John Calvin on Isaiah 33:24

24. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. The Prophet again returns to the Church; for the destruction which he threatened against the Assyrians tended also to the consolation of the godly, since the safety of the Church could not be maintained unless the Lord granted his protection against so many adversaries who attack and molest her on every hand. Accordingly, having briefly remarked that all the reprobate who annoy the children of God shall be defeated, he appropriately follows out his subject by affirming that God will leave nothing undone that could promote the salvation of the godly. He says, therefore, that the citizens of the Church shall be freed from every inconvenience, because through the favor of God they shall enjoy prosperity.

The people that dwell in it have been freed from iniquity. This latter clause of the verse explains the former; for it shews that there is nothing to prevent the blessings of God from being largely enjoyed by us, when our sins have been pardoned. Hence, also, we conclude, that all the miseries which press upon us spring from no other source than from our sins. On any other ground the reason which he assigns might appear to be, farfetched and inappropriate; but we must hold this principle, that all the evils which God inflicts upon us are so many tokens of his anger. Hence it follows that, when guilt has been removed, nothing remains but that God will regard us with the affection of a father, and will graciously bestow upon us all that we need. If, therefore, we desire to be delivered from afflictions, we ought to observe this order, to seek first to be reconciled to God; for the removal of the cause would be speedily followed by the removal of the effect.

But seeing that our desires, are illregulated, and that, in consequence of being anxious merely to avoid punishments, we shut our eyes against the root of our distresses, we need not wonder that we obtain no alleviation of them. Those persons, therefore, are mistaken who indulge in their vices, and yet wish to be exempted from every kind of afflictions. If they do not suffer and adversity, still they will not cease to be miserable, and cannot enjoy peace of mind so long as they are pursued by the consciousness of their crimes. Consequently, true happiness consists in this, that we have obtained pardon from God, and sincerely believe that all the blessings which we receive from his hand are the results of his fatherly kindness.

Let us also learn that there is no other way in which we can please God, or obtain the honor of being accounted his children, than when he ceases to impute to us our sins; and therefore it is only the reconciliation which we obtain by free grace that pacifies God toward us, and opens up the way to the enjoyment of his goodness. That there is no visible evidence of that exemption from afflictions does not lessen the truth of the promise, because believers are abundantly satisfied with this comfort in their afflictions, that even when they are chastened by the hand of God, still they are his beloved children. So far as they have been renewed by his Spirit, they begin to taste the blessing which was in full perfection before the fall of Adam; but because they are burdened with many sins, they constantly need to be cleansed. Still, however, through compassion on their weakness, God mitigates their punishment, and, if not by removing altogether, yet by abating and soothing their grief, shews that he promotes their happiness; and therefore it is not without good reason that the Prophet declares the Church to be exempted from ordinary calamities, so far as they proceed from the curse of God.

Hence, also, we see clearly how childish is the distinction of the Papists, that the removal of guilt is of no avail; as if we had to satisfy the judgment of God. But far otherwise do the prophets teach, as may be easily learned from various passages; and if there had been nothing more than this single passage, can anything be plainer than that sicknesses come to an end, because iniquity has been pardoned? The meaning is undoubtedly the same as if he had said, that punishment ceases because sin has been pardoned. True, indeed, though God has been pacified towards them, “Encore qu’il leur air pardonne.” “Though he has forgiven them.” he sometimes inflicts punishment on believers; and the object is, that by fatherly chastisement he may instruct them more fully for the future, and not that he may take vengeance on them, as if he had been. but half reconciled. But Papists think that their punishments are of the nature of satisfactions, and that by paying them the sinner in some measure redeems himself, and puts away his guilt; which is absolutely inconsistent with a free pardon. Thus their abominable inventions, both about satisfactions, and about the fire of purgatory, fall to the ground.

It is also worthy of observation, that none but the citizens of the Church enjoy this privilege; for, apart from the body of Christ and the fellowship of the godly, there can be no hope of reconciliation with God. Hence, in the Creed we profess to believe in “The Catholic Church and the forgiveness of sins;” for God does not include among the objects of his love any but those whom he reckons among [he members of his onlybegotten Son, and, in like manuel’, does not extend to any who do not belong to his body the free imputation of righteousness. Hence it follows, that strangers who separate themselves from the Church have nothing left for them but to rot amidst their curse. Hence, also, a departure from the Church is an open renouncement of eternal salvation.

CHAPTER 34

Isaiah 34:1-17

1. Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.

1. Accedite gentes ad audiendum, et populi attendite. Audiat terra, et plenitudo ejus; orbis, et cuncta germina ejus.

2. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.

2. Quia indignatio est Iehovae super omnes gentes, et furor super omnem exercitum earum; vastavit eas, tradidit eas in mactationem.

3. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

3. Interfecti earum abjicientur, et e cadaveribus eorum ascendet foetor earum, ac liquefient montes prae sanguine eorum.

4. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.

4. Et tabescent omnes exercitus coelorum, et complicabuntur ut liber. Coeli et onmes exercitus eorum defluent, sicut defiuit folium e vite, et sicut defiuit ex ficu.

5. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.

5. Quoniam inebriatus est in coelis gladius meus. Ecce, super AEdom descendet, super populum, inquam, anathematis met in judicium.

6. The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.

6. Gladius Iehoae impletus eat sanguine, impinguatus est ab adipe; sanguine, inquam, agnorum et hircorum, adipe renum arietum. Quoniam victima Iehova in Bozra, et mactatio magna in terra AEdom.

7. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their l.and shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

7. Et descendent unicornes cum eis, et juvenci cum tauris; et inebriabitur terra eorum sanguine, et pulvis adipe impinguabitur.

8. For it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

8. Quoniam dies ultionis Iehovae, annus retributionum in causam Sion.

9. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

9. Et convertentur flumina ejus in picem, et pulvis ejus in sulphur; eritque terra ejus in picem ardentern.

10. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

10. Noctu et die non extinguetur, perpetuo ascendet fumus ejus; a generatione in generationem devastabitur, perpetuis aeternitatibus nemo transibit per cam.

11. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.

11. Itaque accipient eam in possessionem pelicanus et ulula; noctua et corvus habitabunt in ea; extendetque super earn funiculum inanitatis et lapides perpendiculares vantratis.

12. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.

12. Nobiles ejus sine regno vacabunt, et cuncti principes ejus erunt nihilum.

13. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.

13. Proferet in palatiis ejus spinas, et urticam, et carduum in arcibus ejus; eritque habitaculum draconum, et mansio pullis struthionis.

14. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.

14. Et occurrent bestiae sylvestres satyris, et stryx ad socium suum vociferabur;etiam Lamina ibi per noctabit, invenietque sibi mansionem quietam.

15. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.

15. Ulula faciet ibi nidum, et incubabit, et excludet, et congregabit in umbra ejus; quinetiam vultures ibi congregabuntur, unaquaeque cum socia sua.

16. Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.

16. Sciscitamini ex libro Iehovae, et legite. Nunquid unum ex illis substractum; nullum sociae suae deerit; quoniam os ejus praecepit, et spiritus ejus congregavit eas.

17. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

17. Et ipse projecit eis sortem, etmarius ejus divisit illis in perpetuum, quasi per funiculum. Ideo haereditabunt eam, in generationem et genereationem illic habitabunt.