ISAIAH LESSON 24

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OUTCAST, APOSTATE, AND CONTRITE

Isaiah 56–57
Memorise God’s Word for the week: Isaiah 57:15.

Discuss review questions from the previous lesson.

DAY 1: ISAIAH 56:1-8—THE GOD WHO GATHERS THE OUTCASTS

1. What two things did God tell His people to do, according to 56:1?

2. What would happen to the people who did these things (56:2)?

3. Isaiah 56:3-8 shows how God sees the unique concerns of overlooked people. Why do eunuchs and
foreigners feel disheartened or inferior to others in Israel (56:3)?

4. What does God desire eunuchs and foreigners to do (56:4, 6)?

5. From 56:8, how is God identified?

DAY 2: ISAIAH 56:9–57:2—THE SINFUL AND RIGHTEOUS

Note: The “beasts” we read about in 56:9 refer to enemy nations.
6. Which words and phrases in this passage show that God was addressing leaders? List all the ways
God described them (56:9-12).

7. What effect would this leadership have on righteous people (57:1)?

8. What promise did God give to the upright (57:1c-2)?

DAY 4: ISAIAH 57:3-13; 2 CHRONICLES 33:1-11—THE APOSTATE

Note: The “righteousness” referred to in Isaiah 57:12 is a false righteousness that many of God’s people
were expressing.
9. How were Israel and her leaders sinning, as described in 57:3-10?

10. From 2 Chronicles 33:1-9, briefly describe the type of activities that were happening during the era
when Isaiah recorded these later prophecies.

11. According to Isaiah 57:11-13, what is implied about how the true God would respond to all this running
around after other gods?

Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptures are taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV®. Copyright© 2001
by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 HOME STUDY QUESTIONS FOR LESSON 24 2 ISAIAH

12. God contrasted those who trusted in other things with those who trusted in Him (Isaiah 57:13).
What would happen to the people who would take refuge in Him?

DAY 4: ISAIAH 57:14-15; 2 CHRONICLES 33:12-13—THE LOWLY AND CONTRITE

13. What qualities and names of God are emphasised?

14. What would God do for the lowly and the contrite?

15. In 2 Chronicles 33:12-13, what example do we see of how God treats people who are contrite?

16. How does God’s response to Manasseh fit with Isaiah’s description of God’s character, according to
Isaiah 55:6-7?

DAY 5: ISAIAH 57:16-21—THE LIVES OF THE REBELLIOUS AND THE CONTRITE

17. From 57:16, what can you learn about God’s understanding of people?

18. What do you think it means to go on “backsliding in the way of his own heart”?

19. List what God said He would do for His people, even though they sin.

20. How have you seen the truth of what 57:20 says, that the lives of the wicked are constantly churning
up “mire and dirt”?

DAY 6: PARTICIPATE IN CLASS

APPLY what you have learned. Isaiah 57:15 says that God will “revive the spirit of the lowly” and
“the heart of the contrite.” Revive means “to return” or “to return to life.” We feel contrite when we
humbly acknowledge we have in some way sinned against God’s commands or broken
relationship with God. Sometimes, feeling contrite makes us shy away from God. But it is precisely
when we are in this condition that God dwells with us and His Spirit does His reviving work in our
spirits and hearts. Have you ever experienced God’s coming to you at a time when you felt contrite
and “returning you to life”? What was the effect on you and on how you related with Him?

 ISAIAH 3 COMMENTARY FOR LESSON 24

DAY 7: OUTCAST, APOSTATE, AND CONTRITE

Isaiah 56–57
THE GOD WHO GATHERS P EOPLE (ISAIAH 56:1-8) In Moses’s day, when Gentiles became part of
Israel’s congregation, they had no designated worship area at the tabernacle.* But the message of
56:3-8 transcends these restrictions. The time would come when no one would be denied access to
God’s presence because of physical handicaps, race, or genealogy. Here, God personally addressed
the particular concerns of foreigners and eunuchs (see Deuteronomy 23:1-7).
The foreigners, who thought they would never belong to God as the Israelites did, actually could
have access to God. They too would be able to “minister to him, ... love the name of the LORD, and ...
be his servants.” These were the basic requirements of the Israelites’ relationship with God (see
Deuteronomy 10:12). Foreigners who would do what God expected of them in a covenant relation-
ship would be made “joyful in [His] house of prayer” (Isaiah 56:7).
God made a gracious promise to eunuchs too. Though they would have no children to carry on
their names, those who chose God’s will and confirmed His covenant in loving obedience would
receive “an everlasting name” instead of having their names get “cut off” when they died.
The welcome extended to foreigners and eunuchs foreshadows the gathering of all nations to God’s
“holy mountain.” God’s house would no longer be limited to the Israelites but would be “called a
house of prayer for all peoples.”
SELFISH LEADERS IN ISRAEL (I SAIAH 56:9- 12) Shockingly, Isaiah invited enemy nations, represented by
the “beasts of the field,” to devour the unprotected people. Isaiah charged Israel’s religious and political
leaders with lack of perception concerning these “beasts in the forest” ready to devour. Because of their
spiritual blindness, Israel’s “watchmen” were unaware of the dangers surrounding their people. They
were as useless as dogs who cannot bark to warn of danger. Like shepherds un-concerned for the flocks’
needs, they gave priority to their own interests (compare 28:7-8).
THINK ABOUT how caring for God’s people includes warning them of danger. In some way, we’re all
teachers and leaders—of children, friends, and others whose thinking we influence. Leaders and teachers
in the body of Christ must be alert and able to discern dangers around them. Another function of
shepherds is to feed the sheep (see John 21:15-17). Leaders and teachers bear a special responsibility
(see James 3:1) to warn the flock and feed them with truth, even when that requires putting the needs of
those they lead before their own comfort.

PEACE THROUGH DEATH (ISAIAH 57:1-2) Here, the focus is on the death of “the righteous man.”
Death for the righteous means they are “taken away from calamity” to find “peace” and “rest.”
For those who walk in God’s ways, death is a release from the evil surrounding them.
GOD’S REBUKE FOR THE APOSTATE (I SAIAH 57:3-13) After his message of comfort to the righteous,
Isaiah confronted the wicked leaders and the people who were following them. Many Israelites had
adopted religious practices associated with pagan fertility rites. Their immoral, lustful behaviour
under the green trees (see also Deuteronomy 12:2; Jeremiah 2:20; 17:2) and their child sacrifices
(see also 2 Kings 21:6; Jeremiah 32:35) were an abomination to their God.
The people brought food and drink offerings as they worshiped idols, probably in the valley of
Hinnom, directly south of the temple in Jerusalem (see also Jeremiah 7:18; 19:4-6). They also
offered sacrifices to idols on the high hills, where they thought they would be nearer to other “gods.”
They ignored Moses’s instructions to post reminders of God’s laws on their doors and doorposts (see
Deuteronomy 6:9), and put pagan symbols there instead. And, sexual promiscuity was part of their
idolatrous practices.
Judah also sought help from foreign nations, although God had expressly prohibited such
alliances. God wanted the leaders to look to Him for the nation’s security. He also knew

 COMMENTARY FOR LESSON 24 4 ISAIAH

that associating with pagan nations would lead to idolatry. But the people persisted in placing their
confidence in idols anyway, claiming they found renewed strength there. So God levelled serious
charges at them.
THINK ABOUT the connection between idolatry and sexual sins. In Isaiah’s day, they were certainly
linked, and they still are today. Turning away from the one true God to lesser gods leads society to-ward
depravity, including sexual immorality, excesses, and perversions (see Romans 1:18-32). The practice of
sexual aberrations appears to be as addictive as drugs, quickly becoming idolatry. Any object of incessant
thought and insatiable desire—other than the Lord God—depraves our minds and dulls our consciences.

The leaders were so involved in seeking other nations’ favor that they did not think about God. God
had withheld judgment for a long time, but He was not blind to the people’s neglect of Him. God
warned that the idols the Israelites were depending on would prove useless when He judged them.
By contrast, the people who took refuge in God would “possess the land and ... inherit [His] holy
mountain” (Isaiah 57:13).
GOD’S PROMISE FOR THE CONTRITE (ISAIAH 57:14-21) Since Moses’s time, the Israelites had
associated God’s holiness and presence with the tabernacle or the temple (see Leviticus 9:23-24; 2
Chronicles 7:1). But God’s relationship with humanity is personal; we need not be in a sanctuary to
be with God (see Isaiah 57:15). He who lives in “the high and holy place” also lives with those who
are “of a contrite and lowly spirit.” Those who feel godly sorrow because of their sin would feel joy
when God would come to dwell in their hearts.
God would punish His people because of their conduct, but He would also show compassion at
the right time. He would turn the mourners’ grief to joy and extend peace to both “the far and ...
the near,” including people from the ends of the earth (see 43:6-7; 49:12). In contrast, “the
wicked” (57:20-21) who continued in their alienation from God would become incapable of
receiving His peace. Perpetually restless and disturbed, they would be like the troubled sea,
always tossing up “mire and dirt.”
PERSONALISE this lesson. God, through Isaiah, spoke specifically to the needs of several types of people:
foreigners who felt excluded, barren eunuchs who felt sorrow, righteous people who faced death, and people who
felt contrite and lowly. Do you identify with any of these groups of people? If so, tell God how it affects you to see
how He cared for and related to that group. If not, pray for someone you know, that he or she would receive God’s
care in one of these areas.

REVIEW: OUTCAST, APOSTATE, AND CONTRITE

21. What thoughts from your Core Group discussion, the Commentary, or the teaching either encouraged or
challenged you?

Endnote
*By Isaiah’s time, King Solomon had built the temple, which did include an area where Gentiles were allowed to gather.