The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 37

Ver. 4.-The course of sin. It is true that both righteousness and sin have very Yaried manifestations, the course of one good or one bad man's life differina widely from that of another. Yet there is a logical and moral order in which both"'holiness and iniquity pursue their path from their beginning to their end. 'l'he course of sin is not indicated by the sequence of these accusations, but the different steps are included in the prophetic denunciation. I. IT BEGINS IN TIIE WITHDRAWAL OF THE SOUL FROM GoD. The first movement in the soul's downward course is to "forsake the Lord "-to withdraw itself from him. At first it has no intention to take up an attitude of positive rebellion;· it does not say to itself, "I will not have this One to reign over me." But it withholds its thoughts, its affection, its consultation of his revealed will, its activity and contribution in the field of Christian work. It fails to "magnify" him in its own mind and sphere; it "follows afar off;" it loses its hold on him, and its joy in him. It allows an increasing distance to be placed between itself and him. II. IT sHows ITSELF IN WRONG-DOING. They who withhold from God the reverence and the obedience which are his due soon become "a seed of evil-doers." Moralityrests on religion as on its only solid basis. Without a sense of religious obligation-as indi- vidual and national histories abundantly testify-moral principles will soon decline and disappear. When God is forgotten and his will is disregarded, life becomes darkened with evil deeds, it is stained with vice and crime, IIL IT PASSES INTO DELIBERATE DISLOYALTY TO HIM. "They are gone away back- wanl;" or, "they have turned their backs upon him." The outcome of hTeligion and iniquity is presumptuous in.fidelity, unblushing atheism : man turns his back on God. IV. IT BRIKGS DOWN THE mGH DISPLEASURE OF THE HoLY ONE. "They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger." We read that God is "angry with the wicked every day" (Ps. vii. 11); that sin "grieves him at his heart" (Gen. vi. 6). The Divine emotion is doubtless different, in some respects, from that with which we are familiar, but there is enough resemblance between a holy man and the Holy One of Israel for us to say that such grief and anger as we feel when we look upon shameful sin and shocking crime God himself feels in an infinitely greater degree. It is a thought as true as it is terrible that, when we forsake, disobey, and disavow the Lord, his hio-h0 and awful wrath is directed against our souls. V. JT RESULTS IN THE HEAVIEST OF ALL PENALTIKB THAT CAN BE BORNE, "A people l,aden with iniquity." Sin, "when it is finished," when it has run· its course an_d done its work, triumphs over the sinner; it may seem at first to be a power under his feet, and then to be a pleasure to his heart; but it ends in being a crushing weight u~n his head. It becomes an insupportable burden; he becomes a soul "laden with iniquity." 1. Iniquity itself, ever growing and spreading, covers the entire surface of his life. 2. The effect of sin is to dwarf and shrivel his whole nature. A man who has given away to sin (notably to such a hatef_ul ~foe as intemperance, or lic~ntiousness, ~r gambling) suffers like a man who all hlB life bears e. burdensome weight upon his shoulders. He "bears his iniquity." His soul is dominated, damaged, tyrauuized, by d.lt, I, 1-31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 21