Isaiah 47:7-11 And you said, I shall be a lady for ever: so that you did not lay these things to your heart… : — I. THE CAUSE OF THEIR SECURITY. They did not lay this to heart (ver. 7), did not apply it to themselves, and give it due consideration. They lulled themselves asleep in ease and pleasure, and dreamed of nothing else but that "to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant." They did not "remember the latter end of it" — the latter end of their prosperity, that it is a fading flower and will wither; the latter end of their iniquity, that it will be bitterness; that the day will come when their injustice and oppression must be reckoned for and punished. II. THE GROUND OF THEIR SECURITY. They trusted in their wickedness and in their wisdom (ver. 10). 1. Their power and wealth, which they had gotten by fraud and oppression, was their confidence. 2. Their policy and craft, which they called their wisdom, was their confidence. III. THE EXPRESSIONS OF THEIR SECURITY. Three things this haughty monarchy said in her security. 1. "I shall be a lady for ever." She looked upon the patent of her honour to be, not during the pleasure of the Sovereign Lord, the fountain of honour, or during her own good behaviour, but to be perpetual to the present generation, and their heirs and successors for ever (Revelation 18:7). 2. "I shall not sit as a widow," in solitude and sorrow; shall never lose that power and wealth I am thus wedded to. The monarchy shall never want a monarch to espouse and protect it, and to be a husband to the State; nor shall I "know the loss of children." 3. "None seeth me" when I do amiss, and therefore there shall be none to call me to account. It is common for sinners to promise themselves impunity because they promise themselves secrecy in their wicked ways. IV. THE PUNISHMENT OF THEIR SECURITY. It shall be their ruin. 1. A complete ruin; the ruin of all their comforts and confidences (ver. 9). 2. Sudden and surprising. The evil shall come in one day, nay in a moment. "Thou shalt not know from whence it riseth," and therefore shalt not know where to stand upon thy guard. Babylon pretended to great wisdom and knowledge, but with all her knowledge cannot possess, nor with all her wisdom prevent, the ruin threatened. 3. Irresistible (ver. 11). ( M. Henry.) Parallel Verses KJV: And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. |
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