A Review of Isaiah 57
by Keith E Gardner
Always using the King James Bible
Isaiah 57:1-2
In verses 1 and 2 the LORD is telling us that death, for the righteous, is actually the mercy of God as the righteous will be spared the horror to come: Zephaniah 1:1-8.
Isaiah 57:3-4
Verses 3 and 4 have been written to all the lost of the world. In verse 3 we see our Lord GOD has characterized the lost as the seed of adulterers and whores. This is the consequence of a world of relaxed morals and even more pertinently the blatant denial of the truth of the LORD: Jeremiah 2:20-25. In Jeremiah 2:25 we see the LORD explaining the sentiments of the lost as He says “…There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go”. The strangers the LORD speaks of are not necessarily people but, they are the ways of a people that are foreign to God; the ways of the lost.
Isaiah 57:5
In verse 5 we see “Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree”. As wood is used in building the LORD describes church meetings as being held “under every green tree”. The idols with which men have enflamed themselves are their own renditions or interpretations of the laws of the LORD. Our Lord God sees these false beliefs just as He sees the worship of the sun, moon and stars; it is not worship of Him: Jeremiah 2:26-29. The LORD continues with “slaying the children in the valleys under the cliffs of the rocks”. This is comparable to the people of today taking their children to church. The LORD is not there making it a certainty those children will be lost as they begin to accept the false teachings of the church: Isaiah 17:10-11. In Isaiah 17:10-11 the pleasant plants are the children born to the lost. The strange slips are the teachings of the church which are foreign to the LORD. Once planted in the minds of the children these beliefs will assure them the worse damnation as the LORD says “but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow”. Therefore unless these children are the elect of God they are doomed to the greater damnation.
Isaiah 57:6-8
In verse 6 we read “Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot”. This is the LORD telling the lost that their ultimate end will be with the earth. We know from verses like 2 Peter 3:10 the ultimate end of the earth and all that is part thereof; lost mankind will be part thereof. However Revelation 19:17-21, with special emphasis on verse 21, seem to indicate lost men will enter the incineration of this world dead but, Satan is the beast and the false prophet who will be incinerated with this world. The LORD continues with “even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou has offered a meat offering”. This is our Lord GOD speaking of the false worship given by men to everything from idols to the sun, moon and stars even to their own false beliefs. In light of this the LORD asks “Should I receive comfort in these?” Which is actually saying if you worship a false god the one true God will not accept your worship: Matthew 6:21-24.
In verse 7 the LORD says to the lost “Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed”. This “lofty and high mountain” is that air of superiority all church leaders and their congregations have toward the rest of the world; the Catholics feel their beliefs are right and all the protestant beliefs are wrong while each protestant faith sees every other faith as wrong. The LORD continues as He says “even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice”. In this clause the LORD is saying from their high and lofty self-appointed position the churches make their tithes and offerings but, not to the LORD.
In the first clause of verse 8 the LORD is saying even in the privacy of their homes the lost worship their gods. In the second clause of the verse the LORD clearly says these people do not follow His law as He says “… thou has discovered thyself to another other than me”. The Bible makes clear in many places, Luke 16:13 for one, there is only good and evil; our Lord GOD is good and Satan is evil so all who are not following God are, by default, following Satan. In the third clause of the verse the LORD is saying the lost have broadened the scope of what is acceptable, consequently they unknowingly have made their own covenant with Satan. In the final clause of the verse the LORD is telling us all the lost love their sin and because they are not called and chosen they run with the world as we all do if we are not saved by the grace of God: Ephesians 2:1-5.
Isaiah 57:9
In verse 9 we see “… thou wentest to the king with ointment … and didst debase thyself even unto hell”. Just as the KING for all the called and chosen and the elect is the Christ, Revelation 19:13-16, so then the king for all the lost is Satan, Revelation 13:3-4. Both those saved and those lost will do the bidding of their fathers John 8:42-44.
Isaiah 57:10
In verse 10 the LORD says “Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way”. The LORD here is speaking of the irregularity and even the infrequency of church attendance by the lost as they don’t truly honor their gods either. The LORD continues with “yet saidst thou not, There is no hope”. The LORD is telling us here that even though the lost may grow weary of their religious pretence they will not give up on the charade. He goes on with “thou has found the life of thine hand; therefore thou was not grieved”. The hand here represents the will of a man therefore this phrase is saying the lost have not given up on their religiosity because, by their own will, they have found whatever religious practice suits them. Consequently they are not grieved as everything is well with them.
Isaiah 57:11
In verse 11 we hear the LORD as He speaks of those lost who do not have the reverence and the fear of our Father that is truly due unto Him. Yes, many say they love, honor, obey, respect and even fear Him but, how can they have such reverence toward one whom they don’t know? They cannot, therefore their expression of these emotions is false which explains their substitution of the truth with the lie: Hosea 5:1-4. If they truly knew Him they would love Him and to love Him is to keep Him commandments: John 14:23.
Isaiah 57:12
In verse 12 we see the LORD shall “… declare thy righteousness, and thy works” which is clearly the LORD saying the decision is His. He has elected everyone to salvation, who was to be saved, before the foundation of the world: Ephesians 4:1. Therefore all who are not the elect of God can do one of two things. They can humble themselves before Him and pray for His forgiveness or they may go their own way “but the just shall live by His faith”: Habakkuk 2:4; so the works of mankind will not profit them.
Isaiah 57:13
In verse 13 the LORD is telling all who are lost to call on their lost companions: Jeremiah 2:26-29; however, He makes it clear in the two clauses that follow that it will all be for naught. In the fourth clause the LORD begins to speak of His own. He tells us all who put their trust in Him will possess the land and upon death be heaven bound as He says they “shall inherit my holy mountain”.
Isaiah 57:14
In verse 14 the LORD is expressing the sentiments of His people as He has given us all a singular voice. We are asking that He “… take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people”. This is the cry of His called and chosen as we plead with Him to grant us, His called and chosen, the wisdom to bring all of His elect to Him. The stumbling block can only be taken out of the way or put in the way of a man by the LORD: Ezekiel 3:17-21. All things are under the dominion of our Lord GOD including the salvation of all mankind: John 8:42-47; you cannot be saved by your will.
Isaiah 57:15-16
In verse 15 the LORD begins to speak of all those who have been and will be called and chosen of Him as those with a contrite and humble spirit. He says “I dwell in the high and lofty place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit”. In Psalm 15:1-5 the LORD describes those of a contrite and humble spirit; they are His called and chosen.
In verse 16 we see the anger of the LORD as it is beginning to boil. We see evidence of this today in the multitude of new diseases that cannot be cured and those older diseases which are rapidly developing immunities to all available treatments. If the LORD would allow this trend to continue along with the addition of Genetically Modified Organisms in our food, the ever deteriorating concern for the ecology of the world and human life in general mankind would quickly come to extinction. However the LORD says “… I will not contend for ever neither will I always be wroth”. This is our Lord GOD saying He will have mercy. He is telling us that before and on Judgment Day He will pull His called and chosen from among the multitude of the world. Then while He will be merciful unto all who have humbled themselves before Him He will begin the end: Isaiah 5:11-25.
Isaiah 57:17
In verse 17 the LORD is speaking of His elect before they are called and chosen. We know this because prior to being called and chosen the elect of God are just as everyone else. Paul, who was once called Saul, was an enemy of the Christ prior to his salvation: Acts 7:54-60. He became an apostle after the LORD called and chose him: Acts 9:1-6. Although our Lord GOD saved Paul in Acts 9:1-6 we know from many other verses in the Bible that everyone called and chosen of God must be credited to one who is already called and chosen. Therefore in Acts 9:10-18 we see the LORD giving the credit for taking the word to Paul unto Ananias. Although it was always done this way the LORD made it obvious in His coming as He gave John the Baptist credit even for Himself: Matthew 3:11-17.
Isaiah 57:18
In verse 18 the LORD continues the thought of verse 17. Our Lord GOD saw all of our lost ways even before we ever were and made provision for all who were to be His: Galatians 1:3-5. He is able to lead us all and He promises to keep us that we will be here to do His will. This is the purpose of all mankind but, only those whom He calls and chooses will be able, through Him, to overcome the temptations of this life: James 1:13-15. Through the blessing of His Holy Spirit He will comfort all of His. Those who mourn the lost are those who are already heaven bound and witness the blindness of so many who do not know the LORD.
Isaiah 57:19
“The fruit of the lips” is our sincere praise and honor of God through the blessing of salvation afforded us by the Christ. It is by this blessing that we, the called and chosen of God, will take His word to this world: Hebrews 13:12-16. Those characterized by the LORD as “far off” are the elect of God who, as of yet, do not know the one true God: Isaiah 55:1-3. However upon learning of the LORD they will join those called and chosen of God: Isaiah 55:5-7. In the final clause of verse 19 the LORD says “and I will heal him”. We see this is explained in Isaiah 55:7 as the LORD says “and let him return unto the LORD…”. We all come from the LORD as we are all His creations. When we enter our mothers we have been corrupted as she and the world are sin cursed. Therefore we must be redeemed by God through His Son and our Savior Jesus the Christ. If we are redeemed we are saved but, if we are not redeemed when we die we will die eternally. The LORD closes the verse with “and I will heal him”. The him in this clause are all the elect of God as it is only his sins the Christ paid for at the cross: John 17:8-10.
Isaiah 57:20-21
In verse 20 the LORD says “…the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest”. It is difficult for a man to recognize his plight as he has been forced to deal with it from His very beginning. Consequently it is only after salvation that he can see the horror of the condition he was once in. As the time of Judgment draws ever nearer we can comprehend the cause of the increase of many stress related conditions and deaths. Looking at verse 21 we see the LORD says there is no peace for the wicked. To get a clearer picture of what the LORD is referring to we must remember when He speaks of Egypt He is very often making reference to the world. With this in mind we take a look at Isaiah 30:1-7. For a more complete understanding you can go back to the paper on Isaiah 30.
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