The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 220

evils, snd established in goodness. That supreme purpose gives point snd tone to all her dealings with him, and relstions to him. .As high BS God is above the best of m?thers, so much higher is. God's purpose co1;1cerning us thsn hers concerning her cl11ld. He would hsve us whiter than snow, whitened so as no earth-fuller csn whiten. II. Goo's DEALINGS IN WORKING OUT ms PURPOSE. 1. His supreme sim is kept in view in his ordinsry everydsy dealings. This we do not adequately keep in mind. We see God _in the few ivea_t thin~s, but n?t !n the thousandfold little things. .And yet the prec101:1sn~ss ?f hfe m Gods_ lead hcs ID our confidence that he is working by small and contm~ung mfluences, makm~ all work for good. 2. His purpose is wrought th:ough all _d~almgs that are of _a satisfactory character. We easily miss observing ~-Ins. God 1s rn all the good thmgs that please us. He works in and through our Joys-through human love! throug~ beauty, grace, wisdom, societJ:, friendship, success; and makes the pleasant thmgs of life become man's severest testmg. 3. His purpose is further accomplished through disciplinary dealings. 'l'his is so familiar a topic that its ilhiStration may be left to the preacher. III. Goo's AGENTS THROUGH WHOM HE WOllKS RIB HOLY WILL. They may be things or they may be persons. The point is that they can be presented under the figure of fire, and their influence can be indicated by the action of fire. This may be opened out by showing (1) that fire causes suffering; (2) fire separates; (3) fire finds out what is worthless; (4) fire cleanses; (5) fire is a continuing force; (6) fire can take different degrees of force. God's agents may be (1) men; (2) things; (3) circumstances. .Any one, anything, into which God can put a refining force. Each one of us may be one of God's refining forces, for those with whom we have to do; and at the same time, each one of us is under the refining influence of others for our own purifying. IV. Goo's QUALIFICATIONS IN THE PROCESS OF HIS WORK. This is the point more especially 1,resented in the text. God does not treat Israel in the severe way in which silver is treated by the refiner. He knows his metal; he knows what each can bear. He never suffers ns to be tested above that we are able t-0 bear. He damps down the fires when they blaze too high. He never goes beyond our strength. Because we have this conviction so settled into our souls, therefore we can let God undertake for us; refining in his own ways, and securing at last his own pure image in the cleared metal-RT. Ver. 18.-The blessings of obedience. "0 that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." What might have been! How often we reproach ourselves with thinking over the "might have beens" I How searching it is to find God helping us regretfully to realize what might have been (comp. Ps. lxxxi. 13-16) I "Peace" and "righteousness" here both stand as terms to express "prosperity," that best of prosperities which comes as the manifestation of Jehovah's righteousness or fidelity to his promises. The figures used may be thus explained : If they had been faithful to their covenants their national prosperity would have followed on, age after age, like the ceaseless current, day and night, of a noble river. 1f they had been obedient, they would have mastered all forms of difficulty and opposition with a resistless power like that which belongs to the waves of the sea. The time of exile in Babylon was a sad break in the national prosperity. There would have been no occasion for it if Israel had been faithful and obedient. J . .A. Alexander says, "Nothing could well be more appropriate at the close of this division of the prophecies than such an affecting statement of the truth, so frequently propounded in didactic form already, that Israel, although the chosen people of Jehovah, and as such secure from total ruin, was and was to be a sufferer, not from any want of faithfulness or care on God's part, but as the necessary fruit of its own imperfections and corruptions." 'l'wo of the blessings that always follow on obedienoo are indicated here-they are permanence and power. I. PERMANENCE AS A RESULT OF OBEDIENCE. 'l'his is one of the most marked impressions made on sensitive minds by the sight of the full-flowing river, especially in Eastern lands, where it is, in such a marked way, contrasted with the mountain wadies thst are sometimes dry and at other times roaring with flood. The river flows on for ever. Men come and go. Cities rise and fall into decay on its banks. CommercA 110w uses and now neglects it. Dynasties la.at their little while. 'l'he river flowed on oa. XLVIU. 1-22.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 229