ISAIAH CHAPTER 57

PEACE FOR THE RIGHTEOUS; NO PEACE FOR THE WICKED

 

Isaiah 57:1,2 NAS:
1 The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart; And devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil,
2 He enters into peace; They rest in their beds, Each one who walked in his upright way.

If these words are a little shocking to you, think of how they must have sounded to the people to whom Isaiah originally directed them. The idea here is simply that death is a merciful release from suffering. God permitted the unrighteous leaders to live and suffer the terrible consequences of their sins, but the righteous people died before the judgment fell. The godly found rest and peace; the ungodly went into Captivity. When His people reject His word and prefer worldly leaders, God may give them exactly what they desire and let them suffer the consequences. The society at that time was so bad that the righteous people in Israel, also called devout and those who walk uprightly, had to die in order to find peace. Another place where we see this concept is 2 Kings 22:20. It is most likely that is what God will do for believers during the Tribulation. At the point that a believer is threatened with too much suffering, God may simply protect the person by allowing them to die and find the perfect peace that comes with going immediately to Heaven, such as happened when Stephen was stoned for preaching about Christ (Acts 7:54-60).

Isaiah 57:3, 4 NAS:
3 “But come here, you sons of a sorceress, Offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute.
4 “Against whom do you jest? Against whom do you open wide your mouth And stick out your tongue? Are you not children of rebellion, Offspring of deceit?”

In contrast with the righteous people mentioned in verses 1-2, the rest of the Israelites were engaged in false religious practices picked up from pagans around them, including sorcery[fn] and religious prostitution (Hosea 4:14). In fertility religions ”worshipers“ engaged in sexual relations with prostitutes, supposedly identifying in that way with gods and goddesses to help guarantee fertility in crops, animals, and families. God sees idolatry as adultery and prostitution. The people knew it was wrong, but they arrogantly practiced their sensual worship, “inflaming themselves among the oaks,” as we’re told in verse 5, without shame. You would find them everywhere: visiting the shrine prostitutes under the green trees in the groves; offering their children in the fire in the valley; worshiping under the cliffs and by the smooth boulders; sacrificing up in the mountains; and committing fornication behind the doors of their houses. Publicly and privately, the people were devoted to idols and immorality. Such people in Israel were mocking the righteous and rebelling against God.[fn]

Isaiah 57:5-8 NAS:
5 Who inflame yourselves among the oaks, Under every luxuriant tree, Who slaughter the children in the ravines, Under the clefts of the crags?
6 “Among the smooth stones of the ravine Is your portion, they are your lot; Even to them you have poured out a drink offering, You have made a grain offering. Shall I relent concerning these things?
7 “Upon a high and lofty mountain You have made your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice.
8 “Behind the door and the doorpost You have set up your sign; Indeed, far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself, And have gone up and made your bed wide. And you have made an agreement for yourself with them, You have loved their bed, You have looked on their manhood.

Worship centers were set up on hillsides, probably so that the people could imagine themselves closer to their gods. Often such centers were in lush forest areas to picture the fertility being sought by the worshipers. Thus the people, as Isaiah wrote, would lust among the oaks (Isaiah1:29). Sometimes the people would also sacrifice their children in attempts to appease the wrath of various gods.[fn] They were in the habit of giving offerings to their idols and sacrificing to foreign gods on the high hills where they also were involved in adultery (Isaiah 57:6-7). Verse 8 tells us how their homes were supposed to be centers of learning about God, but the people had made them places of idol worship and adultery. “Looking on their manhood,” may refer to nakedness in conjunction with all the sexual perversity involved in such worship, or it may symbolize idolatry, which was sometimes likened to spiritual adultery.[fn]

Isaiah 57: 9,10 NAS:
9 “You have journeyed to the king with oil And increased your perfumes; You have sent your envoys a great distance And made them go down to Sheol.
10 “You were tired out by the length of your road, Yet you did not say, ‘It is hopeless.’ You found renewed strength, Therefore you did not faint.

An example of this was King Ahaz who called on the king of Assyria for help and spared no expense in copying the idolatry of Assyria (2 kings 16:7-18). The watchmen have relaxed (56:9–12), and evil has flooded in. It could also be referring to Manasseh, Hezekiah’s apostate son, whose persecution of the innocent (2 Kings. 21:16) would be in accord with verse 1, and whose burning of his own son (2 Kings 21:6) matches the revival of Molech worship here. The worship of Molech, an Ammonite god, was sometimes accompanied by child sacrifice.[fn] Sending representatives, however, to Ammon to worship their god sometimes resulted in their death (“made them go down to Sheol“). Yet rather than recognizing the hopelessness of idolatry the people still refused to give up their sinful ways. They simply renewed their strength and continued on in sin.

Isaiah 57:11-13 NAS:
11 “Of whom were you worried and fearful When you lied, and did not remember Me Nor give Me a thought? Was I not silent even for a long time So you do not fear Me?
12 “I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, But they will not profit you.
13 “When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry all of them up, And a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land And will possess My holy mountain.”

During the last days of Judah and Jerusalem, before Babylon came, the land and the city were polluted with idols. King Hezekiah and King Josiah had led the people in destroying the idols and the high places; but as soon as an ungodly king took the throne, the people went right back to their old ways. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah told the people that God would punish them for breaking His Law, but they persisted in the ways of the godless nations around them.

But they were also guilty of consorting with pagan leaders and trusting them for protection instead of trusting God (verse 9). To trust a pagan ruler and his army was the same as trusting the false god that they worshiped (Isaiah 30:1–7; 31:1–3). They found false strength in their political alliances and refused to admit that these treaties were hopeless (Isaiah 57:10). God would expose their sin and judge it; and when that happened, their collection of idols would not save them.

Anything that we trust other than God becomes our god and therefore is an idol. It may be our training, experience, job, money, friends, or position. One of the best ways to find out whether we have idols in our lives is to ask ourselves, “Where do I instinctively turn when I face a decision or need to solve a problem?” Do we reach for the phone to call a friend? Do we assure ourselves that we can handle the situation ourselves? Do we turn to some substance or habit? Or do we turn to God and seek His will and His help? When the storm starts blowing, the idols will blow away like chaff according to verse 13. The storm does not make a person; it shows what the person is made of and where his or her faith lies. If we make the Lord our refuge, we have nothing to fear.

Isaiah 57:14-21 NAS:
14 And it will be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.”
15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.
16 “For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me, And the breath of those whom I have made.
17 “Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him; I hid My face and was angry, And he went on turning away, in the way of his heart.
18 “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,
19 Creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,” Says the Lord, “and I will heal him.”
20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea, For it cannot be quiet, And its waters toss up refuse and mud.
21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Here we see clearly the promise of God’s forgiveness. The call to prepare a road for the people of faith brings to mind Isaiah 40:3-5 which speaks of a road being prepared for the Lord. Here is a word of encouragement for the faithful remnant. The highway will be built and the obstacles removed, so that the exiles might return to the land and serve the Lord. (Isaiah 11:16.). Now the faithful are walking to the Lord. Even though He is high and lofty (Isaiah 6:1), eternal, and holy (6:3), He lives with those who are contrite[fn] and lowly in spirit (66:2). His accusations and anger do not last forever because of His grace. In the past He had to punish His people because of their greed and disobedience. But when they repent He forgives them, giving healing, guidance, and comfort.

Those who are forgiven enjoy peace, but the wicked have no rest and no peace (Isaiah 48:22). They are doomed to eternal punishment because they refuse to turn to God.[fn]

You see, when people ask the question, “How could a loving God let good people go to Hell?” They’re missing the point. According to the Bible no one is good. No one is capable of living a sinless life. So no one is capable of earning their way into Heaven. That’s why Jesus came to earth. He was the only one who could live a sinless life. Therefore, He was the only one who could be the perfect sacrifice to pay God’s penalty for sin, which was death and eternal separation from Him. When Christ died for our sins, it became possible for us to be forgiven for our sins. All we have to do is believe and trust in God that what He says and what He has done is true. If we do that we will have eternal life in Heaven. If we do not we will have eternal life in Hell.

This chapter has a pair of bookends on it. Chapter 57 opened with speaking of how God would bring the righteous person into peace, thereby delivering him or her from evil. And the chapter ends with the dire comment that there is no peace for the wicked. The difference rests upon the choice one makes. Will they accept Christ as Savior, or will they reject Him?

Now some people will say any number of things about this basic message of salvation, and many will say they are unable to believe it because it doesn’t fit how they view a just god. It is to those people that I would simply say, “That is your choice. If you continue to feel that way and do not investigate God’s truth in the Bible, it is you, not God, who is determining your eternity. You are rejecting the truth that is being given you and the God that is giving it, and thereby rejecting a desire to be with Him in His kingdom for eternity.”

There are only two choices we all have for where we will spend eternity, one is Heaven and the other is Hell. The choice is yours.

Isaiah

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1 Peter


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