Isaiah 57:17 - Meaning and Application

The people of Israel are spoken of here as one person, but divided into two groups. Some were sons of peace, and peace was spoken to them (Isaiah 57:19). Others were not, and they had nothing to do with peace (Isaiah 57:20, Isaiah 57:21). This passage first shows the fair rebukes God brought on them for their sin, then their stubborn refusal to change, and then God’s surprising mercy toward them.

For the sin of their greed, God was angry and struck them. Greed was very common among them. Jeremiah says that from the least to the greatest, everyone was given to greed (Jeremiah 6:13). Even those who did not bow to statues were still trapped in this kind of false worship, for greed makes money into a god (Colossians 3:5). It was no surprise that the people were greedy when their watchmen, their leaders and teachers, were plainly greedy too (Isaiah 56:11). Yet, while they craved wealth in everyday life, they were lavish in serving their idols (Isaiah 57:6). It is hard to say which was more offensive, their wastefulness in idol worship or their greed in all else. For this sin, along with others, God became angry and brought one judgment after another, ending in their destruction by the Chaldeans, the Babylonians.

God was angry because he saw how deeply they turned from him. They were devoted to him and had him as their portion, yet they chose the world instead. Greed is very offensive to the God of heaven. It is a sin of the heart, but he sees the heart, and he hates it because it sets up a rival in the soul. People often excuse greed and even praise it in one another (Psalm 49:18, Psalm 10:3), but God abhors it.

He also smote them. He rebuked them through his prophets, corrected them through his providence, and punished them in the very things they most loved and chased after. Sinners will feel God’s anger. Those he is angry with, he strikes. Greed especially brings signs of God’s displeasure, because those who fix their hearts on this world are often disappointed in it, or else it becomes bitter to them. It is either troubled by sorrow or turned into a curse.

He hid himself from them while these rebukes came, and he still remained angry. If we are under God’s discipline and he shows himself to us, we can bear it better. But if he strikes and then hides himself, sends no prophet, speaks no comforting word, and gives no sign of favor, we are truly miserable. When God tears away and departs, as in Hosea 5:14, the soul is in deep trouble.

Yet they stayed stubborn under all this correction. He kept going in the twist of his own heart, in his evil way. He did not feel God’s displeasure. He felt the pain of the rod, but paid no attention to the hand that held it. The more his worldly plans were blocked, the more eagerly he chased them. He would not admit his error, or if he saw it, he would not turn from it. Greed was the way of his heart, what he wanted and kept pursuing, and he would not be corrected. Instead, in his trouble he sinned even more (2 Chronicles 28:22). This shows how strong human corruption is, and how sin keeps on its own course even against God and all his burning wrath. It also shows that suffering by itself cannot reform people unless God’s grace works with it.

Still, God showed mercy in a wonderful way, even though most of them stayed stubborn. The greater number kept going their own way, but some among them were mourners, grieving over the stubbornness of the rest. For their sake, and even more for his own name’s sake, God decided not to contend forever with them. With the stubborn, God may rightly show himself stubborn too (Psalm 18:26), and walk against those who walk against him (Leviticus 26:24). When this sinner kept going on in the way of his own heart, it might seem natural to say, “I have seen his ways and will destroy him. I will abandon him.” But God’s mercy and grace are so great that he says instead, “I have seen his ways, and I will heal him.” God’s goodness shines even more brightly because of human evil, and where sin has increased, grace has increased even more.

God’s reasons for mercy come from himself, because in us there is only what provokes him. He says, in effect, “I have seen his ways, and yet I will heal him for my own name’s sake.” He knew how bad the people were, and still he would not cast them off. But notice the order: God first gives grace, and then peace. He sees that the sinner will never turn to him on his own, so he says, in effect, “I will turn him.” Those whom God means to show mercy to, he also prepares with grace. He readies them for the mercy they were running from as fast as they could.

He will heal them of their corrupt and sinful disposition. He will cure their greed, even if it is deeply rooted and long practiced. No spiritual disease is so settled that almighty grace cannot overcome it. He will also lead them. He will not only correct what is wrong in them so they stop doing evil, but guide them into the path of duty so they learn to do good. They had gone on stubbornly, like Saul, breathing out threats and slaughter, but God would bring them into a better mind and a better way. Then he would restore the comforts they had lost and prepare them to receive them. In Babylon, God worked a wonderful change in the captives, and then he brought a wonderful rescue that gave comfort to them. It especially comforted the mourners, those who grieved for their own sins, the sins of their people, and the ruins of the sanctuary. To such mourners, this mercy would be especially sweet. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

As happened when they went into captivity, when some were like good figs and others like bad figs, so it was when they came out again. Their captivity had been for some people’s good and for others’ harm (Jeremiah 24:8, Jeremiah 24:9), and their deliverance would be the same. To those who were good among them, their return from captivity would be peace, a peace that pointed ahead to the peace preached by Jesus Christ (Isaiah 57:19). God says, “I create the fruit of the lips, peace.” He means to give them something to praise him for, for praise is the fruit of the lips (Hebrews 13:15), the calves of the lips (Hosea 14:2). I create this.

Creation comes from nothing, but this is from something even worse than nothing. God brings praise out of people who had kept going their own way and followed the stubborn desires of their hearts.

To do this, peace will be announced, peace, peace, full peace and every kind of peace, to the one who is far away as well as to the one who is near. This means peace with God, because even though he had contended with them, he will be reconciled and end his dispute. It also means peace of conscience, a holy sense of safety and calm after the many accusations and inner troubles they had suffered in captivity.

In this way, God creates the fruit of the lips, fresh words of thanksgiving. When he speaks peace to us, we should speak praise to him. This peace itself is God’s work. He alone can bring it about. It is the fruit of lips in several ways: his lips, because he commands it; the minister’s lips, because he speaks it through them (Isaiah 40:1); the lips of preaching and prayer; and the lips of Christ, whose words are full of grace. That is why this promise is applied to Christ in (Ephesians 2:17). He came and preached peace to those who were far away, the Gentiles as well as the Jews, who were near, and to later generations as well, those far away in time as well as those living then.

As for those among them who were wicked, even if they returned with the rest, their return would not bring them peace (Isaiah 57:20). A wicked person, whether in Babylon or in Jerusalem, carries the source of his own unrest with him. He is like a troubled sea. God healed those to whom he spoke peace (Isaiah 57:19), saying, “I will heal them.” Everything would be made right again. But the wicked would not be healed by God’s grace, and so they will not be healed by his comforts.

They are always like a stormy sea because they carry unruly corruption within them. Their sinful desires and passions have not been cured or conquered, so they keep churning like waves that cannot rest. They are upsetting to everyone around them, and that makes them miserable too, noisy and dangerous. When the hot tempers of the heart burst out in harsh and abusive speech, the troubled sea throws up mire and dirt.

They also have guilty and unquiet consciences. They live under a fearful sense of guilt and judgment, so they cannot enjoy themselves. When they seem settled, they are uneasy. When they seem cheerful, they are heavy-hearted. Like Cain, they live in constant trembling. The fears of conscience spoil all their pleasures and throw up such mire and dirt that they become a burden to themselves.

Even if this is not obvious right now, it is still certain, as the prophet had already said before (Isaiah 48:22) and repeats here (Isaiah 57:21): there is no peace for the wicked. There is no peace with God, because they cannot be on good terms with him while they keep sinning. There is no quiet or satisfaction in their own minds. There is no real good, and no peace in death, because there is no hope. God has said it, and the whole world cannot take it back: there is no peace for those who let themselves stay in any sin. What have they to do with peace?