The Book Of Isaiah. Day 54, The Righteous Versus The Unrighteous, Part Three

In the beginning of Chapter 57 the Lord spoke of the peace that is the inheritance of those who love Him. Then He moved on to talk about those who hate Him. We studied the first portion of that text yesterday and now we pick up at verse 11.

"Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have not been true to Me, and have neither remembered Me nor taken this to heart?" (Isaiah 57:11a) Who did they fear (reverence, stand in awe of, regard as supreme) more than the Lord? Did they fear their fellow man more than God and join in with idolaters in order to make treaties with them? If so, this is what the Scriptures say about that: "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." (Proverbs 29:25) "The Lord is my light and my salvation---whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life---of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1) If they had remained faithful to the Lord, no enemy could ever have defeated them.

Or perhaps they persisted in wickedness because they didn't believe the Lord would do anything about it. He says: "Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear Me?" (Isaiah 57:11b) They thought that because He did not immediately punish them for sins, He would never punish them. But the Lord, like a loving Father, appeals to mankind before taking punitive action because He does not want to have to be severe with us. He says: "Come now, let us settle the matter. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." (Isaiah 1:18) He reasons with us first. He gives us several opportunities to repent of our rebellion. As the Apostle Peter said, the Lord is "patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance". (2 Peter 3:9b) He doesn't remove sinners from the earth the very instant they reject Him because He wants them to be saved, not destroyed. But some interpret the delay in action as a lack of strength on the Lord's part or as a lack of morality on the Lord's part. That's why He asks the people of Isaiah's nation, "Is it because I have not already destroyed you that you think I will never discipline you?"

A lot of people think they are basically good people, even though they have not made God the Lord of their lives. They compare their morality to the morality of their fellow man and decide that they look pretty righteous in comparison to others. But we were never meant to compare our righteousness to that of our fellow man; we were meant to compare our righteousness to that of Almighty God! We will always come up short when we do that, which is intended to bring us to repentance so that our sins can be covered by the One who gave Himself for us. 

The Lord will expose self-righteousness for what it is. "I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you." (Isaiah 57:12) We cannot obtain salvation by our own righteousness or by doing a lot of good works. Isaiah will say later in our study: "All our righteous acts are like filthy rags." (Isaiah 64:4) This doesn't mean that the believer isn't to do good works but that good works don't save us. We should do good works because we are saved, not in order to get saved.

The one who has trusted in his or her own works or who has forsaken the Lord for idolatry will reap what he or she has sown. "When you cry out for help, let your idols save you! The wind will carry them all off, a mere breath will blow them away." (Isaiah 57:13a) Idols are powerless. They will be no help to those who worship them. In contrast, those who trust in the Lord will inherit the beautiful things He has planned for His children. "But whoever takes refuge in Me will inherit the land and possess My holy mountain." (Isaiah 57:13b) 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 153, The Righteous Versus The Unrighteous, Part Two

In yesterday's study the Lord talked about how the righteous find peace, even in death. Now He moves on to talk about the unrighteous.

"But you---come here, you children of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes! Who are you mocking? At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue? Are you not a brood of rebels, the offspring of liars?" (Isaiah 57:3-4) The Lord often compares idolatry to various forms of sexual immorality. In the Old Testament we sometimes find Him speaking of Himself as the husband and of Israel as His wife, charging her with committing unfaithfulness against Him. Although a number of the people did live sexually immoral lives, idolatry is primarily the sin in view here, as we see below.

"You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree; you sacrifice your children in the ravines and underneath the overhanging crags. The idols among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion; indeed, they are your lot." (Isaiah 57:5-6) These verses speak of how the people carried out pagan rituals in the groves, even resorting to human sacrifices upon the altars of their false gods. Because they have rejected the one true God, who was the source of all good things, their "portion" will only be these false gods who can do nothing for them. Their prayers, offerings, and sacrifices to those gods are useless.

This next segment reminds us of the saying, "You've made your bed; now lie in it," because they will reap what they have sown. They have rejected and blasphemed the living God and will have to face the consequences of their actions. "You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill; there you went up to offer your sacrifices. Behind your doors and your doorposts you have your pagan symbols. Forsaking Me, you uncovered your bed, you climbed into it and opened it wide; you made a pact with those whose beds you love, and you looked with lust on their naked bodies." (Isaiah 57:7-8) They "got in bed", so to speak, with pagan idolaters. They tried to hide some of their sin, painting occult symbols where they thought the Lord would not see them. They committed a lot of their immoral acts behind closed doors where they thought the Lord would not see them. They believed neither He nor their fellow citizens (some of whom had remained faithful to the Lord) would not take them to task for their sins.

They spent their energies on things that could never help them. They were so depraved that they gave their children to the abominable god Molek, and there is nothing more depraved than sacrificing those who are to be protected. They poured out offerings of oil and perfume in adoration of false gods. They sent ambassadors to make friends with heathen nations and engaged with those nations in their idolatrous acts. In the final section we study today, the Lord talks about these things and about how the people grew weary appealing to gods that don't exist. But because they'd rest and gain a second wind, they'd go right back at their futile attempts to contact deities that cannot help them.

"You went to Molek with olive oil and increased your perfumes. You sent your ambassadors far away; you descended to the very realm of the dead! You wearied yourself by such going about, but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.' You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint." (Isaiah 57:9-10) They kept doing what they were doing, deceiving themselves that their futile works would produce results any day now. Just because in our modern age we aren't bowing to Molek (or to other images) doesn't mean we can't fall into various types of idolatry. Many people run after money or pleasure or relationships or all the things this modern world offers them, thinking that any day now they will feel better, but there isn't anything that can satisfy the human soul other than a relationship with the one and only God. 

When we have the Lord at the center of our lives, the good things He bestows upon us are like the icing on the cake. But without Him, no amount of things in this world will ever satisfy our deepest needs. Let's not weary ourselves by running after those things while leaving the Lord out. Only He can give us the peace and satisfaction and comfort we long for.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 152, The Righteous Versus The Unrighteous, Part One

As we begin Chapter 57 the Lord makes a contrast between the fate of the righteous versus the fate of the unrighteous. In today's portion of those verses we find a partial answer to the question, "Who do bad things happen to good people?" In tomorrow's portion we will talk about the fate of the wicked.

You and I know that we live in a fallen world. Sin has polluted it. The best way I can describe the way sin has had a bad effect on the creation is to compare it to a pollution that has grown worse and worse ever since the first man and woman disobeyed God. Sin has had an effect on the environment, on plant life, on all land animals and sea creatures and insects, and on the human race. Why do natural disasters happen? Because of this pollution. Why do diseases affect crops and animals and humans? Because of this pollution. Why do animals prey on each other and why do humans prey on animals and why do humans do bad things to their fellow man? Because of this pollution.

In our first segment today we talk about the fact that bad things sometimes happen even to the godly. Their fellow man may persecute them for their faith or for other reasons. They may fall victim to illnesses or accidents. But their fate is different from those who reject the Lord, and this is what the Lord focuses on as we begin our text.

"The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death." (Isaiah 57:1-2) The death of our loved ones brings us sorrow. When they leave the world we think of it as a bad thing. From the Lord's perspective they are entering into rest. They are finding peace. They are being spared the troubles of this world.

The Lord allows some believers to reach a very old age, while some may die in youth or in middle age. By faith we believe He has a reason for the time of a person's death, although it grieves us far more when we feel like a person left us too soon. The Lord doesn't always explain to us why one person leaves the world at a younger age than another, but in the passage above we are told that sometimes it is to spare them from evil. Something in the future might have happened to them that was worse than having them leave this world suddenly and unexpectedly. We don't know what that thing was but, since the Lord can see every event that will happen in the future, He knows what it was. He knows that events on the earth or things that are done by mankind would have brought that person worse troubles than what He intends to allow to happen to them. 

A woman from my church said that Isaiah 57:1-2 was a great comfort to her when her fifteen-year-old son died unexpectedly. He'd been fine when he left for school that morning but when he came home he told her he'd had a headache all day. I believe his intention was to take some aspirin or something for it, but before he could do that he suddenly collapsed unconscious to the floor. By the time the ambulance got him to the hospital he was losing the ability to breathe on his own and had to be placed on artificial respiration while the doctors frantically rushed him to a brain scan only to find he'd already lost all brain activity due to what turned out to be meningitis. It was extremely sudden and extremely mysterious, since no one could ever determine how he'd contracted it due to not knowing of anyone else who had it, but his mother said that she firmly believed that Isaiah 57:1-2 explained why the Lord allowed him to be taken so unexpectedly. She believed that this was a humane passing compared to what might have been in his future. Taking comfort from these verses doesn't mean she won't miss her son every day of her life, but it does mean that she knows her son (who had accepted Christ as Savior and who loved the Lord deeply and tried to live a life that honored Him) was spared some sort of evil on the earth and that he is at peace in the presence of the Lord.

Both of my parents passed away far too young, in my opinion. They weren't significantly older than I am now. I don't know how their deaths fit into the Lord's plan but I know that, because they believed in Him, they are at peace in His presence. And I know that, no matter how much they loved their family, they wouldn't return to this world for anything. After resting in the presence of the Lord, even if there was a way they could return and be with their loved ones again, they would not choose to do so because being in the presence of the Lord is so much better than living on this earth. They will wait for their loved ones to come to them where we will all know the peace and joy of beholding our Savior's face forever.