GOD INCOMPARABLE
Isaiah 46:5. To whom then will ye liken Me? &c.
I. THE DOCTRINE TAUGHT BY THE PROPHET. Evidently that God is incomparable. He is so—
1. In the splendour of His perfections. He is self-existent, omnipotent, &c. (Exodus 34:6-7; Psalms 83:18; P. D. 1502, 1508). “Who by searching,” &c.
“This awful God is ours,
Our Father and our Love,
He will send down His heavenly powers,
To carry us above.”—Watts.
2. In the universality of His dominion. “Created beings have only a limited and confined sway, but God’s kingdom ‘ruleth over all.’ ”
3. In the transcendence of His beneficence. He is “abundant in goodness and truth” to all, even to the unthankful and evil (Matthew 5:45), but His believing people are the special objects of His munificent grace (1 Timothy 4:10). They have “a peace that passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7); a “joy unspeakable,” &c. (1 Peter 1:8); a hope blooming with “immortality and eternal life” (Romans 15:13); and the glory reserved for them is so great that “it doth not yet appear” (1 John 3:2).
II. THE SENTIMENTS IT SHOULD INCITE IN US.
1. The deepest reverence for God (Psalms 89:7). Where this does not prevail, there is no true worship.
2. The profoundest attachment to God (Psalms 18:1).
3. The sublimest confidence in God (Psalms 46:1-7). He is infinitely worthy of our confidence.—Alfred Tucker.
THE CHARACTER AND SINFULNESS OF IDOLATRY
Isaiah 46:5-9. To whom will ye liken Me? &c.
Its prevalence has been common to every age and to every people.
I. THE CHARACTER OF IDOLATRY.
1. It is the greatest dishonour that can be put upon God. It is the open denial of His supreme authority and exclusive claim on the worship of His creatures. It is the utterance of a falsehood against all His attributes. The number of the gods worshipped is a lie against His unity; their corporal character is a lie against His pure spirituality, &c.
2. It is connected with all that is debasing to the mind and character of its votaries. This debasement is its natural effect. Its worship is vicious. Its system of human sacrifice—degradation of woman and the sacred institution of marriage—infanticide. Hence idolaters are degraded in intellect, polluted in heart, miserable in life.
II. THE SINFULNESS OF IDOLATRY. This appears—
1. In God’s hatred of it. His perfections require Him to hate it. His language concerning it, and His conduct towards those who commit it, as recorded in His word, exhibit the detestation in which it is held in the divine mind (Jeremiah 14:4; Jeremiah 16:18; Ezekiel 8:6; 2 Chronicles 15:8; Ezekiel 16:26; 1 Peter 4:3). His hatred of it appears in His prohibition of it (Exodus 20:3, &c), and in the threatened punishments connected with it (Deuteronomy 7:2-5, &c.)
2. In God’s earnest and repeated entreaties to the Jews not to commit it (Jeremiah 44:4, &c.) These entreaties are the expressions of—
(1.) His regard to His own glory. He is jealous of His honour.
(2.) His compassionate desire for the welfare of those to whom He speaks. He does not look with unconcern upon them.
CONCLUSION.—These considerations furnish the strongest motives to missionary enterprise and zeal.—J. Johnston, M.A.: Sermons, pp. 336–360.
THE TWO-FOLD REVELATION OF GOD
(For Trinity Sunday.)
Isaiah 46:9-10. I am God, and there is none else, &c.
Between the Old and New Testaments there is essential doctrinal agreement. The older revelation prepared the way for the newer, while the newer is the fulness of the older. The New Testament writers assume the Divine inspiration and authority of the Old. They refer to institutions, incidents, and historical characters in the Old as illustrating, confirming, or enforcing their own instructions.
The Jew and the Infidel would possess an immense advantage, if the two parts of Scripture were in essential disagreement. If they made opposite representations of the Divine character, both could not be true. The Supreme would not contradict Himself about Himself. In the literature of the day we sometimes meet with references to the God of the Jews as different from the God of the Christians; so that it is worth while to show that they are one and the same (H. E. I. 633–635).
The Divine existence is assumed. When a sovereign makes a treaty with a distant nation, he does not, in any part of it, announce his own existence. It is already known. “The invisible things of Him from the creation are clearly seen—even His eternal power and Godhead.”
But nature cannot teach everything we desire to know respecting God. It leaves us longing for further information which it cannot supply. Divine revelation supplies it. God has condescended in His Word to reveal Himself. What may be gathered from the two parts of Scripture respecting the Divine nature?
I. THE DIVINE UNITY. When revelation has been absent, men have glided into polytheism and idolatry. To the numerous effects of Divine power they have assigned separate divinities. Finding themselves ignorant and sensuous, they have persuaded themselves that worship can be best maintained by representations of these divinities in wood, stone, silver, and gold. Hence the testimony of Judaism to the unity and spirituality of the Divine nature (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 44:6). By the first preachers of the Gospel these points were emphasised in opposition to the polytheism and idolatry of the Greek and Roman world. They demanded that men should turn from dumb idols to serve the living and true God.
And yet it is a unity that is consistent with the idea of Trinity. It is in accordance with the idea of Old Testament Scripture to prepare the way for the fuller revelation of truth in the New, rather than complete the revelation. The names of the Divine Being are put in the plural number although associated with singular verbs. The determination to bring the human race into existence is announced in the plural form: “Let Us make man.” The wonderful and mysterious Angel of the Covenant appears on several special occasions. In many passages the phrase, “the Spirit of the Lord,” occurs as descriptive of attributes, qualities, and acts which belong to a Divine Person. In Isaiah 63:10 the three persons of the Godhead seem to be mentioned. In the New Testament, while there is a similar distinctness of testimony to the Divine unity, there are still clearer intimations of the Divine Trinity. The Father is spoken of as God; so is the Son; so is the Holy Spirit. There is the formula of baptism. There is the Apostolic benediction. There is the place of each in the economy of redemption (H. E. I. 4816–4821).
II. THE DIVINE HOLINESS. We find the same teaching in both Testaments respecting this. Essentially separated from evil, He hates it, and delights only in what is pure. Old Testament presentations of this great fact (Leviticus 19:2; Isaiah 6:3, &c.; H. E. I. 2275). Thus the New Testament, representing the Divine redemption as intended to restore its subjects to the pristine image of God, exhorts Christians to seek after holiness (1 Peter 1:15-16; Ephesians 4:24). In the moral and providential government of man, He proceeds on the principle of law, righteousness, judgment (Deuteronomy 32:4). Thus the New Testament points out to believers that their bodies, being delivered from sin, are made “the instruments of righteousness.” The Judgment Day is “a day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” The awful death of the Son of God on Calvary has its mystery explained by reference to God’s righteousness (Romans 3:24-25).
III. THE DIVINE FAITHFULNESS. His purposes are unchangeable as His nature. They are formed with perfect intelligence of all they involve. They stretch through all time and eternity. They are firm as the everlasting hills. “I am the Lord; I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” The history of the Jewish and the establishment of the Christian Church is an illustration of God’s unswerving faithfulness to the purpose He has formed.
IV. THE DIVINE LOVE. His disposition is to show kindness. Both Testaments are full of this. Nature is filled with arrangements for the well-being of His creatures. Remember, it is goodness to a world of sinners. It is goodness that has deepened into pitying love, and has provided forgiving mercy at the extremest cost. What does the Old Testament say? (Exodus 34:6.) What says the New? (Romans 5:8; John 3:16.)
The two parts of Divine revelation agree respecting the Divine nature. We may learn hence—
1. The value of the written word. The continuity of Scripture is an important element. The fringes of Deity may be seen by the mere student of nature, but the inner glory can only be known to the student of revelation. Fearful to think of being in the hands of One of whose disposition you are ignorant. Without the Bible you could know nothing satisfactorily nor certainly of God. Prize and study it, that God may grow into your thoughts.
2. The importance of sympathy with God. How do you stand affected toward this great and glorious Being? Do you approve of Him, i.e., of His revealed character? Do you love Him? Is it a pleasant thing to think of and hold communion with Him? Do you thank and trust Him?
3. The blessedness of an interest in God. Through sin, He may become the condemning Judge. But His present attitude is that of the redeeming God. His counsel stood through the ages, and it was His pleasure to send His Son in the fulness of time. If you accept Christ, you are reconciled to Him; you have all spiritual blessings and full salvation.—J. Rawlinson.
THE SEVEN SLEEPERS; OR, THE USES OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE PAST
Isaiah 46:9-10. Remember the former things of old, &c.
There is a legend of the early Christianity, whose ready acceptance within a few years of its origin is not less remarkable than its wide diffusion through every country from the Ganges to the Thames. In the middle of the fifth century, the resident proprietor of an estate near Ephesus was in want of building-stone. His fields sloped up the side of a mountain, in which he directed his slaves to open a quarry. In obeying his orders they found a spacious cavern, whose mouth was blocked up with masses of rock artificially piled. On removing these, they were startled by a dog suddenly leaping up from the interior. Venturing farther in, to a spot on which the sunshine, no longer excluded, directly fell, they discovered, just turning as from sleep, and dazzled with the light, seven young men, of dress and aspect so strange that the slaves were terrified, and fled. The slumberers, on rising, found themselves ready for a meal; and the cave being open, one of them set out for the city to buy food. On his way through the familiar country (for he was a native of Ephesus) a thousand surprises struck him.… Before his errand is quite forgot, he enters a bread-shop to make his purchase; offers the silver coin of Decius in payment; when the baker, whose astonishment was already manifest enough, can restrain his suspicions no longer, but arrests his customer as the owner of unlawful treasure, and hurries him before the city court. There he tells his tale: that with his Christian companions he had taken refuge in the cave from the horrors of the Decian persecution; had been pursued thither, and built in for a cruel death; had fallen asleep till wakened by the returning sun; and crept back into the town to procure support for life in their retreat. And there too, in reply, he hears a part of the history which he cannot tell: that Decius had been dethroned by death nearly two centuries ago, and Paganism by the truth full one. It is added, that the young man conducted certain persons to the cave; and that the seven sleepers, having given their parting blessing to those present, sank in the silence of natural death.
For the purpose of experiment, fable is as good as fact. The citizens and the sleepers were awestruck at each other; yet no one had been conscious of anything awful in himself. The sleepers were proofs that the old, dead times were once alive. Would not the men, returning to their homes, be conscious of understanding life anew? Would they not look down upon their children, and up at the portraits of their ancestors, with a perception from which a cloud had cleared away? Would the nearness of God, spoken of by the prophets, appear any more as idle words? No; the revelation of a reality in the past, would produce the feeling of an unreality in the present. Whence would spring an influence like this? The essence of it is simply this: The Past stood up in the face of the Present, and spake with it: and they found each other out: and each learned, that he beheld the other with true eye, and himself with false. The lesson is not set beyond our reach. Our ties with other days are not broken. The legendary youths are but the impersonations of history. The story is a parable of the relation between historical perception and religous faith.
The great end of religion is to distinguish in our existence its essential spirit from its casual forms. This its great end is its great difficulty. Experience mixes the two, and arranges nothing according to its worth. The dress that clothes the body, and the body that clothes the soul, appear always together, and tempt us to exaggerate the trivial and depreciate the great. That which a man has, and that which he is, move about together and become confounded with each other. It is the business of faith to see all things in their intrinsic value. Time is apt to take away a truth for each one that he gives. Insight often tarries with the child. It is an abuse of the blessings of experience, that it stupefies us with its benumbing touch. The great use of custom is to teach us what to expect; this is the true school for the active, working will. But for the thoughtful, wondering affections, a higher discipline is needed. Only by baffled anticipation do we learn to revere what is above us. In shaking off the heavy dreams of custom, religion receives the greatest aid from history. Religion strips the costume from the life that is: history restores the costume to the life that was; and thus may we see where the mere dress ends and the true life begins. The habit of realising the past is essential to that of idealising the present.
II. A more direct influence of knowledge upon faith intensifies it. Time, like space, cannot be appreciated by merely looking into it; we need objects for the one, events for the other. And for the ends of faith, they must be moral vicissitudes, the deeply-coloured incidents of human life; or the vastness we see we shall not love; we shall traverse the infinite, and never worship. The two states,—that in the picture of history, and that on the map of faith,—recede almost equally from our immediate experience: and the conception of the one is a sensible help to the realisation of the other. And when we invoke this aid to faith, we give it an ally, not, as might seem, accessible to learning only, but singularly open to the resources of ordinary men. Records of human affairs are supplied in the sacred writings, from which we learn the lessons of Providence. There is no grander agent than the Bible in this world. It is a discipline of priceless value; and from the extension of it, according to opportunity, whosoever is vigilant to keep a living faith will draw ever-fresh stores; and that He may better dwell in heart with Him “who declareth the end from the beginning,” “will remember the former things of old.”—James Martineau; Endeavours, pp. 475–486.
THE SCOPE AND THE STABILITY OF GOD’S PLAN
Isaiah 46:10. My counsel shall stand.
I. God has a purpose or plan in regard to human affairs (H. E. I. 4015–4023; P. D. 2894). If He had not, He could not predict future events, since a contingent event cannot be foreknown and predicted; that is, it cannot be foretold that an event shall certainly occur in one way, when, by the very supposition of its being contingent, it may happen either that way, or some other way, or not at all.
II. God’s plan will not be frustrated. He has power enough to secure the execution of His designs, and He will exert that power in order that all His plans may be accomplished.
III. These facts should fill His people with great joy. For,
1. if there were no Divine plan in relation to human things, the mind could find no rest—everything would have the appearance of chaos, and the mind must be filled with doubts and distractions. But our anxieties vanish in regard to the apparent irregularities and disorders of the universe, when we feel that all things are under the direction of an Infinite mind, and will be made to further His great designs (H. E. I. 4024–4030; P. D. 2906).
2. If His plans were not accomplished, there would be occasion of equal doubt and dismay. If there was any power that could defeat the purposes of God; if there were any stubbornness of matter, or any inflexible perverseness in the nature of mind; if there were any unexpected and unforeseen extraneous causes that could interpose to thwart His plans, then the mind must be full of agitation and distress. But the moment that it can fasten on the conviction that God has formed a plan that embraces all things, and that all things which occur will in some way be made tributary to that plan, the mind can be calm in resignation to His holy will (P. D. 2898).—Albert Barnes, D.D.
I. THE DIVINE COUNSELS.
It is impossible for us to receive, as we do from the word of God, authentic information that there are counsels in the Divine mind as to our world, and all that dwell therein, without perceiving how much its revelations rise above the low conceptions of the wisest men of heathen antiquity, and of all who in our own day prefer their darkness and doubt to the light and certainty of heavenly truth. For—
1. We know that God, who made all things, does concern Himself with our world; that He has not left it to itself, as they thought necessary for His honour; that His regards are not confined to what men call great; that even individuals are noticed by Him (Psalms 33:13-15; Psalms 33:18-19, &c.)
2. This interposition is one of counsel,—of deliberation and wise purpose. It is not the intervention of a blind power; not of an intelligence which some have fancied to be bound by what they have called a fixed and determinate plan; but one of counsel; that which possesses infinite resources, &c. Of this, all nature is a standing indication, but still more clearly and impressively, the divine government.
3. God’s counsels are supreme and uncontrollable. This it is which gives to good men so entire and joyful a confidence (Proverbs 21:30). There is a frequent contest of counsel between His creature and God. But they are weak, because they are bounded as to extent, and time, and power.
II. THE STABILITY OF THE DIVINE COUNSELS. Illustrated by—
1. Ancient instances of the fulfilment of delayed purposes—Abraham, the promise of Canaan to his seed, expiration of Judah’s captivity, Daniel, the first promise of the seed of the woman.
2. The steadfastness of His holy law—the same in all ages and dispensations.
3. The constant connection of painful fear and misery with sin.
4. The established order of human salvation—as of old, so now. And God will never change it.
5. The uniform experience of good men. Take the effects of prayer—as of old, so now.
CONCLUSION.—What encouragement we thus have to trust God, not only for ourselves, but also as to His Church and the world! (Psalms 33:11). R. Watson: Works, vol. iii. pp. 298–305.
THE PLEASURE OF GOD
Isaiah 46:10. And I will do all My pleasure.
To most men this assertion is exceedingly distasteful. It shows that God has His purposes, and that they will all be accomplished. Men are willing that God should reign in heaven, but they are infinitely unwilling that He should do His pleasure with them. The fierce cry that comes up from the rebel heart is, “Let me manage my own concerns—let not this God have rule over me!” Notwithstanding this opposition of men, God still reigns. And He will rule in all ages and in all worlds. He will do all His pleasure. This sentiment is proved—
I. By the testimony of Scripture (Ecclesiastes 8:3; Daniel 4:35; Isaiah 14:24, &c.) Surely, if there is a doctrine in the Bible, prominent as the sun in the heavens, it is God’s sovereignty as a ruler.
II. By the grand characteristics of God. He is the only self-existent being in the universe. He is everywhere present. Not only can He plan in accordance with infinite wisdom, mercy, and justice, but He has omnipotent power to execute these purposes. He knew from eternity what would come to pass. In reference to the future there is neither ignorance nor doubt. We must either deny His foreknowledge, or admit that His plans are fixed, and that He “will do,” &c. Not that He taketh pleasure in the sins of men—His soul abhorreth them. He made man free to choose. He knew that he would choose evil as well as good; and, for reasons satisfactory to His own mind, He determined to allow it (H. E. I. 2275–2282).
III. By the history of God’s universe.
1. The history of the fallen angels shows it. When they sinned, God banished them from heaven. This was the just punishment of rebellion. It was the act of a sovereign; for when man rebelled against the same God, and the same punishment was threatened, a voice was heard in heaven, “I have found a ransom.”
2. The history of nations shows it. Those nations most prospered, most arrogant, and most likely to trample down the weak, have toppled over. They have become a wonder and a warning to the nations of the earth, while God has strengthened the weak and established the feeble. How prominent has been the intervention of God in the birth, infancy, and growth of our own nation! He made us and kept us a Christian nation.
3. The history of each man proves it. How many things in that history are beyond man’s control!—his birth, &c. All these different persons have within them a consciousness of right and wrong. They are free to learn and to choose. If they do wickedly, they will be punished in accordance with the light which they may have. And yet, how stupendous is the difference! And God has allowed it. Let not man complain of God’s sovereignty, but rather praise Him, that He has made you to differ from those who have been given up to poverty, superstition, degradation, and crime.
(1.) The plans of men depend for success upon the pleasure of God. No man can control events that are future; for these results may depend upon a thousand incidents that can neither be seen nor avoided. Man may possess the most consummate wisdom, &c., and yet he may fail. Like Pharaoh, Absalom, and Haman, evil men everywhere are doomed to disappointment.
(2.) The conversion of men depends upon the pleasure of God. He has provided salvation for all; has given to all the power of securing it; desires that all should have it; and yet He allows some to reject it, while He induces others freely and earnestly to seek it. Every Christian must exclaim with the apostle, “By the grace,” &c. Not that God converts man by almighty power, without the use of means; or that He moves minds and worlds by the same force. Neither did He make some on purpose to be destroyed. [1471]
[1471] The utmost wisdom is necessary in the statement of this part of this subject. Inexperienced preachers should be silent concerning it. Whoever refers to it in the pulpit should have clearly in his own mind, and make clear to others, the truths in H. E. I., 1776–1797, 2276–2284.—R. A. B.
(3.) The pleasure of God will be accomplished in the death of His creatures. How strangely and unexpectedly do men die! But the time and the way are settled by the pleasure of God.
CONCLUSION.—Do you object to the will of God? You cannot prevent it, and why resist it? Is it not His pleasure to do you good? Resistance is futile and fiendish. Yield.—W. Newell, D.D.: The American National Preacher, vol. vii. pp. 135–142.
The dominant facts in this chapter are these—that God had determined to deliver His ancient people from their bondage in Babylon, and that He was strong enough to carry out this purpose. To us even the mention of His strength seems unnecessary; but those to whom the deliverance was promised needed to be assured of the power of Jehovah to carry out His purpose. Humanly speaking, their deliverance seemed impossible. How would a similar promise seem now to the few Poles included in the German empire? God always meets the needs of His people, and therefore the whole chapter is so constructed as to produce faith in its climax: “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure;” and then there is added a symbolical explanation of the manner in which the Divine purpose would be accomplished (Isaiah 46:11).
History tells us that these Divine promises were literally fulfilled. Cyrus, carrying out his own plans, unconsciously accomplished the plan of God with regard to Israel. Remembering what God is, this does not surprise us. Read historically, this declaration gives us no trouble whatever, but pleases us; but if we enlarge its reference, and read it prophetically, it causes us much perplexity. Two things tend to perplex us—
1. God has promised to accomplish great things in the future for this human race of ours (Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 11:9, &c.)
2. In the condition of the human race now, there are many things which we find it difficult to believe can be in accordance with God’s pleasure. E.g., in the Ten Commandments He has shown that certain things are pleasing and other things displeasing to Him; but in the conduct of men His pleasure in regard to all these things is set at nought. In the New Testament we are told that it is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to knowledge of the truth; but the majority of the human race live and die ignorant of the salvation which His Son purchased for them at so great a cost. Remembering these things, there springs up in our minds a difficulty which shapes itself thus: If God could not order things according to His pleasure now, what guarantee have we that He will be able to order things according to His pleasure hereafter? A great assumption here!
Another consideration seems at first somewhat to relieve the difficulty, viz., that nothing could exist were it not God’s pleasure that it should exist, for nothing could exist without His permission. But afterwards it appears to increase the difficulty, for what awful things He permits!
Along this line we do not find that which dispels the mystery; no morning-sun dispersal of the mists that have lain all night along the valley. But we do find that which calms and strengthens us even when the mystery is full in our view. For the mystery has been permitted. By God, who is more than infinite in wisdom and irresistible in power; He is also absolute in righteousness and perfect in love. This, through faith, we are sure of. Therefore we are sure of another thing—that the pleasure which gave the permission that puzzles us was wise, righteous, merciful. Our faith goes beyond the old declaration concerning the mystery of evil, that it is a necessary result of the choice God made in the alternative that lay before Him—that of being content with the creation of a material universe, or of adding to it a moral universe, with all its tremendous evil possibilities. He was pleased to choose the latter, we believe also, because He foresaw that the blessings ultimately thus secured would infinitely transcend the evils that might temporarily result from it. Therefore it was a good pleasure.
In this faith we are confirmed by the clear teaching of His Word that it is His custom to regard the results of a process or of an act more than the process or result itself. This is clearly brought out in what we are told—
1. As to the purpose of His dealings with His children. He often subjects them to purposes involving great pain, but the result is more than a compensation for all the pain (Hebrews 12:10).
2. As to His dealings with His Son. “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” What an amazing declaration! What woe was involved in the “bruising!” It pleased Him, because He did not look only at the hours during which Jesus hung upon the cross.—In like manner, He was pleased to make the choice out of which woes so terrible have sprung, because He looked at the ultimate result, and saw that it would justify the choice. It will do more than that!
At length, moreover, it will be seen that His pleasure was good, not only us it concerned the great family to which we belong, but also as it concerned each individual in that family. There is yet to be such disclosures concerning God’s complete dealings with such cases as are referred to in the preceding outline, as will show us that God’s providence is not like Turner’s paintings—pleasant when looked at only in the mass.
We are sure, then, that the pleasure of the Lord is always a good pleasure; and 2, that it will be found to be a victorious pleasure. It will be found that it is not in vain that in Him omnipotence is allied to wisdom, righteousness, and love. This will be seen, 1, in regard to the redemptive work now in progress in each of His children (Jude 1:24).
2. In regard to the redemptive work now being carried on in the world by Christ (chap. Isaiah 53:6-7). The results will be a glorious fulfilment of a preceding prophecy (chap. Isaiah 45:23-25).
Out of all this there should be practical outcomes.
1. As Christian men we should be valiant in our personal struggle against temptation (Romans 8:37).
2. As Christian workers we should be always diligent and hopeful, knowing that however hard our work may be, the success of that work is certain (1 Corinthians 15:58).