For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. Sermons
I. RETALIATION AS A PRIMITIVE IDEA OF JUSTICE, "It was an ethical maxim, extensively accepted among ancient nations, that men must suffer the same pains that they have inflicted on others. The later Greeks called this the Neoptolemictisis, from the circumstance that Neoptolemus was punished in the same way in which he had sinned. He had murdered at the altar, and at the altar he was murdered." Show how natural the retaliatory idea seems to children. The old sentiment still lingers in men's minds, so that we have great satisfaction in hearing of cases wherein Providence deals the blow to men which they have dealt to others. II. RETALIATION DANGEROUS BECAUSE OF THE CHARACTER OF AVENGERS. It would be a safe working principle if men were good, and not subject to unworthy passions. These make men do more than retaliate. III. RETALIATION AS A PART OF DIVINE DEALING. He has a "year of recompenses" - a time when he will make a man's violent doing fall upon his own pate. All sin is wrong done to him; it calls for due recompense. It must be precisely shown how far the idea of retaliation may be applied to God. IV. RETALIATION BY GOD IS GUARANTEED BY THE CHARACTER OF GOD. It can never be the expression of personal feeling. It can never be unqualified or excessive. It can never be without its own aim to secure the final good of those on whom it must fall. - R.T.
My sword shall be bathed in heaven. The text draws back the curtain which separates the visible world from the invisible. It reveals celestial regions, in which there are also great struggles going on. It lifts up our eyes to the grander movements of the world of spirits; and then it declares that the sword which is to be used in fighting what seem to be the petty wars of the Hebrews and the Edomites, is the same sword which has been used in these celestial conflicts; that the means and instruments of righteousness upon the earth must be the same with the means and instruments of righteousness in the heavens.I. ALL GOOD STRUGGLE IN THE WORLD IS REALLY GOD'S BATTLE, and ought to recognise itself as such. Every special victory of human progress — the victory over slavery, superstition, social wrong, nay, even the victory over tough matter, the subduing of the hard stuff of nature to spiritual uses, — each of these is but a step in the great onward march of God taking possession of His own. Fight your battle with the sword bathed in heaven; so you shall make it victorious, and grow strong and great yourself in fighting it. II. One of the most marvellous things about Jesus is the UNION OF FIRE AND PATIENCE. He saw His Father's house turned into a place of merchandise, and instantly the whip of small cords was in His hands, and He was cleansing the sacred place with His impassioned indignation. And yet He walked day after day through the streets of Jerusalem, and saw the sin, and let the sinners sin on with only the remonstrance of His pure presence and His pitying gaze. Only in God's own time and in God's own way can the battles of the Lord be fought. There is no self-will in Jesus. He is one with His Father, and lives by His Father's will. His sword was always bathed in heaven. III. THE BATTLE WHICH GOES ON WITHIN OURSELVES IS GOD'S BATTLE, and is of supreme importance. If the battle be God's, it must be fought only with God's weapons. You want to get rid of your selfishness. You must not kill it with the sword of another selfishness, which thenceforth shall rule in its place. Selfishness can only be cast out by self-forget-fulness and consecration. To count sin God's enemy, and to fight it with all His purity and strength, that is what it means for us that our sword should be bathed m heaven. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.) People Isaiah, KitesPlaces Bozrah, Edom, Jerusalem, ZionTopics Cause, Controversy, Gives, Lord's, Payment, Punishment, Recompences, Recompense, Recompenses, Retribution, Strife, Uphold, Vengeance, Wrongs, Zion, Zion'sOutline 1. The judgments wherewith God revenges his church11. The desolation of her enemies 16. The certainty of the prophecy Dictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 34:8Library Opposition to Messiah RuinousThou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel T here is a species of the sublime in writing, which seems peculiar to the Scripture, and of which, properly, no subjects but those of divine revelation are capable, With us, things inconsiderable in themselves are elevated by splendid images, which give them an apparent importance beyond what they can justly claim. Thus the poet, when describing a battle among bees, by a judicious selection of epithets … John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 The Holy Spirit in Relation to the Father and the Son. ... How the Simple and the Crafty are to be Admonished. Questions. Isaiah Links Isaiah 34:8 NIVIsaiah 34:8 NLT Isaiah 34:8 ESV Isaiah 34:8 NASB Isaiah 34:8 KJV Isaiah 34:8 Bible Apps Isaiah 34:8 Parallel Isaiah 34:8 Biblia Paralela Isaiah 34:8 Chinese Bible Isaiah 34:8 French Bible Isaiah 34:8 German Bible Isaiah 34:8 Commentaries Bible Hub |