#1037 Isaiah 59 No, His Arm Is Just Fine

 

Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,

or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;

2 but your iniquities have made a separation

between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden his face from you

so that he does not hear.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood

and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies;

your tongue mutters wickedness.

4 No one enters suit justly;

no one goes to law honestly;

they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,

they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

5 They hatch adders' eggs;

they weave the spider's web;

he who eats their eggs dies,

and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.

6 Their webs will not serve as clothing;

men will not cover themselves with what they make.

Their works are works of iniquity,

and deeds of violence are in their hands.

7 Their feet run to evil,

and they are swift to shed innocent blood;

their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

desolation and destruction are in their highways.

8 The way of peace they do not know,

and there is no justice in their paths;

they have made their roads crooked;

no one who treads on them knows peace.

9 Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not overtake us;

we hope for light, and behold, darkness,

and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

10 We grope for the wall like the blind;

we grope like those who have no eyes;

we stumble at noon as in the twilight,

among those in full vigor we are like dead men.

11 We all growl like bears;

we moan and moan like doves;

we hope for justice, but there is none;

for salvation, but it is far from us.

12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you,

and our sins testify against us;

for our transgressions are with us,

and we know our iniquities:

13 transgressing, and denying the Lord,

and turning back from following our God,

speaking oppression and revolt,

conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

Judgment and Redemption

14 Justice is turned back,

and righteousness stands far away;

for truth has stumbled in the public squares,

and uprightness cannot enter.

15 Truth is lacking,

and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him

that there was no justice.

16 He saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no one to intercede;

then his own arm brought him salvation,

and his righteousness upheld him.

17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

18 According to their deeds, so will he repay,

wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;

to the coastlands he will render repayment.

19 So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,

and his glory from the rising of the sun;

for he will come like a rushing stream,

which the wind of the Lord drives.

20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.

21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.” Isaiah 59 ESV

Isaiah 59 The Arm of the Lord

1-8. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened - God was more than able to deliver, that wasn't the problem. His hearing was also fine. Remember before, they fasted, and thought He was supposed to honor their empty rituals. It's not that God is deaf, that is not the reason your prayers go unanswered. 

But your iniquities have made a separation - This isn't a ditch that you lay a board across. We think, "when I pray, God, You should answer me." We forget our roles, we get them mixed up, who is the Creator and who is the created? He could just as easily respond and say, when I say, "do this and you shall live,' or 'repent and be saved, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, do unto others as you would have them do unto you." We just want him to be a good little god and do what we say, but that's not God, that's an idol. 

…22And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.… Romans 3: 22-24

And your sins have hidden His face from you - If I never saw God's chastening hand then I would have much to despair over, but I wouldn't even know it. I sit here and pause a moment. I can see my chest rise and fall, and I know that every breath in is grace, I woke up in it this morning, that mercy that has not brought His hand down upon this fallen planet. We don't naturally see this, and the more self righteous, religious we are, the more we take it for granted, that He is holy, and we are born anything but. 

If our prayers are not answered, and the salvation we wait for is not wrought for us, it is not because God is weary of hearing prayer, but because we are weary of praying. See here sin in true colours, exceedingly sinful; and see sin in its consequences, exceedingly hurtful, separating from God, and so separating us, not only from all good, but to all evil. Yet numbers feed, to their own destruction, on infidel and wicked systems. - Matthew Henry

…7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.… 1 John 1: 7-9

Your hands are defiled with blood - They were murderers, whether directly or by who they sent or refused to hold accountable. It won't be some foreign invaders who saw Isaiah in half. When Christ comes, it will be His fellow countrymen who demand that Rome raise Him up to what they considered the greatest torcher and humiliation. 

…14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. 15Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer. 16By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.… 1 John 3: 14-16

Your lips have spoken lies - We don't see the great offense so we still think that it is not so great a void. I tell a "little lie" here, and oh that I wouldn't play it down, or comfort others in doing so, oh God that it would cause my heart to ache. My mouth betrays me, why should God ever turn His ear to me?

No one enters suit justly - They have one end goal in mind, not justice, for that may work against them, but rather at any means to have themselves declared just by men. This leaves very little or no justice for the poor, for they cannot afford to buy off officials, to intimidate juries, and often suits are decided contrary to the truth, so that liars prevail. They want something they haven't earned, but good luck convincing them that they did not deserve every penny. 

Motyer on empty words: “Isaiah is not describing but diagnosing. They may think they are acting sensibly but actually it is all nonsense.”

Their webs will not serve as clothing - They have woven so many threads, brought so many into their mischief that they cannot keep track of all the lies. What was the truth? I am not so sure anymore. Like vipers they only give birth to more vipers, and eventually they bite even those that thought they had an arrangement with them. In the end they will try to cover themselves like Adam and Eve did with fig leaves, but try to cover yourself with a spider's web, foolishness, for it can never cover the reason for your nakedness. Men will contrive and develop so many systems of their own perceived merit and righteousness, but it is in vain, for you need to be clothed in the righteousness of another.

…19By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” 20And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all the living.

21And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them. Genesis 3: 19-21

Their works are works of iniquity - All your righteousness is as filthy rags. Again, here we are, what men think is not at all what God would consider. There is no rotted corpse more soiled than a man's mind, no more putrid thing than the unregenerate heart. 

…12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” 13“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.” 14“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”…

…15“Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16ruin and misery lie in their wake, 17and the way of peace they have not known.”… Romans 3: 12-17

9-13. Therefore justice is far from us - We are not just, for all the afore mentioned reasons, and for these our cries for justice go unheard. It isn't even justice we really want, since we don't walk in truth, we just want our way and what we call just. If we would admit that we are not just, not righteous, not honest, then there would be hope for us. 

…12I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’ 13But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner! 14I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”… Luke 18: 12-14

13Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.14Nevertheless, because by this deed you have shown utter contempt for the word of the LORD, the son born to you will surely die.”… 2 Samuel 12: 13-14

We hope for light, and behold, darkness - You didn't really want justice, and you proved that by not being just. You have had the light of the law, the testimonies of the prophets, and they showed you to be unrighteous, but you persist in it, placing the blame on God, denying your sinfulness. You ask, and you do not receive, and still you think the blame lies with God. You lie, and you grow angry when you hear the truth. 

…11He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’… Matthew 13: 11-13

We stumble at noon day as at twilight - They were as blind men feeling their way through the dark. So set on their ways like those of Sodom, that they grope about for the door, refusing the light of nature, that the world was created, it bares the marks of design. God spoke and behold everything we see is filled with words, information, complex patterns. The pagan sees an act and calls it wrong, acknowledges evil, he finds certain ways detestable, wishes to live without fear, respected by others, but this is worse yet, for Isaiah's listeners have had the law and the prophets before them. Woe is me, I have seen the words of God. They turn and try to make their own way, build taller towers, add more rituals, get more praise from men, go on more quest, all with their own darkened reason. 

…18Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.… John 3: 18-20

14-15. He who departs from evil makes himself a prey - There is no justice, no righteousness, and truth has taken a beating in the public square. Truth no longer seems to prevail, and so she is thrown off for the most part, but those few who come back to her, who depart from evil, everyone's eyes grow hot against. The honest is like a flood light, his mouth is uttering truth, but for those who call good evil and evil good, that have left off and away from even normal logic and reason, he is a target. Where men have sought to make light on their own, imagine it, conjure it, the true light shining hurts their eyes, they recoil from it like vampires, hiding in the shadows, looking for opportunity to silence the ones who bring it. 

…17But Jesus answered them, “To this very day My Father is at His work, and I too am working.” 18 Because of this, the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him. Not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. 19So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does.… John 5: 17-19

6There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe. 8He himself was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.… John 1: 6-8

16-21. And wondered that there was no one to intercede - He saw that those who desired righteousness, who loved truth were being persecuted, and there was no man to intercede for them. There were some who wanted to be right with God, and like Job, were mocked, but Job realized even though he was not guilty of what his friends thought, he still needed a mediator between him and God.

…5For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave Himself as a ransom for all— the testimony that was given at just the right time. 7For this reason I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a faithful and true teacher of the Gentiles. I am telling the truth; I am not lying about anything.… 1 Timothy 2: 5-7

…13as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 14He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. 15Speak these things as you encourage and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.… Titus 2: 13-15

He put on righteousness as a breastplate - Paul draws on this to describe the weapons of our warfare, that we fight a spiritual battle which end is already determined.

…16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.… Ephesians 6: 16-18

For He will come like a rushing stream - These verses look forward to Christ's second coming, and thus the assurance of our faith, that God will judge, so stand strong, hold the line, protect the integrity of the gospel. God has said what will happen, and as surely as from all eternity, He spoke and the heavens and earth came into being, so sure is His salvation and judgment coming.