The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 64

It will c()mo as long as the world endures; that is, so lor.g as God neecls, by external judgments, to mR.I'k the evil of sin. The sin of all others that clt.I:s for a "day of the Lorcl " is pride, self-confidence, rebellious self-assertion ; and this was precisely the sin of the times in which Isaiah wrote. Man is made for God; he was ruined when he broke relations with God, and in self-will separated himself from God. And there is no hope of restoration until pride is humbled. 'l'hcrefore for this humbling of self God pleads, and to secure this God sends judgments. Henderson says, "These verses con- tain a specification of several of the most distinguished objects of ne.ture e.nd e.rt, in order, metaphorically, to represent the different persons or orders of men elevated by tho dignity of office, or rendered notable by their riches, or the elegance and luxury of their establishments, whom the judgments of God would, in a more remarkable manner, hurl into ruin." It has been also observed that the emphatic iteration of "lifted up" is noticeable as indicating that the prophet sees in that self-assertion the root-evil of his time, ~hat which was most destructive of the fear of the Lord, e.nd most surely brought -iown Judgment on the offender. I. ONE DAY GoD HUMBLES THE PROUD NATION. Illustrate from Babylon. Nebuchad- nezzar exalted himself, and took all the glory to himself, and Belshazzar followed him in the same wilfulness; but a day of darkness and terror came for Babylon, of which the handwriting on the wall gave awful warnings. Or take Jerusalem as representing the kingdom of Judah. Puffed up with self-confidence, wilfully resisting the Divine lead, a day of vindication and judgment at last came; her enemies poured in like a flood; the holy city lay in ashes, and her people were either slain or captive. And it is not without good reason that we find modem illustration of God's day for nations in Napoleonic France. Napoleon claiming both to "propose and dispose," and overtaken by God's avenging day at Moscow and Waterloo. . II. Goo's DAY HUMBLES THE PROUD INDIVIDUAL. That day comes in such forms 118 these. 1. A slip from integrity brings disgrace and ruin. 2. Me.sterfulneBB e.nd arrog&llce bring hatred, which finds occasion to injure. 3. Riches take to themselves wings and flee away. 4. Mind becomes unsettled, as in the case of Nebuchadnezzar. 5. Sickness and bereavement come in his family. Sooner or later a day dawns in which the haughty, self-reliant, God-despising man is touched on his sorest, tenderest place, No man can ever be permitted to exalt himself against God and permanently prosper. Give instances from modem life of the downfall of pride, such as the closing years of Squire Beckford's life. ill GoD's HUMBLINGS, FOR NATIONS OB FOR MEN, MAY BE MELTINGB, OR THEY MAY ILA VE To BE CBUBHINGB. The result of them depends upon the way in which they are met and responded to. That which is designed to melt may harden; and a judgment that bruises only may be so abused, that it must be followed by a judgment that breaks. Israel would not be humbled by calamity after ca.la.mity graciously tempered, so it must be made overwhelming; and Samaria was taken, and the distinct life of Israel, as a nation, crushed out for ever. It is a thought full of painful seriousness, that the que.lity and degree of our troubles depend on our respoDl!e to those God has sent, as chasteninge, in earlier times. God's hand may be heavy on us, because we have so long resisted hie pleadings and his humblings. Judgment is his strange work, mercy is his delight; but if we resist him, further and heavier judgments a.re demanded by very" mercy."-R. T. Ver. 20.-Man's disgU8t at his idol,. In ver. 8 the prophet had observed that one characteristic of the times was prevailing idolatry. The men who had, in their self-will and pride, turned from the living God, had taken up with idols, deities of their-own imagining, which answered to the devices and desires of their own hearts, and allowed them to keep their self-will even in their religion. Divinely revealed religion and man- made religions differ in thhi--the first demands the surrender of self-will, the second finds expressions for, and strengtheDJ! by expression, man's self-will. That is the. real reason why men constantly fall into idolatry; it keep~ them in the" self-sphere." The prophet recognizes this by saying, "'l'heir land also is full of idols they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made." 'l'hen, when Jehovah arises to vindicate himself, man is humbled, and one sign of that humbling ia sure to be, that his trust in his helpless, self-fashioned idols is broken. He finds oui their uselessness when God's testing day comes upon him, and in disgust he is read7 OH, II, 1-22,] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 49