JESUS, the Answer (Is.59)

I find Isaiah chapter 59 very interesting since it contains the entire "story".  Isaiah begins with mankind's problem...

 (Isaiah 59:1-2)  Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save;  nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear.
2 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.

The problem is our sin! Sin separates us from God.  Apart from God, if we only look to ourselves or the world to solve this problem - it is hopeless...

 (Isaiah 59:9-15a)  Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us;  we hope for light, but behold, darkness, for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope along the wall like blind men, we grope like those who have no eyes;  we stumble at midday as in the twilight, among those who are vigorous we are like dead men.
11 All of us growl like bears, and moan sadly like doves;  we hope 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 we know our iniquities: 
13 Transgressing and denying the Lord, and turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words.
14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away;  for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.
15 Yes, truth is lacking;  and he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey...

We are hopelessly lost - unless we look to the LORD for salvation - because God has the answer.
God created us with the purpose of having a relationship with Him.  Mankind HAD God, but then - by eating the forbidden fruit - chose a different god (Satan... greed... selfishness... pride...).  Mankind is now born into sin - separated from God.  God still desired to have a close relationship with us - and had/has the solution.  God would become flesh - walk in our shoes - and die in our place to pay for sin - and rise again to have victory over death.  This way - IF AND WHEN we want salvation, eternal life and a close relationship with God - we can accept this free gift...

 (Isaiah 59:15b-16)  ...Now the Lord saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.
16 And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede;  then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him.

What I find most interesting is how verse 16 describes God becoming flesh.  "Then His own arm brought salvation to Him..."  This is how I usually explain the Trinity and how it works.  God is made up of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - like one person can have 3 different titles, each having different job descriptions.  And God is omnipresent (He is everywhere), yet He manifested Himself as a man on earth... I use the body to explain the "everywhere" - and God chose to make His "hand" visible to the world ("hand" being Jesus) - or "arm" as in verse 16.

Now, Isaiah quickly moves on to talk about vengeance.  But let's quickly "read into this" - what need is there for vengeance?  We will experience struggles.  As Christians, we are not exempt from tests and trials.  BUT - we know that we should not seek revenge on those who persecute us...

(Proverbs 20:22)  Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and He will save you.

So then what is expected meanwhile?  We look to Jesus who now sits at God's right hand...

(Romans 8:31-39)  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written,

“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God is fair and just... and caring.  And one day, Jesus will come to earth again at the end of the Tribulation to "judge" the nations...

 (Isaiah 59:17-20)   He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head;  and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.
18 According to their deeds, so He will repay, wrath to His adversaries,  recompense to His enemies;  to the coastlands He will [j]make recompense.
19 So they will fear the name of the Lord from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun, for He will come like a [k]rushing stream which the wind of the Lord drives.
20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the Lord.

Isaiah then ends this segment of scripture with a present hope...

(Isaiah 59:21)  “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit which 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 [l]offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.”

God will completely fulfill the Abrahamic covenant He made with the Israelites in the Millennium.  The old covenant is the Mosaic Law - which shows us the standard by which we must live - which we cannot achieve (not without God's help).  Therefore when Jesus came to earth, He said...

(Matthew 5:17)  “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill..."

Jesus is the answer.  Jesus is our righteousness.  It is only through Jesus that we may have a relationship with God...

(Hebrews 9)  Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. 2 For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. 3 Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, 4 having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

6 Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, 7 but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, 9 which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, 10 since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. 17 For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. 18 Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. 22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

23 Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.