Isaiah chapter 32

CHAPTER XXXII. 

GOD'S KING, HIS PRINCES, AND HIS PEACE BASED UPON RIGHTEOUSNESS. THE Assyrian King having fallen by the sword of the Lord, and having been consumed in the fire of Tophet, the way is opened for the reign of ISRAEL'S KING in righteousness, along with the princes of his choice. This is the setting-up of Yahweh's ENSIGN, the blessed results of which are unfolded beforehand in Isaiah's vision of chapter xxxii. The Gospel of the Kingdom, leaves no trace of doubt as to the identity of the King and Princes in question, nor of the time, locality, and characteristics of their righteous reign. The Lord Jesus and his brethren are unquestionably the subjects of the prophetic vision, as proved by the testimony of angels, of the Father by audible voice from heaven, of Jesus himself in words and works of power, and of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven after his ascension, in attestation of the apostolic preaching of " this Gospel of the Kingdom." He was " born King of the Jews," and the angel Gabriel declared that the Lord God would give him the throne of David for ever. He was crucified for maintaining the claim of his divine royalty, though he emphatically declared his Kingdom was not of this world (kosmos), but of a heavenly order hereafter to be revealed in Jerusalem. He himself chose some of the " Princes" over whom he in turn is " Prince" (Rev. i. 5). He told these, his humble " fellows " in the days of his flesh, that in the regeneration they should reign over the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. xix.). They are some of his " children " (so styled by him—Mar. x. 24 ; Matt, v. 9, 45) whom he will thus "make princes in all the earth" (Psa. xlv. 16). They in turn went forth, and called others to the Kingdom and glory of God; and the calling is not even yet discontinued. Wherever the Gospel penetrates, it offers a princely inheritance with Christ in " his day," which is imminent. "Righteousness" and "judgment " are revealed as the characteristics of Messiah's reign, in sharp distinction from the unrighteousness of the Kingdom of the World that it will suppress. The beauties of Isaiah's vision shine out the more conspicuously against the dreadful background constituted by the history of " the times of the Gentiles." It is an honourable, profitable, and delightful thing to trace out the substance in Christ. First of all we note that it is Christ multitudinous who is the subject of the prophecy. When it says "A MAN" shall be thus and so, it means " a perfect man . . . the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," of which Paul speaks to the Ephesians when describing " the economy of the fulness of times" (Eph. iv. 13: ii. 10). This is the "one body," the Head and " many members" visible in Isaiah's prophecy as " King" and " Princes." And the term of the original is not Adam but ish, for this dominion is not of the earth but of One from heaven, who indeed once bore human nature. And the form of speech of the original draws attention to the participation in the one body of the many members in the glorious work described. So Young and Rotherham render it: "Each one hath been a hiding place," &c. This is true, for all the Princes partake in the work and glory of Christ, as he himself specially affirms with reference to one feature of this vision—"as rivers of water in a dry place." On the occasion of the feast of tabernacles (at the rejoicing over the drawing of water from the pool of Siloam), he said: " He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Perhaps it was to the Scripture we are considering that he referred, as well as to Isaiah xii. John explains that Jesus spoke " of the Spirit which they that believed on him should receive," which at once gives us in Isa. xxxii. the idea of an inspired and glorified King and princes. " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.'* So said Jesus on the occasion under consideration. The living water that was in his gift (John iv. 14) was the word of life (John vi. 63), which, believed and affectionately obeyed in him, will result in everlasting life by his approving bestowal of it upon the obedient in the day of the resurrection. And he will be revealed before all as " the Prince of Life" at his coming; and will be memorialised perpetually by the rivers of water that will flow down from the altar in the vicinity of his temple throne (Ezek. xlvii.). Isaiah's figure is in beautiful harmony with the other parts of the scriptures. And " an hiding-place from the wind " is likewise a most expressive figure for Christ and his brethren. Winds of false doctrine drive about clouds of unstable people (Eph. iv. 14; Jude 12), and destroying winds of war and commotion desolate the earth, and are specially to desolate His land at last (Dan. vii. 2; Jer. iv. 12; Rev. vii. 1; Ezek. xxxviii. 9). And, if we come down from the greater to the less, literal wind and wave are subject to his omnipotent control in that day, much more than in the days of his flesh. In every way Christ, personal and multitudinous, is a hiding-place from the wind. No papal bulls, decrees of anti-Christian councils, or edicts of fanatical Kings, Sheiks, Mullahs, or potentates of any kind will be permitted to afflict mankind any more for 1,000 years; and after "the war of the great day of God Almighty," the storms of battle will be silenced for the age. Truly " the perfect man" will be in the earth, and especially in the Holy Land and City, " as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest." " And as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Only those who have traversed " a weary land," and known the effect of a scorching sun in its shadeless wastes, can fully appreciate the figure. Christ is often spoken of as the Rock, antitypical of the smitten rock in the wilderness, whence flowed the water that kept Israel alive. The " sun scorching" he parabolically couples with " tribulation or persecution because of the word" (Matt, xiii.); a phenomenon with which his " friends " in all ages have been only too familiar. " In the world ye shall have tribulation." The world is " a weary land " to Christ's " pilgrims." But think of the shelter when once he is in the earth again, and if it be a case of sweating endurance now, hold on ! Who are " the blind" and " the deaf" of this prophecy ? And what are they to see and hear in Messiah's day ? Isaiah himself supplies the answer. The leaders of Israel were in his day culpably " blind." They " closed their eyes " to the truth ; and afterwards, in Jesus's day, presumed to declare their superior discernment in pronouncing him a sinner! (John ix. 24). This was when he had healed a blind man by anointing his eyes with clay, and sending him to wash in the pool of Siloam. In the controversy which arose upon this, Jesus declared he came into the world both to give sight and to make blind. And the Pharisees promptly asked, " Are we blind also"? The answer is striking: " If ye were blind ye should have no sin; but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth." " There are none so blind as those who won't see." And none are louder in their profession of spiritual discernment. The world is full of such " blind," whose presumption is not bounded by the desire to " lead the blind," but extends even to the endeavour to direct those who can see. But there are many not so culpably blind, but from whom native ignorance and the pressure of evil circumstances shut out " the word," the entrance of which giveth light. It is " the word " to which people are " blind" and " deaf." Hence, says Isaiah, " In that day shall the deaf hear THE WORDS OF THE BOOK, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity " (xxix. 18). It is the knowledge of God that is so lacking in the earth, and upon which such " rash " or " hasty " things are spoken, and in such " stammerings " in the Babel of Jewry and Christendom. Men are keen enough on matters of science, the arts, literature, and commerce; but on the true knowledge of God not one in ten thousand can speak intelligibly. No doubt such a statement seems madness; but if it be not true, why does Isaiah thus speak of the past and present, and of Messiah's day? Is it not true that " the vail is spread over all nations" ? (Isa. xxv. 7). Was Christ misinformed by the Father when he proclaimed " all nations deceived" by Romish " sorceries" ? (Rev. xviii. 23). If we cannot discern that the world is " blind," " deaf," and " deceived " or " sorcerised," it only proves that our point of viewis not God's, and that we ourselves are "of the world." But many can discern the evil only too well, and for them the prospect of a truly intelligent, eloquent, discerning, humble, and obedient population is a ravishing picture for which they are content to labour and wait and die if need be. The Nabals of the present evil world are to be deposed, that the antitypical David and Abigail may be delivered and enthroned. " Vile person " in this chapter is nabal, literally a fool—a vain and fading mortal, from the verb to wither or fade — contrast the evergreens of righteousness (Psa. i., &c). And Nabal is the typical fool of the Old Testament Scriptures.* And David and Christ are the typical "liberals." See how David prepared for the templer feted his people, and divided the spoil. And see how Christ, " though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich " (2 Cor. viii. 9). The particular villainy or folly that is to be remedied by the reign of Christ is defined here. It embraces " hypocrisy " and the " uttering of error against the Lord" as well as the destruction of the poor with lying words. How far this will affect Church and State may be known when " the truth " as against " error" is brought to bear as a measure. How did the Jewish Church and Roman State treat Christ ? \Vas there " hypocrisy" and " the uttering of error against the Lord " ? We have only to recall his terrible denunciations to get the answer. And that Christendom is really as antagonistic and Anti-Christian is known to all who know the truth, and suspected by many who do not. What greater " error against the Lord " could there be than the doctrines of Anti-Christendom ? What greater hypocrisy than the profession of the clergy from the Pope downwards ? Here is the " Holy Father" of Christendom usurping the very name of God, and proclaiming that dead men and women are either in heaven or purgatory ; and if in the latter, that he has the power to liberate them for a consideration in cash, and send them to the realmsof the blest, apart from resurrection and judgment altogether I 

And all Protest and Dissent is merely a variation of the same doctrines. And all this is associated with a merciless and churlish system of grinding the faces of the poor to enrich a class of Nabals who would grasp the whole earth if they could. Is it to be wondered at, that revolutions are threatening with increasing gravity in the opening of the twentieth century? There is no hope in man. Join the side of " the liberal," and wait for the King. This is the only enlightened policy in the crisis. But from the standpoint of Isaiah, as he looked forward by the Spirit 700 years before Christ, there was yet a very long period of desolation for the careless daughters of Zion before the reign of righteousness, judgment, and true enlightenment of which he had just spoken. Hence the challenge of the last half of this chapter. Many overthrows of the city for the carelessness of its people have intervened between that day and this, and still the day of Christ has not dawned. But it will come. The limitation of the desolation is here defined in the Authorised Version by the singular conjunction of terms "for ever . . . until" (verses 14-15). " The palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever (adolam), a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks, until the spirit be poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest." With reference to the forsaking and desolation of the city and palaces, Jesus himself makes a similar limitation. " Behold, your house is left unto you desolate ; and verily I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Luke xiii. 35). "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled " (xxi. 24). The " for ever " of Isa. xxxii. 14 is therefore terminable by the expiration of these " times." This is not the only place in the scriptures where " for ever" expresses limited duration. But the outpouring of the spirit at the end of the times of the Gentiles has already been assured by the earnest of the outpouring on the day of Pentecost succeeding the resurrection of Jesus. And, although no literal horticultural revolution followed, there was, in another sense, a great transformation of " wilderness " into " fruitful field; " so that an apostle said to some who had been transformed, " Ye are God's husbandry," or " fruitful field," in which Paul and Apollos planted and watered, and God gave the increase (1 Cor. iii.). But the Jews did not discern the paradisaical character of this planting any more than they discerned " the true Vine" in Jesus. They esteemed it " a forest." A paradise is a park or garden enclosure, with fruit trees and ornamental timber and shrubs. A forest (yaar) is an open, unprotected, uncultivated growth of trees and thickets, thorns and briers. The case was exactly the reverse of the Jewish estimate of Christ's day. They were the " forest," the "briers and thorns" as against "the true Vine" and the branches. They were plants which the Father had not planted, and therefore were to be "rooted up," as Jesus told his disciples. Jewish life was spiritually a wilderness, and Jesus arose in it as a plant out of dry ground (Jer. xii. 10; Isa. liii. 2). It was like Christendom is now in the sight of God (Rev. xvii. 3), a " wilderness " of wild beasts, considered a paradise only by themselves. Judgment came upon the Jewish wilderness and forest, and so it will on that of the Gentiles, as the last-named chapter of Revelations elaborately specifies. As the result of the Lamb's overcoming the confederated kings, who are the same group of powers pictured in the prophets under the names of " the Assyrian," "Gog and all his bands," &c, judgment is implanted in the wilderness and righteousness remains in the fruitful field (v. 16). "And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever." What the nations so ardently desire, and so vainly endeavour to secure on the basis of unrighteousness, God has thus provided, and will enforce on the world against its will. And in that day God's people are to dwell peaceably and secure, and verses 18-19 convey the idea of shelter from the storm of the transition time, when the kingdoms of men are being broken up to make room for the Kingdom of God, "When it shall hail, coming down on the forest, and the city shall be low in a low place." What city is this? There are only two cities visible in these great prophetic pictures of the ages—Jerusalem and her Rival. In Isaiah's days it was Babylon that was " the city of the terrible ones." In Christ's day it was Rome, which abides to this day, the self-styled " Eternal City," divinely named " Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth." There is no eternity for this city. That is reserved for the new Jerusalem. The Rival City is to be " low in a low place"; or, as Rotherham prefers to put it: " In a sunken place shall the city sink." This is what Isaiah had previously revealed in Jerusalem's song of triumph in the day of the resurrection (ch. xxvi.): " The lofty city He layeth it low! He layeth it low, even to the ground ; He bringeth it to the dust! " How low Rome, architecturally or topographically speaking, is to descend, is illustrated by the fates of Sodom and Babylon, and by the stone like a great millstone that the mighty angel cast into the sea (Rev. xviii. 21). The armed hosts of " the great city " fall on the mountains of Israel (Ezek. xxxviii. xxxix.) before the hail and fire and brimstone, and the city itself falls into the volcanic abyss over which it stands. Who would belong to such a municipality, when the freedom of Zion is offered by God in Christ? In view of the survival of Zion and her children, the prophet exclaims, " Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass." We are at no loss to appreciate these beautiful figures. Christ and the apostles illustrate them to the full. Christ is the great Sower, and his " precious seed " is " the word of the kingdom; " which, germinating in good and honest hearts, in the field, which is the world, develops seed again as " the children of the kingdom." And, to follow out his parable, " the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels." Now is the sowing time. What are we doing? Sowing wheat or tares? Preparing for glory or consumption? None can answer for us. Let us examine ourselves, and having respect for the promises and commandments of God in Christ, labour patiently on the side of the " blessed."