The Sinner's Only Hope

The back and forth between judgment and hope in Isaiah begins on page one and continues throughout. The two go hand in hand. God is a perfect judge who will not dwell in the presence of sin. But God is also the justifying God who makes it possible for wayward sinners to come back. However, we need to remember the great cavern between us if we are going to live gratefully forgiven. 

Isaiah 59:1 (ESV) Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;

Hope in verse 1 of Isaiah 59. God can save. He can hear us. But there's some troubling news as well. 

Isaiah 59:2 (ESV) 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.

Which is it? Can God save or have our sins pushed us far from Him? The answer is both. From verse 3 on, Isaiah describes the waywardness of Israel. This is a nation eager to sin.

Isaiah 59:7–8 (ESV) 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.

Seems like a hopeless situation. But that is what sin is. Hopeless without God. 

Then something interesting happens in this chapter. Isaiah begins to identify with the consequences of the people. 

Isaiah 59:9 (ESV) 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.

He stands among them, feeling the weight of sin. 

Isaiah 59:10–11 (ESV) 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.

This goes on for some time in the chapter. 

Isaiah 59:14-15a (ESV) 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. 

And just when you may think it's over for the nation, Isaiah once again describes the hope that is theirs in God. He will do the work to save them though their own iniquites have driven them away. 

Isaiah 59:15b-16 (ESV) 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.

Isaiah 59:17 (ESV) 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.

Isaiah 59:20 (ESV) “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.

Again the hope is in the Lord Himself. He is the sinner's only hope. We cannot trust our good deeds or religious practices. Isaiah's generation was full of both and God knew their hearts were not in it. They needed God's spirit to work in them. And that is what they are promised here. 

Isaiah 59:21 (ESV) “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.”

Covenants are promises from God for His people. What is the promise here? The Spirit will work in the mouth of His prophets in every generation. And we know that God has born witness to us through those prophets about the coming of His son, the work of His son, and the return of His son. He promises to tell us about the Lord who comes to save us. 

So... we can NEVER blame God for our lostness. He will make Himself known. If we will listen, we can be saved from sin that drives us far away.