Post by Lee on Jun 9, 2015 1:47:25 GMT
Isa 32:18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, And in sure dwellings, And in quiet resting places
And in that day God’s people are to dwell peaceably and secure, and verses 18–19 convey the idea of shelter from the storm of the transition time, when the kingdoms of men are being broken up to make room for the kingdom of God, “When it shall hail, coming down on the forest, and the city shall be low in a low place.” What city is this? There are only two cities visible in these great prophetic pictures of the ages—Jerusalem and her Rival. In Isaiah’s days it was Babylon that was “the city of terrible ones.” In Christ’s day it was Rome, which abides to this day, the self-styled “Eternal City,” divinely named “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.” There is no eternity for this city. That is reserved for the new Jerusalem. The Rival City is to be “low in a low place”; or, as Rotherham prefers to put it: “In a sunken place shall the city sink.” This was what Isaiah had previously revealed in Jerusalem’s song of triumph in the day of the resurrection (ch. 26): “The lofty city He layeth it low! He layeth it low even to the ground; He bringeth it to the dust!” How low Rome, architecturally or topographically speaking, is to descend, is illustrated by the fates of Sodom and Babylon, and by the stone like a great millstone that the mighty angel cast into the sea (Rev. 18:21). The armed hosts of “the great city” fall on the mountains of Israel (Ezek. 38–39) before the hail and fire and brimstone, and the city itself falls into the volcanic abyss over which it stands. Who would belong to such a municipality, when the freedom of Zion is offered by God in Christ?
In view of the survival of Zion and her children, the prophet exclaims, “Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.” We are at no loss to appreciate these beautiful figures. Christ and the apostles illustrate them to the full. Christ is the great Sower, and his “precious seed” is “the word of the kingdom;” which, germinating in good and honest hearts, in the field, which is the world, develops seed again as “the children of the kingdom.” And, to follow out his parable, “the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.” Now is the sowing time. What are we doing? Sowing wheat or tares? Preparing for glory or consumption? None can answer for us. Let us examine ourselves, and having respect for the promises and commandments of God in Christ, labour patiently on the side of the “blessed.”
Robert Roberts, & Walker, C. C. (1907). The Ministry of the Prophets: Isaiah (482–483).
And in that day God’s people are to dwell peaceably and secure, and verses 18–19 convey the idea of shelter from the storm of the transition time, when the kingdoms of men are being broken up to make room for the kingdom of God, “When it shall hail, coming down on the forest, and the city shall be low in a low place.” What city is this? There are only two cities visible in these great prophetic pictures of the ages—Jerusalem and her Rival. In Isaiah’s days it was Babylon that was “the city of terrible ones.” In Christ’s day it was Rome, which abides to this day, the self-styled “Eternal City,” divinely named “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.” There is no eternity for this city. That is reserved for the new Jerusalem. The Rival City is to be “low in a low place”; or, as Rotherham prefers to put it: “In a sunken place shall the city sink.” This was what Isaiah had previously revealed in Jerusalem’s song of triumph in the day of the resurrection (ch. 26): “The lofty city He layeth it low! He layeth it low even to the ground; He bringeth it to the dust!” How low Rome, architecturally or topographically speaking, is to descend, is illustrated by the fates of Sodom and Babylon, and by the stone like a great millstone that the mighty angel cast into the sea (Rev. 18:21). The armed hosts of “the great city” fall on the mountains of Israel (Ezek. 38–39) before the hail and fire and brimstone, and the city itself falls into the volcanic abyss over which it stands. Who would belong to such a municipality, when the freedom of Zion is offered by God in Christ?
In view of the survival of Zion and her children, the prophet exclaims, “Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.” We are at no loss to appreciate these beautiful figures. Christ and the apostles illustrate them to the full. Christ is the great Sower, and his “precious seed” is “the word of the kingdom;” which, germinating in good and honest hearts, in the field, which is the world, develops seed again as “the children of the kingdom.” And, to follow out his parable, “the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.” Now is the sowing time. What are we doing? Sowing wheat or tares? Preparing for glory or consumption? None can answer for us. Let us examine ourselves, and having respect for the promises and commandments of God in Christ, labour patiently on the side of the “blessed.”
Robert Roberts, & Walker, C. C. (1907). The Ministry of the Prophets: Isaiah (482–483).