God Is Holy (God is separate, or cut off, from everything that is sinful and evil—He cannot tolerate sin)

Isaiah 6:3-5  And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.  (4)  And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.  (5)  Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

J. Vernon McGee

Isaiah 6:3

This pictures the holiness and glory of our God. He is high and lifted up; and, if we would see Him today in that position, we would be delivered from low living. It would also deliver some folk from this easy familiarity that they seem to have with Jesus. They talk about Him as if He were a buddy and as if they could speak to Him in any way they please. My friend, you cannot rush into the presence of God. He doesn't permit it. You come to the Father through Christ. This is the only way He can be approached. You can never come into the presence of the Father because of who you are. You come into His presence because you are in Christ. The Lord Jesus made that very clear when He said, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." If you are His child, you can come with boldness to the throne of grace, but you cannot come to Him on any other basis. "The voice of him that cried" is the voice of the seraphim as they proclaim God's holiness. What effect is this going to have on Isaiah? Isaiah was God's man before he had this experience, but it still had a tremendous effect on him. The reaction of Isaiah to such a vision is revolutionary. He sees himself as he really is in the presence of God—undone. It reveals to him his condition. When he had seen God, he could see himself. The problem with many of us today is that we don't walk in the light of the Word of God. If we did, we would see ourselves. That is what John is talking about in the first chapter of his first epistle: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth [keeps on cleansing] us from all sin" (1Jn_1:7). If we walk in the light of His Word, we are going to see exactly what Isaiah saw—that we are undone and men of unclean lips. You have never really seen the Lord, my friend, if you feel that you are worthy or merit something or have some claim upon God. Job had an experience similar to Isaiah's, and his reaction was, "I abhor myself." Job was a self-righteous man. He could maintain his integrity in the presence of his friends who were attempting to tear him to bits. They told him that he was a rotten sinner, but he looked them straight in the eye and said, "As far as I know, I am a righteous man." From his viewpoint he was right, and he won the match against them. But he was not perfect. When Job came into the presence of God, he no longer wanted to talk about maintaining his righteousness. When Job really saw who he was, he said, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job_42:5-6). If you walk in the light of the Word of God, you will see yourself, and you will know that even as a child of God you need the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse you from all sin. You will find that other men had the same reaction when they came into the presence of God. John, on the Isle of Patmos, wrote, "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead …" (Rev_1:17). When Daniel saw the Lord, he said, "Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength" (Dan_10:8). That was also the experience of Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the apostle. After Paul met the Lord, he no longer saw himself as a self-righteous Pharisee, but as a lost sinner in need of salvation. He then could say, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ" (Php_3:7). He saw his need of Jesus Christ.

God Is Immutable (He changes not. What God called sin, is still sin today)

Malachi 3:5-6  And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.  (6)  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

 J. Vernon McGee

Malachi 3:5, 6

"And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers." Again, through these mixed marriages, through marrying heathen and pagan women who worshiped idols, their sorcery, the occult, and demon worship were brought in.

And in order to fill the great spiritual vacuum that is in our country, multitudes are turning to the occult today. This is the reason the movie The Exorcist was so popular. What a reflection this is on the church, which certainly has failed to fill that void.

"And against the adulterers." This is a reference to those who had made the mixed marriages by divorcing their wives and marrying these foreign heathen women. "And against false swearers"—that is, liars. "And against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts." In other words, the people were not witnessing for God. The stranger in that day, to whom they should have witnessed, actually turned from God because of the way he was treated by God's people. God is a God of judgment, but He is also gracious. The reason that they had not been absolutely obliterated like the Edomites was because of His grace; it was because God is gracious. And He is still gracious because He never changes. Thank God for that. God today is still a God of judgment—that is a terror to the wicked. But He's also a God who never changes in reference to His grace—and that is a comfort to anyone who will accept the grace of God.

We come now to the sixth of these very smart-alecky retorts which these people give to God. There are eight of them in the book; we've seen five of them, and now we've come to the sixth. These people are, as it were, putting God on a quiz program. God makes a statement, and they ask Him to prove it. God brings eight incriminating accusations against the nation, and they counter by asking eight very impertinent and presumptuous questions. God answered them politely but emphatically. He is attempting to detour them from the destruction to which they are headed. To interpret these questions it might be well to pause here again to consider the generation who asked them. After the people of Israel had been in captivity for seventy years, a remnant returned to the land. Reluctantly and halfheartedly, they set about restoring the city and rebuilding the temple. They had known the rigors and suffering of slavery. Like their fathers in the brickyards of Egypt, they had certainly been groaning. And even upon returning, they endured hardships, severe persecutions, and discouragements. Believe me, they thought that when they returned everything would be happy and nice and easy for them—but that was not the case. These were God's methods of discipline; it was a form of correction, but it did not have the desired effect. Discipline will either soften or harden you, and these people became hardened and embittered under the yoke which galled them. They became as hard as nails. They were like a prison inmate who has been released but not reformed. They had come out of slavery but apparently had not learned the lesson. Actually, there is not much more that God could have done for them. Even God exhausted His infinite arsenal of correction. It was out of the soil of this generation that there grew up the poisonous plant of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes who were in existence at the time when the Lord Jesus came four hundred years later. What was a pimple of rebellion against God in the time of Malachi, just a scratch on the surface of the nation, became at the time of the Lord Jesus an internal cancer. God tried to stem the spread of the virus, to cauterize it, and He brought these eight charges against them. Their response reveals their attitude. They pled not guilty to every one of the charges, and they expressed surprise that God would even suspect them. They affected an injured innocence. They feigned hurt feelings. They assumed ignorance. They played the part of being highly offended, and with a wave of the hand, they dismissed the charges as unworthy of them.

God is Omnipresent (He is everywhere at the same time, there is no hiding place)

Psalms 139:7-12  Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?  (8)  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.  (9)  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;  (10)  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.  (11)  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.  (12)  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary

Psalms 139:7-16

It is of great use to us to know the certainty of the things wherein we have been instructed, that we may not only believe them, but be able to tell why we believe them, and to give a reason of the hope that is in us. David is sure that God perfectly knows him and all his ways,

I. Because he is always under his eye. If God is omnipresent, he must needs be omniscient; but he is omnipresent; this supposes the infinite and immensity of his being, from which follows the ubiquity of his presence; heaven and earth include the whole creation, and the Creator fills both (Jer_23:24); he not only knows both, and governs both, but he fills both. Every part of the creation is under God's intuition and influence. David here acknowledges this also with application and sees himself thus open before God.

1. No flight can remove us out of God's presence: “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, from thy presence, that is, from thy spiritual presence, from thyself, who art a Spirit?” God is a Spirit, and therefore it is folly to think that because we cannot see him he cannot see us: Whither shall I flee from thy presence? Not that he desired to go away from God; no, he desired nothing more than to be near him; but he only puts the case, “Suppose I should be so foolish as to think of getting out of thy sight, that I might shake off the awe of thee, suppose I should think of revolting from my obedience to thee, or of disowning a dependence on thee and of shifting for myself, alas! whither can I go?” A heathen could say, Quocunque te flexeris, ibi Deum videbis occurrentem tibi - Whithersoever thou turnest thyself, thou wilt see God meeting thee. Seneca. He specifies the most remote and distant places, and counts upon meeting God in them. (1.) In heaven: “If I ascend thither, as I hope to do shortly, thou art there, and it will be my eternal bliss to be with thee there.” Heaven is a vast large place, replenished with an innumerable company, and yet there is no escaping God's eye there, in any corner, or in any crowd. The inhabitants of that world have as necessary a dependence upon God, and lie as open to his strict scrutiny, as the inhabitants of this. (2.) In hell - in Sheol, which may be understood of the depth of the earth, the very centre of it. Should we dig as deep as we can under ground, and think to hide ourselves there, we should be mistaken; God knows that path which the vulture's eye never saw, and to him the earth is all surface. Or it may be understood of the state of the dead. When we are removed out of the sight of all living, yet not out of the sight of the living God; from his eye we cannot hide ourselves in the grave. Or it maybe understood of the place of the damned: If I make my bed in hell (an uncomfortable place to make a bed in, where there is no rest day or night, yet thousands will make their bed for ever in those flames), behold, thou art there, in thy power and justice. God's wrath is the fire which will there burn everlastingly, Rev_14:10. (3.) In the remotest corners of this world: “If I take the wings of the morning, the rays of the morning-light (called the wings of the sun, Mal_4:2), than which nothing more swift, and flee upon them to the uttermost parts of the sea, or of the earth (Job_38:12, Job_38:13), should I flee to the most distant and obscure islands (the ultima Thule, the Terra incognita), I should find thee there; there shall thy hand lead me, as far as I go, and thy right hand hold me, that I can go no further, that I cannot go out of thy reach.” God soon arrested Jonah when he fled to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

2. No veil can hide us from God's eye, no, not that of the thickest darkness, Psa_139:11, Psa_139:12. “If I say, Yet the darkness shall cover me, when nothing else will, alas! I find myself deceived; the curtains of the evening will stand me in no more stead than the wings of the morning; even the night shall be light about me. That which often favours the escape of a pursued criminal, and the retreat of a beaten army, will do me no kindness in fleeing from them.” When God divided between the light and darkness it was with a reservation of this prerogative, that to himself the darkness and the light should still be both alike. “The darkness darkeneth not from thee, for there is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.” No hypocritical mask or disguise, how specious soever, can save any person or action from appearing in a true light before God. Secret haunts of sin are as open before God as the most open and barefaced villanies.

God is Omniscient

Jeremiah 23:1-40  Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.  (2)  Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.  (3)  And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.  (4)  And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.  (5)  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.  (6)  In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.  (7)  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;  (8)  But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.  (9)  Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.  (10)  For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.  (11)  For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.  (12)  Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.  (13)  And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.  (14)  I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.  (15)  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.  (16)  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.  (17)  They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.  (18)  For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?  (19)  Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.  (20)  The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.  (21)  I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.  (22)  But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.  (23)  Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?  (24)  Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.  (25)  I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.  (26)  How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;  (27)  Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.  (28)  The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.  (29)  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?  (30)  Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.  (31)  Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.  (32)  Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.  (33)  And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.  (34)  And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.  (35)  Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?  (36)  And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.  (37)  Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?  (38)  But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD;  (39)  Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:  (40)  And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

Jeremiah 23:1-40

Woe be to those who are set to feed God's people, but take no concern to do them good! Here is a word of comfort to the neglected sheep. Though only a remnant of God's flock is left, he will find them out, and they shall be brought to their former habitations. Christ is spoken of as a branch from David's family. He is righteous himself, and through him all his people are made righteous. Christ shall break the usurped power of Satan. All the spiritual seed of believing Abraham and praying Jacob shall be protected, and shall be saved from the guilt and dominion of sin. In the days of Christ's government in the soul, the soul dwells at ease. He is here spoken of as “the Lord our Righteousness.” He is so our Righteousness as no creature could be. His obedience unto death is the justifying righteousness of believers, and their title to heavenly happiness. And their sanctification, as the source of all their personal obedience is the effect of their union with him, and of the supply of this Spirit. By this name every true believer shall call him, and call upon him. We have nothing to plead but this, Christ has died, yea, rather is risen again; and we have taken him for our Lord. This righteousness which he has wrought out to the satisfaction of law and justice, becomes ours; being a free gift given to us, through the Spirit of God, who puts it upon us, clothes us with it, enables us to lay hold upon it, and claim an interest in it. “The Lord our Righteousness” is a sweet name to a convinced sinner; to one that has felt the guilt of sin in his conscience; seen his need of that righteousness, and the worth of it. This great salvation is far more glorious than all former deliverances of his church. May our souls be gathered to Him, and be found in him. The false prophets of Samaria had deluded the Israelites into idolatries; yet the Lord considered the false prophets of Jerusalem as guilty of more horrible wickedness, by which the people were made bold in sin. These false teachers would be compelled to suffer the most bitter part of the Lord's indignation. They made themselves believe that there was no harm in sin, and practised accordingly; then they made others believe so. Those who are resolved to go on in evil ways, will justly be given up to believe strong delusions. But which of them had received any revelation of God, or understood any thing of his word? There was a time coming when they would reflect on their folly and unbelief with remorse. The teaching and example of the true prophets led men to repentance, faith, and righteousness. The false prophets led men to rest in forms and notions, and to be quiet in their sins. Let us take heed that we do not follow unrighteousness. Men cannot be hidden from God's all-seeing eye. Will they never see what judgments they prepare for themselves? Let them consider what a vast difference there is between these prophecies and those delivered by the true prophets of the Lord. Let them not call their foolish dreams Divine oracles. The promises of peace these prophets make are no more to be compared to God's promises than chaff to wheat. The unhumbled heart of man is like a rock; if not melted by the word of God as a fire, it will be broken to pieces by it as a hammer. How can they be long safe, or at all easy, who have a God of almighty power against them? The word of God is no smooth, lulling, deceitful message. And by its faithfulness it may certainly be distinguished from false doctrines. Those are miserable indeed who are forsaken and forgotten of God; and men's jesting at God's judgments will not baffle them. God had taken Israel to be a people near to him, but they shall now be cast out of his presence. It is a mark of great and daring impiety for men to jest with the words of God. Every idle and profane word will add to the sinner's burden in the day of judgment, when everlasting shame will be his portion.