57:16
“I will not accuse them forever ...” In Isaiah we read of God’s clear condemnation of Israel’s sin. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is the conviction of sin. “Nor will I always be angry”. We don’t like the idea of God being angry with us, so many try to argue it away. However, God was angry, and rightly so because of our sin, and the effect it has. But we are also the people that God created. Our guilt and God’s righteous anger are real and entirely justified, but they are not the end of the story. Part of the glory of the gospel is that it faces up fully to the reality of our sin.
57:17,18
This verse highlights the extent of Israel’s sin and God’s reaction to it. He was enraged at their sinful greed. Sin puts us at the centre, and this is done at the expense of others. God punished Israel, but they did not learn from it, they persisted in their sinfulness.
But God’s response was not to remain angry forever, but to heal them. (As an aside, relate this back to 53:5, by His wounds we are healed. It is the wounds of sin that is the primary meaning of the healing in that verse). He will guide and restore us. Sin damages us. We need to learn the right ways, and we need to be restored from the damage that sin has done to us.
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