Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 132nd episode. In this episode I want to return to our study of the book of Isaiah. We are in chapter 59. This chapter shows us the evil nature of human sin, as well its ramifications on the broader society. It also shows us the abundant nature of God’s grace, as well its manifestion in Jesus Christ. The people in Israel were responsible for cutting off God’s favor towards them. Here Isaiah works to specify and bring attention to their particular sins. Not only was Israel responsible for blocking God’s favor, but it was also their fault that God brought judgments down upon them. Isaiah outlines which judgments they brought down upon themselves as well as which sins provoked those judgments. It’s almost like they were standing in a court room having each of their crimes described to them – and then hearing the just punishments. But at the end of this chapter God promises that, despite their wickedness, out of His own abundant grace He would work to deliver them.
This is an important chapter because it gives us a blunt look at human nature. There’s nothing pretty about it and Isaiah doesn’t hold back. We get to see that our individual sins have a direct impact on the health of society as a whole. The same thing applies in any organization. A church will be corrupt if its members are corrupt. A business will collapse if the individuals who work there are incompetent. A nation will implode if too many citizens abandon wisdom for panic and aggression. Isaiah shows us when it comes to producing functional systems the proper level of analysis is the individual. Your life and your destiny are shaped by you. This means you have great responsibility. Responsibility that would crush you if you had no Savior. But it also means you have great power. The fate of the entire nation depends on your own moral choices. There is no system of governance which can repair the damage caused by a corrupt population. But there are no limits to the potential of a nation whose individuals walk in the light of God. Let’s begin with verses 1-8:
Isa 59:1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
Isa 59:2 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.
Isa 59:3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.
Isa 59:4 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.
Isa 59:5 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.
Isa 59:6 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.
Isa 59:7 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.
Isa 59:8 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.
Israel was upset with God because they had been fasting and praying for His deliverance – yet He never showed up. Isaiah stood before them and reminded them none of this was God’s fault. If they wanted to know why their prayers went unheard, they need only look to themselves. God’s power to save them was as omnipotent as ever. They had no reason to believe His arm had been shortened or made less effective. God is all-powerful whether we believe He is or not. His power doesn’t depend on our acknowledgement of it. If you think you’ve been flung too far into sin for God to reach you, you’re just confused in your own head. All space is completely saturated with God’s sovereignty. There is no escaping His power anywhere. There is no amount of time that stretches beyond God’s presence. There is no enemy whose strength can exist with God. Even the shortcomings of His chosen instruments can do nothing to weaken His power. If it is His will, God can choose an imbecile and make him do the work of Einstein.
In addition to His power, God was as ready as ever to listen to Israel. His capacity to hear their prayers hadn’t been reduced in the slightest. God hears billions of prayers everyday and has been doing so since time immemorial. It’s not possible for us to overburden Him with our petitions. Even at this moment the prayers of the upright are a delight to God. The same applied to Israel, but the problem was so many of them were no longer upright. God is so fast to listen to the upright that He often answers their queries before they even ask Him. When you think about prayer, it’s important to remember that not all prayers are answered the way we want them to be. If we pray for something outside the will of God we can be sure we won’t get it. If it feels like your prayers are never answered you need to ask yourself if you’re even willing to hear God’s answer. Scripture tells us that God’s ear is always ready and willing to listen when we speak to Him, but can we say the same for ourselves? Are we ready and willing to listen when God gives us an answer? When you give up on prayer and determine that it’s a lost cause, it’s never the case that God is weary of hearing your prayers. The truth is you’ve grown weary of praying.
Israel blocked out their own light and locked their own door. God was moving toward them in acts of mercy but they turned Him away. The obvious damage that sin does to your life is not the most haunting aspect of it. The most haunting aspect of sin is the amount of good things it causes you to never have. Even before you were born God’s had a lineup of blessings for you – but your own sin can and will prevent them from ever materializing. The fallen athlete is a good example here. You all know someone blessed with the natural talent to do great things, yet their moral choices derail their life and they become the best that never was. Sin is like a partition wall that creates a barrier between ourselves and God. There was already infinite distance between humanity and God by nature. But God’s grace provided correspondence with humanity despite this natural distance. Then sin entered the world, disrupting this correspondence and creating a barrier between humanity and God. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ restored the divide and those who have faith are given means to redemption.
Original sin disrupted our correspondence with God and today sin has the same effect. Sin provokes God to anger. Sin makes it appear as if God has withdrawn His gracious presence, withheld His divine blessings, and in some cases even refused our deliverance. But the wicked deception inherent to sin is how it lures the allegiance of the creature away from the Creator. It’s not as if God can’t love us or can’t reach us in our sins. Indeed, Christ loved us so much that He gave His life for us while we were yet sinners. But sin actually orients us away from God. Sin bends us and warps us until we no longer desire to be in the presence of God. Sin is exceedingly hurtful because it separates us from all that is good until we are left with nothing but evil. In Israel’s case their prayers weren’t being heard because they indulged themselves in sin. If they indulged themselves in sin, their spiritual gaze was shifted away from God and onto something else. So effectively their prayers were going into empty space because their sinful hearts were no longer set on God. It would be the same as if an idolater prayed to a block of wood and then was shocked when the wood failed to answer.
In many cases God doesn’t allow a person to descend into sin without convicting their conscience of it. It’s what He did with Cain and it’s what He did here with Israel. Isaiah was given the responsibility of drawing up Israel’s indictment and revealing their sins. His job was to show them how gravely they had gone wrong. Any one of these particular sins was enough to drive a wedge between themselves and God – yet they had a whole list to go through. Naturally he began with their thoughts. Your thoughts are the birthplace of sin. The thoughts and imaginations of Israel had become consistently evil. Their designs were based on these thoughts and so engineered toward mischief and the gratification of base lusts. Sin in conceived in thoughts. It is matured when these thoughts are turned into purposes. There’s a gap between thoughts and purposes that normally involves conversation. You can think of the conversation between Eve and the serpent, for example. That’s why if you surround yourself with sinful people it becomes really easy to do sinful things. Inversely, if you surround yourself with godly people it becomes easier to remain godly. Never underestimate the importance of conversation. When we lose our conception of absolute truth is becomes impossible for us to have a conversation.
Here’s just one way that conversations turn sinful thoughts into sinful purposes. Imagine you conceive a sin in your thoughts. When you make contact with this sinful thought you generally experience two conditions: temptation and guilt. Guilt is your conscience trying to resist temptation. It’s a red flag that what you’re about to do grieves the Holy Spirit. But if you surround yourself with ten other people who are experiencing the same sinful thought, a conversation emerges. The conversation can go one of two ways. You can support each other in the validity of absolute truth thereby acknowledging the wrongful nature of the sin. Collectively you can agree that the sin misses the mark of the absolute truth. Or you can ask if the truth is really absolute. Did God really say that? If the group agrees the truth cannot be known, the guilt in your conscience regarding the sinful thought is gone. With no more guilt to slow you down, the group and yourself begin scheming ways to execute the sin. One of my main interests in ministry is to have conversations about the things of God. Often people wonder what the end goal is when I say that. But the conversation itself is the end goal. The more you have the godly conversation, the less you will have the sinful conversation. Having no conversation at all is not one of our options. We will progress in one direction or another.
Sometimes sinful actions are brought to life in great pain. But once the conversations are had and the evil purposes are designed, the sinner looks upon the sin with great pride and pleasure. Temptation is conceived in thoughts. Thoughts give birth to sin. When sin is fully grown it brings forth death. By God’s providence each of us is given the capacity to reason with a rational mind. Wicked people employ this power to bring about death and destruction. That’s why Isaiah said they hatch adders’ eggs and weave spider’s webs. The spider’s web illustration is meant to show how at best the machinations of worldly people are vain wastes of time. People who are wrapped up in idols go to great pains to build a temporary castle founded in mid-air. They belabor themselves for imaginary satisfaction that is swept away like a spider’s web in the first tempest that passes through their lives.
Unfortunately, a mundane waste of time is just the best case scenario for unrepentant sinners. All too often they breed something far darker. Isaiah used the illustration of adders’ eggs to show the horrific toxicity of wicked people. Their thoughts delight in mischief and their hearts boil with resentment. They promise themselves a fruitful return when the eggs hatch, but what they really get is a deadly viper that wheels around and kills them. In both cases it is your joy to stay away from such people. Stay away from those who waste their life because you might become the fly that gets caught in their web. Stay away from those who hatch the adder because it might turn and come after you once it’s finished with them. Sin destroys the sinner and tragically it goes off like a grenade causing damage to all around it.
The unrepentant sinners in Israel had hearts that were overflowing with wickedness. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. An evil person can only say evil things, and when an evil person says good things it is often a lie told to serve their destructive purpose. The sinners in Israel were quite capable of speaking godly language, but their motivations were amiss. They had no qualms about slandering others and making false accusations. It was common practice for them to undermine witnesses against them by stealing their estates and livelihoods. When they were too ashamed to say aloud what was really in their hearts against their neighbors they would say it secretly. Gossip and slanderous rumors were prevalent.
For the unrepentant sinners in Israel, their thoughts, words, and actions cohered seamlessly into some sort of unholy trinity. With their own hands they shed innocent blood. They committed crimes so heinous that they were left with an indelible stain that only the blood of Christ could cleanse. And it’s not like they did these things out of a survival instinct or as a consequence of war. They didn’t need to be pressured to immerse themselves in these evil actions – they ran towards wickedness as if they were eager and excited. Fueled by their impetus of malice and revenge, they treated evil as a fleeting opportunity they were afraid of missing out on. Wasting and destruction followed them everywhere they went. They paid no regard for the havoc they wrought on life around them. People possessed by evil are bloodthirsty murders. Often the only thing stopping them from murder is cowardice – not moral courage.
The sinners in Israel were like this but they were also con artists. They sought to scam people out of their estates and steal anything they could. They trusted in their ability to manipulate and deceive people – never realizing it was all vanity and they were simply deceiving themselves. Their entire lives had been structured around violence and sin. Many people who have toured Auschwitz talk about it like industrialized death. It was a place engineered with the specific intent of torturing and killing. A death factory. Unrepentant sinners build their lives into factories of iniquity. They bend their words, minds, and hearts on sin as if trying to create a business around it. A business built for a continued course of oppression and vexation. They became artists of violence and pain.
On top of the wickedness the unrepentant sinners built in their lives, none of them took any methods to redress the grievances or reform the abuses. None of them spoke up or complained about the violation of God’s sacred laws. They cared nothing for people who suffered injustice and took no steps to make things right for them. They wholly opposed laws against vice, profaneness, and lewd practices. Justice failed in Israel because the magistrates were too corrupt to administer it and the people were too wicked to care. It’s true that all human systems will be corrupted at some level. But it’s our civic duty to call out secret oppression when we see it and give leaders an opportunity to administer justice. Things really start to go wrong for a nation when its leaders make bad decisions and the people embrace them for it. If enough individuals sell out the truth in exchange for a prosperous lie, the entire nation is on track to pit themselves in opposition to God Himself. This is a society where every citizen puts his or her own interests over the public good. They are willfully ignorant to the institutions designed to keep the peace and administer justice between neighbors. In fact, the only time they regard these institutions at all is to tear them down or dishonestly leverage them in order to arrive at their own self-interest.
The irony is, in all these practices human beings ultimately act against their own self-interest. But it’s not them simply undermining themselves. It’s also an assault on reason and equality. If you invest your faith in vanity then vanity is what you will end up with. If your confidence is in your lies and manipulations then lies are what you will drown in. The castles of iniquity they build with so much attention and industry will provide them nothing in the way of safety or shelter. Sinful actions do real damage and cause real pain to others, but they can never bring any real kindness or service to yourself. Sin is always a destructive net-negative. There is nothing to be found in it but loss. The road you walk down to get away from God is crooked and will only ever confuse you. There’s no end to that journey and there is no succor in it. There is no peace for those who take heart in sin – nothing but self-deception. Let’s read verses 9-15:
Isa 59:9 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.
Isa 59:10 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.
Isa 59:11 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.
Isa 59:12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:
Isa 59:13 transgressing, and denying the LORD, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
Isa 59:14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.
Isa 59:15 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.
In this passage we see that some of the people in Israel were willing to acknowledge the sins Isaiah outlined for them. To this extent, Isaiah was successful in his objective to convict the sinners and bring them to a state of humility. They can see Isaiah’s point about the pernicious nature of sin. They’ve acknowledged that sin keeps good things from them and brings evil things upon them. Their hardened hearts appear to be at least partially humbled by the convictions and willing to accept that God’s judgments against them are true. The people were brought to confess the reason God walked contrary to them was because they walked contrary to God.
This partial humility began with a basic acknowledgement that God was moving against them. Their situation had deteriorated significantly. Their enemies were too strong for them and they faced oppression at the hands of foreign invaders. Since truth and fairness had left their society, the people were dealt with unjustly and ruled over harshly. At first they were angry with God because He didn’t answer their prayers for deliverance. Now they were finally asking themselves if maybe they did something wrong. I mean it was obvious their persecutors were at least as wicked as they were. Israel thought they deserved deliverance since by comparison to their captors they weren’t so bad. But with introspection they began to see that God was dealing unjustly with them because they had dealt unjustly with each other. Israel understood that without repentance they were as far as ever from having their property restored to them. Of course their enemies weren’t interested in judging Israel fairly. All they wanted to do was oppress them. Until God came back into the picture there would be no justice among Israel and her captors.
Unfortunately for Israel, God was perfectly willing to wait for genuine repentance before He stepped in to deliver them. The people longed for daylight as one longs for the morning sun – yet all they received was obscurity. Being under the boot of tyranny gave Israel a renewed appetite for judgment so long as it was fair judgment. But still neither God nor man appeared to bring them comfort or relief. They searched for salvation as one searches for bright lights but still they stumbled on in darkness. Their fasting and their prayers would not be effective so long as their hearts were turned away from God. It kind of got to the point where they didn’t want to raise their expectations for fear of the sharp pain of disappointment.
Israel was basically at a loss for what to do to help themselves. They groped around as if afflicted with blindness and they didn’t even know which direction to turn to find relief. The truth here is that if we close our eyes to God we lose sight of that which brings us peace. If we don’t use our eyes to focus on God then we end up functioning as if we have no eyes at all. If you’re unwilling to work for something it’s impossible to get the rewards for completing the work. In Israel’s case, they were blind to the blessings of walking in God’s precepts because they refused to actually walk in God’s precepts. If you slip into this kind of blindness it becomes difficult for you to see both dangers and advantages. Take for example the person who has an addiction but is unwilling to admit they have a problem. This person is stuck in a frame of mind where they are ignorant to the dangers of continuing in their addiction and blind to the blessings of letting it go. Some people just fall in love with darkness, and those are the ones who run from the light of life when it comes to their eternity.
Israel had chosen to walk in their own ways so God allowed them to do it. Now they were sunk in despair and overwhelmed with grief. If you look through historical pictures of hard times you can see that nearly ever person is frowning. That’s what it was like for Israel here. Each of them grew melancholy and began to shun conversation. A great depression came over Israel and they began to feel as desolate as dead men. Their condition under Babylonian captivity was illustrated as dead and dry bones. All hope had faded because the people were cut off from the source of life Himself. Some of them expressed their pain loudly, wailing like doves and roaring like bears. Others did so silently, allowing their pain to devour their spirits day by day. But the most important part about their grief was that they grieved both their calamities and their own iniquities. They took ownership of the fact that the hand of God had gone out against them. When someone grieves over their own sins that’s a sign repentance is not far off.
Israel acknowledged their wrongdoing and understood it as the reason God justly contended with them. So they were in this strange space where they knew and admitted the wrongful nature of sin – yet they continued to embrace it. This is not the same as someone who has a repentant heart yet continues to struggle with sin. It was more like Israel understood the consequences of sin but wanted the sin so much they were still willing to accept them. They openly admitted their guilt and how the power of sin prevailed among them. Not only had they failed reformation, but their sins were actually multiplying and becoming more heinous than they were in the past. There was no person they could look to as a good example. There was no segment of their society that hadn’t been infected with sin.
This is useful to know as a Christian. It’s possible that you can find yourself in a situation where there are no Christian examples to follow. In fact, if you look close enough, you’ll find the darkness and ugliness even among your Christian examples. This is why you always look to God as your only example. Never allow the conduct of others to shape your decision making when it comes to following God. It’s possible that others can point out your mistakes – which is fine – but never look at another human being as if he or she is a perfect representation of God. Making that mistake will result in disappoint so severe it is on the order of betrayal.
Israel’s sin had gotten to the point where they could no longer hide it from themselves. Everywhere they looked they saw their sins staring right back at them. Their sins testified against them about how foolish they were to think they could cover it all up from the sight of God. Their sins had become too severe to be excused and there was no way out apart from divine intervention. Israel understood that their sins were particularly horrible because they simultaneously professed to be God’s people. They went around trying to convince each other that God was being unfair to them when deep down they knew what they did. This made them liars against God. The reason they had no peace was because their hearts sought to deceive and betray God. As human beings we are designed for allegiance to God. He is our rightful Master. When we depart from Him that’s like putting water in an engine that’s designed for gasoline. It won’t work and everything will break down.
Israel accepted that they suffered a general decay of moral honesty. When you’re willing to lie to God, it comes as so surprise that you’re willing to lie to each other. They continuously complained about how God oppressed them, all the while knowing they had revolted against God and revolted against the truth. In their day-to-day conduct Israel had become so shameless that whatever wickedness entered their heads they spoke out loud. Lying became no different than telling the truth. Sometimes we can’t control what crazy things run through our minds, but we’re always in control of whether or not we publish them. Israel had lost their filter and that wasn’t a good thing at all. Sometimes we say stupid things because we’re in a hurry or we don’t take the time to think about it. But with Israel, they meditated on wicked thoughts before boldly declaring them with malicious intent. You’re in a really bad place when you’re able to tell lies from your heart without any sort of shame or guilt. Not all of Israel participated in the most enormous of crimes, but even those who didn’t still needed confession of sins because of how generally corrupt the nation had become.
Part of acknowledging everything that went wrong meant also acknowledging sins of omission. Israel had to see all the things they could have done – yet failed to do – that would have helped set things right. It was ironic how they thirsted for proper judgment when for so long they denied it among themselves. In a backward society the administration of justice becomes simply another tool used to cover up greater injustices. Proper judgment and equal justice are the only things that stand in the way of fraud and violence in a society. If you lose judgment and justice, fraud and violence parade triumphantly. Legislation becomes unrighteous and equality is given no influence. Truth is cast out into the street to be crushed by the stampede of pride and ignorance. Honesty is sacrificed in common conversation and the more it breaks down the more people feel like they can’t trust anyone. In a fallen society our sense making apparatuses no longer work because the individuals who operate them care nothing for the truth and only work for self-interest.
Anyone who dares to show an ounce of integrity in this kind of culture is labeled an enemy. The evil go unpunished and those courageous enough to depart from evil fall prey to it. I mean think about this for a moment. If most of the population has descended into evil, and then you stand out as someone who refuses to partake – in the eyes of the majority you’re either insane or judgmental. You look insane because what are the chances you’re the only one who’s normal? You look judgmental because every ideal is a judge. You can’t look at an ideal without seeing all of your own shortcomings. That’s why it’s hard to go to a gym full of fit people when you yourself are out of shape. That’s why sinners automatically assume Christians are hyper-judgmental before they even get to know them. That’s why you can’t stand in the presence of God without being destroyed by the awareness of how fallen your are. That’s why you need forgiveness and that’s why you need a Savior.
Israel owned that all of this corruption had to be displeasing to God who is in heaven. They knew deep down that all of these sins had been done in His sight. They understood how gilding their sins with religious pretenses did nothing to hide their wickedness from the all-seeing eyes of God. I don’t envy God in this sense. Imagine being the One who sees every evil thing that’s done in life. The torture, the betrayal, the abuse. Not only does God see it, but He looks on it with His own pure, sinless eyes. When you really wrap your mind around that the grace of God and His readiness to forgive is just staggering. It grieves God and it displeases Him when people sin – but especially when His own people sin. The actions of Israel were evil in the sight of God. But of all the sinfulness of these sins, the aspect which most offended God was their total negligence to repent. Despite the wickedness of their hearts, had Israel shown even a hint of repentance God would have quickly reconciled Himself to them. When individual sin is no longer restrained by public justice, the individual sin becomes national sin. And what follows national sin is God’s holy judgment. Let’s read verses 16-21:
Isa 59:16 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.
Isa 59:17 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.
Isa 59:18 According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment.
Isa 59:19 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.
Isa 59:20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.
Isa 59:21 “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.”
The first two sections of this chapter gave us a panoramic view of the sinfulness of Israel. Isaiah’s indictment outlined Israel’s sins in detail and showed how God would be just in destroying them. But where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. In typical human fashion, Israel responded to God’s commandment by multiplying their sins. In typical divine fashion, God responded to the multiplication of Israel’s sins by multiplying His grace. God brought Israel grace and deliverance despite their provocations. Why would He do that? God chose to bring salvation to His people for His own name’s sake. There was nothing in them that could cause salvation for themselves. In fact, there was nothing in them that could cause God to do it either. The plain truth is the people didn’t deserve grace or mercy. And they were so lost and confused that there was zero chance of them bringing themselves out of the pit. God chose to do it Himself for His own reasons. His salvation of Israel exalted Himself in His own strength and in His own glory.
Even though Israel had come close to repentance, there was no one among them who – by some heroic effort – could turn their situation around. They were still weak and wicked. No one among them was committed to proper judgment or restoring lost virtue. They didn’t have anybody capable of rising up in a great reformation. It’s true they had some people who were able to point out the problems and complain about their difficulties – but none with enough passion or courage to take action. When a culture goes off the rails as far as Israel did, even things like basic manners were rare if they existed at all. Enough individuals had embraced evil that those who didn’t were too weak and afraid to stand up to them. In some sense they could have pleased God with much less. He wondered at the fact that none of them would even pray to Him in intercession. Intercessory prayer would have meant even one person beseeching God to turn away His wrath. There was no one to speak out in support of justice and truth which were run down by pride and dishonesty. Those who kept their integrity fell prey to the corrupt majority and no one spoke up to defend them. Israel was frustrated that God had not shown up for them, but God looked on Israel and grieved that they would no nothing for themselves. God wants you to make the first move because making the first move demonstrates your faith.
If you’ve been praying for the same thing every day with no answer, ask yourself if you’re doing all that you could do. It doesn’t take much faith to pray all day in the safe confines of your church. What takes faith is walking out into the unknown in order to learn and grow. It takes faith to attempt that project which seems impossible for you. Israel wouldn’t take any action to correct their own society. Their attitude was probably something like: we can’t do it anyway so why should be bother? If this is your attitude about something then I want you to know you’re right about one thing: you can’t do it. But you’re not being asked to do it on your own. You’re being asked to do it in conjunction with God. That’s what faith is. It is the belief that you can achieve the impossible because almighty God Himself is on the job with you. You don’t have to climb the mountain by yourself, but how do you expect God to help you climb when you won’t even take the first steps?
When it comes to our own salvation, we are in much the same boat as Israel. In order to save us, God has chosen to engage His own strength and His own righteousness. He’s done this because we lack both the strength and the righteousness necessary to do it ourselves. When we are left to our own devices we become helplessly stuck in wickedness. We backslide to the point where we’re unwilling or unable to redress grievances and spur on reformation. Our institutions for justice break down and our societies begin to flounder. We need the Spirit of God to indwell us and move us along this process Himself. God’s Holy Spirit puts the influence of divine grace on our hearts. He straightens us out and prepares us to receive His mercy. That’s what the exile did for Israel. In Israel’s case God’s ultimate plan was to deliver them by the strength of His own providence. In that case He completed His work through Cyrus. God’s plan is to work salvation for us as well. In this case God has completed His work through the incarnate person of Christ. So much of life is about God preparing us for deliverance from death.
And you might say, I don’t know about all of that because I’m not good enough to be saved. But the truth is neither was Israel. They had no righteousness of their own to deserve God’s deliverance. Instead of depending on their righteousness, God sustained Himself throughout the process by His own righteousness. The same is true of the cross. The only One good enough to atone for the sins of all humanity is God Himself. In Israel’s case God sought to rescue them and punish Babylon because He made a covenant with Israel and because Babylon was evil. Israel’s sins should have incurred the wrath of God on themselves, but by His grace God’s wrath came out in support of Israel. Babylon was not punished because of Israel’s righteousness or as collateral damage. Babylon paid the price of their own evil ways.
Christ completed the work of our own redemption for us. He had to do it because there is no righteousness in us that makes us capable of standing before God on our own terms. Jesus was able to do it because His life is colored by the righteousness and merit of God Himself. This righteousness carried Him through His work successfully despite humanity’s provocations. Throughout His life His own honor was secured by righteousness as vital organs are secured by a breastplate. Through His own righteousness the proceedings of Jesus were characterized by justice and equality. The salvation which Christ worked is so impenetrable that He put it on as one puts on a helmet. Jesus Christ, in perfect righteousness working perfect salvation, appears formidable and frightening to His enemies. But He appears illustrious and amiable to His friends. Christians have access to a spiritual condition that is illustrated as the full armor of God. It is the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shoes of readiness given by the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. Christ wore this armor first and won His battle in it – now He has given it to us for our own battles.
You’ve heard it said there is no justice in the world. Isaiah affirms this when looking at Israel’s condition. Israel had no spirit or zeal to do anything for themselves. We suffer the same condition if we cut ourselves off from God. God knows this, which is why He clothes Himself in the garments of vengeance and wraps Himself in the cloak of zeal. He Himself carries out the justice we fail to administer. Humanity is set right by God because God honors religion and virtue in humanity. By divine justice and reformation, God reveals His greatness to the world as a dignitary distinguishes himself in the vestments of his high office. Even if all of humanity embraced evil, God would remain zealous against it. He would unleash vengeance on it for its corruption of His people and its arrogance against the holy throne. This was the essence of Christ’s mission on earth – to take revenge on sin by conquering it forever.
Israel enjoyed a temporal salvation when God rescued them from the grip of Babylon. There are many moments in your own life where God brings you temporal salvation. It’s the car accident you barely avoided. It’s coming to your senses in time to save yourself or your family. It’s the marriage you almost lost but didn’t. These are given to you by God as types or foreshadows of the grand finale which is your eternal salvation – the only salvation that ultimately matters. While we’re here on earth it’s our job to do what we can for justice, grace, mercy, and peace according to the word of God. A cursory glance around the world reveals how we frequently fail in this endeavor. But we can rest assured that in God’s time He will do His own work. He will reckon with His enemies and render them according to their deeds. Whether at home or abroad, those who make enmity with God by subverting justice, undermining truth, and oppressing His people will see the consequences. Even those who worked wickedness in the dark corners of the world where they fancied themselves unseen will be found by God’s holy arm. On God’s day of vengeance His enemies will face retribution and pay recompense according to what they have done. God reserves vengeance for Himself because only God’s vengeance is just. In their efforts for revenge, humanity all too often exceeds justice and operates on worse motives. Israel didn’t deserve to be delivered from Babylon, but Babylon was so wicked they deserved to be destroyed.
Part of God’s salvation for you is the assurance of protection against His enemies. Heaven is a place where there is so sin, suffering, tears, or wickedness. On earth the enemies of God make plans to disturb your peace and bear down on you like a flood. But in the fortress of God’s sanctuary these things are impossible. When Israel was delivered from Babylon they were (for a time) protected from their enemies. Indeed, Sennacherib’s failure to sack Jerusalem is historical proof that none can ascend on God’s people without His permission. The Spirit of the Lord, by some mysterious power, is able to raise the flag against His enemies and put them all to flight. God still works deliverance like this today. That’s why the church still exists after thousands of years of resistance. When His people become weak and helpless, God gives a banner to those who fear Him. This banner draws in the multitudes to stand on the church’s behalf. That’s something like an illustration for a revival. The banner is the name of Jesus and the gospel is God flooding the world with knowledge of Him.
The purpose of it all is to show God’s glory to the world and advance His kingdom on earth. The providence of God’s deliverance as well as His judgment is designed so that all nations shall fear the name of of the Lord. When Israel was brought out of exile and the indomitable Babylonian Empire fell, many of the surrounding nations began to ask questions about the God of Israel. He had their attention. He drew them in to worship, serve, and enlist themselves under the banner of Christ whom the Spirit of God would lift up. God is the One who adds to the church, and one of this classic methods is to work a great deliverance for them and to express His divine providence. It shows those who are paying attention that there’s more going on here than stained glass and preachers.
Every temporal salvation the prophets describe point to the eternal salvation completed in Christ Jesus. It is the great salvation that marks the fullness of time and the climax of history. Every redeemer God has sent throughout time is a foreshadow of the great Redeemer who is the Son of God. The coming of Christ as the final Redeemer is the summation of every promise in the Old and New Testaments. Our sins have caused us insurmountable debt, but Christ is our kinsmen redeemer who liberates us from this debt. Isaiah predicts that God will send His Redeemer to Zion and establish Him there as King. Jesus is the corner stone upon which the foundation of everything rests. The arrival of Christ brings comfort to those who repent of their sins. He brings hope to those who turn away from ungodliness by seeking a better tomorrow.
Along with the comfort and hope our Messiah brings, He also brings assurance of sanctification by the power of His Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus God has made a covenant with us that His word will not depart from our mouths from generation to generation. He has promised to give the Spirit to all who ask for Him, and with the Spirit comes understanding of all which is good. God’s promise is that all who turn away from evil will be taught to do good. Christ was the front-runner in all these things that were to come. The Spirit of God rested on Christ before He was poured out to the masses. The gospel of peace was spoken by Christ before it was preached by followers the world over. In a very real sense Jesus has never stopped speaking since the time He sent out His apostles and planted seeds in the hearts of believers.
As one generation passes on to the next the presence of Christ remains with each of us. The church endures by the providence of God. As long as the world stands God will have His church in it. The church and the body of believers are maintained in perpetuity by two things: the Spirit of God and the word of God. So long as Scripture is taught in good faith the Spirit of God will not depart from your location. The Holy Spirit who carried Christ through His work is the same Spirit who takes up residence inside your own heart. In this way Jesus is always with the faithful. In this way the Comforter always abides with His church.
You only need two things to be properly guided both as a church and as a Christian. You need Scripture and you need the Holy Spirit. These two are inseparable. You can’t teach Scripture without the Spirit to lead you through it. And the Spirit will not lead you in ways that defy Scripture. This means if you want a successful church you must embrace both the Spirit of God and the word of God. There are some churches who claim only to embrace the Spirit. These churches are helplessly led astray by their untrammeled emotionalism. There are some churches who claim only to embrace Scripture. These churches fall captive to the limitations of human philosophy and reduce God to a dangerous ideological cult. There are some churches who embrace neither the Spirit of God or Scripture. These churches are desperately wrong in every which way. But there are bright spots out there – a lot of them. There are Christians all around the world who surrender themselves to be guided by the Spirit of God in the word of God. These are the ones who are doing the most good. These are the ones who inspire you to thank and to praise God. This could be you today. God has given you everything you need to walk in His will for you. The churches who stand on Jesus Christ stand firmly and shall stand forever. The people who rest on Christ as their cornerstone will leave a legacy that immortalizes them here on earth and alters the future itself. And in the end they too will go on into eternity.
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