Let us turn to God's Word. In
the portion we were reading, the book of the Prophet Isaiah,
chapter 57, and directing you for a while to the words that
we find here in verse 15. Isaiah 57, 15. For thus saith
the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,
I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is
of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah 57 and
verse 15, For thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth
eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy
place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit
to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the
contrite ones. I think it's a good text and
I trust if you go away with nothing else you at least have a text
to think upon and to meditate in and I want simply tonight
to say something with regards to the dwelling places of our
God the dwelling places of our God. And here in the text we
see there are but two principal dwellings where God is to be
found. First of all, there is the high
and the holy place, eternity. The one speaking is the high
and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity. whose name is Holy,
and he says, I dwell in the high and holy place. What is this
high and holy place? Is it not the heaven of heavens? We see how in Holy Scripture
there are at least three heavens that are set before us. There
is, of course, the sky, round about this planet Earth, Elihu
in Job 35 says look unto the heavens and see and behold the
clouds which are higher than the atmosphere around this planet
when we look in look up into the sky, the azure blue of the
sky. And the Psalmist makes reference
to the fowls of the heaven. There is the first heaven's end,
but of course, we're able on a clear night to look beyond. We're able to look out into the
starry heavens, the vastness, the universe and that surely
is the second heavens and we're told how God has created all
of it by the word of the Lord were the heavens made all the
host of them by the breath of his mouth he spake and it was
done he commanded and it stood fast and we have the record of
God's creation there in the opening chapter of scripture in Genesis
1 and remember how in the book of Job he speaks there of the
various constellations that we see in stellar space in Job chapter
9 and there at verse 7 the following verses Job is answering and speaking. Speaking of God, which commandeth
the sun, and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars, which alone
spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the ways of the
sea, which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers
of the south, which doeth great things past finding out, yea,
and wonders without number. Job can speak of those wondrous
constellations that we see in the starry skies. There is then
a heaven beyond the atmosphere that's around about the planet
Earth. There is stellar space. And then also, of course, in
Scripture we have specific mention of the third heavens and the
experience that was granted to a man like the Apostle Paul. And he speaks of it, doesn't
he, there at the end of that second epistle to the Corinthians,
there in the twelfth chapter. Now, he humbly speaks of a man,
he doesn't make mention of himself, he speaks in the third person,
but evidently it's his own experience that he is describing. But he
does it so humbly, I knew a man in Christ, he says, about 14
years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out
of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such and one caught
up, he says, to the third heaven and I knew such a man whether
in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth how
that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which
it is not lawful for a man to utter why he was taken altogether
outside of time it seems and granted this great favor of entering
into the paradise, which is the very presence of God. That is
the heaven of heavens. That is eternity, the very place
where God is, as we are told here in the text tonight. The
high, the lofty one that inhabiteth eternity. whose name is holy,
I dwell, he says, in the high and holy place. That's where
the apostle was taken to. And what does he witness here? It seems he's altogether outside
of time. And he sees something of the
eternity of that God, whoever and always has been and will
be. As we have it here in verse 15, one that inhabits us eternally. God inhabits eternity. Again, Moses in his prayer, Psalm
90, says of God that He is even from everlasting to everlasting. From everlasting to everlasting
thou art God. God always was and always will
be. And when we see King Solomon
the building of the temple, the place where God will come and
has promised that he was to dwell in the midst of Israel. He was
there of course with them as he brought them out from Egypt,
as he took them through all the wilderness wanderings. He promised
to be with them in the tabernacle. They would know something of
his presence as your kind of glory. But when David was desirous
of building something more appropriate for the dwelling of God, but
he was a man of blood, he was a great warrior prince, and it
was his son Solomon, the Prince of Peace, who was to have that
great privilege. So David had gathered together
all that was necessary for the building of the temple. It was
King Solomon who built the temple. What a splendid Oedipus was that. What does he say in his great
prayer, the dedication of the temple? Will God indeed dwell
on the earth? Will God indeed dwell on the
earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain
thee, as God is that one who is the eternal God. So God is
immense. He fills heaven and earth. He's
in all places. He's not confined to any one
place. He's the omniscient one. And
of course, we find David celebrating that glorious truth in the language
of the Psalms, Psalm 139. He cries out, Whither shall I
go from my spirit, or whither shall I flee from my presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, or
Hades, the realm of the dead. Behold thou art there. If I take
the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of
the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand
shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness
shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea,
the darkness hideth not from thee. But the night shineth as
the day. The darkness and the light are
both a light to thee. As God is eternal, so God is
immense, God is in every place, all places. And when we read
of God's dwelling place here, surely we're to recognize something
of His greatness. He is the Creator of all things.
He is that One who first created time. He dwells in eternity. But as He is that One who is
high, lifted up, the lofty one, so it reminds us also that He
is that God who is sovereign. The sovereignty of God is here. I dwell in the high place as
God. And now again the psalmist echoes
that blessed truth. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He pleased. We read in the 115th Psalm. the fact that he is in heaven
indicates to us that he is over all his creation and he is that
one who is always of course doing according to his own will and
good pleasure again the language of the 113th Psalm verse 4 the Lord is high above all nations
and His glory above the heavens, who is like unto the Lord our
God, who dwelleth on high." All God's sovereignty. And now we
see in that fourth chapter of the book of Daniel how the God
of Israel humbles the mighty Nebuchadnezzar, the great emperor,
there in that wonder of the ancient world, the city of Babylon with
its glorious hanging gardens. And God visits the man and takes
all his reason from him. He behaves like one of the beasts
of the field. All this is the great God, is
it not? And our Nebuchadnezzar, having his reason restored, confesses
that God. All the inhabitants of the earth,
he says, are accounted as nothing. and He doeth according to His
will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay His hand, or say to Him, What doest Thou? No God is in the heavens, He
does as He pleases. He is the Eternal God, He is
the Sovereign God, and He is the Holy One. I dwell, He says,
in the holy place. That is what heaven is, is it
not? The Hymn writer says heaven is that holy, happy place where
sin no more defiles, where God unveils his blissful face and
looks and loves and smiles. If we know anything of the grace
of God, isn't that what we long for? That heaven which is a happy
place because it is a holy place. Sin, my worst enemy before, shall
vex mine eyes and ears no more. My inward foes shall all be slain,
nor Satan break my peace again, says Isaac Watts in one of his
hymns concerning heaven. Oh, that's what is for the believer,
such a delightful thought, a place where there's no sin, that sin
that so torments us. when we come to look into our
own hearts and feel we have nothing but a sink of iniquity dwelling
in the very midst of our being we long for that holy place and
it is a holy place here of course in the sixth chapter we have
that remarkable vision that was granted to the prophet when he
sees the throne of God he sees something of heaven himself just
as the apostle had done in 2nd Corinthians 12 And round about
the throne of God are the seraphims, the burning angels, those pure
creatures, who are always doing God's bidding, serving Him day
and night there in His temple. Oh, why, they have six wings.
They're creatures, you see, that can fly, and they fly at God's
bidding. With two, they fly. But then
with the other four wings, why, they cover their feet with two.
They veil their faces with two. They know the ground is holy
ground. And they cannot bear the sights. Though they be holy
creatures, yet that uncreated glory that belongs to the Lord
God. And what do they sing? Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of
hosts. What a place is heaven. where
God is. Again, we read in Job concerning
God, His angels He charged with folly. He charges His angels
with folly. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in His sight. Oh, what a remarkable place is
that where God is, the holy heavens. How this God humbles Himself. to behold the things that are
in heaven and the things that are upon the earth. This is his
special dwelling, as the text reminds us. This is the God that
we come together, of course, to worship. Surely we should
have some sense of His otherness. He is the High and Lofty One.
He inhabits eternity. His name is holy and He dwells
in the high and the holy place. Now are we to worship Him? Well,
we're familiar, aren't we, with the language of the preacher,
those words that we find in the fifth chapter of the book of
Ecclesiastes, keep thy foot. when thou goest to the house
of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice
of fools, for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash
with thy mouth, let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything
before God, for God is in heaven, thou upon earth. Therefore let
thy words be few. And one wonders today, in many
places, what sort of worship has been rendered onto this God?
They call it worship. And yet, so often, it's nothing
but carnality. It's man-centered. It's entertainment. It's not worship at all. Or are
we those who shrink as we think that we're entering into the
very presence of God? Do we have those great views
of God? who God is and where God is the Eternal God the Sovereign
Lord of all things the Holy One of Israel the Thrice Holy Jehovah
He dwells then in the High and Holy Place He dwells in Eternity
but here is the amazing thing what a contrast we have in the
text it goes on doesn't it with Him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and
to revive the heart of the contrite ones. You see, this God is also
a gracious God. Well, that's the wonder of it.
He doesn't deal with sinners after their sins. He doesn't
reward them according to their iniquities. He's gracious, He's
merciful, He's kind, He's compassionate. Though the Lord be high, yet
hath He respect unto the lowly, says the Psalmist. Oh, He has
respect unto the lowly. That lowliness of mind, how we
witness it, of course, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that great
humiliation of the Lord Jesus. We're all so familiar with that
passage, aren't we, in the second chapter of Philippians, concerning
Christ, who he is, and yet what he became. He thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, yet made himself of no reputation.
He took upon him the form of a servant. In the covenant, he
becomes a servant of God. takes upon Him the form of a
servant, He's made in the likeness of man. And being found in fashion
as a man, He humbles Himself and becomes obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Why, it's humility after humility. In the Covenant, He's equal to
the Father, He's equal to the Holy Spirit, yet in the Covenant,
He becomes the servant of God. And then, when the fullness of
the time has come, he humbles himself and is made a little
lower than the angels. He becomes a man, a real man. And as he is fulfilling his covenant
offices, he is always dependent upon the Holy Spirit in everything
that he does. We remarked on that this morning.
The miracles that he performs. How does he perform miracles
by the Spirit of God? He's preaching. And that ministry
that is so effectual, how is it effectual? Because he has
the unction of the Spirit upon him. Clothing his ministry with
spiritual authority. or the humility of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then He ultimately humbles
Himself even to die that accursed death of the cross. You see,
we don't just witness His humility in the Incarnation, but we see
humility in all that He does, in every part of His ministry
as the God-man. and ultimately in his death there
upon the cross, how he sinks and sinks and sinks as it were. And we remarked this morning
as we were looking again at that account in the 19th chapter of
Luke, the call of Zacchaeus, how we see the Lord looking up
to the sinner. those words in Luke 19.5 Christ
looked up looks up into the tree where Zacchaeus was the Lord
looks up and saw him he looks up to the sinner oh you see how lowly he came
then I am a worm he says and no man the reproach of men and
despised of the people it becomes a curse. When man sinned against God,
there was a curse upon the earth. Cursed is the earth, says God
to the fallen man. Cursed is the earth for thy sake. in Christ he's made a curse he
has redeemed us from the curse of the law says Paul being made
a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree he's a worm of the earth and how God in Jeremiah
addresses that earth earth earth earth he says hear the word of
the Lord all the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ how
he humbles himself and here We see God dwells with
those of a humble spirit. With him also there is a contrite
and humble spirit. To revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. We know that by
nature there is no one who is humble. There is no one that
is contrite. None of us can say that that's
true of us. There's no person on the face
of the earth, there never has been. But of course, one man
only, the Lord Jesus Christ. What are we by nature? We're
proud. We are proud sinners. We're fallen
sinners. and of course we see pride there
in the fall of our first parents. Unbelief is the root of their
sin, but that unbelief is bound up in pride. When Satan comes with the temptation
through the serpent and addresses Eve, what does he say? God does
know in the day that they'll eat us thereof, ye shall be as
gods, knowing good and evil. And there's the temptation. There's
the temptation. Man wants to be a god. Ye shall be as gods. And even now we know that's what
men want to be. They don't want to acknowledge
that there is a God to whom they're accountable. They deny creation. They invent wicked theories,
like evolution, whereby they can discount any idea of God,
one to whom they must give their accounts. Oh, they love the lie. They love the lie of the devil. remember how the Lord Jesus himself
addresses the Jews in his own day, ye are of your father the
devil and how true it was, he came unto his own, his own received
him, this is God this is God manifest in the flesh, they saw
every proof of this deity in the way he lived his life in
the mighty works that he accomplished and yet, oh their eyes were so
blinded It's pride. And Paul speaks of
that pride, doesn't he? He calls it the condemnation
of the devil. It's the condemnation of the
devil. And this is not something that is spoken of here in this
book. If we turn back to chapter 14,
you know that passage. I'm sure many of you are familiar
with it in chapter 14. And the language that we find
there, at verse 12, following. Thou art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning. Thou art thou cut down to the
ground which did weaken the nations. For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God, I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides
of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I
will be like the Most High." Now, there's no disputing that
in the historical context the reference is to the King of Babylon. We see that in verse 4, thou,
that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon,
and say, O hath the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased. The king of Babylon is being
spoken to, being spoken of. But there's something more than
a man here. This is, this is, this is Satan
himself, Lucifer. who will, he says, be like the
Most High. And that spirit is in men by
nature, proud sinners. And in a sense, even those who
know the grace of God, regenerate souls, do in other times feel
it. The words again of Joseph Hart,
remarkable words really, You have them there in that hymn
287. It is pride. Cursed pride, that spirit by
God abhorred. Do what we will. It haunts us
still and keeps us from the Lord. Oh, the pride of our hearts.
It keeps us. We pray against it. Against its
influence, pray it mingles with the prayer. Against it, preach. It prompts the speech. Be silent.
Still it's there. the pride, the pride of many.
And yet, where does the Lord dwell? He dwells in the hearts
of the contrite and the humble. What can we know of humility
if we're just left to ourselves? And there's not only that awful
pride that we have to contend with, there's also that wicked
covetousness and covetousness is idolatry look at the context the verses
in the chapter verse 17 for the iniquity of his covetousness
was I wroth and smote him says God I hid me and was wroth and
he went unthrowedly in the way of his heart speaking against
their covetousness Jeremiah says of those in his day from the
least to the greatest they were full of covetousness thou shalt not covet the tenth
commandment and wasn't that the commandment that found out that
self-righteous Pharisee called Saul of Tarsus It was when the commandment came,
as he tells us here in Romans 7. Thou shalt not covet, and
he discovered his heart was full of all concupiscence, all evil
desires. We don't covet with our hands,
we covet with our hearts. The awful covetousness. Again,
Ezekiel, like Jeremiah says, of the people of Israel, their
heart goeth after their covetousness. Covetousness which is idolatry. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me, says God in the first commandment. And really the first
commandment in many ways is reflected in the tenth commandment. Covenant
is idolatry in that it's ourselves who come first, we're before
God. That's idolatry. And here we
see in the chapter, the Lord God speaking about the idolatrous
ways of these people, the children of Israel. Verse 5, inflaming
yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children
in the valleys under the cliffs of the rocks, offering their
own offspring as sacrifices to their idol gods. You know, the
chapter really divides into two principal parts, doesn't it?
We have those opening words concerning the righteous man when he perishes. No man lays it to heart. God
removes the merciful out of the way. because the days are so
evil. But then we have a description
from verse 3 through to the beginning of verse 13 of the idolatrous
ways of the children of Israel in Isaiah's day, what he's speaking
against. That's the first part of the
chapter, but then in the second part, from the second half of
verse 13 right through, we see how God's comforts and promises
is believing people. There are gracious words that
are spoken to the godly here at the end of the chapter then. And the words of our text, Thou
set the high and lofty one that inhabited eternity whose name
is holy. I dwell in the high and holy
place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.
to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the hearts of the
contrite ones. God will deal with these people
and God will revive them and God will restore them. How is it that God goes about
this work? there are a number of things
that we can see here where in God does work on behalf of his
people he chastises them he chastises
them whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourge at every
son whom he receiveth what is he doing in verse 17 for the
iniquity of his covetousness I was wrath and smote him All He says through Ezekiel,
there in Ezekiel 36, 25, from all your iniquities, will I cleanse
you? How will God cleanse His people?
By chastening them. The Lord's voice, you see, He
cries to the city, the man of wisdom shall see thy name. He
is a rod, says the prophet. And do I have to point at it?
When God goes contrary to His people and lays upon them His His hand
in the way of trial and trouble. Afflictions come. And how necessary
they are. Afflictions make us see what
else would escape our sight. How very foul and dim are we
in God, how pure and bright. We have to be chastened by the
Lord. And God's chastening is our heart. no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward there's
an afterward there's a nevertheless nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them who are exercised while
with those who are exercised we look to the Lord and we we
find his dealings a strange mysterious way with us and yet this God
Is he not a good God? Or is he not the Holy One, the
Sovereign One, who we've sought to say a little of, who dwells
in that high and holy place? There's nothing of sin in heaven,
there's nothing of sin in the ways of God and the dealings
of God. The sin is all ours. The mercy, the grace is all God's.
How does he chasten? Well, sometimes he hides himself. And he says that here in verse
17, I hid me and was wrath. And he went on forwardly in the
way of his heart. All iniquities separate between
us and God. Sins hide his face from us. We
know that don't we? He might in his goodness restore
us but he takes vengeance on all our wicked inventions but
you see what God is about ultimately is to revive his people and to
comfort his people he has that gracious end in view that's what
it says here in the text he will revive the spirit of the humble
He will revive the hearts of the contrite ones. So many comforting words here.
Look at verse 16, I will not contend forever, he says. Neither
will I be always wroth, for the Spirit should fail before me
and the souls which I have made. Verse 18, I have seen His ways
and will heal Him. I will lead him also and restore
comforts unto him and to his mourners. Many gracious words
then the Lord God speaks to his people. His ways are strange
and mysterious. But what is he doing? He's preparing
a place wherein he's going to dwell. He's going to dwell, and
he does dwell in the hearts of his people. And when we look
to ourselves and examine ourselves and try to prove ourselves in
the light of His Word, what do we see in our hearts? Nothing but sin. A great sink
full of iniquity. Every manner of unclean thing
is there in the midst of us. That's what we are by nature.
And the Lord has to deal with us. And the Lord has to humble
us. and he has to bring us to that
place of contrition and confession of our sin he says later in the
book doesn't he in chapter 66 to this man will I look even
to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my words
oh he will make us tremble at his words but he is that God
who is so gracious so is high and lofty how we see God revealing
himself in all the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
one so meek and so mild, would never break a bruised reed, never
quench a smoking flag, so tender in all his ways. Or thus saith
the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,
I dwell in the high and lofty place, But thank God with him also that
he's of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit
of the humble, and to revive the hearts of the contrite ones. Might we be those who are favored
to know something of this God, and something of His gracious
dealings when He bends the heavens, and He comes down and He visits
us in His strange and His mysterious ways. but ever always seeking
only the goods of our never-dying souls. May the Lord bless His
word to us. Amen.