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.

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

When God sets any judicial judgment afoot in the world, now it revives men's guilty fears. (Isaiah 33:14) The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness has surprised the hypocrite, who among us shall dwell with devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

But these things are but small appendages, and the slighter circumstances of their torments; the most exact and intolerable part of their torture shall be inflicted on them from another fire, an intelligent, everlasting, and therefore an unquenchable fire, even God himself, for…

Hell indeed is a dismal place of horror and torment, the extremity of suffering, but never had an existence till sin had; nor never could admit of such names as it does, and such torments, if sin were not there. It is storied as a saying of Anselm's, that if sin and Hell were se…

When the great and angry God has risen up and executed his awful vengeance on the poor sinner; and the wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of his indignation, then will God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty, and mighty power that is…

Let sickness come; the sense of pardon takes away the sense of pain. Isaiah 33:24: The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. Let death come; a Christian is above it.

Goods unjustly gotten seldom go to the third heir. Read the plunderer's curse (Isaiah 33:1): Woe to you that spoil, and you were not spoiled; when you shall cease to spoil, you shall be spoiled. Ahab paid dearly for the vineyard, when the devil carried away his soul and the dogs…

If his transfiguration were so glorious, what will his coronation be? Isaiah 33:17: You shall see the king in his beauty. All lights are but eclipses compared with that glorious vision; the greatest artist's brush would blot, angels' tongues would but disparage it.

He that loses his soul may say as that wicked doctor of Paris on his deathbed: Parcite funeribus, mihi nil prodesse valebit; Heu infelicem, cur me genuere parentes? Ah miser aeternos vado damnatus ad ignes. The sinner and the furnace shall never be parted (Isaiah 33:14). As the…

To have a body full of plague sores is sad; but to have the soul spotted with sin is far worse; as appears in these considerations. The body may be diseased and the conscience quiet (Isaiah 33:24): the inhabitant shall not say I am sick — he would scarcely feel his sickness beca…

Faith plants the soul upon this rock. The West-Indians built their palaces upon the tops of hills: in the flood the waters covered the hills; but a believer is built higher (Isaiah 33:16): "His place of defense shall be the munition of rocks" — but a man may starve upon a rock;…

Now there is no such earthly enjoyment, but may be so supplied, as to make its room more desirable then its company. In Heaven there shall be light and no Sun, a rich feast and yet no meat, glorious robes and yet no cloathes, thete shall want nothing, and yet none of this worldl…

How much more will God, who is the Father of such dispositions in his creature, stir up his whole strength to defend his children? He said, They are my people, so be became their Saviour, Isaiah 33:8. As if God had said, Shall I sit still with my hand in my bosome, while my own…

Sin is like oyl, and Gods wrath is like fire. So long as the damned continue sinning, so long the fire will continue scorching; and who can dwell with everlasting burnings? (Isaiah 33:14). But men question the truth of this, and are like that impious Devonax, who being threatned…

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…

Yet such it was as encouraged them to inquire and search diligently into what was revealed (1 Peter 1:10–11). However, their discoveries were but dim 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 3…

They understand it in some measure whose hearts are here deeply affected with Delight in them; they are able to believe that the manifestation and Enjoyment of the Divine Excellencies will give Eternal Rest, satisfaction and complacency to their Souls. No wicked man can look upo…

The Psalmist says, Who can stand before his cold? Psalm 147.17. But rather, who can stand before his heat? Isaiah 33.14. 5. Sin must needs bring the sinner low, because it exposes him to Gods curse, and Gods curse blasts where ever it comes, Deuteronomy 28.15, 16.

When the morning was up, they had him to the top of the house, and bid him look south. So he did, and behold, at a great distance, he saw a most pleasant mountainous country, beautified with woods, vineyards, fruits of all sorts, flowers also, with springs and fountains, very de…

Let sickness come, the comforts of the Word can allay and stupefy it. The inhabitant of the land shall not say I am sick, Isaiah 33.24. Let death come, a Christian can out-brave it: O death where is thy sting, 1 Corinthians 15.55.

But the Saints shall see a better sight; they shall see, not Rome, but Heaven in its glory; they shall see Paul, not in the Pulpit, but on the Throne, and shall sit with him; they shall see Christ's flesh, not veiled over with infirmities and disgraces, but in its spiritual embr…

To be sure a wicked man cannot, and it is evident many godly men do not come up to the height of that rule (James 1:2), to count it all joy when they fall into various temptations, or trials by adversity. It is said (Isaiah 33:14): 'The sinners in Zion are afraid, trembling surp…

So Job 31:1: 'I have made a covenant with my eyes.' And yet more fully in Isaiah 33:15: he shakes his hands from holding bribes, and stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil. See with what care the portals are shut at which sin is used to enter.