Jehovah of hosts, him shall ye sanctify; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
Judah was in a panic over foreign armies, and the popular cure was an alliance. God speaks to a small group of the faithful and tells them their problem is not the wrong alliance but the wrong fear.
One writer traces the setting from earlier in the chapter:
The LORD warned of the power of the king of Assyria, whose help Ahaz was seeking. He compared his oppressive invasions of the land of Israel to a flood of waters that would overflow, reaching even to the neck. This overwhelming disaster would come on the nation as a whole. But there would still be a faithful and godly remnant, and God would deliver them. And the pledge of this deliverance was that the virgin's Son, Immanuel, is with them. The land is Immanuel's, and He will be among His people.
Where the ESV says "honor as holy," older translations say "sanctify." Peter uses the same word, and one writer explains it:
Notice in passing how verse 15 shows the true force of the word "sanctify." It is not primarily "to make holy," for the Lord cannot be more holy than He is. He can, however, in our hearts be set apart in His own proper place of glory and supremacy and authority. To sanctify is to set apart.
Set apart from what, though? The competition is not only idols but ordinary loves:
Set a special place apart in your heart, the best place, the chief place, the first place, and give that to the Lord. Don't give it to anybody else: not to yourself, not to your spouse, not to your children, not to your work, not to your leisure. There is a place that is reserved for Him which is paramount to you in your existence.
Making God your dread does not leave you nervous. It works the opposite way:
This fear is not cowardice. It does not lower the mind, but lifts it. It drowns all lesser fears and produces true courage to face all dangers for a good conscience and for obeying God. "The righteous are bold as a lion." He dares do anything but offend God... All the brave resolutions and patient sufferings of the saints and martyrs of God have sprung from this fear. They dared not sin against Him, so they dared to be imprisoned, made poor and tortured, and to die for Him. So the prophet sets natural and godly fear as opposites, the one driving out the other... Fear not, but fear; and therefore fear so that you may not fear.
Stripped of drama, this fear is a habit of reference:
The "fear of God," then, is not a cowering fear, but rather setting the Lord always before us, not doing or undertaking anything without reference to Him. How many things we do, and perhaps never consult Him at all! As long as it is not something absolutely wrong, we seem to think we can do pretty much as we like... It is not talking much about it, but "in your hearts." It is having the heart continually in the presence of God.
When alarm spreads, Peter quotes this verse and names the One Isaiah meant:
We are to sanctify the Lord Himself in our hearts at such times, and have no fear as they have. Peter shows this when, referring again to this chapter, he also tells us that "the LORD of hosts" (v. 13) is "the Christ."
That changes the size of the threat:
When the heart was in real danger of being frightened by a crowd of enemies, the way out of the difficulty was to keep the eyes firmly fixed on God... The difficulties that surround us melt, they disappear, when we have before our souls not a small Christ but a great One.
The verse hands the weak side the strongest position. But the LORD who shelters some is a danger to others:
To be in weakness you feel and admit, and so to be thrown on "the LORD of hosts Himself," is to be master of the situation. That is true despite everything the eyes and reasonings of men say... Those who feared the LORD did not need a confederacy, nor alarm at those who trusted in one. They needed to sanctify the LORD, and make Him their sanctuary. Yet He would be a stone of stumbling, even to both the houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to Jerusalem itself.
- Fear misplaced. The crisis was not the Assyrian army. It was a nation frightened into alliances. God deals with the fear, not the politics.
- Fear relocated. To "sanctify" is to set apart — giving God the chief place in the heart, ahead of self, family, work and leisure.
- Fear that frees. Godly fear drowns lesser fears. Those who dared not sin against God dared to face prison, poverty and death.
- Fear practised. Take nothing on without reference to Him. Keep the heart in His presence.
- Fear rewarded. The One to be feared is the Christ. Our dread becomes our sanctuary, and those who admit their weakness end up in command of the situation.
And he will be for a sanctuary; and for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
One Person stands at the centre of this verse, and He has two opposite effects: shelter for some, ruin for others. The difference does not lie in Him but in the people who meet Him — in whether they treat Him as holy or trip over Him.
The verse begins with "and" because it answers the command just before it. Judah wanted alliances. The godly were called instead to treat God Himself as holy, and He would be their shelter.
Those who feared Jehovah did not need a confederacy. They did not need to be alarmed at those who trusted in one. What they needed was to sanctify Jehovah, and make Him their sanctuary. In truth, to be in weakness you feel and admit, and so to be cast on "Jehovah of hosts Himself," is to be master of the situation — whatever it looks like to the eyes and reasoning of men. Yet He would be a stone of stumbling, even to both the houses of Israel — yes, a trap and a snare to Jerusalem itself.
The One who is a sanctuary here is the same One who is the stone. One writer names Him as Christ, and points out what this verse is not about.
The Lord of hosts was to be in the sanctuary. Where is He found? Here is where Christ comes in. He separates the remnant, being a stone of stumbling to the nation itself: for He is the Lord of hosts. He is a sanctuary for those who look to Him as such; for there is no question of atonement here. However much it is needed, it is not the subject. The Person of Christ is before us.
The verse uses two pictures: a stone in the path, and a trap.
In Isaiah 8:14 the word for stumbling is negeph, 'the act of stumbling'. When the Lord was on earth He became this stone of stumbling to the Jews. He remains the same to them and to the house of Israel, where He is still rejected through disobedient unbelief. Romans 9:32-33; 1 Peter 2:8. … the word skandalon is used: this is literally 'the catch of a trap,' which ensnares when touched.
The quotes here follow an older translation. Where the ESV has "a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling," it reads "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence."
Nothing in Him causes the fall. He is the sanctuary of His people, and He becomes a stone of stumbling only where people refuse Him.
Immanuel is truly the sanctuary of His people. But He would become "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence" by the fact of His rejection. This is made quite plain in 1 Peter 2:8. This He is to "both the houses of Israel," though it was mainly the house of Judah that rejected Him.
This verse splits one nation in two. A small circle welcomed Him at His first coming, and the mass of the nation did not.
This is like our Lord's first coming. There were those who sanctified Jehovah, and to whom He became a sanctuary: Simeon, Anna, Mary, Zacharias, and Elizabeth. To the unbelieving mass of the nation He was "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence" (1 Peter 2:8). For the time, the testimony was to be bound up and sealed among His disciples.
Peter picks up this verse and says those who stumble "were appointed" to it. One writer is careful about what that does and does not mean.
It does not say that they were appointed to sin, or to condemnation. These unbelieving and disobedient sinners were the Jewish race, long rebellious, and always exalting themselves against God. They were destined to find a rock of offence in the Lord of grace Himself, and to stumble and fall over what faith saw as the precious stone of salvation.
One writer connects the command behind this verse to the fears we meet today.
This is taken from Isaiah 8:13, when there was a confederacy, and a real danger that a crowd of enemies would frighten the heart. In this situation the way out of the difficulty was to keep the eyes firmly fixed upon God. I venture to say the position is the same today. The difficulties around us melt away and disappear when we have before our souls, not a small Christ, but a great One.
- One Person. The sanctuary and the stumbling stone are not two objects but one — the Lord of hosts Himself, met in Christ.
- One condition. Sanctify Him, and He is your shelter; refuse Him, and the same One is a stone in your path.
- One cause. He becomes a stumbling block through rejection, not by design. Unbelief sets the foot in the trap, not some arbitrary choice of God.
- One split. Simeon and Anna found the sanctuary while the nation stumbled. The verse split Israel at His first coming, and it still splits people now.
- One cure for fear. Others cry "confederacy." Faith keeps its eye on a great Christ, and the difficulties melt.
And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
Isaiah has just set the Lord before the nation as both shelter and obstacle. Verse 15 spells out what happens to those who trip over Him: five steps down, from stumbling to being taken. Why is the same Person safety to some and a trap to others?
The verse describes a split inside one nation. One writer sees the same split when Christ first came.
This is like our Lord's first coming. There were people such as Simeon, Anna, Mary, Zechariah, and Elizabeth, who honoured Jehovah as holy, and to them He became a sanctuary. But to the unbelieving mass of the nation He was "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence" (1 Peter 2:8). And for that time the testimony was to be bound up and sealed among His disciples.
The stumbling of verse 15 has a stated cause, and it is not something in the Stone. It is what men did with Him.
Immanuel really is the sanctuary of His people. Yet He would become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence because men rejected Him. Peter makes this quite plain in 1 Peter 2:8. This He is to "both the houses of Israel," though He was rejected mainly at the hands of the house of Judah.
Scripture says such people were "appointed" to stumble. One writer is careful to say what that word does not mean.
It does not say that they were appointed to sin, or to condemnation. These unbelieving and disobedient sinners, the Jewish people, had long been rebellious and kept exalting themselves against God. They were destined to find a rock of offence in the Lord of grace Himself, and to stumble and fall on what was, to faith, the precious stone of salvation.
Two words lie behind this picture, one Hebrew and one Greek. A Bible dictionary explains each.
In Isaiah 8:14 the word is negeph, 'the act of stumbling.'... The word skandalon is used of the same thing: it means 'the catch of a trap,' which ensnares when it is touched.
Being broken is severe, but it is not the last word. One writer marks the difference between falling on the stone and the stone falling on you.
Then, in verse 44, the Lord marks the difference between the effect of the judgment that was to come on them and what would happen in the last days. They would fall on the stone of stumbling and be broken. But the stone would fall on others in judgment, and they would be crushed and ground to powder... This is a solemn testimony from the Lord's own mouth. It shows the crisis the human race was passing through then — and the crisis the soul still passes through when Jesus is announced.
The same blow that scatters the nation gathers a small company. As the mass goes down, a few stand out as the Lord's own.
Through all this, in the middle you can see a feeble few clinging to His testimony, and He owns them as His disciples, while Jehovah hid His face from the people as a whole. They become a separate remnant, when the mass stumble, fall, and are broken, snared and taken. So, in Hebrews 2:12-13, the Holy Spirit freely quotes verse 18 of this chapter with other Scriptures (Psalm 16; Psalm 22), to prove that the sanctified and the Sanctifier are "all of one."
One writer traces this prophecy into the Gospels. He finds it at work in Nazareth, and he looks on to a day when the obstacle goes.
It had come on the people of Nazareth already, as it was soon coming on both the houses of Israel, for the national stumbling had been foretold... The Stone of Israel was in lowly form then, and the proud Pharisees stumbled at Him and His sayings (Matt. 15:12), but He was soon to be exalted and to become the cornerstone (Ps. 118:22). In the day of His glory Messiah will be "marvellous" in the eyes of His people, though in His humiliation they saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him. They will be a humble people then, and the stumbling block will be removed.
- Stone — the same Lord is a sanctuary to those who honour Him as holy, and a stone of stumbling to those who do not. One Person, two opposite outcomes.
- Stumble — He became an obstacle because men rejected Him. The word behind it means "the act of stumbling."
- Snare — to be "appointed" to stumble is not to be appointed to sin. Disobedient hearts were destined to trip over the very stone that faith calls salvation.
- Severity — falling on the stone breaks; the stone falling in the last days grinds to powder. Verse 15 is the lesser blow, not the final one.
- Separation — the fall of the many marks out the few, disciples joined to the Sanctifier as "all of one." Then comes the day when the stumbling block goes and the Stone is marvellous in their eyes.