xcvii. 12): let us beseech Him so to sanctify us by His Spirit, that
in our lips the song may not be a sacrilege!
III. 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 new announcement of it earthly things that seem most solid shake, and many of them totter and fall and disappear (2 Cor. x. 4; Heb. xii. 26-28). 2. _And the house was filled with smoke._ In response to the worship of the seraphim the temple became so completely filled with the Divine glory that the radiance overpowered the prophet's vision. What he calls "smoke" was excess of light (1 Kings viii. 10-12; Rev. xv. 8).[6] So would it be with us were our craving for a fuller manifestation of God in His works and word granted. We have as much light now as we can bear. A fuller revelation would only dazzle, confuse, and blind us. The time is to come when we shall see God "as He is," but this will then be possible, because "we shall be like Him;" and that time is not yet!
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _"Above the throne stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly."_ The sense of awe increasing with the clearness and purity of a spirit and with the nearness of its approach to God; the face being veiled which receives the light for Him, and most covets to behold Him; the absence of all which to display their own perfection in spirits who are perfect; the freedom and willingness to go anywhere, to do any errands of mercy; these are some of the more obvious thoughts which the study of this vision suggests. There are others which lie hidden, which we may have a glimpse of from time to time, and which words might mar. For it is true of earthly symbols, still more of heavenly visions, that they are meant to carry us out of words and above words.--_F. D. Maurice._
[2] Among the ancients, _Mercury,_ the messenger of Jupiter, was always represented with wings.--_Barnes._
[3] This title of Jehovah, with some variations, is found upwards of 160 times in the Old Testament. The meaning of the word _hosts_ is doubtless the same as that of _army_ in Dan. iv. 35, and includes all the myriads of holy angels who people the celestial spheres, as in 1 Kings xxii. 19 the host of heaven were seen by Micaiah standing round the throne of God. So in Ps. ciii. 21, cxlviii. 2, the hosts of God are His angels. (Comp. Deut. xxxiii. 2.) By a light metonymy, or may be in a slightly different sense, _the host of heaven_ designates the heavenly spheres themselves (Gen. ii. 1; Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 3; Isa. xxxiv. 4, &c.). It is probably with reference to the idolatrous worship of the host of heaven that the title of _the Lord of hosts_ was given to the true God, as asserting His universal supremacy. (See Neh. ix. 6.) In the New Testament, the phrase occurs only once, James v. 4, _the Lord of Sabaoth._ In Rom. ix. 29, it is a quotation from Isaiah.--_Professor Rawlinson._
[4] Sin has already served, as all things must, to bring into view more clearly the glory of God, for had there been no sin there could have been no mercy; and in its punishment, its overthrow, and its extirpation, His glory will be yet more signally displayed. Hercules could never have been deified, if there had been no monsters to overcome. True is the seraph's song even now, but it shall be more manifestly and gloriously true in that day, so surely and swiftly drawing nigh, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies unto Him, and God shall be All in all.--_R. A. B._
The vision reaches its highest point in the cry, _Holy, holy, holy!_ It is the holiness of God which the seraphim proclaim, that which cannot be represented to the eye, that of which descriptions and symbols furnish no image. It is that holiness which fills not the heaven of heavens only but the whole earth, _seeing that was made very good, seeing that in its order and constitution it was still perfectly good,_ though man defiled it by their deeds, though the habitations of cruelty were set upon the midst of it.--_F. D. Maurice._
[5] The voice of the seraphim at this time was so loud and melodious, and the power of their heavenly music was so great, when extolling the holiness and glory of Jehovah that the posts, with the lintel of the door of the temple, seemed to tremble, to be shaken in the place where they stood, or loosed from their place. This was a very surprising effect (though seen only in vision); for these posts were so large and strong, that they supported gates of brass which are said to have required twenty men to shut them, on account of their ponderous weight.--_Macculloch._
[6] _Delitzsch_ thus gives the usual interpretation of this clause: _The house was filled with smoke._ Many compare this with the similar occurrence in connection with the dedication of Solomon's temple (1 Kings viii. 10); but Drechsler is correct in stating that the two cases are not parallel, for there God simply attested His own presence by the cloud of smoke behind which He concealed Himself, whereas here there was no need of any such self-attestation. Moreover, in this instance God does not dwell in the cloud and thick darkness, whilst the smoke is represented as the effect of the songs of praise in which the seraphim have joined, and not of the presence of God. The smoke arose from the altar of incense mentioned in verse 6. But when Drechsler says that it was the prayers of _saints_ (as in Rev. v. 8, viii. 3, 4), which ascended to the Lord, in the smoke, there is a thought which is quite out of place here. The smoke was the immediate consequence of the seraph's song of praise.
A SIGHT OF GOD AND A SENSE OF SIN.
vi. 5-7. _Then said I, &c._
Visions of the throne of God were given to Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel among the prophets, and to John among the Apostles.[1] +I. The distinguished privilege.+ "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple." "Mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." The invisible and unapproachable God revealed Himself to the bewildered seer through the glory of the afterwards incarnate Christ (John xii. 41). May we behold God? Certainly we may. 1. _In His Son Jesus Christ_ (Heb. i. 3; 2 Cor. iv. 4; Col. i. 15; John xiv. 8, 9). 2. _In His works and Word._ The works are the embodied words of God. In the Scriptures we may see the mind, the heart, the purposes, the character of God. 3. _In His sanctuary._ In the act of worship, while in the temple, Isaiah beheld the glory of the Lord (Ps. lxiii. 1, 2, lxviii. 24). +II. The profound abasement.+ It is true that "before honour is humility." The converse is also true. Isaiah's humility was the effect of overwhelming honour. A sight of God brought self-revelation; depravity was revealed by the dazzling whiteness of Divine purity. 1. _There was consternation._ "Woe is me; for I am undone." 2. _There was self-loathing._ "I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." The vision of God results in a vivid and painful sense of sin (Job xlii. 5, 6; Luke v. 8). +III. The Divine cleansing.+ Absolution is connected with confession (1 John i. 9). 1. _The cleansing_ _was efficacious._ 2. _The purification was by means of sacrifice._ 3. _The removal of defilement was immediate._ A man so prepared is made ready for any ministry of testimony, toil, or tribulation.--_Matthew Braithwaite._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] We should naturally expect that a vision vouchsafed to an Apostle of Christ, at the end of the first century of the Christian era, would be larger in scope, brighter in glory, less enigmatical in structure, in significance, than those which were attached to the ministrations of prophets. This expectation is not disappointed. We find the visions of the throne of God which prophets saw revived and incorporated in the Apostle's vision, and we find the Christian seer enlightened with a more distinct understanding of the heavenly symbols. _Isaiah_ saw the throne of God in the temple, surrounded by seraphim, "crying one to another, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts." _Ezekiel,_ sitting by the river of Chebar, saw the throne of God, as a chariot of war coming out of a whirlwind and going forth over the earth, attended by mighty ministers of judgment, carrying the Son of Man to victory. _Daniel_ beheld the great session of justice; the gathered myriads before the awful purity of the Divine Judge; the consuming laws executed by the faithful servants. But the Christian _Apostle,_ looking through the door of heaven, beheld all these ancient visions, which had come down through eight centuries of time, blended into one. He saw Isaiah's seraphim, but they had the appearance of Ezekiel's living creatures, with fourfold countenances; their wings were still visible, and their voices still responded, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!" He saw the thrones round about _the Throne,_ as Daniel saw them, but he was able to count them; they were four and twenty; and upon the seats he "saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold." The stream of fire, which the prophet saw proceeding from under the throne was now "a sea of glass like unto crystal." He that sat on the throne, who appeared to Ezekiel as though He were clothed with fiery amber, was "to look upon like a jasper and sardine stone;" and the rainbow was still there, "round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." "Lightnings, thunderings, and voices" proceeded out of the throne, as before fire flamed out and devoured. "The seven spirits of God," like "burning lamps of fire," stand in the presence of the Holy One. And the Apostle witnesses the sublime service of heaven, the living creatures "giving glory and honour and thanks to Him that sat on the throne;" and, in response to their worship, "the four and twenty elders falling down before Him and worshipping Him," and singing their united praises, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created!"--_R. A. Redford._
VOLUNTEER SERVICE.
vi. 8. _Then said I, Here am I, send me._
This is a chapter of autobiography. Here is disclosed the secret of the wonderful energy with which for more than half a century Isaiah prosecuted his ministry. He is the Paul of the Old Testament. Allowance being made for difference of phraseology, there is a striking resemblance between the call of Isaiah and of Paul (comp. chap. vi. with Acts ix.). Both sought to serve the heavenly King; and both received a commission to work, spiritual and catholic beyond all conceptions of their time,--the one penning the Gospel of the suffering Messiah, the other vindicating the truth that the Gospel is God's message to the _world._ The text reminds us--
+I. Of the Christian's offer of service.+ The offer of service which the prophet made was--1. _Free._ He spoke spontaneously, and not as the result of pressure from without.[1] 2. _Truthful._ Unlike one of the sons in the parable (Matt. xxi. 30), he meant what he said. 3. _Bold._ It was made concerning an unknown mission. The justification of the boldness of his offer is, that it was made to God, who always qualifies His servants for the tasks to which He calls them. 4. _Personal._ The prophet placed at God's disposal, not some of his property merely, but _himself._ 5. _It involved the most complete self-surrender._ All thought of self control the prophet resigned. He placed himself as an instrument in God's hands. He was ready go to where, when, and on what errand God might determine.[2] Such are the offers of service in which God delights.
+II. Of the steps that lead up to this offer.+ The offer may take men by surprise, but there has always been preparation for it, as there has been long preparation for the lightning that leaps suddenly from the sky. Such offers as the prophet made are preceded--1. By _a vision of God,_ of the thrice Holy One, filling the soul with awe, and causing it to tremble (vers. 1-4). 2. By _self-prostration of spirit,_ a conviction of utter sinfulness (ver. 5). This is the invariable result of a true vision of God (Exod. iii. 2; Josh. v. 14; Judg. vi. 22, xii. 22; Luke v. 8; Rev. i. 17). This is also a prime condition of fitness for service. 3. By _the touch of a mediator_ (vers. 6, 7). "They that be struck down by visions of God's glory shall soon be raised up again by visits of His grace." Blessed is the man who has _both_ visions. A sense of pardon is essential to large usefulness. Imperfect realisation of forgiveness is one of the most frequent causes of weakness in Christian service. 4. By _a moral transformation._ The offerer has become a new man from the centre outwards. Now he can hear God's voice: "I heard," &c. It is a voice to which now he feels he _must_ respond: "Here am I," &c. In some degree every Christian is thus prepared. These essentials of service are also essentials of Christian life. These experiences are at once your credentials and your powers.
+III.+ That +God always accepts offers of service for which there has been this preparation, and that bear these marks.+ He never rejects true volunteers. Offers hastily made and half-meant He passes by (Josh. xxiv. 18, 19; John ii. 23-25); but genuine, whole-hearted offers of service, He invariably accepts.
In conclusion, let us lay up in our memories three facts in connection with service. 1. _True service is not incompatible with failure._ We are too apt to connect failure with incompetency in the servant. Many do fail through incompetency, but not all. The prophet divinely called and most royally endowed may fail, because of the moral obduracy and perverseness of those to whom he is sent (vers. 9, 10). 2. _True service is not incompatible with sorrow_ (vers. 11, 12). That man is inhuman who without profound grief can behold the perversity of sinners, and the calamities with which in consequence they are visited. 3. _True service will never be left without reward._ Multitudes may reject the prophet's message, yet there will be "a tenth" who will accept it and be saved.--_J. R. Wood._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] H. E. I., 3633-3639.
[2] H. E. I., 3618-3626.
MESSENGERS WANTED.
vi. 8. _Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, &c._
+I. God wants messengers unto sinful men.+ Tidings concerning sin and salvation, mercy and deliverance, God's grace and man's misery, must be published. Might send seraphim and the angel host. God elects to send men to their fellow-men. "Whom shall I send?" is not the inquiry of a Divine perplexity, but the stimulative question of one who calls for willing workers. +II. God especially qualifies His messengers.+ How does He in an especial manner fit men for His highest service? 1. _By an awe-inspiring sight of Himself._ 2. _By distressing convictions of personal sin._ 3. _By sanctifying all the faculties to His use._ +III. God's call should meet with a ready response.+ He desires volunteers, "Who will go for us?" The constraint of love is the omnipotent motive force. 1. _The call is heard individually._ "I heard the voice of the Lord." 2. _The call provokes self-surrender._ "Here am I." 3. _The call demands entire self-abandonment._ "Send me"--anywhere, on any errands, at any time, in any capacity. +IV. How may we ascertain that we are required to become messengers of the living God?+ 1. By the separating voice of God. 2. By the discipline of preparation. 3. By the openings of beckoning opportunities. The "joy of the Lord" will be our strength when most we feel the pressure of "the burden of the Lord."--_Matthew Braithwaithe._
A STRANGE AND SAD ERRAND.
vi. 9, 10. _And He said, Go, and tell this people, &c._
A sad and mysterious errand, the statement of which might well have quenched the enthusiasm inspired by his vision of the Divine glory. When he exclaimed, "Here am I, send me!" how little did he anticipate for what purpose he would be sent! It must have astounded and saddened him, and it is full of astonishment and mystery for us. How could God have sent His servant on an errand such as this?
Much of the mystery will be relieved, though not altogether removed, if we recognise--what I believe to be the fact--that here we have a statement, not of the messages Isaiah was to deliver (for they were many, and were revealed to him at various times), but of what would be the result of them all. Those to whom he was sent, and whom he desired to bless, would not be made better, but worse, by his ministry.
This is in accordance with a well-known and terrible fact, viz., that the proclamation of truth often leads men to cleave more desperately to error.[1] Why, then, does God send His servants to proclaim it?
_Not because He desires the depravity and destruction of men._ Such a desire would be utterly inconsistent with His _character_ and with His express _declarations_ (Ezek. xviii. 23, 32, &c.). We need not imagine, then, that we have here a confirmation of those schemes of arbitrary election and reprobation which some theologians have attributed to Him.
But 1. _Because it is necessary for the preservation of His character as a God of righteousness and mercy that He should do what_ OUGHT _to result in the salvation of men._ Had He not sent His prophets forth on their sad mission, we should have been confronted by a greater difficulty: God permitting His chosen people to go on to ruin without one word of warning spoken, without one effort put forth to arrest them. But one of the supreme moral necessities of the universe is this, that His character as a God desiring the redemption of sinners should be maintained unimpaired; and therefore He sends forth His messengers to proclaim the truth, although He foresees that to many they will be the "savour of death unto death,"--and not "the savour of life unto life,"--not as that same frosty air which "braces" and invigorates those who are already vigorous. As this quotation reminds you, this is the effect of the Gospel itself. Ought God, therefore, never to have sent its preachers forth? 2. _That stubborn sinners may be left without excuse in the day of their doom._ God will not merely take vengeance on the violators of His laws of righteousness; He will make it manifest that while in Him there is an awful severity, there is no vindictiveness; and He will so act that, even when that severity is most manifested, not only the onlookers, but even those who experience it shall be constrained to confess, "Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints!" He will not leave it possible for them to say, "Hadst Thou warned us, we should not have sinned." They shall be speechless (Matt. xxii. 12; Jer. xliv. 2-5). 3. _That the righteous may be saved._ Did He not send His prophets forth to instruct and warn, even the men in whose hearts are the germs of righteousness and holiness of life would follow the multitude to do evil: _they_ hear, and turn, and live: and this is ample justification of the prophet's mission. Those who perish would have perished without it; but without it those who are saved would have perished also. And in this respect Isaiah's ministry was not in vain: while to the vast majority of the nation it was "the savour of death unto death," it was to a few--"the holy seed" of whom also this chapter speaks to us--"the savour of live unto life." They learned to trust, not in Assyria nor in Egypt, but in the Holy One of Israel, and therefore were "kept in perfect peace" amid all the convulsions and catastrophes of their time.
The passage seemed at the outset full of mystery; our tendency was to shun it as one that would not bear investigation, as one about which the least that could be said the better, as one which we could have wished had never been written. What do we see now? That here we have an illustration of the Psalmist's saying, "Clouds and darkness are round about Him"--so to our purblind vision it seems, the brightness being _so_ bright that it dazzles and blinds us; "but righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne." What should we learn from this? 1. _Never to fear to investigate anything in God's Word._ There is nothing here which its friends need wish to hide out of sight; it is all worthy of Him from whom it came (Ps. xix. 9). 2. _Never to distrust God because of anything in either His Word or His Providence._ Things that might cause distrust we shall meet with; some of them we shall never explain here, when we can know only "in part;" yet let us keep fast hold of the glorious and gladdening truth, that "in Him is no darkness at all." God is light; God is love.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] To a man living in the belief of what is erroneous or the practice of what is wrong you proclaim the truth, and what happens? (1) Either he amends his creed or his conduct; or (2) he _disregards_ what you say, and goes on as before; or (3) he _rejects_ what you say, and cleaves to his error more passionately than he would have done otherwise. The latter is a very frequent result. For example, slavery once prevailed throughout our colonies and the United States of America. Holy men held slaves; they had no suspicion of the wrongfulness of slavery. When its wrongfulness was proclaimed, many abandoned it; but others held to it,--some not caring whether it was wrong or right, looking only to the fact that it was profitable; but others reasoned themselves into a persuasion that it was right, that it is Scriptural, and maintained the system with a tenacity and passion they never felt before its wickedness was declared. In thousands of cases that was the result of the anti-slavery movement. God foresaw it, yet He raised up faithful men to proclaim the doctrines of human brotherhood and freedom, and sent them forth on their perilous errand, saying to them in effect, _"Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed."_ He sent them forth, notwithstanding that He foresaw that one inevitable effect of their mission would be the confirmation of thousands in error, the hardening of thousands in iniquity. In like manner He raised up Isaiah and other prophets to denounce their political schemes--their alliances now with Egypt and now with Assyria--to be huge mistakes, and to exhort them to a life of holiness and of simple trust in God; He foresaw that the result of their efforts would _not_ be the reformation of the nation, and yet He sent them forth!
THE REJECTION OF DIVINE TRUTH.
vi. 9, 10. _And He said, Go, and tell this people, &c._
The Divine message--a message of melting pathos and of startling warning, of beseeching entreaty and of terrible threatening--must be delivered to men. "Go and tell this people" is a command that shatters excuses and imposes an imperative obligation. God's speakers have no option--speak they must (Jonah iii. 2). The effects of God's communications correspond to the willingness or the wilfulness of men.
+I. Divine truth elicits human disposition.+ In the spring season, the sun sits in judgment upon the trees of gardens and forests. Then the trees that have life have it more abundantly. Their latent powers and possibilities are developed and exhibited. The same sun-force smites the decaying trees and shrivels those having only goodliness without life. Is not the Sun of Righteousness "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart"? When on earth, He who is "the Truth" evoked the hidden feelings, purposes, and qualities of men; and His manifold message repeats the process to the end of time (John ix. 39). The ministry of Isaiah was a revealing ministry: the character of men and the character of the nation by it were made manifest. +II. Divine truth repelled because of dislike.+ "Lest they see, hear, understand, be converted and healed." A diseased eye winces under the scorching sunlight, as a disordered soul will flinch under the fierce light that streams upon it from above. The disquieted conscience repels the entrance of the truth, because of the revolutions in thought, disposition, purpose, character, and activity which its admission would necessitate. None are so blind, deaf, insensible as those who do not want to see, hear, or feel (John iii. 19, 20). Men dislike the purpose of God's good but severe discipline: they want not to "be converted and healed," and they recoil from the painful process.[1] +III. Divine truth cannot be rejected without injury.+ Divine truth and grace will not be void of result, though the result may be most injurious (Rom ii. 4, 5). Consequences of lasting duration are involved in our action of opening or shutting the doors of the soul.[2] Not to receive the "grace upon grace" of God is to put the spirit into an attitude of opposition: this attitude can easily become a confirmed habit; and the habit, in righteous retribution, may be ratified (Rev. xxii. 11). Antagonism to God's revelation injures the soul's highest life; its power of vision is dimmed or veiled; the understanding loses its alertness and fails to comprehend; the affections become gross and carnal. Inexorable is the spiritual law and appalling the spiritual doom (Eph. iv. 18). Isaiah unfolded God's design of salvation; but the design was intercepted and frustrated by human perversity. Men "rejected the counsel of God against themselves," and persistent resistance rendered them "past feeling." "Take heed how ye hear." "Hear, and your soul shall live."[3]--_Matthew Braithwaite._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "There is light enough for those whose sincere desire is to see; and darkness enough for those of a contrary disposition. There is brightness enough to illuminate the elect; and enough of obscurity to humble them. There is obscurity enough to blind the reprobate; and brightness enough to condemn them and to leave them without excuse."--_Blaise Pascal._
[2] "The smallest particle of light falling on the sensitive plate produces a chemical change that can never be undone again; and the light of Christ's love, once brought to the knowledge and presented for the acceptance of a soul, stamps on it an ineffaceable sign of its having been there. Once heard, it is henceforward a perpetual element in the whole condition, character, and destiny of the hearer. Every man that ever rejects Christ, does these things thereby--wounds his own conscience, hardens his own heart, and makes himself a worse man, just because he has had a glimpse of holiness, and has willingly, and almost consciously, "loved darkness rather than light." Unbelief is its own judgment, its own condemnation: unbelief, as sin, is punished like other sins, by the perpetuation of deeper and darker forms of itself. Every time that you stifle a conviction, fight down a conviction, or din away a conviction, you have harmed your soul, made yourself a worse man, lowered the tone of your conscience, enfeebled your will, made your heart harder against love; you have drawn another horny scale over the eye that will prevent you from seeing the light that is yonder. You have, as much as in you is, approximated to the other pole of the universe (if I may say that), to the dark and deadly antagonist of mercy, and goodness, and truth, and grace."--_Alexander Maclaren._
[3] "The great iniquity is, or then is the Gospel hid in a sinful sense, when men have it among them, or may have it, and will not hear it; or do hear it, and never understand it,--that is, never apply or set themselves to understand it; or receive no conviction from it; or receive no suitable impression on their hearts from it. Thus, all the while, is the Gospel hid to them by their own iniquity, that they do voluntarily make resisting efforts against it, as everything of sin must have somewhat of _voluntarium_ in it. It supposeth that otherwise a brute agent might be as capable of sin as a rational one, and that cannot be. But here lies the iniquity, that men might understand and they will not; and there is a natural faculty that should turn them, even in their very hearts; but there is a sinful disinclination, and they will not turn. For it is the will that is not turned: "Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life." And so, when the Gospel is hid, it is hid, not because men cannot see, but because they will not. They do (as it were) pretend the veil; stretch forth the veil before their eyes or bind it close over their own eyes, hoodwink themselves that they will not see. Being thus sinfully hidden, it comes also to be penally hidden by a _nemesis,_ hidden by a just _vindicta._ Ye will not understand, then ye shall not understand; ye will harden your hearts against light, against grace, against the design of the Gospel, and they shall be hardened. Since ye will have it so, so let it be."--_John Howe._
P. D., 2938, 3391.
THE DURATION OF THE PROPHET'S MISSION.
vi. 11-13. _Then said I, Lord how long? &c._
For an exposition of this passage see note.[1]
Let us look steadily at the _facts_ before us, and then, perchance, we may discern the _lessons_ associated with them. Isaiah desires to know how long his strange and sad mission is to continue; and the answer is, until its utter failure to save his fellow-countrymen from their sins and their impending doom has been demonstrated, until nothing but the mere life-germ of the nation is left. Here really are three facts, full of instruction for us to-day. I. _Isaiah's mission and the calamities he desired to avert by it were to work together._ There was thus a twofold appeal to the men of that generation; and at its close God might have repeated the challenge, "What could I have done more?" (chap. v. 4). Both by offers of mercy and manifestations of righteous anger He sought to deliver them from the doom towards which they madly hastened. Thus God deals with the world to-day: His preachers of righteousness and His judgments because of unrighteousness work side by side; this fact is a conclusive proof that God is not willing that the sinner should die. This is true of nations, and it is true of individuals. II. _Isaiah was to prosecute his mission to the end, notwithstanding the proofs that his efforts to deliver his fellow-countrymen were vain._ This is always the duty of God's messengers: they are to deliver their message, and reiterate it. Whether it is popular or unpopular is a thing of which they are not even to think! the one thing they have to consider and remember is, that it is true. III. _In the midst of all the calamities of his time, Isaiah was sustained by the assurance that the nation he loves should not utterly perish._ Nothing could hurt "the holy seed" that constituted its true life. The Church of to-day is full of imperfections; the forces of unbelief are marshalling themselves against her; it may be that she will again be tried by fierce persecutions: but the Lord's true prophet can survey all these possible calamities with calmness; he knows that "the holy seed" which constitutes her true life cannot be injured by them.
Here, then, is instruction and encouragement for the Lord's prophet to-day. He is to preach the preaching which God has bidden him, regardless of everything but the fact that God had sent it forth. He is not to modify his message, to make it more palatable to his hearers. He must not cease to deliver it, although he sees that his hearers are hardening themselves against it, and so are bringing upon themselves a heavier doom. Comfort he will need, but he must find it in the fact that there is a "holy seed" to whom his ministry will be a blessing, and in whose salvation, if he be faithful to the end, he shall share.
In this passage there are also some supplementary lessons of general interest. 1. We have here an illustration of _the persistence and success of the Divine purposes._ God selected the descendants of Abraham as the instruments through whom He would bless the world (Exod. xix. 5, 6). Their history has been one long struggle against this purpose; but it has not been a frustration of it: their very waywardness and wickedness have afforded occasions for the manifestation of His character, and the consequent revelations both of His goodness and of His severity have been blessings in the world. In spite even of their rejection of His Son they are still His people, and He will at length make them a holy people (Rom. xi. 28-29). 2. _God does not hesitate to use any means that will help to conform His chosen ones to His own ideal._ It is a solemn thing to be chosen of God: that choice may involve possibilities from which flesh and blood shrinks.[2] The way to avoid those possibilities is to find out what God's purpose concerning us is, and endeavour to conform ourselves thereto: then we shall find His choice of us a well-spring of constant blessing. 3. _God does not despise the merest germs of goodness._ Insignificant, comparatively, as was "the holy seed" in Israel, He watched over it with ceaseless care. Comfort there is here for those who lament that there is in them so little of which God can approve. That little He will not despise (1 Kings xiv. 13; Isa. xlii. 3); He sees what possibilities of excellence there are in His chosen ones;[3] and those little germs of excellence He will nourish until they have developed into that which will satisfy even Himself.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] He inquired how long this service of hardening and this state of hardness were to continue,--a question forced from him by his sympathy with the nation to which he himself belonged (cf. Exod. xxxii. 9-14), and one which was warranted by the certainty that God, who is ever true to His promises, could not cast off Israel as a people for ever. The answer follows in ver. 11_b_-13: _"Until towns are wasted without inhabitant, and houses are without man, and the ground shall be laid waste, a wilderness, and Jehovah shall put men far away, and there shall be many forsaken places within the land. And is there still a tenth therein, this also again is given up to destruction, like the terebinth and the oak, of which, when they are felled, only a root-stump remains: such a root-stump is the holy seed."_ The hardening judgment would come to an end only when the land of Israel had been made utterly desolate. Up to the words "given up to destruction," the announcement is a threatening one; but from this point to "remains" a consolatory prospect begins to dawn; and in the last three words this brighter prospect, like a distant streak of light, bounds the horizon of the gloomy prophecy. It shall happen as with the terebinth and the oak. These trees were selected as illustrations, not only because they are so near akin to evergreens, and produced a similar impression, or because there were so many associations connected with them in the olden times of Israel's history; but also because they formed such fitting symbols of Israel, on account of their peculiar facility for springing up again from the root (like the beech and nut, for example), even when they had been completely felled. . . . The root-stump was the remnant that had survived the judgment, and the remnant would become a seed, out of which a new Israel would spring up after the old had been destroyed. Thus in a few words is the way sketched out which God would henceforth take with His people. The passage contains an outline of the history of Israel to the end of time. Israel as a nation was indestructible, by virtue of the promise of God; but the mass of the people were doomed to destruction through the judicial sentence of God, and only a remnant, which would be converted, would perpetuate the nationality of Israel, and inherit the glorious future. This law of a blessing sunk in the depths of the curse actually inflicted still prevails in the history of the Jews. The way of salvation is open to all. Individuals find it, and give us a presentiment of what might be and is to be; but the great mass are hopelessly lost, and only when they have been swept away will a holy seed, saved by a covenant-keeping God, grow up into a new and holy Israel, which, according to chap. xxvii. 6, will fill the earth with its fruits, or, as the Apostle expresses it in Romans xi. 12, become "the riches of the Gentiles."--_Delitzsch._
[2] _Homiletic Encyclopædia of Illustrations,_ 86-90, 99-115.
[3] As the eye of the cunning lapidary detects in the rugged pebble, just digged from the mine, the polished diadem that shall sparkle in the diadem of a king; or as the sculptor in the rough block of marble, newly hewn from the quarry, beholds the statue of perfect grace and beauty which is latent there, and waiting but the touch of his hand,--so He who sees all, and the end from the beginning, sees oftentimes greater wonders than these. He sees the saint in the sinner, the saint that shall be in the sinner that is; the wheat in the tare; the shepherd feeding the sheep in the wolf tearing the sheep; Paul in the preacher of the faith in Saul the persecutor of the faith; Israel a prince with God in Jacob the trickster and the supplanter; Matthew the Apostle in Levi the publican; a woman that should love much in a woman sinning much; and in some vine of the earth bringing forth wild grapes and grapes of gall a tree which shall yet bring forth good fruit, and wine to make glad the heart; so that when some, like those over-zealous servants in the parable, would have Him pluck it up, and to cast it without more ado into the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God, He exclaims rather, "Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it" (Isa. lxv. 8), and is well content to await the end.--_Trench._
See also _Homiletic Encyclopædia,_ &c., 2454 and 3056.
FEARS AND COMFORTS.
vii. 1-9. _And it came to pass, in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, &c._
The historical statements[1] in these verses afford illustrations of spiritual truths. +I. The powers of evil are confederate against the Lord's people+ (vers. 1, 2, 6). By the combined forces of evil, God's chosen ones have always been assailed. The conflict began in Eden, and has continued ever since. These combined forces attacked our Lord, and appeared for a time, outwardly at least, to conquer. We must expect similar assaults (John xvi. 33). The ultimate object of these foes is to destroy our spiritual life. +II. The Lord's people are often terrified by the action of their foes.+ Two things may contribute to this. 1. _A sense of personal guilt._ Conscience often slumbers in prosperity, but awakens and alarms us when danger threatens. No doubt Ahaz remembered his sin, when he saw his foes were coming. 2. _Distrust of the Lord._ It does not appear that Ahaz told the Lord about his trouble, or sought His help. His idolatry had led him into unbelief--a frequent cause of the Christian's terrors. He looks at his troubles, and sinks, because he does not lay hold on Christ (Matt. xiv. 30). +III. God seeks to allay the fears of His people in the hour of their trouble.+ This is done in three ways. 1. _By exhorting them to keep their minds calm._ "Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted." Picture Ahaz restless, excited, his breast fainting, hope and courage failing. How timely was the prophet's exhortation! how helpful it might have been to Ahaz! Who of us does not know the blessedness of such an appeal? We have been excited, trembling, fainting, because of temporal dangers or spiritual foes, and in our agitation have been likely to do something foolish. But a voice has said, "Fear not; be calm!" Who says, "Fear not"? The loving, omnipotent Saviour, who is able to deliver us. 2. _By showing His people the weakness of their foes._ They are only the "two tails of smoking firebrands." You think them powerful, but they are really weak (1 John iv. 4). 3. _By predicting the failure of the plans of their foes_ (vers. 7-9)--a prediction which was fulfilled sixty-five years afterwards, when Esarhaddon desolated the country, and filled it with foreigners. So God shows to us the weakness of our foes, and predicts their failure. +IV. God shows His people that faith is necessary for the establishment of their peace+ (ver. 9. See also 2 Chron. xx. 20; Isa. xxvi. 3).--_H. F. Walker._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] For a statement of these circumstances see following paper: THE VIRGIN'S SON.
FAITH'S IMPREGNABLE CITADEL.
vii. 1-9. _And it came to pass, in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, &c._
+I. There are many things calculated to fill us with fear+--sufferings, losses, temptations, death, &c. Especially alarming are combinations of evil: when they threaten, we are apt to feel as did Ahaz and his people (ver. 2). Afflictions seldom come singly: sickness brings poverty in its train, &c.; and the heart is apt to fail before such accumulations of misfortune. +II. But God guarantees the safety of those who trust in Him.+ 1. _He controls all events_ (ver. 7). The Prince of Orange, when he took the field against France and the Emperor, said he had made an alliance with Heaven, and feared not for the result. Much more may the believer be confident in the warfare of life (H. E. I. 200-203, 2372, 2373, 4049, 4055-4058). 2. _It is only while we trust in Him that we are thus in alliance with Him._ Only by trusting in Him are we kept from trusting in that which cannot deliver us--ourselves or our fellow-men, to the exclusion of God and the rejection of His proffered help. Only by trusting in Him are our hearts kept in peace (chap. xxvi. 3, H. E. I. 1893, 1894, 1911-1919, 1923-1926). Only by trusting in Him do we give Him the glory which is His due, and which He will not give to another (H. E. I. 4054). +III. The guarantee of safety which God offers to all who trust Him extends to the soul as well as the body.+ Because of our sins, and the enemies they bring against us, we might well fear; but in the Gospel help is offered, and perfect safety is guaranteed to them that believe. +IV. The inevitable result of refusal to accept the help which God mercifully offers us is ruin.+ Ahaz, refusing the sign offered him, and trusting in Assyria, was overthrown by his ally. There is deadly peril in any other alliance than that which God offers to form with us. Said our Lord to all who are tempted to apostacy, "Remember Lot's wife," and in like manner we may say to all who are tempted to disregard and reject God's offers of help, _Remember Ahaz!_--_John Johnston._
PURPOSE AND PANICS.
vii. 1, 2. _And it came to pass, in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, &c._
In this brief record of events[1] that occurred so long ago, we may find suggestions of truths which it will be well for us to lay to heart to-day. +I. Men often confidently form purposes when they find it impossible to fulfil+ (ver. 1). Rezin and Pekah no doubt were sure their project would be successful; they left no means untried to make it a success; they had many things to encourage them (2 Chron.