Isaiah 57 Commentary
Verses 1 and 2 are strange. All along, the Scripture has presented death as the ultimate punishment for evil. It is the very opposite of the blessing of increase that the LORD bestowed on mankind. It plays on the essence of life itself.
But here we are with the LORD talking about death as a good exit door out of a troubled world. The suggestion is that it is deliberate and timed for the saint to escape trouble and evil. They find rest in death.
Ponder the verses again. Death shouldn’t be bad news always. And the word rest? We thought one attains rest by observing the Sabbath! Consider the context. Check the other references to death and rest. It always appears that there is more to these terms.
Particularly in this Book, death isn’t exactly a penalty in its purest sense. The LORD is simply clearing His house – getting rid of the bad smell. But when the cleaning is deliberately delayed, let not His people suffer from the bad smell. Isolate them, shield them, or simply take them away in death to keep them safe from the bad smell. Death, therefore, assumes a different taste and color.
The chapter nibbles on a thought of death that we extract from Genesis 3. Our understanding of the text makes it appear like punishment. But the text itself points to something deeper.
Genesis 3:22-23. “Lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”. Because of sin, there are difficulties for the woman and the man. They shouldn’t live forever under these difficulties. Physical death becomes an escape from troubles wrought on self by self.
Death is like a spare wheel. It’s a good thing because it keeps the journey live. But its presence means a failure has occurred. In many cases, the Scripture mourns and regrets the failure. The opening verses of this chapter celebrate the “spare wheel”.
Of course, the text in Genesis 3 discusses two different “deaths” with different definitions. Implications are also different.
But the story is different for the wicked. Who are they mocking? Do they know what they are doing?
What are they so scared of that they abandon the Creator God? It is a question that the vanity seeker should ask. Why have you killed someone? Why have you cheated? Why have you committed adultery? What are you afraid of? Death? Missing out? Missing what?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans Chapter 8.
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