But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he [is] like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
Ver. 2. But who may abide the day of his coming?] The prophet Isaiah asketh "Who shall declare his generation?" Isaiah 53:8, that is, the mystery of his incarnation (that habitatio Dei cum carne, which the magicians held impossible, Dan 2:11); or the history of his birth, life, and death (as some sense it), whose tongue shall be able to speak it or pen to write it? Who can think of the day of his coming? so the Vulgate reads this text; viz. of all the glory, graces, benefits of that day? But the Hebrew word is the same as Proverbs 18:14 "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity"; and is so rendered here by the Chaldee and Kimchi. Who can sustain or abide the day of his coming, sc. in the flesh? What wicked man will be able to endure it? for, "he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth" (that is, the consciences of carnal men glued to the earth), "and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked," Isaiah 11:4. And this is spoken of the Branch that grew out of the root of Jesse, Isaiah 11:1, when that goodly family was sunk so low, as from David the king to Joseph the carpenter. With what terror struck he the hearts of Herod and all Jerusalem by the news of his nativity! Matthew 2:3. And si praesepe vagientis Herodem tantum terruit, quid tribunal iudicantis? If Christ in the cradle were so terrible, what will he be on the tribunal? The text that troubled those miscreants was Micah 5:2, which some (taking tsagnir in the neuter gender) render thus: And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, it is a small thing to be among the princes of Judah; out of thee shall come a ruler, &c. This Herod and his complices could not hear of without horror; as neither could that other Herod, of the fame of Christ's mighty works, Matthew 14:1,2, such a glimpse of divine glory shone in them. "The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness surpriseth the hypocrites"; and they run as far and as fast as they can from Christ, with these frightful words in their mouths: "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who shall abide with the everlasting burnings?" The ruffian soldiers were flung flat on their backs when he said no more but, "I am he," John 18:6. Quid autem Iudicaturus faciet, qui iudicandus hoc fecit? What will he do when he comes to judgment, who was thus terrible now that he was to be judged? (August.). Oh that the terror of the Lord might persuade people to forsake their sins, and to kiss the Son, lest he be angry. Though a lamb, he can be terrible to the kings of the earth; and though he break not the bruised reed, Matthew 12:20, yet his enemies he will break with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings, &c., Psalms 2:9,10. And as the sun, moon, and eleven stars in Joseph's vision did obeisance to him; so let our souls, bodies, all our temporal, natural, moral, and spiritual abilities, be subject and serviceable to Christ, as ever we hope to look him in the face with comfort.
And who shall stand when he appeareth?] Heb. at the sight of him. True it is that Christ, coming to help us in distress, for the want of external pomp in his ordinances, and worldly glory in his ministers and members, and splendour of human eloquence in his doctrines, is despised by those that form and frame to themselves a Christ like to the mighty monarchs of the earth; like as Agesilaus, King of Spartans, coming to help the King of Egypt, was slighted in that country for his lowly clothes and contemptible outside. But if the centurion were worthy of respect, because he loved the Jewish nation, and built them a synagogue; shall not Christ much more, even as prince of the kings of the earth, since he loved us, and washed us with his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, Revelation 1:5,6; by whom also he is made unto us righteousness (imputatively), wisdom, sanctification, and redemption, effectively, by way of inherency and gracious operation? "Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?" as the men of Bethshemesh once said, 1 Samuel 6:20. Who would not fear this King of nations, saith Jeremiah, Jeremiah 10:7, this King of saints? saith John, Revelation 15:3,4, for to him doth it appertain; since there is none like unto him; neither can any stand before him when he appeareth, any more than a glass bottle can stand before a cannon shot. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before this Lord our maker, Psalms 95:6. If we harden our hearts he will harden his hand, and hasten our destruction. There is no standing before this lion, no bearing up sail in the tempest of his wrath: you must either be his subjects or his footstool; either vail to him or perish by him. "Thine arrows are in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee," Psalms 45:5. What a world of miseries have the refractory Jews suffered, and do yet, for rejecting the Lord Jesus! They might have known, out of their own cabalists (besides Daniel's seventy weeks, and other Scripture evidences), that the Messiah was among them; for it is there expressly recorded that Messias should come in the time of Hillel's disciples; one of whom was Simeon the Just, who embraced the child Jesus in his arms; who also foretold that that child was "set for the ruin and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which should be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed," Luke 2:34,35; and to the same purpose, 1 Peter 2:7,8. But before them both, our prophet here.
For he is like a refiner's fire] Intimating that the times of the Messiah would be discriminating, shedding times; and that he would separate the precious from the vile, the gold from the dross, the sheep from the goats: that Nabal should no more be called Nadib, the vile person liberal, the churl bountiful, Isaiah 32:5; but that good people should be discerned and honoured; hypocrites detected and detested, as was Judas, Magus, Demas, &c., slit up and slain by Christ's two-edged sword, by his presence and preaching. Surely "his fan is in his hand," though the devil and his imps would fain wring it out, "and he will throughly purge his floor," mali in area nobiscum esse possunt, in horreo non possunt (Augustine), he will drive the chaff one way and the wheat another; for what is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord, Matthew 3:12 Jeremiah 23:20; he will purify the souls of his saints, "in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren," 1 Peter 1:22. So that they shall be united to such, and separated from sinners. Fire, we know, congregat homogenea, segregat heterogenea; for what fellowship hath light with darkness? The spirit of Christ, called a spirit of judgment and of burning, washeth away (lo, here refiner's fire and fuller's soap) the filth of the daughter of Zion, and purgeth the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, Isaiah 4:4. By filth and blood understand their excessive bravery, mentioned Isaiah 3:1,26, which now they had learned to call by another name, since their own names were written among the living in Jerusalem, Isaiah 4:3. And here God made good to them that which he had promised, Isaiah 1:25, that he would purely purge away their dross, and take away all their tin; and that though their sins were as scarlet, they should be white as snow; though red like crimson, they should be as wool, Isaiah 3:18. Fuller's soap (or soap weed, Saponaria, as some render it) is of singular use to fetch out stains and spots, and to whiten wool: so much more is the blood and spirit of Christ to whiten sinful souls, and to make men his candidates, ut fiant Candidati Dei. Such were those Corinthians 1 Corinthians 6:11 "Such were some of you" (that is, as bad as bad might be, lepers all over), "but ye are washed," sc. by that fuller of souls, Christ Jesus. And if any ask, How washed? It follows, "but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name," that is, by the merit of the Lord Jesus, "and by the spirit of our God." The Jews in their Talmud hammer at this, when they question, what is the name of Messias? Their answer is, Hhevara, leprous (sc. by imputation, 2Co 5:21 Isaiah 53:6, whence also he is said by one to be Maximus peccatorum, the greatest of sinners), and he sitteth among the poor in the gates of Rome, carrying their sicknesses, according to that, "Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses." There are two things in guilt. 1. The merit and desert of it: this Christ took not. 2. The obligation to punishment: this he took, and so he became sin, that is, bound to the punishment of sin; which also he suffered, even to the effusion of his blood (that true Pactolus, agreement or rather Jordan), whereby he hath cleansed his people from sins, both guiltiness and filthiness. We have inveterate stains, which will hardly be got out till the cloth be almost rubbed to pieces: corruption cleaves so close to us, that fire and fuller's soap is but needful to fetch it off, Jeremiah 13:23. Nature and custom have made our spots like that of the leopard, which no art can cure, no water wash off; because they are not in the skin only, but in the flesh and bones, in the sinews and in the most inner parts. Hence David prayeth again and again to be washed thoroughly, to be purged with hyssop, to be washed and wrung in this fuller's soap of Christ's blood, and with the clean water of his Holy Spirit. This is the only true purgatory, the king's bath, the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, Zechariah 13:1. Here Christ washeth his, not only from outward defilements, but from their swinish nature; that when washed clean they may not (as else they would) wallow in the next guzzle. Here are those sovereign muddifying waters of the sanctuary, which so wash off the corruption of the ulcer, that they cool the heat, and stay the spread of the infection; and by degrees heal the same. Hither poor sinners need not come, as to the pool of Bethesda, one by one, but as Turks to their Mahomet, Papists to their Lady, by troops and caravans, true Christians to their All-sufficient Saviour, how much more! In that pool of Bethesda the priests used to wash their sacrifices; because no unclean thing might come within the temple. The water was of reddish colour, and ran into that place in great abundance; and therefore it was called, saith one, the house of effusion. This shadowed out that every one of Christ's sheep must be washed in the pool of his blood before they can be meet sacrifices, an offering unto the Lord in righteousness, as it is in the next verse. Other blood stains what is washed in it; this blood of the spotless Lamb whiteneth as fuller's soap, and purifieth from all pollution of flesh and spirit, Revelation 7:14 "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood," 1 John 5:6. The priests of the old law were consecrated first with oil, and then with blood; so was Christ, first with the Spirit, Isaiah 61:1, and then with his own blood, for our benefit.