Isaiah 57:1-2  The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.

These verses refer to those who die for the faith from the beginning of time (the martyrs) as well as those who do not take the mark of the beast in the last days as written in Mark 13.

Mark 13:19-20

If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.
(See also Matthew 24:21-22)

Psalm 116:15
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. 

Under the heading RESTORATION NOT FOR WICKED (Isaiah 57) are listed numerous sins, such as sexual perversion (open sex, pornography, etc), abortion, paying homage to the pagan and the occult instead of to God.  These are descriptions of the children of the adulterous woman who has given birth to illegitimate children who do not know God.  They have not been taught the ways of the Lord so every generation degrades even further.  This is an analogy of the unfaithfulness of God's people who give birth to and raise children who are not godly.  Remember God's people have a marriage covenant relationship with Him.

Isaiah 57:8a
Behind your doors and your doorposts you have put your pagan symbols.

We may think we can hide our wicked ways, but not so.

The fate of the wicked is found in the remaining verses of Isaiah 57.

Isaiah 57:12
I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you.

What a convicting verse this is! Even though we may do good works, if we do not honor the Lord in what we do, or if we follow the ways of the wicked, seems as if the bad cancels out some of the good. It reminds us of some of the kings, especially Asa. If we are not believers in Jesus, it doesn't matter how many good works we do.

I Kings 15:14
Although he did not remove the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life.

Asa was fully committed, yet he held on to the ways of the wicked. He was righteous in many ways and in his many works, but what God was looking for in Asa and also in all of us, it that we will be fully committed to Him AND we will destroy our “high places”, whatever form those "high places" may take.

Isaiah 57:15b
"I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

What an amazing thought. This Master of the universe, who lives in unapproachable light, in a high and holy place, wants to live within us!

Under the heading EMPTINESS OF FASTING (Isaiah 58) are these words:
"For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways..."

They seek the Lord and seem to want to know His ways but when they read His Word they bend the truth and make it say what they want it to say.  When they fast they only go through the motions.  They are not fasting for the right reasons.  After all these descriptions, this section ends with
"Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?"

Then under the heading TRUE FASTING AND ITS REWARD (Isaiah 58:13-14) Isaiah tells what God finds acceptable in His sight.  When fasting, God wants us to take the focus off self.  Do some soul-searching for those things that may bind us.  Withdraw from our normal routine and contemplate what we can do for others.  God says that if we fast and worship for the right reasons and in the right way..."Then you will call, and the Lord will answer..."

Another way to look at fasting is this.  Be so involved in communication with God that consuming food simply does not come to mind.  Therefore fasting in this way, a person would not set out to deliberately refrain from eating, but not eating would be the result of being so focused on God that a person would forget to eat.

This section ends with a prophecy of the literal, physical rebuilding of the temple and reinstituting proper worship as well as the spiritual component for us today of returning to the ways of The Way, the ways of the early church.

He says your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Isaiah 58:12

Isaiah was referring to the people of his day but we can make spiritual connections today.  Truth tellers seek to rebuild the basic foundations of the faith.

Under the heading CALL FOR SABBATH OBSERVANCE we find some of those famous "If...then" statements. If we honor His Sabbath days in the right way, then we will find joy and be blessed beyond measure. The Sabbath day is a day of “rest”. This “rest” means so much more than stretching out on the hammock, under a shady tree in the back yard and taking a little snooze. “Rest” means to rest in God’s unfailing love, to rest in His mercy, His goodness, His faithfulness, His grace; to rest in His promises; to rest in trusting Him. Ultimately “rest” is eternal salvation, to rest forever with Him. We honor Him on a Sabbath day by not going our “own way” and “speaking idle words”. So exactly when is the Sabbath day? Using the definitions above, sounds like every day should be a Sabbath day!

The Sabbath day not only refers to the weekly Sabbath, but also to God's Holy Days, His feast and festival days.  They too are His Sabbaths.  We honor Him by observing these days.

Also in Isaiah 58 God warns about giving Him only "lip service".  God knows the heart and knows when we are only pretending to follow His commands.

Under the heading CONFESSION OF SINS Isaiah relates that the people have loved the rewards of evil. have no morals, are trying to hide behind a facade of godliness.  They are not satisfied with the pleasures of the world and are searching for something but are looking in all the wrong places.  This is all a result of "truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.  Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey."

Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

This was another very convicting verse for us today. When we examined our prayers, we realized that we have been neglectful in confessing our sins, BEFORE we begin to petition Him for requests. Something easily remedied.