Isaiah 59:1-21

[Music] good evening welcome back to biblical insights with Bob tonight we're looking at Isaiah chapter 59 before we start in the actual scripture I want to talk a little bit about this section of Isaiah now several places the style changes enough that some scholars believe that they're actually written by a different person conservative scholars believe that it was all written by I say but it's different and I want to talk a little bit about that difference before we go into verse by verse chapter 57 through 59 is a is a segment that kind of stands by itself I think first of all we need to realize the background for this segment this was written before even before Israel was taking care bondage to Babylon but it was written about that bondage and about the sins of Israel before that bondage so we need to keep it historically where it was but at the same time realize that many of the things that Isaiah is condemning or talking about apply to every age in history including ours today so chapter 57 58 and 59 in chapter 57 Isaiah condemned adulterous paganism in other worshipping other gods the gods of the of the culture around him in 58 he condemned their hypocritical hypocritical fasting or their doing something playing a role that's what the word hypocrite means and then in 59 he's talking about the injustice the way they don't act justly so those three chapters as we look at chapter 59 which we'll do in a minute we can see that it's kind of divided into the three sections and I kind of like to get this kind of an overview before I start the first section is the first eight verses having to do with conviction in other words Isaiah is telling him things that should convict them of what their of their injustice that second section from verse 9 to verse 15 is their confession and finally from verse 16 actually the second part verse 15 through the balance of the chapter verse number 21 about their salvation you kind of got a nutshell of the salvation process conviction confession and salvation so it's all wrapped up right here and we want to we want to look at that so let's start out by reading the first two verses of chapter 59 behold the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save nor is his ear so dull that he cannot hear but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God you see they were complaining that God wasn't redeeming him God wasn't acting and God comes back and speaks through Isaiah it says his hand isn't so short that he can't say it's not it's not because he can't do it or is not because he can't hear your prayers but your sins your iniquities have separated you and because of your since he's doing this so it's not God's fault it's not God's problem it's your problem that's what he's saying the problem was at them and not him in verses to date God speaks specifically about their sins now in one of the commentaries I use frequently is Barnes notes he lists eight sins and we're going to look at them as we go but but let me just list them for you before we before we start verse by verse first 9 first sin was their hands were defiled with blood that's verse 3 their lips spoke falsehood in the last part of verse 3 there was no justice among them verse 4 their plans were he uses word mysterious but it means malicious their actions were like the egg with a cockatrice hateful and destructive we'll talk about that more in detail when we get there their works were like the web of a spider which couldn't couldn't be covering them with righteousness their feet ran to evil in verse 7 and their thoughts were evil so they were strangers to the way of peace so he's convicting that all these things they were doing wrong even though they claim to be God's people and they couldn't understand why God wasn't protecting and helping and Isaiah said it's not God's problem it's your problem so let's look at some of the specifics here verse number three we've already mentioned but let's read it for your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity your lips have spoken falsehood tongue mutters wickedness now notice the way he uses parallelisms here he's talking about your hands and your fingers and then he talks about your lips and your words your speech and you and your words so he uses parallelism was very typical in Hebrew language to use parallelism you find it in every book of the Old Testament so he talks about the hands and the fingers it's he's talking about bloodshed maybe not actually bloodshed a set but cruel treatment he says you treat them truly another compensator says the fingers could be kind of like said light-fingered or suggesting theft your fingers your hands are cruel and your fingers perhaps are suggesting that the falsehood mentioned in the second part of the verse may well be false doctrine and witness quickness of the speech really can cover a lot of sins phone stuff pay attention to that false doctrine we've got a lot of that going on today that's what I say this is meant for a particular period of Jewish history but it applies to all of us verse number four no one Sue's honestly and no one pleads honestly they trust in confusion and speak lies they can see mischief and bring forth iniquity so there they're saying one thing but their hearts are their activities and their mental state is something else no one's soothes justly as I read this verse I can't help but think of the culture in which we live today how many commercials have I seen this week encourages to sue some company or sue an insurance company when we've been hurt in an accident go to court take them to court yet you know again our lawyers are advertising how much money they can get for those who sue charges against another party that appears to be twisted truth today we call it fake news so you see what do you think using these Jewish people up rightly so it hasn't disappeared we still face it so let's look at verses five and six these are these are difficult I have to admit the hatch adders were eggs and we with a spider's web an adder of course is a serpent the hets adders eggs and weave the spider's web you eat some their eggs dies and from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth their webs will not become clothing nor will they cover themselves with their works their works are works of iniquity and their acts of violence in their hands this is figurative speaking we have to realize that I say it is using pictures he talks about the adders a snake eggs he says if you eat them you die if you crush him or the hatch a snake comes out you know obviously the consequences are could be death as well so instead of receiving nourishment from the eggs the eggs are either poison or contain baby snakes the second verse in verse five he talks about the web a spider's web and again we're talking about this malicious insect the spider I remember looking out our window in the morning sometimes and there's there's a do on the ground and in the fence behind our house you see the beauty of these spider webs to do collects on the spider webs you see they're beautiful and if you if you see a spider's web by itself it can be beautiful beautifully woven but spiders webs aren't good to clothe yourselves with they don't hold up they're too thin to cover your body I'd hate to go wrong when nothing but a spider web or two so yeah it's that's what they say there they're too thin to cover naked bodies or they don't do any good to shelter you from the cold or bad weather or injuries so neither the false doctrines which is kind of referring to as as the webs there are no use in themselves or others if they believe them one of the things that the Jewish people practiced and talked about was justification by works you know there is what you do makes all the difference in the world now that's false doctor it's a relationship these are not the proper garments to cover the nakedness of a sinner so spiders eggs there's spiders webs and Hatter's eggs these are pictures of what these people were reaping because they were going with false doctors wrong actions and they they were going to suffer the consequences it couldn't help it okay let's read the next two verses their feet run to evil they hasten to shed innocent blood their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity devastation and destruction are in the highways they do not know the way of peace and there's no justice in their tracks they made the past crooked whoever treads on them doesn't know peace again I think it's important that we remember this primarily in its historical conferred context probably was written under the reign of Manasseh or about the rate now Manasseh was one of the most wicked of Israel of Judas Kings ever even given children and sacrifice the babies were offered in sacrifice just about as far down as you could go probably the lowest moral point in the history of Judah and what I say is say here that instead of running from evil God's people running to it they were following him hastily shedding innocent blood babies to secure their ends sacrificing babies does that sound familiar shedding innocent blood to secure their ends their heads being freedom to do their own thing not being responsible for a child so you see it's it's written about the the worst part of Israel's history or Judas history but it's still something we need to consider today so that's the conviction Isaiah has laid out the things that they're doing wrong he's showing him their error he's showing a why they can't come to God and expect an answer now the second part is his confession here we begin to see Israel coming to realize I keep saying Israel when I mean Judah coming to realize their mistakes remember the word confession if you trace it down and find the meaning it means to say the same thing in other words when we confess or sit we see ourselves as God ceases it's important we have to see that we have to see ourselves you have to come to the realization that you're doing some wrong things so let's read the first number 9 therefore because of everything said about the conviction everything that comes up to this 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 gloom therefore judgment is far from us this is the confession of the people that they were suffering not unjustly on account but on account of their crimes the word judgment here is everything to be taken with a sense of vindication neither does justice overtake us which which is saying really God doesn't interpose to save us from our calamities and to deliver us because it's our problem it's our fault justice demands that we pay the price verse number 10 we grew up along the wall like blind men we grew up like those who have no eyes we stumble at midday as in the twilight among those who are vigorous we are like dead men now we're gonna see in a minute all the parallel descriptions walking along a wall like blind man all those descriptions stress the hopelessness was due to their natural blindness to God's ways they were blinding themselves now if we go back to Deuteronomy 28 verses 28 and 29 we find almost the same wording here when Moses was talking to his people and his final address which is what Deuteronomy is here's what he said this is reading from Deuteronomy and the Lord shall smite thee with madness and blindness and astonishment of heart and thou shalt rope rope as noonday as a blind group within darkness and thou shall not prosper in thy way so Moses said it it always seems like Moses her Isaiah could he be quoting him I'm sure I say I knew Deuteronomy but he's telling them that you're grouping and darkness you're like blind man God allows that to happen look at verse 11 with me I like this verse all of us we're all like bears and lone sadly like those we hope for justice but there is none for salvation but it's far from us we were all like bears he describes two classes of people who are unable to silently endure their afflictions without making him known by some external either by prowling or moaning for somehow fiercely and others just kind of mourn like those the latter metaphor might have been like I said described in Chapter 38 the groans of Hezekiah Hezekiah the Good King remember but he moaned he he had so much grief so much hardship that he couldn't keep silent this happens we try to rest and restrain our grief and yet can't prevent those outward signs of grief from breaking out and spite of us we look for judgment he says he again repeats that in vain they look for judgment salvation meaning the people were deprived of the assistance of God which he desired God desired among all things the word judgment infers that us by our own fault that were wretched and rolled and waste away in her wretchedness until we come to God in conversion in confession now let's look at verse number 12 for our transgressions are multiplied before you and our sins testify against us our transgressions are with us and we know our iniquities we notice that last phrase we know our iniquities here is a genuine confession they are saying we know our iniquities they finally acknowledge their condition our transgressions are with us and we know our iniquities verse 13 transgressing and denying the Lord and turning away from our God speaking oppression and revolt conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words so they're talking the people acknowledging their sins against other people we're talking about injustice remember in chapter 59 let's look at verse 14 quickly justice is turned back and righteousness stands far away for truth has stumbled in the street and uprightness cannot enter these are the reasons the justice and righteousness stood far from the people truth had collapsed so the righteousness or the uprightness couldn't even begin to be a part of them part of the routine verse 15 yes truth is lacking and he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey truth is lacking and he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey wherever truth is lacking as it was in Isaiah's time the person who does turn aside from evil to do good makes himself a prey or a target for those who want to take advantage of him this is a final irony of ironies in this section Isiah wasn't advocating this type of behavior he was saying that unless God intervenes for his people this is all they can expect what more kidneys you're going to live that way you're going to get that kind of treatment you're gonna have to suffer the consequences so now we're ready to consider the last part of the chapter which talks about salvation Oh aren't you glad don't we praise God for salvation let's look at verse 16 and he this is a capital H which means God 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 in other words God saw that there was no human being who could bring them salvation so he stepped in himself isn't that just like you he stepped in himself the language speaks of a genuine astonishment it wasn't saying that God was surprised and it doesn't mean that God had been ignorable God do all about this rather it speaks of an astonishment a real astonishment would express itself and I'll get this in displeasure by getting compassion didn't they give you a picture of God even though he's displeased he's angry there's compassion there oh don't ever talk about and it just got in the old there's an Old Testament God is a God of love and compassion so much so that he stepped in and acted now I like this next verse verse number 17 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 does that remind you of anything remember Paul in the New Testament tells us to put on the whole armor of God you see it doesn't show us a God who straps on the military of the punishment and all this armor of that guy but he puts on spiritual armor I like especially that phrase that that Isaiah is used in the beginning the breastplate of righteousness there was a time in my ministry when I was being attacked or at least I felt like it was being attacked but you know what they couldn't find anything whether it was a righteous whether it was righteousness they can't find fault as God less there's Fault to be found we're seeing that in many cases today the breastplate of righteousness so God put on the breastplate of righteousness a helmet of salvation they put on garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in seal as a mantle the breastplate of righteousness gives us the basic idea that is pure and holy that he is righteous now again I would have mentioned the fact when I talk about righteous I'm not just talking about right axe I'm not talking about keeping the law Judah was probably keeping the law at least to a great extent but they weren't righteous because their heart wasn't pure we're talking about holiness we're talking about rightly related to God so the breastplate of righteousness the design here to represent the regime Deemer is a hebrew and so Isaiah talks about the different parts of the armor instead of being an earthly Conqueror clad in steel and defender with brass shields and weapons his weapons were moral weapons the various parts were righteousness salvation and CEO 59 chapter verse 18 now according to their deeds to their deeds so he will repay rap to his adversaries recompense to his enemies to the coastlands he will make recompense this appears to be addressed to the enemies of Judah and again remember the historical context here we're talking about those enemies that were persecuting I think it could be applied to the enemies of Israel today according to their deeds he will repay to the coastlands whatever I say it talks about coastlands he's talking about the nations apart from Israel he will make recompense here we see God's infinite love toward us loves us so much as he'll take care of our enemies so strong as this for affection for his flock here that he sets a higher value on them Judah had that those of us grafted into Judah he sets a higher value on his people than the rest of the world put together and we see that in prophecy verse 19 so they will fear the name of the Lord from the West and his glory from the rising of the Sun and he will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the Lord drives you notice they will fear the name of the Lord from the west and from the glory for the Rising Sun which is what the east and the west he will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the Lord he now talks about the fact that this work of redemption we so splendid that the whole world will wonder behold and praise and celebrate I think it's pictured a world widely valuable it's uncertain whether he means conversion to the Gentiles or the terror which God displays his enemies but I think it's both now dr. constable says the true meaning in my opinion is the attack to the enemies so furious that like a torrent it'll appear to sweep away and destroy everything but the Lord shall cause it instantly to subside and disappear now here's here's the verses that climax the whole thing verse number twenty first of all a redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob declares the Lord a redeemer look who's the Redeemer Jesus Christ came to redeem and those who turn from transgression he will save the sinner they will have given up the idea that they can save themselves or to secure deliverance from another country they will repent verse 21 the last verse as for me this is my covenant with them says the Lord my spirit which is upon you and my words which I put in your mouth shall not depart him from your mouth or from the mouth of your offspring nor from the mouth of your offspring offspring says the Lord from now and forever this is a prophetic promise to Judah to Israel enclosing God promised that he wouldn't withdraw a spirit or his word from his people on whom he would place them dr. constable says this is a reference to the New Covenant the spirit abided his people forever and his word would remain in their mouths they would be his witnesses now he also adds dr. constable does since this hasn't happened yet at least with the Jews it appears that'll happen at the second coming at the second Advent but it's a promise it will happen we can count on it my spirit will be with them forever if you're living in his spirit today he's with you to stay if you let him thank you for joining for this chapter next time or start chapter six 60 which is all together different type of segment of Isaiah thank you for being with us [Music]

Channel: Biblical Insights With Bob

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Keywords: *Isaiah 59:1-12

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Length: 36min 5sec (2165 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 02 2017