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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>I S A I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. LIV.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The death of Christ is the life of the church and of all that truly
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belong to it; and therefore very fitly, after the prophet had foretold
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the sufferings of Christ, he foretels the flourishing of the church,
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which is a part of his glory, and that exaltation of him which was the
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reward of his humiliation: it was promised him that he should see his
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seed, and this chapter is an explication of that promise. It may easily
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be granted that it has a primary reference to the welfare and
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prosperity of the Jewish church after their return out of Babylon,
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which (as other things that happened to them) was typical of the
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glorious liberty of the children of God, which through Christ we are
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brought into; yet it cannot be denied but that it has a further and
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principal reference to the gospel church, into which the Gentiles were
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to be admitted. And the first words being understood by the apostle
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Paul of the New-Testament Jerusalem
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+4:26">Gal. iv. 26</A>)
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may serve as a key to the whole chapter and that which follows. It is
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here promised concerning the Christian church,
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I. That, though the beginnings of it were small, it should be greatly
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enlarged by the accession of many to it among the Gentiles, who had
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been wholly destitute of church privileges,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>.
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II. That though sometimes God might seem to withdraw from her, and
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suspend the tokens of his favour, he would return in mercy and would
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not return to contend with them any more,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:6-10">ver. 6-10</A>.
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III. That, though for a while she was in sorrow and under oppression,
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she should at length be advanced to greater honour and splendour than
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ever,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:11,12">ver. 11, 12</A>.
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IV. That knowledge, righteousness, and peace, should flourish and
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prevail,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:13,14">ver. 13, 14</A>.
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V. That all attempts against the church should be baffled, and she
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should be secured from the malice of her enemies,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:14-17">ver. 14-17</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Isa54_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa54_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa54_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa54_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa54_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Prosperity of the Church.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 706.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Sing, O barren, thou <I>that</I> didst not bear; break forth into
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singing, and cry aloud, thou <I>that</I> didst not travail with child:
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for more <I>are</I> the children of the desolate than the children of
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the married wife, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the
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curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and
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strengthen thy stakes;
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3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left;
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and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate
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cities to be inhabited.
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4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou
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confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt
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forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the
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reproach of thy widowhood any more.
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5 For thy Maker <I>is</I> thine husband; the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts <I>is</I> his
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name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the
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whole earth shall he be called.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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If we apply this to the state of the Jews after their return out of
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captivity, it is a prophecy of the increase of their nation after they
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were settled in their own land. Jerusalem had been in the condition of
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a wife written childless, or a desolate solitary widow; but now it is
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promised that the city should be replenished and the country peopled
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again, that not only the ruins of Jerusalem should be repaired, but the
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suburbs of it extended on all sides and a great many buildings erected
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upon new foundations,--that those estates which had for many years been
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wrongfully held by the Babylonian Gentiles should now return to the
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right owners. God will again be a husband to them, and the reproach of
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their captivity, and the small number to which they were then reduced,
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shall be forgotten. And it is to be observed that, by virtue of the
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ancient promise made to Abraham of the increase of his seed, when they
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were restored to God's favour they multiplied greatly. Those that first
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came out of Babylon were but 42,000
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+2:64">Ezra ii. 64</A>),
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about a fifteenth part of their number when they came out of Egypt;
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many came dropping to them afterwards, but we may suppose that to be
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the greatest number that ever came in a body; and yet above 500 years
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after, a little before their destruction by the Romans, a calculation
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was made by the number of the paschal lambs, and the lowest computation
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by that rule (allowing only ten to a lamb, whereas they might be
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twenty) made the nation to be nearly three millions. Josephus says,
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seven and twenty hundred thousand and odd, <I>Jewish War</I> 6.425. But
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we must apply it to the church of God in general; I mean the kingdom of
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God among men, God's city in the world, the children of God
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incorporated. Now observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. The low and languishing state of religion in the world for a long
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time before Christianity was brought in. It was like one <I>barren,
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that did not bear,</I> or travail with child, was like one desolate,
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that had lost husband and children; the church lay in a little compass,
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and brought forth little fruit. The Jews were indeed by profession
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married to God, but few proselytes were added to them, the rising
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generations were unpromising, and serious godliness manifestly lost
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ground among them. The Gentiles had less religion among them than the
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Jews; their proselytes were in a dispersion; and the children of God,
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like the children of a broken, reduced family, were <I>scattered
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abroad</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+11:52">John xi. 52</A>),
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did not appear nor make any figure.</P>
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<P>
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II. Its recovery from this low condition by the preaching of the gospel
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and the planting of the Christian church.</P>
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<P>
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1. Multitudes were converted from idols to the living God. Those were
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the church's children that were born again, were partakers of a new and
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divine nature, by the word. <I>More were the children of the desolate
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than of the married wife;</I> there were more good people found in the
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Gentile church (when that was set up) that had long been afar off, and
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without God in the world, than ever were found in the Jewish church.
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God's sealed ones out of the tribes of Israel are numbered
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+7:4">Rev. vii. 4</A>),
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and they were but a remnant compared with the thousands of Israel; but
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those of other nations were so many, and crowded in so thickly, and lay
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so much scattered in all parts, that no man could number them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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Sometimes more of the power of religion is found in those places and
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families that have made little show of it, and have enjoyed but little
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of the means of grace, than in others that have distinguished
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themselves by a flourishing profession; and then more are the children
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of the desolate, more the fruits of their righteousness, than those of
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the married wife; so the last shall be first. Now this is spoken of as
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matter of great rejoicing to the church, which is called upon to break
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forth into singing upon this account. The increase of the church is the
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joy of all its friends and strengthens their hands. The longer the
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church has lain desolate the greater will the transports of joy be when
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it begins to recover the ground it has lost and to gain more. Even in
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heaven, among the angels of God, there is an uncommon joy for a sinner
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that repents, much more for a nation that does so. If the barren
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fig-tree at length bring forth fruit, it is well; it shall rejoice, and
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others with it.</P>
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<P>
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2. The bounds of the church were extended much further than ever
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before,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:2,3"><I>v.</I> 2, 3</A>.
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(1.) It is here supposed that the present state of the church is a
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tabernacle state; it dwells in tents, like the heirs of promise of old
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:9">Heb. xi. 9</A>);
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its dwelling is mean and movable, and of no strength against a storm.
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The city, the continuing city, is reserved for hereafter. A tent is
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soon taken down and shifted, so the candlestick of church privileges is
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soon <I>removed out of its place</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+2:5">Rev. ii. 5</A>),
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and, when God pleases, it is as soon fixed elsewhere.
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(2.) Though it be a tabernacle state, it is sometimes very remarkably a
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growing state; and, if this family increase, no matter though it be in
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a tent. Thus it was in the first preaching of the gospel; it was the
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business of the apostles to disciple all nations, to stretch forth the
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curtains of the church's habitation, to preach the gospel where Christ
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had not yet been named
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+15:20">Rom. xv. 20</A>),
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to leaven with the gospel those towns and countries that had hitherto
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been strangers to it, and so to lengthen the cords of this tabernacle,
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that more might be enclosed, which would make it necessary to
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strengthen the stakes proportionably, that they might bear the weight
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of the enlarged curtains. The more numerous the church grows the more
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cautious she must be to fortify herself against errors and corruptions,
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and to support her seven pillars,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+9:1">Prov. ix. 1</A>.
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(3.) It was a proof of divine power going along with the gospel that in
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all places it <I>grew and prevailed mightily,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+19:20">Acts xix. 20</A>.
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It broke forth, as the breaking forth of waters--<I>on the right hand
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and on the left,</I> that is, on all hands. The gospel spread itself
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into all parts of the world; there were eastern and western churches.
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The church's seed inherited the Gentiles, and the cities that had been
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desolate (that is, destitute of the knowledge and worship of the true
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God) came to be inhabited, that is, to have religion set up in them and
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the name of Christ professed.</P>
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<P>
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3. This was the comfort and honour of the church
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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"<I>Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed,</I> as formerly, of the
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straitness of thy borders, and the fewness of thy children, which thy
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enemies upbraided thee with, but shalt <I>forget the reproach of thy
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youth,</I> because there shall be no more ground for that reproach." It
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was the reproach of the Christian religion, in its youth, that none of
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the rulers or princes of this world embraced it and that it was
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entertained and professed by a despicable handful of men; but, after
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awhile, nations were discipled, the empire became Christian, and then
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this <I>reproach of its youth was forgotten.</I></P>
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<P>
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4. This was owing to the relation in which God stood to his church, as
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her husband
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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<I>Thy maker is thy husband.</I> Believers are said to be married to
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Christ, that they may <I>bring forth fruit unto God</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:4">Rom. vii. 4</A>);
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so the church is married to him, that she may bear and bring up a holy
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seed to God, that shall be accounted to him for a generation. Jesus
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Christ is the church's Maker, by whom she is formed into a people--her
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Redeemer, by whom she is brought out of captivity, the bondage of sin,
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the worst of slaveries. This is he that espoused her to himself; and,
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(1.) He is <I>the Lord of hosts,</I> who has an irresistible power, an
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absolute sovereignty, and a universal dominion! Kings who are lords of
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some hosts, find there are others who are lords of other hosts, as many
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and mighty as theirs; but God is the Lord of all hosts.
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(2.) He is <I>the Holy One of Israel,</I> the same that presided in the
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affairs of the Old-Testament church and was the Mediator of the
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covenant made with it. The promises made to the New-Testament Israel
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are as rich and sure as those made to the Old-Testament Israel; for he
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that is our Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
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(3.) He is and shall be called <I>the Lord of the whole earth,</I> as
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God, and as Mediator, for he is the heir of all things; but <I>then</I>
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he shall be called so, when the ends of the earth shall be made to see
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his salvation, when all the earth shall call him their God and have an
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interest in him. Long he had been called, in a peculiar manner, <I>the
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God of Israel;</I> but now, the partition wall between Jew and Gentile
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being taken down, he shall be called <I>the God of the whole earth</I>
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even where he has been, as at Athens itself, an <I>unknown God.</I></P>
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<A NAME="Isa54_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa54_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa54_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa54_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa54_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Prosperity of the Church.</I></FONT></TD>
|
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 706.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>6 For the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved
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in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy
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God.
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7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great
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mercies will I gather thee.
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8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but
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with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy Redeemer.
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9 For this <I>is as</I> the waters of Noah unto me: for <I>as</I> I have
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sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth;
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so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke
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thee.
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10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed;
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but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
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covenant of my peace be removed, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> that hath mercy
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on thee.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The seasonable succour and relief which God sent to his captives in
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Babylon, when they had a discharge from their bondage there, are here
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foretold, as a type and figure of all those consolations of God which
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are treasured up for the church in general and all believers in
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particular, in the covenant of grace.</P>
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<P>
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I. Look back to former troubles, and in comparison with them God's
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favours to his people appear very comfortable,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:6-8"><I>v.</I> 6-8</A>.
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Observe,
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1. How sorrowful the church's condition had been. She had been as a
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woman forsaken, whose husband was dead, or had fallen out with her,
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though she was <I>a wife of youth,</I> upon which account she is
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grieved in spirit, takes it very ill, frets, and grows melancholy upon
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it; or she had been as one refused and rejected, and therefore full of
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discontent. Note, Even those that are espoused to God may yet seem to
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be refused and forsaken, and may be grieved in spirit under the
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apprehensions of being so. Those that shall never be forsaken and left
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in despair may yet for a time be perplexed and in distress. The
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similitude is explained
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>):
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<I>For a small moment have I forsaken thee. In a little wrath I hid my
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face from thee.</I> When God continues his people long in trouble he
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seems to forsake them; so their enemies construe it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+71:11">Ps. lxxi. 11</A>);
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so they themselves misinterpret it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+49:14"><I>ch.</I> xlix. 14</A>.
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When they are comfortless under their troubles, because their prayers
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and expectations are not answered, God hides his face from them, as if
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he regarded them not nor designed them any kindness. God owns that he
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had done this; for he keeps an account of the afflictions of his
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people, and, though he never turned his face against them (as against
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the wicked,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+34:16">Ps. xxxiv. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+57:17"><I>ch.</I> lvii. 17</A>);
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>with everlasting kindness,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+8:21,22,9:11">Gen. viii. 21, 22; ix. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+89:34">Ps. lxxxix. 34</A>),
|
|
|
|
nor rebuke them as he has rebuked the heathen, to destroy them, and
|
|
<I>put out their name for ever and ever,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+9:5">Ps. ix. 5</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. It is more firm than the strongest parts of the visible creation
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+3:6">Hab. iii. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+4:7">Zech. iv. 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa54_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa54_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa54_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa54_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa54_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa54_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa54_17"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Prosperity of the Church; The Prosperity of Zion.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 706.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; 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
|
|
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and their righteousness <I>is</I> of me, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
I. The distressed state the church is here reduced to by the providence
|
|
of God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:1">Eccl. iv. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ch+29:2">1 Chron. xxix. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+3:15">Prov. iii. 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
than the precious onyx and the sapphire, and which the <I>topaz of
|
|
Ethiopia cannot equal,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+28:16,19">Job xxviii. 16, 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
[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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+3:12">1 Cor. iii. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Then the church is all glorious,
|
|
|
|
[1.] When it is full of the knowledge of God, and that is promised here
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>)
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+6:45">John vi. 45</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+4:21">Eph. iv. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
There shall be a plentiful effusion of the Spirit of grace upon
|
|
Christians, to <I>teach them all things,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+14:26">John xiv. 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
[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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:165">Ps. cxix. 165</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Th+4:9">1 Thess. iv. 9</A>)
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
2. Whereas now she lay in danger, God promises that which would be her
|
|
protection and security.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<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,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
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It is granted, "<I>They shall surely gather together against thee;</I>
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thou must expect it." The confederate force of hell and earth will be
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renewing their assaults. As long as there is a devil in hell, and a
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persecutor out of it, God's people must expect frequent alarms; but,
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<I>First,</I> God will not own them, will not give them either
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commission or countenance; they gather together, hand joins in hand,
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but it is <I>not by me.</I> God gave them no such order as he did to
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Sennacherib, to <I>take the spoil, and to take the prey,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+10:6"><I>ch.</I> x. 6</A>.
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And therefore, <I>Secondly,</I> Their attempt will end in their own
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ruin: "<I>Whosoever shall gather together against thee,</I> be they
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ever so many and ever so mighty, they shall not only be baffled, but
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they <I>shall fall for thy sake,</I> or they shall fall before thee,
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which shall be the just punishment of their enmity to thee." God will
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make them to fall for the sake of the love he bears to his church and
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the care he has of it, in answer to the prayers made by his people, and
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in pursuance of the promises made to them. "They shall fall, that thou
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mayest stand,"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+27:2">Ps. xxvii. 2</A>.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) That we may with the greatest assurance depend upon God for the
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safety of his church, we have here,
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[1.] The power of God over the church's enemies asserted,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
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The truth is they have <I>no power but what is given them from
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above,</I> and he that gave them their power can limit and restrain
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them. <I>Hitherto they shall go, and no further. First,</I> They
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cannot carry on their design without arms and weapons of war; and the
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smith that makes those weapons is God's creature, and he gave him his
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skill to work in iron and brass
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+31:3,4">Exod. xxxi. 3, 4</A>)
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and particularly to make proper instruments for warlike purposes. It is
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melancholy to think, as if men did not die fast enough of themselves,
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how ingenious and industrious they are to make instruments of death and
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to find out ways and means to kill one another. <I>The smith blows the
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coals in the fire,</I> to make his iron malleable, to soften it first,
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that it may be hardened into steel, and so <I>he may bring forth an
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instrument proper for the work of those that seek to destroy.</I> It is
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the iron age that is the age of war. But <I>God has created the
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smith,</I> and therefore can tie his hands, so that the project of the
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enemy shall miscarry (as many a project has done) for want of arms and
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ammunition. Or the smith that forges the weapons is perhaps put here
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for the council of war that forms the design, blows the coals of
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contention, and brings forth the plan of the war; these can do no more
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than God will let them. <I>Secondly,</I> They cannot carry it on
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without men, they must have soldiers, and it is <I>God that created the
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waster to destroy.</I> Military men value themselves upon their great
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offices and splendid titles, and even the common soldiers call
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themselves <I>gentlemen;</I> but God calls them <I>wasters made to
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destroy,</I> for wasting and destruction are their business. They think
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their own ingenuity, labour, and experience, made them soldiers; but it
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was God that created them, and gave them strength and spirit for that
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hazardous employment; and therefore he not only can restrain them, but
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will serve his own purposes and designs by them.
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[2.] The promise of God concerning the church's safety solemnly laid
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|
down, as <I>the heritage of the servants of the Lord</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
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as that which they may depend upon and be confident of, that God will
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protect them from their adversaries both in camps and courts.
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<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
|
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blows the coals,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>,
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though ever so skilfully managed by the waster that seeks to destroy)
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<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,
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+4:12,Es+3:8">Ezra iv. 12; Esth. iii. 8</A>.
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"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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+2:15">1 Pet. ii. 15</A>),
|
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|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+37:6">Ps. xxxvii. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jude+1:15">Jude 15</A>.</P>
|
|
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|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:111">Ps. cxix. 111</A>);
|
|
|
|
<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>
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