INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 57

Righteous men are perishing and nobody seems to care─they find rest and escape the calamity to come.  An evil brood had been spawned─born of sluts, witches, sorceresses and adulterers─this worthless race─this brood of rebels─this bunch of God-haters were senseless, heartless and ruthless.  They sought to satisfy their lusts in any shaded area─fornicating at a whim─having children out of wedlock and slaying them under rock cliffs, all in the name of Molech, their heathen god.  They sought to appease their no-god with drink offerings, prayers and child sacrifice.  They had made their own bed!  They bargained and embraced and enlarged their whoredom.  They slept with anyone in a one-night stand.  This whorish religion and sex shrines lured young men into the sex crime─all the while they were living it up.  They went to hell and back to satisfy their lust.  They felt no sense of guilt over their acts of perversion.  They didn’t want God and so they lived with their depraved mind.  When God chastened them they went right on doing their heart content.  They paraded their Sodom like ways and were proud of it.  God says he will heal, and restore this hell bent bunch however; it will take a 70 year prison term to break them of their idolatry.  Some were incorrigible and never changed; he compares them to ocean waves churning up mire and scum.  There is no peace says my God for them.

EXPOSITION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 57

1The 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.

Good men are perishing and no one cares or even gives it a second thought.  In the meantime righteous people are carried away and no one notices.  However, these just and holy people are being spared the calamity to come.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CARRY WEIGHT REGARDING THE TEXT:

 

2Ki 22:20  Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.  Read:  Nah 3:18; Mal 2:2; 2Ch 35:24

2He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

Evil people had killed off good people but they were spared all the evil that was to come upon that generation.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

 

Ecc 12:7  Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Luk 16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

3But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.

These people had been born of sluts, witches, sorceresses, and adulterers.  They are summons to come and answer for themselves.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT INDORSE THE TEXT:

Hos 1:2  The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

Rev 17:1-2  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

4Against 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.

This worthless race are sneering and jeering and sticking out their tongue─this evil brood was mocking the righteous and had gone away backward.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT LEND EVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

 

Psa 35:21  Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.

Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

5Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?

They seek to satisfy their lust in city parks and public grounds─they fornicate at a whim and the children born to them are sacrificed to a heathen god.  Very little has changed in our day─their passion is as hot as an oven and the children are killed at the abortion clinic and the secularist (heathen) call it women’s rights─or women’s health. This nation will surely face the same angry God.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT DEMONSTRATE THE TEXT:

Hos 4:11-13  Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.  My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.  They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.

Hos 7:7  They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

Jer 7:31  And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.

6Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these?

They sought to appease their idols with drink offerings and burned their children in the fire.  They had satisfied their lust any place they could find and when the child was born they would go to some cave or crevice and murder the child.  They took stones from the creek and made themselves a sex and religion shrine─they were extremely religious.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT AUTHENTICATE THE TEXT:

 

Jer 3:9  And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

Hab 2:19  Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

7Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.

Thou hast set thy bed─they chose their own fate─they climbed the mountain and performed the ritual of sex and death religion.

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ESTABLISH THE CERTAINTY OF THE TEXT:

 

Jer 3:2  Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with.  In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

Eze 23:17  And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.

8Behind 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 hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it.

They stripped and hired themselves in prostitution─they bargained and embraced others as they enlarged their whoredom─they enlarged their bed as they slept with others and engaged in their whoredom.  This whorish religion lured young men and the sex traffic was a lucrative trade and they were enjoying every minute of it.

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PRESENT OVERWHELMING PROOF OF THE TEXT:

 

Eze 8:8-9  Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.  And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.  Read: Eze 16:30-39

9And 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.

They went to hell and back to find new ways to commit their whoredom.  They portrayed every sex act on the walls of their heathen temples’, (pornography) and gathered to engage in the same.  Even the king was up to his eye balls in this sex and religion.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ARE CONCLUSIVE AND FINAL:

 

Hos 12:1  Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.  Read:  2Ki 16:7-11

10Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.

You wearied yourself in search of new ways to satisfy your lust─you never gave up─they wore themselves out seeking new and different ways to commit lewd acts.  They earned their livelihood in prostitution.  (Call girls─escort service─adult only places)  They were not grieved with their acts of perversion.  They didn’t want God in their knowledge and so lived with a depraved mind.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT RATIFY THE TEXT:

 

Isa 47:13  Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

Eze 24:12  She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.

2Ch 28:22 -23 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.  For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

11And 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?

God wants to know why they were more afraid of no-gods than of him.  They never gave God a second thought.  God wants to know if it was because he was too gentle with them.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT BEAR OUT THE TEXT:

 

Isa 59:3-5  For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.  None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.  They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

12I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.

God says he is going to expose their works and righteousness detail by detail.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT SPEAK VOLUMES ABOUT THE TEXT:

 

Isa 58:2-6  Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.  Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.  Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

 13When 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 holy mountain;

God says this whole stock of idols are nothing but vanity and nonsense and that they will be blown away by the wind; but he that trusteth in the LORD will inherit the land.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT SHED LIGHT ON THE TEXT:

 

Isa 40:24  Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

Psa 1:4  The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

14And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.

God is going to prepare a glorious highway for his people to return to his glorious mountain.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT VERIFY THE TEXT:

Isa 62:10  Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.

Rom 14:13  Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.

15For 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 a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

The high and holy one who inhabits eternity says: to the down-and-out, to the crushed ones─to the people with a broken spirit─I will give you a new spirit─I will put heart into you─I will cheer you up and revive the courage of the broken.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES THAT

GIVE COUNTEREVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

 

2Ch 33:12-13  And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,  And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.   Read:  Dan 4:24-25

16For 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.

God says that he is not always going to be angry; if he was then every soul that he had made would perish.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CONFIRM THE TEXT:

Psa 78:38-39  But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.  For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

Job 34:14-15  If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;  All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.

17For 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.

When God smote them for their greedy hearts they went straight on doing their hearts content.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT CARRY WEIGHT REGARDING THE TEXT:

 

Jer 6:13  For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

18I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.

Even though they went hell bent God says that he is going to heal, restore, and lead him.  It took a 70 year prison term in Babylon to bring them to their knees.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

 

Jer 31:18-20  I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.  Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.  Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

19I 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.

I create the fruit of the lips: God heals, comforts and restores─there is a harvest of praise to those who have accepted the remedy.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT INDORSE THE TEXT:

 

Hos 14:2  Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.

Luk 21:15  For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.

 

20But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

People with rebellious hearts are like the ocean waves─churning up mire and scum.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT LEND EVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

 

Job 18:5  Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

Pro 4:16-17  For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.  For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

Jud 1:12  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

21There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

There is no peace─no well being to the wicked.

 

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT DEMONSTRATE THE TEXT:

 

Isa 3:11  Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

2Ki 9:22  And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?

Rom 3:16-17  Destruction and misery are in their ways:  And the way of peace have they not known: