An Exposition of Isaiah 59.15-21
Recent world events graphically illustrate the incorrigible depravity of the human race. Just this month, the world witnessed a caged Jordanian pilot horribly burned alive and 21 Coptic Christians gruesomely beheaded. Some have made public statements to the effect that one of the “root causes” of these atrocities is poverty, and that, therefore, at least part of the solution is jobs for terrorists.
And we must not feel any better about ourselves, because we are horribly guilty as a nation for the holocaust of legalized abortion, with the pathetic excuse that “it’s a woman’s right to choose.”
There is more wisdom in one line of Holy Scripture than reams of this politically-correct drivel. For example, consider this biblical proverb: “Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked,” or, “Out of the wicked comes wickedness” (1 Sam 24.13 AV, ESV). Jesus put the same truth this way: “For from the inside, from a person’s heart, come the evil ideas which lead him to do immoral things, to rob, kill, commit adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly” (paraphrase of Mark 7:21–22). You see, unconverted liars will do anything rather than admit our real problem, because then it is more obvious that there is only one real solution—even our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners.
All the human governments of this world have a moral responsibility to protect the innocent and to stop murderers in their tracks by the state’s divinely-ordained sword. Churches everywhere must condemn evil and preach the true gospel of Christ our Lord. Let us pray alike for state armies of justice and Christian missionaries of mercy to prevail over terrorists, and for our national repentance as abortionists. Let us plead with the God of heaven for the utter demise and disappearance of false religion and every form of religious and secular opposition to biblical Christianity. Preaching and prayer are our spiritual arsenal. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10.4–5). The Church must not be overcome by evil and resort to violence, but we must overcome evil with good (Rom 12.21).
The sermon today focuses on a short passage which is among the most exalted prophecies of Christ in all of sacred scripture, Isaiah 59, verses 15-21.
15 Yea, truth faileth;
And he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey:
And the LORD saw it, and it displeased him
That there was no judgment.
16 And he saw that there was no man,
And wondered that there was no intercessor:
Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him;
And his righteousness, it sustained him.
17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation upon his head;
And he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,
And was clad with zeal as a cloke.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay,
Fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies;
To the islands he will repay recompence.
19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west,
And his glory from the rising of the sun.
When the enemy shall come in like a flood,
The spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the redeemer shall come to Zion,
And unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD;
My spirit that is upon thee,
And my words which I have put in thy mouth,
Shall not depart out of thy mouth,
Nor out of the mouth of thy seed,
Nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD,
From henceforth and for ever.
Weeks ago when I last preached here, we heard the first part of this chapter expounded under the title, “The Bad News of Ruin: Our Hopeless Predicament” (vv. 1-15). That is a spiritual analysis of our problem as the human race. We are sinners under God’s curse. The first two lines of verse 15 wrap it up: “Truth fails [or, “is lacking,” ESV], and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey,” that is, vulnerable to victimization. In other words, gospel truth is banished from public discourse, and the few brave souls who dare to preach it and to live as authentic Christians, prophetically opposed to the spirit of the age in speech and conduct, are liable to mistreatment just for their faith and godliness. Historically, you know, demonization precedes state-sponsored persecution starting with fines and imprisonment, and ending in Christian martyrdom. This is still happening all over the world, and it was essentially the same wretched situation in the eighth century BC apostate Israel, when Isaiah wrote these words by the Spirit of the Lord.
The only hope for them then, and for us today, is the divine Savior foretold in this magnificent prophecy of Christ—he who has already come into the world and shall come again.
The interpretation of biblical prophecy can be difficult because of the complexity of its language and the complexity of God’s plan to fulfill it. We will proceed much more surefootedly if we remember two important axioms:
1) All biblical prophecy is ultimately Christocentric, that is, it is about the person and work of Jesus Christ.
2) Christ’s saving work is accomplished primarily in his first and his second coming, and we live between these two greatest events of redemptive history.
Our sermon text illustrates these perfectly. First, there is a hero figure who appears throughout. He is called “the LORD” (verse 15), an “intercessor” (verse 16), and “the redeemer” (verse 20). In the name of the true and living God, I proclaim to you that he is none other than Jesus Christ.
Second, the spiritual warfare and the spiritual revival in this passage describes what Christ began to do in his first coming, and what he shall consummate in his second. The salvation Christ brings to this world is presented here as one glorious work, without digressing to the historical details of his two separate comings. These Peter distinguishes as “the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow” (1 Pet 1.11).
Let me explain a little more. Christ’s first coming had two aspects to it—his hostility and his mercy—and this will also be the case with of his second coming. He comes from heaven to this world as a divine warrior to judge and overthrow sin and sinners, and he also comes to save God’s elect from sin and sinners. And it is important to realize that he saves his people in and by the defeat of these our enemies. The exodus of Israel from Egypt was not complete until the walls of water in the Red Sea washed back over Pharaoh and his army to drown them, and their corpses washed up upon the shore. So it shall be with the lost at the end of the world.
Some people fantasize about a future devoid of punishment for anyone. That is wishful thinking. According to countless, clear biblical passages, on the last day, Christ will return to rescue God’s elect and to take revenge on all the reprobate. Both groups will include people from the beginning of human history, an innumerable host. On this great and final judgment day, the damned shall go away into everlasting punishment (Matt 25.46), and the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matt 13.43).
Now let us continue expounding Isaiah 59, where we see, first,
The Lord’s Reaction of Horror and Commitment (vv. 15c-16)
Do not think for a moment that our sad state of affairs is alright with the Lord. Speaking of society’s utter misery in sin, the inspired text says, “the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment” or “justice” (ESV). The Hebrew could be translated literally, “it is evil in his eyes” (YLT). In other words, God is offended by what he sees; he is aggrieved. Of course passages like this speak figuratively to help us understand, but these characterizations of God as if he were a man point to something true and analogous about him that cannot be explained any better. Here, it is his holy disgust with unrighteousness. You could say he was horrified. One Old Testament prophet said to God, “Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong” (Hab 1.13 paraphrase). Isaiah stresses it is not just the presence of wickedness, but the absence of justice that displeases the Lord. God’s revealed will requires truth and justice in this world, and these are lacking in a horrible degree. If we doubt that, it is only because we are not looking at things the way God does.
What else did the Lord see, both in Isaiah’s day and in ours? “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor” (v. 16). There was no one to intercede and bring salvation to this lost world. An intercessor is a go-between who reconciles parties hostile to each other. The human race desperately needs someone to bring us together in mutual love, where we really forgive each other and treat each other consistently with self-sacrificial kindness. Even more importantly, we need someone who can lay hold upon the God whom we have offended, and appease his righteous wrath toward us for our sins. We also need this great intercessor to turn us, who are sinners hostile to God in our hearts, back to him again, so that we love him as we should, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
And when God in heaven looked down upon men on earth, he found not a single, solitary one among us who was capable of reconciling people with each other and sinners with God. False saviors promising utopias arise from time to time in human history, and gullible people look to them for hope and change, but they all fail, every single one of them!
Seeing our desperate plight, the Lord himself, with great compassion toward us, makes a commitment, described in this text. “Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him” (emphasis mine). God planned everything that happens from eternity, before the world began, and one part of his eternal plan is to be the Savior we sinners need, to the glory of His wisdom and power and grace. To say that “his arm brought salvation” is to say that the Almighty Lord himself so works personally in history to effect the salvation he planned. The arm of the Lord is a figurative expression for the Lord himself in the exercise of his almightiness. And when it says “his righteousness sustained” or “upheld him” (ESV), it is telling us that he saves us in a manner that is completely consistent with his own nature and promise. He has found a way to glorify all his holy attributes in our salvation, without compromising anything, neither his justice nor his love.
This is part of the glorious gospel message. True Christianity does not preach that you are made right with God by being good and doing good. Nor is there any possibility that any group people will come to love one another as they should by human wisdom or by human effort. Here is the truth. God himself has come down to us in the person of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of saving us! By his perfectly righteous life and by his sacrificial death on the cross, he has secured the reconciliation of all the elect with God and with one another! I say, Christ the Lord did this all by himself, without a shred of help from you or me. Jesus Christ is the Lord’s arm. Jesus Christ is the Lord’s righteousness. He came from heaven to reconcile God’s enemies to him, and to build a church of true brothers who love one other as he has loved us.
And what Christ began to do in his first coming, he will bring to completion by and in his second coming. Some people have been saved, but not all who ever will be saved have been saved yet. And there is a measure of Christian love in the church among church members, but things among us are not all that they should be. And when Jesus Christ comes again, he will have turned the heart of every elect sinner, some probably not even born yet, back to God, and Christ will also completely purge all our sinfulness so that we will be completely and finally sanctified, fitted to love one another perfectly in God’s glorious, eternal kingdom. Praise the Lord! Nobody can accomplish all this but the Lord Himself, our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Continuing our exposition, consider next,
The Lord’s Revenge on His Enemies (vv. 17-18)
The radical spiritual and social renewal in view cannot be accomplished without a fight. In fact, it involves cosmic warfare that spans the ages and will not be finished until Christ comes again. And the Lord himself is the great Warrior. See how he describes himself. “For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.” The image is a soldier armed for battle—a breastplate, a helmet, military garments, all wrapped in a cloak. But of course the image is to be taken figuratively. The real weapons of spiritual warfare are abstract things—righteousness, salvation, revenge, and zeal. These are all aspects of his holy nature and purpose. He is the epitome of righteousness in his person, and all his words and deeds are the very righteousness of God. He comes to save his chosen people, beloved from the foundation of the world. His method is to take righteous revenge upon all sin, and he goes to his fearful work with a zeal worthy of God.
The next verse emphasizes his purpose of paying back God’s enemies in strict justice, and exactly in the proportion they deserve. “According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.” One paraphrase puts it this way, “He will clothe himself with the strong desire to set things right and to punish and avenge the wrongs that people suffer. He will punish his enemies according to what they have done, even those who live in distant lands.” This mention of distant lands is meant to encompass all people everywhere and of all times.
Here is something we all need to appreciate more. God’s righteous law absolutely must be honored, because the honor of God himself is at stake in this. If God has said, “The soul who sins shall die,” and he has (Gen 2.17; Ezek 18.20; Rom 6.23), then there is just no getting around it, because God’s Word is inviolable.
This helps us understand why Christ came into the world the first time, and why he must come again. The first time, God the Father punished His Son on the cross for all the sins of all the elect, to the praise of his justice and his mercy. The second time, Christ will judge and begin to punish those who are still unbelieving and impenitent, and then, God’s law will finally be honored as it should and must be.
Whoever you may be, your sins must be justly punished for the sake of God’s honor. Either they have already been punished in Christ your substitute, and you do or you shall one day believe in him, or else you, unforgiven, are personally going to be punished for them forever and ever, without a substitute. I tell you this now so that you will fear God and trust in Christ as you should. That is the only hope any of us have of being saved.
To recap, we have seen, in answer to our misery in a wicked society, the Lord’s reaction of horror and commitment (vv. 15-16), and his revenge on his enemies (vv. 17-18). But out of the ashes he intends something beautiful to arise. In the next two verses, we see
The Lord’s Winning of Worshippers (vv. 19-20)
The Lord’s victory in another respect is in view here. He succeeds in redeeming a countless multitude of people for his kingdom who shall be turned from their sins and fear him eternally. Here are three aspects of his victory presented in reverse order: 1) the end or purpose of it, 2) the means of it, and 3) the cause of it.
What is the endgame of God’s redemptive plan? With respect to mankind, it is an all-inclusive fellowship of human beings restored to our original purpose—to glorify God and enjoy him forever, and to live in perfect love toward God and one another (WSC #1). We have here a prophecy of a future state of things, and even now, this desirable state of things has begun to become reality, but it has not been fully realized. The text says, “So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun,” that is, the east. The mention of east and west like this is a way to designate a group from every kindred and tongue and people and nation (Rev 5.9). To fear the LORD and his glory is to worship him. The word “so” connects this with what has just been written. This prophecy of paradise restored is presented as the result of the Lord coming as Intercessor (v. 16) and as Warrior-King (vv. 17-18). That has reference first of all to Christ’s first coming and to the cross, where he crushed the serpent’s head and dealt a death blow to Satan’s fragile kingdom. Paradise restored took a major step forward in Christ’s first coming. The preaching of the cross for 2000 years has been the power of God to salvation for all who believed, starting at Jerusalem in the first century and then spreading throughout the whole world, winning people to love the Lord Jesus Christ, so that the Church militant marches triumphantly through all centuries and lands. When Christ returns, he will have completed the whole number of His Church, and every one for whom he died will be won back to God.
By what means is such a great effect accomplished? “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zech 4.6). Or to quote Isaiah here, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” This doubtless has a near and local fulfillment in Isaiah’s time. It probably foretells the victory God would grant Israel over Gentile nations that were oppressing them at the time, but that was only a type and shadow of a greater victory for the true Israel, the Church, in the last days. The Holy Spirit, working in the hearts of believers, “raises the banner,” rallies the troops, and wins the day. The world, the flesh, and the devil all stand opposed to us, but by the Spirit of the Lord we are triumphing over them. The true church seems to have an impossible task before us, even the evangelization of the whole world, but again, the Spirit so works in us to press ahead with the banner of the gospel waving high, and more and more of Christ’s enemies surrendering to him and joining our ranks. Despite appearances to the contrary, Satan’s kingdom is falling because of the siege of the Son of God!
The end of Christ’s victory is to redeem a host of true worshipers, and the means he accomplishes this is by the Spirit. But what is the cause of the victory? That is, who effects it? Well, Christ himself in his comings, of course. “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.” Christ is the Redeemer, and a redeemer is one who ransoms slaves in captivity by the payment of a ransom price. Christ paid that price when he died on the cross. The Father showed his acceptance of the payment by raising Christ from the dead. And now Christ is applying the saving benefit of his atoning sacrifice by the Holy Spirit. The consummate cause of Christ’s final victory will be his second coming. In this prophecy, “Zion” and “them that turn from transgression in Jacob” are familiar OT designations that have their literal and metaphorical referents. First, Christ came to literal Zion and the remnant of believing Jews when he first appeared in the world and died in Jerusalem. Second, Christ shall come to meet his holy people, his Church, when he comes again, and his return will bring about our ultimate and final salvation.
The last verse of Isaiah 59 is a sweet conclusion, for it expresses, to the deep consolation of every real Christian,
The Lord’s Commitment to Our Salvation (v. 21)
As it stands translated, it reads, “As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.” This is what may be called “the covenant of grace,” or “the covenant of salvation.” It is the Lord’s promise to act in behalf of his people so that we will be saved.
Now let me paraphrase and interpret it a little bit for you. “As for me [Yahweh, expression of his holy resolve], this is my covenant with them [my elect], says the LORD [Yahweh]; my Spirit [the Holy Spirit] that is upon you [addressed to Christ, our covenant-mediator], and my words [esp. the divine promise] shall not depart out of your mouth [i.e., Jesus Christ will keep relying on these words, obeying them, finding them trustworthy], nor out of the mouth of your seed [descendants—clearly spiritual, i.e., his immediate disciples], nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed [all generations of believers in Jesus Christ], says the LORD [Yahweh], from this point forward and forever.” In other words, Isaiah has revealed the way that “the promised blessings of the divine Spirit and word are secured for endless generations” through Jesus Christ (Alec Motyer, in loc.).
If you are not a sincere follower of Jesus Christ, so that he is everything to you, and you are devoted to him in such a way that you accept everything he says in Scripture and obey his commands, then I urge you in his holy name to take to heart what you have heard. Believe this gospel, count upon this Christ, turn from your sins, and close with him as your Savior and Lord. Do not put it off; procrastination is wicked and may prove deadly to you.
To my fellow Christians, do not lose heart even though it seems like hardly anyone else understands these spiritual things and explains them to others. What you have heard is the everlasting gospel truth, established by God, and clearly revealed in his Word. And let us appreciate that Christ is the powerful and only Savior of the world. We must worship him, preach him, and wait for him. Even though it seems his second coming is long delayed, he shall certainly come as he promised, and all who are ready for him will be saved. This is our hope as Christians, a hope which true believers shall never let go. God be with us in his grace. Amen.
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This post was published on February 24, 2015.