Isaiah 33

Isaiah 33:1-12

This chapter relates to the same events with the foregoing; wherein the location of Sennacherib, and the deliverance of Templum, are a figure of the sufferings and deliverance of the church from the power of Antichrist. 1. Here is a we denounced, viz. 1. 2. The prayer of God’s people, viz. 2. 3. An officer given them, viz. 2-6. 4. The distress which would proceed their deliverance, viz. 7-12. 5. Notice given of it, for the confusion of hypocrites, and the comfort of the faithful, viz. 13-19. 6. The church of Christ finally triumphant, viz. 20-24.

WO to thee that spoiled, and thou weft not spoiled; and deaeft treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee: when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. 2. O LORD, be gracious unto us, we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. 3. At the noise of the tumult the people fled: at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered. 4. And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall be run upon them. 5. The LORD is exalted: for he dwelleth on high, he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. 6. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure. 7. Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. 8. The high-ways lie waft, the way faring man ceafeth, he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regarded no man. 9. The earth moutheth and languistheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness, and flashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. 10. Now will I rise, saith the LORD: now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath as fire shall devour you. 12. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire.

The subject of this prophecy is variously interpreted; some refer it to the state of the Jews under Hezekiah, when Sennacherib distressed them and was destroyed; others to the desolations made by Antiochus, and to the victorious arms of the Macebabes over him; others to the church of Christ, oppressed by the antichristian foe, and his final ruin; and all these may be comprehended herein, and the former deliverances of God’s church prejudice those of the latter day. Here is,

1. The we denounced on the spoiler and treacherous dealer: for a while his politics would succeed, and his power prevail, however cruelly or unjustly exercised; but God will return his evil upon his own head, and at the appointed time visit upon him his wickedness: and this was the case with Sennacherib and Antiochus, as it will be of the Romish antichrist, whose politics, craft, and deceivableness of unrighteousness, are well-known; and by these, long hath he made a prey of men’s goods, bodies, and souls; but at last God will visit him according to his defects. See Rev. xiii. 11. xvi. 12-16. Note, (1.) To compass their ends, the wicked hesitate not at falsehood, fraud, or violence; but God knows how to repay them in their own coin. (2.) There are appointed bounds set to men’s wickedness, and when they have filled up the measure of their iniquities, God will awake to judgment.

2. The people of God in prayer fly to him in the day of their calamity. O Lord, be gracious unto us, interpose to save us from every enemy; we have waited for thee, not fainting in the time of adversity, but expelling thy salvation: be thou their arm every morning; which either is a request for Hezekiah and the princes, that they might be strengthened for their work; or rather is in the intercession of the members of the church one for another, every morning offered, for grace to enable them for the work of every day: be thou our salvation also in time of trouble, from all the periscutions and distress under which in body or soul we groan, being burdened. Note, (1.) When we have a gracious God to go to, there is comfort under every affliction. (2.) They who wait on him, will never be reckless by him. (3.) Every morning our prayer must be renewed, for every day we may expect fresh trials, and need

renewed supports, for we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves. (4.) We must be advocates for each other, and especially remember those who are afflicted in our prayers. (5.) The higher the storm of temptation blows, the faller should we cling to the rock of our salvation.

3. An answer of peace is given. Their enemies, the Afyrians, shall be terrified before the destroying angel, and whilst some flee, and more are slain, they have nothing to do but rush on the spoil without resistance, as when a flight of locusts devours the field, v. 4. And thus shall it be in the last days, when the ruin of the antichristian armure is complained, the conquerors shall devour the spoil. See Rev. xvii. 16. Note, (1.) God not only answers our prayer, but often exceeds all our expectations. (2.) To spoil the spoiler is a just reprisal.

4. The people of God celebrate the praise of their deliverer; they adore him for the manifestation of his glory, made in the destruction of the Afyrians, and for the blessed effects his mercy produced among themselves, filling Zion with judgment and righteousness. From what they had experienced, they encourage Hezekiah to proceed in his pious work of reformalism, since wisdom and knowledge of God’s will and worship, by his care diffused, would be the stability of his risen, and the blind means of securing their present happy state, and the strength of salvation their security against every invader: and the fear of the Lord, either in his own heart, or in the hearts of his subjects, is his treasure; a better portion, and a fairer protection against his enemies than all other riches: such will also be the praises ascribed to their Redeemer, when the antichristian foe is fallen, Rev. xv. 1, 2. and the kingdom of Christ eminently established; then wisdom and knowledge will be abundantly diffused, and those times be blessed with durable peace and joy, the salvation of God’s people be sure and eternal, and their hearts enriched with the best treasure, even that fear of the Lord which will keep them that they shall never depart from him. Note, (1.) Since the work of our salvation is from Christ alone, we are most bound to ascribe to him alone the praise. (2.) Wherever the kingdom of Jesus is established in any heart, there justice towards men, and righteousness towards God, will immediately take place. (3.) A true knowledge of the grace of God, is the great stability of the soul. (4.) The fear of God is the christian’s best treasure.

5. The distressed state they would be in, shall serve to heighten the joy of their deliverance. Their valiant ones are represented as crying in despair; their emballistics weeping over their disappointment from Egypt, v. 7. all trade flagrant, and no traveller daring to go to the solemn feasts, or on any business, whilst the Afyrians waft the country; the covenant is violated by Sennacherib, see 2 Kings xviii. 14-17. their foetified cities taken, and no man regarded, or compulsion shown to any, v. 8. the country utterly wafted, and the most fruitful spots turned into a wilderness, v. 9. And such will be the desolate condition of God’s church, when the Lord in the latter day shall arise to deliver his redeemed: the ministers, who were valiant for truth, shall cry out under perMISSION, and be slain publicly; see Rev. xii. 3-8. the ambassadors of peace be silenced, and weep in secret over the milderies of the church, v. 7. none daring to frequent the ordinances of God’s worship, because of the pains and penalties inflicted by the perplexing power of Antichrist, whom no covenants can bind, it being a maxim with him, that no faith is to be kept with heretics: his power will then prevail over the reformed countries, and their cities be taken and inflicted, v. 8. The world will groan under his yoke; and where pure christianity most flourished, it will be destroyed: the ministers, like orders of Lebanon, against whom the greatest enmity is shown, will be hewn down, and the people compelled to receive the mark of the beall, or be destroyed, v. 9.

6. At last these desolations shall come to an end, when the Afyrians are in the heights of their triumphs. Now will I arise, saith the Lord; at the critical time: now will I be exalted, in the rescue of his people, and the ruin of his enemies; now will I lift up myself to judgment: the consequences of which will be, the abortion of the sanguine hopes of the Afyrians; and their blasphemies, like fire among the stubble, will provoke God to burn them up, v. 11. miserably and utterly confused, as stones burnt to lime, or thorns suddenly vanishing into flame and smoke, v. 12. And thus will the Lord also arise, when sunk to the lowest ebb his church is trampled down, and antichrist triumphant: his vengeance shall be poured on his foes, their politics confounded, and their schemes frustrated, their power broken, and all their rage and persecution of his people, and blasphemies against himself, shall kindle that fire which never can be quenched; where they must lie down together, as stones collected in the lime-silin, and as thorns bound in bundles for the burning. See Rev. xvii. 16. xix. xix. Note, (1.) When we are most distressed and desperate, then is God’s time to appear for our salvation. (2.) They that are burdened, as the stones against God’s warning, and hurtful and noxious as the thorns in the field, are high unto cursing, whose end is to be burned.

7. ¶ Hear PC, er, 1.

8. ¶ Hear ye that are far off, what I have done; and ye that are near, acknowledge my might. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites: who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? 15. He that walketh righteouly, and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseeth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding of broken, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and stouteth his eyes from seeing evil: 16. He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks, bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure. 17. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. 18. Thine heart shall meditate terror: Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers? 19. Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou can’t perceive; of a hammering tongue, that thou can’t not understand. 20. Look upon Zion the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down, not one of the flakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the earth thereof be broken. 21. But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship puts thereby. 22. For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our law-giver, the LORD is our king, he will save us. 23. Thy tacklings are looted, they could not well strengthen their malls, they could not spread the tail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided, the lame take the prey. 24. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

Isaiah 33:13-24

When the eternal Jehovah speaks, let every mortal hear, and all the world acknowledge his power and glory, v. 15, which appear especially.

1. In the terror and destruction of the wicked and the hypocrite, As the sinners and hypocrites in Zion have peculiar guilt, they may well tremble at their full measure of judgment, v. 14. when they see Jerusalem ready to be besieged, and expect to have their bodies fired, they are in dislocation, have no hope in God, and Egyphe hath failed them; or when they saw the Affyrians so terribly consumed, they trembled least the devouring fire should reach them also. Note, (1.) Of all men they are most guilty, who amidst the light of guilys! much persist in the ways of sin and formality. (2.) The day will come when the most secure sinner will be startled. (3.) If men would seriously put the question to their fools, how they can dwell with devouring fire, and endure the everlasting burning, it might awaken their consolations, and prevent their ruin. (4.) This terrible portion must they shortly and surely receive, who neglect to fly from the wrath to come, to that Redeemer who alone can hide them in the day of judgment.

2. In the salvation of the righteous, whose character is here displayed: He that walketh righteouly, making God’s word his rule, conscientious in all his dealings, and persevering in the worship of the Lord; and speaketh uprightly, his word is sacred, his constellation gracious, and suited to minister edification to others: he that despiseeth the gain of oppression, who thinks it injurious to fatten upon the spoil of the injured, and mean a wicked to commit injustice; that shaketh his hands from holding of broken, rejects them, when adduced, with indignation; that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, cannot be brought to listen to any cruel or oppressive proposal; and stouteth his eyes from seeing evil, cannot bear to see others sin, and stops up that dangerous avenue at which temptation might enter: he shall dwell on high, secure in the everlasting love of God from all those evils that terrify the wicked: his place of defence shall be in the munition of rocks, even Christ the rock of ages, his impregnable footness, against which the gates of hell, and the floods of temptation, rage in vain; bread shall be given unto him, and his water shall be sure; when famine rages, he shall not want in the siege; or rather he shall eat the living bread, of which the world knoweth not, and be refreshed with the streams of Divine grace, and eternal consolations, when the sinner and hypocrite in flames cannot obtain one drop of water to quench their raging thirst.

3. Many great and distinguishing mercies are here promised, applicable not only to the Jews, but more generally to all the faithful, who shall be delivered at the last day from the power of the wicked one.

(1.) They shall see the king in his beauty, Hezekiah in his royal robes, and the land afar off, whither for fear of the Affyrians before they dared not go, v. 17. And how much greater joy will it afford to the faithful God, in that distant

realm of eternal day, to see Jesus their king, brighter than the Indian Christ sun, fitting on his throne of glory, and themselves as stars shining around him?

(2.) Their fears shall be at an end, and serve them but for matter of grateful meditation; the terrors that compelled them are fled; they hear no more the voice of commanders within, collecting the supplies, or numbering the people for the battle, or the ca. tains and engineers of Algeria without, threatening their ruin, v. 18. They see no longer a fierce nation, whose speech they could not understand, and whose voice spread dismay; all are now dead couples, or fled. Thus when our souls shall reach the heavenly Zion, our past trials, however grievous, shall be remembered with delight; and all our foes, which bred in us so many fears, be for ever sunk as darkness, and incapable ever more of troubling our repole.

(3.) They shall look with transport on Zion, the city of their solemnities: during the siege these had been interrupted, and they might fear never would be restored; but to, once more in peace, their habitation is quiet, and God promises long to preserve his tabernacle among them, and to disappoint the malice of those who fought to destroy it, v. 20. The earthly Zion is long since indeed demolished; but we look for a city which hath foundations, which maker and builder in God, even the new Jerusalem, to which this prophecy hath especial regard; where God’s saints night and day shall serve him, and go out no more for ever, having found their glorious rest, and dwelling safe from fear of evil. See Rev. iii. 22.

(4.) They shall have the Lord, glorious in power and holiness, for their protection, law-giver, judge, and Saviour. Though Jerusalem had no navigable river to further commerce, or serve for a security against their enemies, God would be all that to her in his blessing; n’ paltry, or gallant ship, could bring an invading army against her; and inaccessible would be preserve her from every foe: their judge to avenge his people’s wrongs; their law-giver to direct their conduct; their king to govern with gentleness, and proceed them from danger; in short, their Saviour to the uttermost. Note, (1.) If God be ours, all thing are ours, every blessing is then secured in time and eternity. (2.) The Lord Christ is this judge, law-giver, king, and Saviour, to his redeemed; and if, as his subjects, our souls are yielded up to his government, who can pluck us out of his hands?

(5.) Their enemies, like a ship in a storm, dismasted, and the rigging torn in pieces, a perfect wreck, and ready to be fastened in pieces against the rocks, should for all their hopes blasted, and themselves a prey; so helpless to defend themselves, that even the lame should divide their spoil, v. 23.

(6.) Sickness shall be removed, and sin pardoned. The diseases of Jerusalem, arising from their confinement, would be at an end; and the people, returning to God under a sense of Divine mercy, obtain pardon and acceptance with him: and this will be emphatically fulfilled in the days of the church’s prosperity; when, with the pardon and grace, then abundantly dispensed, Christ will heal all the sickness of the souls of his people; and at last, when mortality shall be swallowed up of life, sin, sorrow, sickness, pain, and death, shall be for ever banished from the eternal state of bliss and glory.