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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. LXV.</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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We are now drawing towards the conclusion of this evangelical prophecy,
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the last two chapters of which direct us to look as far forward as the
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new heavens and the new earth, the new world which the gospel
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dispensation should bring in, and the separation that should by it be
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made between the precious and the vile. "For judgment" (says Christ)
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"have I come into this world." And why should it seem absurd that the
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prophet here should speak of that to which all the prophets bore
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witness?
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+1:10,11">1 Pet. i. 10, 11</A>.
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The rejection of the Jews, and the calling in of the Gentiles, are
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often mentioned in the New Testament as that which was foreseen and
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foretold by the prophets,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+10:43,13:40,Ro+16:26">Acts x. 43; xiii. 40; Rom. xvi. 26</A>.
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In this chapter we have,
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I. The anticipating of the Gentiles with the gospel call,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:1">ver. 1</A>.
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II. The rejection of the Jews for their obstinacy and unbelief,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:2-7">ver. 2-7</A>.
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III. The saving of a remnant of them by bringing them into the gospel
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church,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:8-10">ver. 8-10</A>.
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IV. The judgments of God that should pursue the rejected Jews,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:11-16">ver. 11-16</A>.
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V. The blessings reserved for the Christian church, which should be its
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joy and glory,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:17-25">ver. 17-25</A>.
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But these things are here prophesied of under the type and figure of
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the difference God would make between some and others of the Jews after
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their return out of captivity, between those that feared God and those
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that did not, with reproofs of the sins then found among them and
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promises of the blessings then in reserve for them.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Isa65_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa65_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa65_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa65_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa65_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa65_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa65_7"> </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>
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The Conversion of the Gentiles; The Wickedness of the Jews; The Rejection of the Jews.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><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 I am sought of <I>them that</I> asked not <I>for me;</I> I am found of
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<I>them that</I> sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a
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nation <I>that</I> was not called by my name.
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2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious
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people, which walketh in a way <I>that was</I> not good, after their
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own thoughts;
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3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face;
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that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of
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brick;
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4 Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments,
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which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable <I>things is in</I>
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their vessels;
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5 Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am
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holier than thou. These <I>are</I> a smoke in my nose, a fire that
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burneth all the day.
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6 Behold, <I>it is</I> written before me: I will not keep silence,
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but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
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7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together,
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saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and
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blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their
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former work into their bosom.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The apostle Paul (an expositor we may depend upon) has given us the
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true sense of these verses, and told us what was the event they pointed
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at and were fulfilled in, namely, the calling in of the Gentiles and
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the rejection of the Jews, by the preaching of the gospel,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+10:20,21">Rom. x. 20, 21</A>.
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And he observes that herein <I>Esaias is very bold,</I> not only in
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foretelling a thing so improbable ever to be brought about, but in
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foretelling it to the Jews, who would take it as a gross affront to
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their nation, and therein Moses's words would be made good
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:21">Deut. xxxii. 21</A>),
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<I>I will provoke you to jealousy by those that are no people.</I></P>
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<P>
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I. It is here foretold that the Gentiles, who had been afar off, should
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be made nigh,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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Paul reads it thus: <I>I was found of those that sought me not; I was
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made manifest to those that asked not for me.</I> Observe what a
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wonderful and blessed change was made with them and how they were
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surprised into it.
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1. Those who had long been without God in the world shall now be set a
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seeking him; those who had not said, <I>Where is God my maker?</I>
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shall now begin to enquire after him. Neither they nor their fathers
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had called upon his name, but either lived without prayer or prayed to
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stocks and stones, the work of men's hands. But now they shall <I>be
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baptized and call on the name of the Lord,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+2:21">Acts ii. 21</A>.
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With what pleasure does the great God here speak of his being sought
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unto, and how does he glory in it, especially by those who in time past
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had not asked for him! For there is joy in heaven over great sinners
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who repent.
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2. God shall anticipate their prayers with his blessings: <I>I am found
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of those that sought me not.</I> This happy acquaintance and
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correspondence between God and the Gentile world began on his side;
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they came to know God because they were <I>known of him</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+4:9">Gal. iv. 9</A>),
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to seek God and find him because they were first sought and found of
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him. Though in after-communion God is found of those that seek him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+8:17">Prov. viii. 17</A>),
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yet in the first conversion he is found of those that seek him not; for
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<I>therefore we love him because he first loved us.</I> The design of
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the bounty of common providence to them was <I>that they might seek the
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Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+17:27">Acts xvii. 27</A>.
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But they sought him not; still he was to them <I>an unknown God,</I>
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and yet God was found of them.
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3. God gave the advantages of a divine revelation to those who had
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never made a profession of religion: <I>I said, Behold me, behold
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me</I> (gave them a sight of me and invited them to take the comfort
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and benefit of it) to those who <I>were not called by my name,</I> as
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the Jews for many ages had been. When the apostles went about from
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place to place, preaching the gospel, this was the substance of what
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they preached: "<I>Behold God, behold him,</I> turn towards him, fix
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the eyes of your minds upon him, acquaint yourselves with him, admire
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him, adore him; look off from your idols that you have made, and look
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upon the living God who made you." Christ in them said, <I>Behold me,
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behold me</I> with an eye of faith; <I>look unto me, and be you
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saved.</I> And this was said to those that had long been
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<I>lo-ammi,</I> and <I>lo-ruhamah</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+1:8,9">Hos. i. 8, 9</A>),
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<I>not a people,</I> and that <I>had not obtained mercy,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+9:25,26">Rom. ix. 25, 26</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. It is here foretold that the Jews, who had long been a people near
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to God, should be cast off and set at a distance
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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The apostle applies this to the Jews in his time, as a seed of
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evil-doers.
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+10:21">Rom. x. 21</A>,
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<I>But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands
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unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.</I> Here observe,</P>
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<P>
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1. How the Jews were courted to the divine grace. God himself, by his
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prophets, by his Son, by his apostles, <I>stretched forth his hands to
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them,</I> as Wisdom did,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+1:24">Prov. i. 24</A>.
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God <I>spread out his hands to them,</I> as one reasoning and
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expostulating with them, not only beckoned to them with the finger, but
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<I>spread out his hands,</I> as being ready to embrace and entertain
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them, reaching forth the tokens of his favour to them, and importuning
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them to accept them. When Christ was crucified his hands were <I>spread
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out and stretched forth,</I> as if he were preparing to receive
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returning sinners into his bosom; and this <I>all the day,</I> all the
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gospel-day. He waited to be gracious, and was not weary of waiting;
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even those that came in at the eleventh hour of the day were not
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rejected.</P>
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<P>
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2. How they contemned the invitation; it was given to a rebellious and
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gainsaying people; they were invited to the wedding-supper, and would
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not come, but <I>rejected the counsel of God against themselves.</I>
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Now here we have,</P>
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<P>
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(1.) The bad character of this people. The world shall see that it was
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not for nothing that they were rejected of God; no, it was for their
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whoredoms that they were put away.</P>
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<P>
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[1.] Their character in general was such as one would not expect of
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those who had been so much the favourites of Heaven. <I>First,</I> They
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were very wilful. Right or wrong they would do as they had a mind.
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"They generally <I>walk</I> on <I>in a way that is not good,</I> not
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the right way, not a safe way, for they <I>walk after their own
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thought,</I> their own devices and desires." If our guide be our own
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thoughts, our way is not likely to be good; for <I>every imagination of
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the thought of our hearts is only evil.</I> God had told them his
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thoughts, what his mind and will were, but they would walk <I>after
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their own thoughts,</I> would do what they thought best.
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<I>Secondly,</I> They were very provoking. This was God's complaint of
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them all along--they grieved him, they <I>vexed his Holy Spirit,</I> as
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if they would contrive how to make him their enemy: They <I>provoke me
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to anger continually to my face.</I> They cared not what affront they
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gave to God, though it were in his sight and presence, in a downright
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contempt of his authority and defiance of his justice; and this
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<I>continually;</I> it had been their way and manner ever since they
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were a people, witness the <I>day of temptation in the
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wilderness.</I></P>
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<P>
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[2.] The prophet speaks more particularly of <I>their iniquities and
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the iniquities of their fathers,</I> as the ground of God's casting
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them off,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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Now he gives instances of both.</P>
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<P>
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<I>First,</I> The most provoking iniquity of their fathers was
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idolatry; this, the prophet tells them, was provoking God to his face;
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and it is an iniquity which, as appears by the second commandment, God
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often <I>visits upon the children.</I> This was the sin that brought
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them into captivity, and, though the captivity pretty well cured them
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of it, yet, when the final ruin of that nation came, that was again
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brought into the account against them; for in the day when God visits
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he will visit that,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+32:34">Exod. xxxii. 34</A>.
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Perhaps there were many, long after the captivity, who, though they did
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not worship other gods, were yet guilty of the disorders here
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mentioned; for they married strange wives.
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1. They forsook God's temple, and <I>sacrificed in gardens or
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groves,</I> that they might have the satisfaction of doing it in their
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own way, for they liked not God's institutions.
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2. They forsook God's altar, and <I>burnt incense upon bricks,</I>
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altars of their own contriving (they burnt incense according to their
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own inventions, which were of no more value, in comparison with God's
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institution, than an altar of bricks in comparison with the golden
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altar which God appointed them to burn incense on), or <I>upon
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tiles</I> (so some read it), such as they covered their flat-roofed
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houses with, and on them sometimes they burnt incense to their idols,
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as appears,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+23:12">2 Kings xxiii. 12</A>,
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where we read of altars <I>on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz,</I>
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and
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+19:13">Jer. xix. 13</A>,
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of their burning incense to the host of heaven upon the roofs of their
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houses.
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3. "They used necromancy, or consulting with the dead, and, in order to
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that, they <I>remained among the graves,</I> and <I>lodged in the
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monuments,</I>" to seek for the living to the dead
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+8:19"><I>ch.</I> viii. 19</A>),
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as the witch of Endor. Or they used to consult the evil spirits that
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haunted the sepulchres.
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4. They violated the laws of God about their meat, and broke through
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the distinction between clean and unclean before it was taken away by
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the gospel. They <I>ate swine's flesh.</I> Some indeed chose rather to
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die than to eat swine's flesh, as Eleazar and the seven brethren in the
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story of the Maccabees; but it is probable that many ate of it,
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especially when it came to be a condition of life. In our Saviour's
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time we read of a vast herd of swine among them, which gives us cause
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to suspect that there were many then who made so little conscience of
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the law as to eat swine's flesh, for which they were justly punished in
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the destruction of the swine. <I>And the broth,</I> or <I>pieces,</I>
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of other forbidden meats, called here <I>abominable things,</I> was
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<I>in their vessels,</I> and was made use of for food. The forbidden
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meat is called <I>an abomination,</I> and those that meddle with it are
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said to <I>make themselves abominable,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+11:42,43">Lev. xi. 42, 43</A>.
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Those that durst not eat the meat yet made bold with the broth, because
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they would come as near as might be to that which was forbidden, to
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show how they coveted the forbidden fruit. Perhaps this is here put
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figuratively for all forbidden pleasures and profits which are obtained
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by sin, that <I>abominable thing which the Lord hates;</I> they loved
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to be dallying with it, to be tasting of its broth. But those who thus
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take a pride in venturing upon the borders of sin, and the brink of it,
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are in danger of falling into the depths of it. But,</P>
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<P>
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<I>Secondly,</I> The most provoking iniquity of the Jews in our
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Saviour's time was their pride and hypocrisy, that sin of the scribes
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and Pharisees against which Christ denounced so many woes,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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They say, "<I>Stand by thyself,</I> keep off" (<I>get thee to
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thine,</I> so the original is); "keep to thy own companions, but
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<I>come not near to me,</I> lest thou pollute me; <I>touch me not;</I>
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I will not allow thee any familiarity with me, <I>for I am holier than
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thou,</I> and therefore thou art not good enough to converse with me;
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<I>I am not as other men are, nor even as this publican.</I>" This they
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|
were ready to say to every one they met with, so that, in saying, <I>I
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am holier than thou,</I> they thought themselves holier than any, not
|
|
only very good, as good as they should be, as good as they needed to
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be, but better than any of their neighbours. <I>These are a smoke in my
|
|
nose</I> (says God), such a smoke as comes not from a quick fire, which
|
|
soon becomes glowing and pleasant, but from a fire of wet wood, which
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<I>burns all the day,</I> and is nothing but smoke. Note, Nothing in
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|
men is more odious and offensive to God than a proud conceit of
|
|
themselves and contempt of others; for commonly those are most unholy
|
|
of all that think themselves holier than any.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The controversy God had with them for this. The proof against them
|
|
is plain: <I>Behold, it is written before me,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is written, to be remembered against them in time to come; for they
|
|
may not perhaps be immediately reckoned with. The sins of sinners, and
|
|
particularly the vainglorious boasts and scorns of hypocrites, are
|
|
<I>laid up in store</I> with God,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:34">Deut. xxxii. 34</A>.
|
|
|
|
And what is written shall be read and proceeded upon: "<I>I will not
|
|
keep silence</I> always, though I may keep silence long." They shall
|
|
not think him altogether such a one as themselves, as sometimes they
|
|
have done; but <I>he will recompense, even recompense into their
|
|
bosom.</I> Those basely abuse religion, that honourable and sacred
|
|
thing, who make their profession of it the matter of their pride, and
|
|
the jealous God will reckon with them for it; the profession they boast
|
|
of shall but serve to aggravate their condemnation.
|
|
|
|
[1.] The <I>iniquity of their fathers</I> shall come against them; not
|
|
but that their own sin deserved whatever judgments God brought upon
|
|
them, and much heavier; and this they owned,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+9:13">Ezra ix. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
But God would not have wrought so great a desolation upon them if he
|
|
had not therein had an eye to the sins of their fathers. Therefore in
|
|
the last destruction of Jerusalem God is said to bring upon them the
|
|
blood of the Old-Testament martyrs, even that of <I>Abel,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:35">Matt. xxiii. 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
God will reckon with them, not only for their fathers' idols, but for
|
|
their <I>high places,</I> their <I>burning incense upon the mountains
|
|
and the hills,</I> though perhaps it was to the true God only. This was
|
|
blaspheming or reproaching God; it was a reflection upon the choice he
|
|
had made of the place where he would record his name, and the promise
|
|
he had made that there he would meet them and bless them.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Their own with that shall bring ruin upon them: <I>Your iniquities
|
|
and the iniquities of your fathers</I> together, the one aggravating
|
|
the other, constitute the former work, which, though it may seem to be
|
|
overlooked and forgotten, shall be <I>measured into their bosom.</I>
|
|
God will render into the bosom, not only of his open enemies
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+79:12">Ps. lxxix. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
but of his false and treacherous friends, <I>the reproach wherewith
|
|
they have reproached him.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_8"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_9"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_10"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Promises of Mercy.</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>8 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, As the new wine is found in the cluster,
|
|
and <I>one</I> saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing <I>is</I> in it: so
|
|
will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them
|
|
all.
|
|
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah
|
|
an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it,
|
|
and my servants shall dwell there.
|
|
10 And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of
|
|
Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that
|
|
have sought me.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
This is expounded by St. <I>Paul,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:1-5">Rom. xi. 1-5</A>,
|
|
|
|
where, when, upon occasion of the rejection of the Jews, it is asked,
|
|
<I>Hath God then cast away his people?</I> he answers, No; for <I>at
|
|
this time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.</I>
|
|
This prophecy has reference to that distinguished remnant. When that
|
|
hypocritical nation is to be destroyed God will separate and secure to
|
|
himself some from among them; some of the Jews shall be brought to
|
|
embrace the Christian faith, shall be added to the church, and so be
|
|
saved. And our Saviour has told us that <I>for the sake of these
|
|
elect</I> the days of the destruction of the Jews should be shortened,
|
|
and a stop put to the desolation, which otherwise would have proceeded
|
|
to such a degree that <I>no flesh should be saved,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:22">Matt. xxiv. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. This is illustrated here by a comparison,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
When a vine is so blasted and withered that there seems to be no sap
|
|
nor life in it, and therefore the dresser of the vineyard is inclined
|
|
to pluck it up or cut it down, yet, if ever so little of the juice of
|
|
the grape, fit to make new wine, be found, though but in one cluster, a
|
|
stander-by interposes, and says, <I>Destroy it not, for a blessing is
|
|
in it;</I> there is life in the root, and hope that yet it may become
|
|
good for something. Good men are blessings to the places where they
|
|
live; and sometimes God spares whole cities and nations for the sake of
|
|
a few such in them. How ambitious should we be of this honor, not only
|
|
to be distinguished from others, but serviceable to others!</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Here is a description of those that shall make up this saved saving
|
|
remnant.
|
|
|
|
1. They are such as serve God. It is <I>for my servants' sake</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
and they are <I>my servants</I> that <I>shall dwell there,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
God's faithful servants, however they are looked upon, are the best
|
|
friends their country has; and those who serve him do therein <I>serve
|
|
their generation.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. They are such as seek God, make it the end of their lives to glorify
|
|
God and the business of their lives to call upon him. It is <I>for my
|
|
people that have sought me.</I> Those that seek God shall find him, and
|
|
shall find him their bountiful rewarder.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Here is an account of the mercy God has in store for them. The
|
|
remnant that shall return out of captivity shall have a happy
|
|
settlement again in their own land, and that by an hereditary right, as
|
|
<I>a seed out of Jacob,</I> in whom the family is kept up and the
|
|
entail preserved, and from whom, as from the seed sown, shall spring a
|
|
numerous increase; and these typify the remnant of Jacob that shall be
|
|
incorporated into the gospel church by faith.
|
|
|
|
1. They shall have a good portion for themselves. They shall inherit
|
|
<I>my mountains,</I> the holy mountains on which Jerusalem and the
|
|
temple were built, or the mountains of Canaan, <I>the land of
|
|
promise,</I> typifying the covenant of grace, which all God's servants,
|
|
his elect, both inhabit and inherit; they make it their refuge, their
|
|
rest and residence, so they dwell in it, are at home in it; and they
|
|
have taken it to be their heritage for ever, and it shall be to them an
|
|
inheritance incorruptible. God's chosen, the spiritual seed of praying
|
|
Jacob, shall be the inheritors of his mountains of bliss and joy, and
|
|
shall be carried safely to them through the vale of tears.
|
|
|
|
2. They shall have a green pasture for their flocks,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Sharon and the valley of Achor</I> shall again be as well
|
|
replenished as ever they were with cattle. Sharon lay westward, near
|
|
Joppa; Achor lay eastward, near Jordan. It is therefore intimated that
|
|
they shall recover the possession of the whole land, that they shall
|
|
have wherewith to stock it all, and that they shall peaceably enjoy it
|
|
and there shall be none to disturb them nor make them afraid.
|
|
Gospel-ordinances are the fields and valleys where the sheep of Christ
|
|
<I>shall go in and out and find pasture</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:9">John x. 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
and where they are <I>made to lie down</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+23:2">Ps. xxiii. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
as Israel's herds in <I>the valley of Achor,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:15">Hos. ii. 15</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_16"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Predictions of Punishment.</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 But ye <I>are</I> they that forsake the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, that forget my holy
|
|
mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish
|
|
the drink offering unto that number.
|
|
12 Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all
|
|
bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not
|
|
answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine
|
|
eyes, and did choose <I>that</I> wherein I delighted not.
|
|
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>, Behold, my servants shall
|
|
eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but
|
|
ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye
|
|
shall be ashamed:
|
|
14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye
|
|
shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of
|
|
spirit.
|
|
15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for
|
|
the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> shall slay thee, and call his servants by another
|
|
name:
|
|
16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless
|
|
himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth
|
|
shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are
|
|
forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here the different states of the godly and wicked, of the Jews that
|
|
believed and of those that still persisted in unbelief, are set the one
|
|
over--against the other, as life and death, good and evil, the blessing
|
|
and the curse.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Here is the fearful doom of those that persisted in their idolatry
|
|
after the deliverance out of Babylon, and in infidelity after the
|
|
preaching of the gospel of Christ. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. What the doom is that is here threatened: "<I>I will number you to
|
|
the sword</I> as sheep for the slaughter, and there shall be no
|
|
escaping, no standing out; <I>you shall all bow down to it,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
God's judgments come,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Regularly, and are executed according to the commission. Those
|
|
fall by the sword that are numbered or counted out to it, and none
|
|
besides. Though the sword seems to devour promiscuously <I>one as well
|
|
as another,</I> yet it is made to know its number and shall not exceed.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Irresistibly. The strongest and most stout-hearted sinners shall
|
|
be forced to bow before them; for none ever hardened their hearts
|
|
against God and prospered.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. What the sins are that number them to the sword.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Idolatry was the ancient sin
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>You are those</I> who, instead of seeking me and serving me as my
|
|
people, <I>forsake the Lord,</I> disown him, and cast him off to
|
|
embrace other gods, who <I>forget my holy mountain</I> (the privileges
|
|
it confers and the obligations it lays you under) to burn incense upon
|
|
the mountains of your idols
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
and have deserted the one only living and true God." They <I>prepared a
|
|
table for that troop of</I> deities which the heathen worship and
|
|
<I>poured out drink-offerings to that</I> numberless number of them;
|
|
for those that thought one God too little never thought scores and
|
|
hundreds sufficient, but were still adding to the number of them, till
|
|
they had as many gods as cities and their altars were as thick as
|
|
<I>heaps in the furrows of the field,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+12:11">Hos. xii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some take <I>Gad</I> and <I>Meni,</I> which we translate <I>a troop</I>
|
|
and <I>a number,</I> to be the proper names of two of their idols,
|
|
answering to Jupiter and Mercury. Whatever they were, their worshippers
|
|
spared no cost to do them honour; they prepared a table for them, and
|
|
filled out mixed wine for drink-offerings to them; they would pinch
|
|
their families rather than stint their devotions, which should shame
|
|
the worshippers of the true God out of their niggardliness.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Infidelity was the sin of the later Jews
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>When I called, you did not answer,</I> which refers to the same that
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>
|
|
|
|
did (<I>I have stretched out my hands to a rebellious people</I>), and
|
|
that is applied to those who rejected the gospel. Our Lord Jesus
|
|
himself called (he <I>stood and cried,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+7:37">John vii. 37</A>),
|
|
|
|
but they did not hear, they would not answer; they were not convinced
|
|
by his reasonings nor moved by his expostulations; both the fair
|
|
warnings he gave them of death and ruin and the fair offers he made
|
|
them of life and happiness were slighted and made no impression upon
|
|
them. Yet this was not all: <I>You did evil before my eyes,</I> not by
|
|
surprise, or through inadvertency, but with deliberation: <I>You did
|
|
choose that wherein I delighted not;</I> he means that which he utterly
|
|
detested and abhorred. It is not strange that those who will not be
|
|
persuaded to choose that which is good persist in their choice and
|
|
pursuit of that which is evil. See the malignity of sin; it is evil in
|
|
God's eyes, highly offensive to him, and yet it is committed before his
|
|
eyes, in his sight and presence, and in contempt of him; it is likewise
|
|
a contradiction to the will of God; it is doing that, of choice, which
|
|
we know will displease him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The aggravation of this doom, from the consideration of the happy
|
|
state of those that were brought to repentance and faith.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The blessedness of those that serve God, and the woeful condition of
|
|
those that rebel against him, are here set the <I>one over--against the
|
|
other,</I> that they may serve as a foil to each other,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:13-16"><I>v.</I> 13-16</A>.
|
|
|
|
(1.) God's servants may well think themselves happy, and for ever
|
|
indebted to that free grace which made them so, when they see how
|
|
miserable some of their neighbours are for want of that grace, who are
|
|
hardened, and likely to perish for ever in unbelief, and what a narrow
|
|
escape they had of being among them. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+66:24"><I>ch.</I> lxvi. 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) It will add to the grief of those that perish to see the happiness
|
|
of God's servants (whom they had hated, and vilified, and looked upon
|
|
with the utmost disdain), and especially to think that they might have
|
|
shared in their bliss if it had not been their own fault. It made the
|
|
torment of the rich man in hell the more grievous that he <I>saw
|
|
Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+16:23">Luke xvi. 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+13:28">Luke xiii. 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
Sometimes the providence of God makes such a difference as this between
|
|
good and bad in this world, and the prosperity of the righteous becomes
|
|
a grievous eye-sore and vexation of heart to the wicked
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+112:10">Ps. cxii. 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
and it will certainly be so in the great day. <I>We fools counted his
|
|
life madness and his end without honour; but now how is he numbered
|
|
with the saints and his lot is among the chosen.</I> Now,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The difference of their states lies in two things:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) In point of comfort and satisfaction.
|
|
|
|
[1.] God's servants shall eat and drink; they shall have the bread of
|
|
life to feed, to feast upon, continually, shall be abundantly
|
|
replenished with the goodness of his house, and shall want nothing that
|
|
is good for them. Heaven's happiness will be to them an everlasting
|
|
feast; they shall be filled with that which now they hunger and thirst
|
|
after. But those who set their hearts upon the world, and place their
|
|
happiness in that, shall be hungry and thirsty, always empty, always
|
|
craving; for it is not bread; it surfeits, but it satisfies not. In
|
|
communion with God, and dependence upon him, there is full
|
|
satisfaction; but in sinful pursuits there is nothing but
|
|
disappointment.
|
|
|
|
[2.] God's servants <I>shall rejoice</I> and sing for joy of heart.
|
|
They have constant cause for joy, and there is nothing that may be an
|
|
occasion of grief to them but they have an allay sufficient for it;
|
|
and, as far as faith is in act and exercise, they have a heart to
|
|
rejoice, and their joy is their strength. They shall rejoice in their
|
|
hope, because it shall not make them ashamed. Heaven will be a world of
|
|
everlasting joy to all that are now sowing in tears. But, on the other
|
|
hand, those that forsake the Lord shut themselves out from all true
|
|
joy, for <I>they shall be ashamed</I> of their vain confidence in
|
|
themselves, and their own righteousness, and the hopes they had built
|
|
thereon. When the expectations of bliss wherewith they had flattered
|
|
themselves are frustrated, O what confusion will fill their faces! Then
|
|
shall they <I>cry for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of
|
|
spirit,</I> perhaps in this world, when their laughter shall be turned
|
|
into mourning and their joy into heaviness, and certainly in that world
|
|
where the torment will be endless, easeless, and remediless--nothing
|
|
but weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, to eternity. Let these
|
|
two be compared, <I>Now he is comforted</I> and <I>thou art
|
|
tormented,</I> and which of the two will we choose to take our lot
|
|
with?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) In point of honour and reputation,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:15,16"><I>v.</I> 15, 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The memory of the just is,</I> and shall be, <I>blessed, but the
|
|
name of the wicked shall rot.</I>
|
|
|
|
[1.] The name of the idolaters and unbelievers shall be left <I>for a
|
|
curse,</I> shall be loaded with ignominy and made for ever infamous. It
|
|
shall be used in giving bad characters--<I>Thou art as cruel as a
|
|
Jew;</I> and in imprecation--<I>God make thee as miserable as a
|
|
Jew.</I> It shall be <I>for a curse to God's chosen,</I> that is, for a
|
|
warning to them; they shall be afraid of falling under the curse upon
|
|
the Jewish nation, of perishing after the <I>same example of
|
|
unbelief.</I> The curse of those whom God rejects should make his
|
|
chosen stand in awe. <I>The Lord God shall slay thee;</I> he shall
|
|
quite extirpate the Jews and cut them off from being a people; they
|
|
shall no longer live as a nation, nor ever be incorporated again.
|
|
|
|
[2.] The name of God's chosen shall become a blessing: <I>He shall call
|
|
his servants by another name.</I> The children of the covenant shall no
|
|
longer be called <I>Jews,</I> but <I>Christians;</I> and to them, under
|
|
that name, all the promises and privileges of the new covenant shall be
|
|
secured. This other name shall be an honourable name; it shall not be
|
|
confined to one nation, but with it men shall <I>bless themselves in
|
|
the earth,</I> all the world over. God shall have servants out of all
|
|
nations who shall all be dignified with this new name. They shall bless
|
|
themselves <I>in the God of truth. First,</I> They shall give honour to
|
|
God both in their prayers and in their solemn oaths, in their addresses
|
|
for his favour as their felicity and their appeals to his justice as
|
|
their Judge. This is a part of the homage we owe to God; we must bless
|
|
ourselves in him, that is, we must reckon that we have enough to make
|
|
us happy, that we need no more, and can desire no more, if we have him
|
|
for our God. It is of great consequence what we bless ourselves in,
|
|
what we most please ourselves with and value ourselves by our interest
|
|
in. Worldly people bless themselves in the abundance they have of this
|
|
world's goods
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+49:18,Lu+12:19">Ps. xlix. 18; Luke xii. 19</A>);
|
|
|
|
but God's servants bless themselves in him, as a God all-sufficient for
|
|
them. He is their crown of glory and diadem of beauty, their strength
|
|
and portion. By him also <I>they shall swear,</I> and not by any
|
|
creature or any false god. To his judgment they shall refer their
|
|
cause, from whom every man's judgment doth proceed. <I>Secondly,</I>
|
|
They shall give honour to him as <I>the God of truth, the God of the
|
|
Amen</I> (so the word is); some understand it of Christ who is himself
|
|
the <I>Amen,</I> the <I>faithful witness</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+3:14">Rev. iii. 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
and in whom all the promises are <I>yea and amen,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+1:20">2 Cor. i. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
In him we must bless ourselves, and by him we must swear unto the Lord
|
|
and covenant with him. He that is <I>blessed in the earth</I> (so some
|
|
read it) <I>shall be blessed in the true God,</I> for Christ is <I>the
|
|
true God and eternal life,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+5:20">1 John v. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
And it was promised of old that <I>in him all the families of the earth
|
|
should be blessed,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+12:3">Gen. xii. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some read it, <I>He shall bless himself in the God of the faithful
|
|
people,</I> in God as the God of all believers, desiring no more than
|
|
to share in the blessings wherewith they are blessed, to be dealt with
|
|
as he deals with them. <I>Thirdly,</I> They shall give him honour as
|
|
the author of this blessed change which they have the experience of;
|
|
they shall think themselves happy in having him for their God who has
|
|
made them to forget their former troubles, the remembrance of them
|
|
being swallowed up in their present comforts: <I>Because they are
|
|
hidden from God's eyes,</I> that is, they are quite taken away; for, if
|
|
there were any remainder of their troubles, God would be sure to have
|
|
his eye upon it, in compassion to them and concern for them. They shall
|
|
no longer feel them; for God will no longer see them. He is pleased to
|
|
speak as if he would make himself easy by making them easy; and
|
|
therefore they shall with a great deal of satisfaction bless themselves
|
|
in him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa65_25"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Predictions of Happiness.</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>17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the
|
|
former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
|
|
18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever <I>in that</I> which I
|
|
create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her
|
|
people a joy.
|
|
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and
|
|
the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice
|
|
of crying.
|
|
20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old
|
|
man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an
|
|
hundred years old; but the sinner <I>being</I> a hundred years old
|
|
shall be accursed.
|
|
21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit <I>them;</I> and they
|
|
shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
|
|
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not
|
|
plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree <I>are</I> the days
|
|
of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their
|
|
hands.
|
|
23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble;
|
|
for they <I>are</I> the seed of the blessed of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and their
|
|
offspring with them.
|
|
24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will
|
|
answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
|
|
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion
|
|
shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust <I>shall be</I> the
|
|
serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy
|
|
mountain, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
If these promises were in part fulfilled when the Jews, after their
|
|
return out of captivity, were settled in peace in their own land and
|
|
brought as it were into a new world, yet they were to have their full
|
|
accomplishment in the gospel church, militant first and at length
|
|
triumphant. <I>The Jerusalem that is from above is free and is the
|
|
mother of us all.</I> In the graces and comforts which believers have
|
|
in and from Christ we are to look for this new heaven and new earth. It
|
|
is in the gospel that <I>old things have passed away and all things
|
|
have become new,</I> and by it that those who are in Christ are <I>new
|
|
creatures,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+5:17">2 Cor. v. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was a mighty and happy change that was described
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>,
|
|
|
|
that <I>the former troubles were forgotten;</I> but here it rises much
|
|
higher: even the <I>former world</I> shall be <I>forgotten</I> and
|
|
<I>shall no more come into mind.</I> Those that were converted to the
|
|
Christian faith were so transported with the comforts of it that all
|
|
the comforts they were before acquainted with became as nothing to
|
|
them; not only their foregoing griefs, but their foregoing joys, were
|
|
lost and swallowed up in this. The glorified saints will
|
|
<I>therefore</I> have forgotten this world, because they will be
|
|
entirely taken up with the other: <I>For, behold, I create new heavens
|
|
and a new earth.</I> See how inexhaustible the divine power is; the
|
|
same God that created one heaven and earth can create another. See how
|
|
entire the happiness of the saints is; it shall be all of a piece; with
|
|
the new heavens God will create them (if they have occasion for it to
|
|
make them happy) a new earth too. <I>The world is yours</I> if you be
|
|
Christ's,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+3:22">1 Cor. iii. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
When God is reconciled to us, which gives us a new heaven, the
|
|
creatures too are reconciled to us, which gives us a new earth. The
|
|
future glory of the saints will be so entirely different from what they
|
|
ever knew before that it may well be called <I>new heavens and a new
|
|
earth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+3:13">2 Pet. iii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Behold, I make all things new,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:5">Rev. xxi. 5</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. There shall be new joys. For,
|
|
|
|
1. All the church's friends, and all that belong to her, shall rejoice
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
You shall <I>be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create.</I>
|
|
The new things which God creates in and by his gospel are and shall be
|
|
matter of everlasting joy to all believers. <I>My servants shall
|
|
rejoice</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
at last they shall, though now they mourn. <I>Enter thou into the joy
|
|
of thy Lord.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. The church shall be the matter of their joy, so pleasant, so
|
|
prosperous, shall her condition be: <I>I create Jerusalem a rejoicing
|
|
and her people a joy.</I> The church shall not only rejoice but be
|
|
rejoiced in. Those that have sorrowed with the church shall rejoice
|
|
with her.
|
|
|
|
3. The prosperity of the church shall be a rejoicing to God himself,
|
|
who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servants
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I will rejoice in Jerusalem's</I> joy, and will <I>joy in my
|
|
people;</I> for <I>in all their affliction he was afflicted.</I> God
|
|
will not only rejoice in the church's well-doing, but will himself
|
|
<I>rejoice to do her good</I> and <I>rest in his love</I> to her,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zep+3:17">Zeph. iii. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
What God rejoices in it becomes us to rejoice in.
|
|
|
|
4. There shall be no allay of this joy, nor any alteration of this
|
|
happy condition of the church: <I>The voice of weeping shall be no more
|
|
heard in her.</I> If this relate to any state of the church in this
|
|
life, it means no more than that the former occasions of grief shall
|
|
not return, but God's people shall long enjoy an uninterrupted
|
|
tranquillity. But in heaven it shall have a full accomplishment, in
|
|
respect both of the perfection and the perpetuity of the promised joy;
|
|
there <I>all tears shall be wiped away.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. There shall be new life,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
Untimely deaths by the sword or sickness shall be no more known as they
|
|
have been, and by this means there shall be <I>no more the voice of
|
|
crying,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
When there shall be <I>no more death</I> there shall be <I>no more
|
|
sorrow,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:4">Rev. xxi. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
As death has reigned by sin, so life shall reign by righteousness,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:14,21">Rom. v. 14, 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
1. Believers through Christ shall be satisfied with life, though it be
|
|
ever so short on earth. If an infant end its days quickly, yet it shall
|
|
not be reckoned to die untimely; for the shorter its life is the longer
|
|
will its rest be. Though <I>death reign over those that have not sinned
|
|
after the similitude of Adam's transgression,</I> yet they, dying in
|
|
the arms of Christ, the second Adam, and belonging to his kingdom, are
|
|
not to be called <I>infants of days,</I> but even the child shall be
|
|
reckoned to <I>die a hundred years old,</I> for he shall rise again at
|
|
full age, shall rise to eternal life. Some understand it of children
|
|
who in their childhood are so eminent for wisdom and grace, and by
|
|
death nipped in the blossom, that they may be said to die a hundred
|
|
years old. And, as for old men, it is promised that <I>they shall fill
|
|
their days</I> with the <I>fruits of righteousness,</I> which they
|
|
shall <I>still bring forth in old age, to show that the Lord is
|
|
upright,</I> and then it is a good old age. An old man who is wise, and
|
|
good, and useful, may truly be said to have <I>filled his days.</I> Old
|
|
men who have their hearts upon the world have never filled their days,
|
|
never have enough of this world, but would still continue longer in it.
|
|
But that man dies old, and <I>satur dierum--full of days,</I> who, with
|
|
Simeon, having seen God's salvation, desires now to depart in peace.
|
|
|
|
2. Unbelievers shall be unsatisfied and unhappy in life, though it be
|
|
ever so long. The sinner, though he live to <I>a hundred years old,
|
|
shall be accursed.</I> His living so long shall be no token to him of
|
|
the divine favour and blessing, nor shall it be any shelter to him from
|
|
the divine wrath and curse. The sentence he lies under will certainly
|
|
be executed, and his long life is but a long reprieve; nay, it is
|
|
itself a curse to him, for the longer he lives the more wrath he
|
|
treasures up against the day of wrath and the more sins he will have to
|
|
answer for. So that the matter is not great whether our lives on earth
|
|
be long or short, but whether we live the lives of saints or the lives
|
|
of sinners.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. There shall be a new enjoyment of the comforts of life. Whereas
|
|
before it was very uncertain and precarious, their enemies <I>inhabited
|
|
the houses</I> which <I>they built</I> and <I>ate the fruit</I> of the
|
|
trees which <I>they planted,</I> now it shall be otherwise; they shall
|
|
<I>build houses and inhabit them,</I> shall <I>plant vineyards</I> and
|
|
<I>eat the fruit of them,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:21,22"><I>v.</I> 21, 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Their intimates that the labour of their hands shall be blessed and be
|
|
made to prosper; they shall gain what they aimed at, and what they have
|
|
gained shall be preserved and secured to them; they shall enjoy it
|
|
comfortably, and nothing shall embitter it to them, and they shall live
|
|
to enjoy it long. Strangers shall not break in upon them, to expel
|
|
them, and plant themselves in their room, as sometimes they have done:
|
|
<I>My elect shall wear out,</I> or <I>long enjoy, the work of their
|
|
hands;</I> it is honestly got, and it will wear well; it is <I>the work
|
|
of their hands,</I> which they themselves have laboured for, and it is
|
|
most comfortable to enjoy that, and not to eat the <I>bread of
|
|
idleness,</I> or <I>bread of deceit.</I> If we have a heart to enjoy
|
|
it, that is the gift of God's grace
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:13">Eccl. iii. 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
and, if we live to enjoy it long, it is the gift of God's providence,
|
|
for that is here promised: <I>As the days of a tree are the days of my
|
|
people;</I> as the <I>days of an oak</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+6:13"><I>ch.</I> vi. 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>whose substance is in it, though it cast its leaves;</I> though it
|
|
be stripped every winter, it recovers itself again, and lasts many
|
|
ages; as the days <I>of the tree of life;</I> so the LXX. Christ is to
|
|
them the tree of life, and in him believers enjoy all those spiritual
|
|
comforts which are typified by the abundance of temporal blessings here
|
|
promised; and it shall not be in the power of their enemies to deprive
|
|
them of these blessings or disturb them in the enjoyment of them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. There shall be a new generation rising up in their stead to inherit
|
|
and enjoy these blessings
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They shall not labour in vain,</I> for they shall not only enjoy the
|
|
work of their hands themselves, but they shall leave it with
|
|
satisfaction to those that shall come after them, and not with such a
|
|
melancholy prospect as Solomon did,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+2:18,19">Eccl. ii. 18, 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
They shall not beget and <I>bring forth</I> children <I>for trouble;
|
|
for they are</I> themselves <I>the seed of the blessed of the Lord,</I>
|
|
and there is a blessing entailed upon them by descent from their
|
|
ancestors which <I>their offspring with them</I> shall partake of, and
|
|
shall be, as well as they, <I>the seed of the blessed of the Lord.</I>
|
|
They shall not bring forth for trouble; for,
|
|
|
|
1. God will make their children that rise up comforts to them; they
|
|
shall have the joy of seeing them <I>walk in the truth.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. He will make the times that come after comfortable to their
|
|
children. As they shall be good, so it shall be well with them; they
|
|
shall not be brought forth to days of trouble; nor shall it ever be
|
|
said, <I>Blessed is the womb that bore not.</I> In the gospel church
|
|
Christ's name shall be borne up by a succession. <I>A seed shall serve
|
|
him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+22:30">Ps. xxii. 30</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>the seed of the blessed of the Lord.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. There shall be a good correspondence between them and their God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Even before they call, I will answer.</I> God will anticipate their
|
|
prayers with the blessings of his goodness. David did but say, <I>I
|
|
will confess,</I> and <I>God forgave,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+32:5">Ps. xxxii. 5</A>.
|
|
|
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The father of the prodigal met him in his return. <I>While they are yet
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speaking,</I> before they have finished their prayer, I will give them
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the thing they pray for, or the assurances and earnests of it. These
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|
are high expressions of God's readiness to hear prayer; and this
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appears much more in the grace of the gospel than it did under the law;
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we owe the comfort of it to the mediation of Christ as our advocate
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with the Father and are obliged in gratitude to give a ready ear to
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God's calls.</P>
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<P>
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VI. There shall be a good correspondence between them and their
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neighbours
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>):
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<I>The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,</I> as they did in Noah's
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ark. God's people, though they are as sheep in the midst of wolves,
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|
shall be safe and unhurt; for God will not so much break the power and
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|
tie the hands of their enemies as formerly, but he will turn their
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|
hearts, will alter their dispositions by his grace. When Paul, who had
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been a persecutor of the disciples (and who, being of the tribe of
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Benjamin, ravened <I>as a wolf,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+49:27">Gen. xlix. 27</A>)
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joined himself to them and became one of them, then <I>the wolf and the
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|
lamb fed together.</I> So also when the enmity between Jews and
|
|
Gentiles was slain, all hostilities ceased, and they fed together as
|
|
one sheepfold under Christ the great Shepherd,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:16">John x. 16</A>.
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The enemies of the church ceased to do the mischief they had done, and
|
|
its members ceased to be so quarrelsome with and injurious to one
|
|
another as they had been, so that there was none either from without or
|
|
from within to hurt or destroy, none to disturb it, much less to ruin
|
|
it, <I>in all the holy mountain;</I> as was promised,
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+11:8"><I>ch.</I> xi. 9</A>.
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For,
|
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1. Men shall be changed: <I>The lion</I> shall no more be a beast of
|
|
prey, as perhaps he never would have been if sin had not entered, but
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|
<I>shall eat straw like the bullock,</I> shall <I>know his owner,</I>
|
|
and <I>his master's crib,</I> as <I>the ox</I> does. When those that
|
|
lived by spoil and rapine, and coveted to enrich themselves, right or
|
|
wrong, are brought by the grace of God to accommodate themselves to
|
|
their condition, to live by honest labour, and to be content with such
|
|
things as they have--when those that stole steal no more, but work with
|
|
their hands the thing that is good--then this is fulfilled, that <I>the
|
|
lion shall eat straw like the bullock.</I>
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|
|
|
2. Satan shall be chained, the dragon bound; for <I>dust shall be the
|
|
serpent's meat again.</I> That great enemy, when he has been let loose,
|
|
has glutted and regaled himself with the precious blood of saints, who
|
|
by his instigation have been persecuted, and with the precious souls of
|
|
sinners, who by his instigation have become persecutors and have ruined
|
|
themselves for ever; but now he shall be confined to dust, according to
|
|
the sentence, <I>On thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou
|
|
eat,</I>
|
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:14">Gen. iii. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
All the enemies of God's church, that are subtle and venomous as
|
|
serpents, shall be conquered and subdued, and be made to lick the dust,
|
|
Christ shall reign as Zion's King till all the enemies of his kingdom
|
|
be made his footstool, and theirs too. In the holy mountain above, and
|
|
there only, shall this promise have its full accomplishment, that there
|
|
shall be none to hurt nor destroy.</P>
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