Rev. Don Campbell
Isaiah 59-63
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, July 31, 2019
“THE REDEEMER HAS COME”
In Isaiah 58:3, Judah complained, “Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?” God tells them what kind of fast he wants (Isaiah 58:6-7), and he then says, “Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore” (Isaiah 59:1-2, NLT). Early in his prophecy, Isaiah said, “From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it” (Isaiah 1:6). Reminiscent of this charge, he covers some of their head-to-toe sins in chapter 59: “Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin. Your lips are full of lies, and your mouth spews corruption. No one cares about being fair and honest. The people’s lawsuits are based on lies. They conceive evil deeds and then give birth to sin. They hatch deadly snakes and weave spiders’ webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die; whoever cracks them will hatch a viper. Their webs can’t be made into clothing, and nothing they do is productive. All their activity is filled with sin, and violence is their trademark” (vv.3-6, NLT). They had blood on their hands, lies in their mouths, and corruption in their hearts.
Little wonder then that “Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Misery and destruction always follow them. They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good. They have mapped out crooked roads, and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace” (vv.7-8, NLT).
Verse 9 begins with the word “therefore.” Because the nation is sick from head to toe, the results were that they hoped, groped, stumbled, growled and moaned: “So there is no justice among us, and we know nothing about right living. We look for light but find only darkness. We look for bright skies but walk in gloom. We grope like the blind along a wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark. Among the living, we are like the dead. We growl like hungry bears; we moan like mournful doves. We look for justice, but it never comes. We look for rescue, but it is far away from us. For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know what sinners we are. We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies” (vv. 9-13).
There is, however, redemption: “‘The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins,’ says the Lord. ‘And this is my covenant with them,’ says the Lord. ‘My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the Lord, have spoken!’” (vv. 20-21). We know Isaiah is writing of the gospel dispensation, for Paul writes, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins” (Romans 11:26-27).
CONNECTIONS
1. In their gloom, they groped, groaned, and growled. Is this the hallmark of people today who have lost hope because they have lost faith?
2. In Romans 15:12-13, Paul uses the word “hope” three times (one is a quotation from Isaiah 11:10). What does he say about hope?
