For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name [is] Holy; I dwell in the high and holy [place], with him also [that is] of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
15. high and lofty ] An Isaianic phrase, ch. Isa 2:12 ff., Isa 6:1 (cf. Isa 52:13).
that inhabiteth eternity ] Rather, “that sitteth (enthroned) for ever.”
I dwell in the high and holy place] The strict rendering perhaps is “on high and Holy (as a holy One) I dwell.” Cf. Isa 66:1.
of a contrite and humble spirit ] crushed and of a lowly spirit. The expressions do not necessarily imply what we mean by contrition the crushing effect of remorse for sin but only the subdued, self-distrusting spirit which is produced by affliction. Comp. ch. Isa 66:2; Psa 51:17.
The word “holy” (here used as a proper name, see on ch. Isa 40:25) and the expressions “high and lofty” seem to shew the influence of Isaiah’s vision (ch. 6). The thought of the verse is very striking. It is the paradox of religion that Jehovah’s holiness, which places Him at an infinite distance from human pride and greatness, brings Him near to the humble in spirit (comp. Psa 113:5-6; Psa 138:6). No contrast is indicated: Jehovah dwells on high and (not but yet) with the lowly. It would be a mistake, however, to infer that holiness means or even includes gracious condescension. The two attributes are not mutually exclusive, but still less are they identical. The holiness of God is expressed by saying that He dwells on high; His dwelling with the contrite is another fact which manifests a different aspect of His character. Through the discipline of the Exile Israel had come to know God in both characters as infinitely exalted and infinitely condescending; it had learned that peace with God, the high and lofty One, is reached through humility, which is the recognition of His holiness and majesty.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For thus saith – The design of this verse is, to furnish the assurance that the promise made to the people of God would certainly be accomplished. It was not to be presumed that he was so high and lofty, that he did not condescend to notice the affairs of people; but though he, in fact, dwelt in eternity, yet he also had his abode in the human heart. Many of the ancient pagans supposed that God was so lofty that be did not condescend to notice human affairs. This was the view of the Epicureans (see the notes at Act 17:18); and the belief extensively prevailed in the Oriental world, that God had committed the management of the affairs of people to inferior beings which he had created. This was the basis of the Gnostic philosophy. According to this, God reposed far in the distant heavens, and was regardless of the affairs and plans of mortals, and personally unconcerned in the government of this lower world. But the Bible reveals him as a very different being. True, he is vast and illimitable in his existence and perfections; but, at the same time, he is the most condescending of all beings. He dwells with people, and he delights in making his home with the penitent and the contrite.
The high and lofty One – One manuscript reads Yahweh, before saith; and Lowth has adopted the reading; but the authority is not sufficient. The sense is, that he who is here spoken of is, by way of eminence, The high and holy One; the most high and the most exalted being in the universe. He is so far above all creatures of all ranks that it is not needful to specify his name in order to designate him. No one can be compared with him; no one so nearly approaches him that there can be any danger of confounding him with other beings.
That inhabiteth eternity – (Compare the notes at Isa 9:6). The word eternity here evidently stands in contrast with the contrite and humble spirit; and it seems to be used to denote the elevated place of an eternal dwelling or heaven. He dwells not only among human beings, but he dwells in eternity – where time is unknown – in a world where succession is not marked – and long before the interminable duration was broken in upon by the revolutions of years and days.
Whose name is Holy – (See the notes at Isa 1:4; Isa 30:11; Isa 41:14; Isa 43:3, Isa 43:8, Isa 43:14; Isa 47:4). I dwell in the high and holy place. In heaven – uniformly represented as far exalted above the earth, and as the special home or dwelling-place of God. Thus, in Isa 63:15, heaven is called the habitation of the holiness and glory of Yahweh.
With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit – The word contrite ( dakka’) means properly that which is broken, crushed, beaten small, trodden down. Here it denotes a soul that is borne down with a sense of sin and unworthiness; a heart that is, as it were, crushed under a superincumbent weight of guilt (see Psa 34:18; Psa 138:6).
To revive the spirit – literally, to make alive. The sense is, he imparts spiritual life and comfort. He is to them what refreshing rains and genial suns and dews are to a drooping plant.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 57:15-21
For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity.
—
A royal manifesto
A royal manifesto win His character as Sovereign, God brings before us, and before His loyal subjects in every age, what we may regard as His two titles and His two palaces.
I. HIS TWO TITLES.
1. The High and Lofty One. The nation had lapsed into unblushing idolatry. They had made surrender of their traditional creed, and specially of its fundamental article–the personality and unity of Jehovah; degrading it with the abominations of the Phoenician and Assyrian mythologies. In-addition to altars to Baal, crowning the high places, statues of Astarte were erected amid the groves of Terebinth. This latter goddess seemed to have been adopted by Ahaz as his tutelary deity; an awful and debasing counterfeit truly of the Supreme: sitting on a lion, holding a thunderbolt and sceptre in either hand, and her head surrounded with the crescent moon. No king, before or since, so defiled and desecrated the holy temple. Isaiah himself, amid this awful deterioration, this widespread atheism, might well be apt to give way to despair. His faith at times could hardly fail to be clouded. But the God he served calmed his fears and allayed his apprehensions by a special proclamation of His glory, and goodness, I am the alone High and Lofty One.
2. Whose name is Holy. The worst characteristic of these heathen deities was their unholiness.
II. HIS TWO PALACES.
1. The palace of eternity. That inhabiteth eternity. In nothing do we feel how puny we are, as when we attempt to scan the marvels and glories of this Divine dwelling-place, with its illimitable corridors of space and time.
2. What a transition, from the halls and corridors of eternity, to the human bosom! There is a twofold description here given of this humbler tabernacle where Jehovah dwells–a twofold characteristic of the human heart.
(1) It is contrite.
(2) After contrition, or as the sequel and complement of it, comes humility. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
The High gracious to the lowly
I. Let us consider who Is SPEAKING IN THE TEXT. This is necessary to a right apprehension of what He says, and particularly to a clear perception of those riches of condescension, compassion, and grace, which His words unfold to our view.
1. He is the High and Lofty One.
2. He inhabiteth eternity. He is therefore as different as possible from the children of men.
3. His name is Holy.
II. Let us consider WHAT IS SAID BY HIM.
1. He tells us that He dwells in the high and holy place; that is, in the heaven of heavens, the peculiar residence of the Deity, where His glory is chiefly manifested, and His favour is chiefly enjoyed. Heaven is not only high, but the highest place in the whole creation. There is no other place that can for a moment be compared with it, either in glory or felicity. Nor is there any other place so holy.
2. God here says that He dwells also with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. By the man thus described we are to understand the sinner who has been enlightened by the Spirit Of God, who has been convinced of his sinfulness, and brought to true repentance.
3. God here tells us what is the end He has in view in dwelling with such characters. It is to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. The same God that afflicts the sinner revives and cheers him. Learn–
(1) To entertain right thoughts of God.
(2) To harbour just thoughts of the contrite, humble, and penitent offender.
(3) How we may obtain solid happiness. (D Rees.)
God in heaven and in the heart
God has two special dwellings–the high and holy place, i.e the heaven not merely of space, but of pure and blessed spirits; and the hearts of men who have felt their sin and their need of God.
1. These two dwellings are far apart, How wide and great the one, how small and narrow the other! How permanent the one, how passing the other! How bright and untroubled the one, how dark and troubled the other!
2. They have yet something in common. The high place is akin to the humble spirit, for to see the far and high, and to long for it, is to rise; to have something of God within lifts up. The holy place is akin to the contrite heart; for to feel the sin and separation is to reach to the holy, and this comes from having God already in the heart at work.
3. They are to be brought into one. God dwells in them to unite them, to revive the spirit, to give life. And where God gives true life, He gives the earnest of heaven and eternity. These hearts are therefore on the way to being Gods perpetual home.
4. The full end of these words is in Christ. He came from the high and holy place to dwell among men, and find a way into human hearts–to make heaven and the heart one and eternal. (British Weekly.)
Mans greatness and Gods greatness
I. THAT IN WHICH THE GREATNESS OF GOD CONSISTS.
1. The first measurement, so to speak, which is given of Gods greatness, is in respect of time. He inhabiteth eternity.
2. There is a second measure given us of God in this verse. It is in respect of space. He dwelleth in the high and lofty place. He dwelleth, moreover, in the most insignificant place–even the heart of man. And the idea by which the prophet would here exhibit to us the greatness of God is that of His eternal omnipresence. It is difficult to say which conception carries with it the greatest exaltation–that of boundless space or that of unbounded time.
3. The third measure which is given us of God respects His character. His name is Holy
(1) The chief knowledge which we have of Gods holiness comes from our acquaintance with unholiness. We know what impurity is–God is not that. We scarcely can be rightly said to know, that is to feel, what God is. And therefore this is implied in the very name of holiness. Holiness in the Jewish sense means simply separateness. From all that is wrong, and mean, and base, our God is for ever separate.
(2) There is another way in which God gives to us a conception of what this holiness implies. Holiness is only a shadow to our minds, till it receives shape and substance in the life of Christ.
(3) There is a third light in which Gods holiness is shown to us, and that is in the sternness with which He recoils from guilt. Revelation opens to us a scene beyond the grave, when this shall be exhibited in full operation. There will be an everlasting banishment from Gods presence of that impurity on which the last efforts had been tried in vain. But it is quite a mistake to suppose that this is only a matter of revelation. Traces of it we have now on this side the sepulchre. Human life is full of Gods recoil from sin.
II. THAT IN WHICH MANS GREATNESS CONSISTS.
1. The nature of that greatness. In these two things the greatness of man consists. One is to have God so dwelling in us as to impart His character to us; and the other is to have God so dwelling in us that we recognize His presence, and know that we are His and He is ours.
2. The persons who are truly great. These the Holy Scripture has divided into two classes–those who are humble and those who are contrite in heart. Or rather, it will be observed that it is the same class of character under different circumstances. Humbleness is the frame of mind of those who are in a state of innocence, contrition of those who are in a state of repentant guilt. Let not the expression innocence be misunderstood. Innocence in its true and highest sense never existed but once upon this earth. Innocence cannot be the religion of man now. But yet there are those who have walked with God from youth, not quenching the spirit which He gave them, and who are therefore comparatively innocent beings. They are described here as the humble in heart. Two things are required for this state of mind. One is that a man should have a true estimate of God, and the other is that he should have a true estimate of himself, The other class of those who are truly great are the contrite in spirit. Conclusion:–
1. The danger of coming into collision with such a God as our God. Day by day we commit sins of thought and word of which the dull eye of man takes no cognizance. He whose name is Holy cannot pass them by. God can wait, for He has a whole eternity before Him in which He may strike.
2. The heavenly character of condescension. It is not from the insignificance of man that Gods dwelling with him is so strange. But the marvel is that the habitation which He has chosen for Himself is an impure one. If we would be Godlike, we must follow in the same steps. Our temptation is to do exactly the reverse. We are for ever wishing to obtain the friendship and the intimacy of those above us in the world.
3. The guilt of two things of which the world is full–vanity and pride. The distinction consists in this–the vain man looks for the admiration of others–the proud man requires nothing but his own. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
A voice from eternity to the children of Him,
I. THIS VOICE REVEALS AN EXISTENCE THAT STANDS IN SUBLIME CONTRAST WITH ALL THAT IS HUMAN.
II. THIS VOICE REVEALS A PRIVILEGE OF IMMENSE VALUE TO THE GOOD.
1. This VOICE reveals Gods special regard for a good mans experience. This High and Lofty One condescends to regard with special interest those of a contrite and humble spirit.
2. This voice reveals Gods special contact with a good mans existence. He not only dwells in the high and holy place, but with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit. Dwelling implies a close intimacy. He is, by the influences of His love, nearer to the good than He is to others; near to guide, to succour, to strengthen. Dwelling implies not only a close intimacy, but a permanent one. He does not come and go as an occasional sojourner; He continues as a settled resident in the soul. He is always with His people, in sorrow and joy, in life and death.
3. This VOICE reveals Gods special quickening of a good mans spirit. To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. God comes down to the spirit, not to crush it, but to revive it, to give it a new life, to bring out by the sunshine of His presence all its dormant germs, and to make it fruitful in all good works. He gives it a life, over which circumstances, time, and death, have no power. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
God
He is a God, saith one, whose nature is majesty, whose place is immensity, whose time is eternity, whose life is sanctity, whose power is omnipotency, whose work is mercy, whose wrath is justice, whose throne is sublimity, whose seat is humility. (J. Trapp.)
Gods eternity
Though intellectually incomprehensible, the thought of it is inestimably valuable.
1. It furnishes us with the only satisfactory account of the origin of the universe. Creation is but Gods eternal thoughts in shape, His eternal will in action.
2. It shows to us our incapability of pronouncing upon His ways. During our existence here, He is working out a plan that, like Himself, never had a beginning and will never have an end.
3. It enables us to give an eternal freshness to the Bible. Being eternal, what He thought when He inspired men to write the Book He thinks now. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The contrite spirit
The word contrition in the text is a very strong word. It literally means a pounded state, as of a stone which by blow on blow of heavy hammers, or the grinding of wagon wheels, has been crushed into dust. By this vigorous metaphor it strives to make vivid to us the moral state of a man whose whole strength of self-reliance and erectness of moral carriage has been broken down through the sense of guilt and moral weakness; one who by repeated trials of his own instability, and blow after blow of discouraging rebuke from God, feels himself left in the path of evil a heart-broken man, over whom the trampling feet of innumerable masterful sins, with all their evil followers, seem to find free passage; a man beaten down and crushed out of spirit by vain struggles against sin and inescapable poundings from the violated laws of God. Now this moral condition, though it looks hopeless, is really a hopeful one. It is the only hopeful one. And the hopefulness of it lies here, that no man is ever so crushed in heart by sin unless he hates sin. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.)
The High and Lofty One dwelling with the contrite man
(with Isa 66:1-2):–
I. We remark that, FROM ETERNITY, THE RESIDENCE OF GOD HAS ALWAYS CORRESPONDED WITH HIS INFINITE NATURE AND PERFECTIONS. This seems to be implied in the text in three particulars: being eternal, He has inhabited eternity; as the High and Lofty One, He has occupied the throne of supremacy; and His name being Holy, He has dwelt in the high and holy place.
II. IF HE CONDESCEND TO HOLD INTERCOURSE WITH MAN, IT CAN ONLY BE IN HARMONY WITH THE SAME PRINCIPLE. He has not one principle for one world and another principle for another. Select any principle of His conduct, and you will find that, like Himself, it is from everlasting to everlasting; and all this owing to that infinite perfection of His nature which neither requires nor admits of a change.
1. Why is it that He comes forth and gives us this description of Himself? Why, but to show us that, if He condescends to hold any intercourse with us, the terms of that intercourse must be prescribed entirely by Himself. You judge (as if He had said) of what a fellow-creature may expect from you by his tittles; hear My titles–Jehovah, the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy. What distinction can you add to them. You estimate a mortals rank by the remoteness of his ancestry–I am the First, the unoriginated Being. You judge of a mortals rank by the mansion he inhabits, and, on occasion, you prepare for his reception accordingly. I dwell in the high and holy place. You can be awed by the presence of even human worth; what, then, should you feel in the presence of Him whose name is Holy–who, if He looks on iniquity, can only look on it to scorch and wither it up? You think of erecting a temple which shall attract the Majesty of heaven by its splendours, as if you should invite a monarch to descend from his throne by gilding his footstool. On account of His greatness, you would enlarge its dimensions. But do not I fill heaven and earth? On account of His grandeur, you would multiply its priests and bedizen them with costly robes. Think of His state and retinue above, where His train filleth the temple, where thousand thousands minister unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before Him! On account of His supremacy, you would multiply His sacrifices. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, saith God, or drink the blood of goats? Multiply them as you will, set all Lebanon in a blaze, and offer up all its herds as a burnt-offering, still
He can say, Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. Offer up the whole material world, and He could say, The world is Mine, and the fulness thereof. But because man may have convicted himself of folly in these respects, is he, therefore, to retire mortified and in despair of ever securing the Divine presence? Let us hear what God the Lord will yet say to us. I dwell., with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit. What is the transition from that height to that depth nothing to Him, that He speaks of it in one sentence–in the same breath? With him also–as if it made little or no difference to His greatness whether He dwelt there or here!
2. Having thus humbled Himself, we see the reasonableness of His selecting the humble and the contrite as the objects of His Divine regard. It is only such that are prepared to receive Him. As the infinite and eternal Spirit, He comes to commune with our spirit; but in the case of every class except the humble, He finds the ground already occupied, and He has to stand at the door and knock. As the High and Lofty One, He comes to have His supremacy recognized, to receive us at His footstool; but all except the humble are seated on little thrones of their own, and will not come down to receive Him. As the Being whose name is Holy, He comes to imprint on us the likeness of His own image; but none save the humble and those melted in contrition are in a state to receive the sacred impress. He comes to be honoured, appreciated, adored; but all save the humble are busied in asserting their own little claims–are, in effect, prepared to quarrel with His supremacy, and to pluck at His sceptre. Can we wonder, then, that if He comes to commune with us, His abode should be with the humble? Where should goodness dwell but with gratitude? Where should the fulness of the Creator pour itself forth but into the emptiness of the creature?
3. But will He commune even with the contrite? For here the wonder presents itself, that He should condescend even to this. And what part of His conduct towards us is not marked with condescension? And what part of His condescension is not an abyss of wonder?
III. FROM THIS IT FOLLOWS, THAT NO RELIGIOUS WORSHIP CAN BE ACCEPTABLE TO GOD, EXCEPT AS IT HARMONIZES WITH THE CHARACTER OF GOD. Indeed, if this harmony were not necessary–if the individual or the Church could obtain access to God without such harmony with His character, it could not conduce to their real advantage. That in which the happiness of our spiritual nature consists must be something congenial to that nature, and something which is capable of imparting itself to that nature.
1. If supremacy comes here, He expects to behold subordination, and what is that but humility? Humility does not necessarily and of itself imply a sense of guilt. Angels are among the most humble of His creatures, for they never lose sight of their entire dependence on Him. And the greatest example of excellence which earth ever saw, though unstained by a single pollution, could say, I am meek and lowly of heart.
2. Humility is not enough for man. If they who have never sinned are humble, more than humility must be proper for man–there must be contrition also. The text implies this: it intimates that if the High and Holy One comes amongst us, He expects to be received amidst the sighs of penitence and the tears of godly sorrow.
3. But more–if this voice of mercy is to be heard–if He comes amongst us to address us, He expects that we should tremble at His word–that is, that our hearts should vibrate and respond to every accent Heutters. But if the very perfection of His nature makes this correspondence necessary, so also do the wants and the well-being of our nature. Everything in creation trembles and responds to the voice of God but the stony heart of man; and the welfare of everything depends on its power thus to respond.
IV. THE SUBJECT INTIMATES THAT ALL HUMAN INSTRUMENTALITY, IN THE SERVICE OF GOD, DEPENDS FOR ITS EFFICIENCY ON THE SAME CONDITION–THAT OF HARMONY WITH THE DIVINE CHARACTER. (J. Harris, D. D.)
The High and Lofty One
(with Isa 66:1-2):–
I. THE DIVINE MAJESTY. Consider–
1. The grandeur of His state. Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool, a throne being an emblem of authority and power.
2. HIS attributes.
II. THE DIVINE CONDESCENSION.
1. THE OBJECTS OF HIS regard. The qualities which attract His attention belong to the mind and heart.
(1) God dwells not with the wise because of their wisdom–not with the great because of their greatness–not with the rich because of their riches–not with the poor because of their poverty, but with all–whether wiseor great, rich or poor-who possess a contrite spirit.
(2) Again- those with whom God dwells are the humble. Gods grace is at war with pride.
(3) Those with whom God dwells cherish a spirit of reverence for His Word. To that man will I look that trembleth at My Word. There is little doubt that we should tremble at Gods word if it were addressed to us by an audible voice. Viewed in whatever light, still the Bible is a wonderful book. But what reverence is due to it as the oracle of truth, as the rule of life, as the lamp which God has kindled to be a light to our path! We reverence this Word when we receive all Scripture as given by inspiration of God, and thus saith the Lord settles with us every religious controversy.
2. The expressions of the Divine regard.
(1) To this man will I look, figurative language denoting the interest which God takes in contrite and humble souls, and the complacency with which He regards them.
(2) It is added, With him will I dwell. First of all the question is proposed, Where is the house that ye will build Me? My temple is the universe, I inhabit eternity,, I dwell in the high and holy place. Where is the house that ye will build Me? What a mystery is here, God dwelling by His Spirit in the heart, restoring the reign of holiness, setting up His law, establishing His authority, shedding abroad His gracious influences, filling it with light and peace and love!
(3) But He is said to dwell there for a special purpose, to revive the heart of the contrite ones. There are many things in life to depress and discourage us–some are cast down by adversities, some are harassed by spiritual doubts, some are suffering from a consciousness of sin; and with all such the High and Lofty One dwells. (H. J. Gamble.)
The dignity and condescension of God
God is set before us–
I. IN THE DIGNITY OF HIS CHARACTER. We have–
1. His rank as supreme. The High and Lofty One.
2. His existence as eternal. That inhabiteth eternity.
3. His nature as unsullied. Whose name is Holy. And as His name is, so is He.
II. HIS WONDERFUL CONDESCENSION. With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, etc.
1. Permanence. He dwells in the high and holy place; it is His chosen, His special, His fixed abode. When it is, therefore, added, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, the same idea is set forth. If any man love Me, said the Saviour, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
2. Attachment. We may have to do with those for whom we feel no regard; but we would not, if invited, take up our residence with such. When persons dwell together as a matter of free choice, it is evident that there is something to attract them to each other.
3. Communion.
4. Consolation. Where He comes, He comes to bless; and how valuable is the blessing which is here specified–to revive the spirit of the humble, etc. This He does by the quickening and comforting influences of that Divine Spirit which is promised to all them that believe.
III. HIS FATHERLY REBUKES AND CORRECTIONS.
1. Their measure. He whose name is Holy cannot but show His displeasure against sin, whether it be found in the openly rebellious or in His own people. But, in reference to the latter, there are gracious limits within which His righteous anger is restrained. For I will not contend for ever, etc. (Isa 57:16).
2. Their cause. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, etc. (Isa 57:17). It seems that a covetous spirit pervaded the people of that generation at large. Covetousness is an abominable thing in the sight of God.
3. Their final issue. For a time the chastisements were unavailing, but the people were brought at length to a state of penitence. It is therefore said, I have seen his ways, and will heal him, etc. (Isa 57:18).
IV. THE OFFERS OF HIS LOVE AND MERCY, I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, etc. (Isa 57:19). The expression fruit of the lips sometimes denotes praise, as when the apostle says, By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually; that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But while what is here announced might well excite our warmest gratitude, it is probable that the above phrase is used here in a more general signification. The fruit of the lips is what the lips produce, even words; and those which we have now to consider are pre-eminently gracious words. In reference to this proclamation we notice–
1. Its nature. There is a twofold view in which the word peace may be regarded. The first is that of good-will, which was the sense in which it was employed in ordinary salutations. But in its more restricted sense it means reconciliation.
2. Its objects. Peace, peace, to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord. The Jews are described as a people near unto Him. There are those among ourselves who may be regarded as farther from God and from righteousness than others. To the chief of sinners we are permitted to say, I bring you good tidings of great joy.
3. Its efficiency. And I will heal him. I will make the message effectual.
V. HIS FEELINGS TOWARDS HIS INCORRIGIBLE ENEMIES (Isa 57:20-21). (Anon.)
Eternity
The contemplation of eternity
There are some subjects on which it would be good to dwell, if it were only for the sake of that enlargement of mind which is produced by their contemplation. And eternity is one of these, so that you cannot steadily fix the thoughts upon it without being sensible of a peculiar kind of elevation, at the same time that you are humbled by a personal feeling of utter insignificance. You have come in contact with something so immeasurable–beyond the narrow range of our common speculations–that you are exalted by the very conception of it. Now the only way we have of forming any idea of eternity is by going, step by step, up to the largest measures of time we know of, and so ascending, on and on, till we are lost in wonder. We cannot grasp eternity, but we can learn something of it by perceiving that, rise to what portion of time we will, eternity is vaster than the vastest. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Eternity
1. Eternity is the most distasteful subject to the natural man.
2. Whether ignored or not its importance remains the same.
3. In eternity there will be some marvellous revelations.
4. The nature of your eternity will be decided at the Cross.
It is not the number or the heinousness of your sins that will condemn to hell, nor the beauty or strictness of your morality that will bring to heaven. Eternity will be decided by your relation to a crucified Jesus. (A. G. Brown.)
Eternity–definitions
Eternity, saith the puritan, Charnock, is a perpetual duration which has neither beginning nor end. Time hath both. Those things we say are in time, that have beginning, grow up by degrees, have succession of parts. Eternity is contrary to time, and is therefore a permanent and immutable state, without any variation. It comprehends in itself all years, all ages, all periods of ages. It never begins! It endures after every duration of time, and never ceaseth. It doth as much outrun time as it went before the beginning of it. Time supposeth something before it, but there can be nothing before eternity; it were not then eternity. Time hath a continual succession; the former time passeth away, and another succeeds, the last year is not this year, nor this year the next. We must conceive of eternity contrary to the notion of time. As the nature of time consists in the succession of parts, so the nature of eternity is an infinite immutable duration. Eternity and time differ as the sea and rivers; the sea never changes place, but the rivers glide along, and are swallowed up in the sea so is time by eternity. A simpler, but perhaps more striking definition, was that given by one of the pupils of the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Paris, who, in answer to the question, What is eternity? replied, The lifetime of the Almighty.
Eternal
The word eternal is the unknown quantity of revelation, transcending present experience, and not to be represented by heaps of ages, or to be defined as endless. It is the timeless state. (N. Smyth, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. For thus saith the high and lofty One – “For thus saith JEHOVAH, the high and the lofty”] A MS. adds Yehovah, after amar, and edition Prag. 1518. So the Septuagint, Alex., and Arabic. An ancient MS. adds Yah.
With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit] Twelve MSS. have eth, without the conjunction vau. Pro veeth, forte legendum veerah: confer Ps 113:5, et Ps 138:6. – SECKER. “We should perhaps read veerah, instead of veeth. See Ps 113:5; Ps 138:6.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Whose name is Holy; who is omnipotent, everlasting, and unchangeable, holy in all his words and ways, and therefore both can and will deliver his people, as he hath promised to do.
With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit; with such also whose spirits are broken and humbled by afflictions, and by a sense of their sins for which they were afflicted; which doubtless was the case of many of the Jews in the Babylonish captivity; whom therefore he here implies that God would pity and deliver out of their distresses.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. The pride andself-righteousness of the Jews were the stumbling block in the way oftheir acknowledging Christ. The contrition of Israel in thelast days shall be attended with God’s interposition in their behalf.So their self-humiliation, in Isa 66:2;Isa 66:5; Isa 66:10,c., precedes their final prosperity (Zec 12:6Zec 12:10-14); there will,probably, be a previous period of unbelief even after their return(Zec 12:8; Zec 12:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For thus saith the high and lofty One,…. Who is high above the earth, and the nations of it; higher than the kings in it; the King of kings, and Lord of lords; and so able to save his people, and destroy his and their enemies; who is higher than the heavens, and the angels there; who is exalted above the praises of his people; the knowledge of whose being and perfections is too wonderful for them; whose thoughts are higher than theirs; and whose love has a height in it not to be reached by them; all which may serve to command a proper awe and reverence of him, and close attention to what he says; and perhaps these characters and titles are assumed in opposition to antichrist, who exalts himself above all that is called God, as well as what follows; who boasts of antiquity, and insolently takes to himself the title of Holiness: wherefore the Lord goes on to describe himself as
he that inhabiteth eternity: is from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning or end, the first and the last, who only hath immortality in and of himself; angels and the souls of men, though they die not, yet have a beginning; God only is from eternity to eternity; or rather inhabits one undivided, uninterrupted, eternity, to which time is but a mere point or moment:
whose name is Holy: his nature being so; he is originally and essentially holy, and the source of holiness to his creatures, angels and men; though none are holy in comparison of him; his holiness is displayed in all his works; he is glorious in it; and therefore with great propriety holy and reverend is his name:
I dwell in the high and holy place; he dwelt in the most holy place in the tabernacle and temple, which were figures of the true sanctuary, heaven, where Jehovah dwells, and seems to be here meant; though the word “place” is not in the text; and it may be rendered, “I dwell with the high and holy” b; and Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, interpret it of the holy angels; and if we apply it to the holy and divine Persons in the Trinity, the Son and Spirit, it may not be amiss, and will stand well connected with what follows
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit; not only with the other divine Persons, and with those high ones, but with such who are broken under a sense of sin; not merely in a legal, but in an evangelical way; not only with the weight of divine wrath, but with a view of pardoning grace and mercy; and such souls are humble as well as contrite; have the worst thoughts of themselves, and the best of others; they are humble under a sense of sin and unworthiness, and submit to the righteousness of Christ for their acceptance and justification before God; and ascribe the whole of their salvation to his free grace alone; and become cheerful followers of the meek and lowly Jesus; with such the Lord dwells, not merely by his omnipresence and omnipotence, but by his spirit and grace; or in a gracious way and manner, by shedding abroad his love in their hearts, and communicating his grace to them; and which he usually does under the ministry of the word and ordinances, and which may be expected: and his end in so doing is,
to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones; who are sometimes in a very lifeless and uncomfortable condition; grace is weak; sin is prevalent; they are under a sense of divine displeasure; under the hidings of God’s face, and attended with various afflictions and adverse dispensations of Providence: now the Lord dwells with them, to revive and quicken them; which he does by his gracious presence; by the discoveries of his pardoning love and grace; by the application of precious promises; and by granting large measures of his grace, so that they become comfortable in their souls, and are quickened to the fresh exercise of grace, and discharge of duty. All this seems to be spoken for the consolation of the Lord’s people in their low estate, during the reign of antichrist, and towards the close of it, when greatly oppressed by him. Vitringa interprets this of the Waldenses and Bohemian brethren; but it seems to respect later times.
b “excelso et sancto habitabo”, Pagninus, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The primary ground for this voice being heard at all is, that the Holy One is also the Merciful One, and not only has a manifestation of glory on high, but also a manifestation of grace below. “For thus saith the high and lofty One, the eternally dwelling One, He whose name is Holy One; I dwell on high and in the holy place, and with the contrite one and him that is of a humbled spirit, to revive the spirit of humbled ones, and to revive the heart of contrite ones.” He inflicts punishment in His wrath; but to those who suffer themselves to be urged thereby to repentance and the desire for salvation, He is most inwardly and most effectually near with His grace. For the heaven of heavens is not too great for Him, and a human heart is not too small for Him to dwell in. And He who dwells upon cherubim, and among the praises of seraphim, does not scorn to dwell among the sighs of a poor human soul. He is called ram (high), as being high and exalted in Himself; (the lofty One), as towering above all besides; and . This does not mean the dweller in eternity, which is a thought quite outside the biblical range of ideas; but, since stands to not in an objective, but in an attributive or adverbial relation (Psa 45:7, cf., Pro 1:33), and , as opposed to being violently wrested from the ordinary sphere of life and work (cf., Psa 16:9; 102:29), denotes a continuing life, a life having its root in itself, must mean the eternally (= ) dwelling One, i.e., He whose life lasts for ever and is always the same. He is also called qadosh , as One who is absolutely pure and good, separated from all the uncleanness and imperfection by which creatures are characterized. This is not to be rendered sanctum nomen ejus , but sanctus ; this name is the facit of His revelation of Himself in the history of salvation, which is accomplished in love and wrath, grace and judgment. This God inhabits m arom v e qadosh , the height and the Holy Place (accusatives of the object, like m arom in Isa 33:5, and m e romm in Isa 33:16), both together being equivalent to (1Ti 6:16), since qadosh (neuter, as in Psa 46:5; Psa 65:5) answers to , and m arom to . But He also dwells with ( as in Lev 16:16) the crushed and lowly of spirit. To these He is most intimately near, and that for a salutary and gracious purpose, namely “to revive … .” e and always signify either to keep that which is living alive, or to restore to life that which is dead. The spirit is the seat of pride and humility, the heart the seat of all feeling of joy and sorrow; we have therefore spiritum humilium and cor contritorum . The selfish egotism which repentance breaks has its root in the heart; and the self-consciousness, from whose false elevation repentance brings down, has its seat in the spirit ( Psychol. p. 199).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
15. For thus hath spoken the High and Lofty One. He confirms the former statement about the restoration of the people from captivity. But this verse may be explained in two ways; either that the Prophet meets the doubt which might spring up in the hearts of good men, and thus compares things which are contrasted with each other; or, that he draws an argument from the nature of God, in order to strengthen weak minds. To explain these things more clearly, we know, first, that our hearts are often distracted by these thoughts, that God is actually in heaven, but that there is a great distance between him and us, and that, he overlooks or despises human affairs, and, in a word, that he takes no care at all about us. In order to correct this imagination, the Prophet says that God does indeed dwell in a lofty place, but does not the less on that account look at this world and govern it by his providence; for he is anxious about the salvation of men, and dwells with the afflicted, and with them that are of a broken and humble heart; as it is said, “Jehovah is high, and hath respect to the lowly,” (Psa 138:6) and in other passages.
The other meaning is, that the Prophet shows that God is very unlike us; for we tremble in adversity, because we measure him by our standard, and say, “How shall the Lord render assistance to us, who are oppressed?” Besides, men who are in distress are commonly overlooked and despised. Thus we think that God holds us in no estimation, because we form our ideas of him from our own nature. But we ought to entertain very different views of him; and therefore he says, that he “dwelleth in heaven,” in order to intimate that he is not liable to human passions; for he is like himself at all times, and never changes his purpose; and therefore as he has once promised restoration to his people, so he will perform it. I do not dislike this interpretation, nor do I reject the former, which is fuller and more abundant, and agrees with other passages of Scripture, that commonly join together those two things; that the Lord dwelleth in heaven, and taketh care of human affairs, and especially of his children, as I stated briefly a little before.
Who dwelleth in eternity. We are fickle, and apply our minds sometimes to one subject, and sometimes to another; and our hearts do not continue to be fixed on that which we have once embraced. On this account he distinguishes between God and men, for on him no shadow of change falls; but we have not such steadfastness as to exercise constant care about those who need our assistance.
I inhabit the high and holy. קדוש ( kadosh) sometimes denotes the temple, but here it denotes heaven itself. We see the reason why he calls him “the Holy One,” and “the inhabitant of the holy and lofty place.” It is in order to inform us how much he differs from us, and how unlike he is to our nature. Besides, we ought to draw from it a singular consolation, that the Lord wishes to assist the wretched, and even chooses for himself a habitation amongst them, that is, provided that they acknowledge their wretchedness.
And with him who is lowly in spirit. Wicked men are oppressed by various calamities, but do not cease to be fierce and haughty. It will be vain for them to hope that God will draw near to them; (114) for their hearts must be lowly and utterly cast down, if they expect to obtain any assistance from God. Accordingly, he descends even to the lifeless, that he may breathe new life into them and form them anew. Twice he expressly mentions the “lowly spirit,” and the “afflicted heart,” that we may know that these promises belong to those who, in their afflictions, shall not be hardhearted and rebellious, and who, in short, shall lay aside all haughtiness and be meek and lowly.
(114) “ Que telles gens n’esperent point que Dieu s’approche d’eux.” “Let not such persons hope that God will draw near to them.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE GLORY OF GOD THE COMFORT OF THE CONTRITE
Isa. 57:15. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inheriteth eternity, &c.
I. A MAGNIFICENT DESCRIPTION OF THE GREATNESS OF GOD.
His glory appears
1. In His essential majesty. He is the high and lofty Oneexalted far above us, out of human view and conception; the one mighty Author, Creator, Preserver, and Lord of all; to whom none other is like (Neh. 9:5; H. E. I. 22252228).
2. In the immutability of His existence. He inhabiteth eternity. What a sublime expression! (Psa. 90:1-4; H. E. I. 2253; P.D. 2536).
3. In the infinite rectitude of His character. Whose name is Holy. By the holiness of God we mean the unity and harmony in Him of every species of moral goodness in its highest measure, or rather beyond measure; this forms His distinguishing glory (H. E. I. 2275, 2818).
4. In the exalted place of abode where He more immediately manifests His presence.
II. AN INSTRUCTIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE TEMPER WHICH SHOULD EVER RULE IN THE MIND AND HEART OF MAN WHEN BEFORE THIS GREAT GOD.
1. As a frail, mortal, feeble creature, who is crushed before the moth, humility is the proper temper for man before God. Even angels and archangels veil their faces with their wings in His presence.
2. As transgressors, it behoves us to be abased in the awful presence of the Most High. Something more than humility becomes man as an offender against his rightful Sovereign. Contrition is more; it is penitence for sin, brokenness of heart for having offended God. The first is always mans duty as a creature; the second, as a sinner. Two things contribute to real contrition:
(1) A sense of Gods gracious, benignant character. Nothing sets mans frightful ingratitude in so odious and prominent a light as the unspeakable goodness of the great God. So long as man falsely conceives of Him as a hard master, he feels, he can feel, no contrition; but when he discerns that God is, and ever has been, infinitely good, and to him also, his heart bursts with ingenuous grief and self-abhorrence.
(2) A perception of the inscrutable wickedness of the human heart, which, like the prophet Ezekiels chamber of imagery, discloses more and more of its interior abominations, the more closely it is examined. To produce this contrition of soul is one principle object of Divine teaching and grace (Eze. 36:26; Eze. 12:10; Eze. 16:63).
The presence in any man of this humility is certain to be manifested in an unmistakable manner, the manifestation itself further preparing him for the Divine mercy. A proud heart murmurs under rebuke, like the children of Israel in the wilderness; or rejects warnings like the men in the days of Noah and of Lot; or dares God to His face, like Pharaoh. So acted the majority of the men to whom Isaiah ministered (Isa. 9:13). But the contrite and humble in spirit receive the Divine rebukes, justify God in His righteous retributions, condemn themselves, and venture only to hope in His mercy (Job. 34:32; Job. 42:5-6; Psa. 119:75; Psa. 69:20).
III. AN UNRIVALLED DESCRIPTION OF THE MARVELLOUS CONDESCENSION OF GOD TO THE MAN IN WHOM THERE IS THIS RIGHT TEMPER.
1. God adopts the heart of the penitent as His abode. The allusion is to the temple (Isa. 66:1-2; Joh. 14:23). The humble and contrite heart is prepared to entertain the Divine Guest: it is emptied of pride and self, &c.
2. Observe the purpose for which He enters it: to revive the spirit of the humble, &c. The image is drawn from the revival of the face of nature by refreshing rain after a long drought, or from raising to new life a dejected and desponding mind by joyful and unexpected tidings. Although penitence and contrition may have done their work, comfort is still wanting, so long as the inhabitation of God by His Spirit is wanting. The daily increasing perception of innate corruption weighs down the heart. Conscience accuses, the law condemns. The joy of pardon sometimes springs up, but it fades again. The hope of being a sincere penitent cheers at times; but it is difficult for the soul to discern, amidst its tears and dejection, the marks of repentance unto life. Afflictions add to the general woeGod seems armed against the soul. But at length it pleases God to revive the spirit, &c He sheds light amidst the gloom, &c. The prophet doubles the expression, to denote the certainty and magnitude of the blessing. The exhausted, dying traveller, plundered, wounded, and left for dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, was not more truly revived by the wine and oil of the good Samaritan, than the spirit of the contrite one is revived by the presence and indwelling of the Saviour in the heart (Isa. 57:18, and Isa. 61:3).
3. All this consolation flows from the view of the Divine greatness. The whole scope of the text is directed to this one point; and almost all similar descriptions of the majesty of the Almighty are given in connection with His condescension to man (Psa. 113:4-6; Psa. 138:6, &c). Consolation flowing from Gods goodness, mercy, compassion, love, is great indeed; but not so overwhelming as that which springs from His greatness, holiness, and self-existence. For
(1) The sense of favour is thus enhanced. The condescension is more remarkable. The stooping, as it were, is from a greater height.
(2) The wonder and surprise are greater. Why is God first set before us in such magnificence, but to magnify the subsequent condescension by its suddenness? The beginning of the text seems to prepare for just a contrary conclusion.
(3) The value of redemption is elevated by the majesty and holiness of the exalted and lofty One who dwells in the contrite heart. For it is these very perfections of the moral Governor of the world which required such a sacrifice as the death of His only begotten Son. If you sink them, you sink the value of our redemption.
(4) The sense of security and deliverance is also greater. If this God be for us, who can be against us? Our feebleness is no ground of fear, if we are sheltered in the Rock of Ages.
(5) The final end of man seems more distinctly taken into account and provided for. For we were made to enjoy this great God. We were endowed with all but angelic powers that we might know, adore, possess, and find our felicity in this glorious Creator.
CONCLUSION.Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear in the last fearful day? If God be so glorious, what will then become of those who, like Pharaoh, refuse to humble themselves before Him? Submit, ere it be too late!Bishop Wilson: Sermons Delivered in India, pp. 188206.
Can the infinite God hold intercourse with man and interest Himself in his affairs? It seems incredible. He has made man capable of it. He has favoured some men with intercourse. He has revealed Himself as deeply interested in man, and has explained in His Word the circumstances and conditions under which He holds intercourse with us. It is not a conjecture. It is a glorious certainty. Is not this the burden of the Bible; how God the Father, through Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, dwells with man? Our text is a magnificent declaration of the fact. It is
I. A PROCLAMATION OF THE DIVINE GRANDEUR.
We cannot conceive the Divine essence. We can only think of God as possessed of certain attributes in infinite perfection; and even these we can only conceive in so far as they resemble something in ourselves, and thus as capable of expression by means of human language (H. E. I., 2230, 2234, 2236).
Think
1. Of the Divine Eternity (Psa. 90:2, and others).
2. Of the Divine Holiness. Names with us are words selected because of some pleasant association, or adopted arbitrarily for the purpose of distinguishing one person from another. In ancient times the name was given because it expressed some quality in the person or some prophecy respecting him. Hence the Divine names in Scripture are instructive and important. Whose name is holy. Holiness is the essential characteristic of His Being. It is like the incandescent heat; all white.
3. Of the Divine Sublimity. Height and depth are in relation to each other, and to all the space between their extremes. He is beyond comparison with creatures of every rank. Ascend the loftiest mountain; soar beyond the remotest star; contemplate the most exalted intellect; behold the ranks of angels and archangelsyou will be as far as ever from the incomparable sublimity of God.
4. Of the Divine Majesty. The palace of the great King answers to the dignity of His nature. If a place must be imagined as the special dwelling-place of God, let it be beyond the hills, above the clouds, far above all heavens, adorned with the richest splendours of the universe. But this conducts us to the fact that He has another and a different dwelling-place. And this is the most astonishing announcement of the text.
II. AN ASSERTION OF THE DIVINE CONDESCENSION.
His dwelling-place below is in the heart of the lowly (Psa. 34:18; Psa. 51:17; Psa. 138:6; Psa. 147:3; Isa. 66:2). Not merely permission of distant communication; but Gods abiding presence, the sweet intercourse of those who dwell happily together in the same house, the blessed reunion of those who had been separated by sin.
Is not this wondrous condescension? Does the occupant of the splendid mansion choose to live among the poor? Do the lofty dwell with the lowly? Is it not the study of those only moderately uplifted to get away as soon and as far as possible from the neighbourhood of the poor? Thine is not the manner of men, O Lord God! On the principle of fitness, man, as a creature, lifted up with pride, is unfit for Gods residence and companionship, because he violates the proper order, as Satan did when in his pride he contended for equality with God. Man, as a sinner, impenitent and self-satisfied, cannot be Gods dwelling-place, because of the essential contrariety between holiness and sin. God and man must be like each other before they can dwell together. Now, God cannot be contrite, because He has no sin. But there can be the likeness which comes from the fitting relation of things. Humility in man corresponds to loftiness in God. Contrition in man corresponds to holiness in God. Where God finds, the contrite and humble soul, He can condescend to dwell, consistently with His dignity and purity. Jesus has opened the way by which God and man may be fully reconciled and restored to each other.
Therefore does He by His grace bring the souls of His redeemed into this lowly state that He may lift them up. Therefore does He show them the evil of sin, so that they are humbled, ashamed, crushed, heartbroken. May He thus humble and thus dwell in us all! This brings us to the purpose for which He dwells in the contrite.
III. A REVELATION OF THE DIVINE BENEFICENCE.
When God enters the heart of the contrite and makes it His dwelling, it is a day of revival. For there is
1. Comfort. He wipes away the tears, by revealing Jesus in the fulness of His atoning sacrifice, His pardoning love, &c.
2. Power. The activity and energy of spiritual life. We run the way of His commandments; we are identified with His kingdom; we labour for its advancement.
3. Growth. Under His reviving influence, we grow in all things that pertain to the spiritual life. Spiritual manhood is developed. Fruits of holiness. When sufficiently matured, we shall be transplanted to heaven.
The proud and impenitent are without God. Get the lowly and contrite spirit.J. Rawlinson.
Three questions generally asked concerning a person with whom one is not well acquainted are: What is his name? Where does he dwell? What is his work or occupation? In this verse we find replies to these three inquiries if made concerning the Divine Being.
I. THE LORDS NAME. The name indicates that God is
1. Supreme in nature. He is infinitely above the highest of all created beings, human and angelic.
2. Supreme in character (1Sa. 2:2).
3. Supreme in authority. He is King of kings, and His dominion extends over all things.
II. THE LORDS DWELLING-PLACE. He has four dwelling-places:
1. Eternity. He fills all space. The boundaries of His habitation can never be reached.
2. Heaventhe habitation of His throne (Psa. 123:1).
3. His Church on earth. Holy place (1Ch. 23:25; Psa. 9:11).
4. The contrite heart. He is so great as to fill immensity, and so condescending as to dwell in your heart and mine. God is never satisfied until He finds a home in the human soul. Give me thine heart.
III. THE LORDS WORK.
1. A work which none but God can do.
2. A work which God delights in above all others.
3. A work He will bring to a glorious consummation (Php. 1:6).W. Roberts Penybontfawr; Pregethau.
This Scripture opens up to view five great aspects of GodI. The Being. II. The character. III. The Sovereignty. IV. The dwelling-place. V. The work of God.W. Seward.
I. Gods greatness. II. Gods grace.Bishop Greig: Sermons, pp. 164177.
ETERNITY CONTEMPLATED
Isa. 57:15. Eternity
I. There is a period of endless duration which we call eternity (P. D. 11181129, 2965, 2054, 19211935). The period of duration which shall elapse between the creation of man and the universal conflagration is called time. It has already extended over nearly six thousand years, but how long its course will continue to advance we can form no conjecture. But this we know, that as it had a beginning it will certainly have an end. Eternity is duration without limits. It exceeds all our powers of reckoning, illustration, thought.
II. In this endless period of duration there are two states extremely different, in one or other of which a portion shall be assigned to every man. That man is immortal is capable of proof from the dictates of reason, and is authoritatively taught in the Bible. In the after-world there are two states: of happinessheaven; of miseryhell. Both are unending.
III. Time is given to man in order to prepare for eternity. The present state of existence, while introductory to the future, is also preparatory, in accordance with the general law which, in every stage of our being, makes what we are to be hereafter dependent on what we do now. How shall we prepare for eternity?
IV. It is foolish and dangerous to allow the things of time to engross the attention and the activity, that should be devoted to the things of eternity. It is foolish, because we prefer the less to the greater, a glass bead to a nugget of gold. It is dangerous, because we enter on an endless existence unprepared.G. Brooks: Outlines, p. 43. 16.
I. Gods controversy with men.
1. What it is. God claims a right to command; men refuse to obey. An old quarrel.
2. Why it is. The rebellion of men makes God angry. Explain the scriptural meaning of the phrase, Anger of God. Not to be resolved into a mere figure of speech. 3. How it is carried on. By the lessons of His Word, by the dispensation of His providence, by the strivings of His Spirit with the conscience. Sometimes in mercy, sometimes in judgment.
II. The limits which God has imposed on Himself in conducting His controversy with men.
1. The limits which He has imposed. With regard to the wicked, because the time of their visitation is past. With regard to the righteous, because the end has been attained.
2. The reason why He has imposed these limits. In consideration of human frailty.
CONCLUSION.The great lesson is, that God has no delight in our suffering here or hereafter.G. Brooks: Outlines, p. 143.
I. The frailty of man (see pp. 420). Physically, intellectually, spiritually. II. The compassion of God. He restrains His angerin wisdom, in mercy. Limited by mans ability of endurance.Dr. Lyth.
1721. GODS ANGER (pp. 424)
I. Its evidences. I hid me, &c. How God hides Himself. II. Its occasion. III. Its removal. From the penitent, by the Gospel of peaceto all, with the assurance of forgiveness, producing peace in the heart, health in the soul, praise in the lips. IV. Its perpetuation against the wicked.
1. Absolutely determined by his moral conditiontheir hearts are full of evil passions, restless trouble, pollution.
2. And by the sentence of God.Dr. Lyth.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(15) For thus saith the high and lofty . . .The central truth for the comfort of Gods people is that the infinitely Great One cares even for the infinitely little. The truth of the greatness of lowliness manifested in the life of Christ was but the reflection of the permanent law of the Divine government. The high and holy place is, of course, the heavenly temple, the light inaccessible. The verse, as a whole, combines the truths of 2Ch. 6:18, and Psa. 51:17.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. For This word gives the reason for “casting up” the highways and preparing them for the coming out of pious, humble souls from among the wicked. Thus saith, etc. The prophet details the message beginning with “thus saith.”
The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity Words the most descriptive of the incomprehensible God.
Whose name is Holy A name expressing infinite purity and excellence inconceivable; and such a being deigning, yea, delighting, to be in communion with the humble and contrite ones of this wicked world! He loves to revive the heart of such, and to assure them for the present and future.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 57:15. For thus saith the high and lofty One This exquisite sentence is not difficult to be understood, though it is not easy to comprehend its whole force and energy. It may be connected either with what precedes, or with what follows after. If with the former, a reason is given why God brought in a reformation after so long a delay; namely, that he might not seem wholly to have neglected the pious, and such as sincerely lamented the offences and evils of their times; when, on the contrary, he held them most dear, and was willing to comfort them, as being those alone whom he would truly inhabit and acknowledge for his people. If it be connected with the latter, it teaches that God, in his severity, might justly punish the corrupted church for the abuse of his word and grace; and destroy it by his judgments, as adulterous, and having broken his covenant. But as abounding in grace and mercy, and knowing that many remained in it who were drawn imprudently into error, and who, being admonished of their error, would by the grace of his spirit return to him in true repentance and godly sorrow, he had determined to have regard to these, as it is peculiar to his nature to shew mercy and favour, and to revive these humble and contrite ones, by his comforts, and the hope of grace. The latter seems the preferable interpretation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
3. GODS LOVE SMITES AND HEALS THOSE THAT LET THEMSELVES BE HEALED
Isa 57:15-21
15For thus saith the high and lofty One
18That inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy;
I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
16For I will not contend for ever,
Neither will I be always wroth:
19For the spirit should fail before me,
And the souls which I have made.
17For the iniquity of his covetousness 20was I wroth,
And smote him: I hid me, and was wroth,
21And he went on 22fowardly in the way of his heart.
18I have seen his ways, and will heal him:
I will lead him also, and restore comforts
Unto him 23and to his mourners.
1924I create the fruit of the lips;
Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near,
Saith the Lord; and I will heal him.
20But the wicked are like the troubled sea,
When it cannot rest,
Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 57:15. as an adjective, comp. Psa 34:19. Isa 57:16. frequent in the Psa 61:3; Psa 73:6; Psa 77:4; Psa 107:5; Psa 142:4; Psa 143:4. Isa 57:17. , comp. Jer 6:13. Isa 57:20. .
Isa 57:17. is the inf. absol. placed after, expressing the notion of what is constant, continuous; one might say here, expressive of the constant practice. Instead of it would properly read . But, as is well known, there occur many modifications in this sort of construction. Especially it happens not seldom that the inf. absol. changes in the last member into the finite verb or participle (comp. 2Sa 16:13; Gen 26:13; Jer 41:6; 2Sa 15:20; 2Sa 16:5, etc.). Therefore we translate: and I smite him, in that I being angry hide myself. direct causative Hiph.=to make concealment, hiding.The clause states the further consequence of the divine smiting. But for this is used the Vav consec. imperf., denoting, not a single, historical fact, but a manifestation constantly repeated, according to the usage that expresses aoristically what is yet something continuous. Comp. Isa 57:3; Isa 57:20. comp. Jer 3:14; Jer 3:22; concerning its distinction from see on Jer 31:22.
Isa 57:18. One may (according to the view in the comment below) understand de conatu, as the word is evidently used in Jer 6:14; Jer 8:11, which passages, also, on account of in the foregoing verse, and on account of the double , accord in sound with our text. The construction of Isa 57:18 is as in Isa 57:17 a. As there is followed by , so here is followed by .
Isa 57:19. Instead of the Kri reads , because the only passage beside where the substantive occurs, Mal 1:12, has , The singular suffix in is to be referred to the collective singulars and .
Isa 57:20. As it does not read , we are not to regard this verbal form as a participle, but as the third pers. perf., and to supply before it.The words are quoted Jer 49:23. That in Jeremiah they are not original, appears from his using them as outward adornment, as embellishment of his discourse, whereas in our text they are organically grounded in the context., comp. pedibus calcavit, turbavit. Concerning the Aorist , comp. on Isa 57:17.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The Prophet here gives a worthy conclusion to the Ennead whose centre is the humble Servant of God. He points us to the fact, that the ground of all salvation is the unity of highness and lowness in God that love mediates. For God is enthroned as the highest and absolutely holy Being in the highest majesty and glory, and yet at the same time He dwells with the wretched and contrite in order to give them new life (Isa 57:15). For He is angry for a while, but the foundation of His being is still love. Hence He cannot let the spirit, the soul of men, His own creatures, be destroyed (Isa 57:16). On account of sin, indeed, He smites a man. But when the man, not reformed by the outward chastisement, perseveres in his own chosen way (Isa 57:17), still He does not for this reason give him up. He now applies the opposite mode of treatment: He heals him, by working inwardly on his heart by gentle means, as far, of course, as there is the necessary receptivity for this healing treatment, that is, the capacity of being sorry for the ways of the past (Isa 57:18). In conclusion, the Prophet designates the announcement of this divine saving treatment as the flower of the word of prophecy (Isa 57:19), but which of course will not profit all. For the wicked, that are like the sea, which lashed by storms throws up dirty foam (Isa 57:20)the wicked find no peace (Isa 57:21). We wonder to hear these profound, evangelical words from the mouth of the Old Testament Prophet. Were they perhaps written by a scholar of the beloved disciple and smuggled in here? And how artistically the Prophet recapitulates the fundamental thought of this section, and returns to the refrain with which he would conclude this as all three sections.
2. For thus saithI have made.
Isa 57:15-16. That Isa 57:15, and not Isa 57:14, begins the concluding word appears from the formula For thus saith which as a rule begins sections (Isa 56:4; Isa 52:4; Isa 45:18; Isa 31:4; Isa 21:6; Isa 21:16; Isa 18:4, etc.), partly, too, from the divine title, which is wont to be employed at the head of sections (Isa 1:24; Isa 10:24; Isa 22:15; Isa 30:15, Isa 42:5; Isa 43:1; Isa 43:14; Isa 43:16; Isa 44:6; Isa 45:11; Isa 45:18; Isa 48:17; Isa 49:7, etc.). A third reason is, that the Isa 57:15-21 relate to a wider sphere than those that precede. For from Isa 56:10 on, the Prophet had Israel in mind, while in this concluding word his gaze comprehends humanity entire.First he describes the Lord in respect to His infinite exaltation. He calls Him first , an expression that occurs only Isa 6:1, and which describes that exaltation of God primarily according to its outward appearance. Thus he calls Him (i. e., not: He who inhabits eternity,a representation incapable of accomplishment, but: who eternally sits enthroned, i. e., maintains His house, His place, thus also His dignity and honor eternally, can never like a man be driven out of it, Isa 9:5; Isa 30:8; Isa 26:4; Isa 45:17; Isa 64:8; Isa 65:18). Third he designates Him as the One whose name is The Holy One, sanctus. Thus one would think He was too holy to resort to fellowship with sinful men. But no! He declares of Himself: although I dwell on high (heaven is meant, the high place of God that overlooks all, comp Isa 33:5, and the modified expression ibid. Isa 57:16) and in the holy place ( in the sense of as in Psa 46:5; Psa 65:5; it is the upper sanctuary that is meant, Exo 25:9; Exo 25:40; Exo 26:30; Act 7:44; Heb 8:5), still I dwell also with him that is of a contrite and lowly spirit (Pro 16:19; Pro 29:23). What contrasts, therefore, God is capable of! He dwells at the same time in the highest and in the lowliest. But that is no contradiction. For the lowly spirit is also just a choice and worthy dwelling, yea the choicest of all, since it is a living, personal habitation. But it is so choice for the reason that the humble man surrenders himself wholly, adds nothing from his own, will only accept God and let himself be illuminated by Him. Thus God supplies what is wanting in him. For He makes His dwelling in him precisely for the purpose of filling spirit and heart (i. e., mind and soul, thinking and willing), of the humble and contrite with a new, fresh divine life (comp. Gal 2:20). It appears from to revive the spirit and to revive the heart, that the Prophet means such humble souls as are also bowed down deep with sorrow. Hence, Isa 57:16, he can proceed with for I will not to eternity contend, nor be perpetually angry (comp. Psa 103:9). God cannot do this for the reason, also, that else the whole being of men would be destroyed. For as a creature, man cannot in the long run endure the wrath of God. By continued smiting the spirit of man that stands before God, i. e., as kindred with God, is capable (Mat 18:10) of His presence and fellowship, and the soul that became (Gen 2:7) by the inbreathing of the Spirit, must pine away and perish. In this way God would destroy His own work.
3. For the iniquityhis mourners.
Isa 57:17-18. The sorrows that God decrees are not blows of destruction (Lam 3:31-42). He is angry and chastises only on account of sin. But that sin is here made prominent which is in 1Ti 6:10 called the root of all evil things, viz., the (Col 3:5) or . It is here named metonymically, the thing striven for (, cutting, gain) being put for the striving. What guilt is so great that a man will not burden his conscience with it for the sake of gain? The perf. describes the anger as an actual foundation that the Lord feels in His heart. The consequence and expression of this anger is the smiting. But as it is not said but , we may not translate: and I smote, but: and I smite. From this it appears, that the Lord has not in mind concrete, definite facts, as say His conduct toward the people Israel, but He describes here the conduct He observes everywhere and toward all men. Therefore we must translate: I am angry and I smite, in that being angry (see Text. and Gram.) I hide Myself. The clause but he went off rebelliously in the way of his heart, declares the further consequence of the divine smiting. The observation continually repeats itself, that the divine chastisement is disregarded by men. It was verified in the case of Israel as in that of the majority of mankind. Therefore the chastisement was of no avail. One would suppose then that the Lord must leave the contumacious man to his well deserved fate. But no! The forbearance, the patience, the compassionate love of God is without bounds. He sees (surveys) the ways of a man, their beginning, middle and end. He sees whither these ways lead. They lead to everlasting destruction. He cannot suffer this. Therefore He approaches a man not only outwardly by angry smiting (Isa 57:17 a), He also makes the attempt inwardly. He heals the man; self-evidently the man who lets himself be healed. For God lays His grace indeed as near a man as possible. But He never forces it on him. The manner of the healing is explained in the following words: and I will lead him,etc. God brings the man from the way of error on to the right way, and then extends to him what is needful to comfort and strengthen him. is properly to requite, compensate consolations, i. e., offer consolations as compensation. The joined on contains the plainest restriction of the . That is one must, with Stier, Delitzschet al., take in the sense of and indeed, viz. (comp. Isa 57:11). The Lord cannot guide all and refresh all with His consolations, but only those that are of a troubled spirit. They are therefore the same that in Isa 57:15 are called contrite and humble of spirit.
4. I create the fruitthe wicked.
Isa 57:19-21. So much is certain, Isa 57:19 introduces the conclusion. The thought peace joins Isa 57:19-21 close to one another. But what of ? Grammatically the words may be joined either with what precedes or with what follows. And as regards the sense, sprout, fruit of the lips does not necessarily mean only thanks and praise, although the words of our text are so understood, Heb 13:15. In Pro 10:31 wisdom is designated as the outgrowth of the mouth, in Pro 12:14; Pro 13:2; Pro 18:20 satiety with good generally is described as and . Therefore may be the word of prophecy, either that before us or the word of prophecy in general. Now can I one say, that the Lord extends comfort in that He creates thanks and praise? Not very well. At least in our context one looks for: in order to make () thanksgiving, or I create fruit of the lips, in that I extend comfort But if by fruit of the lips one understands the prophetic word, then would be said, that the Lord heals, guides, comforts, in that He makes the fruit of the lips, i. e., of the prophetic lips. But that were a very forced and artificial manner of expression. For the Lord can after all only indirectly heal and comfort by making the Prophet speak divine words. It comes about directly only by means of the Lords opening the hearts to give heed to what is spoken by His Spirit (Act 16:14). Therefore it does not seem to me to be proper to connect with what precedes. But if we connect it with what follows, the same reasons already given determine against the meaning thanks and praise. Therefore if we refer it to the prophetic word, we must first of all not forget that these words are spoken with a certain emphasis. The expression though kindred, is still not the same in meaning as or . For is not the usual word for budding, sprouting (the most usual are or ). It occurs only in poetry and only in four places, and, as remarked, is always used with a certain emphasis. For Psa 62:11 it designates a vigorous sprouting, and the same also Psa 92:15, which speaks of an impelling force effective even in old age. Pro 10:31 would say, that the mouth of the righteous is gifted with the power to produce that which is noblest, wisdom. Zec 9:17, finally, also speaks of a power of production whose intensity is attested by the excellence of what it produces. So then I believe that here does not mean in general offspring of the lips, but splendid offspring, noble offspring. That is, the Prophet would say, that he regards the proclamation of peace and healing for those far and near as the highest and noblest flower of his prophecy. Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, and I will heal him, saith the Lord, therewith creating the flower of the (prophetic) lips, i. e., in that He utters the highest and most glorious thing that He commissions His Prophet to proclaim. stands elsewhere only at the end of the discourse (Isa 22:14; Isa 39:6; Isa 45:13; Isa 49:5; Isa 54:1; Isa 54:6; Isa 54:8; Isa 54:10; Isa 59:21; Isa 65:7; Isa 65:25; Isa 66:9; Isa 66:20-21; Isa 66:23). Here it stands, as in Isa 57:21; Isa 48:22 (comp. 45:24; Jer 30:3) as an insertion. The double sounds solemn and emphatic (comp. Isa 26:3; Jer 6:14; Jer 8:11; 1Ch 12:18). By the far and near I cannot understand the Israelites scattered far and wide. How should the remote or nearer distance of the place of banishment from Palestine have any importance for the Lord? And if not for Him, then certainly they would have no importance for the believing Israelites. To give explanation on this Point was not necessary for the flower of prophecy. But it was important to declare, that also the heathen, that hitherto had been far off, were to come near and partake of the salvation of Israel (comp. Isa 42:6; Isa 49:6; Isa 65:1; Hos 2:23, etc.). Thus Paul understood the passage (Eph 2:17). connects with Isa 57:18, and shows that the Lord knows no salvation without healing. There is indeed no salvation for those not healed, the spiritually sick, the wicked (Isa 57:20-21). Thus mediates in an artistic way the connection between what precedes and what follows.
Isa 57:20. The wicked are like the sea that is stirred up. The Prophet distinguishes two particulars. First the unrest of the sea. This is the effect of storms that do not allow the sea to rest. The other is the foam and mud that the sea throws out of its depths. The likings and cravings, the passions are the storms that stir up the human heart and let it have no rest. The wicked works are the foam and slime that then come to the surface and make manifest the uncleanness, the depravity, therefore the malady within. For it cannot rest: these words are quoted in Jer 49:23, see Text. and Gram. [This verse recalls Judges 13, which may be an allusion to it.Tr.].
Isa 57:21 gives the refrain-like conclusion of the Ennead which we had Isa 48:22. It does not come in abruptly as there, but is duly prepared. The only difference between this and Isa 48:22 is that here we have while there it reads . In this my God is uttered the absolute reliability of what has been said. How could that be incorrect that was said to the Prophet by his God?
Footnotes:
[18]The One dwelling eternally.
[19]For the spirit that goes out from me would pine away,
[20]am I angry, and smite him, in that being angry I hide myself.
[21]But.
[22]Heb. turning away.
[23]even.
[24]He that creates the noblest bloom of the lips.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 56:11. (Every one looks to his own way). Potest intelligi de externis criminibus, sed magis placet, ut accipiatur de speciosis viis, in quibus ambulant hypocritae. Sic Franciscanus Francisci regulam sequitur, decalogum et evangelii doctrinam negligit tanquam rem vulgarem, quae ad vulgus pertirneant.Luther.
2. On Isa 56:12. In the Alexandrian and Vatican texts of the LXX., the words from Isa 56:11 to the end of Isa 56:12 are wanting, which even Jerome remarks on. He adds: denique hos versiculos nullus ecclesiasticorum interpretum disseruit, sed quasi patentem in medio foveam transiliunt atque transmittunt.That the Fathers, unacquainted as they were with Hebrew, pass the words by, is simply explained by the LXX. omitting them. Jerome, because he knew Hebrew, as he himself says, added them ex hebraico. But why the Greek translator left them out is doubtful: Theodotion (see Hexapla Orig. ed. Montfaucon II., p. 179) has them.Ab hoc vitio (ebrietatis) abstinere debent pii ecclesiae ministri memores interdicti apostolici 1Ti 3:2-3, considerantes secum, nullam horulam ipsis esse adeo liberam ac vacuam, qua non ad officia functionis suis possint avocari.Foerster.Let one point the rough figure for himself for the more delicate spiritual form also, quite as Mat 24:49; Eph 5:18, and the like are meant. For there is a drunkenness and voluptuousness in all kinds of wine and intoxication, which only the eye of the Spirit beholds in many an honorable Bishop, General-superintendent or Superior-court-preacher. Stier. Vita concionatoris optimus syllogismus. Chrysostom.
3. On Isa 57:1. Against the heedlessness of the world, that regards the life and death of men alike. For because Pharaoh and Moses, Saul and Jonathan, Judas and Peter, must temporally die, the one as the other, they suppose it is as much to one as to the other. But on the contrary, one should lay it to heart when useful and pious men fall, because, first, one must miss them afterwards, especially their prayers by which they stand in the breach and run to the walls (Eze 22:30); second, because the destruction of such people is wont to be an evil omen of a great impending misfortune and change, [It is a sign that God intends war when He calls home His ambassadors.M. Henry]. Examples: When Noah turns his back on the world and shuts himself in the ark, the deluge comes (Gen 7:17). When Lot goes out of Sodom and Gomorrah, fire from heaven falls on them (Gen 19:24). When Joseph dies in Egypt, the bondage of the children of Israel begins, together with the murder of their infant boys (Exo 1:8). When Hezekiah died, then followed the tyranny of Manasseh (2 Kings 20, 21) When Christ and His disciples were made way with, then began the destruction of Jerusalem.Cramer.Sicut ad Josiam dicit: tolleris, ne videant occuli tui hoc malum, etc. (2Ki 22:18-20). Sic excidio Hierosolymitano erepti sunt apostoli et reliqui Sancti. Idem nobis accidet. Vivunt adhuc passim quidam pii homines, propter iliis Deus differt poenam. Sublatis autem iis sequetur Germaniae ruina.Luther.Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord, for they rest from their labor (Rev 14:13). And hellish enemies, as little as human, can do them any harm.It is a misfortune for the whole country when distinguished and deserving people are taken out of the midst by temporal death. For them, indeed, it is well; but God have mercy on those that are left. For as in a great storm, when the heavens are overcast with clouds, the shepherd leads in the sheep, the husbandman hastily gathers his sheaves, the parents call in the children from the streets, so our dear God calls His dearest children together, that the calamity may not touch them.Cramer.The men of grace or mercy are receivers and distributers, thus also the mediators of the grace of God for their people; the men of grace, that atoningly represent the land by intercessions and conduct, postpone its judgment (Gen 18:24; Eze 22:30). Stier.The mere presence of an honest man is still a, restraint on the unbridledness of blasphemers. G. Mueller in Stier.
4. On Isa 57:2. Against the idle fancy of the fire of purgatory. For here it is said of those who have walked uprightly, not that they get into trouble, unrest, pain and torment, by which they must be purged; but that, with respect to their souls, they come to peace. But as to their bodies, they rest in their sleeping chamber. They are not on this account driven about; they seek also no mass or soul baths, as the Papists pretend.Cramer.
Nam stultum est mortem matrem timuisse quietis,
Quam fugiunt morbi, moestaque pauperies.
(Attributed to Cornelius Gallus, the friend of Virgil).
5. On Isa 52:4. It should be a wreath of honor to all faithful teachers and preachers, that they are regarded as monsters and are lampooned by the wise of this world. For if the great Prophet Isaiah in this passage, item, Jeremiah (Jer 20:8), Elijah (2Ki 2:24), Ezekiel (Eze 33:31), Job (Job 17:6), yea, even Christ Himself had to suffer this, what wonder is it if the scoffing birds sharpen their beaks on us and chatter like the storks? Cramer.
6. [On Isa 52:8. When a people forget God, the memorials of their apostacy will be found in every part of their habitations. The shrines of idol gods may not be there; the beautiful images of the Greek and Roman mythology, or the clumsy devices of less refined heathens may not be there; but the furniture, the style of living will reveal from behind every door and the posts of the house that God is forgotten, and that they are influenced by other principles than a regard for His name. The sofa, the carpet, the chandelier, the centre-table, the instruments of music, the splendid mirror, may be of such workmanship as to show, as clearly as the image of a heathen god, that Jehovah is not honored in the dwelling, and that His law does not control the domestic arrangements. Barnes].
7. [On Isa 57:10. Thou art weariedno hope. This is a striking illustration of the conduct of men in seeking happiness away from God. They wander from object to object; they become weary in the pursuit, yet they do not abandon it; they still cling to hope though often repulsedand though the world gives them no permanent comfortthough wealth, ambition, gayety, and vice all fail in imparting the happiness which they sought, yet they do not give it up in despair. They still feel that it is to be found in some other way, than by the disagreeable necessity of returning to God, and they wander from object to object, and from land to land, and become exhausted in the pursuit, and still are not ready to say there is no hope, we give it up in despair, and we will now seek happiness in God. Barnes.
Note.Despair of happiness in the creature, and of satisfaction in the service of sin, is the first step toward a well-grounded hope of happiness in God, and a well-fixed resolution to keep to His service; and those are inexcusable who have had sensible convictions of the vanity of the creature, and yet will not be brought to say, There is no hope to be happy short of the Creator.Note.Prosperity in sin (Thou hast found the life of thy hand) is a great bar to conversion from sin. M. Henry].
8. On Isa 57:11. God keeps silence only for a while, but yet not for ever and continually, with respect to mens sins; but the longer He has kept silence, the harder He punishes afterwards.Starke.
9. On Isa 57:12. Tuam justitiam. Est emphasis in pronomine tuam. Quasi dicat: mea justitia firma et perpetua est, tua non item. In calamitate nihil desperatius est justitiariis, cum secundis rebus nihil quoque iis sit confidentius.Luther.
10. On Isa 57:15 sq. God has three sorts of dwellings: first in the highest, second in the sanctuary, third in humble hearts. The first dwelling is the universalis praesentia, the universal presence, by which He fills all (Jer 23:24); but there He is too high and incomprehensible for us. The other is gratiosa, the gracious presence, by which He lets Himself be found in the word and sacraments, and also comes finally to us and makes His dwelling in our hearts (Joh 14:23). Cramer, comp. Renner, p. 199.Humilis anima est Dei sessio et delectabile cubile. Excelsus es Domine, sed humiles corde sunt domus tua (Psa 113:6; Psa 138:6). Augustin.Fluenta gratiae deorsum non sursum fluunt. Bernhard.Here is a principal passage beaming with evidence, that holy means not merely the tremenda majestas, but essentially comprehends the self-communicating condescension of love. Stier.Comp. His Reden Jesu V., p. 499, and the essays of Schoeberlein and Achelis in Stud. and Krit. 1847, I., IV.
11. On Isa 57:18. Here again we have one of those words in which Isaiah shows Himself to be the Evangelist of the Old Testament. For in the old covenant God does not yet heal men, else the new were superfluous. The law only effects knowledge of sin, but it does not give the power to overcome sin. One fancies here again that he hears the Apostle that wrote Romans 8.
12. On Isa 57:19-21. The gospel in a sermon of peace to the heathen that were far off, and to the Jews that were near. For by it we both have access in one Spirit to the Father (Eph 2:18). But the wicked quakes all his life and what he hears terrifies him (Job 15:20; Isa 48:22). And especially in conflicts, and notably in the last hour, and when they see Gods judgment near, one sees this in them, that they not only therefore often spit out blasphemies, but that for great anguish they have laid hands on themselves. Examples: Saul, Ahithophel, Judas, Franciscus Spiera. For because such peace is not to be brought about with works, they must ever stick in anger, resentment, discontent and disfavor with and before God. And it is only pure folly to wish to give the terrified hearts rest by their own expiation, merit and self-elected holiness. Much less will there be rest if one teaches such people to doubt the forgiveness of sins. Cramer.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa 56:10 to Isa 57:2. These words may be used as the text of a sermon for a fast-day, or also for a synodical sermon. One might then regard the Prophets words as a mirror, or as a measure whereby to measure the condition of the church (of the country, of the times). From this would then come 1) earnest warning to those that belong to the wicked here described, or who do not oppose their doings; 2) comfort for those that have walked straight before them, for, though hated and persecuted by men, they shall still come to peace.
2. On Isa 57:1-2. These words (also a Jewish formula solennis for the pious dead, Stier) have very often been used as texts for funeral discourses for celebrated men.
3. On Isa 57:2. Those that have walked in their uprightness, i. e., who during their lives have served the Lord in a living faith, need not fear death. It is to them a bringer of joy. For it brings 1) eternal peace to their soul, 2) rest to their body in the chamber of the grave, till the day of the blessed resurrection.
4. On Isa 57:3-10. A description of the coarse idolatry, to which in our day correspond only too many appearances of the modern and subtile heathenism. Only too many have sucked in with their mothers milk superstition and unbelief, which as a rule go together. As Ishmael, who was begotten after the flesh, mocked and persecuted Isaac that was born according to the promise (Gal 4:28 sqq.), so also now. The false seed, i. e., those that are not born of the Spirit of the church, although by their fleshly birth they belong to it, mock and persecute the genuine children of the church. With insatiable greed people run daily, but especially on the Lords day, under all green trees, i. e., to the places of worldly pleasure-seeking, where the idols of the belly and of mammon are served! And how many children are from their earliest youth led away to the service of these idols! Are not thereby their immortal souls spiritually slain? And is not that, in the end, a worse sacrifice of children than that ancient sort? All that puts men in mind of the service of God, men get out of their sight (pious customs, Sunday, feast days, church acts, as baptism, marriage, burial), in order to be able to surrender themselves undisturbed and wholly to the modern idols. Men no longer seek their strength in the covenant with the Lord, but among men in associations of every kind. And, because that does not instantly reveal its ruinous effects, but often seems to have a good effect, men never weary of this conduct, but confirm themselves in it more and more.
5. On Isa 57:12. Many men will not by any means believe that their good works are wholly insufficient to obtain the righteousness that is of avail with God. Now God will, indeed, not suffer to go unrewarded the cup of water that we give to the thirsty in the proper spirit (Mat 10:42; Mar 9:41). But could we point to ever so many such cups, still they do not suffice to pay our ten thousand talents (Mat 18:24 sqq.). One must therefore remind his charge of the great reckoning that the Lord will one day have with us. In this 1) will be had a complete and perfectly correct investigation into our indebtedness and assets. 2) Then it will appear that our assets will be too defective to be of any use whatever against our indebtedness.
6. On Isa 57:13-14. It depends very much on the sort of spirit with which one turns to God for help. If one does it in order to make a trial also with the dear God, then one will certainly be denied. But if one does it because one knows no other helper, and wishes to know no other, then one may confidently count on being heard. How differently the answers sound that God gives to the cries for help that reach Him. 1) To the one it is said: let thy gatherings help thee. 2) But to the others is called out: a. make a road, clear the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people; b. inherit the land, possess my holy mountain.
7. On Isa 57:15-16. I know that these sayings speak especially of penitent sinners and aroused consciences; but I do not see why they may not with good right be applied also to other alarmed and anxious people. One has here to look also at the examples of the dear children of God who are presented to us in the Holy Scriptures full of fear and alarm. Think of Job (Job 9:34; Job 13:21), David (Psa 25:17; Psa 55:5 sqq.), Daniel (Dan 8:17 sq.), Paul (1Co 2:3; 2Co 7:5), yea, of Jesus Christ Himself (Mat 26:37; Mar 14:33; Luk 22:44). From this thou seest clearly, thou lover of God, but timid and frightened soul, that thou art not the first among the children of God, that suffer His terrors and must go about with an anxious heart. It is also therewith sufficiently shown that such an event is not a reminder of anger, but rather of the grace of the kind and gracious God.Scriver.
8. On Isa 57:15-16. A holy shudder goes through my soul when, in receiving Thy body and blood, I think of who they are to whom Thou so communicatest Thyself! That is Thy way, Thou wonderful Lord, that Thou utterly humblest and castest down to the ground before Thou raisest up. Thou sayest: I who dwell in the high and holy place am with those that are of a contrite and humble spirit. Has the greatness of my sin already melted my heart, it melts still more at the greatness of Thy grace.Tholuck.
9 On Isa 57:15-16. Sermon for Whitsun week: Wherein do we behold the greatest glory of the God of grace? 1) Therein, that He does not despise a poor sinners heart for a dwelling. 2) Therein, that He manifests Himself in it not as a judge, but as a comforter. Taube, in Gottes Bruenl. hat Wassers die Fuelle. Hamburg, 1872.
10. On Isa 57:17-18. One is reminded here of 1Ki 19:11 sq. God is not in the tempest, nor in the earthquake, but He is in the still, gentle breeze. The gospel goes more to the hearts of men, and lays deeper hold on them than the law. The conversion of men. 1) It is prepared by being angry and smiting (Isa 57:17). 2. It is accomplished by Gods inwardly healing the heart.
11. On Isa 57:19. Missionary Sermon. The work of missions: 1) By whom is it accomplished? 2) On whom is it accomplished? 3) What end does it serve?
12. On Isa 57:20. The whole Scripture testifies that what it says of the grace of God, of the forgiveness of sins and of the assurance of bliss belongs to the penitent. For those that are ever stirred up and driven on by their malignant desires (like the sea by the winds), and commit one sin after another (like the sea casts out all sorts of dirt), are wicked men, and have no peace to expect.Scriver.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 989
THE MAJESTY AND HOLINESS OF GOD
Isa 57:15.Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy: I swell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
THERE is nothing more vain than creature-confidence: it is sure to provoke the displeasure of God, and ultimately to disappoint ourselves. On the contrary, an humble affiance in the Lord will secure to us his effectual aid: it will avail for the weakest of the human race, and prove sufficient under the most arduous circumstances. The testimonies of Scripture to this effect are numerous and decisive [Note: Jer 17:5-8.]. In the passage before us God reproves the Jews for forming alliances with heathens; and, having derided their vain hopes, and declared the security of those who should trust in him, issues a solemn proclamation for the direction and comfort of his Church in all ages; Thus saith, &c.
In these words we behold,
I.
The character of God
The perfections by which God is pleased to characterize himself in this place were peculiarly calculated to expose the folly of those whom ho was reproving, and to dispel the fears of those whom he designed to comfort. He mentions,
1.
His majesty
[In delineating the greatness of any created being, we are enabled to convey some just ideas by comparing one thing with another; but in speaking of the Deity there is no room for comparison: the universe is but as an atom, and the whole period of its existence but as a point, before him. He is not only high and lofty, but exclusively the high and lofty One. He fills all space; he exists through an unsuccessive eternity. In attempting to declare him, we do but darken counsel by words without knowledge. There are indeed in Scripture some representations given us, whereby we may attain such knowledge of him as our weak capacities are able to recieve [Note: Isa 40:12; Isa 40:15; Isa 40:17; Isa 40:22; Isa 66:1. Psa 104:1-3. 1Ki 8:27.Jer 23:21.]; but it is very little that we can conceive of him, through all the images in heaven and earth were exhibited in their brightest colours and in the most energetic language. The Scripture itself tells us that his greatness is unserchable [Note: Psa 145:3.] can we sum up our knowledge of him better than in those expressive woeds of Moses, From everlasting to everlasting thou art God [Note: Psa 90:2.].]
2.
His holiness
[The name is that whereby any person is known, and, us applied to God, comprehends every thing whereby he is known to men. The porfeetions of his nature, the works of his hands, the dispensations of his providence, and the declarations of his grace, all are holy [Note: Psa 145:17. His hiding of his face occasionally, even from his dearest people, is no exception to this. See Psa 22:1-3.]. And us he is holy in himself, so he cannot endure any thing which is defiled by sin; he is of pufer eyes than to behold iniquity [Note: Hab 1:13.]. Indeed holiness is the very perfection that stamps a worth and excellence on all the other attributes of the Deity: without holiness his wisdom would be craft, his power tyranny, his mercy a weak, indiscriminate, or partial favour. Glorious as he is in every porfection, he is declared more especially to be so in holiness [Note: Exo 15:11.]; and the angels in heaven make it the more immedinate subject of their incessant praises [Note: Isa 6:3. Rev 4:8.]. God himself is pleased to distinguish this perfection in a poculiar manner by making it the pledge of his fedelity in a most solemn oath [Note: Psa 89:35.]; nor does he less surpass all created beings in holiness than he does in greatness and majesty: There is none holy as the Lord, says the Seripture [Note: l Sam. 2:2.]; and again, Thou only art holy [Note: Rev 15:4.].]
But, notwithstanding he is so great, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, and so holy, that the very heavens are not pure in his sight, yet will he humble himself to behold the things in heaven, and to dwell with men on the earth. This will appear by considering,
II.
The objects of his love
After the description which he has given of himself we shall not wonder that the great objects of his regard are,
1.
The holy
[Heavon is a region of holiness, in which not even the angels, after they had transgressed, were suffered to dwell. All that remain there are holy as God is holy. The saints too that are around the throne are all equal to the angels themselves [Note: Luk 20:36.]. Once indeed they were defiled by sin; but they were washed from their sin in the fountain of Christs blood; and were renewed after the divine image by the Spirit of their God. Amongst these God dwells in the high and holy place; and though their righteousness cannot profit him, yet he accepts the tribute of their praise, and scatters among them in rich profusion the tokens of his love. The cup of every one amongst them overflows with joy; and the weight of glory, with which their heads are crowned, is commensurate with their ability to sustain it. Hence is heaven justly called, The habitation of his holiness and his glory [Note: Isa 63:15.].]
2.
The humble
[As God loveth holiness where it is perfect, so he loves the desire after it where it is yet imperfect. The humble are they who have a just sense of their weakness and sinfulness; and the contrite are they who deeply bewail their state before God. Not that they mourn merely on account of the judgments they dread; but principally on account of their having so debased their own souls, and so grieved the good Spirit of their God. Yea, if they be truly humble, they most of all lothe and abhor themselves, when they are most assured that God is pacified towards them [Note: Eze 16:63.]. Such penitents, whatever they may have been in past time, are no less the objects of Gods favour than the angels themselves; yea, if there were but one such person to be found on the face of the whole earth, God would fix his eyes on him with pleasure and complacency [Note: Isa 66:2.]. He would listen to his groans with parental tenderness, and treasure up his tears in his vial, as the most valuable monuments of true contrition [Note: Psa 56:8.]. He would bind up the wounds which sin had made, and pour the oil of joy and gladness into the disconsolate soul. Well he knows that nothing but his presence with the soul will fully satisfy its desires, or answer the purposes of his love: on this account he will lift up the light of his countenance upon it: as he formerly dwelt in the tabernacle by the visible symbols of his presence, so will he condescend to dwell invisibly in the contrite heart, making it his habitation, on purpose that he may revive and comfort it.]
This subject will enable us to rectify some mistakes which very generally obtain in the Christian world:
I.
That God is pleased with those who are pleased with themselves
[It is common for moral and sober persons to think that God entertains as high an opinion of them as they do of themselves; and to despise the poor and contrite as weak enthusiasts. But what warrant have they for their presumptuous confidence? Can they find any declaration of God in their favour? Has he ever said that he would dwell with them? Even in heaven there are no self-admiring thoughts entertained either by men or angels [Note: The cherubim veil their faces and their feet while they serve God, Isa 6:2. And the glorified saints cast their crowns at the feet of Jesus, as unworthy of the honour conferred upon them, Rev 4:10-11.]; how much less then can there be any ground for such a disposition on earth! The Scripture tells us, it was not the proud Pharisee, but the sell-condemning Publican that went down to his house justified. And to all eternity will it be found true, that he who exalteth himself shall be abased, and that he alone who unfeignedly humbleth himself, shall ever be exalted.]
2.
That a consciousness of guilt is a ground for concluding that God is our enemy
[Sin doubtless renders us obnoxious to the Divine displeasure: but it is sin unrepented of, and not merely sin committed, that shall condemn us. The broken and contrite heart God will not despise [Note: Psa 51:17.], and the more contrite we are, the more reason we have to hope that God is reconciled towards us. But there are some, who, contrasting their own meanness and sinfulness with the majesty and holiness of God, are ready to say, There is no hope. Let not such persons however be discouraged: for though God be high, yet will he have respect unto the lowly [Note: Psa 138:6.]; yea, he not only will dwell with such persons, but actually does dwell with them: this is Gods own assertion in the text; and it is our duty, as well as our privilege, to believe him.]
3.
That the exercise of serious and deep repentance will deprive a man of all the comforts of life
[Repentance will doubtless deprive us of all pleasure in sin. But is there no other source of happiness than sin? May not all the gratifications of sense, and all the comforts of society, be enjoyed in a way of righteousness, as well as in the ways of sin? But even supposing we were deprived of these, would not the presence of God in our souls compensate for the loss of them? Is it nothing to have God manifesting himself to us as he does not unto the world, yea, dwelling in us, and reviving us with the consolations of his Spirit! or does a man stand in need of a taper, while he enjoys the light of the meridian sun? Away then with all ungrounded jealousies on this head. Let us seek to experience the comforts of religion, instead of ignorantly asserting that there are none to be found. And, instead of reprobating the communications of grace and peace to the soul as enthusiastic and absurd, let us pray that we ourselves may be the temples of the Holy Ghost, the habitation of God through the Spirit for ever and ever.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Reader! how blessed and lovely do these sweet verses come in, after what was said before! The former representation of our poor nature, was like a dreary wilderness, or the heath in the desert, that knoweth not when good cometh. But this is like the refreshing herbage, or the cooling stream, discovered in a weary land, where no spring was expected. I pray you read the verses again and again, that their full grace and comfort may be felt in your soul. When God saith thus, well may every poor broken-hearted sinner hear. See how Jehovah pledgeth his own divine perfections for the confirmation of his holy word; and do not overlook that most precious part, that though Jehovah inhabiteth eternity, yet doth he also dwell in the heart of the humble. Solomon was struck with wonder at the thought, that God would visit his house; but what would he have said, had he lived to see Jesus dwelling in a body of flesh? And what ought you and I to say, under a consciousness that our bodies are his temple? 1Ki 8:27 ; Joh 1:14 ; 1Co 3:16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name [is] Holy; I dwell in the high and holy [place], with him also [that is] of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Ver. 15. For thus saith the high and lofty One. ] Higher than the highest; so high, that he is said to “humble himself to behold things done in heaven”; Psa 113:6 to look out of himself upon the saints and angels there. He is a God, saith one, whose nature is majesty, whose place is immensity, whose time is eternity, whose life is sanctity, whose power is omnipotence, whose work is mercy, whose wrath is justice, whose throne is sublimity, whose seat is humility.
That inhabiteth eternity.
I dwell in the high and holy place.
With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.
To revive the spirit of the humble.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lofty = lifted up. Same word as Isa 6:1 (“exalted One”).
That inhabiteth = inhabiting.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Gods Double Dwelling-Place
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.Isa 57:15.
Everything depends upon our conception of God. All our ideas are influential, but the most influential of all ideas is a mans idea of God. The wealth or poverty of our character is consequent upon how we conceive the character of God. Does our conception of God ever affect us as though we were gazing upon some awful peaks or looking down into some terrific abyss? Does the contemplation ever take our breath away? Do we ever look in awed quietness? When I saw him I fell at his feet as one dead. And the wonder of it is that these words come from the lips of John the Beloved, from the one who had leaned on the Masters breast at supper.
The Master of Balliol, Dr. Jowett, was once addressed by a lady who believed him to be somewhat liberal and vague in his views of religion; she said, Sir, can you tell us what you really think about God? The answer was: Madam, it matters very little what I think about God, but it matters a great deal what God thinks about me. Yet beneath that assertion there was another which you can distinguish at once, namely: It matters very much what I think God thinks of me. It is essential that I should have right views of that Divine nature which is every hour appealing to mine, the one unescapable reality of my life without which one can neither think, nor speak, nor act. Every man must positively or negatively define his attitude to God.1 [Note: R. J. Campbell, City Temple Sermons, p. 200.]
Now all through the ministry of Isaiah the prophet is confronted with a mean and impoverished conception of God. And to this impoverishment he traces the national degradation. The popular conception was weak and effeminate, and that in two ways. First, it fatally limited the Lords presence. He was here, but not there. The boundary of their country marked the outskirts of His dominion. There is no more pathetic cry arises from the realms of the exile than the cry which implies that God is far away. They have left Him behind in the homeland! When they lost their home they lost their heaven! And then, in the second place, the conception was not only belittled, but debased. They conceived of God as rejoicing in their gifts even though they were offered with dirty hands. If only they brought Him an offering He would wink at their uncleanness. They regarded Him as one who could be appeased by carnal sacrifice.
It is this debased conception of God that the prophet sets himself to remove. God is the high and lofty One and His name is Holy. But in removing it he does not fall into the opposite mistake of representing God as a Being with whom in His majesty and His holiness they can have no intercourse. He is high and holy and unchangeable, and at the same time He dwells with the humble and contrite. The thought of the verse, says Skinner, is very striking. It is the paradox of religion that Jehovahs holiness which places Him at an infinite distance from human pride and greatness, brings Him near to the humble in spirit. No contrast is indicated: Jehovah dwells on high and (not but yet) with the lowly.
The subject is the Double Dwelling-Place of God. That we may understand that it is two and yet one, the prophet describes God as both lofty and lowly. Thus we should consider:
I.Gods Highness.
II.Gods Humbleness.
III.Gods Double Dwelling-Place.
I
Gods Highness
How impossible to speak worthily of God! of Him who fills the universe with His glory! A little while ago a great painter went out to paint the sunset. He prepared his palette, but the sight was so beautiful that he waited to examine it better. All about the skies and hills were rich shadows, resplendent colours, purple flames, golden lustres. The painter waited, waited, absorbed by the vision of glory. Said his friend, impatiently, Are you not going to begin? By and by, replied the artist. And so he waited, paralysed by the splendour, until the sun was set and dark shadows fell upon the mountains. Then he shut up his paint-box and returned home. But if we faint thus in the presence of Gods lower works, how impossible is it to speak adequately of Him whom no man hath seen or can see. Yet it is well sometimes to recall the grandeur of God. Let us shun familiarities and sentimentalisms, and live in wonder and reverence.
1. His Spaciousness
He stands above nature, law, necessity, fate, power, destiny, and all other such names as men have been pleased to give to the world, its laws, and its forces. He stands above humanity; dominating us, whatever may be our power, pride, or wrath. He stands above the unknown world, and its principalities. God over all.
It is difficult to say which conception carries with it the greatest exaltationthat of boundless space or that of unbounded time. When we pass from the tame and narrow scenery of our own country, and stand on those spots of earth in which nature puts on her wilder and more awful forms, we are conscious of something of the grandeur which belongs to the thought of space. Go where the strong foundations of the earth lie around you in their massive majesty, and mountain after mountain rears its snow to heaven in a giant chain, and then, when this bursts upon you for the first time in life, there is that peculiar feeling which we call, in common language, an enlargement of ideas. But when we are told that the sublimity of these dizzy heights is but a nameless speck in comparison with the globe of which they form the girdle; and when we pass on to think of that globe itself as a minute spot in the mighty system to which it belongs, so that our world might be annihilated, and its loss would not be felt; and when we are told that eighty millions of such systems roll in the world of space, to which our own system again is as nothing; and when we are again pressed with the recollection that beyond those farthest limits created power is exerted immeasurably farther than eye can reach, or thought can penetrate: then, brethren, the awe which comes upon the heart is only, after all, a tribute to a portion of Gods greatness.
Greatness can be known only by greatness; wisdom can be seized and interpreted only by wisdom; purity alone can honour the perfection and uplift the praises of infinite and absolute sanctity. The full-orbed splendour of the Most High can never be known outside the limits of the high and holy place. It is true heaven and earth are full of his glory, but earth redolent with the incense of the sweetest springtides, dainty with the flowers that bloom only in the steps of the King, overarched with those glowing canopies of cloud His own skill spreads forth, consecrated by the most overwhelming theophanies He has ever vouchsafed to mortals, earth is but His footstool whilst heaven is His throne. I dwell in the high and holy place.
There are but few stars more interesting and beautiful than Vega (a first-magnitude star in the constellation hydra). To its own intrinsic interest must now be added that arising from the fact that each successive night we look upon it we have swept more than 1,000,000 miles nearer to its brilliant globe, and that with every year we have lessened, by some 400,000,000 miles, the distance that divides us from it. There can surely be no thought more amazing than this! It seems to gather up and bring to a focus all other impressions of the vastness of celestial distances and periods. So swift and ceaseless a motion, and yet the gulfs that sever us from our neighbours in space are so huge that a millennium of such inconceivable travelling makes no perceptible change upon the face of the heavens!1 [Note: J. Baikie, Through the Telescope, p. 271.]
2. His Timelessness
There are some subjects on which it would be good to dwell, if it were only for the sake of that enlargement of mind which is produced by their contemplation. And eternity is one of these, so that you cannot steadily fix the thoughts upon it without being sensible of a peculiar kind of elevation, at the same time that you are humbled by a personal feeling of utter insignificance. You have come in contact with something so immeasurablebeyond the narrow range of our common speculationsthat you are exalted by the very conception of it. Now the only way we have of forming any idea of eternity is by going, step by step, up to the largest measures of time we know of, and so ascending, on and on, till we are lost in wonder. We cannot grasp eternity, but we can learn something of it by perceiving that, rise to what portion of time we will, eternity is vaster than the vastest.
The late Mr. Proctor said that the planets were like a group of human beings in different stages of growth and development. Some of them were probably in their babyhood, and not yet ripe for the life-bearing destinies that might probably be before them. And other of the planets had already passed through babyhood, youth, and maturity, and had entered upon a useless and decrepit old age. They were barren, played-out, infertile, and had been so for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years. And the planetary system is one of myriads of similar systems, some of which may have been contemporaneous, and some of which may have existed in succession to each other; and the solar system may be a mere mushroom growth of the night, a Jonahs gourd in comparison with the more patriarchal groups of the firmament. What a term of measurement does that give us! The life of the entire stellar universe, however, is but the throb of the second hand on the dial that measures out Gods everlasting days.1 [Note: T. G. Selby, The Lesson of a Dilemma, p. 169.]
It was once supposed that the dark patch in the heavens called the Magellan clouds was starless, an enigma of vacancy in the glittering skies. That idea is given up now, although the particular portion of the heavens to which the name is applied is not so rich in stars as the other parts. In all eternity past there is no vacant century, no unpeopled epoch, no barren, un-illumined, God-lacking millennium. He fills immeasurable time to its utmost dimension, every moment of the vast eternity, past and to be, pulsating with Gods conscious presence.2 [Note: Ibid. p. 171.]
A striking definition was given by one of the pupils of the deaf and dumb institution at Paris, who, in answer to the question, What is eternity? replied, The lifetime of the Almighty. This is the gauge and measure of our text, The One that inhabitetheternity.3 [Note: A. G. Brown, In the Valley of Decision, p. 170.]
3. His Holiness
In the choice language of this verse, what may be called the natural distance of God from us is measured both on its physical and on its moral side. He is high, or, as the same word is put in Isaiahs vision, He is lifted up. By this is typified such an elevation as separates the strongest from the weak, the wisest from the foolish, the unbeginning from the creations of yesterday, the Lord of might from His servants; in a word, all that sort of elevation or superiority of God over man which is not moral. As the Maker, Master, Owner, and Disposer of men, Jehovah inhabits the lofty place. But there is another sort of distance between us. The distance betwixt the Best of all and the bad is of quite another kind. His place of habitation is not only highit is holy; and betwixt the Holy One in His sanctuary, and us in our sin, the gulf is not a gulf of being, but a gulf of character. The sky is above the earth, so is He higher than we are; but the sky, when unclouded, is also pure and full of light, unstained by the darkness or foulness of earth; by so much more is He cleaner than we. Thus nature symbolises the double contrast of the Divine to the human.
It is not from the insignificance of man that Gods dwelling within him is so strange. It is as much the glory of God to bend His attention on an atom as to uphold the universe. But the marvel is that the habitation which He has chosen for Himself is an impure one. And when He came down from His magnificence to make this world His home, still the same character of condescension was shown through all the life of Christ. Our God selected the society of the outcasts of earth, those whom none else would speak to.1 [Note: F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 243.]
II
Gods Humbleness
He whose lifetime is infinite duration, whose dwelling-place is infinite space,He who before the earth and the world were made was no younger, neither will be older when they are all consumed,whose presence reaches out to the farthest fixed star that eye or telescope has ever descried floating upon the far verge of the universe, and occupies beyond in all the orbits of worlds yet undiscovered, and still beyond in the regions of space where is naught but the possibility of future worlds, and fills all this immensity to repletion,that this high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity should enter into some poor, crushed, and broken human spirit, that trembles at the very whisper of His voice, and should make the narrow recesses of that heart His abode, His homethis is the mystery and glory of the Godhead,not alone that He should be infinite, eternal, immortal, invisible, but that, being all these, He should yet be apprehended by the little mind of a man, and call Himself that mans Friend and Comforter and Father.
I have showed you what is wonderful. Come, now, and I will show you what is more wonderful. For I will show you these infinite spaces of the sky, and the glory of them, and the innumerable host of starry worlds, gathered up in a moment of time, within the tiny pupil of a human eye. It is wonderful that the heavens and the hosts of them should be so great; but that, being so great, they should be able to become so infinitely little,this passes all wonder. The shepherd stretched upon the ground amid his sheep gazes up into the starry depths, and finds them wonderful; but never thinks how far more wonderful than the heavens which he beholds is himself beholding them. As he lies gazing, long lines of light, from planet and star and constellation, come stretching on through the infinite void spaces, to centre on the lenses of his drowsy eye. Side by side, and all at once, yet never twisted or confused, these ten thousand rays of different light enter the little aperture in the centre of the eye which we call the pupil. There they cross, in a point which has no dimensions, and separate again, and paint in microscopic miniature upon the little surface of the retina, behind the eyeball, the inverted facsimile of the visible heavens. There, in the ante-chamber of the brain, marches Orion, with his shining baldric and his jewelled sword; there glow Arcturus and Sirius, and the steadfast North Star; there pass the planets to and fro; and the far-off nebul are painted there with suffused and gentle radianceall the heavens and the glory of them gathered in that slender filament of light, threaded through that tiny aperture, painted by their own rays upon that little patch of nervous network, apprehended, felt, known through and through by that finite human mind. How far stranger and sublimer a thing is this than the mere bulk of the worlds, or the mere chasms of void space in which they hang weltering!1 [Note: L. W. Bacon, The Simplicity that is in Christ, p. 321.]
1. Four ways may be mentioned in which the humility of God in His dealings with men manifests itself.
1. In the friendship He offers and gives to the poorest of mankind. The broad cleavage of social caste is one of the most familiar facts of life now as in all former times. God simply ignores it. He is the Friend of allthe Friend of the prosperous and the comfortableif they will only take Him, making their prosperity and comfort a brighter and happier thing, but none the less the Friend of the hard-struggling on whom the burden of existence presses sore. There is many a man and woman in straitened circumstances whom people in a better position would not deign to notice or be seen speaking to on the street. But the Most High has no such feeling. Nor does He deem it beneath Him to have the poor professing His name and openly claiming friendship with Him. All the loftiness of His position creates not the slightest gap of sympathy between Him and the lowliest child of man. And there are burdened hearts in the obscurest ranks of society that feel the joy of His companionship in their life-battle, and know that the King of the Universe is with them as they struggle on.
2. Again the humility of God is seen in His anxiety to lift up the most unworthy. Perfectly free from what we call pride of position, He is also perfectly free from what we know as pride of character. Holy as His Name is, and jealously as He guards His holiness, there is no holding of Himself aloof from the unholy. In fact, the most wonderful thing about God is His persistent endeavour to get into touch with men and women in their sinfulness, and to rescue them from it. The mission of Christ was the humility of God in practical actionGod making the first move, God stooping down among the sinful and unworthy to raise and redeem them.
3. The third manifestation of the humility of God is His patience amid the obstinate ingratitude and unfriendliness of men. We are sometimes impatient enough with one another. A slight, an unguarded word, an ungenerous act, is taken as a mortal offence, not to be endured. Pride rises up and stiffens its back, and is hard to be pacified. Meanwhile, how much has God to bear from us all, every day of our life? Blessings received from His hand, and turned into a ground of vainglorious boasting; reverence and obedience withheld in the very presence of clear revelations of His will; the claims of His truth set aside for self-convenience, self-interest, or self-gratification; rebellious murmuring against the appointments of His providence; the faithless preference of worldly gain to the enjoyment of His favourall that He has to bear from us.
4. Still another manifestation of the humility of God is His minute care in perfecting His meanest work. It does not at all surprise us that He should lavish skill and care on the more striking works of His handon the human body, that miracle of consummate ingenuity; on the gorgeous rainbow, with its perfect arch and exquisite blending of many hues; or on the mighty brilliant suns that flash His glory forth to all the worlds which catch their light. We expect a high degree of finish and care in the grand masterpieces of His workmanship. But what does surprise us is that the Mighty God should be so scrupulous and careful in perfecting the tiniest petal on the tiniest flower, though no eye but His own should ever heed it; in moulding with rare completeness the crystals of the snowflakes which fall and lie away up among the solitudes of the hills; in fashioning into harmonious adaptation to their environment the myriads of insects which crawl on a forest leaf, or in weaving with art unrivalled the delicate structure of a night-moths wing. Such lowly kind of work it is not easy for us quite to appreciate, nor is it easy to understand the painstaking devotion that labours to bring it to perfection.
2. But it is not merely or mainly by His work in the world that the prophet recognises the humility of God. It is by His condescending to come into the lives of men. Here is the marvel of marvels, that the little soul of man can receive into itself the infinite God.
1. By the intellect.Man receives God into himself by the intellect. We trifle with the facts of our own consciousness if we suffer the theological description of God as incomprehensible to divert us from the fact that our minds are made for nothing more expressly than for this, that they should receive God. The lowest rudiments of the knowledge of the simplest forms of matter are the beginnings of the knowledge of God. If we could remember, you and I, now that we are grown, all that came to us in infancythe first struggles of the childish mind with the questions that we are not done with yet, we should see how soon the knowledge of God comes to the little one. By such a wonder of creation it is, that He who made the little ball of the human eye so that it can take in the heavens and the earth, has made the petty intellect of man so that it can take in the knowledge of the infinite God.
2. But secondly, it is even a greater wonder than this, that the infinite God, whom the intellect has conceived, draws near for a more intimate society with His creature, and enters the heart of man through the gateway of his affections. We say a greater wonder; for it must be confessed that this ideal of the intellect, this centre in which all infinite attributes inhere, does by His very majesty so overawe the heart that we shrink away from Him. By every new perfection of His nature that grows upon our apprehension; by His awful power as the Almighty; by His perfect knowledge as the All-wise; by His unswerving steadfastness as the Faithful and Truethe Immutable; by the very infinitude of His nature, He is withdrawn farther and farther from the possibility of being counted among those humble objects on which the tendrils of a human heart are able to lay hold. How, for instance, shall this Inhabitant of eternity, whose name is Holy, be well pleased with His petty creature who has dared withstand His perfect law, and looks shrinking toward the throne of infinite Majesty, fearing and crying, Unclean! unclean! The very arguments by which we climb to the knowledge of the infinite Spirit are like mountains that separate us from any relation with Him of childlike prayer and mutual love. But a trustful confidence can say to these mountains, Be ye removed and be ye cast into the sea, and it shall be done.
3. But the prophets immediate concern is not with God as received by the intellect or as received by the affections, but as holding spiritual communion with the contrite and the humble.
(1) Humble and contrite,we use these words often, but we hardly think of what they mean. A broken and a contrite heart, says David, Thou wilt not despise. A contrite heart is more than a broken one,one crushed to powder, that is, and that feels itself dust and ashes. It is by a real, deep, and lasting sense of sin; by feeling it as a personal pain and grief, a crushing burden that lays the spirit low, an overpowering oppression that grinds it to dustit is by this and this only that Gods company is to be secured; it is where this temper is found that He finds His home.
The word contrition in the text is a very strong word. It literally means a pounded state, as of a stone which by blow on blow of heavy hammers, or the grinding of waggon wheels, has been crushed into dust. By this vigorous metaphor it strives to make vivid to us the moral state of a man whose whole strength of self-reliance and erectness of moral carriage have been broken down through the sense of guilt and moral weakness; one who by repeated trials of his own instability, and blow after blow of discouraging rebuke from God, feels himself left in the path of evil a heart-broken man, over whom the trampling feet of innumerable masterful sins, with all their evil followers, seem to find free passage; a man beaten down and crushed out of spirit by vain struggles against sin and inescapable poundings from the violated laws of God.
(2) Do not think that this is said only of the beginning of the Christians conversion: that though he must have a contrite and humble spirit before God will come to dwell with him, yet his heart is healed and his spirit exalted as soon as God is come. It is with the heart that isnot only that has beenhumble and contrite, that God will dwell; it is with the spirit that does not forget its own sin, even when it feels and knows and rejoices in Gods grace. Let no Christian, however true his faith, however warm his love, ever think while he is yet upon earth that his repentance has lasted long enough or been deep enough, that he has done with sorrow for old sins, or watchfulness against present temptations, and may give himself up entirely to the joy and peace of believing. Let no man imagine this, unless his faith and love be greater than his who, only a year before he finished his course, told how Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
I with the contrite spirit dwell;
The broken heart is mine abode;
Such spikenard yields a fragrant smell,
And such are all the saints of God.1 [Note: Richard Thomas Pembroke Pope.]
(3) What is involved in humility, or what is it to say that a man is humble? It is just to say that he takes his own place in regard to God; that he is contented to be nothing, and to see God to be all in all: this is humility. Observe, there are two things here: that I should know my nothingness, and that I should be contented with my nothingness.
But humility on this earth must take a peculiar character from the circumstances of those in whom it exists; and that character is expressed by the word contrition. Every angel in heaven is humble: but contrition has reference to sin, and to the feeling that I am not only nothing, but worse than nothing. There is nothing bad in being nothing; but there is something bad in having forgotten my nothingness, in having fancied myself something, in having given place to pride, and in having become a god to myself. This is sin. Therefore humility in man never can come alone; never merely in the way of feeling I am nothing, and I am contented to be nothing. There cannot be in a man the knowledge of his nothingness without a sense of contrast between this nothingness and his natural desire to be something. Contritionthe deep consciousness of unworthiness, of great evil as my own, of great sin as the just charge of God against meis that which puts the sorrowful ingredient into humility. Humility as the condition of a sinner cannot exist without sorrow, sorrow for the sin which he has committed against God.
Among the nuns in a convent not far from Rome, one had appeared who laid claim to gifts of inspiration and prophecy, and the abbess advised the Holy Father at Rome of the wonderful powers shown by her novice. The Pope did not well know what to make of these claims, and he consulted St. Philip Neri. Philip undertook to visit the nun and ascertain her character. He threw himself on his mule and hastened through mud and mire to the convent. He begged the abbess to summon the nun without delay. As soon as she appeared, he stretched out his leg all bespattered with mud, and desired her to draw off his boots. The young nun, who had become the object of much attention and respect, drew back with anger and refused. Philip ran out, mounted, and returned instantly to the Pope; give yourself no uneasiness, Holy Father, any longer: here is no miracle, for here is no humility.1 [Note: Emerson, Conduct of Life.]
4. It is a very reviving advent when to such a soul God comes to dwell. This crushing sorrow and hopelessness in the fight with sin has a killing power. It kills self; but at the coming of God a new self is born. And fear not but He will come, if you be but contrite. For as surely as the holy God has a repulsion from the impenitent proud, who judge that they can do without Him, so surely is He attracted by the crushed humility of the sinner who cannot do without Him. This attraction was strong enough to draw Him once from heaven. It is strong enough to draw Him into every broken heart.
Not simply to sympathise, but to save, to revive the heart of the contrite one, our Jesus comes. This is the great message of Christianity to the world. It is a message of hope to every heart.
To revivethen they are dead! He whose spirit knows his own low estate, whose heart is crushed by the sense of his own sins, feels himself dead indeed, like unto them that are wounded, cut away from the hand of God. But behold, the hand of the Lord is not shortened. He hears the cry out of the lowest pit, in the place of darkness and in the deep: Though I go down into the grave, Thou art there also. He dwells with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Thy home is with the humble, Lord,
The simplest are the best;
Thy lodging is in child-like hearts;
Thou makest there Thy rest.
Dear Comforter! Eternal Love!
If Thou wilt stay with me,
Of lowly thoughts, and simple ways,
Ill build a house for Thee.
Who made this beating heart of mine
But Thou, my heavenly Guest?
Let no one have it then but Thee,
And let it be Thy rest.
Thy sweetness hath betrayed Thee, Lord!
Great Spirit, is it Thou?
Deeper and deeper in my heart
I feel Thee resting now.1 [Note: F. W. Faber.]
III
Gods Double Dwelling-Place
We know and believe separately the doctrines of the majesty and of the mercy of God; but it probably seldom occurs to a Christian to think of one as a result of the other. We say that God forgives us our sins because Christ died for us; or if we go further back, and give an account of the coming and redemption of Christ, we say that He came because of the love of God, both of the Father and of the Son, for the men whom He had made and who needed His help. It would not occur to us to say that God sent His Son into the world because He is almighty, and infinite, and all-glorious, or that Jesus came to save us because He is the eternal God. Yet this, or something very like it, is what Isaiah does say in the text. The verse gives a double description of Gods nature and attributes, as containing majesty and mercy, so that He is equally at home in both.
It speaks of the dwelling of God with the humble, of the mercy of God to the contrite, not as fruits of the Incarnation or of the Sacrifice of Christ, but as results of the glory of the Eternal Father, the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity. Of course one is as true as the other: it is through Jesus that we have access to the Father; it is he who loves Jesus that His Father will love; it is with Jesus that the Father will come unto him, and Both make their abode with him. But the special truth that seems to be set forth in these verses is, that the Incarnation and the Sacrifice of Christ, while they are to us the cause and the source of all blessing, of all pardon, of all grace, of all holiness, of all salvation, are themselves not the cause but the effect of the mercy and the love of God the Father; as Jesus says Himself, God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.
The condescension of Almighty God found no difficulty at all in bridging the essential interval of nature between His own altitude and the low estate of His human creature, simply as a creature. Freely he spanned that interval to walk with man among the trees of his garden. The real difficulty has been purely a moral one, in the incompatibility and mutual repulsion of the pure from the impure. There is nothing save your sin that hinders God from dwelling with any one of you. And therefore it must be pressed upon you, that, if ever the absent God is to become a partner of your inner spiritual life, a friendly inmate of your heart, it must be through altered moral conditions on your part. Moral fellowship is practicable only on a ground of moral affinity; it is like that dwells with like. Some rudimentary likeness to the Holy One there must be first in you, if in you the Holy One is to reside. And the beginning of all moral affinity of man with God lies in the moral state described as a contrite and humble spirit.
Immeasurably distant from each other these homes of God seem to be. The one is very spacious, the dwelling of cherubim and seraphim, and of a great multitude redeemed from among men; the other is narrow and contracted, for it is no more than a single human heart. The one is marked by everlastingness; the other is full of vicissitude, and such changes pass over it, of light and shadow, of repose and storm. The one is stainless, its bulwarks diamonds square, its gates right orient pearl; but the other is broken before the consciousness of sin, and the righteousness of the Lord, and the retribution it deserves. And yet, and yet God resides not only in high heaven, but in the individual heart, the changeful life, the downcast soul.
Do not let us forget that it is Christ who links into unity the low house and the high. He knows them both. He left the dignities and delights of the one for the humiliations of the other; and, having served and suffered within its doors, He has returned again to the palace of the King. Why was it that He went out and came back? It was to taste all my need, to cancel all my sin, to open to my soul the gates of life everlasting I look on Him, I believe in Him, I love Him, and thus I have the assurance of the incorruptible inheritance. Jesus in the heart is heaven in the heart here and now, and it will be the heart in heaven ere long. And thus the contrite spirit comes to the high and holy place.1 [Note: A. Smellie.]
William Morris, the poet, was also an art-dealer, a painter, a manufacturer of porcelain, and an advanced Socialist, and appeared once to show sympathy with Socialists persecuted for free speech. He dwelt in the high and holy places of song and beauty and with the despised, police-hunted East End Socialists. All these relations are congruous, though some might abstractedly argue against their unity in one man. The largeness of the universe only discloses the sufficiency of Christian faith. The light in the eye can say: I dwell in the eye and in the vast fields of space. The air in the lungs can say the same. We must connect in thought the immanent and transcendent God; Christ in you the hope of glory; Christ as thine and filling all things. If God is thus so great and rich in His revelation to us, then we have explained to us the secret of the power and blessedness of Christian experience. It is communion with the High and Mighty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy.1 [Note: J. Matthews.]
That light and heat rays are both present in the sunbeam is a familiar fact, but it is not so well known that the optic nerve which is sensitive to the light rays is unconscious of the presence of the heat rays. Professor Tyndall verified this fact by a most interesting and critical experiment. Having prepared a slide by a chemical process which made it exclude the light rays and give free admission to the heat rays, he cut a small hole in a screen so that the heat rays passing through the slide could fall upon a piece of platinum foil. The platinum at once grew red-hot. At the risk of destroying his own sight he then brought the retina of the eye into the focus of the heat rays. Not the slightest sensation of heat was experienced. The explanation, he tells us, is probably thisthe oscillations of the heat rays, which differ from those of the light rays, are not timed to the conditions of the optic nerve. That nerve has been so adjusted that it responds only to the light rays with which it is in consonance, and is quite dead to the heat rays which elude its consciousness. And is it not thus with that sense of God which awakens within us? Power and love unite themselves in His person, but the scientist fails to realise His power, whilst the penitent is vividly sensible of His tenderness.2 [Note: T. G. Selby.]
I dwell in the high and holy place; with Him also! What a wonderful conjunction! I could not but think of the great gathering of waters in the Elan Valley, and then the further thought that that vast volume limits itself to enter my own home. Every day I have water from the Welsh hills!3 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]
Lord! Thou hast told us that there be
Two dwellings which belong to Thee,
And those two, thats the wonder,
Are far asunder.
The one the highest heaven is,
The mansions of eternal bliss;
The others the contrite
And humble sprite.
Not like the princes of the earth,
Who think it much below their birth,
To come within the door
Of people poor.
No, such is Thy humility,
That though Thy dwelling be on high,
Thou dost Thyself abase
To the lowest place.
Whereer Thou seest a sinful soul
Deploring his offences foul,
To him Thou wilt descend,
And be his friend.
Thou wilt come in, and with him sup,
And from a low state raise him up,
Till Thou hast made him eat
Blest angels meat.
Thus Thou wilt him with honour crown
Who in himself is first cast down,
And humbled for his sins,
That Thy love wins.
Though heaven be high, the gate is low,
And he who comes in there must bow:
The lofty looks shall neer
Have entrance there.
O God! since Thou delightst to rest
In the humble contrite breast
First make me so to be,
Then dwell with me.1 [Note: Thomas Washbourne.]
Gods Double Dwelling-Place
Literature
Bacon (L. W.), The Simplicity that is in Christ, 318.
Brown (A. G.), In the Valley of Decision, 168.
Campbell (J. M.), Responsibility for the Gift of Eternal Life, 64
Campbell (R. J.), City Temple Sermons, 199.
Dykes (J. O.), Sermons, 67.
Gresley (W.), Brighton Sermons, 297.
Murray (A.), The Ministry of Intercession, 180.
Oosterzee (J. J. van.), The Year of Salvation, i. 27.
Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, iii. 73.
Robertson (F. W.), Sermons, 3rd Ser., 230.
Selby (T. G.), The Lesson of a Dilemma, 165.
Simcox (W. H.), Cessation of Prophecy, 48.
Smellie (A.), In the Secret Place, 370.
Watkinson (W. L.), Ashes of Roses, 245.
Sermons for the Christian Seasons, 1st Ser., i. 169.
British Congregationalist, Jan.June, 1907, 516 (Jowett).
Christian World Pulpit, ii. 52 (Dykes); li. 134 (McHardy).
Church of England Pulpit, xxxiv. 40 (Henslow).
Church Pulpit Year Book, ii. 19.
Homiletic Review, xii. 149 (Matthews).
Presbyterian and Reformed Review, xiii. 278.
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
the high: Isa 6:1, Psa 83:18, Psa 97:9, Psa 138:6, Dan 4:17, Dan 4:24, Dan 4:25, Dan 4:34
that inhabiteth: Isa 40:28, Gen 21:33, Deu 33:27, Psa 90:2, Psa 93:2, Pro 8:23, Jer 10:10, Mic 5:2, Rom 1:20, 1Ti 1:17, Heb 9:14
whose: Isa 6:3, Exo 15:11, 1Sa 2:2, Job 6:10, Psa 99:3, Psa 111:9, Luk 1:49, Act 3:14, Rev 3:7, Rev 4:8, Rev 15:4
I dwell: Isa 66:1, 1Ki 8:27, Psa 68:4, Psa 68:5, Psa 113:4-6, Psa 115:3, Psa 123:1, Zec 2:13, Mat 6:9, 1Ti 6:16
with: Isa 66:1, Isa 66:2, 2Ch 33:12, 2Ch 33:13, 2Ch 34:27, Psa 34:18, Psa 51:17, Psa 138:6, Eze 9:4, Eze 16:63, Mat 5:3, Mat 5:4, Jam 4:6, 1Pe 5:5
to revive the spirit: Isa 61:1-3, Psa 147:3, Mat 5:4, Luk 4:18, Luk 15:20-24, 2Co 1:4, 2Co 2:7, 2Co 7:6
Reciprocal: Gen 14:22 – the most Gen 45:27 – the spirit Exo 15:18 – General Exo 23:21 – my name Exo 34:14 – whose Lev 9:10 – the fat Lev 23:32 – afflict Num 35:34 – I dwell Deu 26:15 – Look down 1Ki 6:13 – I will dwell 1Ki 8:30 – and hear 2Ki 22:19 – thine heart 2Ch 6:18 – But will 2Ch 6:21 – thy dwelling place 2Ch 12:12 – when 2Ch 20:6 – God in heaven 2Ch 30:27 – his holy dwelling place Ezr 9:8 – reviving Job 9:3 – he will contend Job 22:12 – not God Job 22:29 – he shall Job 25:2 – he maketh Psa 2:4 – He that Psa 7:7 – return Psa 18:27 – save Psa 20:6 – his holy heaven Psa 30:5 – For Psa 33:14 – General Psa 51:8 – bones Psa 56:2 – most Psa 57:2 – God most Psa 68:18 – that Psa 71:22 – O thou Psa 85:6 – revive Psa 92:1 – most Psa 99:9 – for the Psa 113:6 – in the earth Psa 132:14 – here will Pro 3:34 – he giveth Pro 16:19 – to be Pro 18:10 – name Pro 22:4 – By Pro 29:23 – honour Pro 30:3 – the holy Ecc 5:8 – for Son 2:1 – lily Isa 5:16 – God that is holy Isa 12:1 – though Isa 29:19 – the poor Isa 33:5 – he dwelleth Isa 40:1 – comfort Isa 42:3 – bruised Isa 43:13 – before Isa 50:4 – a word Isa 51:12 – am he Isa 57:18 – restore Isa 63:15 – the habitation Jer 23:24 – Do Jer 31:18 – surely Jer 32:18 – the Great Jer 44:10 – humbled Dan 2:11 – whose Joe 2:13 – rend Mic 6:8 – walk humbly Hab 1:12 – thou not Zec 1:8 – among Mal 1:14 – for Mat 3:3 – Prepare Mat 5:34 – heaven Mat 12:20 – bruised Mat 18:4 – humble Mat 23:12 – General Mar 7:29 – General Luk 5:32 – General Luk 6:20 – Blessed Luk 14:11 – whosoever Luk 18:14 – every Luk 22:61 – looked Joh 4:24 – must Joh 14:17 – but Joh 14:23 – make 2Co 12:2 – third Eph 3:17 – Christ Eph 4:2 – lowliness Col 3:15 – the peace 2Th 2:17 – Comfort Heb 6:9 – things Jam 1:10 – in 1Pe 3:4 – a meek 1Pe 5:6 – Humble Rev 1:4 – him
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
GODS TWO DWELLING PLACES
I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.
Isa 57:15
God has two special dwellingsthe high and holy place, i.e. the heaven not merely of space, but of pure and blessed spirits; and the hearts of men who have felt their sin and their need of God.
I. These two dwellings are far apart.How wide and great the one, how small and narrow the other! How permanent the one, how passing the other! How bright and untroubled the one, how dark and troubled the other!
II. They have yet something in common.The high place is akin to the humble spirit, for to see the far and high, and to long for it, is to rise; to have something of God within lifts up. The holy place is akin to the contrite heart; for to feel the sin and separation is to reach to the holy, and this comes from having God already in the heart at work.
III. They are to be brought into one.God dwells in them to unite them, to revive the spirit, to give life. And where God gives true life, He gives the earnest of heaven and eternity. These hearts are therefore on the way to being Gods perpetual home.
IV. The full end of these words is in Christ.He came from the high and holy place to dwell among men, and find a way into human heartsto make heaven and the heart one and eternal.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Isa 57:15-16. For thus saith the high and lofty One The omnipotent and supreme Ruler of the universe; that inhabiteth eternity Who is from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning of days, or end of life, or change of time; who only hath immortality, hath it of himself, and that constantly; who inhabits it, and cannot be dispossessed of it; whose name is Holy Who is perfectly and essentially holy in his nature, his works, his words, and his ways; and therefore both can and will deliver his church and people, as he has promised to do. I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also, &c. Although my throne is in the highest heavens, where nothing impure can have place, yet I do not disdain graciously to visit, and familiarly converse with, those sinners of mankind, whose spirits are broken by affliction, and humbled under a sense of their sins, for which they were afflicted; which doubtless was the case with many of the Jews in the Babylonish captivity: whom, therefore, he here implies, that God would pity and deliver out of their distresses, as also all others in similar circumstances. To revive the spirit of the humble To support and comfort them amidst their afflictions and troubles, of whatever kind. For I will not contend for ever I will not proceed to the utmost severity with sinful men. For the spirit should fail before me For then their spirits would sink and die under my stroke, and I should do nothing else but destroy the work of my own hands: therefore I consider their infirmity, and spare them. See Psa 78:38-39; and Psa 103:9-14; which passages Bishop Lowth thinks contain the best and easiest explication of this clause.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The reason for this proclamation is that God is who He is. He is the utterly transcendent God in relation to space (high and lifted up, cf. Isa 6:1; Isa 52:13), time (lives forever), and character (holy). Yet He is also immanent, dwelling among repentant and humble people. He dwells among them to encourage and enable them. The holy God is with His humble people (cf. Isa 7:14). One writer called this verse "one of the finest one-sentence summations of biblical theology in the Bible." [Note: Oswalt, The Book . . . 40-66, p. 487.]
"Earthly sovereigns are thought of as dwelling with the exalted and proud ones; the great Sovereign of all dwells with the humble believer." [Note: A. Martin, Isaiah . . ., p. 104.]