Isaiah 33

Quest. When is the time that this King will deliver his people? Resp. When the hearts of his people are humblest, when their prayers are most fervent, when their faith is strongest, when their forces are weakest, when their enemies are highest; now is the usual time that Christ…

It is mercy to feed us, rich mercy to pardon us. This mercy is spun out of the bowels of free grace; this is enough to make a sick man well (Isaiah 33:24): The inhabitant shall not say I am sick, the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. Pardon of sin is a…

Pardon of sin is the richest blessing; it is enough to make a sick man well. Isaiah 33:24: the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. Pardon settles upon us the rich charter of the promises.

(Habakkuk 1:13) You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity. (Isaiah 33:14) Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire, who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? (Romans 1:32) Who knowing the judgement of God, that they which commit s…

Q. What may be thought of those accusations, and terrors of conscience, that sometimes are found in men, upon the committing of heinous sins, though known to no man living, but to the sinner himself? A. This also is another testimony that there is a God, before whose judgment se…

It is called 'the wounding of the spirit' (Proverbs 18), which no creature knows how to reach and heal — none but God who is the Father of spirits, who made them and knows how to mend them. It is not only called the sickness of the spirit (as in Isaiah 33:24, where the want of a…

He is the physician and has undertaken the cure (Matthew 9:12). And whom should the physician have an eye to but the sick — and the most sick, as those are who cannot find their sins forgiven (Isaiah 33:14)? He is the Shepherd (Isaiah 40:11) and will take care of all his sheep,…

You who are healthy and have strong bodies — are you not thankful when you see others sick and bedridden, roaring with the stone, toothache, and gout, of which you are free? And ought you not to be much more thankful for the healthfulness of your spirits — cheerfulness being the…

2. Some with more probability do judge, that by the true Tabernacle, the universal spiritual, Catholic Church, is intended. For this is compared expressly to a Tabernacle (Isaiah 33:20; Chap. 54:2). And herein does God dwell, and walk among men.

Abraham saw his day and rejoiced. This was the great privilege which God granted to them that walked uprightly before him; such an one, says he, shall dwell on high, his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks; bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure; your eye…

And as the exercise of faith herein was acceptable to God, so the discoveries of grace which they received therein were refreshing to their souls. For hereby they often saw the King in his beauty, and beheld the pleasant land, which was far off (Isaiah 33:17). That worship which…

And what is this indignation of it? God himself is in the Scripture said to be a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24; chapter 9:3; Isaiah 33:14; Hebrews 10:29). What is intended thereby is declared in a word (Deuteronomy 4:24).

Oh! It is not the shadow of outward privileges that will shelter you from the wrath of God. The sinners in Zion are under as much cause of fear as any there (Isaiah 33:14). It is no new thing to go out of a church on earth into the chambers of hell.

Canaan the holy land was a type of the Church on earth, and of the kingdom of heaven, the heavenly Canaan: they sought another country, a better country, that is, an heavenly (Hebrews 11:14, 16). Your eyes shall see the land that is very far off (Isaiah 33:17). Jerusalem also wa…

God sets a stamp of folly upon the wisdom of men (Isaiah 44:25), that turns the wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolishness. And makes their counsels as chaff and stubble (Isaiah 33:11). You shall conceive chaff, and shall bring forth stubble.

God is in the midst of her; he is with his Church not only to behold her, but uphold her. The Church of God is like a Castle walled in with rocks, Isa. 33. 16. his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks. But a man may starve upon a rock, therefore it follows, bread sha…

A time wherein this whole great society shall appear in glorious beauty, in genuine amiable Christianity, and excellent order, as a city compact together, the perfection of beauty, an eternal excellency, shining with a reflection of the glory of Jehovah risen upon it, which shal…

And this, in sight of their enemies, and greatly to their grief and vexation; who, though they from time to time exert their utmost, never are able to prevail against them, to bring them under any more, as they had done in former wars. Oftentimes in Scripture, God's Church's dwe…

For many reasons this place afterwards came to be used as a name for the place of the damned; Jerome denies that this was done by the ancients. Yet the Chaldean paraphrast, unknown to Jerome, very frequently uses that term for the place of the damned, as at (Isaiah 33:14), and e…

All the beauty of God is put forth in Christ. Isaiah 33:17. Your eyes shall see the King in his beauty. Hebrews 1:3. Christ is the brightness of his Father's glory.

That seeing of the salvation of God, is neither conversion, nor preparation of a people for Christ. 2. The phrase of seeing God, and the salvation of God, being set down as a powerful fruit of the Gospel, has never in Scripture so low a meaning as is not wanting to natural men,…

We wax unruly and insolent when things fall out as we would have them; neither can we be kept in awe by any threatenings or admonitions whatever. If this befell Hezekias, whom the Prophet before has so much commended, whose only treasure was the fear of God (Isaiah 33:6) — how o…

But a particular instance of faith, rendered to a single command of Christ, would not have made Peter a Christian, or given him a place among the sons of God, if he had not been led on, from this first act of submission, to a full obedience. But, as Peter yielded so readily to t…

We are not only permitted, but are even bound, to condemn all sins; unless we choose to rebel against God himself, — nay, to repeal his laws, to reverse his decisions, and to overturn his judgment-seat. It is his will that we should proclaim the sentence which he pronounces on t…

But undoubtedly the same sweetness that is the chief object of a spiritual taste, is also the chief object of a spiritual appetite. Grace is the godly man's treasure; Isaiah 33 verse 6. The fear of the Lord is his treasure.

See Micah 6. 6. Isa. 33. 14. Gen. 4. 13.

As was observed before, the Consideration of it absolutely neither requires nor admitts of any but that which is absolutely perfect, and where there is any one failing, the whole of what we doe is condemned, Jam. 2. 10. This therefore can only perplex and torture the Soul of a s…

When one blow will not do the work appointed, God redoubles the stroke of his hand (Leviticus 26:22, 23, 24, 25). Or burning coals, dreadful judgments, mortal weapons, as fire and flames are often taken in other descriptions of God's dealing with his enemies (Psalms 11:6, 18:8):…

Here you see how assured Christians, their comforts in God did so transport their hearts, that it made them overlook, and with patience bear all afflictions they were to meet with. You have a remarkable phrase (Isaiah 33:24): The inhabitants of Zion shall not say, I am sick, the…

Sin upon the conscience unrepented of is like wind in the earth — it will make a heart quake there, that there shall not be that calmness, and quietness, and settledness of mind which there would be, were sin away. Hence we read, Isaiah 33:6: The sinners in Zion are afraid, and…

That is, I had hope and confidence built upon your word, and that kept me from fears, and fainting, and discouragement under my affliction. So (Isaiah 33:24): The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. Beloved, assura…

Your God is a consuming fire; which words the Apostle repeats (Hebrews 12:23). Devouring fire and everlasting burnings (Isaiah 33:14). Hence when he came to give the law, which expresseth his wrath and indignation against sin, his presence was manifested by great and terrible fi…

The natural notion hereof the vilest hypocrites among them were sometimes perplexed withall. See (Isaiah 33:14, 15; Micah 6:8). But the generality of them have long endeavoured by prejudicate imaginations, to cast out the true and real sense of it.

Psalm 108:19. Judah [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], my Law-giver; with Allusion to this Prediction of Jacob. Isaiah 33:22. The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], our Law-giver. These two words then in conjunction, do absolutely denote Rule and Dominion.

Secondly, To arise implies the courage, constancy and strength of those who undertake or go about a business, they arise and do it, that is, they do it with spirit: So here it may import as much concerning Job in his sufferings, He arose and rent his mantle, that is, though he h…

He had no discovery by faith, of forgiveness, and therefore resolved to have no more to do with God, nor those who cleaved to him; for it respects his course, and not any one particular action. This also is stated, Isaiah 33:14. The sinners in Sion are afraid, fearfulness has su…

A notable exāple hereof we have in the holy league (as it is called) but indeed the bloodie league; wherein the enemies of Gods grace and truth did confederate themselues to roote out true religion, and the professors thereof from off the earth: but the Lord has rewarded them i…

And when God has come down from heaven, the Holy One from Mount Zion, Selah — when the Pestilence has gone before him, and burning coals at his feet, when the Lord drove London asunder, scattered the inhabitants, and made the stately buildings to bow and fall, whose rearing up n…

Thus Christ says of Nathanael, John 1. 47. Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no Guile; that is, a truly gracious Person: implying, that those of God's professing People, who are not gracious, are guileful, and deceitful in their Profession. So Sinners in Zion, or in God's v…

2. It implies sickness and weakening of the person, as in Amnon's love to his sister Tamar (2 Samuel 13:1, 2, 3, 4). It comes from apprehended wrath, and the curse of the Law (Psalms 90:8; Psalms 32:3, 4; Psalms 6:1; Psalms 38:1, 2, 3, 4, &c.; Daniel 9:11; Romans 7:24; Isaiah 33…

Public differences will end in public disturbances, this is all we can look for in such cases, and therefore if there were not unity, how could the other promises be fulfilled? Such as these, (Isaiah 33:10) Your eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that cann…

Yet such it was, as encouraged them to enquire and search diligently into what was revealed (1 Peter 1:10, 11). Howbeit their discoveries were but dark and confused, such as men have of things at a great distance, or in a land that is very far off, as the Prophet speaks (Isaiah…

The duties of the law were a burden and a yoke; but those of the Gospel are privileges and advantages. It is a promise concerning the days of the New Testament, that our eyes shall see the King in his beauty (Isaiah 33:17). We shall behold the glory of Christ in its luster and e…

Take heed you have not a hand in darking this excellent condition, no not in this way. In the body, solutio continui, is more dangerous then the corruption of a humor: Let us labor so far as possibly we can, to make it excellent by peaceableness; this is that which is prophesied…

And in Prov. 18:7 A fools mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul; we should think, he has but ensnared his own soul, and so fall a lamenting of his wretched condition. And so in Isa. 33:10 Your breath as fire shall devour you: If the breath of any man d…

Thirdly, we shall see God in the Trinity: though there be but one God, yet there are divers persons: to see how the Father begot the Son, and how the Spirit did proceed from the Father and the Son, and the difference between the procession of the Spirit, and the generation of th…

This is the only discovery that God has made, of any such property in his nature, or of any thought of exercising it towards sinners, in that he has sent Jesus Christ into the world that we might live by him; where now is the wise, where is the scribe, where is the disputer of t…

This is the great discovery of the gospel. For whereas the Father as the fountain of the Deity is not known any other way but as full of wrath, anger, and indignation against sin — nor can the sons of men have any other thoughts of him, Romans 1:18, Isaiah 33:15-16, Habakkuk 1:1…

Third, boldness to go to God. The voice of sinners in themselves, if once acquainted with the terror of the Lord, is: Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Isaiah 33:14. Shame and trembling before God are the proper results of sin.

This is that which I intend; by the omission of this duty, grace withers, lust flourishes, and the frame of the heart grows worse and worse: and the Lord knows what desperate and fearful issues it has had with many. Where sin through the neglect of mortification gets a considera…