Isaiah 40:18-26
To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will
ye compare unto him? The workman
melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and
casteth silver chains.
He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation
chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to
prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
Have ye not known?
Have ye not heard?
Hath it not been told you from the beginning?
Have ye not understood from the foundations of the
earth?
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth,
and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the
heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the
judges of the earth as vanity.
Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not
be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also
blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away
as stubble.
To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith
the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on
high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by
number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he
is strong in power; not one faileth.
To whom then will ye liken God? - Since he is so
great, what can resemble him?
What form can be made like him?
The main idea here intended to be conveyed by the
prophet evidently is, that God is great and glorious, and worthy of the
confidence of his people. This idea he illustrates by a reference to the
attempts which had been made to make a representation of him, and by showing
how vain those efforts were.
He therefore states the mode in which the images of
idols were usually formed, and shows how absurd it was to suppose that they
could be any real representation of the true God.
It is possible that this was composed in the time of
Manasseh, when idolatry prevailed to a great extent in Judah, and that the
prophet intended in this manner incidentally to show the folly and absurdity of
it.
This extreme point which can never be reached by
objectors to the doctrine of the Trinity is the point of incomprehensibleness,
not the point of impossibility.
The doctrine, though incomprehensible as to the
manner, can never be proved impossible as to the fact.
The same may be said of the Deity, or any of His
attributes, e.g., Eternity, Omnipresence.
Here are a few points on the resemblance to God.
1.
The Creator is distinguished from
every creature by being self-existent.
No way of accounting for the origin of
anything except by supposing something which never had an origin. It was an
ancient inscription in a heathen temple, "I am whatsoever was, is, or
shall be; and who is he that shall draw aside my veil?"
2.
The existence of a Creator is a
necessary existence. This should prepare us to find God inscrutable. To depict
an Archangel, one has but to remodel himself; but how begin to depict God, the
Uncreated?
Hence the vanity of all attempts to explain
or illustrate the Trinity in Unity.
3.
If we could produce an exact
instance of three in one, we should have no right to point to it as at all
parallel with the union in the Man was made in the moral image of his Maker. It
is the image of the nature which the text says it is impossible to find. Still
some use may be made of illustration.
Is it possible that there may be three
persons in the Godhead, consistently with that unity which Scripture
unreservedly ascribes to the Divine Being?
Observe man's constitution.
All confess he is made up of a body and a soul. Apart
from seeing this union effected, we might have thought it impossible. It is a
union of quite different natures. Why should he not unite two things of the
same nature, e.g., two spirits? If with two, then with three; the possibility does
not depend upon the number. Thus we admit the incomprehensible, but we disprove
the impossible.
The foregoing illustration shows no unmindfulness of
the truth that we cannot find a likeness to the everlasting God. It shows from
what is possible in created being the unreasonableness of pronouncing a certain
constitution impossible in the uncreated Being.
"Wonderful Being! Who has only to tell what He
is to make Himself more inscrutable."
The whole of Christianity falls to pieces
if you destroy this doctrine. If this doctrine be
false, Christ Jesus is nothing more than a man, and the Holy Ghost a creature
of quality.
That truth cannot be a barren speculation which may
not be believed or disbelieved without affecting the Christian character.
Reflect upon prayer
Prayer must be
prescribed and regulated by the doctrine of the Trinity. It is a false god whom
man worships, if he adores Unity in which there is no Trinity. The heathen bows
down before a stock or a stone, the Socinian before a Godhead in which there is
no Son and no Holy Spirit. Without a Trinity, man must save himself; with a
Trinity, he is to be saved through Christ.
Our duty
Whilst no likeness can be found to the invisible
uncreated God, we are to study conformity to the image of His Son. Resemblance
to Christ is the nearest approach to resemblance to
The passage suggests:
That the greatest things in the material world are
nothing to God. The ocean, the heaven, the earth
(Psa
33:8-9). Let all the earth fear the
Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
That the greatest minds in the spiritual universe are
nothing to Him He is uninstructible:
The only being in the universe who is so. He is
absolutely original: the only such Being. We talk of original thinkers; such
creatures are mere fictions. He being so independent of all minds:
1. His universe must be regarded as the expression of
Himself. No other being had a hand in it.
2. His laws are the revelation of Himself. No one
counselled Him in His legislation.
3. His conduct is absolutely irresponsible. He is
answerable to no one. He alone is irresponsible, and He alone can be trusted
with irresponsibility.
That the greatest institutions in human society are
nothing to Him. Nations are the greatest things in human institutions. Nations,
with their monarchs, courts, armies—Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome—these are great
things in history. Islands
(Isa 40:15-17) Behold, the
nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the
balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts
thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
All nations before him are as nothing; and they are
counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
CONCLUSION.— How great is God!
The Moslems cry in their prayers,
Allah hûakbar!—"God is great."
Let us as Christians Cry out for all to know
"There is," nothing great but God"
