Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. They will see a distant land.
Parallel Translations
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Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. They will see a distant land.
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Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
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Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty; they shall behold a land stretching afar.
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Isaiah 33:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Zechariah 9:17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.
- John 14:21 One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:18 while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
- 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.
- Isaiah 6:5 Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”
- John 1:14 The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- John 17:24 Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
- 2 Chronicles 32:23 Many brought gifts to Yahweh to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah; so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from then on.
- Psalms 31:8 You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.
- Psalms 45:2 You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever.
- Song of Solomon 5:10 My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand.
- Isaiah 26:15 You have increased the nation, O Yahweh. You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land.
- Isaiah 32:1-2 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice. A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the storm, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a large rock in a weary land.
- Isaiah 37:1 When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into Yahweh’s house.
- Matthew 17:2 He was changed before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light.
- Hebrews 11:13-15 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain They shall be no more shut in as they…
They shall be no more shut in as they were of Sennacherib, but go where it pleaseth them.
They shall see Hezekiah delivered from his enemies, and restored to honor and glory.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 33:17 Thine eyes shall see the king in…
Isa 33:17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
Ver. 17. Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty.] Hezekiah in his pristine state and lustre; yea, more glorious and renowned than ever before. Jerome understandeth it of Christ reigning gloriously in heaven, and the saints looking from thence should see the earth afar off as little and contemptible, and say,
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“ O quam angusti sunt mortalium termini!
O quam angusti sunt mortalium animi! ”
Augustine wished that he might have seen these three things, Romam in flore, Paulum in ore, Christum in corpore, Rome in the flourish, Paul in the pulpit, Christ in the body of flesh. Venerable Bede came after him, and wished rather that he might see his King, Christ, in his beauty, as he is now at the right hand of his Father, far outshining the brightest cherub in heaven.
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 Shall see the king; first Hezekiah, and then Christ,…
Shall see the king; first Hezekiah, and then Christ, as before.
In his beauty; triumphing over all enemies, and ruling his own people with righteousness; in which two things the beauty and glory of a king and kingdom doth chiefly consist.
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They shall behold the land that is very far off; thou shalt not be shut up in Jerusalem, and confined to thine own narrow borders, as thou hast been; but thou shalt have free liberty to go abroad with honour and safety, where thou pleasest, even into the remotest countries, because of the great renown of thy king, and the enlargement of his dominions.
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 Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty,....…
Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty,.... Not merely Hezekiah in his royal robes, and with a cheerful countenance, having put off his sackcloth and his sadness, upon the breaking up of the siege; but a greater than he, even the King Messiah, in the glory of his person and office, especially as a King reigning gloriously before his ancients in Jerusalem: the apostles saw him in his glory, in the days of his flesh, corporeally and spiritually; believers now see him by faith, crowded with glory and honour, as well as see his beauty, fulness, and suitableness, as a Saviour; and, before long, their eyes shall see him personally in his own and his Father's glory. This is to be understood of the eyes of good men, before described. The Targum is,
"thine eyes shall see the glory of the Majesty of the King of worlds in his praise;''
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and Jarchi interprets it of the glory of the Majesty of God; so, according to both, a divine Person is meant, and indeed no other than Christ:
they shall behold the land that is very far off; not the land of hell, as the Targum, which paraphrases it thus;
"thou shalt behold and see those that go down into the land of hell;''
but rather the heavenly country, the better one, the land of uprightness, typified by the land of Canaan; and may be said to be "a land afar off", with respect to the earth on which the saints now are, and with regard to the present sight of it, which is a distant one, and will be always afar off to wicked men; this now the saints have at times a view of by faith, which is very delightful, and greatly supports them under their present trials: though it may be that an enlargement of Christ's kingdom all over the world, to the distant parts of it, may be here meant; which may be called, as the words may be rendered, "a land of distances", or "of far distances" (d); that reaches far and near, from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth; which will be the case when the kingdoms of this world shall become Christ's, and the kingdom, and the greatness of it under the whole heaven, shall be given to the saints of the most High; a glorious sight this will be. And this sense agrees with the context, and declares what will be after the destruction of antichrist.
(d) "terram distantiarum", Vatablus, Montanus, Gataker.
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 The king - First Hezekiah, and then Christ, triumphing…
The king - First Hezekiah, and then Christ, triumphing over all enemies, and ruling his own people with righteousness. Very far - Thou shalt not be shut up in Jerusalem, but shalt have free liberty to go abroad with honour and safety.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 33:17-18. Thine eyes shall see the king in…
Isa 33:17-18. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty — Hezekiah, in a more prosperous condition than formerly. Having put off his sackcloth, and all the sadness of his countenance, he shall appear publicly in his beauty, in his royal robes, and with a pleasing aspect, to the great joy of all his loving subjects. Thine eyes shall see the King Messiah, (typified by Hezekiah,) triumphing over all his enemies, and ruling his own people with righteousness. Those that walk uprightly shall not only have bread given them, and their water sure, but they shall see, by faith, the King of kings, in his beauty, the beauty of holiness, and that beauty shall be upon them. They shall behold the land that is very far off — The siege being raised, by which they were kept close within the walls of Jerusalem, they shall be at liberty to go abroad without danger of falling into the enemies’ hands, and they shall visit the utmost corners of the nation, and take a prospect of the adjacent country, which will be the more pleasant after so long a confinement. Bishop Lowth renders it, They (thine eyes) shall see thine own land far extended. We may apply the words to the heavenly Canaan, that land which is very far off, which believers behold by faith, and comfort themselves with the prospect of it in evil times. Thy heart shall meditate terror — Bishop Lowth reads, Thy heart shall reflect on the past terror. Thou shalt call to mind, with delight and thankfulness, the former troubles and distresses in which thou wast involved. Where is the scribe, &c. — Every one shall, with pleasure, reflect on the dangers they have escaped, and shall ask, in a triumphant manner, Where is the scribe, or muster-master, of the Assyrian army? Where is the receiver — Their weigher, or treasurer? Where is he that counted the towers — “That is,” says Bishop Lowth, “The commander of the enemy’s forces, who surveyed the fortifications of the city, and took an account of the height, strength, and situation of the walls and towers; that he might know where to make the assault with the greatest advantage.” Thus understood, the words are considered as containing Jerusalem’s triumph over the vanquished army of the Assyrians; and the rather, because the apostle alludes to them in his triumphs over the learning of this world; when it was baffled by the gospel of Christ, 1Co 1:20. The virgin, the daughter of Zion, despises all their military preparations. Poole, however, with some others, thinks these words are rather to be considered as the language of the Jews in the time of their distress, and that they are here recorded to give a lively representation of it; the officers here mentioned not seeming to be those of the Assyrian army, but rather those of the Jews, who, upon the approach of the Assyrians, began to be more active in making military preparations for the defence of the city, and to choose such officers as were necessary and useful for that end, such as these, here mentioned were; namely, the scribe, or, muster-master, who was to make and keep a list of the soldiers, and to call them together as occasion required; the receiver, who received and laid out the money for the charges of the war, and he that counted the towers, who surveyed all the parts of the city, and considered what towers or fortifications were to be made or repaired for the security of it. And unto these several officers the people resorted with great distraction and confusion, to acquaint them with all occurrences, or to transact business with them, as occasion required.
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 Thine eyes - The eyes of the righteous, described…
Thine eyes - The eyes of the righteous, described in Isa 33:15.
Shall see the king in his beauty - Some understand this of the Assyrian king. Thus Kimchi understands it, and supposes it means that they shall see him at the walls of Jerusalem; that is, shall see him destroyed. Vitringa supposes it means Yahweh himself as the king of his people, and that they should see him in his glory. Others suppose it relates to the Messiah. But the immediate connection requires us to understand it of Hezekiah (compare the note at Isa 32:1-2). The sense is, ‘You shall be defended from the hostile army of the Assyrian. You shall be permitted to live under the peaceful and prosperous reign of your pious monarch, and shall see him, not with diminished territory and resources, but with the appropriate magnificence which becomes a monarch of Israel.’
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The land that is very far off - You shall be permitted to look to the remotest part of the land of Judea as delivered from enemies, and as still under the happy scepter of your king. You shall not be confined by a siege, and straitened within the narrow walls of Jerusalem. The empire of Hezekiah shall be extended over the wide dominions that appropriately belong to him, and you shall be permitted to range freely over the whole land, even over the parts that are now occupied by the forces of the Assyrian. Virgil has a beautiful passage remarkably similar to this:
- jurat ire, et Dorica castra,
Desertosque videre locos, litusque relicturn.
AEn. ii. 28.
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 King Ezechias, or he shall be one of his…
King Ezechias, or he shall be one of his courtiers. --- Off. Their limits shall be extended. Those who believe in Christ, shall cast their eyes up towards their heavenly country, Hebrews ix. 13.
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 Thine--the saints'.
Thine--the saints'.
king in . . . beauty--not as now, Hezekiah in sackcloth, oppressed by the enemy, but King Messiah (Isa 32:1) "in His beauty" (Sol 5:10, Sol 5:16; Rev 4:3).
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land . . . very far off--rather, "the land in its remotest extent" (no longer pent up as Hezekiah was with the siege); see Margin. For Jerusalem is made the scene of the king's glory (Isa 33:20, &c.), and it could not be said to be "very far off," unless the far-off land be heaven, the Jerusalem above, which is to follow the earthly reign of Messiah at literal Jerusalem (Isa 65:17-19; Jer 3:17; Rev 21:1-2, Rev 21:10).
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 17. The good king, Hezekiah, hitherto so depressed by…
17. The good king, Hezekiah, hitherto so depressed by apparently inevitable destruction before him, puts on an aspect humble, yet cheerful and gladsome, and thine eyes — all eyes in Jerusalem — shall see him thus elevated to grander faith through Jehovah’s victory wrought for him and the people.
The land that is very far off — Possibly a typical view, this, of the future oppressed Messiah’s victory and of the glorious land of promise yet to be seen extended over all lands, all cleared of enemies, and the sovereignty of Messiah remaining undisputed.
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 17. the (or a) king in his beauty] The…
17. the (or a) king in his beauty] The reluctance of many expositors to interpret this phrase of the Messiah is incomprehensible. Delitzsch says that “the king of Isa_33:17 is no more the Messiah than the Messiah in Mic_5:1 [E.V. Isa_33:2] is the same person as the king who is smitten on the cheek in Isa 4:14 [E.V. Isa_33:1].” But in Micah the humiliated king is replaced by the Messiah, and surely the same conception would be in place here. That the king is Jehovah (Vitringa) is no doubt a possible alternative in view of Isa_33:22, but since whatever be the date of the passage the Messianic hope must have been a living idea of Jewish religion, there seems no reason for trying to evade what seems the most natural explanation. On the “beauty” of the king see Psa_45:2.
the land that is very far off] Rather as R.V., a far stretching land (lit. “a land of distances”), the spacious and ever-extending dominions of the Messiah. Few verses of the O.T. have been more misapplied than this.
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17–24. The idea of the perfect security of the righteous man leads by an easy transition to more positive features of the golden age.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) Thine eyes shall see the king in his…
(17) Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty . . .—Torn from their context, the words have been not unfitly used to describe the beatific vision of the saints of God in the far-off land of heaven. So the Targum gives “Thine eyes shall see the Shekinah of the King of Ages.” Their primary meaning is, however, obviously historical. The “king” is Hezekiah, who shall be seen no longer in sackcloth and ashes, and with downcast eyes (Isa_37:1), but in all the “beauty” of triumph and of majesty, of a youth and health renewed like the eagle; and the “land that is very far off” is the whole land of Israel, all prosperous and peaceful, as contrasted with the narrow range of view which the people had had during the siege, pent up within the walls of Jerusalem. (Comp. Gen_13:14-15.) Comp. as to form, Isa_29:18; Isa_30:20.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Thine eyes. Another transition. Here from the third person…
Thine eyes. Another transition. Here from the third person to the second, the prophet now addressing those righteous ones of whom he has been speaking in the two preceding verses. Shall see the King in his beauty. The Messianic King, whoever he might be, and whenever he might make his appearance. It has been said that beauty is not predicated of the heavenly King (Cheyne); but Zec_9:17 Psa_45:2.; and Canticles, passim, contradict this assertion. "How great is his beauty;" "Thou art fairer than the children of men;" "His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely." The land that is very far off; literally, the land of far distances. Bishop Lowth renders, "Thine own land far extended," and so Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne. But if "the King" is Messianic, so doubtless is the land the world-wide tract over which Messiah will reign. (Rev_21:1)
"The King in his beauty.
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When Christ appeared on earth at his first coming, he "had no beauty that men should desire him". (Isa_53:2) Roughly clad and toil-worn, whatever the heavenly expression of his countenance, he did not strike men as beautiful, majestic, or even as "comely". (Isa_53:2) But at his second coming it will be different. St. John the Divine describes him as he saw him in vision: "In the midst of the seven candlesticks was one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength". (Rev_1:13-16) The description in Canticles is cast in a more terrene mould, but equally indicates a more than earthly beauty: "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers; his lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely". (Son_5:10-16) The following adaptation by Dr. Pusey of the words of an ancient writer says all that can be said by unassisted human pen on a topic transcending man"s power of thought or speech: "If we could ascend from the most beautiful form which the soul could here imagine, to the least glorious body of the beatified, on and on through the countless thousands of glorious bodies, compared wherewith heaven would be dark, and the sun lose its shining; and, yet more, from the most beautiful deified soul, as visible here, to the beauty of the disembodied soul, whose image would scarce be recognized... yea, let the God-enlightened soul go on and on, through all those choirs of the heavenly hierarchies, clad with the raiment of Divinity, from choir to choir, from hierarchy to hierarchy, admiring the order and beauty and harmony of the house of God; yea, let it, aided by Divine grace and light, ascend even higher, and reach the bound and term of all created beauty, yet it must know that the Divine power and wisdom could create other creatures, far more perfect and beautiful than all which he hath hitherto created. Nay, let the highest of all the seraphs sum in one all the beauty by nature and grace and glory of all creatures, yet could it not be satisfied with that beauty, but must, because it was not satisfied with it, conceive some higher beauty. Were God forthwith, at every moment, to create that higher beauty at its wish, it could still conceive something beyond; for not being God, its beauty could not satisfy its conception. So let him still, and in hundred thousand, hundred thousand years with swiftest flight of understanding, multiply continually those degrees of beauty, so that each fresh degree should ever double that preceding, and the Divine power should, with like swiftness, concur in creating that beauty, as in the beginning he said, "Let there be light, and there was light;" after all these millions of years he would be again at the beginning, and there would be no comparison between it and the Divine beauty of Jesus Christ, God and Man. For it is the bliss of the finite not to reach the Infinite" (Pusey, "Minor Prophets," p. 562).
Vers. 17-24. The reign of Hezekiah.
Amidst all the agitation caused by the invasion of Sennacherib, and his perfidy, "the voices of true prophets were raised with power, pointing to the imperishable elements in the true community, and proclaiming the approach of a great crisis, the crushing weight of which should alight only on the faithless, whether among the Assyrians or in Judah" (Ewald). Here we find a reflection of the excitement of the time.
I THE GLORY OF THE KING. His beauty is a moral beauty that of a just rule; (Isa_32:1) an "ideal beauty the evidence of God"s extraordinary favor." The picture should be compared with that in Psalm 45. The eyes of the people shall see a land of distances. Looking northward and southward, and eastward and westward, the boundaries of the kingdom shall still be extended, far as eye can reach.
II VANISHED TERRORS. The Assyrian officials who registered the amounts of the tribute, who tested the silver and the gold, who counted the towers of the city about to fall their prey, shall have vanished. The people themselves shall proudly and thankfully number those intact towers. (Psa_48:13) No longer shall the jarring accents of the foreigner"s stammering tongue fall upon their ears.
III THE STRENGTH AND SPLENDOUR OF ZION. Look upon her! Once more the festive throngs shall gather there. Once more she shall be a house of peace, or dwelling of confidence, a quiet resting-place. She had indeed seemed like the tent of wanderers, the pegs ready to be drawn out, the cords to be rent, at the bidding of the conqueror. The people had been threatened with removal. (Isa_36:17) This fear shall have passed away. The majesty of Jehovah, like an all-protecting regis, terrifying to his enemies, assuring to his friends, shall be revealed in Zion"s state. That presence, which is "glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders," shall have returned thither; that right hand, which is glorious in power, shall again have been stretched forth to deliver and to protect. Jehovah, and he alone, is the Defense of Jerusalem. What though she be unlike "populous No, situate among the rivers, with the waters round about it, and the rampart of the sea", (Nah_3:8) or Babylon, "seated on the waters", (Jer_51:13) he shall be instead of rivers and canals to his holy city. It is the streams of a spiritual river which "shall make glad the city of God". (Psa_46:4)
IV THE DIVINE RULER. By him kings reign and princes decreed justice. The earthly king is but representative of him who is enthroned in heaven, the "great King." Hezekiah is but his vicegerent, his inspired servant. The weak political power becomes strong through him. Though Zion be like a dismasted ship, she wilt prevail over the proud, well-rigged ships of her foes. Sin will cease, punishment will be at end, and, with it, bodily suffering and sickness. (Isa_35:5, 6 65:20 Mar_2:10, 11) "A people, humbled by punishment; penitent and therefore pardoned, will dwell in Jerusalem. The strength of Israel and all its salvation rest upon the forgiveness of its sins.
V LESSONS.
1. National judgments will only cease with national sins. "Humble repentance is to cure us of our sins and miseries; and there can no cure be wrought unless the plaster be as broad as the sore.
2. The most effectual way to avert national judgments is the way of personal amendment. Particular sins often bring down general judgments. Sin, like a leprosy, begins in a small compass, yet quickly overspreads the whole.
3. The forsaking of sins begets hope in the mercy of God. Because he has promised upon that condition to remove them; because he actually often has so removed them; because, when men are thus humbled, God has attained the end of his judgments (South). J.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM Ver. 17. The glorious vision.
"Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty," There is much of beauty in this world. And by Christ Jesus God created the worlds. So that he is the Archetype of all beauty. Everything lovely was first a thought of Christ before it became a fact in life. These eyes of ours have seen glorious spectacles: the sun rising to run his race; the tender greens and purples of the seas; the magnificence of Carmel and Lebanon. How much also have we all seen of moral beauty! the gentleness of pity; the heroism of endurance; the sublimity of sacrifice. Yet these have all been mingled with some elements of worldliness and sin.
I THIS PROPHECY IS FULFILLED IN CHRIST AS THE TRUE KING. Think of the kings of every age: the Pharaohs; the Caesars. There we see power, pageantry, and, alas! too often criminality and cruelty. Here we see the true King. One whose government is Divine, because it is within, holding in supremacy the conscience and the heart. One who is a King who "reigns in righteousness, mighty to save.
II A PROPHECY FULFILLED IN THE BEAUTY OF CHRIST"S CHARACTER. Beauty lies in symmetry and completeness; he was perfectly holy, without spot or blemish. Beauty lies in subtle harmonies; and in Christ justice, love, and wisdom were all united in one. Beauty lies in conformity with moral law; and he was "harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." Beauty is not to be found in mere sentiment alone. Character is not to be tested simply by exquisite feeling or profound teaching, but by a life where truth felt and truth spoken and truth lived are all embodied in one. He who spake as never man spake could also say, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?
III A PROPHECY FULFILLED THROUGH THE POWER OF SPIRITUAL VISION. "Thine eyes shall see." The beauty of Christ can be seen only through the lens of moral disposition. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." It is distinctly said of the wicked, concerning their view of Christ, "They shall see no beauty in him that they should desire him." We may have the artistic eye to see the beauty of Grecian capitol and Roman arch, but we may not have the spiritual eye whereby alone we discern spiritual things.
IV A PROPHECY FULFILLED IN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Thine eyes." Powers of vision cannot be transferred. How we have longed, perhaps, that those we love should see this beauty too! Nor can they be intellectually willed. We must have the spiritual heart before we can enjoy the spiritual eye.
V A PROPHECY TO BE PERFECTLY FULFILLED IN THE FINAL REVELATION OF HEAVEN. Whatever we may see there of new displays of God"s creative energy and power, however fair and lovely our own beloved ones may be now that they are "without fault before the throne of God, we may be sure of this, that Christ will be "the Altogether Lovely." The eye will be perfectly purged from sin, and the soul perfectly alive to God. Then Christ"s own prayer will be fulfilled, "That they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me. W.M.S.
"The King in his beauty.
"Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty." Of this we may take
I THE CONTEMPORARY VIEW. Those who heard these words from Isaiah"s lips or read them from the roll on which he wrote them would naturally think of Hezekiah. But in what aspect would they think of him as clothed on with beauty? Not, surely, as one arrayed in gorgeous royal robes, or as one surrounded with the pomp of a royal court; but as one who wielded the kingly scepter in righteousness and in wisdom. The king in his beauty, to the eye of the man who speaks for God, is that sovereign who
(1) honors God in all his doings and dealings with man;
(2) uses his position and his power to further Divine truth;
(3) lays himself out for the good of others rather than for his own enjoyment or the aggrandizement of his house. And these things, mutatis mutandis, constitute the beauty of all earthly authority and power.
II THE MESSIANIC VIEW. If we refer the words of the prophet to him to whom, in themselves and apart from the context, they are most appropriate to that Son of man who came to be the Savior-Sovereign of mankind, we have two views brought before us.
1. That of Jesus Christ as he lived on earth the meek King of men, (Mat_21:5) he who claimed to be a King even as he stood bound before Pilate. (Joh_18:33-36) Here we see the King in his beauty as we see him in his purity of heart, in his devotedness to the work his Father had placed in his hands, in his submissiveness to that Father"s will, in his quick and tender sympathy with the sorrowing and the abandoned, in his inexhaustible patience with the undeserving and the wrong.
2. That of the Divine Redeemer as he reigns in heaven. Thus viewed, we see in him the beauty of one who
(1) once surrendered everything he was and had in order that he might redeem a fallen race, the beauty of the most perfect sacrifice;
(2) now welcomes to his kingdom the worst of all that have rebelled against his will, the beauty of perfect magnanimity;
(3) now bears with his servants in all their manifold infirmities and insufficiencies of service, the beauty of perfect patience;
(4) now dispenses grace and help to every one of his followers according to their individual necessities and requests, the beauty of perfect beneficence.
III THE DISTANT VIEW. Our eyes will see the King in his beauty when we see "him as he isthe ascended and reigning Lord. Then we shall
(1) behold the glories of his heavenly administration; we shall
(2) dwell upon the transcendent excellence of his Divine character; and we shall then
(3) be drawn towards him in spiritual resemblance, (1Jn_3:2) live under his reign in unremitting and untiring service, (Rev_7:15 Rev_21:25) dwell with him and reign with him in everlasting joy. C. (Rev_2:26 Rev_3:21 Rev_22:5)
The breadth of the kingdom.
"They shall behold the land of far distances" (see marginal reading). We look at
I THE BREADTH OF THE HISTORICAL KINGDOM. Judah was to be delivered from her Assyrian oppressor. At present she was beleaguered, shut in on every hand, by the invading army; her citizens had no range of land they could traverse they were confined to the narrow circle made by the besieging hosts of Sennacherib. But soon those boundaries would be removed, the army would be scattered and would disappear. Then the country would be open everywhere; in whatsoever direction they looked they would see hills they might climb and valleys they might cultivate at will; as far as the eye could reach the country would be free to the traveler and to the husbandman. They would behold a "land of far distances," a broad kingdom they might call their own.
II THE BREADTH OF THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. That kingdom of Christ, wherein we stand and in which we so much rejoice, is a "land of far distances," a region of glorious breadth of view and range of motion and of action. There is nothing in it that is limiting, nothing that confines; everything is on an enlarged scale. There is about it a noble and inviting freedom; the horizon-line recedes perpetually as we advance. This applies in full to its distinguishing features.
1. The grace of God shown to us in Jesus Christ. The breadth, the fullness, of the Divine Father"s love in giving us his Son; (Joh_3:16 Rom_8:32) the fullness of the Saviors love in making such a sacrifice of heavenly dignity, glory, and joy, (Joh_1:1-14 Php_2:6, 7 2Co_8:9) and stooping to such depths of darkness, shame, and woe, humbling himself even unto death: what glorious breadths and depths and heights have we here!
2. The mercy of God now extended to us in Jesus Christ; reaching to those who have gone furthest in presumptuous sin, in vice, in crime, in unspeakable enormities; extending to those who have sinned against the clearest light and the most gracious influences; touching those who have gone to the very verge of human life: what noble breadths, what far distances, have we here!
3. The patience of Christ with his erring and imperfect followers.
4. The usefulness of a devoted and generous Christian life. Who can calculate the extent to which a life of holy love, of self-denying service, stretches out and flows on, out into the remote distance of space, on into the far future of time?
III THE BREADTH OF THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM. We confidently expect to find in the heavenly country a "land of far distances.
1. In its spatial dimensions; if, indeed, that can be truly said to have dimensions which is boundless in its lengths and breadths. To no narrow sphere, reckoned in yards or miles, shall we there be limited. Our outlook will be one that is immeasurably large, for the country of the blessed is, "to our heart and to our hoping," a land of very far distances indeed.
2. In the excellences and glories of the character of its King. When will the time come that we shall have covered all the ground in that great exploration, that we shall have surveyed all the heights and traversed all the breadths of the glorious and beautiful character of the Son of God? There are regions beyond regions, summits beyond summits, there.
3. In the capacities of its subjects. There is something of great interest and of genuine worth in the growth of the human mind from infancy to maturity; something well worthy of being watched and in every way to be desired. But there comes a point beyond which that development may not go; there is a meridian-line, reached at a different age by different men, across which we may not step, at which it is imperative that we return, that we decline. We dare to hope that, in the land of far distances," that boundary-line is indefinitely far off; that age after age, forever," we shall go on acquiring not only knowledge but power, the horizon-line of spiritual maturity continually receding as we advance in wisdom and strength.
4. In the range of its service. "His servants shall serve him;" and in what varieties of way may we not hope to serve him there? Here the service of God and of man takes many forms we can serve by action and by suffering, by example and by persuasion, in word and deed, in things secular and in things sacred, alone and in company with others. We look for a land, we wait for a life, in which opportunities of serving the Eternal Father and of blessing his children will be far more numerous, far more varied, far greater and nobler in their nature. We hope for a land of such glorious breadth on every hand that, not only in our enlarged capacities, but also in our multiplied and magnified opportunities, we shall find it a land of great distances.
1. Take care to be there.
2. Be ready to start well on the heavenly course, for according to our beginning will be our progress at every point in all succeeding ages. C.
Visions of the King.
The Targum reads, "Thine eyes shall see the Shechinah of the King of ages." The idea of the prophet probably is, that the good man shall see, with his soul-eyes, God himself delivering and rescuing the city from its threatening foes. The good man never can be content with agencies and instrumentalities and second causes, lie must recognize the living God, working his work of grace by means of them. He cannot be content unless he can see the King in his beauty the beauty of his redemptive workings. Some see a reference to Hezekiah, clothed with an ideal beauty, the evidence of God"s extraordinary favor. But however we may begin with that, it is but a step to the much more satisfying thing, the spiritual vision of God. Can God be seen? and if so, how? What is the true vision of God? Is it possible to men? By what means can we realize it? It is a question as old as humanity. In a thousand ways of formal interrogation, or unconscious yearning, we are ever putting it. In a thousand ways of ignorance, superstition, or intelligence, we are ever trying to answer it." We may dwell on
I THE EYES THAT SEE. Strangely imprisoned by their bodily senses, which are their sole mediums of communication with the world of material things, men overvalue the knowledge which the senses can bring them, and under-value those more real and more important worlds which are revealed only to the eyes of the mind and of the soul. No bodily vision of God can ever be given to dependent creatures; meeting our sense-conditions, Jesus Christ, the Man, is, for us, the" Brightness of his glory, and the express Image of his person." But souls can have that near sense of God which can only be represented as a vision. Faith, love, purity, holy desire, patient waiting, are the conditions of soul-eyes to which God is revealed. Each of these suggests illustrations and practical applications.
II THE THINGS THAT ARE SEEN. Three things are indicated.
1. Soul-eyes see the King. They are quick to discern God"s presence. They detect him everywhere and in everything. Life is serious, life is glorious, to them, because God is always walk ing in the garden," always close by.
2. Soul-eyes are keen to detect his beauty or his graciousness; especially as seen in the tenderness and care of his watchings, defendings, and deliverings. Soul-eyes are long-visioned, and can see the future, which they know is in God"s hands, and will surely prove to be the scene of God"s triumph. Whatever men may think and say and feel about the present, this is certain the future is with the good. R.T.
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 Thine eyes shall see the King in ms beauty
Isa_33:17
Thine eyes shall see the King in ms beauty
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The King in His beauty
Jerusalem was surrounded by the army of Sennacherib.
The relief gained when Hezekiah paid over the three hundred talents of silver and the thirty talents of gold, emptying thereby the royal treasury and stripping the gold from the doors and pillars of the Temple, had not lasted long. Rabshakeh, the chief envoy of Assyria, had been sent with another army to demand the unconditional surrender of the city. A great change, however, had taken place in the spirit and faith of the people. No further mention was made of an alliance with Egypt. The prophet Isaiah, instead of being ridiculed and despised, was at once appealed to by the king, and his counsel followed. Hope and confidence in Jehovah had been restored, and this second attack of the treacherous Assyrian, instead of plunging the nation into despair, seemed rather to rouse them to defiance. It was Gods forgiveness which had wrought the change. The departure of the Assyrian, at a time when Jerusalem was absolutely in his power, was a manifest proof of Gods forgiving mercy and a striking confirmation of Isaiahs words. So, though the enemy returned, the prophets encouraging and reassuring messages did not fall upon deaf ears. The chapter opens with a plain forecast of the speedy destruction that should overtake the treacherous spoiler of Gods people. Then follows a graphic picture of the disappointment of the ambassadors of peace, and the deserted and downtrodden state of the country districts that had resulted from Sennacheribs breach of the covenant of peace. But from verse 10 to the end the sufficiency of the championship of Jehovah is unfolded, and the chapter closes with promises of victory and pardon, the lame shall take the prey, the people shall be forgiven their iniquity. Yes, the presence and leadership of Jehovah would change everything. The glorious Lord would be unto them a place of broad rivers and streams. But as we read these Scriptures, Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, we feel that their primary application by no means exhausts their full meaning. A greater than Hezekiah is here. The King in His beauty is for us the very Prince of Peace Himself. Once for our sakes He was covered with shame, mocked and buffeted and handcuffed. Now by faith we see Him crowned with glory and honour, and one day our eyes shall see Him as He is in His beauty. As yet the new Jerusalem is hemmed in by foes. Enemies far more treacherous and destructive than the Assyrians are seeking to enslave and despoil the people of God. But our eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle so peaceful and steadfast that not one of the stakes thereof shall be removed nor any of its cords broken. Yes, the story of the siege of Jerusalem is only a parable of the life of God in the soul of man. Gods forgiveness is much more than a clean slate. It brings His people into the joy and strength of a living union with Himself. It gave new national life to Judah. It gives new spiritual life to the pardoned sinner. Once the Divine forgiveness is realised the whole man is born again. But this does not make us free from temptation. The Assyrians will surely return and menace the city. But the Lord is our sure defence.
1. The beauty of the King passes all mans understanding. There is the beauty of His personal character. It is unfolded to us in the Gospel story. There we see His goodness and truth. His purity is so strong and incandescent with the fire of love that it cannot be marred by the defilements of earth. His sympathy and compassion are so tender and real that the most needy and outcast are attracted to Him. Christ has no beauty in the eyes of the carnal and worldly. He pours contempt on the wisdom of the flesh, the wisdom of this world. Have ye eyes to see the beauty in Jesus? There is the beauty, too, of His perfect sacrifice. This was set forth in the Old Testament Scriptures in the passover lamb, in the brazen serpent, and in all the sacrifices connected with the old covenant. The Lamb without spot or blemish was slain that His atoning blood might cover our sins. The beauty and perfection of the personal character secures the beauty and perfection of the precious sacrifice. Is that blood-stained Cross the most beautiful sight in the world to you? Have you seen the love of God triumphing there over the sin of man, and the Son of God reconciling God and man by the sacrifice of Himself, and laying a righteous foundation for the exercise towards guilty sinners of Gods sovereign mercy and grace? But, again, there is the beauty of His perpetual intercession and His abiding presence in our hearts. Christ is no longer on the Cross--He is on the Throne, seated at the right hand of God. From that vantage ground of infinite power and resource He watches all that transpires here below. And He not only watches from a distance, He is with us to save and succour and defend. Have you seen the King in His beauty as He walks with us along lifes highway? Or are your eyes still holden?
2. To see the King in His beauty is the essence of all true religion. The world cannot understand the things of God. It cannot receive the Comforter because it seeth Him not. The veil of sense shuts out the glories of the unseen world. Have you seen the Son and believed on Him? Or is there still some veil or prejudice or disobedience upon your heart? Is personal religion still a mystery to you? Does conversion seem to you a strange and doubtful experience? Does the earnestness of some Christians seem altogether extravagant and fanatical? When you have truly seen the King you will find it impossible to exaggerate His beauty, and you will find it equally impossible to set a limit to your obedience. The King must have all. Loyalty cannot measure out its service. It delights in sacrifice. As the veil of sense is penetrated by the vision of faith the victory of life begins. This is the object of all the means of grace. They are to help us to see the King. All life becomes worth living when the humblest duty performed aright may be rewarded with a sight of Him whom you love. This gives new zest to worship. For this we pray and study our Bibles, for this we come to church and join in the Lords Supper, that we may see the King. This helps us to live a detached and separate life. (F. S. Webster, M. A.)
The heavenly King and the privileges of His subjects
I. THE CHARACTER OF THE KING.
1. The situation of a king is most respectable; he is the head of his people. God is Head of all things; King of kings, and Lord of lords.
2. Kings ought to be wise men, to rule in wisdom. God is all-wise, omniscient.
3. Kings ought to possess power, to be ready to oppose any foe of their people. God is Almighty.
4. Kings should he good men, kind and benevolent. God is good and kind; He feeds, clothes, &c., He is the Fountain of goodness.
5. Kings should be just men, to enforce the laws and punish offenders. God is just, and will not suffer His laws to be infringed, but will punish the guilty.
II. THE EXTENT OF HIS DOMINION.
1. Heaven is His throne; here He manifests His glorious presence; angels, &c., are His servants.
2. Earth is His foot-stool; things animate and inanimate are subject to His control.
3. Hell is His prison, where He confines His foes, and here He is enthroned in vengeance.
4. He has a kingdom among men; this is His universal Church, all who fear God, and work righteousness.
5. He has a kingdom in men; every true believer is a little kingdom in himself, the heart is His throne, and the passions and affections are the subjects.
6. He reigns that He may conquer all, save all.
III. THE PERSONS THIS DECLARATION MAY BE APPLIED TO. THEY.
1. Those who have an experimental knowledge of the Kings favour.
2. Such as feel a profound reverence towards Him.
3. Who love Him, from a sense of His love to them.
4. And obey Him from this principle of love.
IV. WHAT IS IMPLIED BY THE DECLARATION, They shall see the King.
1. Not with their bodily eye. God is a Spirit.
2. If we could see Him as a Spirit with our bodily eye, yet we could not as God. He is immensity.
3. They shall see Him by the eye of faith--in creation, providence and grace. (John Overton.)
The blessedness of heaven
These words may more immediately refer to the restoration of Hezekiah to his former splendour and dignity, by the destruction of Sennacheribs army, which would establish peace in the land of Judea, and enable the exiles to return home, without fear or danger. But the Holy Spirit in this passage seems also to refer to the initial happiness of all true believers in this world, and their complete felicity in the world to come.
I. THE SOURCES OF HAPPINESS PROVIDED FOR TRUE BELIEVERS. These in general are two--
1. The King in His beauty. All that is to be seen of God with joy and satisfaction, is visible only in the Mediator.
2. The land that is very far off. In the present life our chief happiness arises from hope; hereafter it will consist in vision, and in full fruition. The heavenly glory is here compared to the land of promise, which abounded in population, and yet was so fruitful as to be well able to support all its inhabitants.
(1) It is a land that is very far off from the earth, and farther still from hell.
(2) The views which good people have of the Land of Promise are at present very distant and imperfect.
II. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE SAINTS SHALL ENJOY THE BLISS THAT IS PREPARED FOR THEM. They shall see and behold it.
1. This may either refer to the partial view which Christians have of future glory upon earth, or to the beatific vision of heaven. We see something of God in the works of creation and providence, and especially in the great work of human redemption. We have also seen the power and glory of God in the sanctuary, in the Word and ordinances, and have sometimes been filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. But these views, however refreshing, are not only transient, but very narrow and contracted, in comparison of what they will be hereafter. Then the powers of perception will be raised to the highest pitch, our contracted minds will be enlarged and rendered more retentive, and we shall be able to gaze in thought on what all thought transcends.
2. The sight which believers have of spiritual objects is essentially different from that of the unregenerate, either in this world or that which is to come.
3. There is an intuitive certainty in the knowledge which Christians have of invisible realities, and which is peculiar to themselves only.
4. A sight of the King in His beauty will be attended with a clearness and a comprehension far surpassing all that we have experienced in the present life.
5. The celestial vision will be ardent and intense.
6. Views of heaven will take place immediately after death, and more fully after the resurrection.
7. There will also be a possessive intuition, or such a sight as includes converse and enjoyment.
8. The vision will be perpetual and without end. There is an entrance into heaven, but no exit out of it. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
Christs life a poem
There are human lives which are poems, as there are lives which are prose. They give pleasure, as poetry gives it by the expression of the beautiful. Such a life, at its very highest range, was the life of Christ. We seek its poetry to-day, and we weave our thoughts of it round that profound phrase of Miltons, that poetry must be simple, sensuous, and passionate.
I. That which is SIMPLICITY in art is purity in a perfect character. The beauty of Christs purity was in this--
1. That those who saw it saw in it the glory of moral victory.
2. From this purity, so tried and so victorious, arose two other elements of moral beauty--perfect justice and perfect mercy.
II. The word SENSUOUSNESS, in Miltons sense of it, was entirely noble in meaning. As the poet produces beautiful work out of the multitudinous world of images and things which he has received, so the exquisiteness of the parables and of the words of Christ, both in form and expression, was the direct result of the knowledge He had gained from the quality of sensibility.
III. The third element of great poetry is PASSION. We may transfer it directly to a character as an element of beauty. It is best defined as the power of intense feeling capable of perfect expression. It was intense feeling of the weakness and sin of man, and intense joy in His Fathers power to redeem, which produced the story of the Prodigal Son, where every word is on fire with tender passion. See how it comes home, even now, to men; see how its profound humanity has made it universal! Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. How that goes home to the deepest want of the race; how deep the passion which generalised that want into a single sentence; how intense, yet how pathetic, the expression of it; how noble the temperance which stayed at the single sentence and felt that it was enough! (Stopford A. Brooke, D. D.)
The beautiful God
The blessed God who infinitely possesses every amiable excellency, and from whom proceeds all that is lovely in the universe, must Himself be adorned with the most exquisite beauty. In Him is concentred the sweetest assemblage of every Divine perfection. In Him, they all shine forth with the brightest lustre, without any superfluity or deficiency. He is consummately righteous, yet full of compassion; He is perfectly holy, yet rich in mercy; He is supreme in majesty, yet infinitely gracious; wisdom, power, and faithfulness, with every glorious attribute that can excite admiration and love, are united in the supreme Lord of heaven and earth. In the various important characters He sustains, He acts with the most endearing condescension and approved fidelity, assiduously performing every office and duty that love can dictate. (R. Macculloch.)
Is beauty ascribed to Jehovah?
Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty. Cheyne asserts that this king cannot be Jehovah, for beauty is never ascribed to Him. This is a shallow argument. Can an epithet never be given to God once, but must every epithet be repeated in order to be true? But if one sees Jehovah in Jesus there will be no trouble in finding beauty ascribed to the Messiah, and so to Jehovah Jesus is Jehovah, and we find in the Messiah every form of beauty ascribed to Him in the Canticles, which the Church has always cherished as the song of Christs love and loveliness to His redeemed people. Again in the forty-fifth Psalm we find the King Messiah described as fairer than the children of men; and there is no great difference between assigning beauty to holiness (Psa_29:2; Psa_96:9) and assigning beauty to the holy God. Moreover, in Zec_9:17 we find Jehovah thus referred to by the prophet, How great is Hisgoodness, and how great is His beauty. Here the identical word is used (yephi) that is found in our Isaiah text. In this last passage to refer the singular pronoun to Gods people when they are spoken of with plural pronouns and verbs in the whole context is hardly a fair way to prove the proposition that beauty is never ascribed to Jehovah, But even if beauty is never ascribed to Jehovah anywhere else, is that a substantial reason why it cannot be here so ascribed? (H. Crosby, D. D.)
The beautiful Christ
I cannot but regard it as a great misfortune that in all ages the art, the literature, and the worship of the Churches should not only have fallen so far short of the true ideal of our blessed Lord and Master, but should even have gone so far astray in their conceptions of Him. They have represented Him as a partial Christ, whereas He is the universal Christ; as an ecclesiastical Christ, whereas He is a spiritual Christ; as a Christ of gloom and anguish, whereas He is a Christ of love, and joy, and peace in believing; as a dead Christ, whereas He is the risen, the living, the ascended Saviour; as a distant Christ, a Christ who has gone far away into the dim realms of space, whereas He is a present Christ, with us now, with us always, with us individually, with us as a perpetual comforter, a very present help in trouble, with us even to the end of the world; as a Christ of wrath, and vengeance, and dreadfulness, whereas He is loving, tender, and of infinite compassion. (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)
The King in His beauty
The King is probably the Messiah They shall behold a far-stretching land--Messiahs kingdom is from sea to sea. (Prof. A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)
The Jews deliverance from the Assyrian invasion
When the Assyrians had invaded Judea with an immense army, and were about to attack Jerusalem, Rabshakeh was sent with a railing message to the king and his people. When Hezekiah heard of the blasphemies of the proud Assyrian, he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord, and sent the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth to consult with Isaiah the prophet. The people of Jerusalem, therefore, had seen their king in most mournful array, wearing the garments of sorrow, and the weeds of mourning; they were, however, cheered by the promise that there should be so complete a defeat to Sennacherib, that the king should again adorn himself with the robes of state, and appear with a smiling countenance in all the beauty of joy. Moreover, through the invasion of Sennacherib, the people had not been able to travel; they had been cooped up within the walls of Jerusalem like prisoners. No journeys had been made, either in the direction of Dan or Beersheba, even the nearest villages could not be reached; but the promise is given, that so completely should the country be rid of the enemy, that wayfarers should be able to see the whole of their territory, even that part of the land which was very far off; it should be safe for them to make the longest voyages; they should no longer be afraid of the oppressor, but should find the highways, which once lay waste, to be again open and safe for traffic. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ victorious: His people free
We have seen our well-beloved Monarch, in the days of His flesh, humiliated and sore vexed; for He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. He whose brightness is as the morning, wore the sackcloth of sorrow as His daily dress; shame was His mantle, and reproach was His vesture. None more afflicted and sorrowful than He. Yet now, inasmuch as He has triumphed over all the powers of darkness upon the bloody tree, our faith beholds our King in His beauty, returning with dyed garments from Edom, robed in the splendour of victory. We also, His joyful subjects who were once shut up and could not come forth, are now possessed of boundless Gospel liberty. Now that we see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, we freely possess to its utmost bounds the covenant blessings which He has given to us; and we rejoice that if the land of happiness should sometimes seem to be very far off, it is nevertheless our own, and we shall stand in our lot in the end of the days. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The King in His beauty
I. WE HAIL THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS OUR KING.
1. His right to royalty lies in His exalted nature as the Son of God.
2. Jesus has a right to reign because He is the Creator.
3. The Preserver of all men.
4. He governs by virtue of His Headship of the mediatorial kingdom.
5. He has the rights of Divine designation, for God has made Him King.
6. Certain princes have delighted to call themselves kings by the popular will, and certainly our Lord Jesus Christ is such in His Church. Now it behoves us, since we thus verbally acknowledge Him to be King, distinctly to understand what this involves.
(1) We look upon the Lord Jesus as being to us the fountain of all spiritual legislation. He is a King in His own right--no limited monarch--but an autocrat in the midst of His Church, and in the Church all laws proceed from Christ and Christ only.
(2) He alone gives authority to that legislation.
(3) He is the Captain in all our warfare.
II. WE DELIGHT TO KNOW THAT OUR KING POSSESSES SUPERLATIVE BEAUTY.
III. THERE ARE SEASONS WHEN WE SEE THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY.
1. We saw Him in that day when He pardoned all our sins.
2. Jesus Christ was in His beauty seen by us more fully, when, after being pardoned, we found how much He had done for us.
3. There are times when, in our contemplations, we see His beauty.
4. It is very probable that we shall have such a sight of our glorious King as we never had before, when we come to die.
IV. THE EXCEEDING GLORY OF THIS SIGHT.
V. THIS SIGHT OF CHRIST EMINENTLY AFFORDS LIBERTY TO THE SOUL. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Seeing the King in His beauty
These words plainly promise to every follower of Christ, if he shall persevere unto the end, that in the resurrection he shall see the Lord Jesus Christ in His beauty, and in the glory of His kingdom. What, then, is this beauty which shall be revealed to all who attain that world and the resurrection of the holy dead?
I. It would seem to be THE BEAUTY OF HIS HEAVENLY COURT. About Him and before Him are the companies of heaven, the hosts and hierarchies of the blessed, and the saintly multitude of Gods new creation. Armies of martyrs, companies of prophets, the majesty of patriarchs, the glory of apostles, each one in the full transfigured beauty of his own perfect spirit, and all revealing the warfare of faith, the triumph of the Church, the power of the Cross, the election of God,--these are the degrees and ascents leading upward to the throne of bliss.
II. But if such be the beauty of the Kings court, what is THE BEAUTY OF THE KING HIMSELF? We shall not be dangerously out of the way if we believe that He who is the brightness of His Fathers glory and the express image of His person, did take unto Himself our manhood as His revealed presence for ever, in its most perfect image and likeness; that in Him two natures were united, and both were perfect, both were beautiful. There is a beauty we know Him to possess in fulness--the beauty of perfect love. In His face will be revealed all the love of His holy incarnation, of His life of sorrow, of His agony and passion, of His cross and death. The wounds of His hands and feet and of His pierced side are eternal seals and countersigns of the love which has redeemed us for Himself.
1. The King whose beauty is the bliss of heaven is ever drawing and preparing us for His presence by all the mysteries of His Church.
2. By a special and particular discipline, varied and measured for the necessities of every faithful soul, He is making us ready for the vision of His presence. (H. E. Manning, D. D.)
The beautiful King and the far-off land
I. THE SUPREME OBJECT OF VISION. The King in His beauty.
II. THE ULTIMATE POSSESSION. The land that is very far off. (F. Ferguson, D. D.)
The King in His beauty
It is astonishing how much comfort can be packed up in a few words. If one were asked to put into a single sentence the entire body of Scriptural prophecy, of Old and New Testament prophecy combined, he could not easily find a more complete condensation of the whole than in the text. There are two points of view from which we may look at the text.
I. THE OBJECTIVE ASPECT, or the vision as it is set before us; the moral and spiritual ideal yet to be realised.
1. The text is a prediction as to a glorious Person and a far-off land, both of them entirely beyond the calculations of men. The King in His beauty is Jesus Christ, The words are striking. It is not exactly the King in His majesty, or grandeur, or glory, or power, but the King in His beauty. We speak of the good and the beautiful and the true. And there is a singular accordance between those three super-excellent realities. We think of them in connection with the Persons in the Godhead. While it is true that all glory and power of the one aspect of the Divine Being belongs to the other, still we are permitted to make a distinction in our thoughts, and we think of the Father as that One in whom we see pre-eminently the good; and the Son as that One in whom we see specifically the beautiful; and the Spirit as that One in whom we see pre-eminently the true.
2. When we turn our thoughts to the beautiful alone, we are met by this conception--that the beautiful is but another word for the becoming. A beautiful action is an action which it becomes one to do. A beautiful character is one, all the elements of which are in sweet accordance; when part is adapted to part, as the colours of the rainbow blend together; when one line of the form gracefully runs into another; when one sound is the harmonious concomitant and perfect sequel of another--there you have beauty, the beauty as a spirit breathing through the whole and informing all its parts--such a whole that one part may become the other, and pass and repass into the other. The beauty is translucent, elastic, perfect. Now apply this conception to Jesus Christ, and you will see with what amazing propriety the beautiful in Him is the same as the becoming. Consider the harmony of the Divine Being as the eternal source of all the beauty we can ever know. Consider the essential beauty of our human nature as made in the image and after the likeness of God; consider, further, the absolutely harmonious combination and indissoluble union of those two natures in
Christ with the amazing self-sacrifice of the Son of God for our redemption, and the adaptation of His work to all the wants of our case, and you have such a conception of the becoming--of all that it becomes both God and man to do--as explains to us the emphasis and the propriety with which Christ is spoken of as the King in His beauty. No one can be beautiful apart from Him.
3. Society is at present a hideous discord, at least to a very large extent. We cannot say that it is beautiful. But it is not more certain that Jesus Christ is King; it is not more certain that He is the centre of heavens harmony, than it is certain that the far-off land will yet be brought nigh and made visible upon the earth; and that Gods will shall be done upon the earth, even as it is done in heaven.
II. THE SUBJECTIVE ASPECT, or what is implied in seeing the vision, in realising the ideal. The time is coming when every human being shall actually look upon Jesus Christ. But to look is not always to see all that can be seen. To see the King in His beauty implies a deeper seeing than that of merely looking upon Him. It implies a being made like Him. In order to see the kingdom of God, or to enter into it, we must actually be born again. We must ourselves (in other words) be a part of that which we truly see. We shall see Him at last because we shall have been made like Him. It is the pure in heart who see God This seeing of God is our heaven in its highest and most complete form; and it is by faith in Christ that we are brought to this perception. As faith grows and develops, as it passes into the life, it turns the abstract ideal into the concrete reality. On the other hand, the result is certain from the Divine side. It is secured by the fact that the King in His beauty is there. The heavenly Bridegroom is waiting for the perfection of His Bride. And as He waits He works, tie rules over all things for the accomplishment of the Divine purpose. Make, then, the goal of your life quite clear, and lay down all your lines of thought and action directly for that goal. Let us thank God that such is the Christianity of Jesus Christ. (F. Ferguson, D. D.)
Reverence, a belief in Gods presence
1. Though Moses was not permitted to enter the land of promise, he was vouchsafed a sight of it from a distance. We too, though as yet we are not admitted to heavenly glory, yet are given to see much, in preparation for seeing more. Christ dwells among us in His Church really though invisibly, and through its Ordinances fulfils towards us, in a true and sufficient sense, the promise of the text. We are even now permitted to see the King in His beauty, to behold the land that is very far off. The words of the Prophet relate to our present state as well as to the state of saints hereafter. Of the future glory it is said by St. John, They shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads. And of the present, Isaiah himself speaks in passages which may be taken in explanation of the text: The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; and again, They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God.
2. Such a view is strange to most men; they do not realise the presence of Christ, nor admit the duty of realising it. Even those who are not without habits of seriousness, have almost or quite forgotten the duty. This is plain at once: for, unless they had, they would not be so very deficient in reverence as they are. There are two classes of men who are deficient in awe and fear, and, lamentable to say, taken together, they go far to make up the religious portion of the community. It is not wonderful that sinners should live without the fear of God; but what shall we say of an age or country in which even the more serious classes maintain, or at least act as if they maintained, that the spirit of Gods holy fear is no part of religion?
(1) Those who think that they never were greatly under Gods displeasure.
(2) Those who think that, though they once were, they are net at all now, for all sin has been forgiven them;--those on the one hand who consider that sin is no great evil in itself, those on the other who consider that it is no great evil in them, because their persons are accepted in Christ for their faiths sake. (J. H. Newman, B. D.)
The land that is very far off
The land that is very far off
A far-stretching land, i.e., a land no longer diminished (to use Sennacheribs own expression) by spoliation or hemmed in by foes. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
The distant land
As it is in the margin, the land of far distances. A land cleared of enemies as far as the eye can reach and the foot carry.
I. THIS WILL APPLY TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, WHICH THE REDEEMED SOUL SHALL POSSESS IN HEAVEN. Here we know but little of the great Father of our spirits. But in heaven we shall know God more fully. Know Him not in His essence, but in the glorified human nature of Christ; in His relation to ourselves and the universe.
II. THIS WILL APPLY TO THE VIEWS WHICH HEAVEN WILL GIVE US OF THE REDEEMING WORK OF CHRIST. At present there are many questions which the devout soul proposes in relation to this mighty work, but no response is given. What disclosures will heaven make on these points!
III. THIS WILL APPLY TO THE EXPLANATIONS WHICH HEAVEN WILL AFFORD OF THE SECRETS OF NATURE. Nature, like the fabled traveller, has given the casket to the highwayman, but kept the jewels. She has given us names, but kept the power.
IV. THIS WILL APPLY TO THE SOLUTION WHICH HEAVEN WILL GIVE OF THE MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE.
V. THIS WILL APPLY TO OUR EXPERIENCE OF DIVINE GOODNESS. Here the vessel is narrowed by its conditions. It cannot receive much, it cannot bear much. Here we sip of the river of God, there we shall drink of its fulness.
1. Learn the limitations of this life. We know in part. It doth not yet appear what we shall be.
2. The boundless wisdom and goodness of God. The best things are yet in store.
3. See here the encouragements to a life of faith (J. Hoyle.)
Glances at the future
Do you ask what are the waving outlines of this land of far distances that begins directly a man begins to live a Christly life, and that stretches away after death into the Infinite? I answer--
I. UNENDING EXISTENCE.
II. UNDECAYING ACTIVITY. Our work here is bounded by many things.
1. There is the finishing of the enterprise.
2. There is the failure of our powers.
3. There is the ceasing of inclination.
Sometimes fuel has not been added to fire of flickering motive; sometimes fellow-workers have been cold, unwelcome, or harshly discouraging; sometimes repeated failure and mocking disappointments have driven a man back from seeking his own higher education or the worlds welfare, and desire ceases, and there is an end of work. But in contrast with all this that is of the earth earthy, the true worker for himself and for others, yearns after and will inherit a land of far distances. There the work will never be completed, for a universe is the sphere of labour, eternity is the period, and the infinite the problem. Labour--the putting forth of power: sacrificial labour--the putting forth of power in the spirit of the Lamb, who is the central life of the heavenly world; this is the far-reaching hope of every Christly soul. And this without the decay of powers, for then will be fulfilled the promise of perpetual morning dew, immortal youth, a world without pain, and never needing a night. Nor will want of inclination bring these occupations to an end, for there is realised the full power of the quenchless inspiration of love to the Lamb who was slain. So, for our highest, noblest labours, there is a limitless hope.
III. UNFETTERED THOUGHT. For the inquirer this human life is not a land of far distances. Thinkers often weep in their sense of mental poverty. But we are to believe in the lifting of veil after veil as we go on through the ages, till the fair face of Truth shall be seen in Divinest beauty.
IV. UNBOUNDED AFFECTIONS. (U. R. Thomas, B. A.)
The King in His beauty
I. Our first concern is with THE HISTORICAL SETTING of this verse.
II. THE SPIRITUAL PARALLEL. To see the King,--Jesus, I mean,--is one of the best blessings of His people. There is a further promise, Thine eyes shall behold the land that is very far off, i.e., a far-stretching tract of country. We must abide by the metaphor; this stands, I think, for the great multitude of exceeding great and precious privileges which God has given us in Jesus Christ.
III. THE FINAL FULFILMENT OR THIS PROMISE. All the things Gods people know on earth are but feeble foretastes of the joys of heaven. (Thos. Spurgeon.)
Heaven anticipated
It is recorded of the celebrated John Howe, that in his latter days he greatly desired to attain such a knowledge of Christ, and feel such a sense of His love, as might be a foretaste of the joys of heaven. After his death, a paper was found in his Bible recording how God had answered his prayer. One morning (and he noted the day) he awoke, with his eyes swimming with tears, overwhelmed with a sense of Gods goodness in shedding down His grace into the hearts of men. He never could forget the joy of these moments: they made him long still more ardently for that heaven which, from his youth, he had panted to behold. (Light in the Dwelling.)
Samuel Rutherfords dying utterances
Some days before he died, he said: I shall shine, I shall see Him as He is, I shall see Him reign, and all His fair company with Him; and I shall have my large share, my eyes shall see my Redeemer, these very eyes of mine, and no other for me; this may seem a wide word, but it is no fancy or delusion; it is true, it is true; let my Lords name be exalted, and if He will, let my name be grinded to pieces, that He may be all in all. If He should slay me ten thousand times ten thousand times, Ill trust. One of his friends, Mr. Robert Blair, who stood by, his bed, said to him: What think ye now of Christ? To this he replied: I shall live and adore Him; glory, glory, to my Creator, and to my Redeemer for ever; glory shines in Immanuels land. In the afternoon of the same day he said: Oh, that all my brethren in the public may know what a Master I have served, and what peace I have this day; I shall sleep in Christ, and when I awake I shall be satisfied with His likeness. This night shall close the door, and put my anchor within the veil, and I shall go away in a sleep by five of the clock in the morning. Words which received their exact fulfilment. His soul was filled with rapture as he lay dying, and he cried, Oh, for arms to embrace Him! Oh, for a well-tuned harp! So he passed away, declaring as he went that in the love and presence of his Lord he had found heaven before he entered within the gates. (Kings Highway.)
Not all over"
When a medical man visited a young woman who was on her death-bed, he uttered the common thought of the world when he said to her weeping mother as he grasped her hand, It will soon be all over with your daughter. She who was about to depart heard the announcement, and, raising herself on her arm, drew aside the curtain, and looking into the face of the doctor with that peculiar look that characterises those who are being loosened from the hither side of existence said, All over, sir! all over--no, mother, believe him not. When I die, it will not be all over with your daughter, it will only be all beginning. For this present span of existence is not worthy of being compared with the life which shall thrill my whole being in the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and the Lamb. (W. Adamson, D. D.)
Death a mean, of vision
One Sunday morning a friend--a deacon of my church--came to me and said, speaking of his father, a dear old minister and a blind man, My father can see this morning. I congratulate you! I exclaimed; I am glad and surprised to hear it. Ah, he replied, you misunderstand me. My father is dead. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)
The beautiful God
How beautiful it is to be with God! Miss Willard whispered as she died.
Miss Havergals experience
A most interesting chapter in the biography describes her visit to Switzerland. On her return home she had typhoid fever, and was laid aside for a long time. This is how she talked of her experience during her illness: F. Sometimes I could not quite see His face; yet there was His promise, I will never leave thee. I knew He said it, and that He was there. M. Had you any fear at all to die? F. Oh no, not a shadow. It was on the first day of this illness I dictated to Constance, Just as Thou wilt, O Master, call! M. Then was it delightful to think you were going home, dear Fan? F. No, it was not the idea of going home, but that He was coming for me, and that I should see my King. I never thought of death as going through the dark valley or down to the river; it often seemed to me a going up to the golden gates and lying there in the brightness, just waiting for the gate to open for me. She was brought back, in answer to many prayers, from the gates of the grave. (Kings Highway.)
The Delectable Mountain
Then they went on till they came to the Delectable Mountains, which belong to the Lord of the country towards which they were journeying. So they went up the mountains to behold the gardens and orchards, the vineyards and fountains of water. Now there were on the top of these mountains shepherds feeding their flocks. The pilgrims, therefore, went to them and asked: Whose Delectable Mountains are these? and whose sheep be they that feed on them? And the shepherds answered These mountains are Emmanuels Land: and they are within sight of His city; the sheep are His. He laid down His life for them. Then said the shepherds one to another, Let us show the pilgrims the gates to the celestial city, if they have skill to look through our perspective-glass. Then the pilgrims lovingly accepted the motion; so they led them to the top of a hill called Clear, and gave them the glass to look through. Then they tried to look; but the remembrance of the last things that the shepherds had showed them made their hands shake; by means of which impediment they could not look steadily through the glass: yet they thought they saw something like the gate, and also some of the glory of the place. (Bunyans Pilgrims Progress.)
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_33:17. Thine eyes shall see the King in His…
THE PROSPECT OF THE GODLY
Isa_33:17. Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off.
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The literal application of this prophecy is generally supposed to have reference to the deliverance of the Jews from the Assyrian army. They would then have the joy of seeing Hezekiah in his goodly apparel, and, freed from the presence of the invader, would be left at liberty to enjoy their own pleasant and goodly land. The deliverance was accomplished (2Ch_32:21). But there is another application of the text—to the beatific vision of the King of kings in the heavenly land. Let us then consider—
I. THE GLORIOUS PROSPECT BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF GOD. “Thine eyes,” &c. The prospect respects—
1. The vision of Christ. Christ is King. Of Him Melchisedec, David, and Solomon were types (Psa_2:6, &c.; Joh_18:36; Heb_2:9; Rev_1:5; 1Ti_6:10). Patriarchs and prophets saw Him in human form. The Jews saw Him in His humiliation, as “a man of sorrows,” &c. The apostles and disciples saw Him in His risen glory. John saw Him in the vision of Patmos (Rev_1:13, &c.) Hereafter all His people shall see Him “in His beauty,” in all His regal splendour and magnificence. They shall see Him clearly, fully, eternally.
2. The vision of heaven. “The land,” &c. Of heaven Canaan was a type. It was a land of beauty and abundance; of freedom, after the slavery of Egypt; of triumph, after warfare; of rest, after the toils of the desert. Its crowning distinction was the Temple, which God filled with His presence and glory. But heaven is all temple.
II. THE CERTAINTY OF ITS REALISATION. “Thine eyes shall,” &c.
1. This was contemplated by Christ in our redemption. He designed our emancipation from the dominion of sin, our deliverance from this present evil world, and also our elevation to His glorious kingdom (Heb_2:10; Joh_17:24).
2. This is repeatedly the subject of the Divine promises (Luk_22:29; Luk_12:32; Joh_14:2-3, &c.)
3. To this tends the work of grace in all its influences on the soul. See what our calling is (1Pe_5:10); to what we are begotten (1Pe_1:3-4); why we are sanctified (Rev_3:4).
4. A goodly number are now enjoying the fulfilment of these promises (Rev_7:9; Rev_7:14).
5. The glory and joy of Christ would not be complete without the eternal salvation of His people (Isa_53:11).
III. THE PREPARATION NECESSARY FOR ITS ENJOYMENT. Nothing is necessary in the way of merit, price, or self-righteousness. But if we would see the King, we must make Him the object of our believing, affectionate regard now.
2. If we would see “the land,” &c., we must seek and labour for its attainment (Heb_11:16; Heb_4:10).—Jabez Burns, D.D.: Pulpit Cyclopædia, vol. ii. pp. 154–157).
THE BEAUTY OF CHRIST’S CHARACTER
Isa_33:17. Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty.
There is a difference between the worthiness and the beauty of a character. A poetic beauty adorns the worth of Christ’s character.
WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF THE SUPREMELY BEAUTIFUL CHARACTER OF CHRIST?
I. Sensibility. This is a word to be preferred to sensitiveness, for it includes sensitiveness; it has the passive quality of sensitiveness with activity of soul in addition exercised upon the impressions received. The more perfect the manhood, the more perfect is this sensibility. The total absence of it is the essence of vulgarity. The presence of it in its several degrees endows its possessor, according to the proportion of it, with what Chaucer meant by “gentilness.”
(1.) It does not seem wrong to say that there was in Christ the sensibility to natural beauty. He also, like us, wished and sought that Nature should send “its own deep quiet to restore His heart.” We find His common teaching employed about the vineyard and the wandering sheep, the whitening corn and the living well, the summer rain and the wintry flood and storm.
(2.) Still higher in Him was an intense sensibility to human feeling. He saw Nathaniel coming to Him, and in a moment frankly granted the meed of praise (Joh_1:47); when the malefactor on the cross appealed to Him, Christ saw at once that the fountain of a noble life had begun to flow (Luk_23:43). It was the same with bodies of men as with men; He wove into one instrument of work the various characters of the Apostles; day by day He held together vast multitudes by feeling their hearts within His own; He shamed and confuted His enemies by an instinct of their objections and their whispers; men, women, and children ran to Him, as a child to its mother.
How did the sensibility of Christ become active?—
1. As sympathy with Nature. There are many who never employ either intellect or imagination on the impressions which they receive. Remaining passive, they only permit the tide of the world’s beauty to flow in and out of their mind; they do nothing with it. In Wordsworth, each feeling took form as a poem. As Christ walked silently along, He lifted up His eyes and saw the fields whitening already to harvest; and immediately He seized on the impression and expressed it in words. It marks a beautiful character to be so rapidly and delicately impressed; but the beauty becomes vital beauty when, through sympathy with and love of what is felt, one becomes himself creative of new thought. Sometimes such sympathy is shown through the imagination, as when Christ, seeing the cornfield by the shore of the lake while He was teaching, looked on the whole career of the field, and combined impressions taken up by the imagination into the Parable of the Sower. Sensibility becoming sympathy is discriminating. Praise without distinctiveness is wearisome. We find perfect discrimination in the illustrations Christ drew from Nature. How exquisite the passage beginning, “Consider the lilies!” This distinctiveness appears still more in the choice of places for certain moods of mind,—the temptation in the wilderness, the hill-side for prayer. In all this, Christ recognises natural religion as His own, and bids us believe in its beauty, and add it to the spiritual.
2. As sympathy with human feeling. Examples of this are numerous. His tenderness stayed Him on the wayside to satisfy the mother’s heart and to bless the children; touched by the widow’s weeping, He gave her back her son. “Jesus wept” even at the moment when He was about to give back the lost, because those He loved were weeping. How discriminating the sympathy which gave to Martha and Mary their several meed of praise! How unspeakably beautiful the words, “Woman, behold thy son!” Friend, “behold thy mother!”
This, then, is loveliness of character.
Remember, we have no right to boast of our sensibility to the feelings of others; nay, it is hateful in us till we lift it into the beauty of sympathising action. Remember, too, its wise discrimination. Christ, while feeling with all the world, sanctified distinctiveness in friendship and love.
II. Simplicity. Milton tells us that poetry must be “simple.” The beautiful character must also possess this quality. But by simplicity is not meant here the simplicity of Christ’s teaching. What is meant is the quality in His character which corresponds to that which we call simplicity in poetry; and that which is simplicity in art is purity in a perfect character. The beauty of Christ’s purity was first in this, that those who saw it saw in it the glory of moral victory. His purity was not the beauty of innocence in a child; it was purity which had been subject to the storm, which had known evil and overcome it. And from this purity, so tried and victorious, arose two other elements of moral beauty—perfect justice and perfect mercy. Innocence cannot be just, nor is the untempted saint fit to judge; but Christ is able to be just and yet merciful, because He is entirely pure.
III. Passion, defined as the power of intense feeling capable of perfect expression. Milton tells us that poetry must be “passionate.” We may transfer it directly to character as an element of beauty. It was intense feeling of the weakness and sin of man, and intense joy in His Father’s power to redeem, that produced the story of the “Prodigal Son.” “Come unto Me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” How that goes home! How deep the passion which generalised that want into a single sentence! It is a beauty of character, whether seen in words or action, which passes into and assumes the diadem of sublimity. Christ’s words to the Pharisees have all the marks of indignation and none of the marks of anger. Passion and energy limited by temperance imply repose of character. Activity in repose, calm in the heart of passion, these things are of the essence of beauty. And in Him in whom we have found the King in His beauty, this peacefulness was profound. This is the final touch of beauty, which gathers into itself and harmonises all the others, and hence no words are so beautiful as those in which Christ bestows it as His dying legacy on men, “Peace I leave with you,” and repeats it as His resurrection gift, “Peace be unto you.” All moral and spiritual loveliness lies in knowing what He meant when He said, “Come unto Me … and I will give you rest.”—Rev. Stopford A. Brooke, M.A.: Christ in Modern Life (Three Sermons, pp. 89–131).
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Your eyes will see ... they will see
Your eyes will see ... they will see
This refers the audience by their "eyes." AT: "You will see ... you will see" (See: Synecdoche)
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the king in his beauty
The king's royal robes are referred to as "his beauty." AT: "the king in his beautiful robes" (See: Metonymy)
Your heart will recall the terror
This refers to the audience by their "hearts." "The terror" refers to their war with the Assyrians. This can be stated clearly. AT: "You will remember the terror that the Assyrians caused you when they attacked" (See: Synecdoche and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
where is the scribe, where is he who weighed the money? Where is he who counted the towers?
These rhetorical question are asked to emphasize that the Assyrian officials are gone. These questions may be written as statements. AT: "The officers of Assyria who counted the tax money that we were forced to pay to them have disappeared! Those men who counted our towers are gone!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
weighed the money
Money was valuable metal; its value was determined by its weight.
the defiant people, a people of a strange language that you do not understand
"a fierce people who speak a language that you do not understand"
translationWords
king
heart
terror
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Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 33:17-24 This vision is about God’s reign in Zion.
33:17-24 This vision is about God’s reign in Zion.
33:17 The king is the human representative (32:1) of the Great King, God himself (33:22). • The land belonging to God’s people would appear to be without borders because the foreign enemies had been judged (54:3).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.