THE DOOM OF IMPENITENT ISRAEL
Isaiah 5:24-30. Therefore as the fire devoureth, &c.
In this threatening, fulfilled in the utter destruction of Israel by Assyria, we find illustrations of the following facts:—I. That the Lord is a God of judgment as well as of mercy [682] The mercy of God had been exemplified in His long forbearance with sinful Israel: His justice was manifested in the utter destruction that came upon Israel when it was seen that that forbearance had been shown in vain. God is still as He revealed Himself in His Word and in His actual dealings with His people. It is utterly vain for us to frame for ourselves an ideal God in whose character the sternest justice has no place. II. That we can sustain no relation to God which will render it safe for us to break His commandments, or exempt us from the consequences of wrong-doing (Isaiah 5:25. Compare Isaiah 5:5; Amos 3:2). III. That all the forces of the universe are at God’s disposal for the execution of His purposes. Appalling is the variety of the scourges and swords that lie ready to His hand for the chastisement of the rebellious [685] and for the destruction of the incorrigible! IV. That in addressing Himself to the work of judgment, God is moved by the highest moral considerations. “Because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel: therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against His people.” In His wrath, as well as in His love, He is holy: in neither is there any caprice. V. That consequently God will not pause in His work of judgment out of any weak regard to the mere sufferings of wrong-doers. It is against sin that His anger burns, and while sin endures the fires of His wrath will continue to flame. Eternal punishment! For impenitent transgressors there is woe upon woe, and no severity of suffering that they may endure abates the anger of the Lord against them. There is no such thing as salvation by personal suffering. See how all this is expressed in our text, from beginning to end.
[682] See my Homiletic Encyclopædia of Illustrations in Theology and Morals, Nos. 2288–2301.
[685] As for example, conscience, the awakening of which Henry Smith has thus depicted:—“There is a warning conscience and a gnawing conscience. The warning comes before sin; the gnawing conscience follows after sin. The warning conscience is often lulled asleep, but the gnawing conscience wakes her again. If there be any hell in this world, they who feel the worm of conscience gnawing on their hearts may truly say that they have felt the torments of hell. Who can express that man’s horror but himself? Nay, what horrors are those which he cannot express himself! Sorrows are met in his soul as at a feast; and fear, thought, and anguish divide the soul between them. All the furies of hell leap upon his heart like a stage. Thought calls to Fear; Fear whistles to Horror; Horror beckons to Despair, and says, Come, and help me to torment this sinner. One says that she comes from this sin, and another says that she comes from that sin. So he goes through a thousand deaths, and cannot die. Irons are laid upon his body like a prisoner. All his lights are put out at once. He has no soul fit to be comforted. Thus he lives as it were upon the rack, and says that he hears the world upon his shoulders, and that no man suffers that which he suffers. So let him lie, says God, without ease, until he confess and repent and call for mercy.”
GENERAL CONCLUSION.—“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” The history of the Jews since Israel’s day is a terrible comment on this declaration.
PARTICULAR CONCLUSIONS.—
1. As sinners, let us bestir ourselves to avert the consequences of our transgressions by a timely and genuine repentance (Isaiah 55:6-7; Hosea 14:1-4, &c.)
2. Having obtained mercy, let us be in the fear of the Lord all the daylong (John 5:14).
3. For our guidance in life, let us keep constantly before us the Biblical presentation of God, as a God of justice and of mercy;—of justice, that we may be restrained from transgression; of mercy, that there may grow up in our hearts that love for Him which will cause us to find our highest joy in doing His will.