Isaiah 59 explained: What Blocks the Way, and Who Breaks Through

Not God's weakness (vv. 1-2)

The people had complained that their fasting and prayers went unanswered, as in the previous chapter, and here the prophet replies that God is as able to save and as ready to listen as ever. The real problem is their wrongdoing, which stands like a wall between them and God.

A society poisoned by violence (vv. 3-8)

The charges cover the whole person: hands stained with blood, lips that lie, and courts where no one brings an honest case. Their schemes are like snake eggs that hatch something deadly, and like spider webs too thin to clothe anyone, so the harm is real and the gains are worthless.

The people admit it (vv. 9-15a)

The voice shifts from 'they' to 'we' as the nation speaks for itself, groping like the blind at noon, growling like hungry bears and moaning like doves. They confess that truth has fallen in the public square where courts met, and anyone who refuses to join in the wrongdoing becomes a target.

The LORD arms himself (vv. 15b-19)

Seeing no one willing to step in for justice, the LORD acts with his own power, pictured as a warrior putting on armor made of justice, rescue, vengeance and passionate zeal. This is a picture of judgment as well as rescue: he repays enemies as far as distant coastlands, and people from west to east come to fear him.

A Redeemer and a promise (vv. 20-21)

A Redeemer, meaning a rescuer who reclaims his own, will come to Zion (Jerusalem) for those who turn from their wrongdoing, and God promises that his Spirit and words will stay with them and their descendants forever. Scholars differ on who the 'you' of verse 21 is, and Christians later read verse 20 in light of Jesus, since Paul quotes it in Romans 11.

Key verse: Isaiah 59:2

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether the warrior and Redeemer here mainly describe God rescuing Israel in the prophet's own era, point directly to Jesus, or look ahead to a future restoration of Israel at the end of time.

Something to think about

When something in your life keeps going wrong, how do you tell the difference between forces outside you and patterns you have had a hand in?