Yahweh Will Make A Way Back To Himself And Will Restore Those Whom He Chooses To Himself In Spite of Their Undeserving and Unresponsiveness (Isaiah 57:14-21).
They must remember that in spite of what they are God in His high and holy place is sovereign. He will prepare a way back to Himself for His true people, and although He is angry at their self-interested desire for gain, and their stubbornness in response to His call, He will heal them and lead them and restore comfort to them, and will, when they begin to mourn for their sins, Himself create the fruit of their lips, that is He will give them the words to say to reflect their repentance for sin.
Thus will they come to Him crushed and humbled, and thus will they be able to dwell with Him in the high and holy place, as He revives their hearts and their spirits. All this brings out the patience of God with His own people. Though we fail Him time and again, He continues to reach out to us and restore us to what we should be.
‘And he will say, “Cast up, cast up, prepare the way,
Take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.'
Just as He called for the way to be prepared for Himself when He came to deliver His people (Isaiah 40:3-5), so now will He arrange for a way to be prepared for the people whom He has chosen, whereby they might come to Him. As in chapter 40 this is again portrayed in terms of preparing the way for an Overlord, only here it is not for an Overlord but for His people. They too are to receive superior treatment. They are more important than earthly Overlords.
This is not necessarily talking of return from exile. It is a return from sin. Every stumblingblock of sin and ignorance will be removed and He will bring them back to Himself in repentance and faith (Isaiah 57:15). The call to ‘prepare the way' is given to the prophets, and to all men of God who would come in the future, and the stumblingblock will be removable because of the work of the Servant (Isaiah 53:1-12), Who is the prime remover of the stumblingblock, that is, of whatever keeps men from God.
‘For thus says the high and lofty one, who dwells there everlastingly, whose name is Holy,
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit,
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”
The word ‘for' connects back with Isaiah 57:14. This is why the way has been prepared, it is the way back to God. Once again the spiritual nature of Isaiah's message shines through. For ‘high and lofty' compare Isaiah 6:1; Isaiah 52:13. This is the place of Yahweh's everlasting throne to which the Servant was lifted up (Isaiah 52:13). And from it speaks Yahweh, Who is the high and lofty One, He who is above all, and before Whom all must bow, Who dwells there everlastingly. And He declares His name, He is Holy. That is He is unique and set apart from all else because of His distinctive nature and attributes, set apart in power, in holiness, in purity, in righteousness, and in glory. He is the One Who is different from all else. And it is because the Servant is lifted up to Him, and is made very high (Isaiah 52:13), that He can be declared to be the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6).
The Declaration. “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Access is granted to the high and holy place for those whose hearts are contrite, those who are crushed by sin, but repent of and regret their sins, and mourn over them, those who come humbly and seek His face (compare 1 John 1:7-10). And there their spirits and hearts will be revived. Note the stress on spirit and heart, the seat of man's spiritual nature, and of his mind, will and emotions. Thus do men have access into heavenly places (see Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 2:6) as they seek Him in this way. We can compare here Isaiah 61:1; Psalms 23:6; Psalms 51:1; Psalms 51:11; Psalms 51:17; Psalms 139:7-8.
The high and holy place is the heavenly Mount Zion, God's dwelling-place, as mirrored in the earthly Mount Zion which will one day be raised high above all mountains (Isaiah 2:2). Ezekiel depicts it as ‘a very high mountain' (Ezekiel 40:2) in a holy portion many miles from Jerusalem (Ezekiel 45:1-8), on which the heavenly temple descends. The differing descriptions bring out how the prophets were struggling with the concept of a heavenly yet earthly temple, on a heavenly yet earthly holy mountain. It was because it was holy that Ezekiel recognised that it could not be in the defiled city of Jerusalem. Compare also 1 Kings 8:30; 1Ki 8:32; 1 Kings 8:34; 1 Kings 8:36; 1Ki 8:39; 1 Kings 8:43; 1 Kings 8:45; 1 Kings 8:49 where Yahweh in His heavenly dwellingplace hears what occurs in His earthly temple. See also 1 Kings 8:27 and compare Psalms 125:1. Israel did not see Yahweh as tied to dwelling permanently in His temple on Mount Zion, although they could speak of it as His dwelling place. They looked to something more.
The word ‘contrite' means one who is crushed, as the Servant was for us in Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 53:10. The burden of sin is heavy on them. The thought is of those who seek God and respond faithfully to Him, because God has crushed them. But as they experience that crushing they can come into His presence, nay, dwell in His presence, and they will thus find themselves revived (as Isaiah was in Isaiah 6:5-7) and able to continually dwell with Him. This is a reminder that dwelling with God is a privilege, and His presence should not be treated lightly. While we may rejoice in His presence there is a real sense in which we should be continually lowly and humble before Him. For He is the Holy One, and we, while being His adopted children, are but forgiven sinners (see Ecclesiastes 5:1-2).
‘For I will not accuse for ever,
Nor will I be always angry,
For the spirit would fail (faint away) before me,
And the persons (those containing breath) that I have made.'
Entry into the holy presence of God, and dwelling with Him, is possible because of His mercy and gracious love. Had He made us fully account for our sins we would indeed have had no hope. But God in His graciousness and lovingkindness has promised that He will not accuse for ever, or be always angry with, those who come before Him in repentance and faith. Otherwise indeed their spirits would faint away before Him. They could not endure, for they only have limited breath (Isaiah 2:22). They are but men.
‘Because of the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry,
And I smote him, I hid my face and was angry,
And he went on, turning away in the way of his heart.
I have seen his ways and will heal him,
I will lead him also and recompense comforts to him,
And to his mourners I create the fruit of his lips.'
The ‘he' is presumably either the ‘him' who is finally of a contrite and humble spirit in Isaiah 57:15, or the ‘my people' of Isaiah 57:14 (singular verbs for a composite noun). The perfect tenses indicate the completeness of what is described, even though it is in the future. God's anger is aroused by man's self-interested desire for gain, and that is why He will smite him, and hide His face from him and be angry. But man will continue turning away from Him, right from the heart. And if God did not intervene man would have no hope.
However, happily He will intervene for those on whom He sets His choice. (As it is made abundantly clear elsewhere that not all will be saved, and as it is God Who will bring about their salvation in spite of their rebelliousness, it must be a matter of His choice). God will have seen his ways and yet will determine to heal him. Indeed He will go further. He will be his guide and provide him with comfort. And to those who mourn for sin He will provide words to say. It is He Who will create something new, He will create the words that the mourner speaks.
‘Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near' says Yahweh, ‘and I will heal him.'
This is God's great offer of peace. The peace that He will bring between Him and His people will reach both far and near, it will even reach out to the nations. It comes from the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). And to those to whom He gives peace He will also give healing. He will make them whole. He will restore their inner selves. ‘Him who is far off', that is, living in distant places. God's peace is being offered to all.
‘But the wicked are like the troubled sea,
For it cannot find rest and its waters cast up mire and dirt.
“There is no peace,” says my God, “to the wicked.” '
But now we find confirmed that all are not included in God's sovereign work of deliverance and salvation. For the wicked there can be no peace. Indeed they are like the troubled sea. Within them is unrest and turmoil, and from that unrest and turmoil is cast up mire and dirt because of what they are. How can they then have peace?