He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him. Isaiah 59:16
As in the Garden of Eden, sin has widened the gap of separation between man and God. The bloodstained hands of God’s people cannot be held out to him, for he turns away from wickedness. At the heart of all Israel’s failings is rebellion against the Lord and turning their backs on his ways.
Thus, God himself will come to bring righteousness and salvation. He will come in judgment but also with redemption for those who repent of their sins. Afterward God’s Spirit will rest on his people, and on their children, forever and ever.
Sin’s Impact 59:2 The Scriptures tell us what sin is. Isaiah emphasizes the fact that sin separates us from God. While God is ready to forgive even the believer who habitually practices sin is cut off from fellowship with the Lord (1 John 1:5-10). The NT emphasizes the devastating effect of sin on human nature. Sin curses us with spiritual death, a condition that will carry over into eternity unless we receive new life through faith in Christ (Rom. 5:12-21). Sin corrupts human nature; it turns our thoughts to evil acts, arouses wrong desires, and so weakens our wills that we choose the wrong even when we know what is good (cf. Eph. 2:1-3). This reality underlies the grim picture of life in a society of sinners portrayed in Isa. 59:3-15. Sin brings man under the divine wrath (Isa. 59:18). How terrible sin is. But how wonderful that we have a Redeemer.
59:5 Hatch… eggs and weave the… web signify the deliberate, calculated wickedness in the courts.
59:6 Their webs will not become garments illustrates the futility depicted in v. 4 and the ultimate failure of the schemes depicted in v. 5. The wicked power structures would prove worthless (Job 8:14, 15).
A Confession of National Wickedness
59 1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity. 4 No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. 5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. 6 Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. 8 The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us, Nor does righteousness overtake us; We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! 10 We grope for the wall like the blind, And we grope as if we had no eyes; We stumble at noonday as at twilight; We are as dead men in desolate places. 11 We all growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We look 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 as for our iniquities, we know them: 13 In transgressing and lying against the Lord, And departing from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 14 Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter. 15 So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then 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 intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him. 17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak. 18 According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, Fury to His adversaries, Recompense to His enemies; The coastlands He will fully repay. 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 comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. 20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the Lord. 21 “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”
