Isaiah 51

The tree which in winter seems dead, in the spring revives: Post nubila Phaebus: affliction may leap on us as the viper did on Paul, but at last this viper shall be shaken off. It is called a cup of affliction (Isaiah 51:17). The wicked drink a sea of wrath, the godly drink only…

The goldsmith will not let his gold lie any longer in the furnace than till it is purified. The wicked must drink a sea of wrath, but the godly have only a cup of affliction (Isaiah 51:17), and God will say, Let this cup pass away. Affliction may be compared to frost, it will br…

The command of Christ should have as much power to calm as the voice of a poor worm to terrify your heart. Isaiah 51:12-13: 'I, even I, am he that comforts you; who are you, that you should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man that shall be made as grass; and…

2. God does nothing in the election of Peter, more than of Judas; nor can grace and mercy have place in the choosing of the one, rather than the other; but as free will is foreseen to play the game ill, or well, so go the eternal decrees of election and reprobation, and there ca…

Thus it is often with the saints: when men leave them, or they withdraw from men, they have many times most of God: and, Is it not infinitely better, to have the presence of God, than the company of men? It is worth noting what God says of Abraham (Isaiah 51:2), I called him alo…

Yet so it has often been seen, where Gods interest has been immediately concerned in the danger and evil of the event. The Sea divided it self in its own Channel, and made a wall of water, on each side, to give Gods distressed Israel a safe passage, and that not in a calm, but w…

How often do we afflict and torment our selves by our own unquiet thoughts, when there is no real cause or ground for so doing? Isaiah 51:13—And hast feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy, and where is the fury of the…

As Moses, Numb. 14:19 when he prayes for continued or new pardon for the people, he argues from what was past, As you hast forgiven them from Egypt until now. So the Church, Isaiah 51. 9, 10. argues for new Providences upon the same ground Moses pleaded for new pardons. It is a…

So (Nahum 3:6), Nineveh is laid waste, who will be moan her? And (Isaiah 51:19), these two things are come to you, who shall be sorry for you? And the reason why this word which signifies properly to move, is translated to signify, mourning in compassion with others, may be, eit…

The first is, awake. This word is often used by God's people in dealing with him, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord, etc. (Isaiah 51:9). It is not as if the Spirit were at any time sleeping, but she desires that by some effects, sensible to her, he would let it be known…

God is the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation; there is not a beam of light or stream of joy, but what proceeds from this Sun and spring of grace and happiness. The great God that made all things with a word, can speak and make peace in the confused heart, it is o…

Isaiah 51:8. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation. The design of this chapter is to comfort the church under her sufferings, and the persecution…

And Christ shoots not at the turrets; he hits what he purposes to hit. Therefore he does make his own feckless and weak nothings, and those who are the contempt of men, a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth, to thresh the mountains and beat them small, and to make the hi…

But to take off the force of this objection, let us consider these four things. 1. Consider who they are that speak against religion and godliness, not only that they are mortal men, whom the moth shall eat up like a garment, men that shall die, and the sons of men which shall b…

Now that God often chooses for this building such stones as men cast away as good for nothing, see (1 Corinthians 1). And where he says (Isaiah 51) that he dwells in the high and holy place, what is his other dwelling? His habitation on earth — is it in great palaces and courts?

Whatever he has been to his people that have called upon him in former ages, he is the same still. So, (Isaiah 51:9) Awake, awake, put on strength, O Arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old: Are you not it that [reconstructed: cut the sea], and w…

Our God is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:17; Romans 4:21), being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Now this is abundantly seen in his judgments of old (Isaiah 51:9): "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; aw…

They trust in the Lord, that in conscience of their duty venture upon hazards, expecting their security from Heaven; these thoughts seemed foolish to worldly wisdom, you shamed his counsel, scoff at it. Isaiah 51:7-8: Fear not the reproach of men, nor their revilings: For the mo…

We need not take a sinful course for the vindication of our credit from unjust reproaches. (Isaiah 51:7) Hearken to me, you that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law: fear you not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their revilings. You that make reckoni…

So the word and the spirit are promised together (Isaiah 59:21; Isaiah 30:21). Your teachers shall not be removed, and your ears shall hear (this is the inward teaching) a voice behind you, saying, this is the way, walk in it (Isaiah 51:16, 17; Matthew 28:20). Go teach, that is…

And new wild-fire flights which are indeed old heresies, are of this kind; such are dreamers, who see seven lean kine eat seven fat kine — in reality, it's a lie. (5) A new heart is the office-house of Christ, and a heart delighting in God's ways is a new heart, where the law is…

Why doth God bring us low, but to tame our cursed hearts? A wicked man is, when he is brought low he quarrels with God: therefore is compared to a wild Bull in a net, Isaiah 51:20. If you go to rub a piece of stuff which is rotten, it frets and tears: So when God rubs a wicked m…

Job 20:23, "When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him." Isaiah 51:17, "Awake, awake, stand up O Jerusalem, which has drunk at the hand of the Lord, the cup of his fury; you have drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out…

The dispute between Christ and the woman goes on: Christ brings a strong reason, verse 26, why he should not heal her daughter; because she, and all her nation, not being in covenant with God, as are the Jews the church of God, are but dogs, and profane, and unworthy of Christ,…

We boast much that this, and this we shall do, God has a lock and a chain of iron on all the creatures; armies are not to be feared, the Lord smites the horse and the rider, and makes war to cease to the end of the earth, he breaks the bow, and cuts the spear in sunder; he burns…

As soon as it makes us to remember the Trinity, it applies fellowship with the Trinity by putting us in mind of what we have received from it. See how this remembering of God quiets the heart in ill hours, and quickens our dead spirits (Isaiah 51:12-13). Who are you, that you sh…