57:1. “The
righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are
taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil
to come.”
Wickedness was so rampant in Israel that the few who were righteous found
peace only in death; and the same conditions will prevail worldwide just
prior to the Rapture, when believers will be “caught up (to heaven), in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” 1 Cor 15:52, just prior to the
beginning of the Tribulation era; nor is it difficult to see that that same
tidal wave of evil is sweeping over the world today. The Rapture must surely
be near.
57:2. “He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in
their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.”
Those raptured will enter into eternal peace in heaven, their rest being
likened to that of men resting quietly on their beds at the end of the day,
because during their earthly lives they will have walked obediently before
God. This is the sure expectation of every born-again believer, no matter
when he may live here on earth: his eternal rest is certain; “uprightness”
in the present context meaning, “doing what is right in God’s sight.”
57:3. “But draw ye near hither, ye sons of the
sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.”
Those described here were similar to those who constitute the great false
church as represented by Roman Catholicism and her evil twin sister,
professing but apostate Protestantism. The sorceress speaks of the evil
spiritual character of both systems; while the adulterer and the whore
represent them as being those who have turned aside from the knowledge of
God to embrace utter evil.
The adulterer speaks of the pleasure the votaries of both systems find in
their union with evil, while the whore indicates the wealth procured by it;
and it is ominously significant that the Roman Catholic system is one of the
wealthiest entities on earth; nor is apostate Protestantism by any means a
pauper.
57:4. “Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against
whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of
transgression, a seed of falsehood,”
The Jerusalem Bible translates this verse, “At whom are ye jeering, and
making faces, and sticking out your tongue? Are you not the spawn of sin,
children of lies?”
This is God’s response to both systems. He denounces them as being the
product of sin, nurtured by false teaching, for they sneer at those
believers who seek to worship and work according to Scriptural order rather
than the elaborate systems of men.
57:5. “Enflaming yourselves with idols, under every
green tree, slaying the children in the valleys, under the clifts of the
rocks?”
The reference is not only to the sexual orgies that were contemporaneous
with their idolatry, but to the immolation of their children on the altars
they had erected all over the land; and no spiritual mind will fail to see
that today’s society is in the same sorry state. Sex is the goddess
universally worshiped today, while children are taught nothing about God,
but are instead taught to value money, education, art, literature,
music, and a multitude of other things having no eternal value, so that they
plunge on to everlasting perdition having no knowledge of God.
57:6. “Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy
portion; they are thy lot; even to them hast thou poured a drink-offering,
thou has offered a meat(meal)-offering. Should I receive comfort in these?”
The smooth stones were those of the stream-beds in the valleys or gorges
where apostate Israel, aping her heathen neighbors, presented her idolatrous
worship to the same imaginary gods.
“... they are thy lot” is also translated “this is thy portion,” i.e., they
had chosen to forsake Jehovah, and to worship idols instead; and before
rushing to condemn them, we should consider whether we haven’t been guilty
of similar spiritual idolatry by devoting our time and energy to the pursuit
of money, education, pleasure, fame, and similar worthless things, while
neglecting these which have eternal worth.
God’s indignant response was to ask whether they thought the offerings they
then brought also to Him could appease His anger at such an affront to His
honor; and apostate Christendom would do well to ponder the same question
relative to what they place on the collection plates of today’s so-called
churches. It has been largely forgotten that, “To obey is better than
sacrifice; and to hearken than the fat of rams,” 1 Sa 15:22.
“Should I receive comfort in these?” is better translated as in the ASV
“Shall I be appeased for these things?”
57:7. “Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set
thy bed; even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.”
The idolatrous shrines were frequently set up on the hilltops, and “set thy
bed” refers to the sexual immorality almost invariably connected with such
idolatry.
57:8. “Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou
set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me,
and art gone up; thou has enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with
them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it.”
“Behind the door and the side-posts you have set up your phallic symbol; and
apart from me have your stripped and gone up, you have distended your parts;
you have bargained for these whose embraces you love; and with them have you
multiplied your harlotries, while gazing on the phallus,” is the AAT
translation of this verse, while the NEB rendering reads, “Beside door and
door-post you have put up your sign. Deserting me, you have stripped and
lain down on the wide bed which you have made, and you drove bargains with
men for the pleasure of sleeping together, and you have committed countless
acts of fornication in the heat of your lust.”
“...enlarged thy bed” describes the many heathen gods they worshiped. The
description continues to be of the lewd activity connected with the idolatry
in which Israel had become involved, and which is associated with all pagan
worship.
57:9. “And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and
didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and
didst debase thyself even unto hell.”
The reference here is to Israel’s worship of Molech the God of the Ammonites
who were her bitter foes; and her having debased herself even unto hell
declares that such idolatry condemned her to hell, there being no evidence
of her having repented of her evil.
57:10. “Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way;
yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou has found the life of thine
hand; therefore thou was not grieved.”
The NEB renders this verse, “Worn out with your unending excesses, even so
you never said, I am past hope. You earned a livelihood and so you had no
anxiety,” and the ASV reads, “Thou wast wearied with the length of thy way:
yet saidst thou not, It is in vain: thou didst find a quickening of thy
strength; therefore thou wast not faint.” Though often wearied by her
idolatrous excesses, Israel was never moved to abandon them; and so is it
still: often wearied in its pursuit of the worthless things of the world,
and jaded by the lifelessness of its religion, apostate Christendom still
will not give them up.
57:11. “And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared,
that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart?
have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?”
TAYLOR’S translation reads, “Why were you more afraid of them than of Me?
How is it that you have not given a second thought to Me? Is it because I’ve
been too gentle, that you have no fear of Me?”
Concerning the reverential fear that man ought to have for God it is
written, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” Ps 111:10, but,
“The fear of man bringeth a snare....” Pr 29:25. God is not a tyrannical
Master Who desires to have men cringe before Him in fear; but rather a God
of love Who values very highly the obedience impelled by love for Him. His
very gentleness however, has led many to conclude that He will never punish
sin, and that is a very great mistake, for he who dies in his sins will
discover to his eternal horror that God “is of purer eyes than to behold
evil, and canst not look on iniquity,” Hab 1:13. His patience should never
be construed as indifference to sin. Those who refuse to trust in Christ as
Savior will suffer eternal torment in the lake of fire.
57:12. “I will declare thy righteousness, and thy
works; for they shall not profit thee.”
The righteousness mentioned here is self-righteousness, and the works are
those by which religious but unbelieving men hope to fit themselves for
heaven. All such good works are worthless, as it is written, “Not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us,
by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost,” Titus 3:5,
“regeneration” here meaning the new birth, which results in the Holy
Spirit’s taking up residence in the believer’s body thus sealing him as one
who belongs to God. See also Eph 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved though
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works, lest
any man should boast.”
57:13. “When thou criest, let thy companies deliver
thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he
that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my
mountain;”
“... companies” here refers to the multitude of the idols which they
worshiped and trusted in for salvation, their worthlessness being declared
in God’s likening them to the dust which the wind blows away. Such is every
imagined way to heaven. Only faith in Christ as Savior brings salvation.
The “land” here is Palestine; and “my mountain” is Jerusalem, the reference
being to what will be in the Millennium, but the ultimate application is to
the eternal blessing and glory of every believer.
57:14. “And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare
the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.”
The NEB translation of this verse reads, “Then a voice shall be heard: Build
up a highway, built it and clear the track, sweep away all that blocks my
peoples’ path.”
This translates into the assurance that God would yet prepare a way for His
people to return from Babylon, which He did; but it also continues to
describe Millennial conditions. There will then be no hindrance to the
world-wide proclamation of the gospel.
57:15. “For thus saith the high and lofty One that
inhabiteth eternity whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him also that is of contrite and humble spirit, to revive the heart of
the contrite ones.”
This KJ translation seems to imply that the humble and contrite also dwell
in that same place, which they do spiritually, but not literally. The
ambiguity is removed by the better Jerusalem Bible translation, “I live in a
high and holy place, but I am also with the contrite and humbled spirit, to
give the humbled spirit new life, to revive contrite hearts,” He being with
them through His Holy Spirit who indwells every born-again believer.
57:16. “For I will not contend for ever, neither will
I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which
I have made.”
The NEB and Taylor translations combine to render this verse, “I will not be
always accusing, I will not continually nurse my wrath - if I did, all
mankind would perish, the very souls that I have made.”
This however, may not be taken to mean that everyone will eventually be
forgiven. The Bible teaches otherwise. Only born-again believers are
forgiven, but all who die in unbelief will endure eternal torment in the
lake of fire. It is here on earth that God contends with men seeking to
bring them to repentance, but His solemn warning is that that striving will
not continue indefinitely even here on earth, see Gen. 6:3, “My spirit shall
not always strive with man ....” and again, “He that being often reproved
hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy,”
Pr. 29:1.
57:17. “For the iniquity of his covetousness was I
wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in
the way of his heart.”
“For a time I was angry at the guilt of Israel; I smote him in my anger and
withdrew my favor. But he ran wild and went his wilful way,” NEB.
God has smitten rebel Israel many times in the past, one of those
chastisements being the diaspora of AD 70, from which they have only begun
to return to Palestine since 1938, and continue to do so today; and most
recently their near annihilation under Hitler, their present regathering
being the warning to the world that the end of the age is near.
57:18. “I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I
will lead im also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.”
The NEB translation of this verse reads, “Then I considered his ways, I
cured him and gave him relief, and I brought him comfort in full measure,
brought peace to those who mourned for him, by the words that issue from my
lips, peace for all men, both near and far, and so I cured him, says the
Lord.”
This will be fulfilled in the Millennium.
57:19. “I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace
to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will
heal him.”
“Then I considered his ways, I cured him and gave him relief, and I brought
him comfort in full measure, brought peace to those who mourned for him, by
the words that issue from my lips, peace for all men, both near and far, and
so I cured him, says the Lord,” NEB
“... him that is far off” is the Gentile; and “him that is near” is the Jew.
This continues to describe the Millennial blessing of Israel and the
nations.
57:20. “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when
it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”
History attests the accuracy of this description, for were it not that it
has painted man’s activity in its most brilliant colors, the portrait would
be of wickedness which by comparison makes even the most ferocious animal
look like a lamb.
57:21. “There is no peace, saith my God, to wicked.”
The RIP (Rest in Peace) carved on most headstones implies a state which is
very far from what most of the deceased are experiencing, for in response to
the question, “Are there few that be saved?” the Lord declared, “Strive to
enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter
in, and shall not be able,” see Lk 13:23-30.
The dreadful truth is that many of the occupants of those graves adorned
with such headstones have entered, not into peace, but into eternal torment
because they have died without ever having trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ
as Savior.
********
