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.