THREATENED, BUT SAFE
Isaiah 8:9-10. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces, &c.
This is a shout of triumphant defiance which Ahaz and his people might have raised, had they listened to Isaiah’s counsels, and turned to the Lord with full purpose of heart. Then they might have been threatened by foes numerous, powerful, determined, and confederated, but they would have been safe. Its doctrine clearly is, that it matters not who may be against us, if God be with us. This has been the faith of God’s people in all generations.
I. On what ground does it rest?
1. On what may be regarded as a settled conviction of the human mind, that this world, disordered as it is, is really governed by a righteous Ruler, omnipotent and all-wise, and that it must be well with those who have Him on their side.
2. On the declarations of God’s Word (Genesis 15:1; Psalms 34:7; Isaiah 54:17, &c.)
3. On the experience of His people as recorded in His Word. The promise to Abraham was kept; David (1 Samuel 17:37); Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:32-35); Daniel and his companions (Daniel 6:22; Daniel 3:28); Peter (Acts 12:7). On these accounts His people have felt and expressed the utmost contempt for, and defiance of, their foes (Psalms 27:1-6; Micah 7:8-10). Old as these utterances are, they express the confidence of countless thousands to-day. But, II. Let us look at the grounds that might cause us to hesitate to receive it.
1. There is the undoubted fact that we are living in a world in which many things happen that are contrary to what we would have expected; and it would be only one more contradiction of our à priori expectations if a good man, or a number of good men, were utterly destroyed by a number of bad men.
2. As a matter of fact, this has often happened. Who were “the noble army of martyrs,” but good men who suffered intolerable wrongs, and were put to cruel deaths? If Peter was delivered, James, his fellow-apostle, was left to his fate (Acts 12:2); yea, Peter himself at last died by the hands of the executioner, as did nearly all the Apostles. See what a terrible record of the sufferings of righteous men we have in Hebrews 11:35-37.
III. How are these two sets of facts to be harmonised? How account for it that, notwithstanding the latter set, which are obvious and not denied, it is still the settled conviction of pious and otherwise sensible men, that it shall be well with the righteous?
1. This is undoubtedly true, on the whole. We see what is the teaching of experience, taken on any considerable scale, in the familiar proverb, “Honesty is the best policy.” Deadly as is the conflict between the powers of good and of evil, on the whole, the victory is on the side of goodness, of righteousness, of truth. The world grows better, not worse (H. E. I. 1161, 1162). And it is manifest that “godliness has the promise of the life that now is, as well of that which is to come.”
2. The exceptions to which our attention is directed are necessary. Without them the difficulties in the way of the existence and growth of virtue would be immensely increased. If those who served God ran no risk in doing so, it would be as difficult for them to show that they loved Him for His own sake, as it would be for soldiers to prove their bravery, if it were possible to send them forth to battle in absolutely impregnable armour. If the safety assured to God’s people were absolute and without exceptions, there would be no room for the exercise of faith and loyalty.
3. This life is not all. It is but the prelude to our real existence; and for whatever we suffer in God’s cause here, we shall be abundantly compensated hereafter. So that, with Sir Thomas More, we may say, “They may take off my head, but hurt me they cannot.”
This is a plain and sober statement of the facts of this great problem. What are the practical inferences to be drawn from it?
1. Let us dismiss from our minds all fears for the cause of truth and rightcousness. That is safe (2 Corinthians 13:8). God’s Church and God’s Word will survive all the assaults that are made upon them (H. E. I. 642–645, 1246–1251, 2449).
2. Let us not be greatly concerned as to what may happen to ourselves. If God pleases, He can deliver us from any danger that may threaten us. If He is not pleased to do so, He knows how to make our sufferings promote the cause we have at heart. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” (P. D. 2421, 2422, 2426).
3. If we are called to suffer, let us rejoice (Philippians 1:29; 2 Timothy 2:9; P. D. 2419).
BIBLICAL POLITICIANS
Isaiah 8:11-15. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, &c. [844]
[844] There was a general panic among the people: “their heart was moved as the trees of the wood are moved by the wind,” when they heard that Syria was confederate with Ephraim; their cry was everywhere, “A confederacy has been made against us, and we must meet it by a counter-alliance with Assyria;” and the prophet says that he too should have fallen under the influence of this panic, if Jehovah had not laid hold of him with a strong hand, to keep him in the way of dependence on Himself, and if He had not taught him to escape the fear which possessed his fellow-countrymen, by making the Lord of hosts his fear and his dread, by sanctifying Him himself, as he now in His Name calls on them to do. To sanctify Jehovah is in mind and practice to recognise Him as the holy God, the Lord who is absolute (absolutus), free from the limitations which hinder all other beings from carrying their wills into full operation, and to believe with the whole heart that God does and can govern all things according to the counsel of His own will, and that what He determines does certainly come to pass, however probabilities and appearances may be against the belief (Numbers 20:12; Deuteronomy 32:51; Isaiah 29:23). To the nation which thus sanctifies Jehovah, He (says Isaiah) will be their sanctuary—their protection against all their enemies. Such was His original covenant with both the houses of Israel, and it still holds good. If, therefore, they will break and renounce it, it becomes a stumbling-block to them. When their statesmen endeavour to remedy present mischief and secure future prosperity, by craftily playing off against one another the nations whom they cannot hope to match by force, they are attempting to go counter to the whole plan of Jehovah’s government, and they will do it only to their own confusion.—Strachey.
God’s people are to be “a peculiar people.” Their whole life is to be governed by divine principles.
1. By these principles they will be saved from the grievous practical heresy of abstention from public life [847] Civilised life, especially in a free community, is a partnership, and no man has a right to take all the advantages of a partnership and evade all its labours and obligations. “Owe no man anything.” We are bound to labour as well as pray, that God’s will may be done on earth as it is done in heaven. The result of abstention on the part of Christian men from public life is the domination of bad men, and the employment of the resources of the community for evil purposes (Psalms 12:8). If we need example in this matter, we have the example of the prophets, who were much more than preachers of a monastic piety: they were active politicians, and yet politicians of an utterly unworldly type.
2. By these principles they will be guided and kept amid all the duties and difficulties of public life. They will be uplifted above party spirit in all its narrow and debasing forms. Theirs will be that true patriotism which consists in a steady loyalty to truth, and righteousness, and mercy.
[847] H. E. I. 4137–4139.
If we are to be Biblical politicians, and this is the duty of every man among us,
I. We shall not necessarily be found on the side of the majority (Isaiah 8:11). How often God’s people have been called to stand in what is called “a miserable minority!” (Exodus 23:2.)
II. We shall not necessarily adopt as our own the popular cries (Isaiah 8:12, [850]). Vox populi is often far other than Vox Dei.
[850] The prophet, and such as were on his side, were not to call that kesher which the great mass of the people called kesher (cf. 2 Chronicles 23:13, “She said, Treason, treason! Kesher, kesher!); … the reference is to the conspiracy, as it was called, of the prophet and his disciples. The same thing happened to Isaiah as to Amos (Amos 7:10) and to Jeremiah. Whenever the prophets were at all zealous in their opposition to the appeal for foreign aid, they were accused and branded as standing in the service of the enemy, and conspiring for the overthrow of the kingdom.—Delitzsch.
III. We shall not necessarily share in the prevalent feelings of our time, whether they be those of fear or of hope (Isaiah 8:13). We shall know that no permanent hurt can be done to our nation while it is in pursuit of righteousness, and that no real advantage can be gained by methods that will not bear the divine scrutiny.
IV. Our supreme desire will be, not to conciliate men, but to please God (Isaiah 8:13). We shall consider all public questions, and vote for, or withhold our vote from, all public men, as in His sight (Hebrews 11:27). This may cause us often to cut ourselves off from our “party,” but this will not trouble us. Hostility may thus be excited against us—will be excited against us, for such “impracticable men” are the abhorrence of mere politicians; but then God Himself will be to us “for a sanctuary” [851]
[851] Mikdash generally means the sanctified place or sanctuary, with which the idea of an asylum would easily associate itself, since even among the Israelites the Temple was regarded and respected as an asylum (1 Kings 1:50; 1 Kings 2:28).… Mikdash is really to be taken in this sense, although it cannot be exactly rendered “asylum,” since this would improperly limit the meaning of the word. The Temple was not only a place of shelter, but also of grace, blessing, and peace. All who sanctified the Lord of lords He surrounded like temple walls; hid them in Himself, whilst death and tribulation reigned without, and comforted, fed, and blessed them in His own gracious fellowship (chap. Isaiah 4:5-6; Psalms 27:5; Psalms 31:20).—Delitzsch.
V. We shall never lose sight of the fact that the penalty of ungodliness in public life is ruin (Isaiah 8:14-15). The real Ruler of the world is God, who governs it according to a plan of truth, righteousness, and mercy; and every human “policy” which is not consistent therewith, though it may win for its authors a short-lived triumph, will inevitably plunge those who accept it into disaster. From those who fight against God, utter defeat cannot be far off.
When these facts are inwrought into the understandings and consciences of God’s people, and have become influential in their public and political life, much will have been done to usher in the millennium for which we daily pray, and of which Isaiah himself has given us such glowing pictures (chaps. Isaiah 2:4, Isaiah 32:16-17; Isaiah 60:17).