17. No weapon that is fashioned
against you, as if to say, “If they produce various books against you, they
will all perish.” Faber, the bishop of Rochester, Eck, and others wrote various
and very ponderous books against us, but without success, since it is set forth
here: This undertaking will not succeed, because we are sure that we have the
true teaching, which is established with the most magnificent promises against
all weapons prepared against us. They do not attack with wooden clubs, but our
judgment is just, and by it we condemn them, even though they may also condemn
us. “What can the righteous do” (Ps. 11:3), so that it has all the appearance
that he is doing nothing? Nevertheless, “the spiritual man judges all things”
(1 Cor. 2:15), but since these people judge us according to the flesh and not
according to the Word, such carnal judgment is of no avail. (Martin
Luther, Commentary on Isaiah 54, in LW 17:247-48)
These words will lead me to set before you,
I.
The
heritage of God’s servants—
II.
Three things are here specified as their unalienable portion;
1. Protection from danger—
[From the very beginning, they have been objects of hatred both to men
and devils, who have combined their efforts for their destruction. From the
days of Cain, the followers of Abel’s piety have been persecuted by their
envious and malignant brethren; whilst “Satan, as a roaring lion, has gone
about, seeking to devour them”———
But we need not fear the assaults of either: for God has engaged, in
reference to his Church at large, that “the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it;” and, in reference to every individual believer, that “none shall
pluck them out of his handc.” “It is not his will that one of his
little ones should perish.”]
2. Vindication from calumny—
[What efforts have been made to destroy the character of God’s people
may be seen in the account given of them by Haman to Ahasuerus: “There is a
certain people scattered abroad, and dispersed among the people, in all the
provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people, neither
keep they the king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer
them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed.”
They still, as formerly, are a sect that is everywhere spoken against; nor is
there “any manner of evil which will
not be laid falsely to their charge,” But God does often, in a wonderful way,
interpose for them, to the vindicating of their character, and the confusion of
all their enemiesg. Indeed, the very people who most bitterly
traduce them, often venerate them in their hearts; even as “Herod feared John,
from an inward conviction that he was a just and holy man.” But, however God
may suffer his people to be treated “as the filth of the world and the
off-scouring of all thingsi” even to their dying hour, there is a
time coming when he will appear in their behalf: and, if man have his day, God will have his day also; and will bring forth their
righteousness as the light, and their judgment as the noon-dayl.”]
3. Justification from all sin—
[In two ways will God justify his people: the one is, by an
authoritative attestation from the mouth of their Judge; the other, by putting
upon them that very righteousness whereby they shall be justified. The Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ, has wrought out “a righteousness which shall be unto all
and upon all them that believe:” and when they are arrayed in this, “God sees
in them no iniquityn,” because he has “blotted it out from the book
of his remembrance,” and “cast it all behind him, into the very depths of the
sea.” “If it be sought for ever so diligently, it cannot be foundp;”
for they are before God without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, yea, holy,
and without blemish.” “This is the blessed heritage of all God’s servants;” and
all of them in due time shall possess it.]
That we may the better estimate their felicity, let us notice, (Charles
Simeon, Horae Homileticae, 21 vols. [London:
Holdsworth and Ball, 1832], 8:451-52)
The sense here is, that it shall not have final and ultimate
prosperity. It might be permitted for a time to appear to prosper—as
persecutors and oppressors have done; but there would not be final and complete
success. (Albert Banes, Notes on the Old Testament: Isaiah, 2
vols. [London: Blackie & Son, 1851], 2:295)
Scripture Illustrated by Fact.
SEPTEMBER 4th.—‘Ye are Christ’s; and Christ’s is God’s.”—1st CORINTHIANS
iii, 23
If that be so, then I am about as safe as God can make me. If I in
heart abandon all that is opposed to Christ, and trust Him utterly and wholly
for salvation ; if my love to Him manifest itself in earnest effort to be like
Him, and to please Him in all things, then I shall engage in my behalf the wisdom,
strength, and sympathy of Jehovah. A man was condemned by a Spanish court, to
be shot. But he was of English birth, and had become an American citizen. So he
appealed at once to the consuls of those nations, who interfered, and declared
that the Spanish authorities had no power to put the man to death. They,
however, would not listen, and persisted in their intention to shoot him. The
consuls then took the man and wrapped him in their flags ; they covered him
with the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes, and defied the executioners.
'There the man is,' they said, 'and touch him if you dare. Fire a shot at those
flags, and you bring upon you the power of the empires you defy. There stood
the man, and there stood the soldiers; but not a shot was fired; he seemed more
invulnerable than though he had been wrapped in a coat of mail. When a man has
been known as a British subject, and has been among tyrants on their thrones,
or among savages in the desert, and so has appeared as a lamb among lions, he
has nevertheless been allowed to pass unharmed, simply because as a British
subject he was guarded by that nation's power. He had a charmed life in their
midst, because the unseen arm of a mighty power compassed him round as with a
shield. If, then, the might of an earthly power is able to do this, what about
the might of Him who is King of kings, and Lord of lords ? He knows just
exactly what forces earth and hell can bring into the field, and with full
consciousness of this declares that no weapon against His own shall prosper.
Foes may assail, but they shall not prevail ; Christ holds specially dear those
He has bought at such cost, and will never disappoint the trust that clings to
His arm of strength. (“Scripture
Illustrated by Fact,” The Christian Messenger [September 1887], 261)
