For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, and whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy [place], and 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.
God introduces Himself here by His highest titles, then gives a second address where He can be found. The One who inhabits eternity also lives with the crushed and lowly — and this verse says what He does there and why.
The verse opens with three things God says about Himself.
The LORD presents Himself in a light designed to produce the right spirit in those who approach Him. He is high and elevated in the depths of space, far above this little world. He inhabits eternity, not restricted by the times and seasons that confine us. His name is "Holy." Are we aware of this? If so, we will at once be contrite about the past, and humble in the present. And it is the heart and spirit of the humble and contrite that God revives, so that they may dwell in His presence in the high and holy place.
The verse names two dwelling places. Both suit the same God.
What is clear here is that God's dwelling is in harmony with His own nature. He is high and holy, and He dwells in the high and holy place. But He dwells also with him "that is of a contrite and humble spirit," for He finds there what is suited to Himself. The highest place in heaven is honoured by the presence of Him who yet stoops to make the lowly heart His throne. … The highest heavens cannot contain God. Yet we may have Him as our Guest — but only by getting down ourselves into the lowest and lowliest place. So if we have never met Him, it is because we have never got down as low as that level of self-judgment where He is found in grace. … How good it is to be humble before Him like this — lowly enough for the lofty One to dwell with us, contrite (or rubbed down) enough for the Holy One to revive us!
The two words are not the same. One deals with the past, the other with our relation to God. Together they remove the distance on our side.
God removed this infinite distance on His part, through the Cross. On our part, contrition and humility remove it. Contrition shows self-judgment about the past. Humility shows a right and proper sense of one's relation to God.
The same writer adds why God is able to live in such a heart:
When repentance is present in the soul… God is able to dwell in that soul. The contrite and humble spirit is fitting in character to be God's dwelling place. And we know, further, that in this present age He dwells by His Holy Spirit.
Repentance is a duty for man. But there is a higher way to see it.
It is one thing to see that repentance is binding on man. It is another and much higher thing to see that it is welcome to God… A broken heart, a contrite spirit, a repentant mind, gives joy to God.
Reviving is recovery. It is not something a person can do for himself.
Recovery is His own work. We depend on Him alone for this. We may desire it, and pray for it, but He Himself is the great Recoverer. "None can recover his own soul" (Ps. 22:29, in an older translation). We are therefore to turn to Him, and to none other.
Another writer points to the usual means He uses:
The means God uses to revive us is usually His Word: "I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life" (Ps. 119:93). This personal encouragement in fellowship with God then stirs a wider desire in our hearts: that God would revive His whole people.
This promise has a setting. It is spoken to the small faithful group left in Israel, and it reaches beyond them.
Gracious is the promise to the feeble remnant, those who are contrite and humble… God promises peace to him that is far off (Gentiles) and to him that is near (Israel). It will be fully realized in the kingdom.
- Height — He inhabits eternity, unbound by the times and seasons that limit us, and His name is Holy.
- Harmony — He does not lower His nature to dwell with the lowly. He finds in a contrite spirit something suited to Himself.
- Humbling — Contrition judges the past; humility takes its true place before God. The Cross removed the infinite distance on God's side; these remove it on ours.
- Happiness — A broken heart is more than man's duty. It gives joy to God.
- Healing — Reviving is His work alone. He usually does it through His Word, and one revived soul begins to long for all His people to be revived.
For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for the spirit would fail before me, and the souls [which] I have made.
Isaiah 57 has just exposed Israel's idolatry and announced judgment, and now the tone turns. Why does God limit His own anger, what does "the breath of life that I made" mean, and does this verse say anything about final judgment?
The reason for the limit is not Israel's improvement but human weakness.
In this verse, God stoops to remember human frailty. He reflects that if He does not hold back His hand from judgment, man's spirit would fail before Him, and the souls that He had made. God's compassion shows here in a most moving way.
The phrase points back to God as Maker. What He formed, He knows the strength of — and one writer draws from this a rule for how correction should be carried out among God's people.
It is often forgotten that discipline has its limits quite independently of the state of heart or conscience of the one dealt with. In its carrying out it should bear the stamp of the God of all grace who chastises "for our profit" (Heb. 12:10). He remembers how easily "the souls which He has made" (Isa. 57:16) may faint before Him.
Some argue from this verse that no punishment can be final, since God will not be angry forever. Commentators answer that the subject here is living people on earth, not what lies beyond death.
As to Isaiah 57:16, it is equally plain that the Lord is speaking of men on the earth. If He contended with them continually — did not cease and spare them — they would perish as living men. The stumbling blocks were to be taken out of the way of His people. The high and holy One would revive the hearts of the humble, and the heart of the contrite. This is because He would not strive forever, nor be always angry. "For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and I struck him… I have seen his ways, but I will heal him." Now what has all this to do with hell? Just nothing at all. Let me advise the simple reader: when someone quotes a verse, always read the context before accepting a new doctrine.
This limit belongs to God's dealings with Israel as a nation. And stopping is not all He does. He goes on to heal.
The following verses go on to speak of God's governmental dealings with the people. He had to deal in wrath with them because of their sin and rebellion, but He would not contend with them as a nation forever. The moment would come when He would heal and bless, and establish peace, both for those far off and for those near. "Far off" may refer to the sons of Israel, who would be scattered, as distinct from those in the land. But it is also true if we take it as referring to Gentiles, who were "far off," in the sense of Ephesians 2:13. In either case the peace has to be "created" by God, and is not something produced by men. Isaiah 53 has told us how the peace is created.
Jesus spoke of days so severe that nobody would survive them unless God cut them short. That is the restraint this verse describes.
"And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short" (Matt. 24:22). Yes, the LORD will heal, lead, and comfort. He creates thankful praise. Peace is His word, peace to him that is far off and to him that is near; but as for the wicked, like the troubled sea that casts up mire and dirt, "There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked."
Another writer sets out three ways God acts toward sin.
He does not shut His eyes to his sin, but He adds, "I will heal him." Marvellous grace! So we see God's three ways of acting. First, seeing sin, angry, and judging the sinner. Second, seeing sin and angry, but hiding Himself. Third, seeing sin, and healing the sinner, leading him also, and restoring comforts to him.
- Wrath. God's anger against Israel was real and deserved. He was angry at their covetousness and struck them. This verse does not soften that.
- Limit. He will not contend forever. The restraint comes from His side, not from any change in them.
- Reason. He remembers human frailty. If He never stopped, the spirit of the very people He made would fail before Him.
- Healing. Restraint is only the start. He heals, leads and comforts — and the peace that follows must be created by God, not produced by us.
- Warning. The chapter that limits God's anger also closes with a warning: there is no peace for the wicked.
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him; I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on backslidingly in the way of his heart.
God names the reason for His blow here: greed. Yet the man He struck kept going his own way, which leaves one question — what can change a heart that punishment could not bend?
The chapter opens on days when God seems to have forgotten. One writer traces its movement, and shows that the striking is not God's last word.
Isaiah 57 goes on to what seems forgetfulness on God's part in the latter days. The righteous perishes, but this does not wake up the careless — they mock at the righteous, going on with their idols. Their wickedness is then set out. The Lord challenges the things they trust in, and declares that those who trust in Him will possess the Land. He had struck them, but now would heal; but "for the wicked" there would be "no peace."
Older translations call this sin covetousness — greed. From the inside it looks small and respectable.
Covetousness involves no dishonesty. It is not even hard or sharp dealing. It is nothing more than the desire for more. That desire is the driving force behind modern effort. Everyone, from the workman to the millionaire, is urged to better himself. So the creature becomes the object, not God, and that is why covetousness is called idolatry. It is man looking down, not up in dependence on God.
The verse names two different actions of God, and both met the same response. One writer separates them, and points to a third way God acts.
He had been justly angry for the iniquity of their covetousness, and had struck them. Again He had been angry, and had hidden Himself, and they had gone on in waywardness of heart. So He had seen Israel's sin, and struck him for it. Again He had seen it, and had held back from striking. But He still had to be angry; for Israel had only taken advantage of His hiding Himself, and their waywardness went unchecked. Yet again God will act, and in a new way. "I have seen his ways, and will heal him." He does not shut His eyes to his sin, but He adds, "I will heal him." Marvellous grace! So we see God's three ways of acting. (1) Seeing sin, angry, and judging the sinner. (2) Seeing sin and angry, but hiding Himself. (3) Seeing sin, and healing the sinner; leading him also, and restoring comforts to him. The first is seen in the world before the flood, and in the judgment of the flood. The second, in the law. The third, in the gospel of our salvation.
The blow did not restore the man. One writer explains why.
How little we still understand that righteous dealing on its own — as fully righteous as it may be — will not restore souls. Judgment may be measured and true, yet it will not touch, soften and subdue such hearts so that they take instruction. The facts themselves show that these hearts are not in their true place with God. Man is not all conscience. Reach the conscience while the heart stays away, and it will do what it did with the first sinner — drive him among the trees of the garden to escape the unwelcome voice.
Some have quoted these verses to prove a point about hell. One writer answers that use.
It is plain that the Lord is speaking of men on the earth. If He contended with them continually — did not stop and spare them — they would perish as living men. The stumbling-blocks were to be taken out of the way of His people... "For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him... I have seen his ways and will heal him." Now what has all this to do with hell? Just nothing at all. Let me advise the simple reader, when a quotation is made, always to read the context before he accepts a new doctrine.
- Seen. God names the exact cause of His anger. The same eye that saw the sin later says, "I have seen his ways, but I will heal him."
- Struck. The sin He names is greed — the desire for more. It looks like ordinary ambition. It is idolatry, because the creature becomes the object instead of God.
- Hidden. God's second action was to hide His face rather than strike. It worked no better. The man took advantage of the silence and kept his own course.
- Unmoved. Righteous dealing on its own restores no one. Reach the conscience while the heart stays away, and a person runs and hides, as the first sinner did in the garden.
- Healed. God's third way changes the story. He sees the sin, and still heals, leads, and restores comfort. Read in context, this is God's dealing with living people on earth, not a statement about hell.
I have seen his ways, and will heal him; and I will lead him, and will restore comforts unto him and to those of his that mourn.
Just before this, God spoke of His anger at Israel's greed. He struck them, He hid Himself, and they went on in their own stubborn way. Then the verse turns. The same eyes that saw the sin now promise healing, leading, and comfort. What moves God from striking to restoring?
God had already judged Israel, and then hidden Himself. This verse shows a third way of acting:
He had been justly angry over their greedy sin, and had struck them. Again He had been angry, and had hidden Himself, and they had gone on stubbornly. So He had seen Israel's sin and struck him for it. Again He had seen it and had held back from striking. But He still had to be angry, for Israel had only taken advantage of His hiding Himself, and their stubbornness went unchecked. Yet once more God will act, and in a new way. "I have seen his ways, but I will heal him." He does not shut His eyes to the sin, but He adds, "I will heal him." Marvellous grace! So we see God's three ways of acting. (1) Seeing sin, angry, and judging the sinner. (2) Seeing sin and angry, but hiding Himself. (3) Seeing sin, and healing the sinner; leading him also, and restoring comforts to him. The first is seen in principle in the world before the flood and the judgment of the flood. The second, in the law. The third, in the gospel of our salvation.
The same writer then makes it personal, and names what this healing rests on:
The One who knows, as no one else does, the sin of my greed and the stubbornness of my heart, is the One who says, "I will lead him and restore comfort to him." Adorable, matchless grace! And all of it rests, we need hardly say, on the blood of Christ.
Earlier the chapter says where this God chooses to live:
He is high and holy, and He dwells in the high and holy place. But He dwells also with the one "that is of a contrite and humble spirit," for He finds there what suits Himself. His presence gives the highest place in heaven its dignity, and He still stoops to make the lowly heart His throne… The God whom the highest heavens cannot contain is the God we may have as our Guest. But we get Him only by going down ourselves into the lowest and lowliest place. So if we have never met Him, it is because we have never gone down that low — to the self-judgment where we find Him in grace.
One writer places the promise in Israel's future, after judgment:
The One who inhabits eternity can stoop to revive a contrite and humble soul of earth… The result will be this. After judgment has done its work, God will lead the godly back into their Land and bless them with comforts. He will bring peace not only to the godly remnant – those who are "near" – but to the Gentile who is "afar off". But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. For such, there is "no peace."
The comfort goes to "his mourners". The chapter's closing words draw a line:
The promise to the feeble remnant is full of grace — to those who are contrite and humble… "But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked." … Comfort and peace for all, except for the wicked. It is a complete answer to a false teaching common today: that God will save all Israel, including the wicked dead, and give them a share in the Kingdom of Peace.
The One who promises to heal was Himself wounded:
And so the voice of the smitten Sufferer comes to us, "I am the LORD, your healer" (Ex. 15:26). He who was wounded for our transgressions "binds up the brokenness of His people, and heals the wounds inflicted by His blow" (Isa. 30:26; Isa. 57:17-18).
- Seen. God does not close His eyes to the sin before promising the cure; He sees the ways, and heals anyway.
- Healed. Judging, then hiding, then healing — the third way is the way of the gospel, and it is the way God acts now.
- Led. Healing is not the end. God leads Israel back to their Land once judgment has done its work.
- Comforted. God restores comfort to "his mourners" — the contrite and humble, the very people the high and holy One lives with.
- Except. Peace reaches far and near. But not all: the wicked are the restless sea, and for them the chapter ends with no peace.
I create the fruit of the lips peace, peace to him [that is] afar off, and to him [that is] nigh, saith Jehovah; and I will heal him.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, and whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
Isaiah closes this chapter with a picture: a sea that never settles, always churning up whatever lies at the bottom. It stands against the peace God had just promised. So who gets that peace, and why do some never find it?
The verse begins with "but," and that word marks off two groups. Just before it, God speaks peace to those far off and those near. Commentators point out that God Himself creates that peace.
He had to deal in wrath with them because of their sin and rebellion. But He would not keep striving against them as a nation forever. The moment would come when He would heal and bless, and establish peace, both for those far off and for those near… But the peace has to be "created" by God. It is not something men produce. Isaiah 53 has told us how the peace is created.
So the wicked are not just people who missed peace. They stand outside a peace only God can make.
The image is exact. The mud comes up for a reason.
The wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. The mire and dirt come from the sea chafing against its limits. In the same way, the "mind of the flesh" is "not subject to the law of God, and indeed it cannot be." (Rom. 8:7.)
There is also a force acting on the water from outside it.
The peace is only for those who are brought into right relations with God. It is not for the wicked who, far from Him, are as restless as the sea. The winds keep the sea always churning. Satan, who is "the prince of the power of the air," keeps the wicked in a state like the sea. All their visible actions are like "mire and dirt."
Why does a person keep churning? One writer traces it to a conscience that is working but unwelcome.
A person who is not born again does not have a new divine nature; only those who are born of God have it. But that person still has a conscience. He knows in his conscience that he should love, respect and obey his Creator. He dislikes that thought, because he wants his own way and wants to be master of his own destiny. So he refuses to think about God.
Another writer calls the same restlessness lawlessness. It shows in what people do and in what they think.
This section closes with God's declaration about the lawless among His own people: there is no peace for them. Lawlessness in way and in word; lawlessness in doing and in thinking; lawlessness in working and in writing… Sin is lawlessness. Restlessness and vileness mark it, and it leaves God out. The lawless do not know Him.
In other places, Scripture uses the sea as a picture of whole peoples. Writers connect this verse to that picture.
The sea sets forth a state of rebellion against constituted authority; of peoples in a condition of unrest… The ever-restless sea (Isa. 57:20; Dan. 7:2-3; Rev. 13:1; Rev. 18:21) is here the chosen figure to denote the peoples of the earth in dire anarchy, owing to the want of a strong controlling power or firm hand.
Read that way, the verse describes more than individual unease. It describes a world that will not settle. One writer points at the daily news, where "mire and dirt" fill the pages (W. W. Fereday).
Isaiah said this to God's own people. That is the sting in it. Religious standing gives no cover.
Let the Jew take heed. The wicked of that people will certainly not escape. No nation then was so favoured, so none was more responsible. They failed completely, so who was more guilty? The Christian world is favoured far more than the Jew was. So of all people it is by far the most guilty. Jesus Christ crucified stands openly before its eyes.
The picture is not a dead end. The same sea-and-water language points to its own cure.
The souls of men are restless. Sin has made them so, for "the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet." But the Good Shepherd calls His sheep out of their restless wandering, their unsatisfied and self-willed straying. He brings them to rest at His feet. He leads them beside the waters of quietness.
- Cause. The sea churns because it fights its own boundary. The wicked are restless because the mind of the flesh will not submit to God's law.
- Contrast. God creates peace; men do not produce it. So the "but" in this verse divides those He has brought near from those still far off.
- Content. "Mire and dirt" is no accident. It is what a life in constant agitation throws up.
- Crowds. The same picture covers whole peoples in unrest and rebellion, not just individual souls.
- Cure. Religious privilege lets no one off. Only the Shepherd brings the restless to still waters.
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Two verses earlier, God promises peace to those far off and near. Then the door shuts on one group. Why does that peace never reach the wicked?
This sentence is not a one-off. It ends a section, and the sections are built around a centre.
The 27 chapters are divided into three groups of nine, each ending with a solemn statement that there is no peace for the wicked. (See Isaiah 48:22; Isaiah 57:21; Isaiah 66:24.) The centre section of the three is therefore chapters 49-57; and the centre chapter of that centre section is Isaiah 53... So the prophecy of the One who is the LORD's Servant lies at the heart of everything. He goes even into death for the transgressions of God's people, and He comes out in resurrection.
The same refrain closes Isaiah 48:22, but with a different name for God. One writer ties that change of name to a change in the sin.
A new division of Isaiah opens here. It is no longer Babylon and idolatry... Here it is the far deeper question of Christ Himself and His rejection by the Jews. This portion runs from Isaiah 49:1 to the end of Isaiah 57. The earlier section ended, "There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked." This one ends, "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked." "The LORD" stands in contrast with idols. "My God" connects with the still deeper wickedness of the people in refusing "the true God and eternal life," even the Lord Jesus, their anointed King. They were wicked in both respects: wicked in going after false gods of the Gentiles; wicked yet more in rejecting their divine Messiah.
Verse 20 explains the sentence in verse 21. The restlessness is not an extra punishment. It is the condition itself, and a power outside keeps it moving.
The peace is only for those who are brought into right relations with God. It is not for the wicked who, far from Him, are as restless as the sea. The winds keep the sea in perpetual agitation. Satan, who is "the prince of the power of the air," keeps the wicked in a condition similar to the sea, and all their visible actions are like "mire and dirt."
Another writer asks where the mire comes from. The water throws it up where it hits its limits.
"The wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt." This is the effect of chafing against its bounds. In the same way, "the mind that is set on the flesh... does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot" (Romans 8:7).
So this "no" is not random. It comes from what God is like.
Notice that purity comes first on the list, before peace even. If we think about it we shall at once realize that this must be so, since all is of God. He never compromises with evil, and so there can be no peace except in purity. Again and again this was the burden of the prophets. See for instance, Jeremiah 6:14; Ezekiel 13:10, 16.
The same rule exposes those who promise peace when God has not given it.
There are plenty of those who prophesy smooth things. In Jeremiah's day some said "Peace, peace" while the LORD's sword hung over the land, and we have similar false prophets among us at the present time. If we believe them, the upheavals going on in every sphere are the birth pangs of a new and better day... All who speak like this are deceivers of men's souls.
Verse 21 stands next to the promise of verse 19. So where does that promised peace come from?
The moment would come when He would heal and bless, and establish peace, both for those far off and for those near... But in either case the peace has to be "created" by God, and is not something produced by men. Isaiah 53 has told us how the peace is created.
Isaiah spoke of that peace as future. Another writer describes what changed when it arrived.
We had nothing to do with it once, for "the way of peace they have not known" (Romans 3:17), nor was that surprising when we were in unbelief, for "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked." But since God has sent the word, "preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36)... we know, "even at such a time" when all is confusion, uncertainty and unrest, that we are entitled to it. Why? "For He made peace through the blood of His cross."
- Cause. Peace is missing because God is missing. The wicked are restless like a sea that cannot settle, and their actions throw up mire and dirt.
- Order. God never compromises with evil, so purity comes before peace. Peace promised without purity is the false prophet's cry.
- Depth. The refrain changes names. "The LORD" closes the section on idolatry. "My God" closes the section on rejecting the Messiah — the deeper sin.
- Gift. God alone can create the peace of verse 19. Isaiah 53 shows the cost: the Servant goes into death and comes out in resurrection.
- Reach. God now sends the word that preaches this peace, made through the blood of His cross. Those who once had nothing to do with peace can now claim it.