Why Is Isaiah 59 Important?: Sin Separates, God Saves

From Diagnosis to Deliverance

Isaiah 59 unfolds like a divine courtroom proceeding. It begins with the prophet laying out the case against the people, detailing how their sins have fractured their relationship with God and their society. This is followed by a heartfelt confession from the people, who finally admit they are lost in the dark. The scene culminates with God, the ultimate judge, stepping down from the bench to become the Redeemer, promising to personally rescue and restore His people.

The Real Barrier Between God and Us  (Isaiah 59:1-8)

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.

A Confession from the Darkness  (Isaiah 59:9-15a)

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.

God Prepares for Battle  (Isaiah 59:15b-19)

¹⁵ Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
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.

The Promise of a Redeemer and a New Covenant  (Isaiah 59:20-21)

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."