Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Sermons
I. THE SOUL'S SUPREME NECESSITY. The presence of sin is the sternest of all facts; the mark which it has made on our manhood is by far the deepest and darkest of any; all others are mere touches, mere scratches in comparison. This is true of the individual as well as of the community. The thing that we have done, more serious and of greater consequence than any other, is that we have sinned against the Lord and come beneath his condemnation. What we most urgently want is a covering for our soul. Our naked and guilty soul imperatively and sorely needs that under which it may appear before God without shame and shrinking, and take its place, in this world or in any other, among the pure, the holy, the righteous. The question is - What is that garment which will cover the sinful human soul? II. THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THE PROVISION WHICH SOME MEN ARE MAKING. Many are providing for themselves that which is utterly inadequate; they are spinning webs - poor, thin, gossamer productions - which "will not become garments" available for this purpose. There is: 1. The web of Christian profession. Some find comfort and complacency of soul in the fact that they are acknowledged members of a Church, ancient, or catholic, or established, or scriptural. Desirable, in many ways, as is an avowal of attachment to Christ, it is not a thing in which to put any trust; a man may be a member of the most scriptural Church, and yet be destitute of that which is vital and essential. "He is not a Jew who is one outwardly," etc. Christian profession is a poor thing for a soul to hide in; it is no true refuge for the human heart; it is a "web that will not make a garment." 2. The web of ceremony and ordinance. Many have an undefined but strong confidence in having passed through Christian ceremonies (Baptism and the Lord's Supper), or in having been constant in attendance on Divine worship, or in having taken on their lips apostolic and evangelical language; but to trust in these things as garments of salvation is to put "confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:1): they may exist without any faith or love prompting and vitalizing them. 3. The web of correct behaviour - abstinence from impurity, inebriety, untruthfulness, trickery, profanity. This is altogether and in every way desirable, and it may be eminently praiseworthy from a human standpoint; but it will not atone for the supreme omission - the failure to respond to a heavenly Father's love, to subject the will to the will of the Creator, to dedicate the life to the service of God. It, too, is a web that will not make a garment with which to cover a sinful soul. III. THE ONE GARMENT TEAT SUFFICES. What did Christ mean by that "wedding garment" without which the guest might not sit down to the marriage-feast (Matthew 22:11)? May it not have been the abounding mercy of God unto eternal life, received through faith in a Divine Saviour (Romans 5:1; Romans 8:1; Philippians 3:7-9)? Men will be just with God, their sins wilt be covered and hidden for evermore, when, in the spirit of penitence and faith, they accept the Saviour of mankind as the Lord in whom they hide and to whom they yield themselves in glad surrender. - C.
Their webs shall not become garments. is older than human history; figures drawn from it are found in the earliest literature of all nations. It is frequently employed in the Word of God to set forth the sublimest truths of life, and in the classical mythologies it occupies an even more important place. The three fates preside over the lives of men, and they practise the weaver's art. Clothe holds the threads, Lachesis introduces the warp, and the grim goddess Atropos cuts the web when the fabric of human destiny is complete. In later times we find the figure with a still wider import. The spirit of Goethe's "Faust" labours in the workshop of the spring-time to weave the garment for Nature by which God Himself may be seen by mortals. Thus in all the ages of the world the figure of the loom has commended itself as one most aptly setting forth the deepest truths of human experience.(J. Wallace, M. A.) (J. Wallace, M. A.) I. There are HALF-DONE DUTIES. Multitudes perform their duty in such a way that it is but half done. In the ordinary routine of life they are always a little late, and consequently have to work with haste. Or take the higher duty of man to love God and keep His commandments. There are moments of Pisgah vision, but what weary leagues of plain are there unredeemed by any thought of God! This half-done duty is life's shuttle plied with a palsied hand, and the fabric of character is such as in the end will put the weaver to the blush. II. There are HALF-CONQUERED TEMPTATIONS. Many a man is conquered who does not fall. III. What is the secret of duties half done, of temptation half conquered? The secret is HALF-CONSECRATED LIVES. If all the provinces of the soul do not obey the Divine mandate, we need not be astonished if rebellion sometimes shows its head. When we have done our best to weave, we are not to go to heaven in our own garments. Christ has provided raiment for His people, woven on the Cross and dyed there in colours more enduring than Tyrian purple. We have to weave as those who have to prove their calling, not win it. (J. Wallace, M. A.) They may do hurt to others with their projects, but can never do any real service or kindness to themselves, by them. There is nothing to be got by sin.( M. Henry.) Our text speaks of works which are inadequate to the purpose for which they are performed. An unprofitable and useless manufacture is denounced. What should we think of a manufacturer who persisted in making a kind of cloth so flimsy and rotten that it would hardly hold together — so weak and threadbare that either it could not be made up into garments, or, if it were, they would be useless for either adornment or comfort. And how great would be our astonishment if this imprudent man actually proceeded to clothe himself with the flimsy stuff he had made! Yet such, in a moral sense, is the conduct of those who are condemned in our text. They weave a web with which they try in vain to effectually clothe themselves. The "web" is the fabric of their own righteousness, or works. The persons spoken of are they who are self-sufficient in their wickedness and pride of heart. They are unrighteous people, who think themselves righteous, or who desire to be thought so by others. But the material they produce is as flimsy as a spider's web; and it will serve for neither decency nor comfort, for neither ornament nor use. Let us think of the purposes a garment is intended to serve, and we shall be supplied with various illustrations of the utter inadequacy of self-righteousness.I. A GARMENT IS DESIGNED FOR PERSONAL COMFORT. A garment is useless, and even intolerable, unless it affords warmth and ease. We are quite unable to produce a fabric which will afford either substantial comfort or permanent peace. 1. However genuine our present righteousness might be, it would not absolve us from the guilt of past sin. 2. Our own righteousness is insufficient for comfort because, it leaves, untouched the passions of the unregenerate- heart. 3. Our own righteousness is inadequate for comfort because it affords no effectual protection against temptation. II. THE SECOND PURPOSE - A GARMENT IS INTENDED TO SERVE IS DECENCY. A garment which is ill-fitting, or of unseemly pattern, or formed of coarse and worthless material, is unpleasing to others no less, and possibly more, than to the wearer himself. And one's own righteousness — that is the righteousness which is not produced under the influence of the Holy Spirit — will no more bear the scrutiny of one's fellow-men, than would a ragged coat or a draggled and threadbare dress. Like an inferior garment, it may pass muster in the crowd, or escape criticism on a casual view, but it will not bear close inspection. A man cannot so cover himself with his own righteousness as to appear at all times decently and respectably clothed. 1. The garment is so thin that it does not hide the natural ugliness of the soul. 2. It is likewise so limited in its dimensions as to cause serious disfigurement of the life. 3. The garment of self-righteousness is undurable. III. THE GARMENT OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS IS INTENDED TO SECURE FOR ITS WEARER ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD. There are garments which are necessary for certain occasions, or for admission to particular places. Such was the wedding garment in the East, and such is the modern court dress. The garment of outward works is designed by the wearer to serve a similar purpose. It is intended as a recommendation to the favour of God and a passport to heaven. But it will answer neither of these ends. If we would sustain the scrutiny of God, we must be clothed in something of finer texture, of stronger substance, and of richer hue, than the flimsy and bedraggled garment of our own righteousness. 1. It will not cover us to the satisfaction of God because of its insufficient dimensions and its many flaws. 2. Nor is it in fact any real covering in the sight of God. Let us learn the worthlessness of merely outward righteousness, and the absolute necessity of repentance, regeneration, and holiness of heart. (J. W. Keyworth.) A mere web of cloth might be said to be of no practical use. It may lie on the shelves in the draper's shop for a time, but it is intended for something beyond that. The ultimate purpose in connection with it is the garments that may be made from it. It has possibilities — the possibility of garments in it — and that was intended from the first. It has not realized the intention regarding it until it is ultimately turned into garments. So when the prophet says, "Their webs shall not become garments, he is referring to the wicked plans of wicked men among the Israelites, and means that their plans would not reach the final, the complete and practical stage. Their purposes would be frustrated by a higher Hand. The words may be applied to ourselves, and in various ways.I. SOME PURPOSES ARE FRUSTRATED BECAUSE OF SOMETHING LACKING IN OURSELVES — indolence, want of energy, or want of ability to complete our purposes. II. SOME PURPOSES ARE FRUSTRATED BECAUSE OF POSITIVE HINDRANCES IN THE WAY THAT WE CANNOT SURMOUNT, AND THAT PERSONALLY WE MAY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH. It is to us one of the most inexplicable things in Providential dealing, how men who devote themselves to a great and good object, and who seem to us essential for its success, are often cut down in the mid-time of their days, just when to our eyes their presence seemed most needed. Why should it be so? No doubt we should see things differently, however, if with wider vision we could look before and after; and find that, higher ways than we can dream of, men whose plans seem to be frustrated are more than satisfied with the Divine mode of dealing. In the text it is wicked purposes that are referred to, and though often a good purpose seems to be checked as well, yet there will be no real failure in life's plans if we live according to our light. Working in line with God there is a deeper sense in which, instead of our webs not becoming garments, it might be said that the very stars in their courses will fight for us. The great purpose of our life will be fulfilled if we keep near to God. Conclusion: 1. This true success is, above all and first of all, an inward thing. It refers pre-eminently to the inward condition. It must begin there. 2. " We see not yet all things put under Him, but we see Jesus." Whether as to humanity as a whole, or as to individuals, that is true; all things are not yet put under, but there is ever one source of help and hope, and only one. Looking unto Jesus, if that be the attitude of our life, then it cannot be said, whatever befall, that life's purpose has failed, and in higher ways than we can tell our webs shall become garments, the beautiful and durable garments of the soul. (J. S. Mayer, M. A.) People Isaiah, JacobPlaces Jerusalem, ZionTopics Act, Acts, Clothing, Cover, Covering, Deed, Deeds, Evil, Garment, Garments, Hands, Iniquity, Nothing, Serve, Sin, Themselves, Threads, Twisted, Useless, Violence, Violent, Webs, WorksOutline 1. Calamities are not due to lack of saving power in God, but to their own sins16. Salvation is only of God 20. The covenant of the Redeemer Dictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 59:6Library Flimsy Garments'Their webs shall not become garments.'--ISAIAH lix. 6. 'I counsel thee to buy of me ... white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.'--REV. iii. 18. The force of these words of the prophet is very obvious. He has been pouring out swift, indignant denunciation on the evil-doers in Israel; and, says he, 'they hatch cockatrice's eggs and spin spiders' webs,' pointing, as I suppose, to the patient perseverance, worthy of a better cause, which bad men … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Salvation How Shall one Make Use of Christ as the Life, when Wrestling with an Angry God Because of Sin? 'The Breastplate of Righteousness' The Universal Chorus The Lack of Prayer God Seeks Intercessors "For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus Hath Made Me Free from the Law of Sin and Death. " The Hindrances to Mourning Concerning Perfection. Wherefore Christ Undertook a Method of Setting us Free So Painful and Laborious, when a Word from Him, or an Act of his Will, Would Alone The Beginning of Justification. In what Sense Progressive. Some General Uses from this Useful Truth, that Christ is the Truth. Christ the Mediator of the Covenant Concerning Justification. A Defence of the Doctrine of Justification, by Faith in Jesus Christ; "And we all do Fade as a Leaf, and Our Iniquities, Like the Wind, have Taken us Away. " Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant. An Analysis of Augustin's Writings against the Donatists. The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day. Of Justification by Faith. Both the Name and the Reality Defined. Links Isaiah 59:6 NIVIsaiah 59:6 NLT Isaiah 59:6 ESV Isaiah 59:6 NASB Isaiah 59:6 KJV Isaiah 59:6 Bible Apps Isaiah 59:6 Parallel Isaiah 59:6 Biblia Paralela Isaiah 59:6 Chinese Bible Isaiah 59:6 French Bible Isaiah 59:6 German Bible Isaiah 59:6 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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