Isaiah 6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them… "The holy seed" is the substance, the body, the life, the worth of any nation, any community, or any church. I. First, therefore, we must contemplate "THE HOLY SEED" that we may know who they are. 1. This seed of God are they whom He has created anew by His Spirit, whom He has adopted into His family. 2. But this seed are evidenced and demonstrated by their holiness; they are "the holy seed." Holiness signifies separation, seclusion, setting apart. II. Our main point is to prove that THIS "HOLY SEED" IS, IN ANY COMMUNITY OR CHURCH, "THE SUBSTANCE" OF IT. The holy seed is the substance of a nation — 1. Because God regards all beside in a nation but as dross and foliage — dross without gold, foliage without fruit. 2. Because the holy seed alone diffuses a sanctifying, a saving and a savouring efficacy upon the land in which it is found. 3. Because for their sakes God spares a guilty land when otherwise His whole displeasure would be allowed to rise against it (ch. 1:9; Genesis 18:23, etc.). 4. Because the holy seed are the spiritual warders of a nation, who watch with prayer, and stand in the breach and implore God that He should not destroy it. (H. Stowell, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. |
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