Isaiah 59 "The Coming of the LORD"
Isaiah 56-59 is structured around the theme of the eschatological Sabbath,
and how our Sabbath-keeping provides a foretaste of that heavenly rest.
It consists of eight words from God.
Six in chapters 56-57 that explain the problem of Israel's Sabbath-breaking,
and the seventh in chapter 58 that promises God's blessing
"if" you (singular) call the Sabbath a delight.
Now the eighth word explains that there is no man who can do this.
Only God can bring that eschatological blessing
through the Redeemer that will come to Zion.
Isaiah structures this entire chapter through the use of pronouns.
(In Hebrew this is accomplished by switching verb endings rather than pronouns)
There are five different voices that speak in this eighth word from the LORD.
First, the prophet speaks to accuse "you" (plural) of your sin (59:1-3),
speaking directly to the people of Israel.
Second, Isaiah convicts "them" of sin, turning to the third person (59:4-8)
Third, Isaiah uses the first person plural,
identifying himself with the people of God,
confessing "our" sin (9-13).
Fourth, Isaiah speaks of what God will do, using the third person singular:
"he" will bring salvation. (15-20).
And finally, God himself speaks in the first person singular,
declaring that "I" will do it. (21)
1. accusation of "your" sin (1-3)
the people have fasted, and sought God's face,
but their sins separate them from God, so that he does not hear.
It is not a problem of ability.
God is able to hear them just fine.
But he does not hear them because they refuse to obey him.
What are these sins?
"Your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness."
There are two problems:
lack of justice
and lack of truth
Indeed, these two problems are intimately bound up together,
because truth is not being proclaimed in the courts.
There is a legal problem in Israel,
and it is not merely one of corrupt judges.
The corruption reaches to every part of Israel.
2. Turning to the third person plural, Isaiah then produces evidence of "their" sin (4-8)
As Isaiah looks at the courts of Israel,
the focus is not the judges, but the people.
Everyone seeks his own, regardless of justice.
They rely on "empty pleas."
We've encountered this word empty before: it is "tohu"
just like the world in Genesis 1:2 was tohu vbohu (empty and barren)
so also their voice is empty-their pleas carry no weight,
because they are devoid of truth and of justice.
They speak lies.
(Note the word "lies" in verse 4 is different from verse three-
broader sense of unreliability/disregard for truth)
Verses 5-6 then compare this utter disregard for truth to snakes and spiders.
They are weaving spiders' webs--
attempting to ensnare the innocent in their schemes
They hatch adders' eggs-poisonous snakes that bring suffering and death.
But their webs cannot cover their evil deeds.
They are naked before the eye of the LORD-
and he declares their works "works of iniquity"
"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."
Even after the Exile, Israel still has not learned.
They will return to the ways of their fathers.
Israel still will not enter God's rest.
"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."
3. Verses 9-13 then contain the confession of "our" sin (1st person singular)
Isaiah recognizes that although he is not personally guilty of the sins of verses 4-8,
he is a part of this covenant community.
It is not as though some of Israel has been faithful, and the rest has failed.
Sin and corruption has affected everyone.
And Isaiah includes himself in this condition.
"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.
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."
We are dead in our trespasses and sins.
We were supposed to live as God's covenant people,
but instead "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.
Why?
Why is justice nowhere to be found?
Why is salvation far away?
Because our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities.
Israel's sin is twofold:
and whereas verses 4-8 emphasized sins against justice,
now verses 12-13 emphasize sins against truth:
transgressing and denying Yahweh,
and turning back from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
And so Isaiah summarizes this twofold problem in verses 14-15 (read).
The problem with Israel is that they lack justice and truth.
this was stated in verse 3 (the summary of part 1)
and echoed in verse 8 (lack of justice)
and verse 13 (lack of truth).
But it would be misleading to say that these are two problems.
It is a twofold problem.
Justice and truth cannot be divorced from each other.
Think about it.
How can you have justice without truth?
(And the idea of "emet" in Hebrew includes fidelity)
Those who are not faithful are not "true" to their word.
And what is truth without justice?
If you get all your theological ducks in a row,
but you are not true to those beliefs,
then you are a hypocrite!
The reason why justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off,
is because truth has stumbled in the public squares.
If Israel is not true to their God,
then there is no righteousness.
4. The solution: only "He" can save.
Verses 15b-20 then use the third person singular to declare:
(Read verses 15b-16)
As Psalm 89:14 declares, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness (or truth) go before you."
Psalm 85:10-11 adds, "Steadfast love and faithfulness (truth) will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness (truth) will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky."
When will these things be?
When God restores his people and brings salvation to those who fear him!
Isaiah, drawing on the connection between tsedeq and emet (righteousness and truth/faithfulness)
in the Psalms, now declares the coming of that eschatological salvation.
(Read 17-20).
This passage is one of the most emphatic statements of the deity of Christ.
Isaiah makes it clear at the beginning of the passage that no man can bring justice.
No man can bring salvation.
Only God's own arm can bring salvation.
The glory of the Redeemer is none other than the glory of Yahweh (verse 19).
And yet verse 21 shows that the Redeemer is plainly also a man (as we will see).
Paul cites Isaiah 59 three times.
Verse 7 is quoted in Paul's litany in Romans 3, regarding those who do evil.
What Isaiah spoke of regarding Israel,
Paul applies to all peoples.
This is appropriate.
After all, Isaiah has been saying over and over again
that Israel is no better than the nations.
Israel was supposed to be the "man" who would intercede for the nations.
But Israel has failed.
Israel is just like the nations-they are swift to shed innocent blood.
Paul then cites verse 20 in Romans 11:26-27.
(Read)
Paul says that Israel's disobedience
is the occasion for the salvation of the Gentiles (verse 30-31).
And yet through the coming of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ,
mercy has come to the Jews as well.
But the most interesting use of Isaiah 59 is in Ephesians 6,
the passage following the one we looked at this morning.
Paul uses the language of verse 17 to describe the armor of God.
"Take up the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand firm.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth,
and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
and as shoes for your feet,
having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith,
with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
and take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
At least two of these pieces of armor,
the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation,
come from Isaiah 59.
But in Isaiah 59, this armor is the armor of God,
when his own arm brings salvation.
What is Paul saying?
When Paul calls it "the armor of God,"
he is not merely saying that it is the armor that God provides.
It is the armor that God himself wore,
when he came in Jesus the Messiah.
In Isaiah 59 this is armor that only God can wear.
Isaiah has systematically excluded the whole human race.
Israel is certainly not worthy of the breastplate of righteousness.
"We hope for justice, but there is none."
No helmet of salvation crowns the people of God:
"We hope for salvation, but it is far from us."
No, the armor of God cannot adorn the fallen sons of Israel.
Only God can save.
Then how can Paul command you to put this armor on?
Because our Lord Jesus Christ has united you to himself.
You can only put this armor on, by putting on Christ.
But as you are united to him, this armor becomes yours as well.
Jesus became all that we are by nature,
so that we might become all that he is by grace.
The Redeemer has come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.
5. Because this is "My" covenant (21)
"I" promise that I will do it.
Isaiah turns to the first person singular,
as God declares his covenant:
"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 forever."
And yes, this is addresses to you singular.
My covenant with "them" (plural)
is that the Spirit that is upon "you" (masculine singular)
will remain upon them.
God is the one who must come and save his people,
the Redeemer must be a divine person,
and when this Redeemer comes to Zion,
then the Spirit of God will be poured out upon his offspring.
The importance of the 2nd person masculine singular (you) in 59:21
is amplified when you look at the "you" in chapter 60.
The "you" in chapter 60 is 2nd person feminine singular.
And the feminine singular throughout Isaiah is regularly Zion.
The singular Redeemer, the divine person who brings salvation to Zion,
this one shall be the one who brings the words of God and the Spirit of God
to his offspring.
Because Jesus has brought righteousness,
therefore he has also brought truth.
If verses 15-20 emphasize the righteousness of God in redemption,
verse 21 emphasizes the life of truth that flows from that.
The words of God will remain in the mouth of the Redeemer,
and of his offspring,
and of his children's offspring.
And this covenant will endure from this time forth and forevermore.
All that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
will be fulfilled in this Redeemer.
God will be our God and the God of our children,
because he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God promises that his words will remain in our mouths,
and in the mouths of our children.
As Paul says, "take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
as you sing to one another psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Brothers and sisters,
the day has finally come, when the word of God does not merely
bounce off the hardened ears of a wicked people.
God has created a people with hearts of flesh,
those who now have eyes to see what God is doing,
and ears to hear what God is saying!
And he has given to you his Word and Spirit so that you might live as his people.
Do not neglect this gift,
but devote yourselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and to prayers.
As God's elect, holy and beloved,
put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.
Put on the armor of God-be who you are in Christ!