Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke… I. We have to speak to you of CREATED THINGS — the heavens above and the earth beneath — as temporal either in themselves, or in regard to us who "must die in like manner." There may be much room for questioning whether there will be the actual annihilation of matter; whether even this earth is to be so destroyed that no vestige of it shall remain. We know that our bodies at least are not to be annihilated; but that having gone through certain processes, they are to be united to the soul, and remain in that re-union for ever. Without, however, supposing the actual annihilation of matter, we may speak of the universe as destined to be destroyed, seeing that the systems which are to succeed to the present will be wholly different, and wear all the traces of a new creation. Our text marks out a second way in which our connection with visible things — the heavens and the earth — may be brought to a close — "they that dwell therein shall die in like manner." II. A CONTRAST is drawn between God — His salvation and His righteousness — and the heavens and the earth. It seems the design of the passage to affix a general character to the objects of faith as distinguished from the objects of sense — the character of permanence and distinguished from that of decline. (H. Melvill, B.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. |
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