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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. L.</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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In this chapter,
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I. Those to whom God sends are justly charged with bringing all the
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troubles they were in upon themselves, by their own wilfulness and
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obstinacy, it being made to appear that God was able and ready to help
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them if they had been fit for deliverance,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
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II. He by whom God sends produces his commission
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:4">ver. 4</A>),
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alleges his own readiness to submit to all the services and sufferings
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he was called to in the execution of it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:5,6">ver. 5, 6</A>),
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and assures himself that God, who sent him, would stand by him and bear
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him out against all opposition,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:7-9">ver. 7-9</A>.
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III. The message that is sent is life and death, good and evil, the
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blessing and the curse, comfort to desponding saints and terror to
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presuming sinners,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:10,11">ver. 10, 11</A>.
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Now all this seems to have a double reference,
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1. To the unbelieving Jews in Babylon, who quarrelled with God for his
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dealings with them, and to the prophet Isaiah, who, though dead long
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before the captivity, yet, prophesying so plainly and fully of it, saw
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fit to produce his credentials, to justify what he had said.
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2. To the unbelieving Jews in our Saviour's time, whose own fault it
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was that they were rejected, Christ having preached much to them, and
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suffered much from them, and being herein borne up by a divine power.
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The "contents" of this chapter, in our Bibles, give this sense of it,
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very concisely, thus:--"Christ shows that the dereliction of the Jews
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is not to be imputed to him, by his ability to save, by his obedience
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in that work, and by his confidence in divine assistance." The prophet
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concludes with an exhortation to trust in God and not in ourselves.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Isa50_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa50_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa50_3"> </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>Expostulations with Israel.</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 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, Where <I>is</I> the bill of your mother's
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divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors <I>is
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it</I> to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye
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sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put
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away.
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2 Wherefore, when I came, <I>was there</I> no man? when I called,
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<I>was there</I> none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it
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cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my
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rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their
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fish stinketh, because <I>there is</I> no water, and dieth for thirst.
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3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth
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their covering.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Those who have professed to be the people of God, and yet seem to be
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dealt severely with, are apt to complain of God, and to lay the fault
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upon him, as if he had been hard with them. But, in answer to their
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murmurings, we have here,</P>
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<P>
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I. A challenge given them to prove, or produce any evidence, that the
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quarrel began on God's side,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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They could not say that he had done them any wrong or had acted
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arbitrarily.
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1. He had been a husband to them; and husbands were then allowed a
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power to put away their wives upon any little disgust: if their wives
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found not favour in their eyes, they made nothing of giving them a bill
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of divorce,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+24:1,Mt+19:7">Deut. xxiv. 1; Matt. xix. 7</A>.
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But they could not say that God had dealt so with them. It is true they
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were now separated from him, and had abode many days without ephod,
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altar, or sacrifice; but whose fault was that? They could not say that
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God had given their mother a bill of divorce; let them produce it if
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they can, for a bill of divorce was given into the hand of her that was
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divorced.
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2. He had been a father to them; and fathers had then a power to sell
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their children for slaves to their creditors, in satisfaction for the
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debts they were not otherwise able to pay. Now it is true the Jews were
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sold to the Babylonians then, and afterwards to the Romans; but did God
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sell them for payment of his debts? No, he was not indebted to any of
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those to whom they were sold, or, if he had sold them, he <I>did not
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increase his wealth by their price,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+44:12">Ps. xliv. 12</A>.
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When God chastens his children, it is neither for his pleasure
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+12:10">Heb. xii. 10</A>)
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nor for his profit. All that are saved are saved by a prerogative of
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grace, but those that perish are cut off by an act of divine holiness
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and justice, not of absolute sovereignty.</P>
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<P>
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II. A charge exhibited against them, showing them that they were
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themselves the authors of their own ruin: "<I>Behold, for your
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iniquities,</I> for the pleasure of them and the gratification of your
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own base lusts, <I>you have sold yourselves, for your iniquities you
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are sold;</I> not as children are sold by their parents, to pay their
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debts, but as malefactors are sold by the judges, to punish them for
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their crimes. You sold yourselves to work wickedness, and therefore God
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justly sold you into the hands of your enemies,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+12:5,8">2 Chron. xii. 5, 8</A>.
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It is for your transgressions that your mother is put away, for her
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whoredoms and adulteries," which were always allowed to be a just cause
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of divorce. The Jews were sent into Babylon for their idolatry, a sin
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which broke the marriage covenant, and were at last rejected for
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crucifying the Lord of glory; these were the iniquities for which they
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were sold and put away.</P>
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<P>
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III. The confirmation of this challenge and this charge.
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1. It is plain that it was owing to themselves that they were cast off;
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for God came and offered them his favour, offered them his helping
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hand, either to prevent their trouble or to deliver them out of it, but
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they slighted him and all the tenders of his grace. "Do you lay it upon
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me?" (says God); "tell me, then, wherefore, <I>when I came, was there
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no man</I> to meet me, <I>when I called, was there none to answer
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me?</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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God came to them by his servants the prophets, demanding the fruits of
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his vineyard
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+21:34">Matt. xxi. 34</A>);
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he sent them his messengers, <I>rising up betimes and sending them</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+35:15">Jer. xxxv. 15</A>);
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he called to them to leave their sins, and so prevent their own ruin:
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but <I>was there</I> no man, or next to none, that had any regard to
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the warnings which the prophets gave them, none that answered the calls
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of God, or complied with the messages he sent them; and this was it for
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which they were sold and put away. Because they <I>mocked the
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messengers of the Lord,</I> therefore, <I>God brought upon them the
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king of the Chaldeans,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+36:16,17">2 Chron. xxxvi. 16, 17</A>.
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Last of all <I>he sent unto them his Son.</I> He <I>came to his
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own,</I> but <I>his own received him not;</I> he called them to
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himself, but there were none that answered; he would have gathered
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Jerusalem's children together, but they would not; they knew not,
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because they would not know, the things that belonged to their peace,
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nor the day of their visitation, and for that transgression it was that
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they were put away and their house was left desolate,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+21:41,23:37,38,Lu+19:41,42">Matt. xxi. 41; xxiii. 37, 38;
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Luke xix. 41, 42</A>.
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When God calls men to happiness, and they will not answer, they are
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justly left to be miserable.
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2. It is plain that it was not owing to a want of power in God, for he
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is almighty, and could have recovered them from so great a death; nor
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was it owing to a want of power in Christ, for he is <I>able to save to
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the uttermost.</I> The unbelieving Jews in Babylon thought they were
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not delivered because their God was not able to deliver them; and those
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in Christ's time were ready to ask, in scorn, <I>Can this man save
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us?</I> For <I>himself he cannot save.</I> "But" (says God) "<I>is my
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hand shortened at all,</I> or is it weakened?" Can any limits be set to
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Omnipotence? Cannot he redeem who is the great Redeemer? Has he no
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<I>power to deliver</I> whose all power is? To put to silence, and for
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ever to put to shame, their doubts concerning his power, he here gives
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unquestionable proofs of it.
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(1.) He can, when he pleases, <I>dry up the seas,</I> and make the
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rivers a wilderness. He did so for Israel when he redeemed them out of
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Egypt, and he can do so again for their redemption out of Babylon. It
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is done at his <I>rebuke,</I> as easily as with a word's speaking. He
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can so dry up the rivers as to leave the fish to die for want of water,
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and to putrefy. When God <I>turned the waters of Egypt into blood</I>
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he <I>slew the fish,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+105:29">Ps. cv. 29</A>.
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The expression our Saviour sometimes used concerning the power of
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faith, that it will <I>remove mountains and plant sycamores in the
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sea,</I> is not unlike this; if their faith could do that, no doubt
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their faith would save them, and therefore they were inexcusable if
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they perished in unbelief.
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(2.) He can, when he pleases, eclipse the lights of heaven, <I>clothe
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then with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>)
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by thick and dark clouds interposing, which he balances,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+36:32,37:16">Job xxxvi. 32; xxxvii. 16</A>.</P>
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<A NAME="Isa50_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa50_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa50_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa50_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa50_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa50_9"> </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>Work and Sufferings of the Messiah.</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>4 The Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I
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should know how to speak a word in season to <I>him that is</I> weary:
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he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as
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the learned.
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5 The Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious,
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neither turned away back.
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6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that
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plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
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7 For the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> will help me; therefore shall I not be
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confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know
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that I shall not be ashamed.
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8 <I>He is</I> near that justifieth me; who will contend with me?
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let us stand together: who <I>is</I> mine adversary? let him come near
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to me.
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9 Behold, the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> will help me; who <I>is</I> he <I>that</I> shall
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condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth
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shall eat them up.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Our Lord Jesus, having proved himself able to save, here shows himself
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as willing as he is able to save, here shows himself as willing as he
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is able. We suppose the prophet Isaiah to say something of himself in
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these verses, engaging and encouraging himself to go on in his work as
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a prophet, notwithstanding the many hardships he met with, not doubting
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but that God would stand by him and strengthen him; but, like David, he
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speaks of himself as a type of Christ, who is here prophesied of and
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promised to be the Saviour.</P>
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<P>
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I. As an acceptable preacher. Isaiah, a a prophet, was qualified for
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the work to which he was called, so were the rest of God's prophets,
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and others whom he employed as his messengers; but Christ was anointed
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with the Spirit above his fellows. To make the man of God perfect, he
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has,
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1. <I>The tongue of the learned,</I> to know how to give instruction,
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<I>how to speak a word in season to him that is weary,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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God, who made man's mouth, gave Moses the tongue of the learned, to
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speak for the terror and conviction of Pharaoh,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+4:11,12">Exod. iv. 11, 12</A>.
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He gave to Christ the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season
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for the comfort of those that are weary and heavily laden under the
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burden of sin,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+11:28">Matt. xi. 28</A>.
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<I>Grace was poured into his lips,</I> and they are said to <I>drop
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sweet-smelling myrrh.</I> See what is the best learning of a minister,
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to know how to comfort troubled consciences, and to speak pertinently,
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properly, and plainly, to the various cases of poor souls. An ability
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to do this is God's gift, and it is one of the best gifts, which we
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should covet earnestly. Let us repose ourselves in the many comfortable
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words which Christ has spoken to the weary.
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2. The ear of the learned, to receive instruction. Prophets have as
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much need of this as of the tongue of the learned; for they must
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deliver what they are taught and no other, must hear the word from
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God's mouth diligently and attentively, that they may speak it exactly,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+3:17">Ezek. iii. 17</A>.
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Christ himself received that he might give. None must undertake to be
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teachers who have not first been learners. Christ's apostles were first
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disciples, <I>scribes instructed unto the kingdom of heaven,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+13:52">Matt. xiii. 52</A>.
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Nor is it enough to hear, but we must <I>hear as the learned,</I> hear
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and understand, hear and remember, hear as those that would learn by
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what we hear. Those that would hear as the learned must be awake, and
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wakeful; for we are naturally drowsy and sleepy, and unapt to hear at
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all, or we hear by the halves, hear and do not heed. Our ears need to
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be wakened; we need to have something said to rouse us, to awaken us
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out of our spiritual slumbers, that we may hear as for our lives. We
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need to be awakened <I>morning by morning,</I> as duly as the day
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returns, to be awakened to do the work of the day in its day. Our case
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calls for continual fresh supplies of divine grace, to free us from the
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dulness we contract daily. The morning, when our spirits are most
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lively, is a proper time for communion with God; then we are in the
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best frame both to speak to him (<I>my voice shalt thou hear in the
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morning</I>) and to hear from him. The people came <I>early in the
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morning</I> to hear Christ in the temple
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+21:38">Luke xxi. 38</A>),
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for, it seems, his were morning lectures. And it is God that wakens us
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morning by morning. If we do any thing to purpose in his service, it is
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he who, as our Master, calls us up; and we should doze perpetually if
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he did not waken us morning by morning.</P>
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<P>
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II. As a patient sufferer,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:5,6"><I>v.</I> 5, 6</A>.
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One would think that he who was commissioned and qualified to speak
|
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comfort to the weary should meet with no difficulty in his work, but
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universal acceptance. It is however quite otherwise; he has both hard
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work to do and hard usage to undergo; and here he tells us with what
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undaunted constancy he went through with it. We have no reason to
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question but that the prophet Isaiah went on resolutely in the work to
|
|
which God had called him, though we read not of his undergoing any such
|
|
hardships as are here supposed; but we are sure that the prediction was
|
|
abundantly verified in Jesus Christ: and here we have,
|
|
|
|
1. His patient obedience in his doing work. "The Lord God has not only
|
|
wakened my ear to hear what he says, but has opened my ear to receive
|
|
it, and comply with it"
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+40:6,7">Ps. xl. 6, 7</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>My ear hast thou opened; then said I, Lo, I come</I>); for when he
|
|
adds, <I>I was not rebellious, neither turned away back,</I> more is
|
|
implied than expressed--that he was willing, that though he foresaw a
|
|
great deal of difficulty and discouragement, though he was to take
|
|
pains and give constant attendance as a servant, though he was to empty
|
|
himself of that which was very great and humble himself to that which
|
|
was very mean, yet he did not fly off, did not fail, nor was
|
|
discouraged. He continued very free and forward to his work even when
|
|
he came to the hardest part of it. Note, As a good understanding in the
|
|
truths of God, so a good will to the work and service of God, is from
|
|
the grace of God.
|
|
|
|
2. His obedient patience in his suffering work. I call it obedient
|
|
patience because he was patient with an eye to his Father's will, thus
|
|
pleading with himself, <I>This commandment have I received of my
|
|
Father,</I> and thus submitting to God, <I>Not as I will, but as thou
|
|
wilt.</I> In this submission he resigned himself,
|
|
|
|
(1.) To be scourged: <I>I gave my back to the smiters;</I> and that not
|
|
only by submitting to the indignity when he was smitten, but by
|
|
permitting it (or admitting it rather) among the other instances of
|
|
pain and shame which he would voluntarily undergo for us.
|
|
|
|
(2.) To be buffeted: <I>I gave my cheeks to those that</I> not only
|
|
smote them, but <I>plucked off the hair</I> of the beard, which was a
|
|
greater degree both of pain and of ignominy.
|
|
|
|
(3.) To be spit upon: <I>I hid not my face from shame and spitting.</I>
|
|
He could have hidden his face from it, could have avoided it, but he
|
|
would not, because he was made a reproach of men, and thus he would
|
|
answer to the type of Job, that man of sorrows, of whom it is said that
|
|
they <I>smote him on the cheek reproachfully</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+16:10">Job xvi. 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
which was an expression not only of contempt, but of abhorrence and
|
|
indignation. All this Christ underwent for us, and voluntarily, to
|
|
convince us of his willingness to save us.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. As a courageous champion,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:7-9"><I>v.</I> 7-9</A>.
|
|
|
|
The Redeemer is as famous for his boldness as for his humility and
|
|
patience, and, though he yields, yet he is more than a conqueror.
|
|
Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. The dependence he has upon God. What was the prophet Isaiah's
|
|
support was the support of Christ himself
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The Lord God will help me;</I> and again,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those whom God employs he will assist, and will take care they want not
|
|
any help that they or their work call for. God, having laid help upon
|
|
his Son for us, gave help to him, and his hand was all along <I>with
|
|
the man of his right hand.</I> Nor will he only assist him in his work,
|
|
but accept of him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He is near that justifieth.</I> Isaiah, no doubt, was falsely
|
|
accused and loaded with reproach and calumny, as other prophets were;
|
|
but he despised the reproach, knowing that God would roll it away and
|
|
bring forth his righteousness as the light, perhaps in this world
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+37:6">Ps. xxxvii. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
at furthest in the great day, when there will be a resurrection of
|
|
names as well as bodies, and the righteous shall shine forth as the
|
|
morning sun. And so it was verified in Christ; by his resurrection he
|
|
was proved to be not the man that he was represented, not a blasphemer,
|
|
not a deceiver, not an enemy to Cæsar. The judge that condemned
|
|
him owned he found no fault in him; the centurion, or sheriff, that had
|
|
charge of his execution, declared him a righteous man: so near was he
|
|
that justified him. But it was true of him in a further and more
|
|
peculiar sense: the Father justified him when he accepted the
|
|
satisfaction he made for the sin of man, and constituted him <I>the
|
|
Lord our righteousness,</I> who was made sin for us. He was
|
|
<I>justified in the Spirit,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+3:16">1 Tim. iii. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
He was near who did it; for his resurrection, by which he was
|
|
justified, soon followed his condemnation and crucifixion. He was
|
|
straightway glorified,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+13:32">John xiii. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. The confidence he thereupon has of success in his undertaking: "If
|
|
God will help me, if he will justify me, will stand by me and bear me
|
|
out, <I>I shall not be confounded,</I> as those are that come short of
|
|
the end they aimed at and the satisfaction they promised themselves:
|
|
<I>I know that I shall not be ashamed.</I>" Though his enemies did all
|
|
they could to put him to shame, yet he kept his ground, he kept his
|
|
countenance, and was not ashamed of the work he had undertaken. Note,
|
|
Work for God is work that we should not be ashamed of; and hope in God
|
|
is hope that we shall not be ashamed of. Those that trust in God for
|
|
help shall not be disappointed; they know whom they have trusted, and
|
|
therefore know they shall not be ashamed.
|
|
|
|
3. The defiance which in this confidence he bids to all opposers and
|
|
opposition: "God will help me, and <I>therefore have I set my face like
|
|
a flint.</I>" The prophet did so; he was bold in reproving sin, in
|
|
warning sinners
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+3:8,9">Ezek. iii. 8, 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
and in asserting the truth of his predictions. Christ did so; he went
|
|
on in his work, as Mediator, with unshaken constancy and undaunted
|
|
resolution; he did not fail nor was discouraged; and here he challenges
|
|
all his opposers,
|
|
|
|
(1.) To enter the lists with him: <I>Who will contend with me,</I>
|
|
either in law or by the sword? <I>Let us stand together</I> as
|
|
combatants, or as the plaintiff and defendant. <I>Who is my
|
|
adversary?</I> Who is <I>the master of my cause?</I> so the word is,
|
|
"Who will pretend to enter an action against me? Let him appear, and
|
|
<I>come near to me,</I> for I will not abscond." Many offered to
|
|
dispute with Christ, but he put them to silence. The prophet speaks
|
|
this in the name of all faithful ministers; those who keep close to the
|
|
pure word of God, in delivering their message, need not fear
|
|
contradiction; the scriptures will bear them out, whoever contends with
|
|
them. <I>Great is the truth and will prevail.</I> Christ speaks this in
|
|
the name of all believers, speaks it as their champion. Who dares be an
|
|
enemy to those whom he is a friend to, or contend with those for whom
|
|
he is an advocate? Thus St. Paul applies it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:33">Rom. viii. 33</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He challenges them to prove any crime upon him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Who is he that shall condemn me?</I> The prophet perhaps was
|
|
condemned to die; Christ we are sure was; and yet both could say,
|
|
<I>Who is he that shall condemn?</I> For there is no condemnation to
|
|
those whom God justifies. There were those that did condemn them, but
|
|
what became of them? <I>They all shall wax old as a garment.</I> The
|
|
righteous cause of Christ and his prophets shall outlive all
|
|
opposition. The <I>moth shall eat them up</I> silently and insensibly;
|
|
a little thing will serve to destroy them. But the roaring lion himself
|
|
shall not prevail against God's witnesses. All believers are enabled to
|
|
make this challenge, <I>Who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ that
|
|
died.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa50_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa50_11"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Disconsolate Encouraged.</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>10 Who <I>is</I> among you that feareth the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, that obeyeth the
|
|
voice of his servant, that walketh <I>in</I> darkness, and hath no
|
|
light? let him trust in the name of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and stay upon his
|
|
God.
|
|
11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass <I>yourselves</I>
|
|
about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the
|
|
sparks <I>that</I> ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand;
|
|
ye shall lie down in sorrow.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The prophet, having the tongue of the learned given him, that he might
|
|
give to every one his portion, here makes use of it, rightly dividing
|
|
the word of truth. It is the summary of the gospel. <I>He that believes
|
|
shall be saved</I> (he that trusts in the name of the Lord shall be
|
|
comforted, though for a while he walk in darkness and have no light),
|
|
but <I>he that believes not shall be damned;</I> though for a while he
|
|
walk in the light of his own fire, yet he shall lie down in sorrow.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Comfort is here spoken to disconsolate saints, and they are
|
|
encouraged to trust in God's grace,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here observe,
|
|
|
|
1. What is always the character of a child of God. He is one that fears
|
|
the Lord with a filial fear, that stands in awe of his majesty and is
|
|
afraid of incurring his displeasure. This is a grace that usually
|
|
appears most in good people when they walk in darkness, when other
|
|
graces appear not. They then <I>tremble at his word</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+66:2"><I>ch.</I> lxvi. 2</A>)
|
|
|
|
and are <I>afraid of his judgments,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:120">Ps. cxix. 120</A>.
|
|
|
|
He is one that obeys the voice of God's servant, is willing to be ruled
|
|
by the Lord Jesus, as God's servant in the great work of man's
|
|
redemption, one that yields a sincere obedience to the law of Christ
|
|
and cheerfully comes up to the terms of his covenant. Those that truly
|
|
fear God will obey the voice of Christ.
|
|
|
|
2. What is sometimes the case of a child of God. It is supposed that
|
|
though he has in his heart the fear of God, and faith in Christ, yet
|
|
for a time he walks in darkness and has no light, is disquieted and has
|
|
little or no comfort. Who is there that does so? This intimates that
|
|
it is a case which sometimes happens among the professors of religion,
|
|
yet not very often; but, whenever it happens, God takes notice of it.
|
|
It is no new thing for the children and heirs of light sometimes to
|
|
walk in darkness, and for a time not to have any glimpse or gleam of
|
|
light. This is not meant so much of the comforts of this life (those
|
|
that fear God, when they have ever so great an abundance of them, do
|
|
not walk in them as their light) as of their spiritual comforts, which
|
|
relate to their souls. They walk in darkness when their evidences for
|
|
heaven are clouded, their joy in God is interrupted, the testimony of
|
|
the Spirit is suspended, and the light of God's countenance is
|
|
eclipsed. Pensive Christians are apt to be melancholy, and those who
|
|
fear always are apt to fear too much.
|
|
|
|
3. What is likely to be an effectual cure in this sad case. He that is
|
|
thus in the dark,
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>Let him trust in the name of the Lord,</I> in the goodness of
|
|
his nature, and that which he has made known of himself, his wisdom,
|
|
power, and goodness. <I>The name of the Lord is a strong tower,</I> let
|
|
his run into that. Let him depend upon it that if he walk before God,
|
|
which a man may do though he walk in the dark, he shall find God
|
|
all-sufficient to him.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Let him <I>stay himself upon his God,</I> his in covenant; let him
|
|
keep hold of his covenant-relation to God, and call God <I>his God,</I>
|
|
as Christ on the cross, <I>My God, My God.</I> Let him stay himself
|
|
upon the promises of the covenant, and build his hopes on them. When a
|
|
child of God is ready to sink he will find enough in God to stay
|
|
himself upon. Let him trust in Christ, for God's <I>name is in him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+23:21">Exod. xxiii. 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
trust in that name of his, <I>The Lord our righteousness,</I> and stay
|
|
himself upon God as his God, in and through a Mediator.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Conviction is here spoken to presuming sinners, and they are warned
|
|
not to trust in themselves,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. The description given of them. They <I>kindle a fire,</I> and
|
|
<I>walk in the light of that fire.</I> They depend upon their own
|
|
righteousness, offer all their sacrifices, and burn all their incense,
|
|
with that fire (as Nadab and Abihu) and not with the fire from heaven.
|
|
In their hope of acceptance with God they have no regard to the
|
|
righteousness of Christ. They refresh and please themselves with a
|
|
conceit of their own merit and sufficiency, and warm themselves with
|
|
that. It is both light and heat to them. They <I>compass themselves
|
|
about with sparks of their own kindling.</I> As they trust in their own
|
|
righteousness, and not in the righteousness of Christ, so they place
|
|
their happiness in their worldly possessions and enjoyments, and not in
|
|
the favour of God. Creature-comforts are as sparks, short-lived and
|
|
soon gone; yet the children of this world, while they last, warm
|
|
themselves by them, and walk with pride and pleasure in the light of
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
2. The doom passed upon them. They are ironically told to <I>walk in
|
|
the light of their own fire.</I> "Make your best of it, while it lasts.
|
|
But what will be in the end thereof, what will it come to at last? This
|
|
shall you have of my hand (says Christ, for to him the judgment is
|
|
committed), <I>you shall lie down in sorrow,</I> shall go to bed in the
|
|
dark." See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:5,6">Job xviii. 5, 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>His candle shall be put out with him.</I> Those that make the world
|
|
their comfort, and their own righteousness their confidence, will
|
|
certainly meet with a fatal disappointment, which will be bitterness in
|
|
the end. A godly man's way may be melancholy, but his end shall be
|
|
peace and everlasting light. A wicked man's way may be pleasant, but
|
|
his end and endless abode will be utter darkness.</P>
|
|
|
|
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