Isaiah 57:1-2. The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.
When there is a storm coming on, you may see the shepherds among the hills, gathering their sheep and taking them home, and when good men die in large numbers, and the Church’s ranks are thinned, it is sometimes a token that bad times are coming on, and so God takes away the righteous from the evil to come. Oh! did men know what the world loses when a good man dies, they would regret it far more than the death of emperors and kings who fear not God. But as for those who are made righteous by the grace of God, they need not fear to die. To them it will be a rest - a sleep with Jesus - till the trump of the resurrection, and all the evil that will come upon the world will not touch them. They shall rest till the Master comes. Now, the rest of the chapter is a very terrible description of the sin of the people of Isaiah’s day. And at last it contains a very brilliant display of the grace of God.
Isaiah 57:1-2. The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.
When there is a storm coming on, you may see the shepherds among the hills, gathering their sheep and taking them home, and when good men die in large numbers, and the Church’s ranks are thinned, it is sometimes a token that bad times are coming on, and so God takes away the righteous from the evil to come. Oh! did men know what the world loses when a good man dies, they would regret it far more than the death of emperors and kings who fear not God. But as for those who are made righteous by the grace of God, they need not fear to die. To them it will be a rest - a sleep with Jesus - till the trump of the resurrection, and all the evil that will come upon the world will not touch them. They shall rest till the Master comes. Now, the rest of the chapter is a very terrible description of the sin of the people of Isaiah’s day. And at last it contains a very brilliant display of the grace of God.