CONTRAST OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND WICKED
ISAIAH CHAPTER 57
The
opening verses of Isaiah 57 reveal one of the difficult questions to understand,
and that is why do the good die young?
Many who have had loved ones die before their time have turned to these
two verses of Scripture for comfort.
“The Godly are removed and none understand that the righteous is removed from
the evil to come” reveals a God of compassion.
God is removing them from a lot of trouble that would have come in their
future. Notice they enter into peace
“Each one who walks in integrity” shows they entered into the peace of God.
There is no need to grieve for those who have gone on before; they are
under the care of our wonderful Lord Jesus.
Paul in I Thess 4:13 writes concerning those who were asleep or had died,
“That ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”
God chooses to protect some of His righteous one’s from the dangers and
sorrows that lie ahead.
Isaiah
57:3-13 addresses those involved in idolatry, which had strong ties to
immorality. They are called sons of
witches and attack the righteous. It’s of interest that they are guilty of
immorality and murder. As you listen
to the news or read the newspaper, the condition of the wicked seems to have
come right down to the present time.
As we consider the moral perversity and sexual promiscuity of idol worship in
verses 4-9, one cannot help but see the moral decline in our day.
How sad that children were then the objects of idolatry and now in our
society the objects of sexual promiscuity.
In verse 6, smooth stones were anointed with oil and became objects of
pagan worship, and the same is true today.
In search of strange gods, they “wearied thyself with all thy traveling,”
ant this sounds like many
In Isaiah
57:14-21, the way of redemption and peace for the faithful is set forth.
Notice God prepares a highway which theme is touched on seven different
times in Isaiah. God is always able
and willing to prepare a way of escape for His people, no matter how difficult
the situation may appear. One of my
favorite verses is I Cor. 10:13, “There hath no temptation or trial taken you
but such is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be
tempted, or tested, above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
Repeatedly, in Scripture God is seen as willing to condescend and receive
those who are of a broken and humble spirit.
In God’s compassion He reaches in mercy and healing and calls, “Shalom,
shalom,” “peace, peace,” which conveys the idea of complete or perfect peace.
In the New Testament, Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:17, “He (Christ) came and
preached peace to you (gentiles) who were once far off, and to them who were
near (that is to the Jews).” The
wicked are like a restless sea that cannot rest and keeps casting up filth.
“There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked,” showing the wicked are
condemned to constant turmoil and self-destruction.