Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 4.djvu/48

42 without the least jarring voice to interrupt the harmony. 2. What the song was; it is the same with that which is sung by the four living creatures, Rev. iv. 8. Note, (1.) Praising God always was, and will be, to eternity, the work of heaven, and the constant employment of blessed spirits above, Ps. lxxxiv. 4. (2.) The church above is the same in its praises; there is no change of times, or notes, there.

Two things the seraphim here give God the praise of;

[1.] His infinite perfections in himself. Here is one of his most glorious titles praised; he is the Lord of hosts, of their hosts, of all hosts; and one of his most glorious attributes, his holiness, without which his being the Lord of hosts, or, (as it is in the parallel place, Rev. iv. 8.) the Lord God Almighty, could not be, so much as it is, the matter of our joy and praise; for power, without purity to guide it, would be a terror to mankind. None of all the divine attributes are celebrated in scripture so as this is; God's power was spoken twice, (Ps. lxii. 11.) but his holiness thrice, Holy, holy, holy. This bespeaks, First, The zeal and fervency of the angels, in praising God; they even want words to express themselves, and therefore repeat the same again. Secondly, The particular pleasure they take in contemplating the holiness of God; this is a subject they love to dwell upon, to harp upon, and are loath to leave. Thirdly, The superlative excellency of God's holiness above that of the purest creatures. He is holy, thrice holy, infinitely holy, originally, perfectly, and eternally, so. Fourthly, It may refer to the three persons in the Godhead, Holy Father, Holy Son, and Holy Spirit; (for it follows, (v. 8.) Who will go for us?) or, perhaps, to that which was, and is, and is to come; for that title of God's honour is added to this song, Rev. iv. 8. Some make the angels here to applaud the equity of that sentence which God was now about to pronounce upon the Jewish nation. Herein he was, and is, and will be, holy; his ways are equal.

[2.] The manifestation of these to the children of men; the earth is full of his glory, of the glory of his power and purity; for he is holy in all his works, Ps. cxlv. 17. The Jews thought the glory of God should be confined to their land; but it is here intimated, that, in gospel-times, (which are pointed to in this chapter,) the glory of God should fill all the earth; the glory of his holiness, which is indeed the glory of all his other attributes; this, then, filled the temple, (v. 1.) but, in the latter days, the earth shall be full of it.

V. Observe the marks and tokens of terror with which the temple was filled, upon this vision of the divine glory, v. 4. 1. The house was shaken; not only the door, but even the posts of the door, which were firmly fixed, moved at the voice of him that cried, at the voice of God, who called to judgment, (Ps. l. 4.) at the voice of the angel, who praised him. There are voices in heaven sufficient to drown all the noises of the many waters in this lower world, Ps. xciii. 3, 4. This violent concussion of the temple was an indication of God's wrath and displeasure against the people for their sins; it was an earnest of the destruction of it and the city, by the Babylonians first, and afterwards by the Romans; and it was designed to strike an awe upon us. Shall walls and posts tremble before God, and shall not we tremble? 2. The house was darkened; it was filled with smoke, which was as a cloud spread upon the face of his throne; (Job xxvi. 9.) we cannot take a full view of it, nor order our speech concerning it, by reason of darkness. In the temple above there will be no smoke, but every thing will be seen clearly; there God dwells in light, here he makes darkness his pavilion, 2 Chron. vi. 1.

5. Then said I, Wo is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the of hosts. 6. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; 7. And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 3. Also I heard the voice of the, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me.

Our curiosity would lead us to inquire further concerning the seraphim, their songs, and their services; but here we leave them, and must attend to what passed between God and his prophet; secret things belong not to us, the secret things of the world of angels, but things revealed to and by the prophets, which concern the administration of God's kingdom among men. Now here we have,

I. The consternation that the prophet was put into by the vision which he saw of the glory of God; (v. 5.) Then said I, Wo is me! I should have said, "Blessed art thou, who hast been thus highly favoured, highly honoured, and dignified, for a time, with the privilege of those glorious beings that always behold the face of our Father. Blessed were those eyes which saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and those ears which heard the angels' praises." And, one would think, he should have said, "Happy am I, for ever happy; nothing now shall trouble me, nothing make me blush or tremble;" on the contrary, he cries out, "Wo is me, for I am undone. Alas for me! I am a gone man, I shall surely die; (Judges xiii. 22.—vi. 22.) I am silenced, I am struck dumb, struck dead." Thus Daniel, when he heard the words of the angel, became dumb, and there was no strength, no breath, left in him, Dan. x. 15, 17. Observe,

1. What the prophet reflected upon in himself, which terrified him; "I am undone, if God deal with me in strict justice, for I have made myself obnoxious to his displeasure, because I am a man of unclean lips." Some think he refers particularly to some rash word he had spoken, or to his sinful silence in not reproving sin with the boldness and freedom that were necessary; a sin which God's ministers have too much cause to charge themselves with, and to blush at the remembrance of it. But it may be taken more generally; I am a sinner; particularly, I have offended in word; and who is there that does not? Jam. iii. 2. We all have reason to bewail it before the Lord; (1.) That we are of unclean lips ourselves; our lips are not consecrated to God; he has not had the first-fruits of our lips, (Heb. xiii. 15.) and therefore they are counted common and unclean, uncircumcised lips, Exod. vi. 30. Nay, they have been polluted with sin; we have spoken the language of an unclean heart; that evil communication corrupts good manners, and thereby many have been defiled. We are unworthy and unmeet to take God's name into our lips. With what a pure lip did the angels praise God! "But," says the prophet, "I cannot praise him so, for I am a man of unclean lips." The best men in the world have reason to be ashamed of themselves, and the best of their services, when they come to compare with the holy angels. The angels had celebrated the purity and holiness of God; and therefore the prophet, when he reflects upon sin, calls it