Isaiah 47:14

Behold, they shall be as stubble

God’s judgment as consuming fire

The flame is no comfortable fire for warmth, no hearth-fire (Isaiah 44:16) to sit in front of; but, on thecontrary, consuming, eternal, i.annihilating flames (Isaiah 33:14). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)

The portion of the ungodly

I. With reference to the FIRST SENTENCE.

1. One of the most striking thoughts which it conveys to the mind is this, that the punishment of the wicked will be easily inflicted. “They shall be as stubble.” Nothing can be more easy than to kindle stubble when it is fully dry. Oh, ungodly and impenitent man, there is that in thyself to-day which, let alone and permitted to ripen, will bring a hell upon thee. Thou hast in thyself the power of memory, and that power shall become a vehicle of sorrow to thee. Thou hast, beside thy memory, a conscience; a con science which thou hast striven to silence; but, even drugged and gagged as it is, it sometimes makes thee feel unhappy. You will then find that you cannot palliate the guilt of sin. Thy memory and thy conscience shall be as two great millstones grinding thee to powder. Then, added to thy memory and to thy conscience, there shall come thy increased knowledge. Thou knowest enough now to leave thee without excuse, but then thy knowledge shall increase so as to leave thee without pretence of apology. Thou shalt then perceive the craft of the tempter who deluded thee. Thou shalt then see the blackness and the filthiness of sin as thou dost not see it now. Then shalt thou understand the greatness and the goodness of the God whom thou hast despised; thou shalt then discern the glory of the heaven which thou hast lost; thou shalt then begin to get an idea of that eternity which shall roll over thy head for ever. Beside, think of thy companions. Shut up fifty drunkards and profane men together, and would they not soon make a hell for themselves without any interposition of Divine power? What will it be when they are bound up in bundles; when the tens of thousands of those who obey not Christ shall find themselves in their own place?

2. This punishment shall be most searching and terrible. The metaphor of fire is used in Scripture because it is that which of all things causeth the most pain, and is the most searching and trying. As fire consumes, and so reaches to the very essence of things, so shall the wrath to come reach to the very essence and subsistence of the soul.

3. This destruction will be most inevitable. “They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame.” There is hope now; there shall be no hope then. The Lord Jesus, though the most loving of spirits, was the most awful of preachers; and in His sermons, while there is everything that could melt and woo, there is no lack of the great and terrible thunderbolt, and the sounding forth of wrath to come, and the judgment which must await the impenitent.

II. BUT OUR TEXT NOW CHANGES ITS FIGURE. “Thus saith the Lord, There shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it”; by which is meant that there shall be nothing in hell that can give the sinner a moment’s comfort; nothing.

III. And now our text bids us “BEHOLD,” therefore I pray ye turn not away your eyes from this meditation.

1. Children of God, behold it; it will make you grateful. Does not the thought of the misery from which you have escaped make you love your Saviour? And oh, will it not make you love poor sinners too?

2. But specially, you that are unconverted, the text says, “Behold.” It is a gloomy subject for you to think upon, but better to think of it now than to think of it for ever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)