Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 33:14
The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
14. The sinners hypocrites ] Rather: The sinners are afraid in Zion, trembling hath seized the impious (see on ch. Isa 9:17). An ungodly party still exists, in spite of the fact that Zion is filled with judgment and righteousness ( Isa 33:5). The reason of their terror is expressed in what immediately follows.
Who among us shall dwell ] The questions are not merely rhetorical, introducing the description of the righteous man, as in Psa 15:1; Psa 24:3; but an exclamation put into the mouths of the sinners. They realise at last what Jehovah is, and begin to wonder how they can live with Him who is a consuming fire. The word “dwell” means strictly “sojourn as a protected guest,” and is the same as that used in Psa 15:1.
everlasting burnings ] There is of course no allusion here to eternal punishment. The “fire” is Jehovah’s holiness, manifested in the destruction of His enemies; and this is called eternal because the Divine wrath against sin is inexhaustible.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14 16. Being thus assured of a speedy answer to his prayers, the writer proceeds, in language of great force and beauty, to describe the moral effect on the Jewish people.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The sinners in Zion are afraid – This verse is evidently designed to describe the alarm that was produced in Jerusalem on impenitent sinners and hypocrites by a view of the judgment of God on the army of Sennacherib. They would see his wrath on his enemies then, and in view of the terrors of his indignation in relation to that army they would be alarmed, and would ask how it would be possible for them to endure such wrath forever. If the effect of the wrath of God even for a night, when it should blaze against that great army, was so terrible, how could it be borne forever? This seems to be the general idea of the passage. A great variety of interpretations have been proposed, which may be seen in Vitringa and Poole. The phrase, sinners in Zion here refers to the wicked and rebellious in Jerusalem.
Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites – Those who professed to serve God, and yet who were secretly depending on the aid of Egypt (see Isa 31:1-9; compare the note at Isa 9:17). The sentiment here is, that those who professedly are the friends of God, but who are secretly and really his enemies, are often alarmed at his judgments. When the judgments of God overtake sinners, they are conscious that they deserve also his wrath, and their minds are filled with consternation. So in a time of prevailing sickness, or of pestilence, they who have really no confidence in God, and no evidence that they are prepared to die, are filled with alarm. A true friend of God will be calm in such scenes; a hypocrite will show by his consternation that he has no religion.
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? – Some have understood this as referring to the fires which they supposed the Assyrian would kindle in Jerusalem, apprehending that he would take and burn the city. But the more probable interpretation is that which refers it to the judgment that would be brought upon the Assyrians – the burning wrath of God like fire that would consume them. The destruction of the Assyrians is repeatedly represented under the image of a storm and tempest, where there would be the flame of devouring fire (see the note at Isa 29:6). The sense is this: God has suddenly consumed that immense army of his foes. Such must be the awful punishment of the wicked. How can we abide it? We also, through among his people, are his foes, and are exposed to his wrath. How can we endure the terrors of that day when his burning indignation shall also overtake us?
Shall dwell with everlasting burnings – Who among us could endure to suffer amid such burning wrath forever? If that wrath is so fierce as to consume such an immense host in a single night, who could abide it should it be continued forever and forever? This is the obvious sense of this passage; and it implies:
1. That hypocrites will be greatly alarmed when they see punishment come upon the open and avowed enemies of God.
2. That in such times they will have none of the peace and quiet confidence which his true friends have.
3. That such an alarm is evidence of conscious guilt and hypocrisy.
4. That the persons here spoken of had a belief of the doctrine of eternal punishment – a belief which hypocrites and sinners always have, else why should they be alarmed?
5. That the punishment of hypocrites in the church will be dreadful and terrific. This seems to have been the conviction here. They saw that if such judgments came upon those who had no knowledge of the true God, it must be infinitely more terrible on those who had been trained amidst the institutions of religion, and who had professed attachment to Yahweh. And so it will be in a preeminent degree among those who have been trained in the Christian church, and who have been the professed but insincere followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 33:14-15
The sinners in Zion are afraid
The sinners in Zion
What a contradiction in terms! what a shock to the fancy! Zion! fair Zion, a dewdrop, a glittering star, a garden of beauty, a sweet flower, porcelain without a flaw, honey without wax–Zion! Then, sinners in Zion–sinners out of place; they spoil the situation; they are an evil blot in the fair landscape.
Sinners in the wilderness, sinners in polluted cities, sinners in hell–there you have a kind of music that has an accord and consonance of its own; but sinners in Zion! (J. Parker, D. D.)
The devouring fire
I. THE CHARACTERS REFERRED TO. Sinners in Zion, and the hypocrites. Those who are in Zion by a mere profession of religion. The self-righteous. Proud formalists.
II. THEIR PRESENT STATE. Afraid, &c. If temporal judgments, like those which God wrought upon the Assyrian army, had such an effect upon the sinners in Zion, what will be the terror of transgressors in prospect, of the everlasting judgments of God?
III. THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? &c. (J. E. Starey.)
Security in testing times
It is certain that no man shall find his profession to be of use to him in testing times but he that is true in it, he that is thorough in it, he that is neither a sinner nor a hypocrite in the sense in which those words are here used. Safety in Zion belongs to those born in her by regeneration, reared in her by sanctification, enfranchised in her by faith in the Son of God, settled in her by fixed principles, confirmed in her by obedience to her laws, and bound to her by intense love of her King and her citizens. Such shall dwell on high secure from danger, and only such: the aliens and foreigners within her gates shall ere long be driven forth with shame. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The hypocrite
The man that stole the livery of heaven to serve the devil in. (Robert Pollok.)
Hypocrisy detected
A large price was demanded for a picture as being the work of an old master. It was on a panel, and some one looking behind it saw that the panel was mahogany. The picture was at once seen to be a fraud, for mahogany was not known in Europe until long after the death of the artist who was said to have painted it. A man by craft and hypocrisy may make himself look beautiful to his fellowmen, and be honoured for saintliness of character, but God looks behind the goodly show and detects the imposture at a glance. Only what is real will bear His inspection. (Gates of Imagery.)
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?—
How to dwell in the fire of God
(with 1Jn 4:16 : He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God):–These two passages, striking as is the contrast, refer to the same subject, and substantially preach the same truth. A hasty reader, who is more influenced by sound than by sense, is apt to suppose that the solemn expressions in my first text–the devouring fire and the everlasting burnings–mean hell. They mean God, as is quite obvious from the context. The man who is to dwell in the devouring fire is the good man; he that is able to abide the everlasting burnings is the man that walks righteously and speaks uprightly, that despises the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil. So that, plainly, here the fire is the destructive side of that Divine nature which, in its flashing brightness of holiness, cannot but burn up and consume evil. And the question of my text is in effect equivalent to this question: Who among us can abide peacefully, joyfully, fed and brightened, not consumed and annihilated, by that flashing brightness and purity? The prophets answer is the answer of common sense. Like draws to like. If the fire of God be the holiness of God in its lustrous brilliance, then a holy God must have holy companions. But that is not all. The fire of God is the fire of love as well as the fire of purity; a fire that blesses and quickens, as well as a fire that destroys and consumes. So the Apostle John comes with his answer, not contradicting the other one, but deepening it, expanding it, letting us see the foundations of it, and proclaiming that as a holy God must be surrounded by holy hearts, which will open themselves to the flame as flowers to the sunshine, so a loving God must be clustered about by loving hearts, who alone can enter into deep and true fellowship with Him. The two answers, then, are one at bottom; and when Isaiah asks, Who shall dwell with the ever-lasting fire?–the perpetual fire, burning and unconsumed, of that Divine righteousness–the deepest answer, which is no stern requirement but a merciful promise, is Johns answer, He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The fire of God
I. THE WORLDS QUESTION. Frequently in the Old Testament the emblem of fire is employed to express the Divine nature. In many places, though by no means in all, the prominent idea in the emblem is that of the purity of the Divine nature, which flashes and flames as against all which is evil and sinful. So we read in one grand passage in this very book, the Light of Israel shall become a fire. And we read, too, in the description of the symbolical manifestation of the Divine nature which accompanied the giving of the law on Sinai, that the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain, and yet into that blaze and brightness the Law-giver went and moved in it. There is in the Divine nature a side of antagonism and opposition to evil, which fights against it, and flames against it, and labours to consume it. But then, on the other side, the fire is also the fire of perfect love that quickens and blesses. And these two are one. Gods wrath is a form of Gods love; God hates because He loves. Well, that being so, the question rises to every mind of ordinary thoughtfulness: Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? A God fighting against evil; can you and I hope to hold familiar fellowship with Him? To dwell with everlasting burnings means two things–first, to hold familiar intercourse and communion with God. What sort of a man will do that? Can you? Is it likely that you should? The second of the things that it means is to face and bear the action of the fire, the judicial action, the judgment of the present and of the future.
II. THE PROPHETS ANSWER. He says if a man is to hold fellowship with, or to face the judgment of the pure and righteous God, the plainest dictate of reason and common sense is that he himself must be pure and righteous to match. And the details into which his answer to the question runs out are all very homely, prosaic, pedestrian kind of virtues, nothing at all out of the way, nothing that people would call splendid or heroic. If you will turn to the Psa 24:1-10. you will find there two other variations of the same questions, and the same answer, both of which were obviously in our prophets mind when he spoke. The requirements of the most moderate conscience are such as none of us is able to comply with. And what then? Am I to be shut up to despair? am I to say, then, nobody can dwell with that bright flame?
III. THE APOSTLES ANSWER. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God. Now, to begin with, let us distinctly understand that the New Testament answer, represented by Johns great words, entirely endorses Isaiahs; and the difference between the two is not that the Old Testament, as represented by Psalmist and Prophet, said: You must be righteous in order to dwell with God, and that the New Testament says: You need not be! Not at all! John is just as vehement in saying that nothing but purity can bind a man in thoroughly friendly and familiar conjunction with God as David or Isaiah was. What, then, is the difference between them? It is this, for one thing. Isaiah tells us we must be righteous; John tells us how we may be. And now you have got to the very bottom of the matter. That is the first step of the ladder–faith: the second step is love, and the third is righteousness. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Gods anger
If you will only remove from that word anger the mere human associations which cleave to it, of passion on the one hand, and of a wish to hurl its object on the other, then you cannot, I think, deny to the Divine nature the possession of that passionless and unmalignant wrath without striking a fatal blow at the perfect purity of God. A God that does not hate evil, that does not flame out against it, using all the energies of His being to destroy it, is a God to whose character there cleaves the fatal suspicion of indifference to good, of moral apathy. If I have not a God to trust in that hates evil because He loveth righteousness, then the pillared firmament itself were rottenness, and earths base built on stubble; nor were there any hope that this damnable thing that is killing and sucking the life-blood out of our spirits should ever be destroyed and cast aside. It is short-sighted wisdom, and it is cruel kindness, to tamper with the thought of the wrath of God, the everlasting burnings of that eternally pure nature wherewith it wages war against all sin! (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Gods justice in human life
To Isaiah, life was so penetrated by the active justice of God, that he described it as bathed in fire, as blown through with fire. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid] Zion has been generally considered as a type of the Church of God. Now all the members of God’s Church should be holy, and given to good works; sinners in Zion, therefore, are portentous beings! but, alas! where are they not? The Targum on this verse is worthy of notice: “The sinners in Zion are broken down; fear hath seized the ungodly, who are suffering for their ways. They say, Who among us shall dwell in Zion, where the splendour of the Divine Majesty is like a consuming fire? Who of us shall dwell in Jerusalem, where the ungodly are judged and delivered into hell for an eternal burning?” Everdurynge brennyngis. Old MS. Bible.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The sinners in Zion are afraid: this is spoken, not of the Assyrians, as some would have it, but of the Jews, as appears both from the words themselves, and from the following verses. The prophet having foretold the deliverance of Gods people, and the destruction of their enemies, Isa 33:10-12, for the greater illustration of that wonderful mercy, here returns to the description, and gives a lively representation of the dismal and frightful condition in which the Jews, especially such of them as were ungodly and unbelieving, were before this deliverance came. Although the godly Jews were, in some measure, supported by the sense of Gods favour, and by Gods promises delivered to them by Isaiah; yet the generality of the people were filled with horrors, and expectation of utter destruction. Who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? how shall we be able to abide the presence, and endure or avoid the wrath, of that God, who is a consuming fire; who is now about to destroy us utterly by the Assyrians, and will afterwards burn us with unquenchable fire? For seeing it is sufficiently evident, from both Old and New, Testament, as hath been formerly observed and proved, that the Jews, except the Sadducees, did generally believe the rewards and punishments of the future live and these temporal judgments, as they did frequently cut men off from this life, so they transmitted them into that future and endless life; it is not strange if their guilty consciences made them dread both the present judgment here, and the terrible consequences of it hereafter. Heb. who shall dwell for us, &c., i.e. in our stead? who will interpose himself between Gods anger and us? How shall we escape these miseries? That this is the sense of this question may be gathered from the answer given to it in the following verse; in which he directs them to the right course of removing Gods wrath, and regaining his favour.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. sinners in Zionfalseprofessors of religion among the elect people (Mt22:12).
hypocritesrather, “theprofane”; “the abandoned” [HORSLEY].
who, c.If Jehovah’swrath could thus consume such a host in one night, who could abideit, if continued for ever (Mr9:46-48)? Fire is a common image for the divine judgments (Isa 29:6Isa 30:30).
among usIf such awfuljudgments have fallen on those who knew not the true God, howinfinitely worse shall fall on us who, amid religiousprivileges and profession, sin against God, (Luk 12:47;Luk 12:48; Jas 4:17)?
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The sinners in Zion are afraid, and fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites,…. Meaning not persons of such a character that dwelt in Jerusalem, who had the guise and form of religion, and not the power of it, and were for fleeing to Egypt, and trusting in Pharaoh, and not in the Lord; who were seized with dread and terror, when the Assyrian army besieged them, or when it was so awfully destroyed by the angel in the night; when, observing the visible and immediate hand of God in it, they might fear the like judgment would fall upon them for their irreligion and hypocrisy; but rather formal professors, and hypocritical persons, in the reformed churches, or Protestants having only a form of godliness, without the power of it, are meant; who, observing God’s judgments upon antichrist, shall be seized with a panic, lest the like should come down upon them for their hypocrisy and deceit; unless it should be rather thought that antichrist, and his followers themselves, are designed, who himself is said to sit in the temple of God, and who claim to themselves the name of the church of God, and pretend to be Christians, though they are not; when they shall see the city of Rome in flames, and the vials of God’s wrath poured on the antichristian states, shall dread the vengeance of eternal fire, which they express in the following words:
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? that is, the wrath of God in hell, which is the fire that feeds upon and devours Christless sinners; which shall never be quenched, and is called everlasting fire, in which the followers of antichrist will be tormented for ever; and the smoke of which will ascend for ever and ever, and will be intolerable; none will be able to abide and endure it; see Re 14:9. So the Targum interprets it of the place where the ungodly are to be judged and delivered into hell, an everlasting burning.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
14. The sinners in Zion are afraid. But some one might object that the subject here treated is not so important as to need that lofty preface intended to arouse the whole world. Was it a matter of so great importance that wicked men were struck with fear? But by an attentive examination it will be found that it is no ordinary exhibition of divine power, when wicked men are aroused from their indolence, so that, whether they will or not, they perceive that God is their judge, especially when contempt of God is accompanied by hypocrisy, For although it is difficult to arouse irreligious men, when a veil is spread over their hearts, (12) yet still greater is the obstinacy of hypocrites, who imagine that God is under obligations to them. Thus we see that men are so bewitched by madness, that they despise all threatenings and terrors, and mock at the judgments of God, and, in short, by witty jesting, set aside all prophecies, so that it ought to be regarded as a miracle that men who make such resistance are overthrown. Hence Isaiah, with good reason, kindles into rage against them;for, when he employs the word Zion, he undoubtedly reproves the degenerate Jews, because, when they were covered with the shadow of the sanctuary, they thought that they were in possession of a fortress which could not be stormed; and undoubtedly, as I remarked a little before, the haughtiest and proudest of all men are they who shelter themselves under the name of God, and glory in the title of the Church.
Terror hath seized the wicked, הנפים (chanephim) is translated hypocrites, but still more frequently it may be viewed as denoting “treacherous revolters and men utterly worthless.” Since, therefore, they were so wicked, and mocked at God and the prophets, he three, tens that God will be a judge so sharp and severe, that they shall no longer find pleasure in their impostures. Next is added a conression which wears the aspect of humility, in order to shew more clearly that hypocrites, who do not willingly obey God, at length find that experience is their instructor how dreadful is the judgment of God. As soon, therefore, as their “laughing” is turned into “gnashing of teeth,” they begin to acknowledge that their whole strength is chaff or stubble. (Luk 6:25; Mat 8:12.)
Which of us shall dwell with the devouring fire? As to the meaning of the words, some translate them, “Who shall dwell instead of us?” Others, “Which of us shall dwell?” If we view them simply as meaning “to us,” or “for us,” the meaning may be thus explained, “Who shall encounter the fire, or place himself between, so that the flame may not reach us?” There are also other interpretations which amount to the same thing; but commentators differ in this respect, that some view the words as relating to the king of Assyria, and others as relating to God. I prefer the latter opinion, as has been already shewn; for although the king of Assyria might be regarded as a “fire” that would burn up the earth with his heat, yet the Prophet intended to express something far more dreadful, namely, the inward anguish by which ungodly men are tormented, the stings of conscience which cannot be allayed, the unquenchable burning of crimes which exceeds every kind of torments; for whatever is the course pursued by ungodly men, such will they find the dispensations of God to be towards them.
On their account, therefore, God is called a devouring fire, as we may learn from Moses, (Deu 4:24,) from whom the prophets, as we have frequently remarked, borrow their doctrines, and who is also followed by the Apostle. (Heb 12:29.) This exposition is confirmed by the Prophet himself, who shews what was the cause of that terror. It might be objected that God was excessively severe, and that he terrified them beyond measure; but he is usually kind and gentle to the godly, while wicked men feel that he is severe and terrible. Some think that the Prophet intended to convince all men of their guilt, in order that they might abandon all confidence, in their works, and in a lowly and humble manner betake themselves to the grace of God, as if he had said, “None but he who is perfectly righteous can stand before the judgmentseat of God, and therefore all are accursed.”
But he rather speaks in the name, and agreeably to the feelings, of those who formerly scorned all threatenings; and he now represents those very persons as inquiring with trembling dismay, “Who shall dare to go into the presence of God? ” This mournful complaint is a manifestation of that terror which hath lately seized them, when, being convinced of their frailty, they cry out in sorrow, “Who shall endure the presence of God?” But since they still murmur against God, though he compels them reluctantly to utter these words, the Prophet, on the other hand, in order to restrain their wicked barkings, replies that God is not naturally the object of terror or alarm to men, but that it arises through their own fault, because conscience, which God does not suffer to lie idle, terrifies them with their crimes.
(12) “ Quand leurs coeurs sont endureis.” “When their hearts are hardened.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Ver. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid. ] At the invasion of the Assyrian. Those that formerly fleared and jeered God’s prophets and their menaces, now fear and are crest fallen, ready to run into an auger hole, as we say. It is as natural for guilt to breed fear and disquiet, as for putrid matter to breed vermin. Sinners, especially those in Zion, where they might be better, and are therefore the worse a great deal, have galled consciences, and want faith to fortify their hearts against the fear of death or danger; and hence those pitiful perplexities and convulsions of soul in the evil day. What wonder if, when they see all on fire, they ring their bells backwards? If, instead of mourning for their sins and making peace with God, as they ought to do, they mutter and growl against him, as these hypocrites do, for his too great severity?
Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.
Who among us shall dwell?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah
HOW TO DWELL IN THE FIRE OF GOD
Isa 33:14 – Isa 33:15
I have put these two verses together because, striking as is at first sight the contrast in their tone, they refer to the same subject, and they substantially preach the same truth. A hasty reader, who is more influenced by sound than by sense, is apt to suppose that the solemn expressions in my first text, ‘the devouring fire’ and’ everlasting burnings,’ mean hell . They mean God , as is quite obvious from the context. The man who is to ‘dwell in the devouring fire’ is the good man. He that is able to abide ‘the everlasting burnings’ is ‘the man that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly,’ that ‘despiseth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.’ The prophet has been calling all men, far and near, to behold a great act of divine judgment in which God has been manifested in flaming glory, consuming evil; now he represents the ‘sinners in Zion,’ the unworthy members of the nation, as seized with sudden terror, and anxiously asking this question, which in effect means: ‘Who among us can abide peacefully, joyfully, fed and brightened, not consumed and annihilated, by that flashing brightness and purity?’ The prophet’s answer is the answer of common-sense-like draws to like. A holy God must have holy companions.
But that is not all. The fire of God is the fire of love as well as the fire of purity; a fire that blesses and quickens, as well as a fire that destroys and consumes. So the Apostle John comes with his answer, not contradicting the other one, but deepening it, expanding it, letting us see the foundations of it, and proclaiming that as a holy God must be surrounded by holy hearts, which will open themselves to the flame as flowers to the sunshine, so a loving God must be clustered about by loving hearts, who alone can enter into deep and true friendship with Him.
The two answers, then, of these texts are one at bottom; and when Isaiah asks, ‘Who shall dwell with the everlasting fire?’-the perpetual fire, burning and unconsumed, of that divine righteousness-the deepest answer, which is no stern requirement but a merciful promise, is John’s answer, ‘He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God.’
The simplest way, I think, of bringing out the force of the words before us will be just to take these three points which I have already suggested: the world’s question, the partial answer of the prophet, the complete answer of the Apostle.
I. The World’s Question.
There is, then, in the divine nature a side of antagonism and opposition to evil, which flames against it, and labours to consume it. I would speak with all respect for the motives of many men in this day who dread to entertain the idea of the divine wrath against evil, lest they should in any manner trench upon the purity and perfectness of the divine love. I respect and sympathise with the motive altogether; and I neither respect nor sympathise with the many ferocious pictures of that which is called the wrath of God against sin, which much so-called orthodox teaching has indulged in. But if you will only remove from that word ‘anger’ the mere human associations which cleave to it, of passion on the one hand, and of a wish to hurt its object on the other, then you cannot, I think, deny to the divine nature the possession of such passionless and unmalignant wrath, without striking a fatal blow at the perfect purity of God. A God that does not hate evil, that does not flame out against it, using all the energies of His being to destroy it, is a God to whose character there cleaves a fatal suspicion of indifference to good, of moral apathy. If I have not a God to trust in that hates evil because He loveth righteousness, then ‘the pillared firmament itself were rottenness, and earth’s base built on stubble’; nor were there any hope that this damnable thing that is killing and sucking the life-blood out of our spirits should ever be destroyed and cast aside. Oh! it is short-sighted wisdom, and it is cruel kindness, to tamper with the thought of the wrath of God, the ‘everlasting burnings’ of that eternally pure nature wherewith it wages war against all sin.
But then, let us remember that, on the other side, the fire which is the destructive fire of perfect purity is also the fire that quickens and blesses. God is love, says John, and love is fire, too. We speak of ‘the flame of love,’ of ‘warm affections,’ and the like. The symbol of fire does not mean destructive energy only. And these two are one. God’s wrath is a form of God’s love; God hates because He loves.
And the ‘wrath’ and the ‘love’ differ much more in the difference of the eyes that look, than they do in themselves. Here are two bits of glass; one of them sifts out and shows all the fiery-red rays, the other all the yellow. It is the one same pure, white beam that passes through them both, but one is only capable of receiving the fiery-red beams of the wrath, and the other is capable of receiving the golden light of the love. Let us take heed lest, by destroying the wrath, we maim the love; and let us take heed lest, by exaggerating the wrath, we empty the love of its sweetness and its preciousness; and let us accept the teaching that these are one, and that the deepest of all the things that the world can know about God lies in that double saying, which does not contradict its second half by its first, but completes its first by its second-God is Righteousness, God is Love.
Well, then, that being so, the question rises to every mind of ordinary thoughtfulness: ‘Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?’ A God fighting against evil; can you and I hope to hold familiar fellowship with Him? A God fighting against evil; if He rises up to exercise His judging and His punishing energies, can we meet Him? ‘Can thy heart endure and thy hands be strong, in the day that I shall deal with thee?’ is the question that comes to each of us if we are reasonable people. I do not dwell upon it; but I ask you to take it, and answer it for yourselves.
To ‘dwell with everlasting burnings’ means two things. First, it means to hold familiar intercourse and communion with God. The question which presents itself to thoughtful minds is-What sort of man must I be if I am to dwell near God? The lowliest bush may be lit by the divine fire and not be consumed by it; and the poorest heart may be all aflame with an indwelling God, if only it yield itself to Him, and long for His likeness. Electricity only flames into consuming fire when its swift passage is resisted. The question for us all is-How can I receive this holy fire into my bosom, and not be burned? Is any communion possible, and if it is, on what conditions? These are the questions which the heart of man is really asking, though it knows not the meaning of its own unrest.
‘To dwell with everlasting burnings’ means, secondly, to bear the action of the fire-the judgment of the present and the judgment of the future. The question for each of us is-How can we face that judicial and punitive action of that Divine Providence which works even here, and how can we face the judicial and punitive action in the future?
I suppose you all believe, or at least say that you believe, that there is such a future judgment. Have you ever asked yourselves the question, and rested not until you got a reasonable answer to it, on which, like a man leaning on a pillar, you can lean the whole weight of your expectations-How am I to come into the presence of that devouring fire? Have you any fireproof dress that will enable you to go into the furnace like the Hebrew youths, and walk up and down in the midst of it, well and at liberty? Have you? ‘Who shall dwell amidst the everlasting fires?’
That question has stirred sometimes, I know, in the consciences of every man and woman that is listening to me. Some of you have tampered with it and tried to throttle it, or laughed at it and shuffled it out of your mind by the engrossments of business, and tried to get rid of it in all sorts of ways: and here it has met you again to-day. Let us have it settled, in the name of common-sense to invoke nothing higher, once for all, upon reasonable principles that will stand; and do you see that you settle it to-day.
II. And now, look next at the prophet’s answer.
Now, if at your leisure you will turn to Psa 15:1 – Psa 15:5 and Psa 24:1 – Psa 24:10 , you will find there two other versions of the same questions and the same answer, both of which were obviously in our prophet’s mind when he spoke. In the one you have the question put: ‘Who shall abide in Thy tabernacle?’ In the other you have the same question put: ‘Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?’ And both these two psalms answer the question and sketch the outline and it is only an outline of a righteous man, from the Old Testament point of view, substantially in the same fashion that Isaiah does here.
I do not need to remark upon the altogether unscientific and non-exhaustive nature of the description of righteousness that is set forth here. There are a great many virtues, plain and obvious, that are left out of the picture. But I ask you to notice one very special defect, as it might seem. There is not the slightest reference to anything that we call religion. It is all purely pedestrian, worldly morality; do righteous things; do not tell lies; do not cheat your neighbour; stop your ears if people say foul things in your hearing; shut your eyes if evil comes before you. These are the kind of duties enjoined, and these only. The answer of my text moves altogether on the surface, dealing only with conduct, not with character, and dealing with conduct only in reference to this world. There is not a word about the inner nature, not a word about the inner relation of a man to God. It is the minimum of possible qualifications for dwelling with God.
Well, now, do you achieve that minimum? Suppose we waive for the moment all reference to God; suppose we waive for the moment all reference to motive and inward nature; suppose we keep ourselves only on the outside of things, and ask what sort of conduct a man must have that is able to walk with God? We have heard the answer.
Now, then, is that me ? Is this sketch here, admittedly imperfect, a mere black-and-white swift outline, not intended to be shaded or coloured, or brought up to the round; is this mere outline of what a good man ought to be, at all like me? Yes or no? I think we must all say No to the question, and acknowledge our failure to attain to this homely ideal of conduct. The requirement pared down to its lowest possible degree, and kept as superficial as ever you can keep it, is still miles above me, and all I have to say when I listen to such words is, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’
My dear friends, take this one thought away with you:-the requirements of the most moderate conscience are such as no man among us is able to comply with. And what then? Am I to be shut up to despair? am I to say: Then nobody can dwell within that bright flame? Am I to say: Then when God meets man, man must crumble away into nothing and disappear? Am I to say, for myself: Then, alas for me! when I stand at His judgment bar?
III. Let us take the Apostle’s answer.
‘He that saith he hath fellowship with Him, and walketh in darkness, is a liar!’ That is John’s short way of gathering it all up. Righteousness is as essential in the gospel scheme for all communion and fellowship with God as ever it was declared to be by the most rigid of legalists; and if any of you have the notion that Christianity has any other terms to lay down than the old terms-that righteousness is essential to communion-you do not understand Christianity. If any of you are building upon the notion that a man can come into loving and familiar friendship with God as long as he loves and cleaves to any sin, you have got hold of a delusion that will wreck your souls yet,-is, indeed, harming, wrecking them now, and will finally destroy them if you do not got rid of it. Let us always remember that the declaration of my first text lies at the very foundation of the declaration of my second.
What, then, is the difference between them? Why, for one thing it is this-ISAIAH tells us that we must he righteous, John tells us how we may be. The one says, ‘There are the conditions,’ the other says, ‘Here are the means by which you can have the conditions.’ Love is the productive germ of all righteousness; it is the fulfilling of the law. Get that into your hearts, and all these relative and personal duties will come. If the deepest, inmost life is right, all the surface of life will come right. Conduct will follow character, character will follow love.
The efforts of men to make themselves pure, and so to come into the position of holding fellowship with God, are like the wise efforts of children in their gardens. They stick in their little bits of rootless flowers, and they water them; but, being rootless, the flowers are all withered to-morrow and flung over the hedge the day after. But if we have the love of God in our hearts, we have not rootless flowers, but the seed which will spring up and bear fruit of holiness.
But that is not all. Isaiah says ‘Righteousness,’ John says ‘Love,’ which makes righteousness. And then he tells us how we may get love, having first told us how we may get righteousness: ‘We love Him because He first loved us.’ It is just as impossible for a man to work himself into loving God as it is for a man to work himself into righteous actions. There is no difference in the degree of impossibility in the two cases. But what we can do is, we can go and gaze at the thing that kindles the love; we can contemplate the Cross on which the great Lover of our souls died, and thereby we can come to love Him. John’s answer goes down to the depths, for his notion of love is the response of the believing soul to the love of God which was manifested on the Cross of Calvary. To have righteousness we must have love; to have love we must look to the love that God has to us; to look rightly to the love that God has to us we must have faith. Now you have gone down to the very bottom of the matter. Faith is the first step of the ladder, and the second step is love and the third step is righteousness.
And so the New Testament, in its highest and most blessed declarations, rests itself firmly upon these rigid requirements of the old law. You and I, dear brethren, have but one way by which we can walk in the midst of that fire, rejoicing and unconsumed, namely that we shall know and believe the love which God hath to us, love Him back again ‘with pure hearts fervently,’ and in the might of that receptive faith and productive love, become like Him in holiness, and ourselves be ‘baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire.’ Thus, fire-born and fiery, we shall dwell as in our native home, in God Himself.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
fearfulness = trembling. Hebrew. re’adah. Only here in Isaiah; and elsewhere, only in Job 4:14. Psa 2:11; Psa 48:6.
surprised = seized.
Who . . . ? who . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. The answer implied being the negative.
among = for.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
sinners: Isa 7:2, Isa 28:14, Isa 28:15, Isa 28:17-22, Isa 29:13, Isa 30:8-11, Num 17:12, Num 17:13, Job 15:21, Job 15:22, Job 18:11, Psa 53:5, Pro 28:1, Rev 6:15-17
the hypocrites: Isa 9:17, Isa 10:6, Mat 22:12, Mat 24:51
Who among us shall dwell with the: Isa 5:24, Isa 29:6, Isa 30:27-33, Deu 5:24, Deu 5:25, Deu 32:21-24, Psa 11:6, Psa 21:9, Psa 50:3, Nah 1:6, Heb 12:29
everlasting: Isa 34:9, Isa 66:24, Mat 18:8, Mat 25:41, Mat 25:46, Mar 9:43-49, Luk 16:23-26, 2Th 1:8, Rev 14:10, Rev 20:10
Reciprocal: Gen 3:10 – and I was Lev 13:57 – shalt burn Lev 21:9 – she shall be burnt Num 11:1 – and the fire Deu 4:24 – thy God Deu 9:3 – a consuming fire Deu 28:34 – General Jdg 20:41 – were amazed 2Ki 22:17 – shall not be Job 8:13 – the hypocrite’s Job 13:16 – for an hypocrite Job 15:34 – the congregation Job 27:8 – General Psa 90:11 – General Isa 10:3 – And what Isa 10:17 – for a flame Isa 10:24 – be not afraid Isa 29:9 – and wonder Isa 32:11 – be troubled Jer 4:30 – And when Jer 5:31 – and what Hos 10:14 – shall a Amo 6:1 – to them Amo 9:10 – the sinners Mat 23:13 – woe Mar 9:44 – the fire Luk 12:1 – which Act 5:13 – of 2Co 5:11 – the terror 2Th 1:9 – be Heb 10:27 – a certain Heb 10:31 – a fearful Rev 14:11 – smoke
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 33:14. The sinners in Zion are afraid This is spoken, not of the Assyrians, but of the Jews. The prophet, having foretold the deliverance of Gods people, and the destruction of their enemies, for the greater illustration of that wonderful work, may be here considered as returning to the description of the dismal condition in which the Jews, especially such of them as were unbelieving and ungodly, should be before this deliverance came. For, although the pious Jews would be, in some measure, supported by a sense of Gods favour, and by his promises, delivered to them by Isaiah, yet very many of them, probably the generality, he foresaw, would be filled with horrors, and expectations of utter destruction. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? How shall we be able to abide the presence, and endure, or avoid, the wrath of that God, who is a consuming fire; who is now about to destroy us utterly by the Assyrians, and will afterward burn us with unquenchable fire? Or, the prophet may be considered as describing, in these words, the consternation with which the sinners in Zion would be struck, when they should see the Assyrian army destroyed; for the destruction of that is the fire spoken of immediately before, (Isa 33:11-12,) and they were conscious to themselves of having provoked this God, by their secret worshipping of other gods, as well as by many other sins. As if he had said, This miraculous destruction of the Assyrians shall strike even the most profane among the Jews, who used to scoff at Gods threatenings, with terror, lest he should proceed in wrath against themselves; so that they shall say, Who among us shall dwell with this devouring fire Before which so vast an army is as thorns? Who shall dwell with these everlasting burnings Which have made the Assyrians as the burnings of lime? How shall we be able to endure the wrath of this God, which, if it once seize upon us, will utterly consume us, and will also be a pledge and forerunner of eternal torments in hell, if not prevented by timely repentance? For, since it is sufficiently evident from both the Old and New Testaments, that the Jews, except the Sadducees, did generally believe in the rewards and punishments of a future life; it is not strange if their guilty consciences made them dread both present judgments here, and the terrible consequences of them hereafter.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
33:14 The {s} sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
(s) Which do not believe the words of the prophet, and the assurance of their deliverance.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The spectacular demonstration of God’s holiness in Assyria’s defeat would terrify sinners in Zion, those Jews who were unrepentant in Isaiah’s day. They would realize that they could not reside in His holy presence because of their sins.
"That Yahweh is a devouring fire is understood throughout the OT as a symbol of his holiness. The essence of worship is to recognize the gift of his mercy which makes it possible and even desirable to live in near contact with the Holy One." [Note: Watts, p. 427.]