Chapter 27
God's care over his people. (Is. 27:1-5) A promise of their recall to Divine favour. (Is. 27:6-13)Is. 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of Divine grace; if these be at any time withdrawn, we wither, and come to nothing.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.
Is. 27:6-13 In the days of the gospel, the latter days, the gospel church shall be more firmly
fixed than the Jewish church, and shall spread further. May our souls be continually watered and
kept, that we may abound in the fruits of the Spirit, in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. The
Jews yet are kept a separate and a numerous people; they have not been rooted out as those who
slew them. The condition of that nation, through so many ages, forms a certain proof of the Divine
origin of the Scriptures; and the Jews live amongst us, a continued warning against sin. But though
winds are ever so rough, ever so high, God can say to them, Peace, be still. And though God will
afflict his people, yet he will make their afflictions to work for the good of their souls. According
to this promise, since the captivity in Babylon, no people have shown such hatred to idols and
idolatry as the Jews. And to all God's people, the design of affliction is to part between them and
sin. The affliction has done us good, when we keep at a distance from the occasions of sin, and use
care that we may not be tempted to it. Jerusalem had been defended by grace and the Divine
protection; but when God withdrew, she was left like a wilderness. This has awfully come to pass.
And this is a figure of the deplorable state of the vineyard, the church, when it brought forth wild
grapes. Sinners flatter themselves they shall not be dealt with severely, because God is merciful,
and is their Maker. We see how weak those pleas will be. Verses 12,13, seem to predict the
restoration of the Jews after the Babylonish captivity, and their recovery from their present dispersion.
This is further applicable to the preaching of the gospel, by which sinners are gathered into the
grace of God; the gospel proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord. Those gathered by the sounding
of the gospel trumpet, are brought in to worship God, and added to the church; and the last trumpet
will gather the saints together.