WWUTT 2154 Yahweh's Righteousness Upholds (Isaiah 59:1-21)

All throughout the Scriptures, we have reminders of our sin and our need for a Savior, whether you're reading in the Old Testament or the New Testament. And Yahweh has promised He will deliver that Savior, and no one will snatch us from His hand when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Recap of Isaiah and the Promise of Exile

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Isaiah, we're up to Chapter 59 this week. But before, starting with our opening reading, I want to recap what we've read thus far. Remember that Isaiah is prophesying 100 years before any of these things take place, or at least we're reading something that was written 100 years before Judah is going to be exiled into Babylonian captivity.

They've done wickedly. They've worshipped false gods. They've disobeyed God. And so God is getting fed up with them and is going to turn them over to judgment. But through Isaiah, He promises them that they won't be destroyed in their exile.

God means to bring them back to their land. And in fact, He even promises them a greater land than the one that they currently inhabit. That's an eschatological promise that won't come to fulfillment until much later.

Over the last several chapters, we've been reading about how God is going to save His people. Here in Chapter 59, they're going to be reminded of their sin once again. And some of the things that we read about here in 59 sound like things that were said back in Chapter 1.

So it's almost like it's being said, yes, you're going to be saved. Yes, God has these great promises for you, but don't forget who you are. Don't forget what you've done and what you must be delivered from in order to receive what God is promising.

So let's look at Isaiah 59. I'm going to start by reading verses 1 through 8 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. No one calls in righteousness and no one seeks justice in truth.

They trust in confusion and speak worthlessness. They conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness. They break open vipers' eggs and weave the spiders' web. He who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed, a snake breaks forth.

Their webs will not become a garment, nor will they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of wickedness, and a deed of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they are quick to shed innocent blood.

Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness. Devastation and destruction are in their highways. They do not know the way of peace, and there is no justice in their tracks. They have made their paths crooked.

Whoever treads on them does not know peace. Now let me read the last line of chapter 59, which we will be getting to. As for me, my covenant is with them, says Yahweh. My spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed's seed, says Yahweh, from now and forever.

What is God promising there? Well, we'll see as we go on here through chapter 59. So let me come back to verse 1. There was some language in here that sounded familiar, didn't it? Where else have you heard this?

So in 59 .1, God says, Behold, the hand of Yahweh is not so short that it cannot save, nor is his ear so dull that it cannot hear. Now remember that for those who keep God's commands, this was said at the end of chapter 58, God will deliver them.

You will ride on the heights of the earth, as was said in 58 .14. You will take delight in Yahweh. So this is being said to people who are in exile. At the time this is being prophesied, they're still living in their land.

But of course, it's being said to them that they're going to be exiled. And while they're in captivity, they can come back to those prophecies of Isaiah, realize that they had been warned, but they ignored God, and be able to come back to these promises that God will deliver.

So there's a reminder right here at the start of 59. The hand of Yahweh is not so short that it cannot save, nor is his ear so dull that it cannot hear. So in other words, be convicted in your heart, call out to God for forgiveness, and he will reach out and save you.

Don't think in your situation that you are— that the situation is hopeless and you're going to perish here. That since I'm so far away from my land, I'm now in Babylonia. Later on, they're going to go to the hands of the Medes and the Persians.

We're so far from God, how can he possibly hear me? His arm is long enough to save. His ear will hear when you call out to him. That's something that's going to come back up at the end of this chapter.

Sin Separates Us from God

So verse 2, here's the reminder of their sin. 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. Now, first of all, in verse 2, the first line of verse 2, your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.

That's all of our sin. And whenever we are in sin, we're separated from God. Even as a believer, though you have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within you, if you end up in a place where you are chasing after a certain sin, a desire of the flesh, temptation of the world, whatever it might happen to be, maybe you're just angry and bitter and you just cling on to grudges.

Those things will cause a separation between you and God. It doesn't mean that you have fallen out of his favor, that he's lost his grip on you and you've fallen out of his hand. We talked about that earlier this week as we went through the parable of the sower in Mark 4.

God still has you. Satan has not stolen you away. But there is a separation between you and God because God is holy and you are not. And as long as you're going after sin, you're going in the opposite direction from God.

So even for us as believers, sin can cause a separation between us and God. Now, certainly for unbelievers, those who don't even know the Lord Christ, sin separates them from God. That's been the consequence, the result ever since the Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve sinned. They ate the fruit that they were not supposed to eat. God cast them out of paradise, cast them out of the garden, so that they were further away from God. This is the consequences of sin, that God is harder for us to see, and we are unworthy to be in his presence.

Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Now, it's interesting the way that that's worded. Your sins have hidden his face from you. You can't see God because you are too indulgent in your sin so that he does not hear.

Now, that line doesn't mean that God is somewhere so far away that God is somehow limited in his capacity to hear somebody when they cry out. That's not what that means. Based on what is said here, a person's sin is even preventing them from crying out to God so that God does not hear.

It's really a way to say that your heart is not even going after God right now. He does not hear a call that you are not making. That's essentially the statement that's being said. So then verse 3,. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity.

Your lips have spoken a lie. Your tongue mutters unrighteousness. Now, some of this we saw at the very beginning of Isaiah. Isaiah 1, verse 15,. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you.

Indeed, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. So there is a people that are calling out. They're going through all their religious practices, but God does not hear them because it's all being done in vain.

It's all hypocritical. They're not actually seeking holiness. They're full of themselves. And so being full of themselves, God is not going to have fellowship with that kind of wicked and unrepentant behavior.

So the reminder comes again in Isaiah 59 that your hands have been defiled with blood and your tongues mutter unrighteousness. Verse 4,. No one calls in righteousness and no one seeks justice in truth.

They trust in confusion and speak worthlessness. They conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness. They break open viper's eggs and weave the spider's web. And he who eats of their eggs dies. And from that which is crushed, a snake breaks forth.

Paul Uses Isaiah 59 in Romans 3

Now, some of the language here is beginning to sound like Romans 3, doesn't it? That's what Paul is citing in Romans 3. Often it's thought of like where we read in Romans 3, 10,. There is none righteous, not even one.

There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks for God. When we read those statements, we think, oh, well, that's Psalm 14 or Psalm 53. And that's true. But Paul is not just referencing Psalms there.

He's also referencing Isaiah 59. So as we continue on, verse 6,. Their webs will not become a garment, nor will they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of wickedness and a deed of violence is in their hands.

Their feet run to evil. They are quick to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness. Devastation and destruction are in their highways. Go back to Romans 3. All have turned aside.

Together they have become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed innocent blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths. And the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. So the last statement here in Isaiah 59, Their feet run to evil.

They're quick to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness. Devastation and destruction are in their highways. All very familiar, right? It is what Paul is citing in Romans 3. And when Paul cites it in Romans 3, He means for us to see that this is descriptive of all people.

Yes, in the immediate context, In what we read in Isaiah 59, This is talking about Judah and the way that they have dealt. But Judah is acting in accordance with their human nature. What makes what they're doing so egregious, And even worse than the way that the other nations around them act, Is because Judah had the law of God, And yet they did not obey it.

All the rest of those nations did not have God's law. So they're acting in accordance with the way a natural man acts. Judah is going back to their natural tendencies. The natural wickedness that is in their flesh.

They do not know the way of peace. Verse 8, There is no justice in their tracks. They have made their paths crooked. Whoever treads on them does not know peace. So just as this could be said of Judah, So it could be said of any man.

Romans 3 23, All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So there are several passages from the Old Testament That highlight the wickedness of mankind That Paul uses in Romans 3 to show. This was describing Judah, And in fact it applies to every single person.

Because from Romans 1 18 to chapter 3 verse 20, Paul means to bring all men into condemnation. To recognize whether you're Jew or Gentile, All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. But the promise of salvation and deliverance is coming.

The Prayer of Confession and God's Response

Let's pick up verse 9,. Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us. We hope for light, but behold darkness. For brightness, but we walk in thick darkness. We grope along the wall like blind men.

We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight. Among those who are vigorous, we are like dead men. All of us growl like bears and moan sadly like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none.

For salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before you, And our sins answer against us. For our transgressions are with us and we know our iniquities. Transgressing and denying Yahweh,.

And turning back from our God,. Speaking oppression and revolt,. Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words. Justice is turned back and righteousness stands far away. For truth is stumbled in the street and righteousness cannot enter.

So it is that truth is missing, And he who turns aside from evil makes himself plunder. Now that's the middle of verse 15. We'll stop there a moment. So this is a person coming into an understanding of their wickedness.

It is as if the prayer has been written here for Judah to recognize their evil and their rebellion against God so that they would be convicted of heart and they would call upon Yahweh to save. We grope along the wall like blind men.

We are like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight. Our sins answer against us. Our transgressions are with us. And we even have a list of exactly what they're guilty of. We know our iniquities.

Transgressing and denying Yahweh, turning back from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words. So now if this becomes the prayer of Judah, if they recognize their sin and they come before God, will he hear?

Here's the second part of verse 15. Then Yahweh saw, and it was evil in his eyes that there was no justice. And he saw that there was no man and was astonished that there was no one to intercede. Then his own arm brought salvation to him, and his righteousness upheld him.

Remember going back to verse 1, God's arm is not so short that he cannot save. So here is the promise. His own arm is going to bring salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. Verse 17, this is going to sound familiar to you.

He put on righteousness like a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. And he put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself with zeal as a mantle. This is God putting on his armor.

Okay, now we're going to come back to that. Hold on to that thought. Verse 18, according to what they deserve, so he will pay in full wrath to his adversaries what is deserved to his enemies. To the coastlands he will pay what they deserve, so they will fear the name of Yahweh from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun, for he will come like a rushing stream which the wind of Yahweh makes flee.

A redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob declares Yahweh. Who is that describing? Of course, that is describing Jesus who is going to come and save his people. And not just his people, not just Judah, not just Jacob, but anyone who would come to the Lord.

All who put their faith in Jesus are his people, may be called Judah, may be called Jacob, may be called Israel. Christ will come in righteousness, destroying his enemies and saving his own. Now, the Lord's armor is described there in verse 17.

He put on righteousness like a breastplate, a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself with zeal as a mantle. Now, those two pieces of armor there, particularly the breastplate and the helmet, that's exactly the way that we see that armor described in Ephesians 6.

When the apostle Paul talks about putting on the full armor of God, he's not using Roman armor as a metaphor. He's actually citing things that had already been said in Scripture. He's thinking of the armor of God in Isaiah 59.

So when the commandment is given to us to put on the full armor of God, it's essentially being said, put on God's armor. If we are in Christ, we're clothed in his righteousness, right? So when you put on the breastplate of righteousness, you are wearing the righteousness that Christ himself is clothed in.

For God to hear the cries of a people who have done wickedly and rebelled against God and desire salvation, for God to hear them and deliver, they need to be clothed in his righteousness. And this is what God does for each and every one of us.

We have sinned against God. We need to be saved. And God will save, not only forgiving us of our sins, but clothing us in his righteousness so that we may have communion with God. And being clothed in the righteousness of Christ is saving us, because only those who are righteous are the ones that God will save.

Those who are wicked, God will destroy. So it's not just that God overlooks sin and goes, okay, fine, I won't destroy you. No, he saves us in that he clothes us in righteousness so that we are made holy to stand in his presence.

Otherwise, we could not dwell with God. And so part of that salvation means we are clothed in the righteousness that Christ himself wears. And so now we read this final line, verse 21. As for me, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh, my spirit which is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed's seed, says Yahweh, from now and forever.

The Armor of God and the Covenant of the Spirit

As we've been reading the parable of the sower in Mark chapter 4 this week, we had considered how what Jesus was talking about there in the parable, not just parable of the sower, but we also call it the parable of the soils.

What he shows there is that those who are truly in the Lord will always be in the Lord. Those who fall away, like the seed that fell in the rocks or the seed that fell in the thorns, they may have shown themselves to be a follower of Jesus for a time, but it turns out they were false converts.

It wasn't real. They were not actually saved. The eternal life that they thought they had, they didn't really have, because if it's eternal, how could you lose it? They were not genuinely followers of God in the first place.

They just had a passing opinion for a while. But here we have this promise and this assurance that's given to us in Isaiah 59, 21. My words, which I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed's seed.

And this isn't necessarily a promise of like an ethnic generation. It's the promise of those that we share the gospel with and become saved, they likewise will be filled with the word of God and it will not be taken from them.

There will be generations upon generations of people who come to know the Lord, and it will be through the preaching of the gospel from now and forever, says Yahweh. This is a promise of assurance. If God is the one who put his word in you, it won't ever depart from you.

You have come to salvation because you heard that word. You heard of your sin, you heard of Christ and your need for him, and you put your faith in Jesus. If you know that word, you will have that word.

It is sown in your heart. You are permanently his, and no one will snatch you out of his hand. Heavenly Father, as we have read here in Isaiah 59, reminders of our sin and our wickedness and what we deserve for our sin is judgment and wrath.

We likewise, like Judah who is being described here, our transgressions have been multiplied before you. We turned back from God. We spoke oppression and revolt. Our lips were full of lies, bitterness, and cursing.

And yet you have put your word in our hearts so that now what comes from our mouths are words that are honoring of you, that give praise to you, the worship that only you are worthy of. And I pray that as these words have been sown into our hearts, that they grow, they produce a harvest, as we've read about in Mark 4, that we grow in maturity and even in boldness, that we may share the gospel in these days so that there are others, our spiritual seed, who will come to faith in Jesus Christ because of the gospel that they heard proclaimed from us.

Forgive us our sins and our transgressions, and may we live in the righteousness of Christ that we have been clothed in. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast, or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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