Though they dig into hell, thence shall Mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.
The danger of impenitence
In this passage God manifests His determination to arrest and punish the worker of iniquity. The prophet shows that when God came forth in judgment, none would be able to stand before Him, or escape from His vengeance. This subject is enlarged upon, as a warning to those who profane the ordinances and violate the laws of the Most High, to stand in awe, lest the Divine indignation be poured out upon them. These things have, however, very little influence on us. Many seem to believe, because sentence against their evil deeds has not been executed speedily, that it will never be executed.
I. Some of the reasons why many entertain this belief.
1. Their success upon former occasions. When sinners first deviate into the paths of error, they experience many uneasy feelings. But when the lusts of the flesh have prevailed over other considerations, they try to persuade themselves that their former fears were in great measure imaginary. Sometimes men are checked at the very outset. They are detected and exposed. There is interposition of providence in their favour. When enticed to the commission of sin, the recollection of the check he formerly received will occur fresh to his memory, and deter him from the paths wherein destroyers go.
2. The successful example of other men. Frequently we see men rising to opulence and power by the most unjustifiable means. We see the wicked living in triumph, and dying in apparent Peace. When such is frequently the prosperity of the wicked, others are enticed to follow their example. They are induced to forsake the path of duty, and engage in pursuits that are dangerous to happiness. Could we discern the thoughts of wicked men when their conscience condemned them for their wickedness, we should perceive them frequently endeavouring to stifle their convictions and banish their fears, by appealing to Persons who had succeeded, or were at that time successful, in the same evil courses as those upon which they had entered.
3. They think they can repent whenever they see danger approaching. So great is the propensity of men to sin, that no motives, no considerations can prevent them from going on in their wicked practices. But at the same time they have such an aversion to suffering, that when they sin, they always wish to do so with security and with safety. And they generally contrive to persuade themselves that, in their case at least, this object may be attained. Among the many false reasonings which they employ for this purpose, there is none more successful than that which is founded on an after repentance. Many think that, after having drunk the cup of sinful pleasures to the dregs, all they have to do is to profess themselves sorry, and cast themselves upon the mercy of God. This, they think, whatever their present conduct may be, will set all things right at last. Repentance is not such an easy work as many people imagine. We cannot repent at whatever moment we may wish to do so. Alas! many, relying upon future repentance, neglect and abuse their present mercies.
II. It is impossible for wicked men to escape the just judgments of God. This world is not a state of complete retribution, yet the Most High does rule among the children of men. He has connected with holiness a portion of happiness, and with sin a portion of misery. Whatever happiness wicked men may pretend to, still happiness is a state of mind to which they can have no claim. They cannot possibly be really happy. Wicked men may evade the vigilance of human laws, but they are still amenable to their own consciences. And sometimes wicked men are punished more immediately by the hand of God Himself; as were Ananias and Sapphira. Then there is death, which is not the extinction of being. After death there is a judgment to come, which will seal the doom of every human being. (John Mamsay, M. A.)
No escape for the sinner
Though they dig into hell, or though they undermine our kingdom with vaults and cellarage, their impious labour shall come to nothing but to their own utter shame.
1. Here is the negotiation of the wicked, that they dig: there wants no pains, there wants no secrecy.
2. Here is the object of their employment, and that is hell.
3. There is a twofold end implied, why they undertake such a business, either for their own refuge, or to undermine others.
4. Here is the defeating and frustrating of their work. To what toil iniquity puts men to. They dig and labour. To what secrecy, to what dread of conscience. They dig into hell. How unprofitable is the event. For when all is done, they are apprehended by the hand of God. (Bishop Hackett.)
The impossibility of the sinner’s escape
If we consider man in reference to God, we see in him a strange compound of hardihood and cowardice. When Divine judgments are remote, he not only deems himself secure, but bids defiance to Omnipotence itself. But when they actually come, he trembles like a leaf shaken by the wind.
I. The means by which men seek to hide themselves from God. Some of the expressions used indicate fear; others, presumption. Men will try and persuade themselves that God is too great to notice the insignificant doings of creatures like ourselves. Another subterfuge is, that as sinners they have numbers on their side. But if numbers do anything, it is only to enhance the doom. Men have great confidence in their own virtues, however little conformity there may be in their conduct to the Spirit of God and the commands of God.
II. The vanity of all attempts of sinners to hide themselves from God. Who can flee from the presence of such a Being? Where is the region which His all-penetrating gaze does not pervade? None has ever hardened himself against God and prospered; sin has ever had the seed of punishment along with it, and given beforehand some earnest of its bitter wages. Be assured nothing can screen you from the wrath of heaven, nothing give you composure in this world of afflictions and trials, but “faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Stephen Bridge, A.M.)