Commentary - Isaiah 7

1

· Ahaz - A most wicked king: yet no prophecies are more comfortable than those which were delivered in his time; God so ordering it for the encouragement of the faithful that lived under his impious reign.

2

· The mention of “David” alludes, in sad contrast with the present, to the time when David made Syria subject to him.

2 Samuel 8:6

“Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus, and the Arameans became servants to David, bringing tribute And the LORD helped David wherever he went.”

· There must always be this difference between the fear of the godly and of the ungodly, that the ungodly find no remedy for composing their minds; but the godly immediately betake themselves to God, in whom, knowing that they have a very safe harbour, though they be harassed by uneasiness, still they remain calm.

· Ahaz would trust Assyria rather than the Lord. As a result, at that same spot the Assyrian officer, with an army behind him, stood to threaten Jerusalem in Isaiah 36:2. In a few years, the same nation Ahaz had trusted came to destroy them.

3

· Note, if God is often found of those who seek him not, much more will he be found of those who seek him diligently. He speaks comfort to many who not only are not worthy of it, but do not so much as enquire after it.

· Shear-jashub mean “a remnant shall return” and suggests both judgement (God’s people will be reduced to a remnant) and grace (that remnant will return).

· Note, God sometimes sends comforts to his people very seasonably and in what time they are most afraid, encourages them to trust in him.

4

· Defiance in the face of evil is called for by the faithfulness of God.

· “Two stubs of smoldering firebrands” - Which have but a little smoke and will quickly be quenched.

· This metaphor yields high consolation, for it warns us to form a very different opinion about the violence of the ungodly from what it appears to be.

· Isaiah 6:9,10 predicted that dull hearts would not believe any word from God. Here by the aqueduct it happened. The message to Ahaz was to cease the kind of fretful preparations they were doing, a message of “be quiet and do nothing”. 30:15 gives the same message; with the Lord to protect them the proper response would be quiet confidence. God’s salvation comes by ceasing from our works to rest in Christ (Hebrews 4:9,10). Instead with a powerful army already gathering against him, Ahaz resorted to worldly pragmatism, political expediency, and covenantal betrayal.

6

· They wanted to install someone whose name we do not know. He is referred to only as “the son of Tabeel”. There was no covenant of the Lord with him or his ancestors. In contrast to this, Ahaz could have rested in God’s promise, “… I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:14).

· Note that it was not Ahaz who described the plot against him (vv.5, 6), but the Lord reported it to Ahaz! The Lord knew his trouble.

7

· Proverbs 21:30

There is no wisdom and no understanding

and no counsel against the LORD.

9

· Unbelief in God destabilizes everything for Ahaz, not just his religious life.

· The grace of faith is absolutely necessary to the quieting and composing of the mind in the midst of all the tosses of this present time.

· Hence we ought to draw a universal doctrine, that, when we have departed from the word of God, though we may suppose that we are firmly established, still ruin is at hand.

11

· The Lord is offering a sign for the confirmation of this thing that Ahaz enemies will be destroyed and him preserved.

· It was undoubtedly astonishing forbearance towards this wicked king and people of God, that not only did he patiently bear their distrust for a time, but so graciously condescended to them that he was willing to give them any pledge of his power which they chose.

· It is extremely rare that God would allow a man to choose what miracle he wanted performed. This was the amazing offer from God to Ahaz. (The angels must have been stunned at such a thing.) It was as if God had said, “What can I do to assure you that I am serious about keeping my promise to you?” Ahaz could have asked for the shadow to reverse (38:7,8). He could have asked for all the horses in the armies of Israel and Aram to run into the Sea of Galilee and drown; the Lord would have done it. Instead Ahaz was committed to his unbelief.

12

· But there was the warrant of the prophet of God; to have asked a sign, when thus offered, would not have been a tempting of God. Ahaz true reason for declining was his resolve not to do God’s will, but to negotiate with Assyria, and persevere in his idolatry. Men often excuse their distrust in god, and trust in their own devices, by professed reverence for God.

· Not to believe Gods word without a sign is to tempt God, but to refuse a sign when God offers it for the aid and help of our infirmity is to rebel against him.

· Ahaz did not want a sign because he had already made up his mind about who he was going to trust.

2 Kings 16:7

“So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son; come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me."”

13

· Is it a small thing - Is it not wickedness enough.

14

· The prophecy concerning Immanuel is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Matthew 1:23

"BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US."

· It is related to the larger OT theme in which God brings new life to barren women.

· If He had not been Immanuel, God with us, He could not be Jesus (saviour)

· “The overwhelming majority of those who reject the virgin birth reject also the whole supernatural content of the New Testament, and make of the ‘resurrection’ just what the word ‘resurrection’ most emphatically did not mean — a permanence of the influence of Jesus or a mere spiritual existence of Jesus beyond the grave” (Christianity and Liberalism, p. 108).

15

· Butter and Honey - Indicating the plainness and simplicity of the life in which the young Immanuel should be brought up.

18

· Meaning, the Egyptians: for since the country is hot and moist, it is full of flies, as Assyria is full of bees.

· Assyria - In the empire of Assyria, or Babylon; for these two were united into one empire, and therefore in scripture are promiscuously called sometimes by one title, and sometimes by the other.

20

· It is not without reason that he says that this razor is hired; for he expresses by it the dreadful nature of the calamity that would be brought upon them by the Assyrians.

· “Hair of the legs” - That is, that which is from the belly downward meaning that he would destroy both great and small.

· Many are beaten with that arm of flesh that they trusted to rather than to the arm of the Lord, and which they were at a great expense upon, when by faith and prayer they might have found cheap and easy succour in God.

21

· The population of God’s people is so diminished that it takes only a few animals to produce more than enough food for the remnant.

22

· The number of men will be so small that a little amount of milk will be able to nourish all abundantly.

24

· With arrows - Either to hunt, or to defend themselves from wild beasts, which commonly abide in desolate grounds.

· Now, it is a most wretched change, when fields formerly cultivated and fertile are turned into woods and thickets.

Conclusion

The sin of a land is sure to bring foreign invasion and all kinds of trouble, but to those who will trust Him, God sends seasonable comforts, and the strongest consolations in times of trouble are those that come from expectation of and from Christ.

Commentary - Psalm 25

1

· To lift up one’s soul means to desire.

· For unless the heart is lifted up, the lifting up of the eyes or hands in prayer is of no avail.

· He often begins his psalms with such professions, not to move God, but to move himself, and to engage himself to answer those professions.

· With a holy contempt of the world and the things of it, by a fixed thought and active faith, we must set God before us, and let out our desires towards him as the fountain of our happiness.

2

· Protection from earthly enemies prefigures protection from the ultimate evils of Satan, sin, and death. God the Father delivered Christ from his enemies in his resurrection and that is the basis of our deliverance.

Romans 4:25

^“…who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”

· To not be ashamed by disappointment of hopes and relief.

3

· Suffering enlarges the heart by creating the power to sympathize.

4

· Christ perfectly followed the path of the Lord. Through Christ and his instruction and through the teaching of the Spirit of Christ believers learn to be disciples and follow his path.

John 14:6

^“Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

· In doubtful cases we should pray earnestly that God would make it plain to us what he would have us to do.

5

· Those who desire God seek to learn what manner of life pleases Him.

· Jn 16:13

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”

7

· The faithful ask God to attend to them in mercy rather than according to their sins.

· Our youthful faults and follies should be matter of our repentance and humiliation long after, because time does not wear out the guilt of sin.

8

· God’s goodness and uprightness are in perfect union. They were perfectly blended in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on Calvary. Because God Himself has paid the price of the cross, He can be just and yet justify the ungodly; His goodness and righteousness are harmonised.

· God is gracious in calling sinners to repentance.

9

· Meek spirits are in high favour with the Father of the meek and lowly Jesus, for he sees in them the image of his only begotten Son. They know their need of guidance, and are willing to submit their own understandings to the divine will, and therefore the Lord condescends to be their guide.

10

· What a rich satisfaction may this be to good people, that, whatever afflictions they are exercised with, All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, and so it will appear when they come to their journey’s end.

11

· God’s perfections of love, mercy, goodness and truth are manifested in pardoning sin and the greatness of sin renders pardon more needed.

· He pleads for pardon for God’s name’s sake. He has no expectation of pardon for the sake of any righteousness or worthiness of his for any good deeds he had done, or any compensation he had made for his sins.

· When a beggar begs for bread, he will plead the greatness of his poverty and necessity. When a man in distress cries for pity, what more suitable plea as this: for he is moved to mercy towards us by nothing in us but the miserableness of our case.

13

· He who fears God has nothing else to fear.

15

· The Psalmist’s trust in God is fixed.

17

· The road to heaven is soaked with the tears and blood of the saints.

18

· 1 John 3:5

“You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.”

· Blessed is the man to whom sin is more unbearable than disease, he shall not be long before the Lord shall both forgive his iniquity and heal his diseases. Men are slow to see the intimate connection between sin and sorrow, a grace taught heart alone feels it.

Conclusion

It is our duty and privilege to trustingly wait upon the Lord in adoration, supplication and service all the days of our lives. Those whose hearts are right with Him, shall not err for want of heavenly direction in any time of perplexity.

Commentary - Exodus 17

1

· They journeyed according to the commandment of the Lord, led by the pillar of cloud and fire, and yet they came to a place where there was no water for them to drink - We may be in the way of our duty, and yet meet with troubles, which Providence brings us into for the trial of our faith.

2

· The people of Israel show a hardness of heart like Pharaoh and the Egyptians despite all that God has done for them

5

· The cloud rested on a particular rock, just as the star rested on the house where the infant Saviour was lodged.

· Though they spoke of stoning him. He must take his rod with him, not to summon some plague to chastise them, but to fetch water for their supply. O the wonderful patience and forbearance of God towards provoking sinners! He maintains those that are at war with him, and reaches out the hand of his bounty to those that lift up the heel against him.

6

· Some understand the command to be God’s command to Moses to strike God Himself, with the result that God Himself is the source of the life-giving water that flowed from the rock.

· This prefigures Christ who is stricken to provide the water of eternal life.

John 4:14

”but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

1 Corinthians 10:4

“…and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”

· God can open fountains for us where we least expect them. Those who, in this wilderness, keep to God's way may trust him to provide for them.

7

· Dt 6:16

"You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.”

8

· The Amalekites were descendents of Esau, who were at enmity with Jacob’s descendents.

11

· Moses is the one whom the Lord has chosen to lead Israel.

· The Lord is responsible for working their deliverance through Moses (signified by the staff of God and the fact that Moses hands grow weary, showing his human weakness).

· 1 Timothy 2:8

“I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;”

· The church's cause is ordinarily more or less successful, according as the church's friends are more or less fervent in prayer.

13

· Though God gave the victory, yet it is said Joshua discomfited Amalek, because Joshua was a type of Christ, and of the same name, and in him it is that we are more than conquerors.

· Christ is both to us; our Joshua, the Captain of our salvation, who fights our battles, and our Moses, who ever lives, making intercession above, that our faith fail not.

16

· Amalek's destruction was typical of the destruction of all the enemies of Christ and his kingdom.

Conclusion

Fed by the Bread of Life; refreshed by the Water of Life means victory for the believer in every conflict with the world, the flesh and the devil.

John 7:37

”On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”

Commentary - Luke 19

1

- Jericho of this period was significantly different to the OT Jericho. It boasts a tropical climate excellent access to water.

- Joshua previously cursed Hiel of Bethel, who rebuilt Jericho. (Joshua 6:26; 1 Kings 16:34)

2

- "Chief tax collector" is used only here in the NT.

- Jericho was a major toll collection point.

- Zacchaeus was Jewish.

5

- "Zacchaeus…I must stay at your house today" signifies divine necessity of Jesus bringing salvation to Zacchaeus' house.

- Christ had probably never seen Zacchaeus in the flesh nor heard of him. (John 10:3)

- Zacchaeus was an unexpected convert considering:

- He was from Jericho, a city that had been cursed.

- He was a cheating tax collector.

- Those whom Christ calls must humble themselves and come down.

8

- Numbers 5:7

9

-"Son of Abraham" refers not to Zacchaeus just being a physical descendant of Abraham but now also a spiritual descendant. (Galatians 3:7)

10

- What encouragement is there in this narrative to hope for unexpected conversions.

11

- Jesus gave the parable in response to those who supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately with Jesus coming.

- This parable differs from the parable of the talents in that the former illustrates different degrees of improvements of the same opportunities and the latter illustrates equal fidelity with different degrees of advantage.

12

- The "far country" is the world.

- "To return" at His second coming.

14

- "His citizens" refers to the Jews.

- John 1:11

15

- This parable does not support the prosperity gospel. The servants receive their rewards, AFTER the nobleman returns, not before.

17

- This parable teaches degrees of reward and responsibility in heaven.

20

- Those who do not utilise the resources, talents and opportunities that God gives them fall under his displeasure and may thereby indicate that they are not even true believers (cf. Matt. 25:30)

21

- Luke 19:17, 19 show Christ to be abundantly generous and gracious, so the third servant clearly does not know or understand his master.

26

- The person who welcomes Gods rule and presence will be given more of God's intended fruit; the one who depends on his own resources without receiving the word will lose even that.

29

- Fulfilled prophecy. (Zechariah 14:4)

34

- Fulfillment of prophesy about the Messiah in Zech. 9:9

38

- The great honour paid to Christ by multitudes makes the ignominy of His death to appear the greater. Christ clearly could have influenced the crowd so as to avoid rejection and crucifixion but He was set on fulfilling His divine purpose.

40

- Habakkuk 2:11

- Christ can elicit praise even from hearts of stone.

41

- Lamentations 3:51

42

- Hebrews 7:2

43

- These trenches and encompassing were indeed established by Titus, the Roman general.

46

- Jeremiah 7:11

Conclusion

The Lord Jesus came from heaven to make possible the bringing of those that are lost to God. Having made this provision, He has gone into a far country to receive for Himself a Kingdom and return in great power. He has endued his followers with advantages and capacities of serving the interests of His church until He returns to receive it, when all shall render account to Him and receive their reward accordingly.