Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities--
Isaiah’s imagery
Among the images which crowd the concluding verses of this chapter, we may perhaps, without fancifulness, distinguish an under-current of thoughts suggested by the circumstances of the times at which this prophecy was delivered; the promised “quiet” seems to point to the existing commotion; the “tabernacle which shall not be taken down,” reminds us not only of the fast-founded Temple which had replaced the tabernacle, and become the fixed centre of their ‘solemnities,’ but also of the tents of Sennacherib s hosts, then, as now, made of black camels’ or goats’ hair, now blackening the valleys round Jerusalem, but soon to be swept away “like the thistle-down before the whirlwind”; the broad “rivers and streams” suggest the thought that though Hezekiah’s precautions would have secured the absolutely necessary supply of water for the beleaguered city, they felt the want of that abundance of it which is still more grateful in an Eastern climate than in our own; while the promise that “the inhabitants should no longer say, I am sick,” favours the conjecture that the illness of Hezekiah may have been one instance of the disease which usually attends on the confinement and discomforts of a city shut-up against an enemy in the field.
(Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
The privileges and stability of the Church
Jerusalem, after this period, was never long preserved from hostile invasions, therefore our attention is turned from it to that glorious city against which the gates of hell shall never prevail. Let us--
I. TAKE THOSE VIEWS OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST WHICH OUR TEXT RECOMMENDS.
1. As a solemn city. “The city of our solemnities.” The Church of the Lord on earth is called “the holy people”; “the redeemed of the Lord”; “sought out, a city not forsaken.” It is “that great city, the holy Jerusalem.” It is “Mount Zion, the city of the living God.” It is “the holy city, which is the mother of us all.” The orders and laws necessary for the city of Zion are contained in these lively oracles, which may also be considered as the charter of the privileges of its happy and active citizens. Peace is within its walls, and prosperity within its palaces; and everything is conducted well, being managed by Him who is the God of order, and not of confusion. Its great King ever dwells in the midst of it, and its walls are continually before Him. The immunities, for which its inhabitants are distinguished, are numerous and inestimable; including deliverance from the bondage of corruption and sin, together with a full enjoyment of a right to the tree of life, and to all the blessings they can need. Its “walls are called salvation, and its gates praise”; its streets are all pleasant, and its towers may well strike the eye with admiration. It is well called “the city of our solemnities.”
This name may be applied to Jerusalem on account of the most solemn feasts that were there made; the solemn assemblies that were there held; and the solemn sacrifices which were there offered. Nor is the term at all inapplicable to the Church of God, which consists of serious believers, who enter into the most solemn engagements with Jehovah; who are employed in the most solemn exercises of mind that can possibly be imagined; and whose minds are peculiarly affected with the solemnities of death and judgment. Real religion is altogether a solemn thing.
2. As a quiet habitation. It is “builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” God Himself is the householder, for He hath chosen Zion, and desired it for His habitation; and here, too, dwell all the faithful, There is something very consolatory in the idea, that all the worthies now in glory, that ever trusted in Christ, were all members of that Church which is one; and that all real believers are considered by Jehovah as forming a part of it. This dwelling-place of the just is remarkable for the security which is there enjoyed, and the peace which pervades the whole. It is “a quiet habitation”; here the Prince of Peace takes up His residence, and reigns: here “the work of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever”; and God’s people dwell here in a peaceable habitation.
3. An immovable tabernacle. “A tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.” The Church militant is but a tabernacle when contrasted with the inconceivable excellencies of the paradise of God. Divine glory is manifested to us, and known by us here, but in part; but there “we shall know even as we are known.” The Church of God may often change its place. This is shown us by the state of those cities in which once the cause of our Redeemer prospered, but where now His name is never heard. The Jerusalem Church, though it might verify the promise in the text, by experiencing a long space of peace, and season of rest from war, together with the restoration and continuance of their sacred privileges, has now lost all its excellence, and Ichabod (the glory is departed) may evidently be seen inscribed upon it. The true Church typified by it, shall never be taken down whilst the world itself remains.
II. ENFORCE THAT ATTENTION TO THE CHURCH OF GOD WHICH THE TEXT DEMANDS. “Look upon Zion.”
1. Look upon it, angels, with complacency and delight!
2. Look upon it, sinners, with astonishment and desire!
3. Look upon it, Christians, with wonder, love, and praise! (T. Spencer.)
God’s promises to His Church
To our Zion, to the Church of Christ, are promised explicitly such gifts as those of the text--unity, truth, success. Of which of them, it may be asked, can we make our boast?
I. THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH WAS TO BE ONE CHIEF NOTE OF ITS DIVINE ORIGIN. What is our state? Visible unity seems to be no more a mark of the Church of Christ. Of those whose faces are all turned one way, to the place where Jesus the crucified sits on the right hand of God, the east and west have been rent asunder, so that none can re-knit the torn garment of the Lord. And west and east are again divided, each within itself; and we, that are but a section of the Western Church, are torn and torn again. God’s promise cannot have been in vain. Man must have hindered it; God hath not forgotten it.
II. But if unity has been lost, TRUTH HAS BEEN PRESERVED TO US. And this is our consolation. If the Church be not the great ocean--vast, bright, fresh, a counterpart of the blue heaven above it--still she is like the hundred lakes that nestle among the sheltering hills; they know not each other, but every one of them reflects, and truly, the firmament above. So far as salvation by Christ is brought home to men by the teaching of the churches, so long there is an underlying bond of agreement which outward misunderstanding cannot cancel.
III. Humiliating to us are those PROMISES OF GREAT SUCCESS which are a part of our charter. The power of the truth we teach, the presence of the Holy Ghost, to turn the outward word into an inward life, seem to assure us of great success in gathering in souls to Christ. There is much love amongst us, even with our strife; there is a warm and growing zeal in works of good. Without the presence of the Spirit these things could not be. (Archbishop Thomson.)
Jerusalem imperilled yet secure
(Isaiah 33:20-23):--As the existence of Jerusalem was imperilled, the first promise of Isaiah was that Jerusalem should still exist--“Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation,” and so on; but, further, inasmuch as during the siege many unbelieving persons had found fault with the position of Jerusalem, because it was not surrounded by a river, the promise is given that she shall have a glorious position--“There the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams”; nay, more than this, as a climax of blessing, she is promised perpetual triumph over all her enemies, since in her streams “shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby”; or, if they come they shall prove a wreck--“Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Church of God
I. The first promise made to the Church of God in our text is one SECURING TO HER AN EVERLASTING EXISTENCE. The Church is not a temporary institution; it shall never be removed.
1. The Jerusalem of God shall exist as she is. What was she in those days? “The city of solemnities”; the place where prayer and praise were wont to be made. So is she to continue throughout all generations.
2. As a quiet habitation, which we would desire it to be.
(1) The Church of God is always a quiet habitation, even when her enemies surround her. Some of you may have seen in the Exhibition a Belgian picture representing the reading of the statute of the Duke of Alva in the Flemish towns, establishing the Inquisition. Godly merchants are listening in deep solemnity of sorrow; the young maiden weeps upon her sister’s bosom; the aged woman turns her streaming eyes to heaven. All this the painter could depict, but he could not paint the deep heaven-born peace which still possessed the souls of the threatened ones.
(2) But how quiet is she when her enemies are not allowed to prey upon her! “Then had the churches rest,” says the Holy Ghost in the Acts of the Apostles.
(3) We know what quiet means in our communion with one another.
3. Our text seems to indicate that there were some persons who doubted all this, and said, “Well, but you speak of this city as though it could stand an attack. It cannot; it is such a feeble place; it is like a tent; it can soon be stormed; a gust of wind can blow it over.” The Lord anticipates this difficulty, and shows that the feebleness of Jerusalem should be no reason why she should not still continue to exist. She is a tabernacle--a mere tent; but she is a tabernacle that shall not be taken down. The Church’s feebleness, because it drives her to God, is the Church’s strength.
4. To complete this part of the promise, the city, notwithstanding all her feebleness, is to be for ever complete.
(1) If I understand the last two sentences,--“Not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken,” we learn here that all the true members of the Church are safe. Some of them may be driven into the earth as the stakes are driven, with a heavy mallet; but the strokes of tribulation shall only give them a better hold, and minister stability to the whole structure.
(2) This also relates to the doctrines of the Gospel.
(3) The ordinances.
II. THE PRE-EMINENT POSITION (verse 21).
III. ETERNAL SAFETY (verses 22, 23). (C. H. Spurgeon.)