_Oh that Thou wouldest rend the heavens_ PRAYER FOR DIVINE MANIFESTATION I. This is nothing less than A PRAYER THAT GOD WOULD MANIFEST HIMSELF AS A JUDGE--yes, and as a Destroyer. Isaiah craved for a man who should deliver men from the oppressions of the world’s tyranny, from the storms which are r... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Thou didst terrible things_ “TERRIBLE THINGS” A standing phrase for the marvels of the Exodus, the type of the great final deliverance (Deuteronomy 10:21; 2Sa Psalms 106:22). (_Prof. T. K. Cheyne, D. D._) DIVINE SURPRISES Isaiah pleads with God to return to His chosen people, and restore... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yet since the beginning of the world men have not heard_ GOD ABSOLUTELY ALONE IN HIS GRACIOUSNESS “From of old men have not heard, nor perceived, nor has eye seen a God beside Thee, who acted for him that waits for Him. ” (_F. Delitzsch, D. D._) MYSTERY REVEALED There is perhaps, nothing more l... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou meetest him that rejoiceth_ THE GODLY MAN I. THE GODLY MAN’S CONDUCT. 1. He worketh righteousness. He does not confine himself to any department of action, it may be manual, commercial, literary, scientific, professional; but in all he “worketh righteousness.” He is right in all; rectitude,... [ Continue Reading ]
_But we are all as an unclean thing_ ISRAEL’S UNCLEANNESS “And we are all become as one unclean”--in a ceremonial sense, like the leper. (_Prof. Skinner, D. D._) LAMENTATIONS OF ISAIAH You have read some of the lamentations of Jeremiah; here is one of the lamentations of Isaiah. (_C. H. Spurgeo... [ Continue Reading ]
_And there is none that calleth upon Thy name_ NEGLECTED RELIGION 1. There is a confession of neglected privilege and duty. “There is none that calleth upon Thy name.” 2. There is a definition of true and saving religion. “That stirreth himself up to take hold of Thee.” This latter is the most s... [ Continue Reading ]
_But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father_ GOD OUR KING-FATHER (“Our Lord, Thou art our Father” with “the Lord is our King,” Isaiah 33:22). That conviction of a living God, as distinguished from the lifeless one, which is all that many have, made up of a mere bundle of catechetical doctrines, will cre... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be not wroth very sore, O Lord_ GOD’S WRATH DEPRECATED I. THE EVIL DEPRECATED. God’s anger. 1. Merited. 2. Acknowledged. II. THE TERMS IN WHICH IT IS DEPRECATED. 1. Imply the justice of God’s procedure. 2. Beseech a limitation of its severity. III. THE PLEA BY WHICH IT IS DEPRECATED. 1. Hu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire_ THE BURNT TEMPLE I. HERE IS PATHETIC LAMENTATION. 1. The children of Israel regarded the temple as their own house. They spoke of it as God’s house. But because it was God’s it was their own, for they were... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things, O Lord?_ SELF-RESTRAINT AND SILENCE, AS APPLIED TO GOD Self-restraint and silence, as applied to God are common figures for inaction and apparent indifference to the interests, and especially the sufferings, of His people. (_J. A. Alexander._) JEHOVAH’... [ Continue Reading ]