall they fear the
name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lx-p17.1">Lord</span> from the west, and
his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in
like a flood, the Spirit of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lx-p17.2">Lord</span>
shall lift up a standard against him.   20 And the Redeemer
shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in
Jacob, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lx-p17.3">Lord</span>.   21 As
for me, this <i>is</i> my covenant with them, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lx-p17.4">Lord</span>; My spirit that <i>is</i> upon thee,
and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of
thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth
of thy seed's seed, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.lx-p17.5">Lord</span>,
from henceforth and for ever.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p18" shownumber="no">How sin abounded we have read, to our great
amazement, in the former part of the chapter; how grace does much
more abound we read in these verses. And, as sin took occasion from
the commandment to become more exceedingly sinful, so grace took
occasion from the transgression of the commandment to appear more
exceedingly gracious. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p19" shownumber="no">I. Why God wrought salvation for this
provoking people, notwithstanding their provocations. It was purely
for his own name's sake; because there was nothing in them either
to bring it about, or to induce him to bring it about for them, no
merit to deserve it, no might to effect it, he would do it himself,
would be exalted in his own strength, for his own glory.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p20" shownumber="no">1. He took notice of their weakness and
wickedness: <i>He saw that there was no man</i> that would do any
thing for the support of the bleeding cause of religion and virtue
among them, not a man that would execute judgment (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.1" parsed="|Jer|5|1|0|0" passage="Jer 5:1">Jer. v. 1</scripRef>), that would bestir himself
in a work of reformation; those that complained of the badness of
the times had not zeal and courage enough to appear and act against
it; there was a universal corruption of manners, and nothing done
to stem the tide; most were wicked, and those that were not so were
yet weak, and durst not attempt any thing in opposition to the
wickedness of the wicked. <i>There was no intercessor,</i> either
none to intercede with God, to stand in the gap by prayer to turn
away his wrath (it would have pleased him to be thus met, and he
wondered that he was not), or, rather, none to interpose for the
support of justice and truth, which were trampled upon and run down
(<scripRef id="Is.lx-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.14" parsed="|Isa|59|14|0|0" passage="Isa 59:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), no
advocate to speak a good word for those who were made a prey of
because they kept their integrity, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.15" parsed="|Isa|59|15|0|0" passage="Isa 59:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. They complained that God did
not appear for them (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.3" parsed="|Isa|58|3|0|0" passage="Isa 58:3"><i>ch.</i> lviii.
3</scripRef>); but God with much more reason complains that they
did nothing for themselves, intimating how ready he would have been
to do them good if he had found among them the least motion towards
a reformation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p21" shownumber="no">2. He engaged his own strength and
righteousness for them. They shall be saved, notwithstanding all
this; and, (1.) Because they have no strength of their own, nor any
active men that will set to it in good earnest to redress the
grievances either of their iniquities or of their calamities,
therefore <i>his own arm shall bring salvation to him,</i> to his
people, or to him whom he would raise up to be the deliverer,
Christ, the power of God and arm of the Lord, that man of his right
hand whom he made strong for himself. The work of reformation (that
is the first and principal article of the salvation) shall be
wrought by the immediate influences of the divine grace on men's
consciences. Since magistrates and societies for reformation fail
of doing their part, one will not do justice nor the other call for
it, God will let them know that he can do it without them when his
time shall come thus to prepare his people for mercy, and then the
work of deliverance shall be wrought by the immediate operations of
the divine Providence on men's affections and affairs. When God
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, and brought his people out of
Babylon, <i>not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the
Lord of hosts,</i> then his own arm, which is never shortened,
brought salvation. (2.) Because they have no righteousness of their
own to merit these favours, and to which God might have an eye in
working for them, therefore <i>his</i> own <i>righteousness
sustained him</i> and bore him out in it. Divine justice, which by
their sins they had armed against them, through grace appears for
them. Though they can expect no favour as due to them, yet he will
be just to himself, to his own purpose and promise, and covenant
with his people: he will, in righteousness, punish the enemies of
his people; see <scripRef id="Is.lx-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.5" parsed="|Deut|9|5|0|0" passage="De 9:5">Deut. ix. 5</scripRef>.
<i>Not for thy righteousness, but for the wickedness of these
nations</i> they are driven out. In our redemption by Christ, since
we had no righteousness of our own to produce, on which God might
proceed in favour to us, he brought in a righteousness by the merit
and mediation of his own Son (it is called <i>the righteousness
which is of God by faith,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lx-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.9" parsed="|Phil|3|9|0|0" passage="Php 3:9">Phil.
iii. 9</scripRef>), and this righteousness sustained him, and bore
him out in all his favours to us, notwithstanding our provocations.
<i>He put on righteousness as a breast-plate,</i> securing his own
honour, as a breast-plate does the vitals, in all his proceedings,
by the justice and equity of them; and then he put <i>a helmet of
salvation upon his head;</i> so sure is he to effect the salvation
he intends that he takes salvation itself for his helmet, which
therefore must needs be impenetrable, and in which he appears very
illustrious, formidable in the eyes of his enemies and amiable in
the eyes of his friends. When righteousness is his coat of arms,
salvation is his crest. In allusion to this, among the pieces of a
Christian's armour we find <i>the breast-plate of
righteousness,</i> and for a helmet <i>the hope of salvation</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.lx-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Eph.6.14-Eph.6.17 Bible:1Thess.5.8" parsed="|Eph|6|14|6|17;|1Thess|5|8|0|0" passage="Eph 6:14-17,1Th 5:8">Eph. vi. 14-17; 1 Thess.
v. 8</scripRef>), and it is called <i>the armour of God,</i>
because he wore it first and so fitted it for us. (3.) Because they
have no spirit or zeal to do any thing for themselves, God will
<i>put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and clothe
himself with zeal as a cloak;</i> he will make his justice upon the
enemies of his church and people, and his jealousy for his own
glory and the honour of religion and virtue among men, to appear
evident and conspicuous in the eye of the world; and in these he
will show himself great, as a man shows himself in his rich attire
or in the distinguishing habit of his office. If men be not zealous
against sin, God will, and will take vengeance on it for all the
injury it has done to his honour and his people's welfare; and this
was the business of Christ in the world, to take away sin and be
revenged on it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p22" shownumber="no">II. What the salvation is that shall be
wrought out by the righteousness and strength of God himself.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p23" shownumber="no">1. There shall be a present temporal
salvation wrought out for the Jews in Babylon, or elsewhere in
distress and captivity. This is promised (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.18-Isa.59.19" parsed="|Isa|59|18|59|19" passage="Isa 59:18,19"><i>v.</i> 18, 19</scripRef>) as a type of something
further. When God's time shall come he will do his own work, though
those fail that should forward it. It is here promised, (1.) That
God will reckon with his enemies and will render to them according
to their deeds, to the enemies of his people abroad, that have
oppressed them, to the enemies of justice and truth at home, that
have oppressed them, for they also are God's enemies; and, when the
day of vengeance shall have come, he will deal with both as they
have deserved, <i>according to retribution</i> (so the word is),
the law of retributions (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.13.10" parsed="|Rev|13|10|0|0" passage="Re 13:10">Rev. xiii.
10</scripRef>), or <i>according to former retributions;</i> as he
has rendered to his enemies formerly, accordingly he will now
repay, <i>fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies;</i>
his fury shall not exceed the rules of justice, as men's fury
commonly does. Even <i>to the islands,</i> that lie most remote, if
they have appeared against him, <i>he will repay recompence;</i>
for <i>his hand shall find out all his enemies</i> (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.8" parsed="|Ps|21|8|0|0" passage="Ps 21:8">Ps. xxi. 8</scripRef>), and his arrows reach
them. Though God's people have behaved so ill that they do not
deserve to be delivered, yet his enemies behave so much worse that
they do deserve to be destroyed. (2.) That, whatever attempts the
enemies of God's people may afterwards make upon them to disturb
their peace, they shall be baffled and brought to nought: <i>When
the enemy shall come in like a flood,</i> like a high spring-tide,
or a land-flood, which threaten to bear down all before them
without control, then <i>the Spirit of the Lord</i> by some secret
undiscerned power <i>shall lift up a standard against him,</i> and
so (as the margin reads it) <i>put him to flight.</i> He that has
delivered will still deliver. When God's people are weak and
helpless, and have no standard to lift up against the invading
power, God will <i>give a banner to those that fear him</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.lx-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.60.4" parsed="|Ps|60|4|0|0" passage="Ps 60:4">Ps. lx. 4</scripRef>), will by his
Spirit lift up a standard, which will draw multitudes together to
appear on the church's behalf. Some read it, <i>He shall come</i>
(the name of the Lord, and his glory, before foreseen of the
Messiah promised) <i>like a straight river, the Spirit of the Lord
lifting him up for an ensign.</i> Christ by the preaching of his
gospel shall cover the earth with the knowledge of God as with the
waters of a flood, the <i>Spirit of the Lord</i> setting up Christ
as a <i>standard</i> to the <i>Gentiles,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lx-p23.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.11.10" parsed="|Isa|11|10|0|0" passage="Isa 11:10"><i>ch.</i> xi. 10</scripRef>. (3.) That all this should
redound to the glory of God and the advancement of religion in the
world (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p23.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.19" parsed="|Isa|59|19|0|0" passage="Isa 59:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>):
<i>So shall they fear the name of the Lord and his glory</i> in all
nations that lie eastward or westward. The deliverance of the Jews
out of captivity, and the destruction brought on their oppressors,
would awaken multitudes to enquire concerning the God of Israel,
and induce them to serve and worship him and enlist themselves
under the standard which the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up.
God's appearances for his church shall occasion the accession of
many to it. This had its full accomplishment in gospel times, when
many came <i>from the east and west,</i> to fill up the places of
<i>the children of the kingdom</i> that were <i>cast out,</i> when
there were set up eastern and western churches, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p23.7" osisRef="Bible:Matt.8.11" parsed="|Matt|8|11|0|0" passage="Mt 8:11">Matt. viii. 11</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p24" shownumber="no">2. There shall be a more glorious salvation
wrought out by the Messiah in the fulness of time, which salvation
all the prophets, upon all occasions, had in view. We have here the
two great promises relating to that salvation:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p25" shownumber="no">(1.) That the Son of God shall come to us
to be our Redeemer (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.20" parsed="|Isa|59|20|0|0" passage="Isa 59:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>): <i>Thy Redeemer shall come;</i> it is applied to
Christ, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.26" parsed="|Rom|9|26|0|0" passage="Ro 9:26">Rom. ix. 26</scripRef>.
<i>There shall come the deliverer.</i> The coming of Christ as the
Redeemer is the summary of all the promises both of the Old and New
Testament, and this was the redemption in Jerusalem which the
believing Jews looked for, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.38" parsed="|Luke|2|38|0|0" passage="Lu 2:38">Luke ii.
38</scripRef>. Christ is our <i>Goël,</i> our next kinsman, that
redeems both the person and the estate of the poor debtor. Observe,
[1.] The place where this Redeemer shall appear: He <i>shall come
to Zion,</i> for there, on that holy hill, the Lord would set him
up as his King, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.6" parsed="|Ps|2|6|0|0" passage="Ps 2:6">Ps. ii. 6</scripRef>. In
Zion the chief corner-stone was to be laid, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p25.5" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.6" parsed="|1Pet|2|6|0|0" passage="1Pe 2:6">1 Pet. ii. 6</scripRef>. He came to his temple there,
<scripRef id="Is.lx-p25.6" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.1" parsed="|Mal|3|1|0|0" passage="Mal 3:1">Mal. iii. 1</scripRef>. There salvation
was to be placed (<scripRef id="Is.lx-p25.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.13" parsed="|Isa|46|13|0|0" passage="Isa 46:13"><i>ch.</i> xlvi.
13</scripRef>), for thence the law was to go forth, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p25.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.2.3" parsed="|Isa|2|3|0|0" passage="Isa 2:3"><i>ch.</i> ii. 3</scripRef>. Zion was a type of
the gospel church, for which the Redeemer acts in all his
appearances: <i>The Redeemer shall come for the sake of Zion;</i>
so the LXX. reads it. [2.] The persons that shall have the comfort
of the Redeemer's coming, that shall then lift up their heads,
knowing that their redemption draws nigh. He shall come <i>to those
that turn from the ungodliness in Jacob,</i> to those that are in
Jacob, to the praying seed of Jacob, in answer to their prayers;
yet not to all that are in Jacob, that are within the pale of the
visible church, but to those only that turn from transgression,
that repent, and reform, and forsake those sins which Christ came
to redeem them from. The sinners in Zion will fare never the better
for the Redeemer's coming to Zion if they go on still in their
trespasses.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.lx-p26" shownumber="no">(2.) That the Spirit of God shall come to
us to be our sanctifier, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.21" parsed="|Isa|59|21|0|0" passage="Isa 59:21"><i>v.</i>
21</scripRef>. In the Redeemer there was a new covenant made with
us a covenant of promises; and this is the great and comprehensive
promise of that covenant, that God will give and continue his word
and Spirit to his church and people throughout all generations.
God's giving the <i>Spirit to those that ask him</i> includes the
giving of them all <i>good things,</i> <scripRef id="Is.lx-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.11.13 Bible:Matt.7.11" parsed="|Luke|11|13|0|0;|Matt|7|11|0|0" passage="Lu 11:13,Mt 7:11">Luke xi. 13; Matt. vii. 11</scripRef>. This
covenant is here said to <i>be made with them,</i> that is, with
those that turn from transgression; for those that cease to do evil
shall be taught to do well. But the promise is made to a single
person—<i>My Spirit that is upon thee,</i> being directed either,
[1.] To Christ as the head of the church, who received that he
might give. The Spirit promised to the church was first upon him,
and from his head that precious ointment descended to the skirts of
his garments; and the word of the gospel was first put into his
mouth; for <i>it began to be spoken by the Lord.</i> And all
believers are his seed, in whom he prolongs his days, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p26.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.10" parsed="|Isa|53|10|0|0" passage="Isa 53:10"><i>ch.</i> liii. 10</scripRef>. Or, [2.] To the
church; and so it is a promise of the continuance and perpetuity of
the church in the world to the end of time, parallel to those
promises that the throne and seed of Christ shall endure for ever,
<scripRef id="Is.lx-p26.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.29 Bible:Ps.89.36 Bible:Ps.22.30" parsed="|Ps|89|29|0|0;|Ps|89|36|0|0;|Ps|22|30|0|0" passage="Ps 89:29,36,Ps 22:30">Ps. lxxxix. 29, 36; xxii.
30</scripRef>. Observe, <i>First,</i> How the church shall be kept
up, in a succession, as the world of mankind is kept up, by the
seed and the seed's seed. As one generation passes away another
generation shall come. <i>Instead of the fathers shall be the
children. Secondly,</i> How long it shall be kept up—<i>henceforth
and for ever,</i> always, even <i>unto the end of the world;</i>
for, the world being left to stand for the sake of the church, we
may be sure that as long as it does stand Christ will have a church
in it, though no always visible. <i>Thirdly,</i> By what means it
shall be kept up; by the constant residence of the word and Spirit
in it. 1. The Spirit that was upon Christ shall always continue in
the hearts of the faithful; there shall be some in every age on
whom he shall work, and in whom he shall dwell, and thus the
Comforter shall abide with the church for ever, <scripRef id="Is.lx-p26.5" osisRef="Bible:John.14.16" parsed="|John|14|16|0|0" passage="Joh 14:16">John xiv. 16</scripRef>. 2. The word of Christ shall
always continue in the mouths of the faithful; there shall be some
in every age who, <i>believing with the heart</i> unto
righteousness, shall <i>with the tongue make confession unto
salvation.</i> The word shall never depart out of the mouth of the
church; for there shall still be a seed to speak Christ's holy
language and profess his holy religion. Observe, The Spirit and the
word go together, and by them the church is kept up. For the word
in the mouths of our ministers, nay, the word in our own mouths,
will not profit us, unless the Spirit work with the word, and give
us an understanding. But the Spirit does his work by the word and
in concurrence with it; and whatever is pretended to be a dictate
of the Spirit must be tried by the scriptures. On these foundations
the church is built, stands firmly, and shall stand for ever,
Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.</p>
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