FRAMEWORKS:
Isaiah 59: Sin,
confession and redemption
v.1,2
Your sins have pushed God away
v.3-15
The sins spelled out
v.16-20
The actions God will take
v.21
Final affirmation for the prophet
[Preliminary
notes: This chapter continues to catalogue the sins
of the nation. God has been distanced [v.1,2] but their sins are
obvious [v.3-15] and for this the Lord warns He is about to rise
up against them [v.16-20] bringing hope only to those who will
repent [v.20]. The chapter ends with a word of encouragement for
the prophet himself [v.21] that may, perhaps, be also applied
to those who repent and heed the Lord's warnings.]
v.1,2
Your sins have pushed God away
v.1
God CAN be there for you…
v.1
Surely
the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
v.2
… BUT your sins have shut Him off from you
v.2
But
your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
v.3-15
The sins spelled out
v.3
Those sins are obvious
v.3
For
[i] your
hands are stained with blood,
[ii] your
fingers with guilt.
[iii] Your lips have spoken
falsely,
and [iv] your
tongue mutters wicked things.
v.4
[v] No one calls for justice;
[vi] no
one pleads a case with integrity.
They [viii] rely on empty
arguments, they utter lies;
they [ix] conceive
trouble and give birth to evil.
v.5
They create poison and flimsy assurances that only harm the people
v.5
They
hatch the eggs of vipers
and spin a spider's web.
Whoever eats their eggs will die,
and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.
v.6
They use their flimsy assurances to make themselves look good,
but they're evil
v.6
Their
cobwebs are useless for clothing;
they cannot cover themselves with what
they make.
Their deeds are evil deeds,
and acts of violence are in their hands.
v.7
They constantly look to do wrong and cause harm to others
v.7
Their
feet rush into sin;
they are swift to shed innocent blood.
They pursue evil schemes;
acts of violence mark their ways.
v.8
Peace & justice are absent from their distorted ways
v.8
The
way of peace they do not know;
there is no justice in their paths.
They have turned them into crooked roads;
no one who walks along them will know
peace.
v.9
Instead of justice and righteousness there is only darkness
v.9
So
justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
v.10
So it's like everyone is blind, weak, spiritually dead
v.10
Like
the blind we grope along the wall,
feeling our way like people without eyes.
At midday we stumble as if it were twilight;
among the strong, we are like the dead.
v.11
They make noises but no good comes
v.11
We
all growl like bears;
we moan mournfully like doves.
We look for justice, but find none;
for deliverance, but it is far away.
v.12-15
He sees all their wrongs
v.12
For
[i] our
offences are many in your sight,
and [ii] our
sins testify against us.
[iii] Our offences are ever
with us,
and we acknowledge our [iv] iniquities:
v.13
[v] rebellion
and treachery against the Lord,
[vi] turning
our backs on our God,
[vii] inciting revolt and
oppression,
[viii] uttering
lies our hearts have conceived.
v.14
So
[ix] justice
is driven back,
and [x] righteousness
stands at a distance;
[xi] truth has stumbled in
the streets,
[xii] honesty
cannot enter.
v.15
[xiii] Truth
is nowhere to be found,
and [xiv] whoever
shuns evil becomes a prey.
The
Lord looked and was displeased
that [xv]
there was no justice.
v.16-20
The actions God will take
v.16
God was shocked that there was no one to stand against all this…
v.16
He
saw that there was no one,
he was appalled that there was no one
to intervene;
so his own arm achieved salvation for him,
and his own righteousness sustained him.
v.17
…so He Himself gets ready to wage war…
v.17
He
put on righteousness as his breastplate,
and the helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on the garments of vengeance
and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
v.18
…so He will pay back those sinners
v.18
According
to what they have done,
so will he repay
wrath to his enemies
and retribution to his foes;
he will repay the islands their due.
v.19
The world will see and stand in awe…
v.19
From
the west, people will fear the name of the Lord,
and from the rising of the sun, they will
revere his glory.
For he will come like a pent-up flood
that the breath of the Lord drives along.
v.20
…but He will come as a Redeemer for those who will repent
v.20
‘The
Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who repent of their
sins,'
declares the Lord.
v.21
Final affirmation for the prophet
v.21
‘As
for me, this is my covenant with them,' says the Lord. ‘My Spirit,
who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have
put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of
your children and on the lips of their descendants – from
this time on and for ever,' says the Lord.