Divers
things were foretold, in the two foregoing chapters, which should come to
pass "in that day;" this chapter speaks of a "day of the Lord
that cometh," a day of his judgment, and ten times in the foregoing
chapters, and seven times in this, it is repeated, "in that day;"
but what that day is that is here meant is uncertain, and perhaps will be so
(as the Jews speak) till Elias comes; whether it refer to the whole period
of time from the prophet's days to the days of the Messiah, or to some
particular events in that time, or to Christ's coming, and the setting up of
his kingdom upon the ruins of the Jewish polity, we cannot determine, but
divers passages here seem to look as far forward as gospel-times. Now the
"day of the Lord" brings with it both judgment and mercy, mercy to
his church, judgment to her enemies and persecutors. I. The gates of hell
are here threatening the church (ver. 1, 2) and yet not prevailing. II. The
power of Heaven appears here for the church and against the enemies of it,
ver. 3, 5. III. The events concerning the church are here represented as
mixed (ver. 6, 7), but issuing well at last. IV. The spreading of the means
of knowledge is here foretold, and the setting up of the gospel-kingdom in
the world (ver. 8, 9), which shall be the enlargement and establishment of
another
Jerusalem
, ver. 10, 11. V. Those shall be reckoned
with that fought against Jerusalem (ver. 12-15) and those that neglect his
worship there, ver. 17-19. VI. It is promised that there shall be great
resort to the church, and great purity and piety in it, ver. 16, 20, 21.
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Persecution
of the Church; Judgments and Mercies; Encouraging
Prospects.
B. C. 500.
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1 Behold, the day of the LORD
cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2
For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city
shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of
the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall
not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the LORD
go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of
battle. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of
Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of
Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the
west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the
mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the
south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the
mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye
shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah
king of Judah: and the LORD
my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. 6 And it
shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor
dark: 7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD,
not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time
it shall be light.
God's providences concerning his church are here represented as strangely
changing and strangely mixed.
I. As strangely changing. Sometimes the tide runs high and strong against
them, but presently it turns, and comes to be in favour of them; and God
has, for wise and holy ends, set the one over against the other.
1. God here appears against Jerusalem; judgment begins at the house of God.
When the day of the Lord comes (v. 1) Jerusalem must pass
through the fire to be refined. God himself gathers all nations against
Jerusalem to battle (v. 2); he gives them a charge, as he did
Sennacherib, to take the spoil and to take the prey (Isa. x.
6), for the people of Jerusalem have now become the people of his wrath.
And who can stand before him or before nations gathered by him? Where he
gives commission he will give success. The city shall be taken by the
Romans, who have nations at command; the houses shall be rifled, and
all the riches of them taken away, by the enemy; and, to gratify an
insatiable lust of uncleanness as well as avarice, the women shall be
ravished, as if victory were a license to the worst of villanies, jusque
datum sceleri--and crimes were sanctioned by law. One-half of the city
shall then be carried into captivity, to be sold or enslaved, and
shall not be able to help itself, such is the destruction that shall be made
in the great and terrible day of the Lord.
2. He presently changes his way, and appears for Jerusalem; for, though
judgment begin at the house of God, yet, as it shall not end there, so it
shall not make a full end there, Jer. iv. 27; xxx. 11.
(1.) A remnant shall be spared, the same with that third part spoken
of, ch. xiii. 8. One-half shall go into captivity, whence they
may hereafter be fetched back, and the residue of the people shall not
be cut off, as one would have feared, from the city. Many of the Jews
shall receive the gospel, and so shall prevent their being cut off from the
city of God, his church upon earth. In it shall be a tenth, Isa. vi.
13; See Ezek. v. 3.
(2.) Their cause shall be pleaded against their enemies (v. 3): Then,
when God has made use of these nations as a scourge to his people, he shall go
forth and fight against them by his judgments, as when he
fought against the enemies of his church formerly in the day of
battle, with the Egyptians, Canaanites, and others. Note, The
instruments of God's wrath will themselves be made the objects of it; for it
will come to their turn to drink of the cup of trembling; and whom God
fights against he will be sure to overcome and be too hard for. And every
former day of battle, which God has made to his people a day of
triumph, as it is an engagement to God to appear for his people, because
he is the same, so it is an encouragement to them to trust in him. It is
observable that the Roman empire never flourished, after the destruction of
Jerusalem as it had done before, but in many instances God fought against
it.
(3.) Though Jerusalem and the temple be destroyed, yet God will have a
church in the world, into which Gentiles shall be admitted, and with whom
the believing Jews shall be incorporated, v. 4, 5. These verses are
dark and hard to be understood; but divers good expositors take this to be
the meaning of them. [1.] God will carefully inspect Jerusalem, even then
when the enemies of it are laying it waste: His feet shall stand in that
day upon the mount of Olives, whence he may take a full view of the city
and temple, Mark xiii. 3. When the refiner puts his gold into the furnace he
stands by it, and has his eye upon it, to see that it receive no damage; so
when Jerusalem, God's gold, is to be refined, he will have the oversight of
it. He will stand by upon the mount of Olives; this was literally
fulfilled when our Lord Jesus was often upon this mountain, especially when
thence he ascended up into heaven, Acts i. 12. It was the last place
on which his feet stood on this earth, the place from which he took rise.
[2.] The partition-wall between Jews and Gentiles shall be taken away. The mountains
about Jerusalem, and particularly this, signified it to be an enclosure,
and that it stood in the way of those who would approach to it. Between the
Gentiles and Jerusalem this mountain of Bether, of division,
stood, Cant. ii. 17. But by the destruction of Jerusalem this mountain shall
be made to cleave in the midst, and so the Jewish pale shall be taken
down, and the church laid in common with the Gentiles, who were made one
with the Jews by the breaking down of this middle wall of partition,
Eph. ii. 14. Who art thou, O great mountain? And a great mountain the
ceremonial law was in the way of the Jews' conversion, which, one would
think, could never have been got over; yet before Christ and his gospel it
was made plain. This mountain departs, this hill removes, but
the covenant of peace cannot be broken; for peace is still preached
to him that is afar off and to those that are nigh. [3.] A new and
living way shall be opened to the new Jerusalem, both to see it and to come
into it. The mountain being divided, one-half towards the north and
the other half towards the south, there shall be a very great
valley, that is, a broad way of communication opened between Jerusalem
and the Gentile world, by which the Gentiles shall have free admission into
the gospel-Jerusalem, and the word of the Lord, that goes forth from
Jerusalem, shall have a free course into the Gentile world. Thus
the way of the Lord is prepared, for every mountain and hill shall
be brought low, and plain and pleasant valleys shall come in the room of
them, Isa. xl. 4. [4.] Those of the Jews that believe shall come in, and
join themselves to the Gentiles, and incorporate with them in the
gospel-church: You shall flee to the valley of the mountains, that
valley that is opened between the divided halves of the mount of Olives;
they shall hasten into the church with the Gentiles, as formerly the
Gentiles with them, ch. viii. 23. The valley of the mountains
is the gospel-church, to which there were added of the Jews daily such as
should be saved, who fled to that valley as to their refuge. This valley
of the mountains is said to reach unto Azal, or to the
separate place, that is, to all those whom God has set apart for
himself. When God makes his mountains a way (Isa. xlix. 11), by
making them a valley, the way shall be opened to all the way-faring men
(Isa. xxxv. 8), and, though fools, they shall not err therein.
Or, to those that are now separated from God this valley shall reach; for
the Gentiles, who are afar off, shall be made nigh, with the Jews, who are a
people near unto him, and both have an access, a mutual access
to each other and a joint access to God as a Father by one Spirit, Eph. ii.
18. [5.] They shall flee to the valley of the mountains, to the
gospel-church, under dreadful apprehensions of their danger from the curse
of the law. They shall flee from the wrath to come, from the avenger
of blood, who is in pursuit of them, to the church as to a city of
refuge, or as doves to their windows, as they fled from before
the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, Amos i. 1. Therefore the
gospel reveals the wrath of God from heaven (Rom. i. 18) that we might be
awakened to escape for our lives, to flee as from an earthquake, for
we feel the earth ready to sink under us, and we can find no firm footing in
it, and therefore must flee to Christ, in whom alone we can stand fast and
be easy.
(4.) God shall appear in his glory for the accomplishing of all this: The
Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee, which may refer to
his coming to destroy Jerusalem, or to destroy the enemies of Jerusalem, or
his coming to set up his kingdom in the world, which is called the coming
of the Son of man (Matt. xxiv. 37), or to his last coming, at the end of
time; however, it teaches us, [1.] That the Lord will come; it has been the
faith of all the saints, Behold, the Lord comes to fulfil every word
that he has spoken in its season. [2.] When he comes all his saints come
with him; they attend his motions and are ready to serve his interests.
Christ will come at the end of time with ten thousands of his saints,
as when he came to give the law upon Mount Sinai. [3.] Every particular
believer, being related to God as his God, may triumph in the expectation of
his coming and speak of it with pleasure, The Lord my God shall come,
shall come to the comfort of all that are his; for, "Blessed Lord, all
the saints shall be with thee, and it shall be their everlasting
happiness to dwell in thy presence; and therefore come, Lord Jesus."
And some think that this may be read as a prayer, Yet, O Lord my God!
come, and bring all the saints with thee.
II. God's providences appear here strangely mixed (v. 6, 7): In
that day of the Lord the light shall not be clear nor dark, not day
nor night; but at evening time it shall be light. Some refer
this to all the time from hence to the coming of the Messiah; the Jewish
church had neither perfect peace nor constant trouble, but a cloudy day,
neither rain nor sunshine. But it may be taken more generally, as designed
to represent the method God usually takes in the administration of the
kingdom both of providence and grace. Here is, 1. An idea of the usual
course and tenour of God's dispensations; the day of his grace and the day
of his providence are neither clear nor dark, not day nor night. It
is so with the church of God in this world; where the Sun of righteousness
has risen it cannot be dark night, and yet short of heaven it will not be
clear day. It is so with particular saints; they are not darkness, but light
in the Lord, and yet, while there is so much error and corruption
remaining in them, it is not perfect day. So it is as to the providences of
God that relate to his church; in general the affairs of the church are
neither good nor bad in any extremity, but there is a mixture of both; we
are singing both of mercy and judgment, and are uncertain which will
prevail, whether it be an evening or a morning twilight. We are between hope
and fear, not knowing what to make of things. 2. An intimation of comfort
with reference hereunto: It shall be one day which shall be known to the
Lord. This intimates, (1.) The beauty and harmony of such mixed events;
there is one and the same design and tendency in all; all the wheels make
but one wheel, all the revolutions but one day. (2.) The brevity of them; it
is, as it were, but for one day, for a little moment; the cloud that darkens
the light will soon blow over. (3.) The eye God has upon all these events,
and the hand he has in them all; they are known to the Lord; he takes
notice of them, and orders and disposes of all for the best, according to
the counsel of his will. 3. An issue very joyful secured at last: At
evening-time it shall be light: it shall be clear light, and no longer
dark; we are sure of it in the other world, and we hope for it in this
world--at evening-time, when our hopes are quite spent with waiting
all day to no purpose, nay, when we fear it will be quite dark, when things
are at the worst and the case of the church is most deplorable. As to the
church's enemies the sun goes down at noon, so to the church it rises
at night; unto the upright springs light out of darkness (Ps. cxii.
4); deliverance comes when the tale of bricks is doubled, and when God's
people have done looking for it, and so it comes with a pleasing surprise.
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Blessings
Promised to the Church; Judgments Threatened.
B. C. 500.
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8 And it shall be in that day, that
living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former
sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall
it be. 9 And the LORD
shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD,
and his name one. 10 All the land shall be turned as a plain
from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and
inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first
gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the
king's wine-presses. 11 And men shall dwell in it, and
there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely
inhabited. 12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their
flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes
shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in
their mouth. 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that
a great tumult from the LORD
shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his
neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his
neighbour. 14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the
wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and
silver, and apparel, in great abundance. 15 And so shall be the
plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all
the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
Here are, I. Blessings promised to Jerusalem, the gospel-Jerusalem, in the
day of the Messiah, and to all the earth, by virtue of the blessings poured
out on Jerusalem, especially to the land of Israel.
1. Jerusalem shall be a spring of living waters to the world; it was made so
when there the Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, and thence the word
of the Lord diffused itself to the nations about (v. 8): Living
waters shall go out from Jerusalem; for there they began, and thence
those set out who were to preach repentance and remission of
sins unto all nations, Luke xxiv. 47. Note, Where the gospel goes,
and the graces of God's Spirit go along with it, there living waters go;
those streams that make glad the city of our God make glad the
country also, and make it like paradise, like the garden of the Lord,
which was well watered. It was the honour of Jerusalem that thence
the word of the Lord went forth (Isa. ii. 3); and thus far, even in its
worst and most degenerate age, for old acquaintance-sake, it was made a
blessing, and to be so is to be blessed. Half of these waters shall go towards
the former sea and half towards the hinder sea, as all rivers
bend their course towards some sea or other, some eastward, others westward.
The gospel shall spread into all parts of the world, into some that lie
remote from Jerusalem one way and others that lie as far off another way;
for the dominion of the Redeemer, which was thereby to be set up, must be from
sea to sea (Ps. lxxii. 8), and the earth must be full of the
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea, and as the waters
that in various channels run to the sea. The knowledge of God shall diffuse
itself, (1.) Every way. These living waters shall produce both eastern
churches and western churches, that shall each of them in its turn be
illustrious. (2.) Every day: In summer and in winter it shall be.
Note, Those who are employed in spreading the gospel may find themselves
work both winter and summer, and are to serve the Lord therein
at all seasons, Acts xx. 18. And such a divine power goes along with these
living waters that they shall not be dried up, nor the course of them be
obstructed, either by the droughts in summer or by the frosts in winter.
2. The kingdom of God among men shall be a universal and united kingdom, v.
9. (1.) It shall be a universal kingdom: The Lord shall be King over all
the earth. He is, and ever was, so of right, and in the sovereign
disposals of his providence his kingdom does rule over all and none
are exempt from his jurisdiction; but it is here promised that he shall be
so by actual possession of the hearts of his subjects; he shall be
acknowledged King by all in all places; his authority shall be owned and
submitted to, and allegiance sworn to him. This will have its accomplishment
with that word (Rev. xi. 15), The kingdoms of this world have become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. (2.) It shall be a united
kingdom: There shall be one Lord, and his name one. All shall worship
one God only, and not idols, and shall be unanimous in the worship of him.
All false gods shall be abandoned, and all false ways of worship abolished;
and as God shall be the centre of their unity, in whom they shall all meet,
so the scripture shall be the rule of their unity, by which they shall all
walk.
3. The land of Judea, and Jerusalem, its mother-city, shall be repaired and
replenished, and taken under the special protection of Heaven, v. 10,
11. Some think this denotes particular favour to the people of the Jews, and
points at their conversion and restoration in the latter days; but it is
rather to be understood figuratively of the gospel-church, typified by Judah
and Jerusalem, and it signifies the abundant graces with which the church
shall be crowned, and the fruitfulness of its members, and the vast numbers
of them. (1.) The church shall be like a fruitful country, abounding in all
the rich products of the soil. The whole land of Judea, which is naturally
uneven and hilly, shall be turned as a plain; it shall become a
smooth level valley, from Geba, or Gibeah, its utmost border north, to
Rimmon, which lay south of Jerusalem and was the utmost southern
limit of Judea. The gospel of Christ, where it comes in its power, levels
the ground; mountains and hills are brought low by it, that the Lord alone
may be exalted. (2.) It shall be like a populous city. As the holy land
shall be levelled, so the holy city shall be peopled, shall be rebuilt and
replenished. Jerusalem shall be lifted up out of its low estate,
shall be raised out of its ruins; when the land is turned as a plain,
and not only the mount of Olives removed (v. 4), but other
mountains too, then Jerusalem shall be lifted up, that is, shall
appear the more conspicuous; she shall be inhabited in her place,
even in Jerusalem, ch. xii. 6. The whole city shall be
inhabited in the utmost extent of it, and no part of it left to lie waste.
The utmost limits of it are here mentioned, between which there shall be no
ground lost, but all built upon, from Benjamin's-gate north-east to
the corner-gate north-west, and from the tower of Hananeel in
the south to the king's wine-presses in the north; when the churches
of Christ in all places are replenished with great numbers of holy, humble,
serious Christians, and many such are daily added to it, then this promise
is fulfilled. (3.) This country and this city shall both be safe, both the
meat in the country and the mouths in the city: Those that dwell in it
shall dwell securely, and there shall be none to make them afraid; there
shall be no more of that utter destruction that has laid both town and
country waste, no more anathema (as some read it), no more cutting off, no
more curse, or separation from God to evil, no more such desolating
judgments as you have been groaning under, but Jerusalem shall be safely
inhabited; there shall be no danger, nor any apprehension of it; neither
shall its friends be fearful to disquiet themselves nor its enemies
formidable to disquiet them. That promise of Christ explains this--that the
gates of hell shall not prevail against the church; and so do the holy
security and serenity of mind which believers enjoy in relying on the divine
protection.
II. Here are judgments threatened against the enemies of the church, that have
fought, or do fight, against Jerusalem; and the threatening of these
judgments is in order to the preservation of the church in safety. Men that
read and hear of these plagues will be afraid of fighting against Jerusalem,
much more when these threatenings are fulfilled in some will others hear and
fear. Those that fight against the city of God, and his people, will be
found fighting against God, against whom none ever hardened his heart and
prospered (v. 12): This shall be the plague wherewith the Lord
will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; whoever
they are, God will punish them for the affront done to him, and avenge
Jerusalem upon them. 1. They shall waste away under grievous and languishing
diseases: Their flesh shall consume away, and they shall be miserably
emaciated, even while they stand on their feet, so that they shall be
walking skeletons; nothing shall remain but skin and bones. The flesh which
they pampered and indulged, and made provision for, when they were fed to
the full with the spoils of God's people, shall now consume away, that it
cannot be seen, and the bones that were not seen shall stick out, Job
xxxiii. 21. They keep their feet, and hope to keep their ground,
crawling about as long as they can; but they must yield at last. The organs
of sight, the outlets of sin, their eyes, shall consume away in their
holes, shall sink into their heads or perhaps start out of them; their
envious malicious, adulterous eyes, the eyes they had so often fed with
spectacles of misery, these shall consume, which shall make not only their
countenances ghastly, but their lives wretched. The organs of speech, the
outlets of sin, their tongue, shall consume away in their mouth,
whereby God will reckon with them for all their blasphemies against himself
and invectives against his people. Thus their own tongues shall fall upon
them, and their punishment shall be legible in their sin, as his was
whose tongue was tormented in hell-flames. Thus Antiochus and Herod consumed
away. 2. They shall be dashed in pieces one against another (v. 13): A
great tumult from the Lord shall be among them. But are tumults from the
Lord, who is the God of order, and not of confusion? As they are the
sin of those that raise them they are not from the Lord, but from the wicked
one, and from men's own lusts; but, as they are the punishment of those that
suffer by them, they are from the Lord, who serves his own purposes, and
carries on his intentions, by the sins, and follies, and restless spirits,
of men. It is of themselves that they bite and devour one another,
but it is of the Lord, the righteous Judge, that thus they are consumed
one of another (Gal. v. 15); as Ahab was deceived by a lying spirit from
the Lord, so Abimelech and the men of Shechem were divided, and so destroyed,
by an evil spirit from the Lord, Judg. ix. 23. Note, Those that are
confederate and combined against the church will justly be separated, and
set against one another; and their tumults raised against God will be
avenged in tumults among themselves. And they shall lay hold every one on
the hand of his neighbour, to hold him from striking, or to bind him as
his prisoner; nay, his hand shall rise up against the hand of his
neighbour, to strike and wound him. Note, Those that aim to destroy the
church are often made to destroy one another; and every man's sword is
sometimes set against his fellow, by him whose sword they all are. Some
think this was fulfilled in the factions and dissensions that were among the
Jews, when the Romans were destroying them all; for they had fought against
the spiritual Jerusalem, the gospel-church; and to that well enough agrees v.
14, Thou also, O Judah! shalt fight against Jerusalem; the Jewish
nation shall be ruined by itself, shall die by its own hands; the city and
country shall be at war with each other, and so both shall be destroyed. Suis
et ipsa Roma viribus ruit--Rome was urged into ruin by its very strength.
3. The plunder of their camp shall greatly enrich the people of God, or the
spoils of their country (v. 14): Judah also shall eat at Jerusalem
(so one learned interpreter reads it); people shall come from all parts to
share in the prey; as when Sennacherib's army was routed before Jerusalem
there was the prey of a great spoil divided (Isa. xxxiii. 23), so it
shall be now; the wealth of all the heathen round about, that had
spoiled Jerusalem, shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and
apparel, in great abundance, that an equal dividend may be made among
all the parties entitled to a share of the prize. Note, The wealth of the
sinner is often laid up for the just, and the Israel of God
enriched with the spoil of the Egyptians. 4. The very cattle shall share in
the plague with which the enemies of God's church shall be cut off, as they
did in divers of the plagues of Egypt (v. 15): All the beasts
that shall be in the tents of these wicked men, when God comes to
contend with them, shall perish with them, not only beasts used in war, as
the horse, but those used for travel, or in the plough, as the mule,
the camel, and the ass. Note, The inferior creatures often
suffer for the sin of man and in his plagues. Thus God will show his
indignation against sin, and will make the creature that is thus subject
to vanity groan to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the
children of God, Rom. viii. 21, 22.
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Evangelical
Predictions; Threatenings and Promises; Encouraging
Prospects.
B. C. 500.
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16 And it shall come to pass, that
every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall
even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD
of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17 And it shall
be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the
earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD
of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18 And if the family
of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there
shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD
will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of
tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the
punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of
tabernacles. 20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the
horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD's
house shall be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Yea, every
pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD
of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and
seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the
house of the LORD
of hosts.
Three things are here foretold:--
I. That a gospel-way of worship being set up in the church there shall be a
great resort to it and a general attendance upon it. Those that were left of
the enemies of religion shall be so sensible of the mercy of God to them in
their narrow escape that they shall apply themselves to the worship of the
God of Israel, and pay their homage to him, v. 16. Those that were
not consumed shall be converted, and this makes their deliverance a mercy
indeed, a double mercy. It is a great change that the grace of God makes
upon them; those that had come against Jerusalem, finding their
attempts vain and fruitless, shall become as much her admirers as ever they
had been her adversaries, and shall come to Jerusalem to worship
there, and go in concurrence with those whom they had gone contrary to.
Note, As some of Christ's foes shall be made his footstool, so others of
them shall be made his friends; and, when the principle of enmity is slain
in them, their former acts of hostility are pardoned to them, and their
services are admitted and accepted, as though they had never fought
against Jerusalem. They shall go up to worship at Jerusalem,
because that was the place which God had chosen, and there the temple was,
which was a type of Christ and his mediation. Converting grace sets us
right, 1. In the object of our worship. They shall no longer worship
the Molochs and Baals, the kings and lords, that the Gentiles
worship, the creatures of their own imagination, but the King, the Lord
of hosts, the everlasting King, the King of kings, the sovereign Lord of
all. 2. In the ordinances of worship, those which God himself has appointed.
Gospel-worship is here represented by the keeping of the feast of
tabernacles, for the sake of those two great graces which were in a
special manner acted and signified in that feast-contempt of
the world, and joy in God, Neh. viii. 17. The life of a good Christian is a
constant feast of tabernacles, and, in all acts of devotion, we must
retire from the world and rejoice in the Lord, must worship as in that
feast. 3. In the Mediator of our worship; we must go to Christ our
temple with all our offerings, for in him only our spiritual sacrifices
are acceptable to God, 1 Pet. ii. 5. If we rest in ourselves, we come short
of pleasing God; we must go up to him, and mention his righteousness only.
4. In the time of it; we must be constant. They shall go up from year to
year, at the times appointed for this solemn feast. Every day of a
Christian's life is a day of the feast of tabernacles, and every
Lord's day especially (that is the great day of the feast); and
therefore every day we must worship the Lord of hosts and every Lord's day
with a peculiar solemnity.
II. That those who neglect the duties of gospel-worship shall be reckoned
with for their neglect. God will compel them to come and worship before him,
by suspending his favours from those that keep not his ordinances: Upon
them there shall be no rain, v. 17. Some understand it
figuratively; the rain of heavenly doctrine shall be withheld, and of the
heavenly grace, which should accompany that doctrine. God will command
the clouds that they rain no rain upon them. Note, It is a righteous
thing with God to withhold the blessings of grace from those that do not
attend the means of grace, to deny the green pastures to those that
attend not the shepherd's tents. Or we may take it literally: On
them there shall be no rain, to make their ground fruitful. Note, The
gifts of common providence are justly denied to those that neglect and
despise instituted ordinances. Those that neglected to build the temple were
punished with the want of rain (Hag. ii. 17), and so were those that
neglected to attend there when it was built. If we be barren and unfruitful
towards God, justly is the earth made so to us. Many are crossed, and go
backward, in their affairs, and this is at the bottom of it--they do not
keep close to the worship of God as they should; they go off from God, and
then he walks contrary to them. If we omit or postpone the duties he expects
from us, it is just with him to deny the favours we expect from him. But
what shall be done to the defaulters of the land of Egypt, to whom the
threatening of the want of rain is no threatening, for they have no rain at
any time; they need none; they desire none; the river Nilus is to them
instead of the clouds of heaven, waters their land, and makes it fruitful,
so that what is a punishment to others is none to them? v. 18, 19. It
is threatened that if the family of Egypt go not up, that have no rain,
yet God will find out a way to meet with them, for there shall be, in
effect, the same plague wherewith other nations are smitten for their
neglect. God can, and often did, restrain the overflowing of the river,
which was equivalent to the shutting up of the clouds; or if the river did
its part, and rose as high as it used to do, God had other ways of bringing
famine upon them, and destroying the fruits of their ground, as he did by
several of the ten plagues of Egypt, so that this (that is, the same)
shall be the punishment of Egypt that is the punishment of other nations
who come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. Note, Those who
think themselves least indebted to, and depending on, the mercy of heaven,
cannot therefore think themselves guarded against the justice of
Heaven. It does not follow that those who can live without rain can
therefore live without God; for not the heavens only, but all other
creatures, are that to us that God makes them to be, and no more; nor can
any man's way of living enable him to set light by the judgments of God.
This shall be the punishment--margin, This shall be the sin of
Egypt, and the sin of all nations, that come not up to keep the feast of
tabernacles. The same word signifies both sin and the punishment
of sin, so close and inseparable is the connexion between them (as Gen. iv.
7), and sin is often its own punishment. Note, Omissions are sins, and we
must come into judgment for them; those contract guilt that go not up to
worship at the times appointed, as they have opportunity; and it is a
sin that is its own punishment, for those who forsake the duty
forfeit the privilege of communion with God.
III. That those who perform the duties of gospel-worship shall have grace to
adorn their profession by the duties of a gospel-conversation too. This is
promised (v. 20, 21), and it is necessary to the completing of the
beauty and happiness of the church. In general, all shall be holiness to
the Lord.
1. The name and character of holiness shall not be so confined as formerly. Holiness
to the Lord had been written only upon the high priest's forehead, but
now it shall not be so appropriated. All Christians shall be living
temples, and spiritual priests, dedicated to the honour of God
and employed in his service.
2. Real holiness shall be more diffused than it had been, because there
shall be more powerful means of sanctification, more excellent rules, more
cogent arguments, and brighter patterns of holiness, and because there shall
be a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit of holiness and sanctification,
after Christ's ascension than ever before.
(1.) There shall be holiness introduced into common things; and those things
shall be devoted to God that seemed very foreign. [1.] The furniture of
their horses shall be consecrated to God. "Upon the bells of the
horses shall be engraven Holiness to the Lord, or upon the bridles
of the horses (so the margin) or the trappings. The horses used in
war shall no longer be used against God and his people, as they have been,
but for him and them. Even their wars shall be holy wars, their troopers
serving under God's banner. Their great men, who ride in state with a
pompous retinue, shall reckon it their greatest ornament to honour God with
their honours. Holiness to the Lord shall be written on the harness
of their chariot-horses, as great men have sometimes their coat of arms with
their motto painted on their coaches; every gentleman shall take the high
priest's motto for his, and glory in it, and make it a memento to himself
not to do any thing unworthy of it. Travellers shall have it upon their
bridles, with which they guide their horses, as those who desire always to
be put in mind of it, by having it continually before them, and to guide
themselves in all their motions by this rule. The bells of the horses,
which are designed to quicken them in their journey and to give notice of
their approach, shall have Holiness to the Lord upon them," to
signify that this is that which we ought to be influenced by ourselves, and
make profession of to others, wherever we go. [2.] The furniture of their
houses too shall be consecrated to God, to be employed in his service. First,
The furniture of the priests' houses, or apartments adjoining to the house
of the Lord. The common drinking cups they used shall be like the bowls
before the altar, that were used either to receive the blood of the
sacrifices or to present the wine and oil in, which were for the drink-offerings.
The vessels which they used for their own tables shall be used in such a
religious manner, with such sobriety and temperance, such devotedness to the
glory of God, and such a mixture of pious thoughts and expressions, that
their meals shall look like sacrifices; they shall eat and drink, not to
themselves, but to him that spreads their tables and fills their cups. And
thus, in ministers' families especially, should common actions be done after
a godly sort, however they are done in other families. Secondly, The
furniture of other houses, those of the common people: "Every pot in
Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness to the Lord. The pots in which
they boil their meat, the cups out of which they drink their wine (Jer. xxxv.
5), in these God's good creatures shall never be abused to excess, nor that
made the food and fuel of lust which should be oil to the wheels of
obedience," as had formerly been, when all tables were full of vomit
and filthiness, Isa. xxviii. 8. "What they eat and drink out of
these shall nourish their bodies for the service of God; and out of these
they shall give liberally for the relief of the poor;" then are they Holiness
to the Lord, as the merchandise and the hire of the converted Tyrians
are said to be (Isa. xxiii. 18); for both in our gettings and in our
spendings we must have an eye to the will of God as our rule and the glory
of God as our end. Thirdly, When there shall be such an abundance of
real holiness people shall not be nice and curious about ceremonial
holiness: "Those that sacrifice shall come and take of these
common vessels, and seethe their sacrifices therein, making no
distinction between them and the bowls before the altar." In
gospel-times the true worshippers shall worship God in spirit and in
truth, and neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem, John
iv. 21. One place shall be as acceptable to God as another (I will that
men pray every where); and one vessel shall be as acceptable as another.
Little regard shall be had to the circumstance, provided there be nothing
indecent or disorderly, while the substance is religiously preserved and
adhered to. Some think it intimates that there should be greater numbers of
sacrifices offered than the vessels of the sanctuary would serve for; but,
rather than any should be turned back or deferred, they shall make no
difficulty at all of using common vessels, as the Levites in a case of
necessity helped the priests to kill the sacrifices, 2 Chron. xxix. 34.
(2.) There shall be no unholiness introduced into their sacred things, to
corrupt them: In that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the
house of the Lord of hosts. Some read it, There shall be no more the
merchant, for so a Canaanite sometimes signifies; and they think it was
fulfilled when Christ once and again drove the buyers and sellers out of the
temple. Or though those that were Canaanites, strangers and foreigners,
shall be brought into the house of the Lord, yet they shall cease to be
Canaanites; they shall have nothing of the spirit or disposition of
Canaanites in them. Or it intimates that though in gospel-times people
should grow indifferent as to holy vessels, yet they should be very strict
in church-discipline, and careful not to admit the profane to special
ordinances, but to separate between the precious and the vile, between
Israelites and Canaanites. Yet this will not have its full accomplishment
short of the heavenly Jerusalem, that house of the Lord of hosts,
into which no unclean thing shall enter; for at the end of time, and
not before, Christ shall gather out of his kingdom every thing that offends,
and the tares and wheat shall be perfectly and eternally separated.
