59:1-14Sin offends our holy God and separates us from him. Because God is holy, he cannot ignore, excuse, or tolerate sin as though it didn’t matter. Sin cuts people off from him, forming a wail to isolate God from the people he loves. No wonder this long list of wretched sins makes God angry and forces him to look the other way. People who die with their life of sin unforgiven separate themselves eternally from God. God wants them to live with him forever, but he cannot take them into his holy presence unless their sin is removed, Have you confessed your sin to God, allowing him to remove it? The LORD can save you if you turn to him.
Life Application Study BibleIsaiahChapter 59
Isaiah 59
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 1183, 1184, 1185
59Isaiah 59
159 1 Listen! The LORD’s arm is not too weak to save you,nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.
2It's your sins that have cut you off from God.
Because of your sins, he has turned awayand will not listen anymore.
3Your hands are the hands of murderers,and your fingers are filthy with sin.Your lips are full of lies,and your mouth spews corruption.
4No one cares about being fair and honest.The people’s lawsuits are based on lies.They conceive evil deedsand then give birth to sin.
5They hatch deadly snakesand weave spiders’ webs.Whoever falls into their webs will die,and there's danger even in getting near them.
6Their 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.
7Their feet run to do evil,and they rush to commit murder.They think only about sinning.Misery and destruction always follow them.
8They don’t know where to find peaceor 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.
9So 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.
10We 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.
11We 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.
12For our sins are piled up before Godand testify against us.Yes, we know what sinners we are.
13We 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.
14Our courts oppose the righteous,and justice is nowhere to be found.Truth stumbles in the streets,and honesty has been outlawed.
15Yes, truth is gone,and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.The LORD looked and was displeasedto find there was no justice.
16He was amazed to see that no one intervenedto help the oppressed.So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm,and his justice sustained him.
17He put on righteousness as his body armorand placed the helmet of salvation on his head.He clothed himself with a robe of vengeanceand wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
18He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds.His fury will fall on his foes.He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
19In the west, people will respect the name of the LORD,in the east, they will glorify him.For he will come like a raging flood tidedriven by the breath of the LORD.*
20“The Redeemer will come to Jerusalemto buy back those in Israelwho have turned from their sins,’*says the LORD.
21“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!
3. The future kingdom
Future Glory for Jerusalem
6 0 1“Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see.
Textual footnotes
- 59:19 Or When the enemy comes like a raging flood tide, / the Spirit of the LORD will drive him back.
- 59:20 Hebrew
Life Application Notes 4 notes
59:15Because of Israel's willful, persistent rebellion (chapters 56-59), the nation became unable to take action against its sins.
59:16,17God would, in fact, act to rescue the nation from enemy armies (Assyria and Babylon) and to punish wicked Israelites as well. He would also rescue his people from sin. Because Tedemption is an impossible task for any human, God himself, as the Messiah, would personaily step in to heip (Romans 11:26, 27). Whether we sin once or many times, out of rebellion or out of ignorance, our sin separates us from God and will Continue to separate us until God forgives us and removes it.
59:21When the Holy Spirit dwells within his people, they change. Their former desires no fonger entice them; now their Chief aim is to please God. We who are Christians today are the heirs of this prophecy; we are able to respond to God's will and distinguish between good and evil because the Holy Spirit dwells within us (John 14:26; Philippians 2:13; Hebrews 5:14).
Charts, profiles & sidebars from the printed pages
Study feature · page 1184
§9:7-8 Mark 7:21-22 fRom 3:15-17
Study feature · page 1184
Sin fills the vacuum left when God’s truth no longer fills our life. Only God can defeat sin.