THE BELIEVER’S DIGNITY AND POWER
Isaiah 28:5-6. In that day shall the LORD of Hosts be for a crown, &c.
This sustaining assurance stands in striking antithesis to the solemn threatenings and humbling charges which precede and follow it. It rises like some stately palace amid the ruins of man’s humbled pride and broken hopes. This voice comes from heaven in the very hour of earth’s desolation and decay. The prominent figure on the prophet’s canvas is very unlike the objects grouped around it. On the one side you look into a lovely valley, in the centre of which, on a commanding height, stands Samaria, the capital of the “Ten Tribes,” “the crown of pride,” “the glorious beauty.” But that proud crown is soon to be cast to the ground; that “glorious beauty” is but as a garland of fading flowers; that luxuriant valley, whose very “fatness” was made the minister of sensual indulgence, will soon be over-swept by the desolating march of the Assyrian invader; that gaudy splendour, the boast of Ephraim’s drunkards, is as short-lived as the wreaths which the revellers bind around their brows. The worm of intemperance is gnawing at the root of “the fading flower,” and overhead the storm is gathering that will blight its beauty. Turn now to the other side of the central figure, where the kingdom of Judah is introduced (Isaiah 28:7). Jerusalem as well as Samaria has her troops of reckless inebriates and her scenes of disgusting intoxication; though her punishment is not so near as that of the northern kingdom, here, too, are seen the marks of sure decline. On both sides, then, the prophet’s picture is gloomy and portentous—the earth a scene of drunken revelry, and the black sky streaked with the lightnings of divine wrath. But out of this sombre background of sottish intemperance and overhanging judgment, of falling crowns and fading wreaths, rises the luminous figure of our text. “In that day” of vanishing glory “shall the Lord of Hosts,” &c. In the fulness of its wealth this promise belongs to us; the Lord of Hosts has become to us “a crown of glory.”
I. THE BELIEVER’S DIGNITY. Let us not tone down the grandeur of the promise. Christ is the crown with which the believer is invested. He is an heir of God, a partaker of the divine nature. Let us see what is implied in this representation, bearing in mind the crown to which it stands in contrast.
1. It is a crown of honour without insecurity. Man is like a discrowned and exiled king (Lamentations 5:16). But God has taken means to restore him to his lost dignity (1 Corinthians 1:30). The crown of original righteousness which sin had torn from our brows and trampled in the dust has been replaced by the righteousness of Christ. How complete and glorious is His work in our behalf, to what dignity does He raise us! This crown cannot be placed on our head without inspiring us with a sense of honour, a feeling of recovered power, of joy and hope and security. There may be a crowned head without a kingly heart. A young prince may mount the throne incapable of discharging its duties, or, perhaps, trembling lest his new dignity should make him a mark for the bullet of the assassin; but the Christian’s honour cometh from God, and, along with the restored kingship, kingly qualities are imparted, so that no man can take his crown.
2. This is a crown in which we may boast without pride. Samaria was a crown of pride to the Ephraimites, and because they gloried in it, it was soon to be overturned. But while this crown of carnal confidence was thus to be swept away, God becomes to His people a more glorious crown in which they might boast without pride. When anything short of God is made our confidence it fosters vainglory, but with God as our crown all self-sufficiency is excluded.
3. It is a crown of joy without degradation. As it does not foster pride, so neither does it allow its wearer to descend to low indulgence. Reference is probably made to the wreath of flowers worn by drunken revellers on festive occasions. Under the plea of festive mirth they wallowed in the mire of sensuality. How soon their garlands would fall in disorder from their heads, or fall with their heads as they lay in senseless intoxication. The believer’s “diadem of beauty” points to purity and self-control (Psalms 4:7).
4. It is an unfading crown. This point in the contrast is equally obvious. And is not “the fading flower” an emblem of all our earthly joys?
“All that sweet was made, but to be lost when sweetest.”
This world’s fairest chaplets will soon wither on our brows; its honours, possessions, and hopes are evanescent; but the Lord will be our everlasting crown, our God will be our eternal glory (H. E. I., 4975–4989).
II. THE BELIEVER’S POWER.
In Isaiah 28:6 we have all the elements of personal power, social well-being, and national greatness (Acts 1:8; Ephesians 5:18). The indwelling Spirit confers three benefits. I. A clear head. “A spirit of judgment.” Solomon asked this blessing. It does not fall to many of us to sit on the bench, but what is good for the judge is a precious gift for all. When the Spirit pours His light upon the mind, the eyes of our understanding are enlightened. A clear intellect, a sound mind, an unwarped, unprejudiced judgment, is needed in all walks of life. How appropriate is this part of the promise! How could justice be rightly administered in such a state of society as that described by the prophet? If there is one thing that saps the morals, and muddles the understanding, it is intemperance. Men in positions of responsibility need all their wits about them.
2. A brave heart is promised “to them who turn the tide of battle to the gate.” The soldier as well as the judge is to participate in the gifts of God’s Spirit. We have a spiritual warfare to wage (Ephesians 6:12), and we are pledged to conquer the world for Christ. Beware lest we render ourselves unfit for military service by luxurious habits, and sinful indulgence. The drunkards of Ephraim could do nothing to oppose the invaders of their country. We need the Spirit to fire our hearts with courage and enterprise. Without His influence we shall prove poltroons.
3. A strong arm. Self-denial is a source of moral courage and of spiritual strength. Far from us be the dissoluteness which enfeebles our powers, both of mind and body.
Such, then, are the contents of this precious promise. Oh, that we were all invested with this crown of holiness, dignity, and beauty. How many are content with the gilded coronets and fading chaplets of the world. You remember the scene in the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” part ii., which has been made the subject of a painting by Sir Noel Paton—the man raking straw while one held a glittering crown over his head. Make Christ your boast. The crown of pride shall be hurled to the ground, the garlanded revellers shall sink in their own corruption, the honours which men so eagerly seek are as a fading flower, but this crown shall sparkle for ever on the believer’s head (Daniel 12:3; Psalms 90:17).—William Guthrie, M.A.
God had said He would discrown Ephraim, remove his beauty, and stain his pride. This was done when Samaria was overthrown by the Assyrians. “In that day” He would do to the “residue of His people”—apparently the kingdom of Judah—what is said in our present text. It was done in the reign of Hezekiah, when the true worship was re-established, reformation effected, and the nation defended against its enemies.
The text may be regarded, however, as a description of the splendour of the regenerated world.
I. THE PERSONS INTERESTED.
“The residue of His people: him that sitteth in judgment: and them that turn the battle to the gate.” All classes. Brave defenders; governors and administrators of justice, and the great mass of the people. Hence we observe that the blessing of the Gospel is needed by and suited to every class and every man. If there be a man anywhere who does not need it, it is either because—
(1), he has no soul to save; or
(2), he has not sinned; or
(3), he is sufficient in himself to remove sin and its consequences from himself. But none of these can be said of any man.
II. THE BLESSING PROMISED.
It consists in that which the Lord will be to the regenerated world.
1. Honour. Men mistake the things that constitute the true honour and dignity of human nature. Sounding titles; enormous wealth; personal beauty; commanding intellect; undisputed power. They are all insufficient and insecure, like fading flowers. God is the true crown of glory to man. When the soul returns from its wanderings to God and is re-united to Him through Christ, the crown is placed upon his head (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
2. Wisdom. Both in barbarous and civilised countries, man without the Gospel is ignorant of the character of God, and of the way to approach Him (1 Corinthians 1:21). He gropes about in the darkness, if he desire to find Him at all. But Christ is made of God to us “wisdom,” as well as “righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” In Him the divine character is clearly seen in the fulness, harmony, and glory of its attributes. In Him also we learn how man can be reconciled to God, and the way to eternal life.
3. Strength. Not physical, nor intellectual power, however valuable in the regions proper to them. But moral power; the power of the human will; the most important power of all. This alone possesses the terrible capacity of resisting the Almighty. The most powerful animals act as they have been created to act. All mechanical forces act according to their laws. But man, possessed of will, is possessed of a power that can either defy or obey the authority of Omnipotence. When the Gospel comes to the human heart, it constrains the will into a mighty force for good. God and man combine to overthrow the empire of evil in the heart and in the world. “The Lord of hosts is for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.”
III. THE TIME INDICATED.
“In that day.” Christ came “in the fulness of time.” There are reasons and circumstances specially favourable to the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. There is a time in the purpose of Jehovah when all nations shall walk in the light. We may mark the circumstances which are usually indicative of the further spread of the Gospel.
1. When there is a time of special revival, reformation, and earnestness in the Church. As in time of Hezekiah.
2. When God stirs up His people to exert themselves for the world’s salvation, it is a sign that the world’s salvation is coming on apace. “When God enters the chamber, and awakes His children, and bids them rise, it is a sign that the morning has come.”
3. When the church longs, waits, prays for the success of the work, the time is likely to have come. “As soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children.” Let the Church of Christ really desire, believe in, pray for the world’s conversion, and God will open the windows of heaven and pour down the blessing. Have you been sufficiently interested in the world’s salvation? As individuals? Are we sufficiently interested in our own?—J. Rawlinson.