The righteous man perishes, and no one considers; And pious men are taken away, and no one understands, That the righteous man is taken away, because of the evil. He shall go in peace: he shall rest in his bed; Even the perfect man; he that walks in the straight path. But you, draw near hither, O you sons of the sorceress; You seed of the adulterer, and of the harlot! Of whom do you make your sport? At whom do you widen your mouth, and loll the tongue? Are you not apostate children, a false seed? Burning with the lust of idols under every garden tree; Slaying the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; There, these are your lot: Even to these have you poured out your libation, Have you presented your offering. Can I see these things with acquiescence? Upon a high and lofty mountain have you set your bed: Even there have you gone up to offer sacrifice. Behind the door and the doorposts have you set your memorial: You have departed from me, and are gone up; you have enlarged your bed; And you have made a covenant with them: You have loved their bed; you have provided a place for it. And you have visited the king with a present of oil; And have multiplied your precious ointments; And you have sent your ambassadors afar; And have debased yourself even to Hades. In the length of your journeys you have wearied yourself; You have said, There is no hope: You have found the support of your life by your labor: Therefore you have not utterly fainted. And of whom have you been so anxiously afraid, that you should thus deal falsely? And have not remembered me, nor revolved it in your mind? Is it not because I was silent, and winked; and you fear me not? But I will declare my righteousness; And your deeds shall not avail you. When you cry, let your associates deliver you: But the wind shall bear them away; a breath shall take them off. But he that trusts in me shall inherit the land, And shall possess my holy mountain. Then will I say: Cast up, cast up the causeway; make clear the way; Remove every obstruction from the road of my people. For thus says Jehovah, the High and Lofty; Inhabiting eternity; and whose name is the Holy One: The high and holy place will I inhabit; And with the contrite and humble of spirit; To revive the spirit of the humble; And to give life to the heart of the contrite. For I will not always contend; Neither for ever will I be wroth: For the spirit from before me would be overwhelmed; And the living souls, which I have made. Because of his iniquity for a short time I was wroth: And I smote him; hiding my face in my anger. And he departed, turning back in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways; and I will heal him, and will be his guide; And I will restore comforts, to him, and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him that is near, And to him that is afar off, says Jehovah; and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea; For it can never be at rest; But its waters work up filth and mire. There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked." (Isaiah 57:1-21,Lowth)
A View of the Last Days
In this chapter we have a picture of the last days,--of the time of trouble immediately preceding the coming of the Lord.
The student should remember that the destruction of ancient Babylon, and also of Jerusalem, which fell simply because it was dominated by the spirit of Babylon, was but a foretaste of the great destruction at the last day. The characteristic of those times was:
• haughtiness,
• rejection of God,
• the exaltation of self above Him, and
• the persecution of those who were loyal to the truth.
Even so will it be, only to a much greater degree, in the days of the coming of the Son of man. "In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. ... Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:1-4,12-13)
All this wickedness is to be found in the professed church of Christ, and the professed ministers of God are to be the leaders in the persecution of the despised faithful ones, even as it was in the former days when the Roman Babylon had the ascendancy.
It will be remembered that in the 56th chapter of Isaiah, which was studied last week, where the Sabbath truth is presented as the standard for the rallying of God's people, the watchmen are represented as living only for themselves; and when a man lives only to please himself, he naturally despises those that are good.
Spiritual Adultery and Its Fruit
"But draw near hither, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore." (Isaiah 57:3)
Verse 3 of our present lesson addresses the children of the harlot, the apostate church which is described in: "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto you the judgment of the great whore that sits 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. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." (Revelation 17:1-6)
The church is Christ's lawful bride; for all the true members of it are set free from sin, that they "should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that they may bring forth fruit unto God." (Romans 7:4)
When the professed church departs from "the simplicity that is in Christ," (2 Corinthians 11:3) and forsakes His law, that is adultery of the worst kind. "Against whom do you sport yourselves? against whom make you a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are you not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?" (Isaiah 57:4-5)
The evil is always opposed to the good, and therefore we have in the fourth and fifth verses of our lesson the statement of the fact that this "false seed," these children of the harlot, are engaged in mocking and persecuting the good, even to death. This corresponds to the words in: "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." (Revelation 17:6)
James 5:5-8 shows that feasting and rioting, and persecution of the just, will be the characteristics of the last days: "You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; you have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed the just; and he does not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draws nigh." (James 5:5-8)
And the verses just referred to in Revelation show from what quarter these persecutions emanate. Compare also verses 7-9 of our lesson with Revelation 18:7-9 and onward, where we have a picture of the church's dalliance with the secular power, by which she obtains exalted position and wealth. "Upon a lofty and high mountain have you set your bed: even there you went up to offer sacrifice. Behind the doors also and the posts have you set up your remembrance: for you have discovered yourself to another than me, and are gone up; you have enlarged your bed, and made a covenant with them; you loved their bed where you saw it. And you went to the king with ointment, and did increase your perfumes, and did send your messengers far off, and did debase yourself even unto hell." (Isaiah 57:7-9) "How much she has glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning." (Revelation 18:7-9)
These points amply establish the time when our lesson applies, and the events to which it refers. These things being settled, the rest is easy.
The Righteous Taken Away by Wickedness
"The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil [to come]." (Isaiah 57:1)
In order also rightly to understand this chapter, it should be noted that in the Hebrew there is no trace of the words "to come," in the first verse. Accordingly Lowth and many other translators very properly omit them. The Hebrew word, a compound, is the same that is used in: "All the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine;" (Genesis 47:13) also in: "The land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle;" (Genesis 36:7) and in: "I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth." (Genesis 27:46)
The same word occurs in verse 16 of this chapter, and is rendered "from before," where the sense plainly indicates that the meaning is "because of." "For I will not always contend; neither for ever will I be wroth: for the spirit from before [because of] me would be overwhelmed; and the living souls, which I have made." (Isaiah 57:16,Lowth)
If God were forever wroth, the spirits of men would be overwhelmed because of Him, or through Him. From this it will be seen that if the rendering placed in the margin of the Revised Version were inserted in the text, we should have the correct statement of the case. Thus: "The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away through wickedness." (Isaiah 57:1,RV,margin)
The ordinary rendering leads to the supposition that God takes away the righteous to save them from evil that is coming, whereas the true rendering teaches us that in the last days righteous men will be taken away, by the evil. The Hebrew word rendered "taken away" indicates that violence is used.
In the very last days, when God's Spirit shall have been fully and finally rejected by the apostate church, and the decree goes forth that anybody is at liberty to kill the righteous, we may be sure that none will be slain, because everyone of God's people will in that time of trouble be delivered; (Daniel 12:1) their death would not result in bringing anybody to the Lord, and God will not allow righteous blood to be shed uselessly.
But before that point shall have been reached, when the blood of martyrs can yet be the seed which shall result in bringing in a harvest of souls, many will be obliged to witness for the truth with their lives.
Why not? Why should anybody shake his head at this statement? The world is always enmity against God, and since evil men and seducers are to wax worse and worse, how can it be supposed that the last days will be more free from persecution than former times have been?
Of the little horn of Daniel 7, which represents modern Babylon, the apostate church, we read, "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of Days came, and Judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." (Daniel 7:21-22)
Those who are counting on an easy time in the service of the Lord, as the end approaches, are preparing themselves for a terrible disappointment.
A Substitute Memorial
Still further: In verse 8, we read, "Behind the door and the door posts have you set up your memorial." (Isaiah 57:8)
This is evidently in opposition to God's memorial, which is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, the seventh day of the week. The words of this law were commanded to be written "upon the posts of your house, and on your gates," (Deuteronomy 6:9) a sign that God was the Master of the house, and His law its rule; but in the place of this, "the church" has of its own motion, and without the slightest hint of Divine authority, introduced the observance of the first day of the week, as an indication that it occupies the place of God, setting itself forth as God. This is the crowning act of spiritual adultery and idolatry.
It will be over the Sabbath, over the question of whether God or "the church" is to be recognized as sole and supreme authority, that the persecutions of the last days will rage.
A Blessing for the Despised and Persecuted
But although the righteous may be slain by the wicked, and none may mark the place where he falls, and he himself, like his Lord, may be reckoned among the transgressors, "He shall rest in peace," (Isaiah 57:2) while to the wicked who boast in their fancied security and power, there is no peace. Men may cast out the names of the humble ones who fall for the sake of the truth, and may esteem them as lost, but the voice from heaven, speaking especially of the perils and persecutions of the last days, says, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them." (Revelation 14:13)
For none of those who die in the Lord should we sorrow as do those who have no hope; but for those who fall in the last struggle of the truth against error there is a special blessing pronounced. Those whom the world and the worldly church most despise, are the ones whom the Lord most esteems. "They shall dwell on high." (Isaiah 33:16) "For thus says the High and Lofty One, that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." (Isaiah 57:15)
He dwells in both places at the same time. While dwelling in the high and holy place, God is also in the hearts of the humble and contrite ones. How can that be? It is because the hearts of such ones are His sanctuary, a holy place for the habitation of God through the Spirit, and He has raised them up, made them sit with Christ in the heavenly places, and has given them dominion, "far above all principality and power." (Ephesians 1:21) "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-6)
The promise is, "He that overcomes, and keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations." (Revelation 2:27)
Those whom the rulers of earth destroy are the real rulers, and never is their power greater than when they yield their bodies that they may not worship any false god. The kings of this world and the "princes" of the church will not know until the Judgment how many kings in the garb of laboring men they have caused to suffer martyrdom. As it was with Christ, even so will it be with His faithful followers. "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." (John 15:20)
What wonderful riches there are in "the reproach of Christ," (Hebrews 11:26) and what a privilege to be permitted to share it! But there is hope held out to all. The Lord has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that he should turn from his wicked way, and live;" (Ezekiel 33:11) and so He sends Christ, preaching "Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near." (Isaiah 57:19)
The Lord has healing for all who will turn to Him. His anger endures but for a moment, (Psalm 30:5) while His mercy endures for ever. (Psalm 136) The long-suffering of our God is salvation, and His salvation is very great. Jesus prayed for forgiveness for those who put Him to death, (Luke 23:34) and Peter, filled with the Spirit, said to those who were His betrayers and murders, "Repent therefore, and be converted." (Acts 3:19) "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2)--Present Truth, April 26, 1900--Isaiah 57:1-21.