Isaiah 59:1-20
1 See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness. 4 No one brings suit justly, no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, conceiving mischief and begetting iniquity. 5 They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web; whoever eats their eggs dies, and the crushed egg hatches out a viper. 6 Their webs cannot serve as clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they rush 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. Their roads they have made crooked; no one who walks in them knows peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us; we wait for light, and lo! there is darkness; and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. 10 We grope like the blind along a wall, groping like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among the vigorous as though we were dead. 11 We all growl like bears; like doves we moan mournfully. We wait for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. 12 For our transgressions before you are many, and our sins testify against us. Our transgressions indeed are with us, and we know our iniquities: 13 transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning away from following our God, talking oppression and revolt, conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart. 14 Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth stumbles in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter. 15 Truth is lacking, and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm brought him victory, and his righteousness upheld him. 17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle. 18 According to their deeds, so will he repay; wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render requital. 19 So those in the west shall fear the name of the Lord, and those in the east, his glory; for he will come like a pent-up stream that the wind of the Lord drives on.
20 And he will come to Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the Lord. 21And 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 mouths of your children, or out of the mouths of your children’s children, says the Lord, from now on and forever.
We Don’t Need a Cover-Up. We Need to be Clothed.
Isaiah describes the consequences of Israel’s sin in all its gory details. In so doing, Isaiah essentially throws us back to Genesis 3:1-24. The parallels are unmistakable. The pattern of sin and its consequences have descended from Adam and Eve to the Hebrew generation Isaiah addressed.
Like Adam and Eve, God’s people sinned and separated themselves from God. As a consequence they hid from God in shame:
2 Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear (Isaiah 59:2).
Like Adam and Eve, God’s people colluded with serpents and their nakedness they could not cover-up:
5 They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web; whoever eats their eggs dies, and the crushed egg hatches out a viper. 6 Their webs cannot serve as clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make (Isaiah 59:5-6).
Like Adam and Eve, God’s people did not obey God nor did they believe his commandments were good. The consequences were deadly. God saw their sin and need for a savior, and God acted to redeem his people:
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm brought him victory, and his righteousness upheld him. 17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle. 18 According to their deeds, so will he repay; wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render requital. 19 So those in the west shall fear the name of the Lord, and those in the east, his glory; for he will come like a pent-up stream that the wind of the Lord drives on (Isaiah 59:15-16).
Irony of ironies, when God’s people couldn’t cover-up their sin, God himself put on clothes. Then God saved his people.
How many times do we, like Adam and Eve and God’s people of old, make a real mess in our lives? In the moment of temptation the snake seems so benign. Surely Jesus doesn’t really speak to me through the bible; therefore, I can ditch my readings for tomorrow and move on to something I really need to get done. Surely God will understand that the lie I told was for the greater good. Yet, at the end of the day I realize I’m naked. The cover-up begins. Like a kid cleaning his room by shoving clutter and dirty clothes under the bead I try to cover-up my mess. This way I can hide myself and the shame deep inside from God.
But there is no hiding from God. Adam and Eve couldn’t do it, nor could the Hebrew people. Try as they might. Neither will any of our cover-ups save us from our sin and shame. In spite of our futile efforts to cover-up the Lord sees our sin and is displeased with it. Our sin is stupid, as stupid as it was for Adam and Eve to believe a snake who convinced them that eating fruit would make them like God. Our sin has lethal consequences: “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).
We need a savior. One who will bring us out of hiding and clothe us in his righteousness, justice and peace. Heaven knows we can’t do it ourselves. That’s why God sends us a savior in the person of Jesus. Jesus clothes himself in faithfulness to his Father and takes on the consequences of our sin as he dies on a cross. Then, on that glorious morning God raised Jesus from the death so that he can clothe us in what we need to struggle against sin. St. Paul’s says it like no other:
12For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6.12-22).Yes. You need a savior. Yes. You’ve got a savior who’s clothed you for life!
