The Lord starts out here by addressing the southern kingdom of Judah, talking about spiritual adultery. What Judah has been doing in the spiritual realm God describes using this terminology, as if they have been committing physical adultery. They’ve been cheating and unfaithful. We can get a feeling for the betrayal that God feels when the nation that he rescued, nurtured, gave promises to, gave the land to, gave his word to; when that nation left him for other false gods. That’s the same way you or I would feel if our spouse cheated on us. And God does have feelings. God‘s heart breaks for his people when they are unfaithful.
Chapter 57
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
V1-2 Judah is about to suffer swift and certain judgment by the Lord from Babylon, coming in and conquering them and killing many people and taking them captive for 70 years. When it says.” they shall rest in their beds.” That’s a euphemism for death. In this judgment, the righteous men are taken away by death and yet no one comprehends why this is happening. No one considers what the root causes. Those who were killed (the righteous) were actually spared from the calamity of the judgment of being conquered and being taken captive. There is a similarity in the sense that we in the church will be spared from the judgment of the tribulation by being taken away in the rapture.
1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.
V3-10 now regarding those who are not spared, we get a graphic description of their sinful activities, and their attitude.
- Sorceress - occultism and spiritism
- Adultery - unfaithfulness to your spouse
- Harlotry - sexual immorality
- Jesting - everything’s a joke, ridiculing, those who are walking with the Lord
- Inflaming yourselves among the oaks - I’ll let you figure that one out
- Slaughtering children - child sacrifice on the altar of convenience
They poured out a drink offering, and they made a grain offering to the smooth stones of the ravine - we know that a drink offering, and a grain offering were actual offerings that God instituted for the children of Israel. So here we have a mixture of the true and the false. That is often how false doctrine, false practice, and false beliefs can creep into the church.
Whom do you ridicule? The wicked make fun of the righteous
On a high and lofty mountain, you have made your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice. Some people feel like they can be spiritual by going up on a mountain top. How can anyone truly be spiritual without the holy spirit?
“Behind the door and the door post, you have set up your sign”, apparently the people had perverted what they were supposed to be doing as they were instructed in Deuteronomy 6:9 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
and Deuteronomy 11:20, were they were told to put the Scriptures on the outside of their door posts. So this is a perversion. I guess there were some sort of occult symbols, they would put behind the door and the door post instead of what they were supposed to be doing with God’s word on the outside.
V11 here in verse 11 we can have the same problem ourselves of self deception when we engage in some sin and we aren’t judged immediately we take it either as God affirming us in that behavior maybe God accepting of that sin or we can take it that what we’re doing is just OK not a sin. God takes sin seriously for example the third Commandment is don’t use God‘s name in vain. We hear people use the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, irreverently, or disrespectfully all the time. But in the commandments, it says the Lord will not hold him guiltless who uses his name in vain, and blasphemy was a capital offense in Israel. I can’t even watch a YouTube video or a movie if I hear them use the Lord’s name in vain. When that happens, I’m done no more chances. I turned it off.
V12 God knows whatever good you may have done. There are those who believe that to go to heaven their good needs to outweigh their bad. Let’s think about that for a moment logically and biblically. It would be as if God grades on the curve and that is false. Over and over again in the Scriptures, it says God judges in righteousness. Here it says the good you do will not profit you; trying to set the good things you’ve done up next to the violations you’ve committed against God‘s law. Think of it like this you’re in court before the judge and you’ve committed some crime. You say to the judge it is true. I admit I have committed this crime but judge, please consider all the good I’ve done. The judge will say it is good that you’ve done these good things, YOU SHOULD DO GOOD , but that’s not not why you’re here. You will only be judged on the crimes you’ve committed. Even if you were to say sorry to the judge in other words, be repentant, that still won’t get you off because you should be sorry. The only thing that can get the charges dropped is for justice to be served. The penalty must be paid for the crime that was committed. That’s where our wonderful Savior stepped in and took the punishment that we deserved for us in our place so justice was served and mercy could be extended.
V13 so you can trust in idols, or you can trust in the truth in the living God. Idols can be blown over by a breath of wind. But we who trust in the Lord will truly possess the land and inherit God’s holy mountain, the Lord said. Trusting in anything else, trusting in any other thing we and in ruin.
V14 “ build up, build up” in other words, raise up the low spots in the road. Take out the obstacles that are getting in peoples way. This reminds me of John the Baptist.
Matthew 3:1-3 (NASB95) 1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, “THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!’”
In a very real sense, we are called to build up and remove obstacles out of peoples way. Here is our discussion question for the evening: what are some obstacles with real or imagined that prevent people from coming to faith in Jesus Christ? Things that we can help remove.
- Evolution
- Hypocrisy within the church
- Self righteousness within the church
- Apathy in society
- Exclusivity
- Pain, suffering, evil
V15 if we have the proper perspective of God, who is the high and exalted one who lives forever, and whose name is holy, then we can have nothing other than a correct perspective of ourselves, which will foster humility.
V16 God‘s correction of his people has a timer. Weren’t you glad as a kid when the timeout (or in my case) the restriction was over.
V17 God‘s correction is meant to do just that, bring about a change. God’s desire is that we would receive a change of heart that would produce a change in our life and a change in the way we behave. Here in verse 17 I get a sense of rebelliousness. A changed heart is a work of God, but on our part, there needs to be surrender or submission of the words it requires us to lay our will down to God’s will. That’s a hard thing to do.
V18 I really see God’s gentleness and tenderness in this verse
- Restoring comfort to the mourners Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
- The question for us is do we mourn over our sin, do we have grief about our sin that would drive us to the cross? 2 Corinthians 7:10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
- Have we received comfort and solace in walking with Christ by the knowledge of what he did for us?
V19 there are a couple of New Testament verses that come to mind here:
Hebrews 13:15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
Ephesians 2:17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR;
V20 the wicked are always in turmoil like the foam of the sea
Jude 12-13 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
V21 without Jesus you will never know peace
With Jesus you will truly know peace
Chapter 58
Cry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their transgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 “Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done righteousness
And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight in the nearness of God.
3 ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not [a]notice?’
Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,
And drive hard all your workers.
4 “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.
5 “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 “Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?
7 “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 “Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
10 And if you give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.
11 “And the Lord will continually guide you,
And satisfy your desire in scorched places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
12 “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
13 “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word, 14 Then you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
V1 this one verse hits me in two ways. I cringe when I get to this verse because it both motivates me to get out on my little soapbox and preach the gospel, but I must admit I’m a little intimidated to have to tell people their transgressions and show them their sins. This is because I’m a human too. I know what it feels like and I don’t like to have my sin pointed out. One thing not to do would be to dance around sin and just slip right on by it without truly calling it for what it is. Another thing not to do would be to call people sinners. I actually did that once, sometimes not exactly what I intend comes out of my mouth . I was preaching and some guy stopped at the signal light from his car and screamed at me “shut up. nobody wants to listen to you”, I waved to him and I said come here sinner and let’s talk. What you can do, though is take people through the good person test and let their conscience convict them that the Holy Spirit convince them of their need of a savior.
V2-5 have you ever felt like your life was dialed in? You haven’t sinned for a while. You’ve been in regular church attendance. You may have even denied yourself some pleasure so you could pray or attend to church. Yet things didn’t go your way. You know we don’t always see the full picture. We don’t know God‘s full plan and purpose in a situation. Just being a Christian or even following the Lord closely and living a holy lifestyle does not guarantee everything will go well. Also, we have the fact that we don’t even know our own heart. We don’t fully understand our own motives sometimes. Is it just the outward appearance of religious activities that were keeping up?
V6 what is this first talking about? What is true fasting. Or at least the essence of what fasting is supposed to be. Justice, compassion, repentance. True fasting is putting God‘s kingdom first and our own stomach after that. This is a difficult subject because sometimes I feel like I’m lead around by my stomach. What’s the next thing I’m going to eat or drink? Or even what’s the next pleasure or indulgence I’m going to pamper myself with.
V7-8 I feel like we need to be honest with the Lord and seek ways that he would direct us to do his well. A new heart and a changed life only comes from God so that’s what we should be seeking. That produces fruit good works
Matthew 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
V9-12 the Lord is as close as a call away.
It is true, we ought not be Judgy people. Matthew 7:1-5 (NASB95) 1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
V11 Jesus came to seek and save those who were lost. One of the ways he did that was by feeding the hungry. It talks about how the Lord will guide you continually. What are some ways the Lord guides us continually?
V12 When we come to the Lord, he builds up the old waste places in our lives and raises up the foundations upon which our life will stand. And we take part in that process; we participate in God‘s plan so we can be called a repairer of the breach and a restorer of the streets to dwell in.
V13 true fasting is a redirection of desires? It’s meant to show one is putting off the flesh and prioritizing the spirit.
Hebrews 4:9-10 (NASB95) 9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
Let’s talk about the sabbath for a moment; we know that it is the fourth of the 10 Commandments. And we know that Jesus said I did not come to abolish the Commandments, but to fulfill them. So the requirement of a Sabbath still holds. Not in terms of earning favor with God or in terms of it being a requisite for salvation. But I think it is a good principle for us. In practical terms, we need to rest. Naps are a good thing. In a spiritual sense though we need to rest from attempting to earn our salvation and receive from the LORD.
V14 do you delight in the things of God? When you came to the Lord, did your desires change? Is God’s word a chore? Is resting in Christ and finding fulfillment in him difficult? Is faith fleeting?
The Sabbath is a picture of faith in Christ and resting from self sufficiency.
Chapter 59
isaiah chapter 59 the first 15 and a half verses of this chapter are an incredible confession of guilt as we read through this. Let's think about this within the context of what's going on here as it relates to the southern kingdom of judah. These first 15 and a half verses apply to use and would be a confession of the sin in the united states of america. It feels like God wants to say something to us through these verses, and that is that when we as a society turn away from God and his precepts, it unravels and becomes chaotic and lawless. We have had members of this church who moved out of state because it became dangerous and quite frankly wicked. Here this confession of what the southern kingdom of judah was doing which brought on the judgment of God and it is much the same as what is happening also in our country today.
As I read these verses and think about this as a prayer of confession to God, it hurts to see what's going on.
But even now, for our own country, verses 1-15
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
Nor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken falsehood,
Your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly.
They trust in confusion and speak lies;
They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth.
6 Their webs will not become clothing,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity,
And an act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
And they hasten to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,
Devastation and destruction are in their highways.
8 They do not know the way of peace,
And there is no justice in their tracks;
They have made their paths crooked,
Whoever treads on them does not know peace.
A Confession of Wickedness
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not overtake us;
We hope for light, but behold, darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope along the wall like blind men,
We grope like those who have no eyes;
We stumble at midday as in the twilight,
Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men.
11 All of us growl like bears,
And moan sadly like doves;
We hope for justice, but there is none,
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You,
And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And we know our iniquities:
13 Transgressing and denying the Lord,
And turning away from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words.
14 Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands far away;
For truth has stumbled in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.
15 Yes, truth is lacking;
And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey.
Now the Lord saw,
And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.
Did you notice there in those couple of verses where God speaks of the deeds of men as their clothing? Did you catch that? He refers to those wicked deeds as if they were wearing spider webs? What is our clothing (spiritually speaking)? We are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, we are clothed in the garments of his righteousness. Those garments are not from our works; they're from what he did and they will provide a true covering. Our sins are covered. They are atoned for which is more than just covered. Our sins are completely erased. Deleted, gone forever.
verse 7 you might remember the apostle Paul quotes those words in romans 3:15-17 to speak of the sinful condition of both jew and gentile alike under sin.
The person who wants to serve God and walk with God, the person who departs from evil makes himself a prey. What does that mean? That means the person who wants to walk with Godand live righteously becomes endangered among the people of this kind of society.
The Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice what was going on pure anarchy, pure chaos where the man who wants to live a godly life is now in danger of losing his life.
Now, look to verses 16-20
And He saw that there was no man,
And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.
17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing
And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.
18 According to their deeds, so He will repay,
Wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies;
To the coastlands He will make recompense.
19 So they will fear the name of the Lord from the west
And His glory from the rising of the sun,
For He will come like a rushing stream
Which the wind of the Lord drives.
20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the Lord.
God saw that there was no justice and he saw that there was no man to intercede there was nobody to mediate between the sinfulness of mankind and the righteousness of God.
So what does he do? He reveals his own arm and the word arm. Remember what does the term Arm represent? It means God’s strength. God brought salvation and his righteousness to us. There was no one else with righteousness to be found among the sons of men so what happened his own righteousness upheld him look what it goes on to say, talking about the Messiah (our Lord Jesus)? He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head he put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak according to their deeds so will he repay wrath to his adversaries repayment to his enemies to the coastlands he will render repayment so they shall fear the name of the lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun for he will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the lord drives.
Isn't it interesting that the Lord speaks of His coming like a rushing stream like rushing water. The power of rushing water is amazing. Uncontainable. We have seen in many of these apologetics documentaries that the Grand Canyon was formed by rushing water. So God picks one of the most powerful elements in nature to depict His coming.
I love what it goes on to say in verse 20 and a redeemer will come to zion to those in jacob who turn from transgression and that's called repentance declares the lord so we're specifically speaking here of the coming of this redeemer messiah and then this is amazing he speaks of the result of his coming and as for me this is my covenant with them says the lord my spirit that is upon you and my words that i've put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth or out of the mouth of your offspring or out of the mouth of your children's offspring says the lord from this time forth and forevermore.
Wow, very powerful! We get this beautiful picture of the coming of the redeemer. The messiah who shares his spirit puts his word upon us and in our mouth and we get to play a part in God’s plan as we pass that Word along from believer to believer and the word of God will never fade or change.
Are you in for a “Grand Adventure”? I can tell you from experience, that sharing His word is exciting. If your Christian experience is boring, you need to risk a little and dive into the deep end with the LORD.
