ISAIAH 56-57 “God’s People Are To Walk In Righteousness
and Justice, Their Leaders Rebuked For
Failing To Watch And Protect”
By
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at chapters 54 and 55. We saw that these
chapters are predicated upon their following chapter 53, and thus they show the
results of the God’s ‘ideal servant’ coming and taking upon himself all of our
iniquities and then raising from the dead.
In chapter 54 we read of the blessing that shall come to
1.1.1.
Blessing on
1.1.1.1.The people were admonished to enlarge the place of their tents because
they will spread to the right and to the left
1.1.1.2.The people were prophesied to be honored and exalted above the nations
1.1.1.3.The people were prophesied to forever have their shame, disgrace, and
humiliation removed
1.1.1.4.God will establish a ‘covenant of peace’ with them which shall last
forever and nothing and no one shall harm them again
1.1.1.5.Their sons will all come to know the Lord
1.1.2.
The invitation was made to
the world to come to the Lord and receive salvation
1.1.2.1.People were invited to come to the waters and drink and eat at the table
of the Lord
1.1.2.2.People were invited to incline their ear and hear the gospel message so
that they might be saved
1.1.2.3.People were invited to seek the Lord while He may be found and to call
upon Him while He is near
1.2.
In our study today, we will
be looking at chapter 56 and 57 which begin the last section of the book of
Isaiah. It is a section that contains
many exhortations and admonishments for God’s people to apply to their lives
and take to heart while they are awaiting the Lord to carry out the deliverance
that He has prophesied in His word
1.2.1.
In chapter 56 the people of
God are admonished to walk in righteousness, preserve justice, and observe
justice
1.2.1.1.Note that when the scriptures speak of men walking uprightly or in
righteousness it simply means to do those things that are pleasing to the Lord
and avoid doing those things that bring Him displeasure
1.2.1.2.We will see that all of us as Christians today are to be alert and
living our lives as if Christ might return for His church at any moment, for
the Lord could return at any moment and He promises that He will return at a
moment when we least expect Him to return
1.2.2.
In chapter 57 the leaders of
the people of God are rebuked for not watching out for and protecting God’s
people and told to remove any obstacle in the way of their being where God
wants them to be
2.
VS 56:1-2 - “1 Thus says the Lord, “Preserve
justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come And My
righteousness to be revealed. 2 “How
blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who takes hold of it; Who keeps from profaning the sabbath, And
keeps his hand from doing any evil.”” - The Lord tells His people to preserve justice
and do righteousness
2.1.
We have now entered into the final section of
the book of Isaiah. This section goes
from chapter 56 through chapter 66. The
section deals with God’s people during the interim period from the revelation
of God’s ‘ideal servant’ and the establishment of the
2.1.1.
God’s captive people in
Babylon who have been told that the Lord is going to bring their deliverer and
return them to their land where they will restore their temple, city, and city
wall.
2.1.1.1.The
encouragements and admonishings in this case would be for them to try to live
as much within the law of Moses as they can seeing the fact that they are
living as slaves in Babylon, they do not have a temple in which they can
sacrifice, and they do not have a priesthood with which to mediate their
sacrifices.
2.1.1.2.An
attitude of heart is primarily what the people would be admonished to have
since the literal keeping of many of the laws to the letter would be impossible.
2.1.2.
God’s people after their
restoration from captivity in
2.1.2.1.The
encouragements and admonishings in this case would be that since Isaiah has
revealed that God’s ‘ideal servant’ will come and provide for the atonement for
their sins and transgressions, and since they now have their temple and
priesthood functional, that they are to live as much as possible in faithful
obedience to the law of God as they await the arrival of God’s ‘ideal servant.’
2.1.2.2.The
people did not get involved in idolatry after their return from Babylonian
captivity, so this would mean that much of what they were warned of by Isaiah
they heeded.
2.1.3.
The church after Christ’s
death and resurrection, God’s ‘ideal servant,’ as she is awaiting the coming of
His kingdom and the end of all things.
2.1.3.1.The
encouragements and admonishings in this case would be to walk in obedience to
the Lord as much as is possible always living your life so that you are ready
should the Lord return for His church today.
2.1.3.2.We
see taught in the New Testament the fact that Jesus could return at any moment
for His church, or the “imminent return of Christ,”
and this should be a motivator to all of us to always seek to be right with the
Lord, doing His will. In Matt. 25:1-13, Jesus taught His disciples a “parable of the ten virgins” in order to teach the
fact that we ought to always be alert and living our life as if the Lord were
to return at any time, “1 “Then the kingdom of
heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to
meet the bridegroom.2 “And five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.3
“For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,4 but the
prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.5 “Now while the bridegroom
was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.6 “But at midnight there
was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’7 “Then all those
virgins rose, and trimmed their lamps.8 “And the foolish said to the prudent,
‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’9 “But the prudent
answered, saying, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead
to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’10 “And while they were going away
to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in
with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.11 “And later the other
virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’12 “But he answered and
said, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’13 “Be on the alert then, for you
do not know the day nor the hour.”
2.2.
So, you see this last section of the book of
Isaiah has to do with how we, God’s people, should live our lives in between
the time that God has revealed Himself and His future plans for His kingdom and
His people, and the actual fulfillment of those plans. These are “interim exhortations.”
2.3.
In these verses, the Lord is telling His
people that His salvation is about to appear, and ‘His righteousness’ to be
revealed, therefore men would be wise to walk justly and uprightly, simply in
obedience doing the things that please the Lord and avoiding the things that
the bring His displeasure.
2.3.1.
Isaiah tells them to keep their hands from
doing evil.
2.4.
Isaiah tells us here that what is primary
about being prepared in heart for the Lord and walking obediently before Him is
the keeping of the Sabbath. This was one
of the 10 commandments, that man is to keep the Sabbath, and as such it is a very
important moral obligation that men and women are to keep.
2.4.1.
In the New Testament, we read that when
Christ was raised from the dead that God put aside the old covenant in the law
of Moses, and that therefore believers in Christ no longer had to keep the law
of Moses to the letter. There were some
however in the early church who went around telling people that in order to be
saved that they had to also keep the law of Moses to the letter. They were called Judaisers, and much of
Paul’s writings such as in the books of Galatians, Hebrews, and 2 Corinthians
were designated for repudiating this doctrine.
2.4.1.1.In
Col. 2:16-17 Paul wrote that we
Christians were not to allow anyone to judge us in regard to our keeping of the
Sabbath, “16 Therefore let no one act as your judge
in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a
Sabbath day—17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the
substance belongs to Christ.”
2.4.1.2.We
read in the book of Acts how that the church began meeting on the first day of
the week, or Sunday, because that was the day that Christ rose from the
dead. The thought was that since Christ
appeared to the fellowship of believers on back to back Sundays after His
resurrection that He had sanctioned their meeting on that day, and thus still
today most churches meet on Sundays.
2.5.
Whether or not we as a church meet on Sunday
or any other day though, I want to emphasize that it is very important that we
as believers heed the admonishment in Heb. 10:25
and be sure that we do not forsake the gathering of ourselves together, “25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of
some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing
near.”
2.5.1.
When we meet together with the body of Christ
it has a tremendous effect on our lives for thus we are empowered by the Holy
Spirit, encouraged in our faith, purified in our hearts, grow in our love for
God and our fellow man, and protected from the wolves that would like to snatch
us away.
3.
VS 56:3-8 - “3 Let not the foreigner who has
joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from His
people.” Neither let the eunuch say,
“Behold, I am a dry tree.” 4 For thus
says the Lord, “To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, And choose what pleases
Me, And hold fast My covenant, 5 To them I will give in My house and within My
walls a memorial, And a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which
will not be cut off. 6 “Also the
foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, To minister to Him, and to love the
name of the Lord, To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the
sabbath, And holds fast My covenant; 7
Even those I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house
of prayer. Their burnt offerings and
their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer
for all the peoples.” 8 The Lord God,
who gathers the dispersed of
3.1.
The Jews were called to reach out to the
Gentiles and bring the nations to their God that they might know Him and be His
people also, however instead they despised the foreigners and never were
committed to do this. However, the Lord
wants His people to know that His desire is that all men and nations might
become His people by receiving the salvation that God’s ‘ideal servant’ shall
procure for all mankind.
3.2.
Gentiles and proselytes might have worried at
this point now that God’s ‘ideal servant,’ who is the Messiah of God, and His
works have been prophetically described, whether they would now be excluded
since they were not God’s people by birthright.
However, to remove their concerns the Lord tells them in these verses of
His intentions of bringing to salvation “whosoever” shall call upon the Name of
the Lord, and receive salvation through God’s ‘ideal servant.’
3.3.
The Lord even promises that to the ‘eunuchs’
of the nations who keep His sabbaths and do those things that please Him and
are honoring His covenant, that He will give to them a name that is better than
the name of sons and daughters, but rather ‘an everlasting name’ which will not
be cut off or taken away. A ‘eunuch’ is
one who has made a vow to be dedicated totally to the Lord and thus not to
marry. Some actually were “emasculated”
as part of their vow. So, there is a
special name to be set aside for those whose life is to be completely dedicated
to serving the Lord.
3.4.
In Mark. 11:17,
when Jesus drove the money-changers out of the temple with a whip, He quoted
verse 7 as the reason He had done so, ‘For my house will be called a house of
prayer for all the peoples [nations],’ “17 And He
began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a
house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers‘ den.””
4.
VS 56:9-12 - “9 All you beasts of the field, All
you beasts in the forest, Come to eat.
10 His watchmen are blind, All of them know nothing. All of them are dumb dogs unable to bark,
Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;
11 And the dogs are greedy, they are not satisfied. And they are shepherds who have no
understanding; They have all turned to
their own way, Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one. 12 “Come,” they say, “let us get wine, and
let us drink heavily of strong drink;
And tomorrow will be like today, only more so.”” - The Lord calls
4.1.
If it were not tragic, this description of
the prophets of
4.1.1.
As watchdogs for God’s people, their
religious leaders were:
4.1.1.1.Spiritually
blind and did not hear from God.
4.1.1.2.Dumb
and unable to speak to the people on behalf of God.
4.1.1.3.Instead
of being vigilant in their fight to protect God’s people they are lazy and
lying down.
4.1.1.4.While
they should be awake instead they love to slumber (sleep).
4.1.1.5.When
they should be looking out for the best interests of God’s people they are
looking out for their own interests and profit and are greedy.
4.1.1.6.When
they should be looking out for others they are controlled by their own lusts
which can never be satisfied.
4.2.
The prophets of Israel were called to be
‘watchmen’ for the people who are to sound the call when they hear that the
enemy is coming, or when they see that the people are turning away from the
Lord they were to go and tell them of the error of their way and implore the
people to repent.
4.3.
The beasts of the field and the forests are
called to come and to eat. I believe
that the food that they are invited to eat is the people of God who as dumb
sheep are not being protected by their shepherds. Their shepherds cannot protect them because
they have ‘no understanding,’ spiritually speaking, and don’t even realize that
God’s people are in any danger, nor do they care.
4.4.
Those of us who are leaders in the church
today must take the burden of leadership so seriously. God’s people need to be protected, nourished,
and taken care of by shepherds that the Lord raises up to watch over them. God’s people are like sheep in that they are
so vulnerable to many things that could harm them, and good shepherds are ever
needed to watch over and tend them.
4.4.1.
There is a degree in which all of us as
Christians have someone over whom we are to be a watchman and a shepherd, and
we all ought to take that responsibility to heart. Those of us who are parents have the awesome
responsibility to be good shepherds over our children.
5.
VS 57:1-2 - “1 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.” - Isaiah tells us that when injustice comes
upon the ‘righteous man’ and he perishes no one takes it to heart or
understands what has happened
5.1.
This chapter is directed to the people of
5.2.
Isaiah tells us that in
5.3.
The righteous man dies and ‘enters into
peace’ however Isaiah tells us.
6.
VS 57:3-8 - “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 libation,
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 “And 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.” - God calls His people sons of a sorceress,
adulterer, and a prostitute and children of rebellion and deceit
6.1.
We see here in these verses that the people
of
6.2.
God’s people are called by three derogatory names because of their pagan practices:
6.2.1.
The Hebrew word ‘awnan,’
which is translated ‘sorceress’
here means “soothsayer, enchanter, sorceress, diviner,
fortuneteller, barbarian, or a witch.” When
the people practiced the various occult religious rites of the nations they
were involved with sorcery and thus could be called ‘sons of a
sorcerer.’
6.2.2.
The going after other gods by God’s people is
in many places in the scriptures called spiritual adultery, and thus the people
are called the ‘sons of an adulterer.’
6.2.3.
As opposed to an ‘adulterer’ a ‘prostitute’
is one who actively solicits new lovers for profit. Her commerce cannot be considered a mere
weakness of the flesh or of the moment but one which is calculated to bring her
profit and her livelihood. The people
could thus be called ‘sons of a prostitute.’
6.3.
Notice that Isaiah mentions that the people
would go up to a high and lofty mountain to make their sacrifices. Though the righteous kings of
6.4.
The fertility goddesses were worshipped by
going to the temple prostitutes, and thus the people are described as
‘enflaming yourselves among the oaks.’
6.5.
The god Molech, worshipped by the Moabites,
was worshipped by offering human sacrifices in hopes that doing so would defer
his wrath, thus the people are described as slaughtering their children in the
ravines.
6.6.
All of us as Christians must take seriously
the admonition to not allow idols into our lives. Anything that we allow to have precedence
over what the Lord would have us to be doing is an idol to us. The Lord wants to be our all and to have all
of our loyalty.
7.
VS 57:9-10 - “9 “And 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.” - Isaiah tells the Israelites
that they journeyed to the king with oil instead of realizing that doing so was
hopeless
7.1.
These verses are believed to possibly be a
reference to what we talked about much earlier in the book of Isaiah when
Isaiah was entreating the people over and over that they must not look to the nations
on this earth for their help, strength, and hope, but rather that they must
trust in the Lord and Him alone as their help.
Yet nonetheless their emissaries went to the nations to see what
alliances they could drum up as they were trying to calculate which of the
nations would be the best for them to lean and rely upon. The ‘king’ may specifically refer to the king
of Assyria which
7.2.
Isaiah has attempted to show God’s people
over and over how futile it is for us to put our hope in any earthly person,
nation, or king. None can truly meet our
needs, and He requires that if we be His people that we rely completely upon
Him. To look elsewhere for help is worse
than pointless and foolishness, it is flirting with death.
7.3.
We Christians need to also learn to avoid
placing our hope in any arm of man, or arm of the flesh. We don’t need the wisdom of this world that
is in rebellion against God in order to live our lives for the Lord. His word promises us that the promises
contained therein contain all that we need pertaining to life and godliness (2
Peter 1:2).
8.
VS 57:11-13 - “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 shall inherit
the land, And shall possess My holy mountain.”” - The Lord asks His people of whom they worried
and were fearful when they did not remember Him and lied to Him
8.1.
The people of
8.2.
The Lord chides His people because of their
turning away from Him to other gods by telling them to go ahead and let those
other gods deliver them when they cry out for help in their time of need.
8.3.
On 9/11/2001, the people in our country went
to the Lord in prayer not to their astrologist or palm-reader. Sadly, it often takes a tragedy to awaken
people.
9.
VS 57:14-16 - “14 And it shall 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, Neither will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me,
And the breath of those whom I have made.” - The Lord tells the leaders of His people to
prepare the way for His deliverance by removing every obstacle out of their way
9.1.
These verses confirm yet again that this
chapter is an indictment against God’s people for turning away from Him, but
more so of their leaders in not doing the job that they were called to do as
God’s ‘watchmen’ and shepherds in protecting the people. There were many obstacles in the lives of
God’s people that was hindering them from truly having God’s blessing on their
lives. Injustice was rampant the unrighteous
were not being punished, and the people were not being led in the way of
righteousness and justice by their leaders.
9.2.
The Lord tells us that He lives in an
incalculably high and a holy place, however in stark contrast He also lives
with the person who is ‘contrite and lowly of spirit.’ In fact, the Lord tells us that He revives
the spirit of the lowly and the heart of the contrite.
9.2.1.
Seeing that God is this way, we will be wise
to be contrite in heart and lowly in our own estimation of ourselves, and
humble ourselves before the Lord.
9.3.
The Lord gives a warning to His people in
general and their leaders that He will not always be patient waiting for them
to come to repentance, for He will ‘not contend forever’ with the rebellious in
heart. People need to repent while they
can, while there is the window of opportunity to seek and to find the Lord
which we discussed in our last study, for one day it will be too late to do so.
9.4.
The Lord tells us also that He will also not
always be angry with man, otherwise it would be too much for man to bear. The anger and wrath of the Lord was fully
satisfied when Jesus Christ was made to be sin so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).
At the cross of Calvary the enmity was removed and the Lord was
reconciled to mankind, and He offers peace with God for those who will place
their faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His work on
9.5.
We Christians must be careful not to allow
any obstacles of sin in our lives, no matter how small and insignificant we may
think that they are. Any obstacle of sin
is going to create a problems for those who are attempting to serve the Lord
and be where He wants them to be. In the
Song of Sol. 2:15, we read the
admonition to beware of the little foxes that are always ruining our vineyards,
“15 “Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes
that are ruining the vineyards, While our vineyards are in blossom.””
10.
VS 57:17-19 - “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.”” - The Lord tells His people
that because of the iniquity of man’s unjust gain He hid His face from Him and
was angry and struck Him, but He will heal him
10.1.
I believe that these verses can be looked at
in a couple of different ways:
10.1.1.God’s
people, Judea, had turned away from the Lord and because of their iniquity of
unjust gain, the Lord was angry and struck them, sending them away to
10.1.2.When
God’s ‘ideal servant’ comes on the scene the Lord provided that His people be
healed of their sins, led by His hand, and comforted. Salvation through Christ then creates the
‘praise of the lips’ and ‘peace’ to those ‘far’ and ‘near’ who respond to the
message of reconciliation to come to faith in Christ for salvation.
11.
VS 57:20-21 - “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.”” - The Lord tells His people that the wicked will
never have peace
11.1.
There is no peace among men who are wicked,
that is in rebellion against God and His righteousness and laws, and there
never can be peace among them. Carrying
out the desires of the flesh revolves around being selfish and self-centered,
and this causes a person to be at odds with all those around him.
11.1.1.This
is why I do not believe that there will be any peace in the middle east between
Jews and Arabs, or even between Arabs.
Until the flesh is crucified and a person kicks self off of the throne
of his life and places Jesus Christ on that throne, he will never have peace
with those around him.
11.2.
What a wonderful thing it is to be a
Christian and to know the “peace of God that passes understanding.” We have peace in our hearts when we are submitted
to the Lord and walking in obedience to His will. This peace can enable us to endure any trial
or difficulty that we may have to go through in life!
12.
CONCLUSION:
12.1.
Let’s be sure to walk
uprightly and justly before the Lord as we anticipate the fact that any moment
He may return for us His church and we shall find ourselves snatched up to be
in His presence
12.2.
Let’s be sure to not allow
any obstacles of sin to take root in our lives, no matter how small or
insignificant they may seem to us