Isaiah 59:2, “…your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you…”
Isaiah 55:7, “…let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion on him; and to our God for He will abundantly pardon.”
More reading in Isaiah this morning. Following the call to true fasting in chapter 58, chapter 59 begins with a long recounting of sins that flow from the adulterous gravity of Israel’s heart. This continues until verse 16 where YHWH sees that there is no one among all of His people to intercede for them, no man to take a righteous stand….and so, the Lord Himself will step in: “His own arm brought Him salvation, and His righteousness upheld Him…a Redeemer will come to Zion…” (59:16, 20).
When we read these chapters through post-Calvary eyes, we cannot but see the person and work of the incarnate Son in the Lord’s promises to come Himself and redeem His people. Jesus Christ, the word made flesh, is the light of God’s glory that rises upon His gloom-bound people (Is.59:9, 60:1, John 1:5), and it is through the work of His crucifixion and resurrection that He accomplishes God’s eternal purposes for reality, declaring to all creation that, “I, YHWH, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob” (60:16).
God will respond to the blindness and sin of Isaiah 59:1-15 with the covenant faithfulness and redeeming love of the gospel of the glory of Christ. With this in mind, I tried to make today’s picture a representation of both the deadness that sin creates toward the Lord AND His readiness to sovereignly save those who belong to Him through Christ (Is.55:7)…..
A final thought. As those who are trusting Christ our sins are covered by His atoning work and our righteousness is bound up wholly in Him. However, this does not mean sin is inconsequential in our lives. Our sins still create a separation–a breach of fellowship–between us and our Lord. So my prayer for myself and each of you is that we would not remain for long in the cold shadows that creep over our hearts when they turn from their Lord to face a dead idol of sin……..instead, may we–by grace–be quick to confess, quick to repent, quick to plead the purifying blood of our Lord, and so be drawn back into the blessedly consuming fire that is fellowship with our God.
