Here it is a question of the glory of Christ, as we see by comparing John 12:40 with verse 10 of our chapter. The prophet sees here Christ as Jehovah of hosts who is manifested in the temple; the Spirit of God, putting together His glory and the state of His people, judges this state in reference to that glory. This is the Spirit of prophecy and of faith.
The unity and the condition of the church, do they answer to the heart of the Bridegroom Everything for us is to be in accordance with God. The state of His people, was it according to the glory of Christ which it is my privilege to share?
Woe is me for I am undone.” He judges the state of the people, his own conscience being touched. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, &c. God establishes the prophet. The witness of prophecy consists in the setting forth of the holiness of God in the midst of His people. The live coal from off the altar had touched his lips, and his iniquity was taken away and sin purged.
There is a moment when the people of God become, as happened to the land of Pharaoh, the occasion of the outward manifestation of God's judgments: a serious and terrible thought, yet suitable. For where ought God to execute His righteous judgments if not where His light has been diffused and disobeyed? There must fall most stripes. (Luke 12) It is Christendom which is now charged with this responsibility. It is for these times the vine of the earth, the grapes of which shall be trodden in the winepress of His indignation. (Rev. 14) God will send them strong delusion. (2 Thess. 2:9-12.) It is just so here for the Jews of that day. “Make fat the heart of this people,” not the Gentiles. (Ver. 10.) Christendom that received not the hive of the truth that they might be saved shall be judged in the same way. God will send them the working of delusion that they may believe the lie.
The judgment must go on to an entire desolation. (Vers. 11, 12.) There is a manifestation of glory, the prophetic testimony of purged lips, judgment on the people and land; but there is also the spirit of intercession, along with and by the Spirit of prophecy. Only we must remember that the Jews are to be restored on earth, the church will be glorified in heaven.
The Spirit of faith knows that it is impossible for God to abandon His people forever. He subjects them to judgment up to desolation; but says the prophet, “Lord, how long?” He knows that there is a term and that finally grace abounds for the people. There will be a tenth (ver. 13); then it is over again cropped down; but the holy seed, that is, the remnant, will be manifested. During winter the tree seems dead; but in spring when the grace of God renews its shining on the people, the tree recovers.
This prophecy was given in the year that Uzziah died, and iniquity began to draw near under Jotham. The spirit of faith is pre-occupied with the glory of God, does not hide sin, but counts on grace spite of sin. The principles which apply here are found again also for the church, though the details of application may not be the same. The church cannot say, Lord, how long? for the earth; but the responsibility of the vineyard, cultivated yet bearing bad fruit, abides. We may desire for our souls intelligence in God's ways toward His people, and the application to ourselves and to the church of these great principles.
Nothing is more important for our souls than the church as an order of things here below for manifesting the glory of Christ during His absence. Our judgment on the state of the church should have as its rule the manifestation of Christ's glory as the Head in heaven. I cannot have a deep feeling of the benefits conferred by anyone without having the sense of the responsibility that results from the relationship. If we have unclean lips and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; we shall gain nothing by hiding from us the glory of Christ.
Chapter 7.
In general the prophets date their prophecies from the name of the kings during whose reign they prophesied. One always finds in their writings something which gave rise to their prophecy. Here it is the reign of Ahaz. The prophecy of Isaiah pertains to his last days.
Prophecy does not appear when the people walk according to God's mind. There might be a walk which appears good, but which goes little by little into evil. Before Israel made the fall of the golden calf, there was no need of a prophet, any more than during the leading of Joshua; for Israel enjoyed the goodness of God. When the state of the people is bad generally, God must encourage the remnant by prophecy, which is not only the revelation of things to come but also a testimony given. Prophecy is also a means of deliverance; it always condemns those in whose midst it takes place; it is the judgment of existing evil and the revelation of the method God is going to employ to deliver. Noah divinely warned condemned the world by building the ark; he prophesied the deluge for 120 years, because the wickedness of men was come to its height, and deliverance was in the ark. That judgment should be executed on the world, it was needful that it should be announced beforehand. Such is the principle. Prophecy is an appeal to repentance, for it is a manifestation which exists; it is not yet judgment, but still grace. There is always necessarily revelation for the faithful remnant from Him whose strength never fails. It is always Christ, in whom everything ends without exception: even all the course of this world concurs to the glory of Christ.
If we examine these two reigns, we see prosperity, and in part fidelity. It is said of Uzziah, “he did that which was right in the sight of Jehovah;” and the same of his son Jotham. God not having yet withdrawn His hand, there were blessings belonging to them; but look at what there was below. When the Spirit of God acts, He takes cognizance of evil and sees what sin is; He does not pass lightly over things and persons as the heart of man does, but wishes the good of the people and their conversion. Therefore does He take account of evil, and that before it is manifested; for He does not withdraw His hand till there is no remedy.
Such is the place prophecy holds in the ways of God, but at the same time it nourishes and strengthens faith by showing in the glory of the Messiah the remedy for all evil. All the moral power of prophecy is taken away if we do not consider the things to come without considering the action of God for the moment. Anna spoke of Christ to all those who, feeling the state of things, looked for redemption.
To understand prophecy one must understand what God says as He says it, just believing simply the things as they are said. It is because of not following this plain rule that people find so many difficulties.
There is one circumstance more, which shows God's attitude toward Ahaz and Hezekiah. Ahaz took away the altar which was before Jehovah and put in its place a pagan one. At that time the house of David being the last support, its fall dragged with it and displays the end of Israel; while Hezekiah who succeeded is like the resurrection for Israel, and displays the coming blessing for the remnant when Christ shall appear in His glory.
The Spirit of God thinks always of His people according to their privileges; when the heart is far from God, it judges otherwise than God does and according to its actual evil state. But God cannot do so. One must see the church as God formed it for Himself; and God cannot derogate from His holiness nor from the estimation He has made of it. Conscience cannot judge soundly if it judge according to its state and not its privileges; for it is according to our privileges that God always judges. When God judges, He compares the state of things present with what was when He set it up: and He sees only wounds and putrefying sores, and nothing whole. God judges and thinks according to our privileges; and we cannot judge soundly save when we judge as God judges, and this makes us humble.
“Make the heart of this people fat,” &c. (Isa. 6:10): when was this an accomplished fact? Seven hundred years later, after Christ and even the testimony of the Spirit had been rejected. Before the execution faith judges, and the judgment is in God's mind long before it happens. When the Christian is divinely warned by prophecy of the state of condemnation before the end, if he wait for it, all is lost. Prophecy supposes the knowledge of God, who was in relation with Israel till John the Baptist.
Let us now look back and compare all we have had with chapters vi., vii., and all the rest of the book. When Jehovah says (Isa. 1:24), “I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies,” He spoke of those in Israel. It is most terrible when the people of God take such a place as is not said of the poor sinner ignorant of God. There is a consuming fire for the adversaries. (Heb. 10:27.) God's people become of His judgments. There will be a remnant, but for the mass of the people judgment. Yet Zion shall be restored according to God's faithfulness. The separation of the remnant will take place at the end, judgment will fall on the people, not on the remnant. Those that return shall be redeemed by righteousness and Zion by judgment. It is a great mistake to think that chapter 2: 2-4 is yet accomplished. “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. And he shall judge, among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” There are two things: Jerusalem the center, and Jerusalem compared with what it was. Judgment must be executed; and Zion, delivered by this judgment, becomes the center of power, all nations flowing to it. In what follows one sees the moral judgment which was not executed till seven hundred years after it was pronounced. The day of Jehovah will be against all that is lifted up, for His Spirit judges all, and His hand will subject all to His power. It is only His people that are His enemy, none on earth like those who have not received the love of the truth that they might be saved, they will be faithful to Antichrist. There is nothing so opposed to God as what is near God, as we see in Judas. There must be judgment on all that is proud and lofty. The haughty looks of man shall be humbled. If there is in our hearts a single object that we desire to exalt us, it will be judged and broken. That clay is against all the oaks of Bashan, &c.
Such is the sum given us in this book as to Jews and Gentiles, the first four chapters being introductory, with details in chapters 3, 4. Chapter 5 begins a pleading with God's people, chapter vi. interrupting the prophecy to give the prophet his mission, and chapters 7 to 9:7 the birth of Messiah in relation to Israel and the land, the Assyrian attacks, and the power of Messiah triumphant. Chapter 9: 8 resumes the chastisements on Israel with deliverance in the end, chapters 11, 12, for there is always deliverance after judgment.
From chapter 13 to 35 are the details of judgments on the nations, and of what will happen to Israel, that is, Judah and Ephraim, followed by the typical history of Hezekiah in chapters 36-39.
Chapter 40 begins with comfort for the people from Jehovah, with their chastening from His hand for their wickedness, first, in idolatry, next in rejecting the Messiah, and their glory and blessing when they repent and He is received. The thought of God does not stop till He has shown that grace over-abounds and till He sets His people in blessing. The way in which the Holy Spirit judges all is by referring all to His blessing if we have not full confidence in His goodness. One cannot have full confidence in His goodness without also having a full conviction of the sad state of God's people; if we avoid pronouncing this judgment on the actual state of things and on ourselves as sharing the same moral state, we cannot know all the goodness of God. Israel is taken as His witness against idolatry and also of the rejection of Messiah; so that the end is to identify the nations with Israel, and all that which is identified with evil shall suffer the effects of the evil. Two things shall happen together, terrible times and the return of Christ in power and glory.
We see in chapter 4: 3 that all the escaping of Jerusalem shall be written to life. There will be a manifestation of glory in this world, as in a little measure there was in the wilderness. “And Jehovah will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.” (Vers. 5, 6.) We have here the judgment of Israel and the glory manifested. The first four chapters give us the end of all as to Israel, but glory at last. Prophecy always supposes a state of displeasure on God's part, but blessing and glory after judgment. It was given to be believed and understood before accomplishment. If God charges anyone by a message, he must understand it before the judgment, else for him it is useless: to say the contrary is Satan's snare, for in understanding it only when accomplished, the moral effect is lost. To have God making known His mind in what does not touch ourselves directly, we have the great proof of His love and enjoy communion with Him, which always separates us more from a world about to be judged.
Jerusalem being the center of the things which must come to pass, one must be at the center to take in the circle. There was but one prophet sent to the heathen, Jonah to Nineveh. God ever sends warning before judgment, showing also the interest He takes in the creature.
Hear what the Spirit says in chapter 5. It is important to remark that it is always the Spirit of Christ. (1 Peter 1:10, 11.) We shall ever find allusion to Christ; and if we read without understanding that it is Christ who speaks or is spoken of, they are lost for us.
In general prophecy applies as here to a people with whom God is in relation. God calling His people to consider their state, He would reveal His judgments to them, but begins by making them pay attention. “My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill; and he fenced it,” &c. (Ver. 12.) It is the plaint of God in recalling to His people what He has done for them. This applies to our consciences. God has a right to look for fruit according to the pains He took, and if there were none, there must be necessarily judgment. God never stops at what is spoiled to repair the breaches; He looks at what He did at the beginning, and compares it with the actual state. Therefore does the Lord say to the angel of the church in Ephesus, “Thou hast left thy first love.” (Rev. 2:4.) What God demands of us is that we look at what He did at the beginning, and that we compare ourselves, not with the actual state that is spoiled, but with the fruits and testimonies given at the start; and if we do not bear these fruits, we are guilty, and here is the consequence. “Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.” The principle of verses 3, 4 applies also to the church.
The fact is that God's people are reduced to silence. Israel was placed under responsibility, as is the church; and, if enjoying all the privileges, they failed, all fails on man's part. God has chosen Israel for His glory on earth, and the church also for His glory in heaven; and we must not confound ourselves with Him. We have failed, but God will accomplish all in Christ. There is always man failing under responsibility and Christ who does not fail; and God executes by Him judgment on the creature, whether Israel or the church. Judgment will come before God accomplishes His purposes of glory.
“And now go to: I will tell you what I will do,” &c. ( Vers. 5-7.) Judah was the plant of Jehovah's pleasure, but it brought forth wild grapes. God judges the vineyard, as also Christendom. We have enjoyed superior advantages, and, our Christian responsibility being greater, judgment will also be greater. God enters into details to show the righteousness of His judgments. It is not only covetousness ending in desolation, and corrupt luxury in death and hell, but excuses for iniquity growing up to contempt of divine judgment, as we see in the profane indifference of Christendom when men have God's warnings and think they will never be executed. “There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Peter 3:3, 4.) It answers to the insult of God in verses 18, 19. “Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: that say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it.”
Another character still is lack of discernment in good and evil. Satan brings about transgression and hardening of the conscience; his desire is always to darken the intelligence, as the desire of the Christian should be always more and more to judge according to God. It was the prayer of the apostle that the Colossians (chap. 1: 9) should be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. So Eph. 1:17. It is what distinguishes from those of whom it is here said, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Vers. 20, 21.)
“Because they have cast away the law of Jehovah of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel, therefore is the anger of Jehovah kindled against his people, and he hath stretched his hand against them and hath smitten them.” (Vers. 24, 25.) God does not strike all at once. He sends partial judgments, and since they do not awaken, worse judgments; but there is always before it forbearance and mercy on God's part. What God did at the beginning is the great principle that God recalls to His people. Therefore is He just in His judgments.
In chapter 6 is another principle. God speaks there, not of what He did at the beginning, but of glory. When I compare the state of the primitive church, I say, Where are we? I can also say, What glory! There is what God would give, and He shows the glory of God in His temple. Israel will be blessed by His manifestation and the enjoyment of this glory. But if the people is unclean, they must have only judgment and not glory. Read verses 1-4 for the manifestation of the glory of Christ Himself. They could not comprehend, because the heart of the people was grown fat, as we see in verses 9, 10. But where the glory was presented to Isaiah, he says, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.” (Ver. 5.) Such is the conviction of the prophet before God; he has the understanding of good and evil, instead of being overjoyed that he had seen Jehovah. This makes him say, Woe is me! The only thing that it becomes one to say is Woe is me! “Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” (Vers. 6, 7.) Because he is thus purged, the prophet is rendered capable of being a messenger and says to God, “Here am I; send me.” (Ver. 8.) “And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.” (Ver. 9.) From the moment it is a question of presenting the people, it is “Make the heart of this people fat,” &c. It is no longer a question of repentance. The time of judgment is come: repentance is for the remnant. This will be infallibly. Pharaoh was blinded that God might deliver His people; and for those who refuse to receive His testimony, God shall send them strong delusion. For He has been patient to the last degree, but they refuse instruction from Him. He deals with Christendom as with Israel.
God is long-suffering; for seven hundred years elapsed since the threat till its execution. When He sent the Heir, every means had been exhausted: I do not speak of efficacious grace. His people said, We shall have the world without God if we get rid of the Heir. If the Christian understands the mind of God, this separates his heart from the actual state of things, because he sees the course of this world which does not understand God. If the Spirit of God gives intelligence to the prophet and to us, one also understands that it is not forever. “Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and Jehovah have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a toil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.” (Vers. 11-13.) One must own that the judgment is just, but God is faithful. It is only for a time; though it will come, and though there be judgments, the church shall be in glory. So there will be a remnant of the Jews, but it will be anew consumed; they will come into the land, but the Gentiles will come also: as the oak and the teil-tree, which being cut down have still the trunk; “so the holy seed shall be their stock.” God guards His remnants.
When the prophet's mouth was purged, God tells him the judgment, when he turns to intercession. We ought to understand these principles and apply them, not to Israel only, but to the church and to each individual. The beginning of conversion goes well, but afterward —! One must judge oneself, or God judges us in His love, for He is always love. If God saves us perfectly in Christ, we are brought in to be the objects of His Father by government; and when a Christian walks for the glory of God, he is happy and can say, Send me; for God never fails for those who trust in Him.