Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Nov 1966

We have already heard the call of the prophet to the Arm of the Lord to awake; now the call is to Jerusalem to awake (Isaiah 51,17-23), for the people of Jerusalem had drunk of the cup of the LORD's fury; they had drunk of the cup of staggering and drained it. And, alas! there were none to guide her in all her sons, none of her sons that she had brought up took her by the hand! These two evils had befallen her. There were none to bemoan her that she had fallen, and desolation, destruction, the famine, and the sword had been her lot. Who could comfort her? Was there ever such a city that had suffered so much? Had not the Babylonians, the Romans, and the Turks brought her to repeated ruin? Besides, had not others helped to keep her in this state of desolation? Asaph joins in his pleading for the place of divine choice,

"Lift up Thy feet unto the perpetual ruins,

All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary.

Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of Thine assembly;

They have set up their ensigns for signs.

They seemed as men that lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees.

And now all the carved work thereof together

They break down with hatchet and hammers.

They have set Thy sanctuary on fire.

They have profaned the dwelling place of Thy name even to the ground" (Psalm 74.3-7).

Was this the Asaph of David's time who wrote these words (Maschil, to give instruction), so that God's people might know what was coming upon Jerusalem and the house of God, even before the house was built? If so, it shows what would be the corrupt state of the people who were associated with the house, and the wickedness of the enemies that destroyed it. Alas! sacred history only too well describes how fully the prophecy in Psalm 74 was fulfilled! Who that loves and fears God can read such words without a deep pang of sorrow filling his heart?

What does Isaiah say of the sons of Jerusalem in the time of such events? He says, "Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the top of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God." What does Jeremiah say of such scenes and such men? He says,

"How is the gold become dim! how is the most pure gold changed!

The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the top of every street.

The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold,

How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter"! (Lamentations 4.1-2).

These were changed days from those of David and the early days of Solomon, and certain bright days in times of subsequent revivals If God's people awake from their slumbers at any time things will change and particularly so if they have godly leaders to lead them. What a good thing it was when a godly king reigned over Israel, or over Judah. Alas! the ten tribes called Israel never had a good king! They continued in their idolatry in the worship of the golden calves until they were carried away captive to Assyria. May God's remnant people today be awake and have good and godly leaders, otherwise they will be but a mob, even as Judah became, whose sons became like earthen pots.

Through Isaiah, God calls upon Zion to awake, and for Jerusalem to put on her beautiful garments. They were to shake themselves from the dust, and arise, and sit down and loose the bands of their captivity. That in part took place in the return of the remnant from Babylon, but it will yet have a fuller fulfilment.

God never enriched Himself when His people went or were carried to other lands. He says in Isaiah 52.3, "Ye were sold for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money." The LORD refers to them going down into Egypt to sojourn, but it took God to redeem them from thence "with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgements", and by means of the blood of the paschal lamb. They were delivered from Egypt's power to go to the land of promise. There was no money transaction.

Even though His people were taken away for nought, God could not overlook the equally bad or worse state of their captors. He says of those that ruled over them, they "howl ... and My name continually all the day is blasphemed". Though both Israel and Judah had sadly failed, yet the nations as compared with them were but as darkness in the light, and with Israel among them it was as light in the darkness, particularly so in the case of those who adhered to the Scriptures. The young child in Israel who read and believed the Scriptures was far away in advance of the wisest men of pagan peoples in the knowledge of the works and ways of God. However ignorant many in Israel might be of God, the day would come when the LORD would speak, and then they would know Him who spoke, "It is I."

What a contrast there is between the contents of Isaiah 52.3-6 and verse 7! How beautiful were the feet of such as brought good tidings, that published peace, that published salvation, and said to Zion, "Thy God reigneth!" Then there were the watchmen who lifted up their voices, and when the LORD returns to Zion everyone shall see eye to eye a blessed unity indeed. Then we have a reference to the captives who returned from Babylon, and this is cited in 2 Corinthians 6.17.

We come now to the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord, in Isaiah 52.13-15. God calls all to attention to what He has to say about His Servant. He says, "Behold, My Servant." His description of His Servant continues on throughout chapter 53. Without attempting to be critical, for we are truly thankful for Bibles with chapters and verses, it might have been better if chapter 53 had begun at chapter 52.13. Others may think otherwise.

God's Servant was destined to be exalted, lifted up, and very high. But before His exaltation, many were to be astonished at Him, for His visage was to be more marred than any man, and His form than the sons of men, which words I would judge describe and refer to the effects and agonies of crucifixion. He was to sprinkle many nations (not startle, as in the R.V. margin), the consequence of His atoning sacrifice. Kings, when they see the simplicity and justice of His rule, shall shut their mouths at Him, for such rule they never saw or heard of before.

He who is the Arm of the Lord was to be in incarnation as a tender plant, and as a root with neither beauty nor comeliness. He was to be despised and rejected of men and a Man of sorrows. He was to bear the griefs and sorrows of others, and to be wounded and bruised for the sins of others, but it was by this means they would be healed. God was to lay upon Him the iniquity of the lost sheep. Though He was oppressed, yet in His humility He would not open His mouth in His own defence. He would be like a lamb led to the slaughter and a dumb sheep before her shearers. Who would declare His generation? Only God, in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. He was to be stricken for His people, and for us Gentiles too. They made His grave with the wicked, but He was with the rich man in His death. All this and more He suffered.

J. Miller | Nov 1966
Jottings