Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
Parallel Translations
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Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
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Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
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For the land of my people whereon thorns and briers come up; yea, for all the houses of joy and the joyous city.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Isaiah 32:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 22:2 You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.
- Hosea 9:6 For, behold, they have gone away from destruction. Egypt will gather them up. Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their pleasant things of silver. Thorns will be in their tents.
- Isaiah 7:23 It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for briers and thorns.
- Isaiah 34:13 Thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.
- Psalms 107:34 and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
- Isaiah 5:6 I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned or hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
- Isaiah 6:11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, houses without man, the land becomes utterly waste,
- Isaiah 22:12-13 In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth; and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”
- Jeremiah 39:8 The Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
- Hosea 10:8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, “Cover us!” and the hills, “Fall on us!”
- Revelation 18:7-8 However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 32:13 Upon the land of my people shall…
Isa 32:13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns [and] briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy [in] the joyous city:
Ver. 13. Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns.] Here the prophet proceedeth to denounce the destruction of the land that should one day come by the Babylonians; and yet he foretelleth that afterwards God shall receive them into favour, and restore unto them such a kingdom as wherein righteousness and peace shall meet and mutually salute.
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In the joyous city.] Or, Revelling city. See Isa 22:2; Isa 22:13 Zep 2:15.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Upon the land of my people shall come up…
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers. If any of you think there is no great cause for such trembling and lamentation, which shall last but for a year and some days, know that this calamity by the Assyrians is but an earnest of further and sorer judgments; for the time is coming when this land shall be laid desolate, and instead of vines and other fruits, it shall yield nothing but briers and thorns; of which see on Isa 7:23,24.
Upon all the houses of joy; upon that ground where now your houses stand, in which you delight, and take your fill of mirth and pleasure.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Upon the land of my people shall come up…
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers,.... The curse of the earth, the spontaneous productions of it, being uncultivated, and this through want of men, they being destroyed or carried captive by the enemy; this is to be understood of the land of Judea, and not Samaria, as Aben Ezra; where the professing and covenant people of God dwelt; which is mentioned to show the apostasy of this people, for which ruin came upon their land, and the aggravation of it, as well as the goodness of God to them, which continued to the last, still considering them as his people. This respects not the desolation of the country by the Assyrian army, nor by the Chaldeans, but rather by the Romans, even their last destruction:
yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city; not Samaria, the head of the ten tribes, as some; but Jerusalem, the joy of the whole earth, as Jarchi; and the "houses of joy" in it mean not public houses, as taverns, and the like, where persons meet to revel and carouse, but the houses of nobles, princes, and rich men, who lived voluptuously, in great sensuality and carnal mirth, drinking wine in bowls, and chanting to the sound of the viol, and using all instruments of music; but now their houses, in which they enjoyed so much pleasure, should be demolished, and briers and thorns should grow upon the spot where they stood. Some render the word "burning", as in Isa 3:24 "burning shall be on all the houses" (o), &c.; and think it refers to the burning of the city of Jerusalem, and the palaces or houses of nobles and rich men in it, which was done both by the Chaldeans and by the Romans.
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(o) Junius & Tremellius, Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Yea - Upon that ground, where now your houses…
Yea - Upon that ground, where now your houses stand, in which you take your fill of mirth and pleasure.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. Shall come up thorns and briers -…
Verse 13. Shall come up thorns and briers - "The thorn and the brier shall come up"] All the ancient Versions read ושמיר veshamir, with the conjunction. And an ancient MS. has תעלה בו taaleh bo, "shall come up in it," which seems to be right; or rather בה bah: and there is a rasure in the place of בו bo in another ancient MS.
Yea, upon all the houses of joy] For כי ki, the ancient Versions, except the Vulgate, seem to have read ו ve. כי ki may perhaps be a mistake for בו bo, or בה bah, in it, above mentioned. It is not necessary in this place.
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The description of impending distress which begins at Isa 32:13 belongs to other times than that of Sennacherib's invasion, from which they were so soon delivered. It must at least extend to the ruin of the country and city by the Chaldeans. And the promise of blessings which follows was not fulfilled under the Mosaic dispensation; they belong to the KINGDOM of Messiah. Compare Isa 32:15 with Isa 29:17, and see the note there.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 32:13-14. Upon the land, &c., shall come up…
Isa 32:13-14. Upon the land, &c., shall come up thorns and briers — If any of you think there is no great cause for such trembling and lamentation, on account of a calamity which shall last but for a year and some days, know that this affliction by the Assyrians is but an earnest of further and sorer judgments. For the time is coming when this land shall be laid desolate; and, instead of vines and other fruits, it shall yield nothing but briers and thorns. Yea, upon all the houses of joy — Upon that ground where now your houses stand, in which you take your fill of mirth and pleasure. Because the palaces — Hebrew, ארמון, the palace, the king’s house, and other magnificent buildings in the city, shall be forsaken —
Shall be destitute of inhabitants. The multitude of the city shall be left — Shall be forsaken of God and given up into their enemies’ hands. The forts, &c., shall be for dens for ever — For a long time; a joy of wild asses — Desolate places, in which wild asses delight to be. “This description,” says Bishop Lowth, “of impending distresses belongs to other times than that of Sennacherib’s invasion, from which they were so soon delivered. It must, at least, extend to the ruin of the country and city by the Chaldeans. And the promise of blessings which follows was not fulfilled under the Mosaic dispensation; they belong to the kingdom of Messiah.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Upon the land of my people - A description…
Upon the land of my people - A description similar to this, in regard to the consequences of the invasion of Sennacherib, is given in Isa 7:20-25 (see the notes at that passage).
Yea, upon all the houses of joy - Margin, ‘Burning upon.’ The marginal readling has originated from the supposition that the word כי kı̂y is derived from כיה kâvâh, “to be burned.” This conjecture has been adopted by Junius and Tremellius, and by some others. But it is evidently mere conjecture, and is not demanded. The word ‘yea’ will express the sense, meaning that desolation, indicated by the growth of thorns and briers, would come upon the cities that were then filled with joy. This does not refer to Jerusalem, which was not taken by Sennacherib, but to the other cities that were destroyed by him in his march, and this account accords with the statement in Isa 7:20-25.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Up. Being uncultivated for two years. This was still…
Up. Being uncultivated for two years. This was still more the case during the captivity. (Calmet) --- How. Septuagint, "from every house joy shall be taken away, thou rich city." (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Isa 5:6; Isa 7:23).
(Isa 5:6; Isa 7:23).
houses of joy--pleasure-houses outside of Jerusalem, not Jerusalem itself, but other cities destroyed by Sennacherib in his march (Isa 7:20-25). However, the prophecy, in its full accomplishment, refers to the utter desolation of Judea and its capital by Rome, and subsequently, previous to the second coming of the King (Psa 118:26; Luk 13:35; Luk 19:38); "the joyous city" is in this view, Jerusalem (Isa 22:2).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 13, 14. Upon the land… thorns and briers —…
13, 14. Upon the land… thorns and briers — Recurrence again to what is yet to happen to Judah and Jerusalem makes the language of the prophet in the original grammatically complicated, just as is common with the sacred prophetic writers when, almost with the fiery spirit of indignation, they dilate on the lawlessness and disobedience of the people, and the retribution that is sure to follow. On Judah throughout grim desolation is to come. In the place of harvest fields and vineyards will be “briers and thorns.”
Upon all the houses of joy — Even the aforetime populous Jerusalem is to be thus covered; that is, its desolate streets and broken down walls and houses are to become as a shapeless, entangled thicket. The homes where women so thoughtlessly lived, never dreaming of an end of their gayety and pleasure, and the strong towers and palaces, are all literally to be laid waste, and rooms and cells therein to become hiding places for wild animals, or for use to the scattered peasantry in enclosing their flocks by night. All is to occur in a short time — “in days added to a year,” a short period hence: margin of Isa_32:10.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13. Upon the land … briers] It is perhaps…
13. Upon the land … briers] It is perhaps better to take this as continuing Isa_32:12, rendering thus: For the (cultivated) land of my people, which goes up in thorns and briers (cf. ch. Isa_5:6); yea, for all, &c. (The verb “goes up” is fem. and must have as its subj. the fem “land”; “thorns” and “briers” are masc.)
the joyous city] (see on ch. Isa_22:2) may be a genitive depending on “houses,” or may be a parallel phrase, governed by “for.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 13-20. A FURTHER MINGLING OF THREATS WITH COMFORTING…
Vers. 13-20. A FURTHER MINGLING OF THREATS WITH COMFORTING PROMISES. The women require, like the men, to be both warned and comforted, wherefore the prophet addresses to them, as to the men in Isaiah 30. and 31., an intermixture of threatening (vers. 13, 14) with promise (vers. 15-20).
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars. This was the punishment with which the unfruitful vineyard was threatened in Isa_5:6. It may be understood either literally or of the wickedness that would abound when the time of judgment came. Yea, upon all the houses of joy. (comp. Isa_5:9) If Sennacherib carried off, as he declares (G. Smith, "Epenym Canon," p. 134), more than two hundred thousand captives from Judaea, he must have left many houses without inhabitants. The solitude begun by him was completed by the Babylonians. The joyous city. (see Isa_22:2) The word used has generally the sense of unholy mirth. (comp. Isa_23:7 Isa_24:8 Zep_2:15 Zep_3:11)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Upon the land of my people shall come up…
Isa_32:13-19
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers
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The outpouring of the Spirit
As the communication of the Spirit is necessary to produce a reformation, so a large communication or outpouring of the Spirit is necessary to produce a public general reformation; such as may save a country on the brink of ruin, or recover one already laid desolate.
Without this remedy, all other applications will be ineffectual; and the distempered body politic will languish more and more, tin it is at length dissolved. Until this outpouring of the Spirit, says the prophet, briers and thorns shall come up upon the land; and the houses of joy, the palaces, and towers, shall be heaps of ruins, dens for wild beasts, and pastures for flocks. Until that blessed time come, no means can effectually repair a broken state, or repeople a desolate country. But when that blessed time comes, then what a glorious revelation--what a happy alteration follows! (Isa_32:15-19). (S. Davies, M. A.)
The Holy Spirit in prophecy
I. THE BLIGHT OF SIN. It is contrasted here with the beauty of holiness; and this contrast makes the deep gloom more apparent than if it were viewed by itself.
II. THE DARK OUTLOOK which Isaiah beheld. There is gloom first, and then gladness--confusion first, then comfort--darkness first, then light. Sin brings suffering and sorrow, either in this world or in the world to come.
III. THE BLESSING PROMISED. In proportion as the Church prays for, and expects, and receives the more abundant outpouring of the Spirit, the work of the worlds conversion will proceed apace. We speak of a Pentecostal effusion; but the Church prays and waits for a yet more abundant outpouring: and, when it comes, the glory of the latter day will be fully realised.
IV. THE BRIGHT FUTURE. As the result of the pouring out of the Spirit, the wilderness shall become a fruitful field. It has been said that this part of the prophecy is luminous, rather than lucid; full of suffused, rather than distinct meanings. This much, however, is clear, that the good fruits of the Spirits outpouring will be both material and moral. (P. Mearns.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Isa_32:13-15. Upon the land of my people, &c.
THE ESSENTIAL CONDITION OF MISSIONARY SUCCESS
Isa_32:13-15. Upon the land of my people, &c.
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This chapter commences with a prophecy of the appearance and the kingdom of Christ. But instead of finishing the painting of that beautiful scene, with what might be anticipated as the effect of this appearance, Isaiah proceeds, in our text, to paint a scene of great desolation and barrenness. So, when our Saviour came, the effect of His appearance was by no means such as might have been expected; after gathering a few out of the Jewish nation, and thus planting the first Christian Church, He retired from the nation, on account of its impenitence and unbelief; and the land is still abandoned to desolation and barrenness. That barrenness, and the spiritual barrenness and blindness of that despised people, will continue until the arrival of the important event predicted in the last verse.
Though the immediate bearing of these words is upon the state and prospects of the Jewish people, yet they may be considered as assigning the reason why the nations of the earth continue in so wretched a state, with respect to things spiritual and divine, as they now exhibit; and as directing our expectations, and regulating our confidence, respecting the final termination of this state of things. The momentous truth taught in this passage is, that the ultimate success of missions depends upon the communication of the Spirit.
That the Spirit of God is afforded at present to the Church is evident from its existence; for, since the Church is entirely a spiritual structure, raised and preserved by that Divine Spirit, if it had been utterly withdrawn the Church would have been annihilated. But the especial time here announced has not yet arrived; the Spirit is not “poured from on high” in that plenitude and variety of gifts which may reasonably be expected.
I. That the success of missions depends upon the outpouring of the Spirit of God, appears to be manifest,
1. from the Scriptures (text: chap. Isa_41:19-20; Zec_4:6; Zec_12:10; Joe_2:28-32, with Act_2:16-18; Eze_39:29.)
2. From the record concerning the Great Captain of our salvation, He did not enter upon His work until He was anointed by the Spirit of God (Luk_4:18-19).
3. From the experience of the apostles. Until the effusion of the Spirit from on high, on the day of Pentecost, they were not qualified for their work in the nations to which they were sent.
4. From the testimony of the apostles. All their successes they attributed to a Divine agency (Act_11:21; Act_14:27; Act_16:14; 1Co_3:5-7, &c.)
5. From the testimony of those who have had the greatest success in preaching the Gospel in heathen as well as in Christian lands [1195]
6. From the records of their most eminent successes [1198]
7. From the nature of the work to be accomplished. Considering the state of man, it is impossible to suppose that anything less than a divine power can change the heart [1201]
[1195] Brainerd, Schwartz, and Eliot, and those who in every age have had the most success in turning men to righteousness, have been the first to declare that they were nothing. They, of all men, most ardently implored, and most entirely depended upon, the agency we are now contemplating; and their success appears to have been more in proportion to their earnest solicitude in seeking this blessing, than to any other cause.—Hall.
[1198] Look at the history of those who have been the most successful missionaries to the heathen, and see whether you cannot trace certain results for which you cannot account on any other hypothesis than that most momentous one of a divine influence, at certain periods, accompanying their labours. In the history of Brainerd and Eliot, and others, you perceive that for a considerable time there seem to have been the same efforts employed, the same doctrines taught, the same earnest and zealous prayers, and the same watchfulness over their own hearts, and yet no saving effect produced on others: all still remained barren; no desirable movement of the heart was excited; and this continued for a long period. Such was the state of things when Brainerd first undertook, the mission to the Indians; but, after a considerable time, while he was propounding only the same doctrines, and using only the same means, the Spirit of God put forth its energy, and divine communication was imparted at one season “like a rushing, mighty wind,” at others “like the dew and the rain from heaven,” softening and thus opening the heart which had resisted the entrance of sacred truth, and causing the tear of genuine penitence to steal down the cheek. Nobody could doubt that there was some one greater than a missionary there;—that the Spirit of God had changed the barren soil to sacred ground, and bad wetted it, “like Gideon’s fleece, with the dews of heaven.” And so it is, my brethren, that every person who has had any long acquaintance with the Christian ministry, is aware that there are certain periods of barrenness and certain periods for bearing fruit. The same talents, whether great or small, may be brought into action; but there shall be some seasons in which efforts, in no way special, shall be crowned with extraordinary success.—Hall.
[1201] Were it the design of God merely to build a foundation already laid, or to repair a dilapidated edifice, one might talk of the efficacy of human suasion; but when that which is to be done is to create a new principle, to pour new life into the soul, to give “a new heart,” to plant new seeds in a soil where all has been barrenness and desolation, to turn waters into new channels, to effect a total change of heart and character,—what can accomplish all this but an almighty power? Human suasion can operate only on principles which already exist. When Demosthenes, with his powerful eloquence, excited the Athenians to combat, he only called into action, by a skilful grouping of motives, and an appropriate exercise of his genius, principles already existing, but which had lain dormant. He created nothing new; he transformed them not into new creatures, but only roused and stimulated those principles which had animated the bosoms of nations in resisting tyranny in every age. But when the apostles went forth to preach faith in Christ, they proposed to make a change in the mind and heart of man to which there was no natural tendency; they required a creature “dead in trespasses and sins” to awake to Christ; they proposed to convert him into a devoted servant, a subject most loyal, affectionate, and ardent; and how was it possible that mere human art or force could accomplish such changes as these?
The Gospel is the instrument of God, and wonderfully fitted by Him for His work; but even it is nothing more than an instrument; and when it is successful and baffles every human effort exerted against it, it is because it is wielded by an omnipotent arm.—Hall.
H.E.I., 1400–1405, 3432–3442, 4106–4113.
II. There are two reasons why we are in danger of forgetting our dependence on the Spirit of God.
1. We cannot arrange the time and manner in which the divine agency will be exerted; and we are called upon to exert ourselves in much the same way as though there were no such doctrine existing in our creed, and no such expectation existing in our minds. Consequently, even while strenuously attending to our duty, we are very apt to lose sight of that mysterious divine agency on which the success of all our efforts must depend, and to direct our attention exclusively to the apparatus we are setting in motion.
2. This is an invisible power, and is manifest to us only in its effects; whereas our own actions and plans are objects of distinct observation. It is one thing to believe that there is an agency of the Spirit, and quite another thing to have a deep and practical persuasion of it, and to regulate all our actions and expectations in dependence on it.
III. Some practical results which should follow from our belief that the success of missions depends on the agency of the Divine Spirit.
1. In attempting the work of the evangelisation of the heathen, we ought to renounce all expectations of success founded on our own strength or resources.
2. In connection with every attempt for the conversion of the heathen, there should be earnest prayer. In every period of the world, a spirit of prayer for this great object has been the precursor of real success.
3. In the manner in which we prosecute this work, we should be exceedingly careful not to grieve the Spirit of God. There must be nothing in our conduct or temper opposed to the simplicity and purity of the Christian dispensation. Our mission must not be made the instrument of ostentation and gratification, or of amusing the public by a display of gaudy eloquence. All rivalry between different societies that has not for its end the knowledge and service of God, is offensive in His sight. Let us guard against the least disposition to depreciate or hide in silence the success of others; which shall lead us to look coolly on the most splendid acts of missionary labour, unless they emanate from ourselves, or bring honour to our party.
4. Our dependence for the men and the means wherewith to carry on this great work, must rest absolutely and exclusively on God. Whensoever He puts forth the influence of His Spirit, some of His servants will devote themselves to the work, and others of them will gladly contribute to it of their wealth (Isa_60:5-7).
5. The doctrine of the text teaches us to regulate our confidence with respect to the success of every particular mission, at the same time that it animates that confidence in regard to the final success of the success itself.
6. If success in any field of effort does not reward our toil, instead of charging God with any arbitrarily withholding of the help of His Spirit, let us examine the instruments wherewith we are endeavouring to effect so great and important a charge, and see if there be not in them something unworthy of the enterprise, and keeps back the needed blessing.
7. However success may seem to delay, let us acquiesce, without repining, in the dispensations of God; and let us point our views forward to a future period, that will certainly come, when the Spirit will be poured from on high, and when the Redeemer will take to Him His great power, and reign universally in the hearts of men.—Robert Hall: Works, vol. vi. pp. 158–180.
As regards the final and universal triumphs of the Gospel, believers cannot entertain a doubt. Glorious things are spoken of Zion, &c. We are explicitly assured that the kingdoms of this world shall one day become the kingdoms of Christ.
But what is to secure this? Our hope hangs upon one thing—the promise of the Spirit. Every past conquest has been the effect of union and communion with the Comforter; and our own ability for the enterprises of the future must be derived from the same source. The chapter begins with a cheering account of the approach of a brighter day following a season of gloom and depression, which is to be terminated finally and only by the pouring out of the Spirit from on high. So always. Large as are our resources, we were never more dependent on help from heaven than now. Without special Divine aid we can do nothing.
I. The Spirit of God must be with us, or we shall not use the right means for converting the world. Our work is a vast one, but we are not left in uncertainty as to the way in which it is to be accomplished. The Gospel made for man. Sending the knowledge of Christ abroad through the nations is the appointed method of saving men. (a) More faith is needed in God’s instrumentality. The cause may seem unequal to the effect, but a Divine unseen agency accompanies it, and difficulties must pass away. (b) No part of our business to make experiments for the relief of human woe or guilt; or dig channels for our compassion other than those in which the Saviour’s flowed. Calvary our sole expedient, &c. (c) We need to keep to the means by which all this is accomplished without deviation or faltering. A downward tendency in the best of men, even when engaged in the holiest of work, which nothing but a constantly exerted influence from God can effectually counteract. Charters, subscriptions, pledges will not do it. (d) Must not lay our strength out on extraneous matter. Our true service only performed when relying on Divine aid.
II. Unless the Holy Spirit be with us, we shall never prosecute our work with proper energy. An enterprise like ours cannot be expected to flourish unless it takes fast hold on the hearts and sympathies of its friends. It is a cause of too much import to be carried on lukewarmly. One of the main purposes of the Church, her own self-extension. How shall we get up to this state of feeling, this standard of action? Never! until we have more of the Spirit of God.
Again, half our strength has to be expended in trying to keep our enterprise up to lines already reached. We seem at times to be merely stationary, and this side by side often with great secular prosperity. Why this falling off? And that as contrasting with the success of primitive believers? They seem to have carried with them a never-failing assurance, that where they planted and watered, God would give the increase. The Church can never come up to this standard until the Spirit is more copiously poured upon us from on high. We are shut up to this single resource.
III. That the Spirit must be given us, or we shall never see our efforts crowned with success. Something in a simple dependence on Divine help which imparts to our labours a character so earnest and decided as betokens a favourable result. We work best ourselves when we feel that God is working in us and by us. Nothing so nerves the arm and strengthens the heart as confidence in Him. So Luther, Whitfield, Paul wrought. Nothing else will keep zeal alive in the Church.
Hence arises (a) Our encouragement. Faith in the efficacy of the Gospel preached under the influence of the Holy Ghost is to be the mainspring of all our efforts. The Spirit is to take of the things of Christ and show them to men. We can only be straitened on that side. (b) Our duty. All converging to a single point—prayer.—David Magie, D.D.: National Preacher, vol. xxi. p. 221.
Let it be supposed that the invader and the conqueror have been in our land. Cultivation has disappeared, impoverishment and neglect reign over its once fertile and well-cared-for fields. The city, formerly the centre of life and activity, depopulated and desolated. Its factories dilapidated, its exchange a ruin, its streets overgrown with grass. Such was the ruin the prophet saw about to befall his country. How long would it continue? Until God should pour His Spirit upon the people, so as to turn them from their iniquities. When the moral scene changed, the material scene would also. Prosperity would return. The city would again be populated; the country resume its beauty and fertility; the wilderness would be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
It is a picture of the world’s moral desolation without the Gospel; of the time when the power of the Gospel shall be displayed; and of the happy state of the world in that day of its power. Three topics are presented in the text; the necessity, the certainty, and the condition of the world’s salvation.
I. ITS NECESSITY. It is a fallen world. Scepticism at present criticises the Christian representation of the moral state of human nature as too low, while its standard is too high. Whatever may be said of the latter part of the indictment, the former part must be denied. The alienation of the human heart from God; its aversion to His holiness; the depth of its pollution, as evinced in the crimes and vices which disfigure the face of society, and are too patent to be refined away. With all the restraining influences around us, we have enough at our hand to justify the representation that man is morally fallen and desolated. Add to this the idolatry, with its attendant cruelty and impurity, prevalent over so large a proportion of the human family. And to this the extreme and manifold wickedness of men in history. The Christian representation of the state of human nature is fully justified. There is universal sin. There is need of mercy, change, conversion. Not merely the adoption, by large masses of men, for various reasons, of new religious names and forms. It is a personal conversion. Men need the change one by one.
II. ITS CERTAINTY. We should despair of the world’s conversion if our vision were limited to its existing state. We should pronounce it as hopeless as the attempt to tear up the everlasting mountains from their roots, or to drive the ocean from its bed. But we are not thus limited. We are not at liberty thus to limit our vision. In the Word of God we find it declared that the redeeming dominion of Christ shall be co-extensive with the globe. Plain statements sometimes, gorgeous imagery at other times, utterly inexplicable except in this way. Including these in our vision, we have nothing to do with the difficulties, but only with the great duty of their destruction.
Include in the vision the words of Christ. His declarations and commands before leaving the world contemplate the universal diffusion of His salvation. And we must include His work. The expenditure will bear some relation to the result. It cost the death of the incarnate Son of God. That the event is long delayed proves nothing when we remember how long the world had to wait for His coming.
III. ITS CONDITION. The moral desolation will continue until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high. The Gospel only saves as the Spirit makes it efficacious. The human heart and will are opposed to the entrance of the truth. Not only evidence but influence is required. It is essentially a spiritual work, and only the Holy Spirit is equal to it. It is a work in hearts opposed to God, and His power can alone produce the willingness which is the very essence of the saving change. Every time we pray for the conversion of sinners and for the coming of God’s kingdom, we practically acknowledge the necessity of the Spirit’s work. The universal necessity is the necessity of the individual case. The world’s conversion is pictured out in the conversion of every sinner. The power of the Spirit is the security for the fulfilment of the word (Joe_2:28-32; Act_2:17-21; Eze_37:1-14; Joh_3:6-8; 1Co_2:4-5; 1Co_3:6-7).
From the text, then, we may learn two or three lessons relative to the work of Christ’s Church in the world.
1. That all such work should be conducted in humble dependence on the Holy Spirit. Such dependence does not supersede labour, any more than the consciousness that the sun and the air and other mysterious influences of nature are necessary, supersedes the husbandman’s labour.
2. That it should be conducted in a spirit of prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Whatever God promises to His Church, it is warranted to ask in prayer. Prayer is the condition, on the Church’s part, on which the promise is suspended. In that wonderful passage of Ezekiel where the Spirit is promised in His cleansing and renewing power, the condition is expressly named (Eze_36:37). While the hundred and twenty disciples were gathered together praying, the Holy Ghost fell upon them. How often does the great missionary apostle ask those who have been brought to Christ to pray for him in his continued work among those who have not.
3. That all Christian effort should be conducted, therefore, in expectation of the outpouring of the Spirit. Do we not dishonour Him when we fail to believe in the Spirit’s work as a living reality—when we do not expect prayerful work for Christ to be followed by proportionate success! “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high,” all is desolation; when the Spirit shall be poured upon us from on high, all shall be beauty.—John Rawlinson.
THE MORAL WILDERNESS TRANSFORMED
Isa_32:15. Until the Spirit be poured upon us, &c.
This chapter contains three distinct and important topics: the great and inestimable blessings resulting from the reign of Christ; a denunciation of the divine judgments on an ungrateful and rebellious people, and especially on the supine and careless women of Judea; and an assurance of more auspicious days.
I. The mind of man resembles a moral wilderness. This was not the case originally. In paradise all was moral attraction and glory. But, in consequence of man’s apostasy from God, his powers have been withered, and his divine beauty has been defaced. The mind of man is a moral wilderness—
1. As it is a seat of sterility and desolation.
2. As, till it is transformed, it is of little use, because its best powers are not consecrated to God.
3. As it is the soil where noxious and destructive plants exist and flourish.
II. The means appointed for the cultivation of the mind of man are to be diligently employed, because,
1. These means are unfolded to us in the Gospel.
2. God requires us to employ them.
3. The divine sanction and encouragement have been given to those who have diligently used them (H. E. I., 3424–3465).
III. The best and most powerful means will be unavailing without the agency and influences of the Spirit.
IV. But with the influence of the Holy Spirit, a great moral transformation will be effected.
1. There will be a scene of cultivation; the wilderness will be converted into a fruitful field; enclosed, cleansed, irrigated, carefully tilled; presenting a beautiful appearance to the eye, and refreshed with the dews and rains of heaven.
2. There will be a scene of fertility; as a field, it will be rich in the variety and luxuriance of its produce; all the graces of the Holy Spirit will be fully and beautifully exemplified.
3. There will be a scene of grandeur. The fruitful field will be counted for a forest. A fine forest is a majestic and striking feature in a landscape. There is dignity, magnitude, elevation; all these moral characteristics are found in the mind on which the Spirit has been poured out. The saints will grow in grace, and increase with all the increase of God.
V. Learn from this subject,
1. The importance of honouring the Spirit by reverence, worship, obedience, confidence.
2. The necessity of waiting for the Spirit. Though He tarry, yet we are perseveringly to wait.
3. The duty of praying for the Spirit, and of expressing unfeigned gratitude for every communication of His grace.—G. Clayton: The Pulpit, vol. xvii. p. 190.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.