Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him." This
passage is a prediction of the conversion of the Gentiles. It furnishes us
with two interesting ideas; the nature of true conversion—and the extent
of it under the reign of the Messiah. 1. The NATURE of true conversion:
—It is to "remember" —to "turn to the Lord" —and to "worship
before him." This is a plain and simple process. Perhaps the first
religious exercise of mind of which we are conscious is reflection. A state
of unregeneracy is a state of forgetfulness. God is forgotten. Sinners
have lost all just sense of his glory, authority, mercy, and judgment;
living as if there were no God, or as if they thought there was none. But
if ever we are brought to be the subjects of true conversion, we shall be
brought to remember these things. This divine change is fitly expressed by
the case of the prodigal, who is said to have come to himself, or to his
right mind. But further, true conversion consists not only in remembering,
but in "turning to the Lord." This part of the passage is expressive of a
cordial relinquishment of our idols, whatever they have been, and an
acquiescence in the gospel way of salvation by Christ alone. Once more,
true conversion to Christ will be accompanied with the "worship" of him.
Worship, as a religious exercise, is the homage of the heart, presented to
God according to his revealed will. . . . 2. The EXTENT of conversion
under the kingdom or reign of the Messiah: "All the ends of the world shall
remember and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall
worship before him." It was fit that the accession of the Gentiles should
be reserved for the gospel day, that it might grace the triumph of Christ
over his enemies, and appear to be what it is, "the travail of his soul."
This great and good work, begun in the apostles' day, must go on, and
"must increase," till "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn,"
and "all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him." Conversion
work has been individual; God has gathered sinners one by one. Thus it is
at present with us; but it will not be thus always. People will flock to
Zion as doves to their windows. Further, conversion work has hitherto been
circumscribed within certain parts of the world. But the time will come
when "all the kindreds of the earth" shall worship. These hopes are not the
flight of an ardent imagination; they are founded on the true sayings of
God. Finally, while we are concerned for the world, let us not forget our
own souls. So the whole world be saved and we lost, what will it avail us?
Condensed from Andrew Fuller.
Verse 27. "All the ends of the world shall REMEMBER"—this is a
remarkable expression. It implies that man has forgotten God. It
represents all the successive generations of the world as but one, and
then it exhibits that one generation, as if it had been once in paradise,
suddenly remembering the Lord whom it had known there, but had long
forgotten. . . . The converted nations, we learn by this verse, will not
only obtain remembrance of their past loss, but will also be filled with the
knowledge of present duty.
John Stevenson.
Verse 27. "All the nations of the world" ((Heb.) jizkeru, the same
Hebrew root with (Heb.) azkir ) "shall remember;" why? what is that? or
what shall they remember? Even this: they shall turn to the Lord, and
worship him, in his name, in his ordinances; as is explained in the words
following of this verse: "And all the families of the nations" ((Heb.)
jishtachavu, "shall bow" down themselves, or) "worship before thee,"
etc. And so in Psalm 86:9, "All nations whom thou hast made shall come"
((Heb.) vejishtachavu ) "and they shall worship before thee;" and how shall
they do so? Even by recording, remembering, and making mention of the glory
of thy name; as in the words following ((Hebrew) vicabbedu lishmecha ),
"and shall glorify thy name."
William Strong's "Saints Communion with God," 1656.
Verses 27, 28. The one undeviating object of the Son all through was, the
glory of the Father: he came to do his will, and he fulfilled it with all
the unvarying intensity of the most heavenly affection. What, then, will
not be the exuberant joy of his heart, when in his glorious kingdom, he
shall see the Father beyond all measure glorified? . . . The praise and
honour and blessing which will be yielded to the Father in that day through
him, so that God shall be all in all, will make him feel he underwent not a
sorrow too much for such a precious consummation. . . . Every note of
thanksgiving which ascends to the Father, whether from the fowls of the air,
or the beasts of the field, or the fishes of the sea, or the hills, or the
mountains, or the trees of the forest, or the rivers of the valleys—all
shall gladden his heart, as sweet in the ears of God, for the sake of him
who redeemed even them from the curse, and restored to them a harmony more
musical than burst from them on the birthday of their creation. And man!
renewed and regenerated man! for whose soul the blood was spilt, and for the
redemption of whose body death was overcome, how shall the chorus of his
thanksgiving, in its intelligent and articulate hallelujahs, be the incense
which that Saviour shall still love to present unto the Father, a
sweet-smelling savour through himself, who, that he might sanctify his
people by his own blood, suffered without the camp. How are the channels
choked up or impaired in this evil world, wherein the praise and glory of
our God should flow as a river! How will Christ then witness, to the
delight of his soul, all cleared and restored! No chill upon the heart, no
stammering in the tongue, in his Father's praises! No understanding dull,
or eye feeble, in the apprehension of his glory! No hand unready, or foot
stumbling, in the fulfilling of his commandments. God, the glory of his
creatures: his glory their service and their love; and all this the reward
to Jesus of once suffering himself.
C. J. Goodhart, M.A., in "Bloomsbury Lent Lectures," 1848.
Verse 29. "And they shall bow that go down into the dust; their soul
liveth not:" that is, whose soul liveth not, by an Hebraism; it being
meant, that he who is of most desperate condition, being without hope of
life and salvation, his sins are so notorious, shall "eat" also of this
feast, and be turned to God to "worship" and serve him; being thus plucked
out of the jaws of death and everlasting destruction, as it were, being
before this very hour ready to seize upon him. The new translation, "None
can keep alive his own soul," as it agreeth not with the Hebrew, so it
makes the sense more perplexed. By "him that goeth down to the dust, whose
soul liveth not," some understand the most miserably poor, who have nothing
to feed upon, whereby their life may be preserved, yet shall feed also of
this feast as well as the rich, and praise God. Ainsworth is for either
spiritually poor and miserable, because most wicked, or worldly poor; and
there is an exposition of Basil's, understanding by the rich, the rich in
faith and grace, touching which, or the rich properly so called, he is
indifferent. But because it is said, "The fat of the earth," I prefer the
former, and that the close of the verse may best answer to the first part;
the latter by "those that are going to the dust," understand the miserably
poor. So that there is a commonplace of comfort for all, both richest and
poorest, if they be subjects of God's kingdom of grace: their souls shall be
alike fed by him and saved.
John Mayer.
Verse 29. "All they that go down to the dust;" either those who stand
quivering on the brink of the grave, or those who occupy the humble,
sequestered walks of life. As the great and opulent of the earth are
intended in the first clause, it is not by any means unnatural to suppose
that the image of going "down to the dust," is designed to represent the
poor and mean of mankind, who are unable to support themselves, and to
provide for their multiplied necessities. If the grave be alluded to, as is
thought by many eminent divines, the beautiful sentiment of the verse will
be, that multitudes of dying sinners shall be brought to worship Jehovah,
and that those who cannot save or deliver themselves shall seek that shelter
which none can find but those who approach the mercy-seat. "Rich and poor,"
as Bishop Horne observes, "are invited"—that is, to "worship God;" "and
the hour is coming when all the race of Adam, as many as sleep in the 'dust'
of the earth, unable to raise themselves from thence, quickened and called
forth by the voice of the Son of Man, must bow the knee to King Messiah."
John Morison.
Verse 29. To be brought to the dust, is, at first, a circumlocution or
description of death: "Shall the dust praise thee, shall it declare thy
truth?" Psalm 30:9. That is, shall I praise thee when I am among the
dead? "What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?" Not
that profit, sure, I cannot bring thee in the tribute of praise when my
life's gone out. Secondly, to be brought to the dust is a description of
any low and poor condition. "All they that be fat upon the earth" (that
is, the great and mighty), "shall eat and worship" "all they that go down
to the dust" (that is, the mean and base), " shall bow before him." As if
he had said, rich and poor, high and low, the king and the beggar, have
alike need of salvation by Jesus Christ, and must submit unto him, that they
may be saved, for, as it there follows, "none can keep alive his own
soul." The captivity of the Jews in Babylon is expressed under those
notions of death, and of dwelling in the dust (Isaiah 26:19); to show
how low, that no power but his who can raise the dead, could work their
deliverance.
Joseph Caryl.
Verse 29. "None can keep alive his own soul." And yet we look back to
our conversion, and its agonies of earnestness, its feelings of deep,
helpless dependence—of Christ's being absolutely our daily, hourly need
—supplier—as a past something—a stage of spiritual life which
is over. And we are satisfied to have it so. The Spirit of God moved
over our deadness, and breathed into us the breath of life. My soul became
a living soul. But was this enough? God's word says, No. "None can
keep alive his own soul." My heart says, No. Truth must ever answer to
truth. I cannot (ah! have I not tried, and failed?) I cannot keep alive
my own soul. We cannot live upon ourselves. Our physical life is kept up
by supply from without—air, food, warmth. So must the spiritual life.
Jesus gives, Jesus feeds us day by day, else must the life fade out and die.
"None can keep alive his own soul." It is not enough to be made alive. I
must be fed, and guided, and taught, and kept in life. Mother, who hast
brought a living babe into the world, is your work done? Will you not nurse
it, and feed it, and care for it, that it may be kept alive? Lord, I am
this babe. I live indeed, for I can crave and cry. Leave me not, O my
Saviour. Forsake not the work of thine own hands. In thee I live. Hold
me, carry me, feed me, let me abide in thee. "For thy kingdom is the
Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon
earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow
before him: and none can keep alive his own soul." In our work for God, we
need to remember this. Is not the conversion, the arousing of sinners, the
great, and with many, the sole aim in working for God? Should it be so?
Let us think of this other work. Let us help to keep alive. Perhaps it
is less distinguished, as it may be less distinguished to feed a starving
child than to rescue a drowning man. But let us walk less by sight, more by
faith. Let us not indeed neglect to call to life those who are spiritually
dead. But Oh! let us watch for the more hidden needs of the living—the
fading, starving, fainting souls, which yet can walk and speak, and cover
their want and sorrow. Let us be fellow-workers with God in all his work.
And with a deep heart-feeling of the need of constant life supplies from
above, let us try how often, how freely, we may be made the channels of
those streams of the "water of life,"—for "none can keep alive his own
soul."
Mary B. M. Duncan, in "Bible Hours." 1856.
Verse 29. Having considered the vastness and glory of the prospect, our
Lord next contemplates the reality and minuteness of its accomplishment. He