By J.C. Philpot
Preached at Zoar Chapel, Great Allie Street, London, on Lord's Day Morning, July 7, 1844
"And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." Isaiah 29:18, 19
What a picture does the Holy Ghost draw in this chapter (Isaiah 29) of a professing church "having a form of godliness, and denying the power thereof!" And with what a solemn woe does it open: "Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!" Ariel means "the light of God," and is the name given to Jerusalem, as being the place where the Lord specially manifested himself; for "out of Zion went forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:3.) But the Lord saw into what an awful state Jerusalem had fallen; and therefore, though the Holy Ghost still calls her by the name of Ariel, "the light of God," viewing her according to the position in which he had originally placed her, yet he pronounces a woe on her, because that light was become dim, and burnt not as brightly as when David dwelt there. He therefore says, "Add ye year to year"--go on still in your dead and lifeless profession; "let them kill sacrifices"--let all the forms still be observed, but think not that these things are acceptable in my holy eyes, or that I can be satisfied with the form while the power is wanting.
The former part of this chapter is obscure, and probably contains much that remains to be fulfilled; but the latter part is sufficiently plain. God the Spirit files in it an awful bill of charges against the professing church. Let us see what they are.
We read, then, of a general sleep. (v. 10.) "The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered:" and the effect of this general slumber, which the Lord thus solemnly declared to have proceeded from himself in a way of judgment, was, that neither the learned nor the unlearned knew the power of God's truth. "And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned." The learned could not read the book, for it was "sealed;" and the unlearned could not, because they were "not learned:" and thus, secondly, the effect of general sleep, was general ignorance.
The third charge which the Holy Ghost files against the professing church, is general hypocrisy. "This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me; but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men." The first step then, in the apostasy of the professing church, was judicial sleep; the second, as its effect, general ignorance; and the third, as the fruit of general ignorance, was general hypocrisy; they drew near to God with their lips, while their hearts were far from him; and their fear was not the godly, filial fear which is a fruit of the Spirit, but a base counterfeit, taught by the precept of men.
The fourth charge is general perversion and confusion: "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay." Right and wrong, bitter and sweet, good and evil, light and darkness, were all confounded; truth was perverted, and error substituted for it; and thus universal confusion prevailed.
The fifth charge is that of general rebellion. "For shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, he hath no understanding?" The creature dared to arraign God's power, "He made me not;" "My own will and power made me a Christian;" and to doubt God's wisdom, "He hath no understanding;" "Man's wisdom outshines the Lord's."
