115. Finding the Way Back

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Hymns: RHC 323 Trust and Obey 324 A Shelter in the Time of Storm 325 A Shelter in the Time of Storm

Isaiah 57

1 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. 2 He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. 3 But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. 4 Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, 5 Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks? 6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these? 7 Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice. 8 Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it. 9 And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell. 10 Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved. 11 And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not? 12 I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee. 13 When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain; 14 And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people. 15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. 17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. 18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. 19 I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him. 20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

Finding the Way Back

OUTLINE

  • Rest for the Righteous (v1-2)
  • Guilt of the Wicked (v3-14)
  • Renewal for the Repentant (v15-21)

This chapter is evidently closely connected in sense with Isaiah 56:9-12. In the closing part of the last chapter the prophet had said that the land of Israel would be invaded by foreign armies, represented under the image of ravening beasts come to devour. 

One of the causes of this he had also stated, namely, the general licentiousness, avarice, and intemperance of the rulers of the nation. The same general subject is pursued in this chapter, which has been very improperly separated from the preceding. 

In this the prophet states specifically the sins of the nation at large, evidently as a reason why the calamities of the foreign invasion were coming upon them. It is probable that the chapter has primary reference to the times of Manasseh. Of the characteristics of his cruel reign. 

It was a time of persecution and blood. The righteous were put to death; the public service of God was profaned and desecrated; and the evils of idolatry were seen and felt, under the royal patronage, throughout the land. Yet notwithstanding this, the nation was insensible. They were not affected as they should have been by the fact that the righteous were cut off by persecution, and that idolatry was patronized throughout the land. 

A few, like the prophets, felt, and deeply felt. Their hearts were desponding, and their spirits drooped. To encourage them, and to rebuke the mass of the dull and guilty nation, was the design of this chapter. [Barnes]

  • Rest for the Righteous (v1-2)

1 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. 2 He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

The prophet, in this chapter, makes his observations, upon the deaths of good men, comforting those that were taken away in their integrity.

Piety exempts none from the arrests of death, nay, in persecuting times, the most righteous are most exposed to the violences of bloody men. 

The first that died died a martyr. Righteousness delivers from the sting of death, but not from the stroke of it. [Matthew Henry]

Even merciful men are taken away, those good men that are distinguished from the righteous, for whom some would even dare to die, Ro 5:7.

Romans 5:7 (KJV) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

Those are often removed that could be worst spared; the fruitful trees are cut down by death and the barren left still to cumber the ground. 

Merciful men are often taken away by the hands of men’s malice. Many good works they have done, and for some of them they are stoned. Before the captivity in Babylon perhaps there was a more than ordinary mortality of good men, so that there were scarcely any left (Jeremiah 5:1). The godly ceased, and the faithful failed (Psalm 12:1).

Jeremiah 5:1 (KJV) Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

Psalm 12:1 (KJV) To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

The providence of God removing good men out of this world. The death of good men is a thing to be laid to heart and considered more than common deaths. Serious enquiries ought to be made, wherefore God contends with us, what good lessons are to be learned by such providences, what we may do to help to make up the breach and to fill up the room of those that are removed. 

God is justly displeased when such events are not laid to heart, when the voice of the rod is not heard nor the intentions of it answered, much more when it is rejoiced in, as the slaying of the witnesses is (Rev. 11:10). 

Revelation 11:10 (KJV) And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

The happiness of the righteous in their removal. They are taken away from the evil to come, then when it is just coming, in compassion to them, that they may not see the evil (2 Kings 22:20), nor share in it, nor be in temptation by it. 

When the deluge is coming they are called into the ark, and have a hiding-place and rest in heaven when there was none for them under heaven. 

In wrath to the world, to punish them for all the injuries they have done to the righteous and merciful ones; those are taken away that stood in the gap to turn away the judgments of God, and then what can be expected but a deluge of them? It is a sign that God intends war when he calls home His ambassadors.

They go to be easy out of the reach of that evil. The righteous man, who while he lived walked in his uprightness, when he dies enters into peace and rests in his bed.

Death is gain, and rest, and bliss, to those only who walked in their uprightness, and who, when they die, can appeal to God concerning it, as Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:3).

2 Kings 20:3 (KJV) I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.  

Now, Lord, remember it. Those that practised uprightness, and persevered in it to the end, shall find it well with them when they die. Their souls then enter into peace, into the world of peace, where peace is in perfection and where there is no trouble. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. Their bodies rest in their beds. 

The grave is a bed of rest to all the Lord’s people; there they rest from all their labours – Revelation 14:13 (KJV) And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. [Matthew Henry]

The fact that the righteous were put to death, and yet that the nation was sunk in deep and deplorable stupidity. The proof of the insensibility of the nation, visible in the fact that the just were taken away, and that they were unmoved (v1). A statement of the comparative happy condition of the righteous, though they suffered under persecution, and were put to a violent death (v1 and last part of v2). So far as they were concerned it was well, for they were taken away from more fearful approaching evils. They entered into rest. [Barnes]

  • Guilt of the Wicked (v3-14)

A solemn address of the LORD, Himself sitting as judge on the tribunal, and stating the crimes and demonstrating the guilt of the nation (v3-14).

3 But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.

The nation summoned before him as having been apostatized – under the image so common in the prophets of their being guilty of adultery (v3).

4 Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,

They were guilty of falsehood and unfaithfulness to Him, and of deriding His government and laws (v4).

5 Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks? 6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these? 7 Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice. 8 Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it.

The statement of the prevalence of idolatry in all parts of the nation, under every green tree, in every valley, in the clefts of the rocks, upon every mountain, and in every secret place (v5-8).

9 And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.

They bad gone and sought alliance with foreign powers; under the image of a woman unfaithful to her marriage vow (v9).

10 Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved. 11 And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?

They had not feared God in the prevalence of the evil and in the corruption of the nation (v10-11).

12 I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee. 13 When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain; 14 And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.

For all this God denounces heavy judgment (v12-14). Their works should not profit them (v12); nothing on which they relied could deliver them (v13, first part); but the pious who confided in God should be protected (v13, last part); and the stumbling-block should be taken up out of the way of His people (v14).

  • Renewal for the Repentant (v15-21)

20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

Consolation and assurances of pardon, protection, and peace to those who would repent and put their trust in God. Their state contrasted with that of the wicked (v15-21).

15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 

The righteous (v15-19), though God was high and great and holy, yet he dwelt with the lowly and the penitent. They were, therefore, encouraged to return (v15).

16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. 

Though He had entered into controversy with His people for their sins, yet He would not continue it forever. The feeble powers of man could not long endure the expressions of His displeasure, and He therefore would withdraw the tokens of His wrath (v16).

17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. 18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. 

He had indeed punished his people for their covetousness, but he would restore comfort to those who mourned over their sins (v17-18).

19 I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.

He was the Author of peace, and all who were afar off, and all who were near, who would return to Him, should enjoy it (v19).

20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

The wicked. Their condition was one strongly contrasted with that of the righteous (v20-21). They were like the troubled sea (v20), they had no peace (v21). [Barnes]

CONCLUSION

God has provided the way of salvation through Christ, let His people embrace it and not go awhoring after the world and see ultimate destruction. Walk humbly with the Lord. Amen.