In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. Sermons
I. THE PREVALENCE OF TROUBLE IN THIS WORLD OF SIN. "That day" was the day of national disaster, and, therefore, of individual distress. In the more settled and durable condition of modern times and Western lands, we are much less liable to suffer from this particular cause. But civilization brings its own perils and its own troubles, and while sin lasts "the day" of sorrow will be continually recurring. How many are the sources whence it may spring! Pecuniary embarrassment; disappointment; the loss of kindred or friends, or (what is worse) the loss of their love and their friendship; humiliation; ill health, and the fear of sudden removal from those who are clinging, and perhaps dependent; a sense of guilt before God; a sense of defeat as a Christian aspirant or Christian workman, etc. II. GOD'S PURPOSE IN SENDING IT. 1. God does send it. (See Amos 3:6.) He directly inflicts it, or he furthers it in his Divine providence, or, at the least, he permits it (see, also, Matthew 10:29). 2. He sends it to draw us to himself. (1) To withdraw us from the inferior and the untrustworthy objects; that a man may "not look to the altars, the work of his hands;" that we may discover, what we are so slow to learn, that all human help and all earthly securities are insufficient and unavailing; that these things of our own devising and constructing, which our fingers have made, break down in the time of our distress, and leave us "naked to our enemies." (2) To draw us to the mighty and the holy One. Our Maker will not want the power to redeem us. The Holy One of Israel will not fail to sanctify to us the evil he has sent us. He draws us to himself that, at his throne of grace, in sacred fellowship with him, we may be drown to penitence, to trustfulness, to prayerfulness, to the consecration or the rededication of our lives to his service. - C.
At that day shall a man look to his Maker. We are led to consider the designs of God in the afflictions of His people.I. TO RECALL THEIR WANDERING HEARTS TO HIMSELF. "A man will look to his Maker — 1. With a suppliant eye, to find in Him sources of consolation and a rock of defence such as the world cannot furnish (Psalm 123:1, 2; Jonah 2:1). 2. With a penitent eye (Luke 22:62; Zechariah 12:10). 3. With a confiding and believing eye (chap. 8:17). 4. With a rejoicing eye (Romans 5:11; Habakkuk 3:18). II. TO RAISE THEIR ESTIMATE OF THE HOLINESS OF THE DIVINE CHARACTER AND THE RECTITUDE OF THE DIVINE DISPENSATIONS. "Shall have respect unto the Holy One of Israel." III. TO SEPARATE THEM FROM ALL SINFUL AND IDOLATROUS DEPENDENCES. "He shall not look," etc. IV. TO ENDEAR THE MERCY THAT MINGLES WITH THE TRIALS. This appears — 1. In the moderate degree in which God's people are corrected, compared with the final and exterminating judgments which fall upon the wicked. Damascus was to be utterly destroyed (ver. 1), but a remnant was to be left to Israel (ver. 5). God's people always see that He has afflicted them less than they deserve (Lamentations 3:22). 2. In the alleviations of their trials. 3. In the triumphant issue of the whole. (S. Thodey.) People Amorites, Aram, Hivites, Isaiah, Israelites, JacobPlaces Aroer, Damascus, Syria, Valley of RephaimTopics Heart, Holy, Maker, Man's, Regard, Respect, Turn, YeaOutline 1. Syria and Israel are threatened6. A remnant shall forsake idolatry 9. The rest shall be plagued for their impiety 12. The woe of Israel's enemies Dictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 17:7-8Library The Harvest of a Godless Life'Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.'--ISAIAH xvii. 10, 11. The original application of these words is to Judah's alliance with Damascus, which Isaiah was dead against. … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Child Jesus Brought from Egypt to Nazareth. Isaiah Links Isaiah 17:7 NIVIsaiah 17:7 NLT Isaiah 17:7 ESV Isaiah 17:7 NASB Isaiah 17:7 KJV Isaiah 17:7 Bible Apps Isaiah 17:7 Parallel Isaiah 17:7 Biblia Paralela Isaiah 17:7 Chinese Bible Isaiah 17:7 French Bible Isaiah 17:7 German Bible Isaiah 17:7 Commentaries Bible Hub |