Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 8

Verses 13-14

Isaiah 8:13-14

I. The whole subject of Godhead is one of awe, and if of awe, then "dread." The more you know of God, the more you feel the unfathomableness of the mystery of Godhead. And all mystery is awe. It is a rule of our being, that we must tremble when we stand on the margin of the unknown. Therefore they who know most of God will most "fear," not His anger, but simply His amazing greatness.

II. The sense of mercy and benefits heaped upon us has an overwhelming influence upon the mind. Do not you know what it is to tremble at a danger when you have escaped it, much more than you did when you encountered it? That is exactly the "fear" and the "dread" of a pardoned sinner. It is the contemplation of a thunder-cloud which has rolled over your head.

III. Reverence is the great lesson which our age has to learn. Be suspicious of the love which is without awe. Remember that our best acquaintance with God only shows us more the immensity of the fields of thought which no mind can traverse.

IV. "He shall be for a sanctuary." Do you recoil at the idea of dreading God? That which makes the dread makes the hiding-place. To those who fear, He shall be for a sanctuary. (1) To a Jewish mind, the first idea of the sanctuary would be refuge. (2) The sanctuary of safety becomes the home of peace. "Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations." (3) God is the fountain of your holiness. The Shechinah shines within the veil; but as you become familiar with the precincts of that holy place, you catch some of its rays, and reflect its glory.

J. Vaughan, Sermons , 9th series; p. 245.

References: Isaiah 8:14 . W. M. Statham, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 131. 8:16-9:7. J. J. S. Perowne, Sermons, p. 365.

Verse 17

Isaiah 8:17

I. "I will wait upon the Lord." At all times we are to be like servants who are standing in the presence of their master, and who are ready, the very moment He shall give His orders, to go to any place, to do any work. If, when you should be waiting for what God may call you to do, you are so taken up with your own worldly concerns that you cannot hear, what then? Will that be waiting upon the Lord? And see what is the promise attached to this. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength " that is, whatever He calls them to do, they shall have strength, time after time, to carry it on; the more work He gives them, the more power will He give them to do it with.

II. "That hideth His face from the house of Jacob." The house of Jacob means the Church militant; the house of Israel, the Church in heaven. When it seems as if we could not stand against temptation, when there is some besetting sin which overthrows us again and again, then it seems as if God were hiding His face from us. And David might well say, "Thou didst hide Thy face from me, and I was troubled." For then we are troubled indeed: when we have to cry out, "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in, even unto my soul." And what are we to do then? The text tells us we are to wait.

III. Of all difficult things, waiting is the most difficult. If we may only do something, if we may only exert ourselves, then it is so much easier, then we seem so much more content. Only be willing to wait; only fix your eyes on that cross where Christ hung, as the poor Israelite bitten by the fiery serpent looked with his whole might on the serpent of brass, and then the time shall come when you will see Him indeed.

J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College Chapel, vol. i., p. 4.

Verse 18

Isaiah 8:18

I. Faithfulness. Always when we try to do good to others we are thrown back upon ourselves; we are reminded that high work must have fit instruments, and that our influence is likely to be as our character is. This is peculiarly the case as between us and our children. They know us much better than others; are much nearer to us, see us more clearly. They will know inevitably whether we mean all we say, desire all we pray for, and are all we profess. We must love Christ dearly ourselves if we are to show His loveliness to them. This sincerity on our part ought to take as one of its forms a firm, steady family rule, an exercise of wise parental authority. Be ruler in your own house, not by checks and shocks, by pull and strain, by collision of wills and trial of strengths; but gently, as the moon draws the tides up the shores, or as the sun lifts the ocean exhalations into the rain-clouds of the sky.

II. Tenderness. Here is ground where one almost fears to tread. Think of the great interests at stake; of the principles now being formed; of the habits that will result from them; of the characters you are moulding; of the gladness or the grief, the light or the dark, that will be in future homes the result of what you are doing now in yours; and of the issues to be revealed in the eternal world: and walk tenderly, as you would among flowers in early spring.

III. Such feelings will lead to prayer. In prayer for our children we are putting ourselves in the line of God's laws. We work as He works. Our nurture of our children is soon over. His nurture never ends. They are children in His hands all their days, and we do well to cast them on their Father's care, on the tenderness of His nurture and wisdom of His admonition.

IV. Hopefulness. We ought to cherish a feeling of cheerful confidence in God as to the result of our endeavours for our children's good. Surety if there is a field in all the world where we may look with confidence to the springing of the seed sown in faith, that field is the Christian family. If promises are fulfilled anywhere, they will be fulfilled there.

A. Raleigh, From Dawn to the Perfect Day, p. 34.

References: Isaiah 8:18 . Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1194.Isaiah 8:19 . Preacher's Monthly, vol. v., p. 318. Isaiah 8:19 , Isaiah 8:20 . W. J. Friel. Penny Pulpit, No. 468. Isaiah 8:20 . Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 172, Isaiah 9:1-7 . F. D. Maurice, Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament, p. 254.Isaiah 9:1-8 . Clergyman's Magazine, vol. v., p. 333.