“Light and Darkness, Part IX”
“Light and Darkness, Part IX”
“Light and Darkness, Part IX” by Romans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bytj0G6RmEk
Tonight, we are continuing in our Series, “Light and Darkness.” This Evening will be our Ninth Installment. Light and Darkness is continually referred to and contrasted in Scripture. We are going to continue in our more general review of those Scriptures where both Light and Darkness are found together. As we did last week, we will remain in and, I assume as I write this, finish up the Old Testament's contribution to the contrast of Light and Darkness. So... let's begin:
Our first “hit” is found in Isaiah 58:10: “And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:”
The Preacher's Homiletical comments, “THE REWARDS OF BENEVOLENCE: Isaish 58:10: If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, &c.The Bible has one grand and peculiar character,—it is the book of goodness; it everywhere recommends and extols the principle of benevolence; its two grand precepts are love to God and love to man. It never dispenses with either. Knowledge, gifts of tongues, and even faith without works is dead.
Of all the striking exhibitions of the beauty and value of this cardinal quality, none can excel the one given by the evangelical prophet in the text. Notice— I. The objects of benevolent regard. These are described in two forms. 1. The hungry. Those who have craving appetites and no means to satisfy them. Such is, indeed, a pitiable condition, yet not by any means rare. This state, painful in itself, is often aggravated by surrounding plenty.
It is difficult to hunger in time of famine; but where there is enough, what a temptation to steal! 2. To the afflicted. This is much worse than poverty alone. Health gone; strength gone; resources dried up; thrown upon the bed of languishing, wearisome days and nights, &c.
What wretched scenes are often discovered, &c. Often, too, this state is the reverse of their former condition in life. Often, too, poor friendless children have to suffer; and often there is a worse disease than that of the body,—a guilty spirit, a defiled conscience, and dreadful fears of a future state. Dwell upon such objects of misery. Think that it may be your lot.
II. The nature of benevolent regards. We are to exercise—1. Tender compassion and sympathy. Not be heedless and careless of such; not neglect; not be callous. Investigate, inquire, excite our best feelings; cherish soft and benevolent passions; annihilate selfishness; crucify self; labour after generosity and true charity; not wait for opportunities of doing good. There may be many things having a tendency to close our hearts.
2. Kind and suitable aid. Sympathy without this is mockery. God deems it an insult to Himself, and to His image, which man bears. Our assistance must be in proportion to our means. It should be timely,—in season; with kindness of manner; with prayer for God’s blessing; from purity of motive,—not for show and ostentation; but out of love, &c., to the glory of God.
III. The rewards of benevolent attention to the poor and afflicted. 1. It shall be followed by a dignified reputation. No title or distinction equal to that of goodness. 2. Such shall have the gracious guidance of God. How necessary is this, how desirable, how preeminently precious to have the providential interpositions of God, and the guiding influences of the Spirit. Guide rightly, graciously, to the end, even to a city of habitation.
3. They shall have internal happiness and satisfaction. When others are lean and comfortless, they shall be prosperous and happy (from Psalms 41:1-3). 4. They shall have abundant spiritual prosperity. Comforts, &c., shall not fail. God is the fountain; and as such, He never changes, &c. This reward is often the consolation of the benevolent in this life (Job 29:11-16). 5. The full recompense shall be given at the last day (See Luke 14:14 and Matthew 25:40).
APPLICATION.—Put not benevolence in the place of experimental piety. Yet, that is not genuine which does not produce benevolence.—Jabez Burns, D.D.: Sketches of Sermons for Special Occasions, pp. 209–212.”
Our second “hit,” tonight, is Isaiah 59:10. This verse, however, is best understood if I also include verses that precede and follow it to see the full scope of darkness being discussed. It is not enough, in my opinion, to merely list, even with outstanding commentary from eminent scholars, those verses that include the words “light and darkness.” The verses I cite, here, provide a detailed breakdown of the darkness that Israel walked in, and God's response to their obstinate rebellion.
We read, beginning in verse 1 of Isaiah 59: “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Isaiah 59:3: “For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. 4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Isaiah 59:6: “Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. 8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
Isaiah 59:9: “Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. 11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.”
Of this, Matthew Henry writes, “Isaiah 59:1-8
The prophet here rectifies the mistake of those who had been quarrelling with God because they had not the deliverances wrought for them which they had been often fasting and praying for, (in Isaiah 58:3). Now here he shows, I. That it was not owing to God. They had no reason to lay the fault upon him that they were not saved out of the hands of their enemies; for, 1. He was still as able to help as ever: His hand is not shortened, his power is not at all lessened, straitened, or abridged.
Whether we consider the extent of his power or the efficacy {or, effectiveness}of it, God can reach as far as ever and with as strong a hand as ever. Note, The church's salvation comes from the hand of God, and that has not waxed weak nor is it at all shortened. Has the Lord's hand waxed short? (says God to Moses, in Numbers 11:23). No, it has not; he will not have it thought so.
Neither length of time nor strength of enemies, no, nor weakness of instruments, can shorten or straiten the power of God, with which it is all one to save by many or by few. 2. He was still as ready and willing to help as ever in answer to prayer: His ear is not heavy, that it cannot hear. Though he has many prayers to hear and answer, and though he has been long hearing prayer, yet he is still as ready to hear prayer as ever.
The prayer of the upright is as much his delight as ever it was, and the promises which are pleaded and put in suit in prayer are still yea and amen, inviolably sure. Not only his ear is not heavy, but he is quick of hearing. Even before they call he answers, (Isaiah 65:24). If your prayers be not answered... it is not because God is weary of hearing prayer, but because we are weary of praying, not because his ear is heavy when we speak to him, but because our ears are heavy when he speaks to us.
II. That it was owing to themselves; they stood in their own light and put a bar in their own door. God was coming towards them in ways of mercy and they hindered him. Your iniquities have kept good things from you, (Jeremiah 5:25). 1. See what mischief sin does. (1.) It hinders God's mercies from coming down upon us; it is a partition wall that separates between us and God.
Notwithstanding the infinite distance that is between God and man by nature, there was a correspondence settled between them, till sin set them at variance, justly provoked God against man and unjustly alienated man from God; thus it separates between them and God. “He is your God, yours in profession, and therefore there is so much the more malignity and mischievousness in sin, which separates between you and him.”
Sin hides his face from us (which denotes great displeasure, (as we read in Deuteronomy 31:17); it provokes him in anger to withdraw his gracious presence, to suspend the tokens of his favour and the instances of his help; he hides his face, as refusing to be seen or spoken with. See here sin in its colours, sin exceedingly sinful, withdrawing the creature from his allegiance to his Creator;
and see sin in its consequences, sin exceedingly hurtful, separating us from God, and so separating us not only from all good, but to all evil (see Deuteronomy 29:21), which is the curse. (2.) It hinders our prayers from coming up unto God; it provokes him to hide his face, that he will not hear. If we regard iniquity in our heart, if we indulge it... allow ourselves in it, God will not hear our prayers, Psalms 66:18. We cannot expect that he should countenance us while we go on to affront him.
2. Now, to justify God in hiding his face from them, and proceeding in his controversy with them, the prophet shows very largely, in the following verses, how many and great their iniquities were, according to the charge given him, to show God's people their transgressions; and it is a black bill of indictment that is here drawn up against them, consisting of many particulars, any one of which was enough to separate between them and a just and a holy God.
(1.) We must begin with their thoughts, for there all sin begins, and thence it takes its rise: Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, (in Isaiah 59:7). Their imaginations are so, only evil continually. Their projects and designs are so; they are continually contriving some mischief or other, and how to compass the gratification of some base lust: They conceive mischief in their fancy, purpose, counsel, and resolution (thus the embryo receives its shape and life), and then they bring forth iniquity.
Though it is in pain perhaps that the iniquity is brought forth, through the oppositions of Providences and the checks of their own consciences, yet, when they have compassed their wicked purpose, they look upon it with as much pride and pleasure as if it were a man-child born into the world; thus, when lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin, (as we read in James 1:15). This is called (in Isaiah 59:5) hatching the cockatrice' egg and weaving the spider's web.
See how the thoughts and contrivances of wicked men are employed, and about what they set their wits on work. [1.] At the best it is about that which is foolish and frivolous. Their thoughts are vain, like weaving the spider's web, which the poor silly animal takes a great deal of pains about, and, when all is done, it is a weak insignificant thing, a reproach to the place where it is, and which the besom sweeps away in an instant:
such are the thoughts which worldly men entertain themselves with, building castles in the air, and pleasing themselves with imaginary satisfaction, like the spider, which takes hold with her hands very finely (Pro_30:28), but cannot keep her hold. [2.] Too often it is about that which is malicious and spiteful. They hatch the eggs of the cockatrice or adder, which are poisonous and produce venomous creatures; such are the thoughts of the wicked who delight in doing mischief.
He that eats of their eggs (that is, he is in danger of having some mischief or other done him), and that which is crushed in order to be eaten of, or which begins to be hatched and you promise yourself some useful fowl from it, breaks out into a viper, which you meddle with at your peril. Happy are those that have least to do with such men. Even the spider's web which they wove was woven with a spiteful design to catch flies in and make a prey of them.
(2.) Out of this abundance of wickedness in the heart their mouth speaks, and yet it does not always speak out the wickedness that is within, but, for the more effectually compassing the mischievous design, it is dissembled and covered with much fair speech (Isa_59:3): Your lips have spoken lies; and again (Isa_59:4), They speak lies, pretending kindness where they intend the greatest mischief;
or by slanders and false accusations they blasted the credit and reputation of those they had a spite to and so did them a real mischief unseen... for a false tongue is sharp arrows... and every thing that is mischievous. Your tongue has muttered perverseness. When they could not, for shame, speak their malice against their neighbours aloud, or durst not, for fear of being disproved and put to confusion, they muttered it secretly. Backbiters are called whisperers.
(3.) Their actions were all of a piece with their thoughts and words. They were guilty of shedding innocent blood, a crime of the most heinous nature: Your hands are defiled with blood (Isa_59:3); for blood is defiling; it leaves an indelible stain of guilt upon the conscience, which nothing but the blood of Christ can cleanse it from. Now was this a case of surprise, or one that occurred when there was something of a force put upon them;
but (in Isaiah 59:7) their feet ran to this evil, naturally and eagerly, and, hurried on by the impetus of their malice and revenge, they made haste to shed innocent blood, as if they were afraid of losing an opportunity to do a barbarous thing. Wasting and destruction are in their paths. Wherever they go they carry mischief along with them, and the tendency of their way is to lay waste and destroy, nor do they care what havoc they make.
Nor do they only thirst after blood, but with other iniquities are their fingers defiled (Isa_59:3); they wrong people in their estates and make every thing their own that they can lay their hands on. They trust in vanity (Isa_59:4); they depend upon their arts of cozenage to enrich themselves with, which will prove vanity to them, and their deceiving others will but deceive themselves.
Their works, which they take so much pains about and have their hearts so much upon, are all works of iniquity; their whole business is one continued course of oppressions and vexations, and the act of violence is in their hands, according to the arts of violence that are in their heads and the thoughts of violence in their hearts.
(4.) In Isaiah 59:4, None calls for justice, none complains of the violation of the sacred laws of justice, nor seeks to right those that suffer wrong or to get the laws put in execution against vice and profaneness, and those lewd practices which are the shame, and threaten to be the bane, of the nation. Note, When justice is not done there is blame to be laid not only upon the magistrates that should administer justice, but upon the people that should call for it.
Private persons ought to contribute to the public good by discovering secret wickedness, and giving those an opportunity to punish it that have the power of doing so in their hands; but it is ill with a state when princes rule ill and the people love to have it so. Truth is opposed, and there is not any that pleads for it, not any that has the conscience and courage to appear in defence of an honest cause, and confront a prosperous fraud and wrong.
The way of peace is as little regarded as the way of truth; they know it not, that is, they never study the things that make for peace, no care is taken to prevent or punish the breaches of the peace and to accommodate matters in difference among neighbours; they are utter strangers to every thing that looks quiet and peaceable, and affect that which is blustering and turbulent.
There is no judgment in their goings; they have not any sense of justice in their dealings; it is a thing they make no account of at all, but can easily break through all its fences if they stand in the way of their malicious covetous designs. (5.) In all this they act foolishly, very foolishly, and as much against their interest as against reason and equity. Those that practise iniquity trust in vanity, which will certainly deceive them, Isaiah 59:4.
Their webs, which they weave with so much art and industry, shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves, either for shelter or for ornament, with their works, Isa_59:6. They may do hurt to others with their projects, but can never do any real service or kindness to themselves by them. There is nothing to be got by sin, and so it will appear when profit and loss come to be compared.
Those paths of iniquity are crooked paths (in Isaiah 59:8), which will perplex them, but will never bring them to their journey's end; whoever go therein, though they say that they shall have peace notwithstanding they go on, deceive themselves; for they shall not know peace, as appears by the following verses.
The scope of this paragraph is the same with that of the last, to show that sin is the great mischief-maker; as it is that which keeps good things from us, so it is that which brings evil things upon us. But as there it is spoken by the prophet, in God's name, to the people, for their conviction and humiliation, and that God might be justified when he speaks and clear when he judges,
so here it seems to be spoken by the people to God, as an acknowledgment of that which was there told them and an expression of their humble submission and subscription to the justice and equity of God's proceedings against them. Their uncircumcised hearts here seem to be humbled in some measure, and they are brought to confess (the confession is at least extorted from them), that God had justly walked contrary to them, because they had walked contrary to him.
I. They acknowledge that God had contended with them and had walked contrary to them. Their case was very deplorable, Isaiah 59:9-11. 1. They were in distress, trampled upon and oppressed by their enemies, unjustly dealt with, and ruled with rigour; and God did not appear for them, to plead their just and injured cause: “Judgment is far from us, neither does justice overtake us, Isaiah 59:9. Though, as to our persecutors, we are sure that we have right on our side;
and they are the wrong-doers, yet we are not relieved, we are not righted. We have not done justice to one another, and therefore God suffers our enemies to deal thus unjustly with us, and we are as far as ever from being restored to our right and recovering our property again. Oppression is near us, and judgment is far from us. Our enemies... hurry us on with the violence of their oppressions, and justice does not overtake us, to rescue us out of their hands.”
2. Herein their expectations were sadly disappointed, which made their case the more sad: “We wait for light as those that wait for the morning, but behold obscurity; we cannot discern the least dawning of the day of our deliverance. We look for judgment, but there is none (in Isaiah 59:11); neither God nor man appears for our assistance; we look for salvation, because God (we think) has promised it, and we have prayed for it with fasting;
we look for it as for brightness, but it is far off from us, as far off as ever for aught we can perceive, and still we walk in darkness; and the higher our expectations have been raised the sorer is the disappointment.” 3. They were quite at a loss what to do to help themselves and were at their wits' end (Isaiah 59:10): “We grope for the wall like the blind; we see no way open for our relief, nor know which way to expect it, or what to do in order to it.”
If we shut our eyes against the light of divine truth, it is just with God to hide from our eyes the things that belong to our peace; and, if we use not our eyes as we should, it is just with him to let us be as if we had no eyes. Those that will not see their duty shall not see their interest. Those whom God has given up to a judicial blindness are strangely infatuated; they stumble at noon-day as in the night; they see not either those dangers, or those advantages, which all about them see.
God infatuates those whom he means to destroy. Those that love darkness rather than light shall have their doom accordingly. 4. They sunk into despair and were quite overwhelmed with grief, the marks of which appeared in every man's countenance; they grew melancholy upon it, shunned conversation, and affected solitude: We are in desolate places as dead men.
The state of the Jews in Babylon is represented by dead and dry bones (see Ezekiel 37:12) and the explanation of the comparison there (in Isaiah 59:11) explains this text: Our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. In this despair the sorrow and anguish of some were loud and noisy:
We roar like bears; the sorrow of others was silent, and preyed more upon their spirits: “We mourn
sore like doves, like doves of the valleys; we mourn both for our iniquities (Ezekiel 7:16) and for our calamities.” Thus they owned that the hand of the Lord had gone out against them.”
Here we see, in perhaps the clearest and strongest terms that we have seen this far in this Series, the darkness that had enveloped Israel, and God's response to their willful departure from the Light of His Law. We see in these verses Israel's summary of the dilemma which they brought on themselves in Isaiah 59:9: “Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.”
As New Testament Christians, we are to become familiar with, and learn from Israel's mistakes. Jesus tells us as His followers in John 8:12: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” To this the Apostle John adds, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “Light and Darkness, Part IX.”
This Discussion was originally conducted “live” on October 16th, 2019.
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