Night over dark terraced hills under a vast starry sky, and low in a valley one small stone house with a single lamp-lit window.

New heavens and earth

Isaiah 57

Do you ever feel too low for God to come near?

21 verses≈ 4 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things newChapter 57

The Blessed Death of the Righteous

Isaiah

The righteous perish,

and no one takes it to heart;

devout men are taken away,

while no one considers

that the righteous are taken away

from the presence of evil.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Isaiah

Evening on a terraced hillside: a family tomb cut into the limestone, its low doorway closed with a squared stone, an almond tree in white blossom beside it.

Those who walk uprightly enter into peace;

they find rest, lying down in death.

God Condemns Idolatry

God

“But come here, you sons of a sorceress,

you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!

Whom are you mocking?

At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue?

Are you not children of transgression,

offspring of deceit,

God

who burn with lust among the oaks,

under every luxuriant tree,

who slaughter your children in the valleys,

under the clefts of the rocks?

God

A dry stream bed in a narrow ravine full of smooth pale stones; on one flat stone a small clay jug lies tipped over beside a dark stain of poured oil and a little scatter of grain.

Your portion is among the smooth stones of the valley;

indeed, they are your lot.

Even to them you have poured out a drink offering

and offered a grain offering.

Should I relent because of these?

God

On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed,

and there you went up to offer sacrifices.

Behind the door and doorpost

you have set up your memorial.

Forsaking Me, you uncovered your bed;

you climbed up and opened it wide.

And you have made a pact with those whose bed you have loved;

you have gazed upon their nakedness.

God

You went to Molech with oil

and multiplied your perfumes.

You have sent your envoys a great distance;

you have descended even to Sheol itself.

You are wearied by your many journeys,

but you did not say, “There is no hope!”

You found renewal of your strength;

therefore you did not grow weak.

God

Whom have you dreaded and feared,

so that you lied and failed

to remember Me or take this to heart?

Is it not because I have long been silent

that you do not fear Me?

God

I will expose your righteousness and your works,

and they will not profit you.

God

Dusk on a flat house roof: a hard wind blows dust and chaff across a little clay shrine ledge where small carved household figures lie toppled, one rolling off the edge.

When you cry out,

let your companies of idols deliver you!

Yet the wind will carry off all of them,

a breath will take them away.

But he who seeks refuge in Me will inherit the land

and possess My holy mountain.”

Question

Quick question

The idols cannot save the ones who cry to them (57:13). Read the end of the verse.

What does 57:13 promise the one who takes refuge in the LORD?

Healing for the Repentant

God

God

And it will be said,

“Build it up, build it up, prepare the way,

take every obstacle out of the way of My people.”

God

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,

who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

“I dwell in a high and holy place,

and with the oppressed and humble in spirit,

to restore the spirit of the lowly

and revive the heart of the contrite.

Isaiah 57:15

God

For I will not accuse you forever,

nor will I always be angry;

for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me—

the breath of life I have made.

God

I was enraged by his sinful greed,

so I struck him and hid My face in anger;

yet he kept turning back

to the desires of his heart.

God

Evening in a village lane: a lamp-lit open door with a household gathered in it, and far down the road a lone traveler walking toward it.

I have seen his ways,

but I will heal him;

I will guide him and restore comfort

to him and his mourners,

bringing praise to their lips.

Peace, peace to those far and near,” says the LORD,

“and I will heal them.”

0:13

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Isaiah

A rocky shore under a low gray storm sky: the surf churning brown with mud, sand and torn weed, foam dragged back and forth.

But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea,

for it cannot be still,

and its waves churn up mire and muck.

God

“There is no peace,” says my God,

“for the wicked.”

Pray

High and Holy One, You live in eternity, and You come near to the lowly and the crushed. Revive my contrite heart. Heal me, guide me, and give me Your peace. Amen.

Two ways (57:3–21)

Whiteboard

The idols are blown away by a breath; the One who lives on high bends down to the humble and heals.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 57

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A verse to carry with you

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.

Isaiah 57:15

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