Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Isaiah
Book: Isaiah
Chapter: 27
Overview:
God's care over his people.
(1-5) A promise of their recall to
Divine favour.
(6-13)
1-5 The
Lord Jesus with his strong
Sword, the virtue of his
Death, and the preaching of his
Gospel, does and will destroy
him that had the power of
Death, that is, the
Devil, that old
Serpent. The world is a fruitless, worthless
Wilderness; but the
Church is a vineyard, a place that has great care taken of it,
and from which precious fruits are gathered.
God will keep it in
the night of affliction and
Persecution, and in the
Day of peace
and prosperity, the temptations of which are not less dangerous.
God also takes care of the fruitfulness of this vineyard. We
need the continual waterings of Divine
Grace; if these be at any
time withdrawn, we wither, and come to nothing. Though
God
sometimes contends with his people, yet he graciously waits to
be reconciled unto them. It is true, when he finds briers and
thorns instead of vines, and they are set in array against him,
he will tread them down and burn them. Here is a summary of the
doctrine of the
Gospel, with which the
Church is to be watered
every moment. Ever since
Sin first entered, there has been,
On
God's part, a righteous quarrel, but,
On Man's part, most
unrighteous. Here is a gracious invitation given. Pardoning
Mercy is called the power of our
Lord; let us take
Hold On that.
Christ crucified is the power of
God. Let us
By lively
Faith
take
Hold On his strength who is a strength to the needy,
believing there is
No other name
By which we can be saved, as a
Man that is sinking catches
Hold of a bough, or
Cord, or plank,
that is in his reach. This is the only way, and it is a sure
way, to be saved.
God is willing to be reconciled to us.
6-13 In the days of the
Gospel, the latter days, the
Gospel
Church shall be more firmly fixed than the Jewish
Church, and
shall spread further. May our souls be continually watered and
kept, that we may abound in the fruits of the
Spirit, in all
Goodness,
Righteousness, and
Truth. The Jews yet are kept a
separate and a numerous people; they have not been rooted out as
those who slew them. The condition of that nation, through
So
many ages, forms a certain proof of the Divine origin of the
Scriptures; and the Jews live amongst us, a continued warning
against
Sin. But though
Winds are ever
So rough, ever
So high,
God can say to them, Peace, be still. And though
God will
afflict his people, yet he will make their
Afflictions to work
for the good of their souls. According to this promise, since
the
Captivity in
Babylon,
No people have shown such
Hatred to
idols and
Idolatry as the Jews. And to all
God's people, the
design of affliction is to part between them and
Sin. The
affliction has done us good, when we keep at a distance from the
occasions of
Sin, and use care that we may not be tempted to it.
Jerusalem had been defended
By Grace and the Divine protection;
but when
God withdrew, she was left like a
Wilderness. This has
awfully come to pass. And this is a figure of the deplorable
state of the vineyard, the
Church, when it brought forth wild
grapes. Sinners flatter themselves they shall not be dealt with
severely, because
God is merciful, and is their Maker. We see
how weak those pleas will be. Verses 12,13, seem to predict
the restoration of the Jews after the Babylonish
Captivity, and
their recovery from their present
Dispersion. This is further
applicable to the preaching of the
Gospel,
By which sinners are
gathered into the
Grace of
God; the
Gospel proclaims the
acceptable
Year of the
Lord. Those gathered
By the sounding of
the
Gospel trumpet, are brought in to
Worship God, and added to
the
Church; and the last trumpet will gather the saints
together.