Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_100_p.lzh/5_199.TXT

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As the lame man did healed by Peter, ACts iii. 1,8.
there were .ma.ny instances of such persons cured by
Christ when here onearth, Matt. xv. 30, 31. and xx.i.
14. John v. 7, 8, 9.-and in a spiri.tual. sense this-was ve-
rified in many who were impotent to that which is
good; had .neither will nor power to go to Christ .for
life and salvation, nor to walk by faith in him,' nor to
walk in his ways; .who yet, by-the mighty power of
the spirit and grace of God, became able and willing to
go to him, and venture their souls on him; walked on
in him as they had received him; and not only walked
in his ways, but ran in the ways of his commandments,
and leaped for joy for what they saw and heard of him,
and received from him; and innumerable will be the
instances Of such mighty grace at the spiritual coming
and reign of Christ: and the tongue of the dumb shall
sing; this had its accomplishment, in a literal sense,
at the ilrst coming of Christ, Matt. ix. 32, 33. and xii.
22. and xv. 3O, 31. and, inn spiritual sense, in many
who before had nothing to say to God in prayer, nor in
praise; nothing to say of Christ, or for him; or of the
blessed Spirit, and his divine operations; but now, by
divine grace, are made to speak untoGod, both inn pe-
titionary way, and in a way of thankfulness; and of
Christ, and of the blessed Spirit; and of the great
things each have done for them; and even to sing for
joy, because of the wondrous blessings Of grace they
were made partakers of; and many more such there
will be in the latter day, when the spirit is poured
down from on high. Kimchi interprets all this of the
Israelites, who were in captivity as blind, deaf, lame,
and dumb. So the Targum of this and the preceding
verse, "then shall the .eyes ot' the house of Israel be
"opened, who were as blind men as to the law; and
"the ears of them that are as deaf men, to attend to
"' the words of the .prophets shall hear; then when
"they shall see the captives of Israel gathered to go
"up to their own land as the swift harts, and not tarry,"
4.c.; but it may be better applied to their present
state, and to their case when they shall be turned to
the Lord in the latter day: .for in the wilderness shall
waters break out, and streams in the desert; not li-
terally, but mystically; and may be understood both
of the doctrines of the Gospel breaking out in the mi-
nistry of them, in such places as were like unto the
wilderness and desert, quite barren, and destitute of
the knowledge, grace, and fear of God; see Joel iii. 18.
Zech. xiv. 8. and of the a%undance of grace, and the
efficacy of it, making the word effectual to thc conver-
sion ahd fruitfulness of multitudes of souls, bringing
along with it a vast variety of spiritual blessings; see
John vii. 37, 38. to both which, the one as the means,
and the oth'er as the cause, all the above wonderful
things are owing.
Ver. 7. And the parched ground shall become a pool,
and the thirst,! land springs of water, &c.] Such per-
sons who have been like the parched earth, barren and
unfruitful, or like the earth scorched with the sun,
tilled with a sense of divine wrath, and thirsting, like
the dry earth,. after the grace of God, Christ, and his
righteousness, shall be comforted and refreshed, and
filled with the grace of God: or such who have been
scorched and parched with the heat of persecution,
from the antichristian party, and have been thirsting
after deliverance from it, shall now enjoy peace and
prosperity: in the habitation of dragons, where each
lay; in kingdoms, cities, and towns, inhabited by men,
comparable to dragons for their poison and cruelty;
where the great red dragon Satan had his seat; and
the Pagan emperors, and Papal powers, who have ex-
ercised the authority, power, and cruelty of the
dragon, dwell; see Rev. xii. 3, 4, 9, 15, 17. and xiii.
11, l2: shall be grass, with reeds and rushes; persons
shall spring np, partakers of the grace of God, who,
for their number and flourishing estate, shah be like
the green grass; and others, still more eminent for
their gifts and usefulness, like reeds, or canes and
rushes; see Isa. xliv. 3. Rev. ix. 4,
Ver. 8, And an highway shall be there,-and a way,
&c.] Not two ways, but one; the way shall be a
highway, a way cast up, raised, and elevated {y}; this is
to be understood principally of Christ, the only way of
life and salvation; and of the lesser paths of duty and
ordinances: and the meaning is, that in those desert
places, where Christ and his Gospel had not been
preached, at.least for many ages, here he should be
made known,. as the way, the truth, and the life; his
Gospel preached, and his ordinances administered;
and multitudes,. both of Jews and Gentiles, should be
directed and enabled to walk here. Christ is .a high-
way to both; a way cast up by sovereign grace, which
is raised above the mire and dirt of sin, and carries over
it, and from-it; a way visible and manifest., clearly
pointed to and described in the everlasting Gospel; it
is the King's highway, the highway of the King of
kings, which he has ordered and appointed, and. is
common to all his subjects, high and low, rich and
poor, stronger or weaker believers, all may walk in
this way; it is an old beaten path, which saints in all
ages, from the beginning of the world, have walked in;
it lathe good old way, the more excellent, the most
excellent one; all obstructions and impediments are
removed, cast in by sin, Satan, the law, and the world;
nor is any one to be stopped and molested in this way,
and all in it shall. come safe to their journey's end:
and it shall be called the way of holiness; or, a holy
way {z}; Christ is perfectly holy in nature and life, and
the holiness of both is imputed to those that are in this
way; all in this way are sanctitied by the spirit and
grace of God; this way leads to perfect holiness. in
heaven, and none .but holy persons walk here: salva-
tion by Christ no ways discourages the practice of ho-
liness, but is the greatest motive and incentive to it.
Christ leads his people in paths of righteousness; in
the paths of truth, of ordinances, and of worship, public
and private, all which are holy; and in the .path of
Gospel conversation and godliness: this way is so holy,
that the unclean shall not pass over it; all men are un-
clean by nature; some are cleansed by the grace of
God and blood of Christ; and thongh, as sanctified, they
are not free from sin and the pollution of it, yet, as jus-
titled, they are the undefiled in the way; and none but
such can pass over, or pass through this way to heaven,
Rev. xxi. 27: but it shall be for those.; for holy men,

{y} \^lwlom\^ semita strata Montanus; vel exaltata lapidibus, Vatablus.
{z} \^vdwqh Krd\^ via sancta, Vulg. Lat. Piscator.