Isaiah 57:1-2
Why Do Good People Die Early?
Wednesday Night, August 24, 2022
Scripture: The righteous man perishes,
and no one lays it to heart;
devout men are taken away,
while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;
he enters into peace;
they rest in their beds
who walk in their uprightness.
ESV, (Isaiah 57:1–2).
Main Point: Heaven is a place of peace and rest, and God may take the righteous home “early” to spare them from future suffering.
Background: Isaiah is distraught because Israel’s blind and self-centered leaders were leading the nation away from God. At the same time He is upset because a righteous man, a good leader, possibly King Hezekiah, has died.
I. Bad things happen to good people. “The righteous man perishes.”
II. Often, no one cares, and life goes on. “The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart.”
III. Others care but can’t make any sense. “Devout men are taken away, while no one understands.”
IV. Death is a blessing, not a curse, for the righteous. “For the righteous man is taken away from calamity; he enters into peace.”
“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15).
V. God knows all things, including all possible futures, and He does what is best. “They rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness.”
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Conclusion: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:1–11).
Challenge: Death, mourning, and sorrow are natural ingredients of life, but we must trust in the Lord that He knows what is best.