Isaiah 7.4, 58-59

Prayer Requests

Miguel—mom’s side of the family, lost a family member, Mejia

Candace doing well

Arlene, Christy doing well on chemo

Judy—Bob, appt with spine surgeon, cancelation

Debra—Trish, lost her sister and two friends int he last week

Judith—Jenny, daughter

Jean—Travel mercies family

Bing—Suzanne doing well, chemo again soon

Laura—Carrie Holmes, Roger Horner in ICU, heart

Derek—new grandson! Martin McHenry

Jenny—husband fell, in hospital with blood infection, Jim

Kirk, Co Winterhalder,

Ann—Marie Phillips birthday, be here next week

Laura—country, war

Isaiah 58:6–12 ESV

6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. 11 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.

Now, this is still Isaiah so we ought to be asking the question: But how can we do this? How can we fulfill this and aciveve this? I thought the Gospel wasn’t about achieving. It’s not!

and please don’t let this be an excuse to not pursue this kind of radical obedience. But look at the language here: satisfy the desire of the afflicted, pour yourself out for the hungry—we can’t do this perfectly. But do you know who did? Who poured himself out for the despairing and destitute? Who gave himself up? Who satisfies the hungry and the thirsty?

Jesus! Who rightly holds the title of repairer of broken dreams? It’s Jesus Christ! The one who raises up the foundatins of the broken ruins to new life.

And now, IN Christ we are invited to participate int his restoring and redeeming work. This is our work too!

Isaiah 58:13–14 ESV

13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 14 then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”’

Here’s a reminder to take seriously the commands of Sabbath, to delight in the Lord, NOT that it has become a day for you to seek your own pleasure. There’s some irony here: if you rest, if you take a break, if you seek me and not the self-serving way of the world, THEN you will be taken care of by the Lord God. Deny yourself, and you will live.

Ok, let’s move on to chapter 59

Isaiah 59:1–12 ESV

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 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. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

First, we start with this incredibly clear statement about the nature of sin and what it does to us, especially between us and God and in our relationship with him.

Isaiah 59:2 ESV

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.

Our sin has separated us from God. There is hardly a clearer statement in all of the Bible on the matter. This is why we must take sin seriously, because it has an impact on us, it separates us from God. We cannot be tempted to simply think of our sin as a bad thing we’ve done, or some way that we’ve hurt our neighbor or something like that. No! Our sin actually separates us from God. This is a great evangelism verse too, to remember that we all have this need for forgiveness because of what our sin does to us.

Now some people don’t like that word, ‘sin,’ but that doesn’t change the truth of the matter here.

Despite this, despite this sin of the people, look Isaiah 59:1 “1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;”

God’s power to save has not been dulled, though sin has created this chasm, God can still save.

But the problem runs deep, look at the language here: the people’s hands are defiled with blood, their lips speak lies, utter wickedness. Nothing they do has integrity, their legal system is a sham, their schemes are compared to a nest from a venomous snake, so wicked is their thinking, scheming, and doing.

But let’s look at the next passage. Isa. 59:9-15

Isaiah 59:9–15 ESV

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. 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. 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. 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: 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. 14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. 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.

And look at Isa 59:10

Isaiah 59:10 ESV

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.

It reminds me of Isa. 9:2

Isaiah 9:2 ESV

2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

The same darkness, the same deadness, the same despair and hopelessness. We’re brought again to this place of hopelessness, but it is preparing us for the good news that is to come.

Notice to the perspective of the language: “we, us” is inclusive, 1st person plural language. It is as if the people are acknowledging their sin and transgressions and their need for light and restoration. This is growth!

Let us be people like this, that we can look at ourselves, see in a mirror that which needs to be changed or fixed and then own it. To admit our failures and transgressions, to admit the temptations we struggle with and confess those things to God or another trusted person. Confession and lament for our sins bears the fruit of a contrite heart, a repentant spirit.

Finally though, there is yet good news today:

Isaiah 59:15–21 ESV

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. 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. 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. 18 According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment. 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. 20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord. 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 Lord observes that no one exists to help or intervene, so He acts Himself.2 Wearing the breastplate of righteousness and helmet of salvation, He comes as divine Judge to repay His enemies according to their deeds.2 The chapter culminates in God’s redemption of the repentant remnant—He comes to Zion not as Judge alone but as Redeemer, approaching with grace and mercy rather than anger.2 God renews a new covenant with His people, giving them His Spirit and His words to enable obedience where the old covenant required it but could not empower it.2