4 I am not angry. If only there were briers and thorns confronting me! I would march against them in battle; I would set them all on fire.
4 I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would march against them, I would burn them up together.
4 I'm not angry. I care. Even if it gives me thistles and thornbushes, I'll just pull them out and burn them up.
4 Fury is not in Me. Who would set briers and thorns Against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.
4 My anger will be gone. If I find briers and thorns growing, I will attack them; I will burn them up-
14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it.
14 Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.
14 Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.
14 Can you stick with it? Will you be able to keep at this once I start dealing with you?
14 Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and will do it.
14 How strong and courageous will you be in my day of reckoning? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do what I said.
(Read Ezekiel 22:1-16)
The prophet is to judge the bloody city; the city of bloods. Jerusalem is so called, because of her crimes. The sins which Jerusalem stands charged with, are exceeding sinful. Murder, idolatry, disobedience to parents, oppression and extortion, profanation of the sabbath and holy things, seventh commandment sins, lewdness and adultery. Unmindfulness of God was at the bottom of all this wickedness. Sinners provoke God because they forget him. Jerusalem has filled the measure of her sins. Those who give up themselves to be ruled by their lusts, will justly be given up to be portioned by them. Those who resolve to be their own masters, let them expect no other happiness than their own hands can furnish; and a miserable portion it will prove.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
31 Nobody's getting by with anything, believe me.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
31 It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
(Read Hebrews 10:26-31)
The exhortations against apostacy and to perseverance, are urged by many strong reasons. The sin here mentioned is a total and final falling away, when men, with a full and fixed will and resolution, despise and reject Christ, the only Saviour; despise and resist the Spirit, the only Sanctifier; and despise and renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and the words of eternal life. Of this destruction God gives some notorious sinners, while on earth, a fearful foreboding in their consciences, with despair of being able to endure or to escape it. But what punishment can be sorer than to die without mercy? We answer, to die by mercy, by the mercy and grace which they have despised. How dreadful is the case, when not only the justice of God, but his abused grace and mercy call for vengeance! All this does not in the least mean that any souls who sorrow for sin will be shut out from mercy, or that any will be refused the benefit of Christ's sacrifice, who are willing to accept these blessings. Him that cometh unto Christ, he will in no wise cast out.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 27:4
Commentary on Isaiah 27:1-5
(Read Isaiah 27:1-5)
The Lord Jesus with his strong sword, the virtue of his death, and the preaching of his gospel, does and will destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, that old serpent. The world is a fruitless, worthless wilderness; but the church is a vineyard, a place that has great care taken of it, and from which precious fruits are gathered. God will keep it in the night of affliction and persecution, and in the day of peace and prosperity, the temptations of which are not less dangerous. God also takes care of the fruitfulness of this vineyard. We need the continual waterings of Divine grace; if these be at any time withdrawn, we wither, and come to nothing. Though God sometimes contends with his people, yet he graciously waits to be reconciled unto them. It is true, when he finds briers and thorns instead of vines, and they are set in array against him, he will tread them down and burn them. Here is a summary of the doctrine of the gospel, with which the church is to be watered every moment. Ever since sin first entered, there has been, on God's part, a righteous quarrel, but, on man's part, most unrighteous. Here is a gracious invitation given. Pardoning mercy is called the power of our Lord; let us take hold on that. Christ crucified is the power of God. Let us by lively faith take hold on his strength who is a strength to the needy, believing there is no other name by which we can be saved, as a man that is sinking catches hold of a bough, or cord, or plank, that is in his reach. This is the only way, and it is a sure way, to be saved. God is willing to be reconciled to us.