THOUGHTS ON ISAIAH CHAPTER 57: Isaiah speaks of righteous people dying and no man taking their death to heart. He says merciful men are taken away while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. The righteous person leaving this life enters into the peace of God and is shed of the sin of this world and the sin of his flesh. It says they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. Who is the righteous man? There is quite a contrast here of the righteous and the unrighteous. The righteous one is called a man of mercy. The unrighteous ridicule them. They make faces at them and stick out their tongue. Behind doors they think they are doing their secret sins, not realizing that God is omnipresent. There is nowhere they can go that the Lord will not see. I remember when I was saved at age 12. I had a secret sin. I don’t need to give details. I knew it was sin. I thought no one could see. Every Sunday that preacher seemed to know my secret. Every Sunday the Gospel Message was louder and clearer. Every Sunday my realization that I was not righteous became more and more evident until I finally broke and fell at the feet of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because I needed His righteousness to survive meeting my Maker, the Holy One, the King of kings. If I had remained in my sins the Lord’s message to me would be found in verse 13: “When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry them all away, a breath will take them. But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain.” The key to righteousness is not based on my behavior, it is based on the behavior and the work of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Only His work satisfies the God of all creation. God’s justice is perfect. Even after my saving I found myself backsliding. I went on backsliding in the way of my heart. But the Lord in His mercy and based on the work of His Son says in verse 18: “I have seen Bruce’s ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,” says the Lord, “And I will heal him.” Listen now to the contrast. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” Temporarily the wicked look fat, dumb and happy don’t they? Their ridicule of the righteous is very temporary. Pray for them when they make faces at your walking in the light. They need the intervention of the power of God to be transformed. I assure you, they will not be in heaven making faces at anyone. We have all sinned and come short of God’s glory. There is none righteous, no not one. That is why Jesus came. He came to seek and save the lost. He sees your heart even when you think you are hiding. He is not willing for you to die in your sins. He wants all of us to repent and trust in Him. Today is a great day to do just that. Maybe you said yes to Him in your past but you have slid back a step or maybe a lot of steps. Remember His promise: “I have seen his ways and I will heal him, I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him…………..” Thank God for His mercy in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 16:41:25 +0000