[FIFTH. THE PROVISION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE CITY, BY WHICH IT CONTINUETH IN LIFE, EASE, PEACE, TRANQUILITY, AND SWEETNESS FOR EVER.]
'And his servants shall serve him.' That is, HIM ONLY. Indeed his servants serve him always, but yet withal they do too too often serve with the wills and lusts of men, even in their service and worshipping God; that is, they serve him in much affliction, temptation, fear, and persecution; but then they shall serve him without any of these. Yea, 'they shall take them captives, whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in the day [O city] that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow,—and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve' (Isa 14:2,3), and thou shalt serve the Lord thy God 'without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of thy life' (Luke 1:74,75).
'And they shall see his face.' This also argueth a very great dispensation of grace and mercy to this Jerusalem. When God did deliver up his people into the hand of the king of Babylon, he said it should be done in fury and in anger, and that for their wickedness he would hide his face from his city (Deu 31:17; Jer 33:5). Wherefore, by the sight of his face here, we are to understand that glorious visible appearance of God that then will be for this city and people in the face of all the world (1 Peter 3:12). For by the face of God we are to understand the discovery of his severity, providences, and wonderful outgoings among the sons of men (Job 6:8-13). As also the glorious breaking forth of grace, mercy, and forgiveness through Christ Jesus, all which the people of God shall then most marvellously see and behold (Heb 1:1-3; 2 Cor 4:6).
First. They shall see his severity and judgments upon the whore.
Second. They shall see how God, by his strange judgments and works of wonder, hath brought this about. 'Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest' (Rev 15:4). 'They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even the righteous acts towards the inhabitants of his villages in Israel' (Judg 5:11).
Third. And as for his mercy, they shall see that their horn is exalted, and that they are near to him. 'Praise ye the Lord' (Psa 148:14).
'And his name shall be in their foreheads.' And 'his name.' That is, his fear and image, it shall appear in all their doings. Sometimes he saith he will write his fear and law in their hearts and minds. Which fear and law is all one with that which in this place he calleth his name in their foreheads. The forehead of a man is the place above all parts of the body that is most naked and plain to be beheld of all that pass by; wherefore, when he saith their Father's name shall be in their foreheads, it is as if he had said, the profession of my people shall now be open, and the beauty of it apparent to all beholders; 'I will make' them, saith God, 'a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes' (Zeph 3:20). Every face shall then shine with oil, as well as every heart be replenished with milk and wine.
This was held forth by the memorial that the Israelites were to wear, at God's command, between their eyes; which memorial was the doctrine of unleavened bread and of the paschal lamb, the doctrine of faith and holiness (Exo 13:6-9; 1 Cor 5:8). Wherefore, by name here, he means the faith and holiness of the gospel, which in those days shall walk openly with honour, with reverence, and esteem before all men. At this day the world will, as I have said, be so far off from opposing and persecuting, that they shall wonder, and tremble, and fear before this people; yea, be taken, affected, and pleased with the welfare of this beloved. 'The mountains and the hills shall break forth before her into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands' (Isa 55:12). 'All nations shall call them blessed, for they shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts' (Mal 3:12). The waters of Noah shall now be no more, the tumultuous multitudes shall now be gone, and there will be no more sea (Isa 54:9; Psa 65:7; 89:9; Rev 21:1,2). Now therefore the doves may be gathering their olive-branches, and also find rest for the soles of their feet, while the ark shall rest upon the mountains of Ararat (Gen 8:4,5).
'The wolf also shall [now] dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.—The lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord (Isa 11:6-9; 56:2-5).
Blessed is he whose lot it will be to see this holy city descending and lighting upon the place that shall be prepared for her situation and rest! Then will be a golden world; wickedness shall then be ashamed, especially that which persecutes the church. Holiness, goodness, and truth shall then, with great boldness, countenance, and reverence, walk upon the face of all the earth. 'From the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts' (Mal 1:11). It will be then always summer, always sunshine, always pleasant, green, fruitful, and beautiful to the sons of God.
'And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.—And Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation' (Joel 3:18,20). 'And the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there' (Eze 48:35). O blessedness! 'And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things that must shortly be done' (Rev 22:6).
I conclude therefore with that earnest groan of Moses, the man of God, 'O satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.—Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it (Psa 90:14-17). Amen.
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