“But yet in it a tenth, and it shall return, and it shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof” (Isaiah 6.13.)
Introduction. In spite of Isaiah’s holy, earnest reproofs, Israel would persevere in their sins. God would therefore waste and destroy the cities and their inhabitants. And though a tenth would be preserved, even this remnant would be nearly consumed. But as a tree that loses its leaves retains its substance, the remnant subjected to perils would survive, as well the land stripped of foliage.
(1) Application to the Jews. The Jewish lineage is more noble than that of any knight. His pedigree can be traced back to Abraham, then back to Noah and then Adam. Our history is hidden in gloom. Theirs may be read from the start. Nebuchadnezzar nearly swept them away. Jerusalem was razed by Rome. But is the Jew conquered? He claims a dignity higher than ours; his history will be greater. When Messiah shall come again, he shall reign over his people most gloriously; the Jew will be afforded royal distinction. There is some mysterious preservative in a tree. The ‘remnant according to the election of grace’ keeps the Jew alive. There can always be found a Jew who loves Jesus. This holy seed is the substance of the nation. God has sworn kindness toward the Jews for their father’s sake. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love her.” The Jews will do more in this world for the kingdom than any of us have dreamed.
(2) Application to the Church of Christ. The church may look dead. But she is preserved. There is a ‘chosen seed’ who are ‘the substance thereof.’ The church was in a leafless state last century. Then a revival broke out when six men were expelled from Oxford for praying, Bible-reading, and witnessing. Now the church is to a great degree barren again. True doctrine is scarce, zeal is rare, pulpit and pew have little energy. But the substance is in her. Some branches do not draw sap from the heart of the tree, and must be cut and burned. But the inward principle of the tree remains. And the life of a tree is not determined by the shape of the branches. The shape of a church is not its life, whether Presbyterian or Independent, whether more doctrine or less. The best men may be found in the worst churches! The oak without leaves retains a hidden life. It is the same with the church. Ministers are its arms and lips. But a man may be dumb and armless and yet live. Men and women who breathe out prayer, these are the substance. Has God made you holy by his Spirit, by the justifying righteousness of Christ, and by the application of his blood? If so, you are the substance of the church. You may tithe and still not be of the substance. Good men preserve the church by deriving life from Christ.
(3) Application to Individual Believers. The Arminian says that a Christian who loses his leaves is dead. When the wintry state came, faith slumbered; you doubted its existence, but it was there. Some Christians lose their leaves, not by doubts, but by sin. This is a tender topic. But it cannot be denied that some have been allowed, like David, to go into the blackest sins. O! horrid was the crime! Yet his substance was in him. How do I know? When Nathan rebuked him, David could have cut him in pieces like Manasseh did to Isaiah. But instead he bowed his head and wept before God. Poor backslider! I would not comfort you in your sins. But do you grieve over them? That is the bud that shows there is life within. Return! The Father longs to heal you.
Selection from Conclusion. “Why, man, the sin that does not damn a Christian, because Christ washes him in his blood, will damn you…O! that thou hadst life!…O! that thou wouldst now repent!”
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