Isaiah 8:14,15 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone— We have here, in this third part of the present discourse, first, a prophetic denunciation of the judgment to be displayed in the time of the Messiah, both upon the pious and the impious,—in these verses. Secondly, an exposition of that judgment, in the manner of a dialogue between two persons; God, and a certain illustrious teacher: the former explaining his design concerning the disciples of the latter; the latter assenting to that design, and explaining it, Isaiah 8:16-18. Thirdly, a prophetic exhortation subjoined, directed to the Jews, to receive the doctrine of God and his Messiah, with a prediction of the evils which should follow a rejection of this doctrine, Isaiah 8:19-22. Fourthly, a more plain and full description of this great Teacher, the Messiah, with many of his attributes, ch. Isaiah 9:1-7. In the verses before us, we have a prophetic denunciation of the two-fold judgment in the time of the Messiah. The subject of the discourse, which is not mentioned, must either be the Lord of Hosts, mentioned in the preceding verse, or Immanuel, mentioned in the 8th. The writers of the New Testament, who have so frequently quoted this passage, prove beyond all controversy, that the subject of it is the Messiah; the Lord Jesus Christ, God over all, blessed for ever; and in whose humanity Jehovah dwelt, and performed for his people all those benefits of grace which the extent of this promise implies, in which it is said that he should be for a sanctuary; and who at the same time became to the hypocrites and unbelievers in Judaea, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, to the destruction of the far greater part of that people. See ch. Isaiah 28:13.