"But come here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes! Sermons
I. THE RITES OF IDOLATRY. There were enthusiastic orgies in the sacred groves of oak and in the gardens (Isaiah 1:29; Ezekiel 6:13; Hosea 4:13). There were sacrifices of children to Moloch. There were fetish-stones, which were anointed with oil, and these continued to be devoted to heathen uses. And Israel, having by covenant a "portion," or property, so to speak, in God, has exchanged this for the senseless stones; and to these food-offerings are made. The pictures of Phoenician, Israelitish, and Greek superstitions are in this respect much the same. Jehovah, in that jealousy which is the expression of a holy love, is deeply grieved by these things. II. THE PROFLIGACY OF IDOLATRY. On the high hills shrines were erected, and tombs are still seen upon them, overshadowed by the tree on which votive offerings hang. Saints or prophets have replaced the old gods. Here idolatrous symbols were set up. And idolatry polluting politics, the people negotiated and coquetted with heathen powers, and humbled themselves to the lowest servility. And yet these negotiations and journeys had been in vain. For all that, the attempts had been renewed. "It is a striking illustration of men seeking happiness away from God. They wander from object to object; become weary in the pursuit, yet do not renounce it; still cling to hope, though often repulsed; though the world gives them no permanent comfort, though wealth, ambition, and gaiety, all fail of imparting happiness, - yet they do not give up the pursuit in despair. The world is still pursued with just as little success, with continually augmenting evidence that it cannot satisfy the desires of the immortal soul, with just as much reluctance to seek permanent bliss in God." III. DIVINE REMONSTRANCE. The tone is one of gentleness and softness. "Who is there so strong and so terrible as to justify thee in thy infidelity to Jehovah? None." Yet there may be some excuse for them in his long silence. Passed over again and again, it might seem that God had forgotten to be gracious - that they were hidden from him. But now he will draw near again: "The speech of mingled mercy and judgment shall work more effectually on the heart" (cf Isaiah 46:13; Psalm 22:31; Psalm 98:2). Or the words may be taken ironically - it depends on whether we read "my righteousness" or "thy righteousness." In the coming trial, no help but Jehovah's will avail thee. "Her medley of gods" will not deliver her - the Pantheon of various divinations set up by her (cf. Micah 1:7). The wind shall carry them off like all dwellings and defences of merely human structure (cf. Matthew 7:26, 27). IV. ETERNAL ASSURANCE. "To take refuge in Jehovah," in the Eternal, is the only safety, the only guarantee of stability and possession, amidst the flux and change of things. To say that they shall "possess the land" is to say, according to the manner of the Hebrew, everything that denotes favour for this life (Isaiah 49:8; Psalm 37:11, 29; cf. Matthew 5:5; Psalm 69:35, 36). And to "inherit the holy mountain" is to enter upon all spiritual privileges and joys - "as great as if they had possession of a portion of the mount on which the temple was built, and were permitted to dwell there." And then mysterious voices are heard, hinting that all obstacles shall be removed from the path of those who trust in God. The language is suitable to the return from exile, as if persons should go before them, crying, "Cast up!" So before a pacha the labourers go and remove stones out of the way, with the cry," Cast up the way; remove the stones!" (cf. Isaiah 26:7; Isaiah 35:8; Isaiah 40:3, 4; Isaiah 62:10). He who places obstacles in the path (Jeremiah 6:21) is he who gives command in his own time for their removal. War and peace, welfare and hindrances to welfare, are from the same hand. - J.
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. The fifty-seventh chapter ends with a declaration which shows that amid all the goodness and graciousness of the Divine way the standard of righteousness is never lowered: never is the dignity of law impaired. Read these awful yet gracious words: "There is no peace, saith my. God, to the wicked." If we thought that God was about to lose righteousness in sentiment, we are thus suddenly, with a very startling abruptness, brought back to the remembrance of the fact that wickedness is infinitely and eternally hateful to God, and that peace and wickedness are mutually destructive terms. The wicked man may create a wilderness and call it peace, but real contentment, benignity, resignation, or harmony, he can never know in wickedness. Herein we find the testimony of the Divine presence, the assertion and glory of the Divine law. God does not take away peace from the wicked in any arbitrary sense. Wickedness is itself incompatible with peace: the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. The unrest is actually in the wickedness; the tumult does not come from without, it comes from within.(J. Parker, D. D.) 1. Some are grossly ignorant of the plain and essential doctrines of the Christian religion, amidst the best means to gain an acquaintance with them. 2. Some break out into open acts of wickedness. 3. Others, though free from gross immoralities, are yet wicked, because they neglect the duties of religion. There are sins of commission, and there are sins of omission. 4. There are some who adopt loose and dangerous principles, who allege, either that the Scripture is not true, or that the great doctrines, as generally taught, are not contained in it. 5. Among the wicked we must also rank the formalist and hypocrite. 6. They are impatient of restraint and reproof. II. IN WHAT RESPECTS THERE IS NO PEACE TO SUCH. 1. There is no peace to them with God. By their wickedness they wage war with Heaven, and the almighty King is angry with them every day. 2. There is no peace in their own conscience. 3. There is no peace to the wicked in a dying hour. By this is not meant that they shall undergo more pain of body than others. The pangs of dissolution are the same to all. Those, indeed, of whom the world was not worthy, have often suffered the most cruel and violent deaths. Nor is it meant that the wicked have never any composure in death, or hope of well-being hereafter. Some of them die as they have lived, stupid and thoughtless as beasts. Some good men may have fears and perplexities to the very last; and some bad men may remain unshaken, and die with more apparent confidence than the others. The fears of the good man cannot render his state less safe, nor the confidence of the bad render his less dangerous. Whatever their own sentiments are, it shall be "well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked." What awful spectacles have some of the wicked exhibited on a death-bed! 4. There is no peace to the wicked after death. They enjoyed with others the common bounties of Providence, and were sensible of pleasure. In these they placed their only happiness; but now all is gone, and they are tormented. Conscience can be quieted no more. (W. Linn, D. D.) ( M. Henry.) 1. The man who lives in a habitual course of sinning has no real comfort of mind from the pleasures of this world.2. He must necessarily want all effectual support under the many evils and calamities of life. 3. He cannot but be sometimes troubled with the reproofs of his conscience. 4. He can never get rid of all the unwelcome thoughts of death, and of what is to be his portion in a future state. (Bishop Pearce.) Essex Congregational Remembrancer. I. WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS DESCRIBED? "The wicked." This description includes the outwardly immoral and profane — those who seem lost to every principle of virtue and religion — who have not the fear of God before their eyes — and who are equally indifferent to the censure and approbation of their fellow-creatures. But the words of the text are applicable to all those whose hearts have not been renewed by the Holy Spirit.II. THE AFFECTING DECLARATION RESPECTING SUCH CHARACTERS. "There is no peace," etc. 1. They cannot, while in this state, enjoy peace with God. Peace includes in it mutual reconciliation and agreement. 2. The wicked cannot enjoy peace with themselves. As the favour and presence of God are the only sources of real happiness, a state of enmity and separation from Him must be attended with misery. Subjection to His authority, and conformity to His will and image, promotes peace and order, but where these do not exist, there must be confusion and discord. The unruly passions will then agitate and distress the mind; pride, and envy, and hatred, and other unholy affections will struggle for the ascendency. Having no principle to check or govern them, they will increase in violence and hurry their possessor onward in the path of sin and danger. Conscience will also exert its influence to alarm and terrify them. In vain do the wicked seek peace of conscience by partial reformation or by the performance of outward duties. The accusations of a guilty conscience can be silenced only by an application to the blood of sprinkling. 3. There is no peace to the wicked in the world. Alienation from God necessarily leads to strife among men. It excites those corrupt passions and principles which render man the enemy of his fellow-man, as well as the source of misery to himself. 4. The wicked have no peace under the various afflictions of life. In the season of worldly prosperity, they may appear to others peaceful and happy, but no sooner does adversity come upon them, than we see the transient and unsubstantial nature of their enjoyment. 5. There is no peace to the wicked in the hour of death. 6. There is no peace to the wicked through eternity. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.) In order to the proving of this, I shall insist on these three argumentsI. THE NATURAL TENDENCY OF WICKEDNESS. II. THE CONSIDERATION OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE, AND HIS RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT OF TRY. WORLD. III. THE EXPERIENCE OF ALL AGES. (B. Calamy, D. D.) I. A POSITIVE ASSERTION, an unlimited proposition, "There is no peace to the wicked."II. THE AUTHORITY UPON WHICH THE PROPOSITION IS ESTABLISHED, even the testimony of God Himself, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." (J. Lambe.) It is said of the infidel Hobbes, "that though he would speak very strange and unbecoming things of God, yet in his study in the dark, and in his retired thoughts, he trembled before Him. If his candle happened to go out in the night, he awoke in terror and amazement. He was unable to bear the dismal reflections of his dark and desolate mind; and knew not how to extinguish, nor how to bear the light of the candle of the, Lord within him." Mr. False Peace, so John Bunyan has it in his "Holy War", was the son of Mr. Flatterer, and his mother's name before she was married was Mrs. Sooth-up. He liked to be called Mr. Peace, but there were witnesses enough to prove that time was when he delighted to boast that his real name was not Peace, but False Peace. "There is no peace (except false peace), saith my God, to the wicked."(T. Spurgeon.) People Isaiah, Melech, MolechPlaces JerusalemTopics Adulterer, Adulterers, Arts, Commit, Draw, Harlot, Hither, Husband, Lewd, Loose, O, Offspring, Prostitute, Prostitutes, Secret, Seed, Sons, Sorceress, Whore, Whoredom, WiseOutline 1. The blessed death of the righteous3. God reproves the People for their idolatry 13. He gives promises of mercy to the penitent Dictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 57:3Library Thirteenth Day. Holiness and Humility. Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the High and Holy place, with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'--Isa. lvii. 15. Very wonderful is the revelation we have in Isaiah of God, the Holy One, as the Redeemer and the Saviour of His people. In the midst of the people whom He created and formed for Himself, He will as the Holy One dwell, showing forth … Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ Man's Greatness and God's Greatness. The Loftiness of God Of the Joy of a Good Conscience Holy Raiment of One's Own Weaving. The Comforts Belonging to Mourners What the Ruler's Discrimination Should be Between Correction and Connivance, Between Fervour and Gentleness. Of the Presence of God Higher Degree of Prayer, which is that of the Simple Presence of God, or Active Contemplation. The Geometry of Prayer Book iii. The Ascent: from the River Jordan to the Mount of Transfiguration. The Three Parables of the Gospel: of the Recovery of the Lost - of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Drachm, the Lost Son. Christ's Kingly Office We are Drawing Near the End, and to the Highest Conclusions of True Human Wisdom... The Acceptable Sacrifice; I Will Pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding Also- The Coming Revival "Nunc Dimittis" What are Consequences of Backsliding in Heart. The Death and the Raising of Lazarus - the Question of Miracles and of this Miracle of Miracles - views of Negative Criticism on this History Another Shorter Evening Prayer. Appendix xix. On Eternal Punishment, According to the Rabbis and the New Testament Christ Teaching Humility Characters and Names of Messiah Links Isaiah 57:3 NIVIsaiah 57:3 NLT Isaiah 57:3 ESV Isaiah 57:3 NASB Isaiah 57:3 KJV Isaiah 57:3 Bible Apps Isaiah 57:3 Parallel Isaiah 57:3 Biblia Paralela Isaiah 57:3 Chinese Bible Isaiah 57:3 French Bible Isaiah 57:3 German Bible Isaiah 57:3 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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