Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 1 – 2
• “The righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart.” Good thing Numbers 23:19 tells us that God is not a man… The righteous perishes and the merciful men are forsaken but nothing is lost on God. The rest of the righteous doesn’t, (can’t), come from this world. That doesn’t even make sense. The satisfaction of the saint can only come from the Spirit.
• So as the things of this world continue to be unfair, difficult, frustrating and wearisome, its ok… You don’t go to Subway for a steak. They don’t serve that there. The world is going to do what the world is going to do. People are going to live for themselves. Call things that are evil, good. The world is going to harm you and call it right and fair… All of those things do much less damage if you expect them!
• Verse 2 speaks of peace, rest, and uprightness. Uprightness in this world gets you contentions, debates and cycles of swirl! Verse 2 possibly speaks of death as well in the way this is worded and if that is so then we have a verse that reconciles how it is that the Bible speaks of death in certain places as “sleep.” Notice verse 2 says that entering into peace they shall rest in their beds…, and walk in uprightness! Yes, the Bible speaks of death as sleep, yes, the Bible speaks of the dead entering into their graves, and yes, the Bible speaks of the body doing all of those things while the Spirit walks with God!
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 3 – 10
• This is quite the indictment against those who have essentially harmed the righteous. And the key central verse and theme of the indictment is verse 7. On a lofty and high mountain, you have set your bed. In other words, you have lifted, elevated, promoted yourself in your own heart and life and that truly is the downfall of everything…
• Pride is the absolute worst disease of the spirit in all of creation. And rather than define what pride is, it’s far more-clear to say what it is not. It is not a spirit of service and responsibility towards God and others. It is a spirit of service and responsibility towards self… The refusal to submit yourself to others and to God. That is pride and that becomes your god. You cannot serve God and dabble in pride…
• There you went up to offer sacrifice…, where? On the high hill you set up for yourself. Pride cannot be tolerated because it quickly becomes your god. It’s like a drug. A secret sin. There is no dabbling. You touch it and it takes over. Pride is the satanic supplement in the nature of created man that causes every kind of evil and torment… And it’s so extremely dangerous, you stay entirely clear of it as much as possible, because every one of us loves it (in our flesh)…
• The only cure for it is to not fight it but to overcome it. If you fight pride, in a way, that itself is prideful. You must ignore it, release it, like the itch of a mosquito bite…, the moment you scratch it, it gets worse. So, the only cure for pride is humility… To cheerfully and joyfully submit myself to God and to others… Proverbs 16:19 says, “Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 11 – 12
• That’s quite the challenge from God that is so healthy! All of your works and righteousness, you doing what you think is right…, what has gotten it you? Where has it gotten you? I am confident that there is no one in this room that would go to work tomorrow for free…, or better yet, what if you had to pay your employer tomorrow to go to work!? Your life delivers what you have invested. It’s as simple as that and the will and want of God is for our good, for our profit!
• Perhaps not in terms of money or resources, but I’m also not necessarily saying not! The point is that our life and who we are will be a direct result of the wise investments we make or the unwise investments we make in terms of who’s righteousness we employ. Ours, or Gods!
• And this word for profit in the Hebrew (I can’t make this up) its “yaal!” Literally pronounced “yaw-al!” HA! God’s like, “YALL! Come and buy without money and be greatly satisfied!!” You want to work for no profit that’s on you, but for me, profitlessness is one of my personal enemies!
• Do you know what is profitable? Love. Kindness. Giving someone the benefit of the doubt. Serving the Lord. Doing for others what you can do for them. Treating others not how you want to be treated but how they need you to treat them. Playing the long game. Being willing to suffer and sacrifice for some sort of desired goal or outcome… Trusting the Lord is profitable even when I can’t see the end…
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verse 13
• How about we trust the Lord and then when I cry out to the Lord, I call out in hope knowing He will deliver me because it is in Him I have put my trust. Not my mental trust, like my literal action-oriented God trusting decisions… That vibe is totally different than what we just read when we call out to Him in our moment of trouble!
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 14 – 15
• God is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The Creator of all things. Perfect, holy, just and all mighty. And He makes His company only with those that are contrite and humble in spirit. Humble we get. Maybe…
• Humility is not considering self-less than others, it’s just simply considering self-less. What’s important to God is important to you and anything that challenges that is muted and starved. Hated and hunted in your heart of hearts. That’s humility. But God also uses the characterization of contrite. Contrite gives an essence of guilt. Of remorse. Of sorry. That we know we have fallen short, we know we are saved and accepted by grace, AND we are still sorry. Let me give you another word for contrite. Accountable…
• Here are two things that are at the tip top of the list of short order in the world and in the church. Accountability and humility. Many are called, few are chosen. Why? This. God makes His place with the humble and the contrite. Not the humble alone. The humble and the contrite… These He revives!
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 16 – 18
• These verses are difficult and seem out of place. God could perhaps be talking about one who strays or He could be talking about the nation of Israel as a whole. Either interpretation is acceptable.
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 19 – 21
• There is no peace for the wicked. Always searching, always grasping, never arriving…, going from thing to thing, person to person, problem to problem, relationship to relationship and like a self-fulfilling prophecy, always somehow turning out the same. Like a troubled sea… It’s an indictment yes, but its also an offering that the peace of God is held out and offered to anyone and everyone…
• Peace is far more than the end of war. The word means completeness. Settled on the inside. Sound in heart and mind. Safe. Content. The word even means a friend. It is a return to the closest state of original creation… THAT is profit!