SPIRITUAL USURPERS RENOUNCED
Isaiah 26:13-14. O Lord our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us, &c.
We have in this language—
I. A PENITENTIAL CONFESSION. “Other lords,” &c. Exegetically the point to be determined is whether the “other lords” who “have ruled over us,” are the king and people of Babylon or idol gods; the former with coercion, the latter with their own wicked consent? Perhaps both ideas are included and a sad sequence implied. They had wandered of their own wicked will into the service of pagan gods, and now against their will were forced to serve pagan kings. Paganism had led to vice; vice had destroyed all true manliness. Heroism in Jewish history had lived only so long as fidelity to Jehovah had lasted. Piety having decayed, heroism was dead; they could not stand before their invaders. Paganism had enslaved them. This they now feel, and hate Paganism, and shun it more thoroughly than ever before.
II. A HOLY RESOLVE, involving,
1. A recognition of Divine claims. It is right that we should consecrate our services to Thee. By Thee created and sustained, it is robbery to carry our services elsewhere. Thou art our Father, and to honour others instead of Thee is unfilial ingratitude. Our King Thou art, and not to serve Thee is sedition.
2. A consciousness of dependence on Divine help. “But by Thee only,” &c., i.e., “Only by Thy Divine help can we hope to be faithful to Thee.” Here is a renunciation, not only of heathenism, but also of all self-sufficiency. By sad experience they have learnt that without God they can do nothing.
III. A SHOUT OF VICTORY (Isaiah 26:14).The struggle against sin may be severe and long. Bad habits are not easily overcome. But divine help gives victory to human endeavours. He who uttered the almost despairing cry, “O wretched man that I am,” &c., can now give the victorious shout, “I thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” There are those who once served mammon, and bowed to ambition; who followed the Moloch of revenge and hate; slaves to drunkenness and nameless vices, who now through Divine grace can say of these bad habits, “They are dead … Thou hast visited and destroyed them,” &c.—W. Parkes.
Man is a responsible being. To say he is responsible to himself is to say nothing more than that he claims to act according to his own inclination. Responsibility has regard to another. Lordship from without is exercised over every human soul. Good and evil—God and Satan—contend for the dominion. Evil usurps the dominion until an inward revolution occurs. Thus the Jewish people had cast off the authority of Jehovah, and placed themselves under the dominion of other Gods. The captivity in Babylon converted them from this folly. They then determined that thenceforward they would only “make mention of,” celebrate and honour, give the dominion to the Lord their God. Here is a penitential confession and a good resolution.
I. A PENITENTIAL CONFESSION. “Other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us.” The dominion of evil in human souls is:
1. Multiform. It assumes many shapes. The gods the Jewish people served were numerous as the nations under whose influence they fell. So the form of evil most congenial to a man’s own nature is sure to assail him (H. E. I. 4679–4683). Not only so; while each has probably his special besetment, each has also multitudinous besetments (H. E. I. 4550, 4551). The penitent sees that his sins pass all power of numeration or recollection; they have become lords and masters (Romans 6:16; H. E. I. 4482–4484).
2. Wrongful. “Other lords beside Thee.” The language implies that God ought to have had the dominion. Then it must be wrong to give it to others. He is the rightful sovereign on every ground. Nor can he divide His throne with any rival. As it is impossible to serve two masters whose interests are opposed to each other, or to adhere to two claimants of the same crown, so is it to make mention of the name of God and at the same time to submit to the dominion of other lords. But we have attempted this. “Will a man rob God?” Yes. Men who would not wrong each other will defraud God daily without compunction and without shame. To allow the dominion of other lords is a wrong done to God.
3. Voluntary. It has been entirely with our own consent. Those who make this confession mean that they have been blamable for the wrongful dominion of other lords. Freedom is essential to responsibility. We have consented to sin—loved it. Nor does it avail to say we are unable to break from its power. If unable, what has brought our moral nature into such a state of imbecility? Are not its chains wound round our nature by our own consent? Is not the wretched victim of intemperance responsible for his inability to resist the cup, when that inability is the result of the voluntary indulgence of years? The fetters of the sinner have been forged by himself. The criminality reaches farther back than the present sin; to the sins freely chosen long ago, which have led up to the present power of sin over the will. If the will is in bondage to sin, it was, in the first instance, voluntarily surrendered. Now the penitent sinner sees all this. He comes with lowly submission and penitential confession.
II. A GOOD RESOLUTION. “By Thee only will we make mention of Thy name.” The confession of the ransomed Jews meant more than empty words. They had seen their error; they intended a complete change, a radical reformation. Idolatry was for ever renounced.
This is a type of the conversion of a sinner. The confession means not only that he seeks forgiveness, but also—1, Intends reformation—abandonment of all sin, no reservation of any sin, the course of life completely altered. 2, Supposes regeneration. Man can only see the outward change; but what does it represent? Awakening to the danger, sight of the evil of sin. The disposition is different; the heart is changed. Hence the will determines the other way. 3, Proceeds from God. There is a work of the Holy Spirit in conversion. We need His help to fulfil the resolution. “By Thee only.”
Have you experienced this change? It is a personal one. Whether you have or not, He is the Lord—your Lord; therefore right that He demands your service. O yield His claim!—J. Rawlinson.