Category: Religion/Spirituality
1. In the preparation of this Commentary, my aim throughout has been evangelical and practical. A study of the Book of Isaiah suggests many historical, critical, and speculative questions, but these I have entirely disregarded. I have asked only, What messages from God has thi...
+I. There is a parallel between God's dealings with individuals and society.+ Such a parallel may be presumed to exist, inasmuch as any society is made up of individuals; and Go...
6. xii. 16) as a shrewd and wise man, but God pronounced him to be afool. So here, these men who prided themselves that they were rulers of Jerusalem, the holy city, were declared to be "rulers of Sodom," the vilest of cities. Are we quite sure...
24. xiii. 8)! In every respect "a tried stone;" tried by God, by Satan,by man; tried in life, in death, in eternity; tried by all the saints in all their trials; and never tried in vain! 2. As _"a corner-stone."_ The corner-stone unites both sides...
16. xxxvii. 16; though it may be observed that the direction to"tie up and seal the testimony," in ver. 16, is in favour of the older version, which understands him to have made a record of his expectation of the birth of the child, and of...
19. xxviii. 20); and while they preach, the Holy Spirit strives in thehearts of men to prepare and dispose them to receive the glad tidings (1 Thess. i. 5). When, therefore, we look at the glorious promise of our text, we must not forget that God...
11. xxxvi. 21); as they in like manner disobeyed thatrespecting the liberation of slaves at the Jubilee (Jer. xxxvi. 8-16). In England, where the Norman conquest accumulated all the land in the hands of a few nobles, the like accu...
21. ii. 5, 41) shall have still more glorious counterparts in the notThis glorious prophecy is in the course of fulfilment all around us; but to us individually it may be as if God had not been faithful to His Word. We may have no appetite for sp...
25. xiii. 10); Jacob's treachery is returned to him in his son's deceit(1 Tim. v. 24; P. D. 2995). 3. _In bringing good out of evil._ Wicked men overreach themselves; the devil is outwitted. The short-sighted vengeance of man becomes an instrument...
5. v. 9), that we may be brought into more perfect sympathy with Him who[1] A preacher who is not in some way a seer is not a preacher at all. You can never make people see religious realities by correct definitions. They will not believe in the rea...
15. iii. 16-18), and of countless sacrifices for truth and righteousnessknown only to God, but which He will never forget. But if a man does not really believe this truth, how easily is he swept away by temptation, whether it presents itself threate...
23. xviii. 10); in short, let him become a believing servant ofJehovah. _'Fortress,'_ a symbolical name for a protecting deity, as xvii. 10, Ps. lii. 7 (9)." _Kay:_ "Or, 'Let a man lay hold of My strong refuge;' let him flee to my altar of...
8. iii. 12, 15), represents vividly the method adopted by thefalse prophets; who, instead of warning the people against the dangers of prosperity, were ever felicitating them upon it, saying, "Peace, peace, when there was no peace." But t...
7. xxx. 29) crying to Him, with penitent confession of our sins,[1] "The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, their sin is hid" (Hosea xiii. 12). Not that his sin was hid from God, but his sin is hid; that is, it is recorded, it is laid up again...
13. xcvii. 12): let us beseech Him so to sanctify us by His Spirit, thatIII. THE EFFECTS OF THE SONG. 1. _"The posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried."_[5] A symbol this of the constant effects of the proclamation of truth. At every...
10. xiv. 17) is opened, and the sinner sees what he is toreckon for, he cries out as the prophet's servant, "How shall we do?" and as David (Ps. xxxviii. 4). He comes not to the assizes as formerly, to see others tried and condemned;...
22. ii. 10); everything is ascribed to the Spirit--the life, the goodworks, the comforts of the Christian (John iii. 5; Gal. v. 16, 22; Acts ix. 31). 2. _As the operation is Divine, so is it internal in its effects._ We should never overlook what...
18. xi. 3-5); not judging of things or men by their mere appearance, norby common report; caring for the poor, befriending the shrinking and helpless, fearless in His dispensation of justice; His very words being swords that smote and overthrew the...
2. Volume I1. In the preparation of this Commentary, my aim throughout has been evangelical and practical. A study of the Book of Isaiah suggests many historical, critical, and speculative...
17. cxxxix. 1-12); they never ask whether God will approve of theirplans, nor what will happen should He frown upon them; they assume that they have only to plan and execute, forgetting the lessons of experience. Their conduct is as foolish as...
14. xxviii. 5-7); success seemed certain, yet they failed! In verse 6 wehave another statement of their purpose, and in verse 7 we are told the real reason why it failed: GOD determined that it should not stand. This is an illustration of much that...
27. Part III, capitalize "Heirs." Ch. iii. 1, apply RC to "My" (four- On page A17R, ch. xiv. 14, insert a period after "Most High." Verse 17, insert right double quote at the end of the verse. Verse 25, apply RC to "My" (twice). Verse 28, capita...
3. xix. 27 ChastisementOf Isaiah, "the evangelical prophet," nothing is _known_ beyond what we are told of him in the Scriptures. Various traditions concerning him are current among the Jews, such as...
4. xix. 13), as if, with so much power and beauty in theStill the main point lies here,--that we cannot in the case of Isaiah, as in that of other prophets, specify any particular peculiarity, or any favourite colour as attaching to...
9. xii. 10)--the most blessed result to which discipline can lead[1] It is with the children of men as with the housewife, that having diligently swept the house, and cast the dust out of doors, can see nothing amiss, not so much as a speck o...
12. xv. 10), but doubtless they rejoice in it most because the mercyshown us is a holy mercy; it was so shown as to solve some of the profoundest moral problems, and so as to leave untouched the principle of righteousness on which God's throne e...
20. xxvii. 51); that which had hidden the Holy of Holies from the sightof men was rent in twain. A spiritual fulfilment of it is the need of the world and of each individual: by a veil of ignorance and prejudice the truths which it would be to thei...
1. Volume 15