Isaiah 59:6

Their webs shall not become garments

The art of weaving

The art of weaving is older than human history; figures drawn from it are found in the earliest literature of all nations.

It is frequently employed in the Word of God to set forth the sublimest truths of life, and in the classical mythologies it occupies an even more important place. The three fates preside over the lives of men, and they practise the weaver’s art. Clothe holds the threads, Lachesis introduces the warp, and the grim goddess Atropos cuts the web when the fabric of human destiny is complete. In later times we find the figure with a still wider import. The spirit of Goethe’s “Faust” labours in the workshop of the spring-time to weave the garment for Nature by which God Himself may be seen by mortals. Thus in all the ages of the world the figure of the loom has commended itself as one most aptly setting forth the deepest truths of human experience. (J. Wallace, M. A.)

Character as a web

The prophet Isaiah has laid hold on the idea, now a commonplace of our thought, that all character is a web. In the case of all the web is variegated; in the case of some the piece is spoiled by rotten threads. As our days fly past they dart across the warp of the Divine purposes the woof of human action and human thought, and the marvel is that multitudes live on in brutish carelessness while the loom of life spins on. We look back on a misspent day with the wretched consolation that it will be all the same a hundred years hence. Will it? If threads missing in the web do not spoil its market value, then it may; but if one false thread ruins the whole, then life with one day misspent is by so much of less value in the sight of God. (J. Wallace, M. A.)

Hopeless weaving

From our text we wish to look at one or two methods of character-weaving which are doomed to miserable failure when the web of life is spun.

I. There are HALF-DONE DUTIES. Multitudes perform their duty in such a way that it is but half done. In the ordinary routine of life they are always a little late, and consequently have to work with haste. Or take the higher duty of man to love God and keep His commandments. There are moments of Pisgah vision, but what weary leagues of plain are there unredeemed by any thought of God! This half-done duty is life’s shuttle plied with a palsied hand, and the fabric of character is such as in the end will put the weaver to the blush.

II. There are HALF-CONQUERED TEMPTATIONS. Many a man is conquered who does not fall.

III. What is the secret of duties half done, of temptation half conquered? The secret is HALF-CONSECRATED LIVES. If all the provinces of the soul do not obey the Divine mandate, we need not be astonished if rebellion sometimes shows its head. When we have done our best to weave, we are not to go to heaven in our own garments. Christ has provided raiment for His people, woven on the Cross and dyed there in colours more enduring than Tyrian purple. We have to weave as those who have to prove their calling, not win it. (J. Wallace, M. A.)

Projects injurious to others are hurtful to self

They may do hurt to others with their projects, but can never do any real service or kindness to themselves, by them. There is nothing to be got by sin. (M. Henry.)

Unprofitable Weaving

Our text speaks of works which are inadequate to the purpose for which they are performed. An unprofitable and useless manufacture is denounced. What should we think of a manufacturer who persisted in making a kind of cloth so flimsy and rotten that it would hardly hold together--so weak and threadbare that either it could not be made up into garments, or, if it were, they would be useless for either adornment or comfort. And how great would be our astonishment if this imprudent man actually proceeded to clothe himself with the flimsy stuff he had made! Yet such, in a moral sense, is the conduct of those who are condemned in our text. They weave a web with which they try in vain to effectually clothe themselves. The “web” is the fabric of their own righteousness, or works. The persons spoken of are they who are self-sufficient in their wickedness and pride of heart. They are unrighteous people, who think themselves righteous, or who desire to be thought so by others. But the material they produce is as flimsy as a spider’s web; and it will serve for neither decency nor comfort, for neither ornament nor use. Let us think of the purposes a garment is intended to serve, and we shall be supplied with various illustrations of the utter inadequacy of self-righteousness.

I. A GARMENT IS DESIGNED FOR PERSONAL COMFORT. A garment is useless, and even intolerable, unless it affords warmth and ease. We are quite unable to produce a fabric which will afford either substantial comfort or permanent peace.

1. However genuine our present righteousness might be, it would not absolve us from the guilt of past sin.

2. Our own righteousness is insufficient for comfort because, it leaves, untouched the passions of the unregenerate- heart.

3. Our own righteousness is inadequate for comfort because it affords no effectual protection against temptation.

II. THE SECOND PURPOSE--A GARMENT IS INTENDED TO SERVE IS DECENCY. A garment which is ill-fitting, or of unseemly pattern, or formed of coarse and worthless material, is unpleasing to others no less, and possibly more, than to the wearer himself. And one’s own righteousness--that is the righteousness which is not produced under the influence of the Holy Spirit--will no more bear the scrutiny of one’s fellow-men, than would a ragged coat or a draggled and threadbare dress. Like an inferior garment, it may pass muster in the crowd, or escape criticism on a casual view, but it will not bear close inspection. A man cannot so cover himself with his own righteousness as to appear at all times decently and respectably clothed.

1. The garment is so thin that it does not hide the natural ugliness of the soul.

2. It is likewise so limited in its dimensions as to cause serious disfigurement of the life.

3. The garment of self-righteousness is undurable.

III. THE GARMENT OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS IS INTENDED TO SECURE FOR ITS WEARER ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD. There are garments which are necessary for certain occasions, or for admission to particular places. Such was the wedding garment in the East, and such is the modern court dress. The garment of outward works is designed by the wearer to serve a similar purpose. It is intended as a recommendation to the favour of God and a passport to heaven. But it will answer neither of these ends. If we would sustain the scrutiny of God, we must be clothed in something of finer texture, of stronger substance, and of richer hue, than the flimsy and bedraggled garment of our own righteousness.

1. It will not cover us to the satisfaction of God because of its insufficient dimensions and its many flaws.

2. Nor is it in fact any real covering in the sight of God. Let us learn the worthlessness of merely outward righteousness, and the absolute necessity of repentance, regeneration, and holiness of heart. (J. W. Keyworth.)

Webs and garments

A mere web of cloth might be said to be of no practical use. It may lie on the shelves in the draper’s shop for a time, but it is intended for something beyond that. The ultimate purpose in connection with it is the garments that may be made from it. It has possibilities--the possibility of garments in it--and that was intended from the first. It has not realized the intention regarding it until it is ultimately turned into garments. So when the prophet says, “Their webs shall not become garments, he is referring to the wicked plans of wicked men among the Israelites, and means that their plans would not reach the final, the complete and practical stage. Their purposes would be frustrated by a higher Hand. The words may be applied to ourselves, and in various ways.

I. SOME PURPOSES ARE FRUSTRATED BECAUSE OF SOMETHING LACKING IN OURSELVES--indolence, want of energy, or want of ability to complete our purposes.

II. SOME PURPOSES ARE FRUSTRATED BECAUSE OF POSITIVE HINDRANCES IN THE WAY THAT WE CANNOT SURMOUNT, AND THAT PERSONALLY WE MAY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH. It is to us one of the most inexplicable things in Providential dealing, how men who devote themselves to a great and good object, and who seem to us essential for its success, are often cut down in the mid-time of their days, just when to our eyes their presence seemed most needed. Why should it be so? No doubt we should see things differently, however, if with wider vision we could look before and after; and find that, higher ways than we can dream of, men whose plans seem to be frustrated are more than satisfied with the Divine mode of dealing. In the text it is wicked purposes that are referred to, and though often a good purpose seems to be checked as well, yet there will be no real failure in life’s plans if we live according to our light. Working in line with God there is a deeper sense in which, instead of our webs not becoming garments, it might be said that the very stars in their courses will fight for us. The great purpose of our life will be fulfilled if we keep near to God. Conclusion:

1. This true success is, above all and first of all, an inward thing. It refers pre-eminently to the inward condition. It must begin there.

2. “ We see not yet all things put under Him, but we see Jesus.” Whether as to humanity as a whole, or as to individuals, that is true; all things are not yet put under, but there is ever one source of help and hope, and only one. Looking unto Jesus, if that be the attitude of our life, then it cannot be said, whatever befall, that life’s purpose has failed, and in higher ways than we can tell our webs shall become garments, the beautiful and durable garments of the soul. (J. S. Mayer, M. A.)