casting for. Do not join with those that, for the securing of themselves, are for making a league with the Assyrians, through unbelief, and distrust of God and their cause. Do not come into any such confederacy." Note, It concerns us, in time of trouble, to watch against all such fears as put us upon taking any indirect courses for our own security. [2.] "Be not afraid of the confederacies they frighten themselves and one another with. Do not amuse yourselves with the apprehension of a confederacy, upon every thing that stirs, nor, when any little thing is amiss, cry out presently, There is a plot, a plot. When they talk what dismal news there is, Syria is joined with Ephraim, what will become of us? Must we fight, or must we flee, or must we yield? Do not you fear their fear. Be not afraid of the signs of heaven, as the heathen are, Jer. x. 2. Be not afraid of evil things on earth, but let your hearts be fixed. Fear not that which they fear, nor be afraid as they are. Be not put into such a fright as causes trembling and shaking;" so the word signifies. Note, When the church's enemies have sinful confederacies on foot, the church's friends should watch against the sinful fears of those confederacies.
(2.) He advises them to a gracious, religious fear; But sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, v. 13. Note, The believing fear of God is a special preservative against the disquieting fear of man; see 1 Pet. iii. 14, 15, where this is quoted, and applied to suffering Christians. [1.] We must look upon God as the Lord of hosts, that has all power in his hand, and all creatures at his beck. [2.] We must sanctify him accordingly, give him the glory due to that name, and carry it toward him as those that believe him to be a holy God. [3.] We must make him our Fear, the Object of our fear, and make him our Dread; keep up a reverence of his providence, and stand in awe of his sovereignty; be afraid of his displeasure, and silently acquiesce in all his disposals. Were we but duly affected with the greatness and glory of God, we should see the pomp of our enemies eclipsed and clouded, and all their power restrained and under check; see Neh. iv. 14. That they are afraid of the reproach of men, forget the Lord their Maker, ch. li. 12, 13. Compare Luke xii. 4, 5.
(3.) He assures them of a holy security and serenity of mind, in so doing; (v. 14.) "He shall be for a Sanctuary; make him your Fear, and you shall find him your Hope, your Help, your Defence, and your mighty Deliverer. He will sanctify and preserve you. He will be for a Sanctuary;" [1.] "To make you holy; He will be your Sanctification;" so some read it. If we sanctify God by our praises, he will sanctify us by his grace. [2.] "To make you easy; He will be your Sanctuary, to which you may flee for safety, and where you are privileged from all the arrests of fear; you shall find an inviolable refuge and security in him, and see yourselves out of the reach of danger." They that truly fear God, shall not need to fear any evil.
III. He threatens the ruin of the ungodly and unbelieving, both in Judah and Israel. They have no part nor lot in the foregoing comforts; that God, who will be a Sanctuary to those who trust in him, will be a Stone of stumbling, aud a Rock of offence, to those who leave these waters of Shiloah, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son, (v. 6.) who make the creature their fear and their hope, v. 14, 15. The prophet foresees that the greatest part of both the houses of Israel would not sanctify the Lord of hosts, and to them he would be for a Gin and a Snare; he would be a terror to them, as he would be a Support and Stay to those that trusted in him. Instead of profiting by the word of God, they should be offended at it; and the providences of God, instead of leading them to him, would drive them from him. What was a savour of life unto life to others, would be a savour of death unto death to them. So that many among them shall stumble and fall; they shall fall both into sin and into ruin, they shall fall by the sword, shall be taken prisoners, and go into captivity. Note, If the things of God be an offence for us, they will be an undoing to us. Some apply this to the unbelieving Jews, who rejected Christ, and to whom he became a Stone of stumbling, for the apostle quotes this scripture with application to all those who persisted in their unbelief of the gospel of Christ; (1 Pet. ii. 8.) to them he is a rock of offence, because, being disobedient to the word, they stumble at it.
16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 17. And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18. Behold, I, and the children whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel, from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. 19. And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto the wizards that peep and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? 20. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. 21. And they shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. 22. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
In these verses, we have,
I. The unspeakable privilege which the people of God enjoy, in having the oracles of God consigned over to them, and being intrusted with the sacred writings; that they may sanctify the Lord of hosts, may make him their Fear, and find him their Sanctuary; Bind up the testimony, v. 16. Note, It is a great instance of God's care of his church and love of it, that he has lodged in it the valuable treasure of divine revelation. 1. It is a testimony and a law; not only this prophecy is so, which must therefore be preserved safe for the comfort of God's people in the approaching times of trouble and distress, but the whole word of God is so; God has attested it, and he has enjoined it. As a testimony, it directs our faith; as a law, it directs our practice; and we ought both to subscribe to the truths of it, and to submit to the precepts of it. 2. This testimony and this law are bound up and sealed, for we are not to add to them, or diminish from them; they are a letter from God to man, folded up and sealed; a proclamation under the broad seal. The binding up and sealing of the Old Testament signified, that the full explication of many of the prophecies of it was reserved for the New Testament times; (Dan. xii. 4.) Seal the book till the time of the end; but what was then bound up and sealed, is now open and unsealed, and revealed unto babes, Matth. xi. 25. Yet with reference to the other world, and the future state, still the testimony is bound up and I sealed, for we know but in part, and prophecy but
