, I :i HOMILETICS, r ,, , .. , , , , , Vers. 1-20..... Gpd~, jltl4l judg~e Uj!Qn. Che earth, In striking contran with man'e self-complacent theories of con:tinual progress and improvement in the world, resulting in something like the final perfection of our race, is God's prophetic announcement that, as the years. roll on, mankind will go from bad to worse, plunge deeper and deeper into wickedness, bring calamity. after calamity upon themselves, and finally so provoke him that he will destroy the very earth itself as "defiled " by its inhabitants (ver. 5), causing it to "fall, and not rise again" (ver. 20). The judgment, as set forth in this chapter, is-- -1. PROGRESSIVE. It begins with wars, which spread from country to country, until all nations are involvctl in them. Territories are wasted (ver. 3); cities are thrown into confusion (ver. 10); the population of the earth rapidly diminishes; the "few men left" (ver. 6) are BcaUered widely. over the face of. the globe; there is general desolation; and thare ie;ge:nl!tal &adness and misery (vers. 7-12). .All classes suffer (v1ir. 2); the· haughty, especially. are brought down (ver. 4). If men escape one calamity, they are overtaken by another (ver. 18). Tr~hery is at work (ver. 16), and each Dian 1feels like a. hunted anittial, sure, sooner or later. to be the prey of the destroyer (,ver~ 'l-7)... Tl\e judgrp,.ent pas~lls on from _man to the material faqric which he inhabits; manrs trangressiori lies heri;vy upon the earth (ver. 20); it tot,ter~ and trembles from its foundations (ver. 18), reels to and fro (ver. 20), is broken up and shattered (ver. 19); finally, falls from its place. II. FmAL, AS FA.II AS: 'THIS DlSPENSA:TION.< OF THINGS IS OONOEBNED. "The in.habitants of the earth are burned" (ver. 6); the earth is "utterly emptied" (ver. 3); the remnant that , has previously escaped necessarily disappears with the earth that is their habitation; and that earth is "utterly broken down," "clean dissotved," '.'fallen" I!<> as never to rise agai[! (v:ers.19, 20). ' III. Y~T NOT UNCHEEllEO BY SOME BAYS OF HOPE. In the midst of the gloom, and the sadness, and the desolation, and the confusion, there are yet cheeriul voices heard. 4ll flesh ,has not corrLipted its way before the Lord. There are still those who "lift up their voice, and sing for the majesty of tbe Lord" (ver. 14), who "glorify the Lord" in the mi4st of the " fires" of affliction, and pour forth songs whereof the burden is "Honour to the ~ighteous." They constitute, it may be, a small minority; but they are not dismayed. "God," they know, "is on their side;" and they "do not fear w!J.at flesh can do unto them." They bear witness for God to the last; and when the final crash comes they are those blessed ones who "meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess. iv, 17), and are translated to the heavenly kingdom, without passing through the gates of death, there to " be for ever with the Lord." Vers. 21, 22.-.A sorer punishm'ene reserved for the authors and instigators of evil than/or others. The kings of the earth to a large extent lead their subjects mto siD. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, by the setting up of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel, "made Israel to sin," and was the original and ruain cause of that lapse into ictolatry which brought down destruction upon the Israelite nation. Ahab, by his marriage with Jezebel, and introduction of the Baal-worship, intensified the evil, and hastened the final overthrow. Manasseh "seduced Judah to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel" (2 Kings :x:xi. 9), and bronght upon Judah a fate similar to that which had befallen the sister kingdom (2 Kings xxiv. 3, 4). The blood-thirstiness and cruelty of the heathen nations were encouraged by their kings, who were for ever engaging in unjust wars, and looking for success to the terror they inspired by the fierceness of their soldiers, who were instructed to be savage and unsparing. Hence, when the day of reckoning came, it was ju..t that the kings should be reserved for special retribution, and punished with special soverity. We must not too closely press the details of the prophetical announcement. "'fhe pit,," "the prison," are wonted phrases in the imagery of Divine retributive justice. What is intended to be taught is that exact juatice will be meted out• wherever lies the main guilt of the evil done under the sun, there will l1e the m;in severity of punishment. Where kings have been in fault, kings will 388 'l'HE BOOK OJ.I' THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [oH, xxiv. 1-28
suffer; where _nobles and prime ministers, on them will fall the heaviest ~·oc; where leaders sprung from the ranks, theirs will be the sorest suffering. " God is nd.. n,ocked." God v,ill know who are the really guilty ones, and will execute his speciaJ l"engeance upon them, however exalted they be. Nor will he spare the instlgatora ( 1 f evil "·ho belong to the spiritual world. Fallen spirits are ever tempting men to ~in, suggesting lines ·Of sin, egging their victims on, aiding them so far as they &l'f> permitted, and conducting them to depths of sin and wickedness whereof they woul& have had no conception had they been left to themselves. It is just that these spirits, who are the primary movers in the widespread conspiracy of crime, should suffer the most. St. Jude tells us of those evil angels who are "reserve,\ in ever- lasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6). St. John saw in the Apocalyptic vision that "the devil who deceived the nations" was at length "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are," and was "tormented clay and night for ever and ever" (Rev. xx. 10). These, too, have their deserts. Inexorable justice requires for so much sin so much suffering. The law is absolute, imperative, universal. And the whole redounds to the honour and glory of the great Ruler of the universe. "For we are unto God a sweet i;avour of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are Lhe savour of death unto death; and to the other we are the savour of life unto life" (2 Cor. ii. 15, 16). The thought is overwhelming, and the apostle with reason exclaims, "And who is sufficient for these things?"