Day 24 — Isaiah 59:1-21 Sin Confessed, Redeemer Promised
Opening prayer
Holy God, show me the truth about my sin and keep me from blaming you or others. Lead me into honest confession, and help me trust the Redeemer who has come to save and who will come again. Amen.
Headline
Sin separates God’s people from him and leaves them powerless, but when they confess their desperate condition, the LORD himself comes as warrior and Redeemer.
Isaiah 59:1-21
59 Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are stained with blood,
your fingers with guilt.
Your lips have spoken falsely,
and your tongue mutters wicked things.
4 No one calls for justice;
no one pleads a case with integrity.
They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies;
they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.
5 They hatch the eggs of vipers
and spin a spider’s web.
Whoever eats their eggs will die,
and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.
6 Their cobwebs are useless for clothing;
they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their deeds are evil deeds,
and acts of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet rush into sin;
they are swift to shed innocent blood.
They pursue evil schemes;
acts of violence mark their ways.
8 The way of peace they do not know;
there is no justice in their paths.
They have turned them into crooked roads;
no one who walks along them will know peace.
9 So justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness;
for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
10 Like the blind we grope along the wall,
feeling our way like people without eyes.
At midday we stumble as if it were twilight;
among the strong, we are like the dead.
11 We all growl like bears;
we moan mournfully like doves.
We look for justice, but find none;
for deliverance, but it is far away.
12 For our offenses are many in your sight,
and our sins testify against us.
Our offenses are ever with us,
and we acknowledge our iniquities:
13 rebellion and treachery against the Lord,
turning our backs on our God,
inciting revolt and oppression,
uttering lies our hearts have conceived.
14 So justice is driven back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets,
honesty cannot enter.
15 Truth is nowhere to be found,
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The Lord looked and was displeased
that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no one,
he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm achieved salvation for him,
and his own righteousness sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate,
and the helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on the garments of vengeance
and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
18 According to what they have done,
so will he repay
wrath to his enemies
and retribution to his foes;
he will repay the islands their due.
19 From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord,
and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory.
For he will come like a pent-up flood
that the breath of the Lord drives along.
20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,”
declares the Lord.
21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit,who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.
Comment
Yesterday’s passage described people fasting and praying, then complaining that God had not responded. Isaiah now answers their accusation directly:
“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear” (v.1).
God is neither weak nor deaf. The problem does not lie with him.
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you” (v.2).
Sin damages human relationships, distorts society, and wounds us personally. But its deepest consequence is separation from God. The people want God’s help without facing the rebellion that has disrupted their fellowship with him.
Isaiah describes that rebellion in graphic terms. Their hands are stained with blood, their lips speak lies, and their courts are corrupted. No one seeks justice honestly. Instead, they hatch evil like poisonous snakes and weave schemes as useless for covering guilt as spiders’ webs (vv.3–6).
Their feet rush towards sin, leaving ruin behind them. “The way of peace they do not know” (v.8). This echoes the end of chapter 57: there is no peace for the wicked. When people reject God’s paths, they cannot create true peace by themselves.
Then something crucial changes. The pronouns shift.
In verses 1–8, Isaiah speaks about “they” and “their” sins. From verse 9, the people themselves say “we”, “us”, and “our”.
“So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us” (v.9).
This is repentance. They stop discussing sin as someone else’s problem and acknowledge their own part in it. They had looked for light, but now admit they walk in darkness. They grope like blind people and stumble at midday as though it were night (vv.9–10).
Their confession is not superficial. “Our offences are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us” (v.12). They name their rebellion, treachery, dishonesty, and rejection of justice (vv.12–15).
True confession does not excuse sin, minimise it, or blame circumstances. It agrees with God’s verdict. Yet it also recognises that we cannot rescue ourselves. The people are not merely guilty; they are helpless.
At that point God acts.
“The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene” (vv.15–16).
There is no human rescuer, so “his own arm achieved salvation for him” (v.16). The arm that was not too short to save now reaches into the desperate situation.
God appears as a warrior. He puts on righteousness as a breastplate and salvation as a helmet. He clothes himself with vengeance and zeal (v.17). These images later shape Paul’s description of the Christian’s armour in Ephesians 6. Our armour belongs first to God: believers stand only in the victory and protection he provides.
The divine warrior comes both to judge and to save. He repays unrepentant enemies according to their deeds, so that people from east to west will fear his name and see his glory (vv.18–19). Evil may seem overwhelming, like a flood, but the Spirit of the LORD will drive it back.
Then comes the promise at the heart of the passage:
“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins” (v.20).
The New Testament identifies this Redeemer as Jesus. He has already come to deal with sin through his death and resurrection. Paul quotes these words in Romans 11 while looking forward to the completion of God’s saving purposes. Jesus will also come again to judge evil and bring redemption to its fullness.
The chapter ends with God’s covenant promise: his Spirit will remain upon his people, and his words will stay in their mouths from generation to generation (v.21). The people who were stained by lies become a Spirit-filled, word-speaking community.
Why does God want me to hear this today? Because I am quick to wonder why God has not acted and slow to ask whether sin has clouded my fellowship with him. Isaiah calls me to move from “they” to “we”—from criticising the world’s sin to confessing my own. Yet confession does not leave me in despair. When no human solution exists, God intervenes. Jesus is the Redeemer who has borne my guilt, gives me his Spirit, places his word in my mouth, and will return to put everything right.
Reflect
- Am I blaming God, circumstances, or other people for something I need to confess as my own sin?
- Why is the movement from “they” to “we” essential to genuine repentance?
- How does knowing that Jesus is both Redeemer and returning judge shape the way I live today?
Closing prayer
Sovereign Lord, I confess that my sins are known to you and that I cannot rescue myself. Thank you that your arm is not too short to save. Thank you for Jesus, the Redeemer who came to bear my guilt and who will come again to defeat evil. Fill me with your Spirit, place your word on my lips, and lead me in the way of righteousness and peace. Amen.
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