1) He foretold the miserable fall of the Jewish kingdom, now he comforts the remaining ones again and says: the best part of the people will be left, who shall receive the glorious promises of the kingdom of Christ, as it is also said in Jeremiah: 2) I have left me a grape. And Moses in his song Deut. 32, 36: "The Lord has mercy on his servants."
2 Furthermore, he uses this order: First, he says that the kingdom of Christ will be glorious and magnificent. Then he explains what this glory is, namely that Christ will give the church excellent gifts. First, he sanctifies her. Secondly
2) In the Wittenberg edition in the margin: "Hiers.b" sv. 9]. The old translator has: Jer. 15, II. But neither seems to fit us well.
he will forgive sins, and kill the flesh and the old man. Third, he will stand by in danger, protect from violence, comfort in adversity 2c.
V. 2. At that time the branch of the Lord will be dear and valuable.
3. "The branch of the Lord" and "the fruit of the earth" is Christ. This one, he says, will show himself in his majesty and glory, he will be exalted above all his enemies, he will live, and give us all things superfluous. But all this is done through the word. m) But for this reason he calls Christ "the branch of the Lord," so that he may give us a new life against the vexation of the
m) Instead of what follows in this paragraph, the 1532 edition has: But he calls Christ a branch of the Lord because he is weak in the world, crucified and despised, but glorious in the eyes of God.
The Lord says, "Do not be mistaken by this outward appearance. Let not, saith he, this outward appearance deceive thee. For though Christ is weak in the world, crucified and despised, yet in the eyes of the Lord he is glorious, and the right branch.
V. 3. and who will be left in Zion.
Not only will Christ be such in his person, but he will also distribute these riches among the rest of the people, who will be called saints because God will dwell in them and they will be dedicated only to divine use.
V. 4. by the Spirit who will judge and kindle a fire.
5. this piece also belongs to the distribution of the riches that are in Christ; because the Spirit immediately kills the flesh, so that the outward members of the body also may depart from unrighteousness, and we may live innocently. For those who are justified are cleansed and washed away daily by the Holy Spirit. For we are daily challenged by various sins, that we may know, partly in ourselves and partly in others, what wickedness is in our hearts, and that we may feel the power of Christ against sin, who dwells in us through His Spirit.
(6) But the prophet ascribes to the Holy Spirit a twofold office. The "Spirit of judgment" is with whom Christ exercises judgment, that he may condemn, cleanse, and kill the old man. But "the spirit of judgment" refers to "filthiness"; as John also calls him a spirit that punisheth [John 16:8.]. "A spirit of fire" he is called, because he does not grow weary, but continues fiercely, and impels that we should grow and become stronger from day to day. But "the spirit of fire" refers to "the blood," that is, to the blood debt. For our heart is unclean, and we are all death-believers before God.
V. 5. 6. And the LORD will create over all the dwelling place of Mount Zion, and where it is gathered, clouds and smoke of the day.
So far he has described the riches of Christ's kingdom, the distribution of spiritual gifts, and the power and effect of purification. But because Satan cannot suffer this knowledge, and because our King is a hidden King, and because we have not been given weapons to avenge ourselves, but have been commanded to endure and bear, he now touches the cross. n) The Lord, he says, will protect and defend Zion, that is, his church, which is in danger for the sake of this branch. Christ will be the right "cloud", that is, he will refresh and comfort his own. And he will be a "fire" that will shine in the temptations. In him the believers will have strength and power 2c. o)
8 The prophet makes a double challenge, one of the "heat" and the other of the "rain"; one of the "fire" and the other of the "water" and promises that Christ will be our protector so that we will not be hurt. So also in Matthew, Cap. 7, 24, 25, it is said of the house built on a rock that it would stand against the violence of the winds and the floods of the waters. Accordingly, this passage teaches that the powers of Christians rest in Christ alone, and in no other thing, which we will explain a little more broadly.
n) Instead of the preceding in this paragraph, the 1532 edition has: Now he also touches the cross.
o) Here the 1532 edition continues: "The prophet makes a double challenge, one of the heat, the other of the rain. The heat is when the conscience feels the wrath of God in persecution, and takes up the cross as a certain sign of divine wrath. When this outward evil, with which we are plagued, is joined by the inward temptation of the conscience, and Satan increases the despair, so that man is plagued from within as well as from without, then only is the heat really felt. But here the souls must be reminded of the will of God, namely that God does not chastise us for the sake that we should despair and perish, but that it is a fatherly chastisement, so that we do not become arrogant, and so that we learn about ourselves, and that Satan also sees that the word of God is invincible, and that it sustains and delivers us in all misfortunes, be they as great as they may. But you should diligently realize that no efforts, merits and works that are ours can be of use to us in the temptations, but that all our strength rests on Christ alone, who protects us through his word as a cloud. The rain is the outward attacks. But no one understands this unless he is taught by experience." This is followed by st 11,
At the time of persecution, the conscience is naturally struck with the fear of divine wrath. For because it feels the present punishment, it immediately makes the conclusion (colligit ex posteriori): You are being afflicted now, therefore God hates you. Such is our nature, and by following it, the prophets call it God's wrath, when He visits His own with a cross, while in fact and truth it is not God's wrath, but a love rut. Satan also adds to this and increases the despair, so that the heart doubts God's grace and begins to fear God and to hate Him as an executioner, so that one feels pain and fear on both sides, outwardly in the flesh and inwardly in the conscience. This is actually the heat of which the prophet speaks here, by which the conscience is parched.
(10) Here the Holy Spirit is needed to teach us, and a devout brother to remind and instruct us that God wants nothing else than to improve us with a fatherly heart, and to show us His power and the power of the Word, which finally triumphs, so that we may learn, and Satan may also see, that the Word is an invincible power of God, against which the gates of hell can do nothing, and so that the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, may be glorified. Whoever, without this protection of the Word, looks to princes and to the common people, of whom we have seen many, will be deceived, as the Scripture says: Whoever relies on men will perish. But just as reliance on men is forbidden, so also God is offended when we throw away faith and fear men too much. As he says to Ahaz in chapter 7, v. 4: "Do not be afraid, and let your heart be undaunted before these two smoking fires of fire. But Ahaz gave him no ear, just as we are all by nature faithless against the divine promises. But he who believes the word will surely be saved. For this is our only protection. For the frightened and weak souls cannot be raised up by human hands. Here the word is necessary;
whoever grasps this feels refreshment and cooling for the heat.
The rain, however, is the outward attacks, from which not the conscience but the body feels discomfort. Therefore, in this place Christ is presented to us as our shield in all tribulations, both spiritual and physical. But this cannot be understood without experience, which alone makes a divine scholar. The heretics will one day have to feel the sun without having an umbrella, because they reject the flesh of Christ and walk only against the mere majesty. They will not feel this for a while when they are out of the temptation, but when the temptation will seize them, they will fall suddenly.
(12) For he who is challenged must be told that he does not stumble after the divine majesty and the terrible works of this majesty. For God does not want us to recognize Him in this way; therefore He does not want to deal with mere men, but He has hidden Himself in our flesh, which we can grasp and take hold of. We cannot grasp the divine majesty unless we want to grasp a consuming fire. And Satan cannot overthrow us more easily in any other way than when he has led us to the contemplation of majesty. It is so great that the mind must soon fall into despair. For this reason Solomon also reminded [Proverbs 25:27, Vulg.], "He that searcheth after majesty shall be crushed with the glory of it." The cause is this, because we are by nature forward. Now majesty, as an inexhaustible fountain, presents infinite examples, from which spring infinite and exceedingly dangerous questions, such as: why did God permit the fall of Judas? why did he let Peter come to grace again? 2c. Through such disputations, the hearts are gradually accustomed to vain questions, so that they quarrel with God as with a potter, whereupon the fall inevitably follows.
Therefore, one must refrain from such thoughts. For if God would have wanted to be known by us in this way, then
he did not come into the flesh. But for this reason he held out his flesh to us, that we might cling to it and grasp and understand it to some extent. So he does not let Philip, who was too forward in asking him about the Father, wander higher, but leads him back to himself and says: "Philip, he who sees me sees my Father. You must not seek the Father apart from me, or imagine that the Father can be known without me; behold me, and you have also seen the Father. For before the face of the Majesty no man can stand, but must look unto Christ alone.
14 Therefore let us not listen to those who say, "The flesh is of no use. Rather, turn it around and say: God without flesh is of no use. For on Christ's flesh, on the child who hangs on the Virgin's breasts, the eyes must be firmly fixed, so that one may take courage and say: I have no God, neither in heaven nor on earth, nor do I know of any other, except the flesh which lies in the womb of the Virgin Mary. If you say this, there is no fear that you will deviate from God, or that your heart will be brought to despair by terror and fear.
For God is otherwise incomprehensible in all other ways, but only in the flesh of Christ is He comprehensible. In this Christ you see nothing but the highest sweetness and kindness, who voluntarily took upon himself the death of the cross for us, so that we, freed from sins, might have his righteousness through faith in him and eternal life. Through this sight the mind is raised and life is received. All the rest are images of wrath and death, none of which is more dangerous than the image of the divine majesty. But he who thus takes Christ into his heart
After this, he can safely climb up to the Father and deal with him, as he says [John 14:6]: "I am the way. But the ways that are apart from Christ, on which one wants to ascend to the Father or to the divine majesty, are all slopes on which no one can stand, but must fall down.
(16) Therefore I remind and exhort you, dear fathers and brethren, beware of such high thoughts, by which faith and hope are taken away, heaven is shut up, and hell is opened. But learn diligently what the prophet here reminds you, that Christ alone is set apart to be a screen and a shade for those who endure adversity from the heat and the rain. To this one fix your eyes, to this one cling, as you are also reminded by God's voice: "Him you shall hear." Whoever hears another, whoever looks to anything else besides this flesh, is lost. For this alone shields us from the heat that comes from contemplating the divine majesty; it alone protects us from the rain and the violence of Satan. This shadow gives us cooling, that the thoughts of wrath may pass. For there can be no wrath where you see that the Son of God is given to death for you, that you may live. That is why I put to your heart the designations of Christ, with which here the prophet adorns him, that he is "a tabernacle for shade from the heat, and a refuge and hiding place from the weather and rain". In the same way Paul also draws all things to this Christ, since he speaks [Col. 2, 9.]: "In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." He is therefore presented to us as the seat of grace [Rom. 3, 25], so that we may not despair, depart from God, and be frightened by other hateful images besides Christ, in whom alone is our victory and life.